I Heart Tina Fey

This is another politically-inclined clip that made me happy. It is about Hillary Clinton, who will continue to be my candidate until she just can't be anymore. If you are not a fan of Hillary, or would rather not hear some colorful language, feel free to skip right over this one.

One of These Things is a Lot Like the Other

If you would like to know how this weekend went then please refer to last weekends post. They are quite similar. Except that by the time we were supposed to play board games again we found ourselves overloaded with homework and tired. But we did golf and go bowling. And again, there were people. Two weekends in a row around actual humans. Crazy.

We were even worse at golf this week. We went out to a little nine hole course that was $9 per person. We dreamed of a relaxing walk, just the two of us, no distractions or judgments. Sadly, we forgot that on gorgeous days at crowded courses twosomes get rolled together into foursomes. We ended up with two 15 year olds who could not boast of even the most rudimentary conversation skills. That is saying a lot coming from me. Also, they had on really bad cologne. It is all their fault that I could hit nothing but a five iron all day long. Blaming them keeps me from having to admit that golf is currently winning in this battle of wills.

I should permanently switch to bowling. I'm a natural.

Sergio might be ready to write both games off for good.

Model Student

Wanna see my class?

Working on Our Chances of Being Voted Most Popular

Sergio and I often go an entire week without speaking to anyone outside of work or class. Which means that our weekend social circle consists of one another and Eliot. And maybe the people at Noah's Bagels who know us by name. This is completely our fault as there are lots of great people around here who invite us to many things. We just don't always go. Or ever go, really. Once you are inside the antisocial pattern, it is sooo easy to stay there.
Yesterday, though, resembled our weekends in Arkansas where hardly a day passed that we didn't see someone we knew (and liked) on purpose. First we went golfing. Strange, I know. This is something we have been trying lately. Anyway, we went with real live people. Two of them, in fact. And it was a lot of fun, though we are really quite pitiful at the game.
But hang onto your hats folks, because that's not all! After we got back home we went to a house with even more people and played Trivial Pursuit: Pop Culture for the rest of the evening. We were pretty terrible at that too. Sergio and I both yelled out "Jim Carrey" when a picture of Peter Gabriel came on the screen. Oops.
Conclusion: Hanging out with people is actually more fun that sitting on the couch...unless Eliot is being particularly cute and goofy. Then it's a draw.

Fun with Parody

I know we said we no politics, but you have seen in the past that we ignore that rule if it makes us laugh.

Happy Birthday, Amanda

I hope you have as much fun today as you appear to be having in this picture.

Abstinence Education Leads to Banana Shaped Water Balloons

Who is ready for the weekly post? I feel like if I don't write at least one per week, then I am not really blogging anymore at all, so here you go. Hopefully I will get things under control sooner or later and post TWICE a week. How crazy would that be?

I am actually sitting here planning lessons for the coming week. I have taken over one class at the middle school. I am the teacher of record now, which means I am responsible for their grades, talking to parents, and planning. It also brings with it some things I didn't expect. First of all, students have the most amazingly detailed and mundane excuses I have ever heard. I can get a five minute monologue about how, "I left my lunch at home and I need to go to the office to call my mom so I can eat in sixth period or else my blood sugar will go nuts, but I also left my notebook in my locker so can I go by there on the way back from the office or else I'll have to put my journal entry on a sheet of paper and I might lose that like I lost that map, did you find that by the way, and I need a note to the office, please, and I really like your shoes Ms. B." Not really excuses so much as it is the complete chaos that is a 12 year olds life. I relate really well to it, actually. Secondly, I am mostly accepted into the teacher group as well, which means that I sang karaoke on a Nintendo Wii after school one day, and later one of my fellow teachers sought me out to tell me they had just found a condom wrapped around the water fountain spout. Officially, that is bad. Unofficially, awesome. Anyway, I am trying to plan a lesson that will go all week and includes a detailed role play, negotiations, and presentations on the Berlin Conference. If anyone has any great stuff on that topic lying around just send it my way.

I got observed on Friday for a grade. Yikes. Turns out I might be okay at this. Yay!

