Apparently the next 48 hours are going to bring some interesting weather. We've been told to expect 6-12" of rain. School is cancelled for tomorrow: "All information available at this time indicates the possibility of heavy rainfall and wind gusts for our area, which can provide great difficulty in transporting our students safely. Safety is our district's number one priority; this decision is made in the best interest of our students and employees." Even that year we had the marathon of hurricanes, our schools didn't close.
Personally, I'm not expecting any problems, I'm just letting you know the potential for loss of electricity. If you try to reach me and I'm unavailable, then I'm probably outside, playing in the puddles!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
It's my baby and I'll cry if I want to
As mind-boggling as this sounds, today is Alex's 14th birthday. wow. How is this possible? When did he become 5'10", 170 lbs? *sigh* At least the years have been fun. Here's to the next 14!
Monday, August 18, 2008
PE? really?
Yes, indeed, we've now started high school. Hard to believe, but true nonetheless... 9th grade has arrived. It should be a fun ride!
Because he's in the Academy of Information Technology magnet program of his school, there will be a lot of the IT stuff incorporated into his non-IT classes. It also means that his first year only allows for one elective. He was able to select between some different types of math and science classes, but they still had to be math and science. Only one class period was a "what do YOU want to do?" allowance. He requested Guitar for his elective class this year, with the PE class as a second choice. (He's required to have 1 year of PE in order to graduate. I seem to recall having it every single year, so what's up with that?) Unfortunately, upon arriving at school this morning, he discovered he did not get the guitar class after all. His friend, whose last name starts with Gem, did get the class. Gos is soooo close... but not enough. Ok, so get PE over with and not have to worry about it again, right? Would you believe it is his very first class of the day? PE is bad enough anyway, but at 7:45 in the morning? You've got to be kidding me.
It being the first day of school, with all the kids running around and trying to figure out where they are going and what they are doing, we understandably did not get much info about what to expect from this class. I'm wondering if he can just go to school in his gym clothes and take regular school clothes for after that. But I'm still left wondering: do I bother having him take a shower in the morning?
The rest of the schedule looks like this:
1st: PE
2nd: Algebra II honors (did Alg I in 8th grade for high school credit)
3rd: English I honors
4th: Networking & Geographic Information Systems
5th: Biology I honors
6th: Intro to Information Technology
7th: World History honors
Because he's in the Academy of Information Technology magnet program of his school, there will be a lot of the IT stuff incorporated into his non-IT classes. It also means that his first year only allows for one elective. He was able to select between some different types of math and science classes, but they still had to be math and science. Only one class period was a "what do YOU want to do?" allowance. He requested Guitar for his elective class this year, with the PE class as a second choice. (He's required to have 1 year of PE in order to graduate. I seem to recall having it every single year, so what's up with that?) Unfortunately, upon arriving at school this morning, he discovered he did not get the guitar class after all. His friend, whose last name starts with Gem, did get the class. Gos is soooo close... but not enough. Ok, so get PE over with and not have to worry about it again, right? Would you believe it is his very first class of the day? PE is bad enough anyway, but at 7:45 in the morning? You've got to be kidding me.
It being the first day of school, with all the kids running around and trying to figure out where they are going and what they are doing, we understandably did not get much info about what to expect from this class. I'm wondering if he can just go to school in his gym clothes and take regular school clothes for after that. But I'm still left wondering: do I bother having him take a shower in the morning?
The rest of the schedule looks like this:
1st: PE
2nd: Algebra II honors (did Alg I in 8th grade for high school credit)
3rd: English I honors
4th: Networking & Geographic Information Systems
5th: Biology I honors
6th: Intro to Information Technology
7th: World History honors
Friday, August 15, 2008
unbelievable trip
Remember I said it was raining? That apparently turned into some horrific galestorm that tore up the island but good. We went out to the beach to ride the crazy waves (I kept looking for that hurricane tracker guy to show up with his TV crew to record the stupid people out in the ridiculous weather) and when we came back in, we discovered the power was out. Ok, no big deal, this can be fun for a little while. After a few hours, it got dark, and then it was not quite so fun. Board games by candle light can be amusing. After 2 days of having no dry towels, half our clothes filthy, and cooking all our food on the itty bitty charcoal grill downstairs, the "fun" had definitely passed. This morning, we finally got some power back, and we are so excited. The laptops, the cameras, our cell phones, and the handheld video games - everything is plugged in to recharge. The things you take for granted... I was thanking God for giving me the foresight to bring some candles and flashlights to the beach! Those were our saving grace at night.
After the fix-it crews showed up, I asked them what was going on. Apparently the transmitter lines that connect us to the substations came crashing down into the ocean. They brought crews from Pensacola and somewhere down S Fl to come rebuild the lines to connect us to generators. I don't know how long it will take them to correctly fix the situation, but for now the island is running on several humongous generators.
I did manage to pick up some fun photos of the situation before the camera battery ran out. I wish I'd gotten one of me cooking tacos in a frying pan on the grill, but I didn't think about it in time and the bugs were just feasting on me and I couldn't take it any more. I'll post them later. Meanwhile, it's sunny now so we are going out to the beach!
After the fix-it crews showed up, I asked them what was going on. Apparently the transmitter lines that connect us to the substations came crashing down into the ocean. They brought crews from Pensacola and somewhere down S Fl to come rebuild the lines to connect us to generators. I don't know how long it will take them to correctly fix the situation, but for now the island is running on several humongous generators.
I did manage to pick up some fun photos of the situation before the camera battery ran out. I wish I'd gotten one of me cooking tacos in a frying pan on the grill, but I didn't think about it in time and the bugs were just feasting on me and I couldn't take it any more. I'll post them later. Meanwhile, it's sunny now so we are going out to the beach!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
on vacation
I think I told most people that I was on vacation this week. (if I missed you, then sorry) School starts next week, so we are at the beach this week. Like last year, we rented a house that we are sharing with some friends for the week. My friend couldn't come down on Sunday, so I brought her kids down with me. The first day had the kids trying to do this:
I got to rain on their parade by insisting that they get off the computers and go outside to go swimming with me. They complained the whole time until they actually got in the water. The next 2 hours flew by as we had fun with the noodles and water fights and wave jumping. Amazing, it really is possible to have fun without a power outlet around! 
I got to rain on their parade by insisting that they get off the computers and go outside to go swimming with me. They complained the whole time until they actually got in the water. The next 2 hours flew by as we had fun with the noodles and water fights and wave jumping. Amazing, it really is possible to have fun without a power outlet around! 
Valerie arrived Monday afternoon, so around 5pm we all went back out again. The waves were much calmer, so we just lazed around. Valerie's dogs also came down. (mine get carsick, so it's just easier to leave them at home) This was the first time the black dog had ever experienced the beach, so it was fun watching the dog adjust. It didn't take her long!
and then today.... it's pouring down rain. yippee. :)
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