In other news...well, I don't know that there is other news. Sergio and I signed up for a free online calorie counter out of curiosity last night. It has been quite the eye opener already. Yesterday I didn't have breakfast, and by the time I finished lunch I had eaten 200 more calories that I am supposed to have in a day. Lame.

In congratulatory news...congratulations Keith and Erin. We wish we could have been there and we hope the wedding was great. (I don't know that they read this, so someone who does just tell them we said that!)
And congrats Sara and Iggy on the news that It's a Boy. We are so excited.
And finally, to Dan and Amanda, for making us Uncle Sergio and Aunt Dawn for a third time. THREE!!!

Comedy of Errors, Except Not Funny At All

On Thursday evening, I dropped Sergio off at school and then stopped at the store for some laundry detergent. When I got back in the car, it wouldn't start. And that was the beginning of one of the more frustrating four day weekends I have ever had. Four day weekend only because we couldn't get many places, like school or work, while the car was broken. I really want to tell you all about the terrible, awful, no good weekend, but just the idea of going back through the events is exhausting.
Thursday night was particularly bothersome. I was only a mile from home so I walked from the store, however it was spitting snow and raining steadily, and dark, and I was wearing a dress and rain boots. So that was cold. Then I had to think about Sergio, who got out of class at 10 pm and had no way home. I called my neighbor/classmate, whom I consider a pretty good friend, and asked him for a ride later that night to get Sergio from school. He said no. Because he would be asleep by then.
I don't think I have ever felt quite so far from home. Who does that?
When I told Sergio this news, he said he would just walk the three miles home, along a busy road in the dark. And did I mention he has been sick all week? Thankfully, Sergio then found a shuttle that got him pretty close to the house. But the weekend got no better.
We spent most of Friday going up and down the hill to the car stranded at the grocery store while talking to both of our fathers on the phone trying to determine what was wrong with the car.
I take it back. This was when I felt furthest from home. In direct contrast to my sleepy classmate who couldn't be bothered with a 10 minute drive, both of our fathers offered to fly all the way to Portland just to help us with our car. That's love people.
Anyway, we decided it was probably the fuel pump. So we called a mechanic who told us that fixing that problem would be $900, not including the tow or the diagnostic testing. Oh, and we won't be able to pick it up until monday.
Very nice.
I'll stop boring you with the details, but here are the highlights. We decided to buy a car; In Arkansas, because it is cheaper. So we bought tickets to fly out Saturday morning, but then got a full refund at 4 am because there was going to be snow on the drive home and a train hit a bus in downtown Portland. I promise that makes sense.
So then we decided to buy the same car here in Portland. We then spent six hours listening to a 20 year old salesman from Tulsa tell us how he can kick the top of a door frame, and how fast he can drive all his cars. So, a hell of sorts. In the end the deal was ridiculous and we took the train, and then the bus to the law school in order to catch the shuttle. But it doesn't run on weekends. So we ended up doing that three mile walk in the dark, snow, and rain along a busy street together. I was wearing black dress shoes with no socks. I think we were so punch drunk by that time that we were actually able to really enjoy the walk.
On Sunday Sergio biked to the nearest auto parts store and bought a fuel pump, a set of wrenches, and a book that told him how to fix the problem. We (meaning he) then spent the next two days rolling around on the cold wet ground while the car was hiked up on a log, him learning how to repair a fuel pump. There was a lot of cursing. A lot. I know because I sat near him handing him tools. Not terribly helpful really, but I felt I should be there. Solidarity. We missed all but the last quarter of the Super Bowl, but the part we saw was great.
And that brings us to today. After lots more cursing and learning, we finished. It was thrilling. Unfortunately, the battery was dead and we had no way of knowing if the car worked until two hours later when another neighbor/classmate (of Sergio's) came and gave us a jump.
IT STARTED!!!!!
I don't think I can describe the happiness we both felt. And the competence.
So the car runs, our gas gauge works for the first time since we bought the car, and our 4 wheel drive service light went off. On top of all that goodness, we suddenly have internet at the house again. Hallelujah!