Me: Clear off your desks. You have a roots quiz.
Student: Ah man, she mixed up the words. I memorized them in order and now I don't know the answers.
Me: Snicker, Snicker
Do they think I'm dumb?
_________________________________________________
While grading essays, I found two essays that were WORD FOR WORD the exact same.
Do they think I'm dumb?
_________________________________________________
While taking a quiz, I saw a girl who kept looking at her hand.
I asked her to come show me what was written on her hand, and sure enough, the answers to the quiz were there in Bold, Black Ink.
Do they think I'm dumb?
_________________________________________________
Friday, April 30, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Hit and Run
I went downtown last night for a birthday dinner for my friend Kristen. Typically I take the lightrail, but I was running late and decided to take my chances with parking and drive my own car. Upon arrival to downtown, I quickly realized there was a Rockies game and an Avs game. There was NO parking anywhere. Luckily, I stumbled across a parking garage that was only $5, so I parked and went on my merry way.
Kristen's party was fabulous. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and then we walked across the street to the Rio. I didn't have anything to drink but had a great time nonetheless (despite the fact that my friend's were very "happy" by about 11 p.m.). We all decided to call it a night, so I got in my car. It took me about 20 minutes of driving around downtown to find I25, but I was finally headed back to Littleton. About half way home, I got a call from a friend who was downtown and wanted to meet for a drink. I turned around and went back downtown.
By the time I got back down there, the party was in full swing. Both games were over and there were thousands of people out and about. I had to find parking AGAIN, and after driving around for 20 minutes looking for free parking, I folded and decided to pay for parking AGAIN. I found a parking garage, paid and parked.
And then I got lost in the garage. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to get out. I walked around the garage for about 10 minutes before coming upon an elevator. I got into the elevator with three other people who were just as lost as I was. We laughed about it together. As the elevator opened, we found ourselves inside an apartment complex welcome center. More laughter ensured as we then tried to find out way out of the center.
I met my friend at Old Chicago and two hours later I was headed back to my car. I found the entrance to the welcome center (if you know anything about my navigating skills, you'll know this in and of itself was quite the feat). Panic set in when the doors to the complex was locked. I needed a key code to get in. How in the world was I going to get to my car?!?!
I started to walk around the building, and the only entrance I could find was down the entrance ramp. A huge sign read: NO PEDESTRIANS ALLOWED ON ENTRANCE RAMP. I took my chances and ran quickly down the ramp (to avoid being creamed by a car). The security guard gave me a big frown, but I ran past him hoping I would avoid any trouble. He was too busy to give me crap, so I went on my way. It took me another 10 minutes to find my car, but I was finally on my way back home for the second time that night.
I found I25 quicker this time, and soon I was cruising at 55 m.p.h. It was 1:55 a.m. and I was anxious to get home. Around the 8th Avenue Exit, I saw something that at first I didn't believe. There was a person walking in the middle lane of I25. Cars were zooming by at 55 m.p.h., and this man was on his cell phone just walking straight down the middle lane. I almost hit him. It was pitch black, and I could not believe that there was a person in the middle of the interstate. It freaked me out so bad that I started shaking. It didn't dawn on me until later that I should have called 911, but I was in such shock that I didn't do anything about it. All I could think was that this guy was going to be hit by another car. I just happened to be lucky enough to miss him.
I thought about it all the way home. I woke up several times through the night thinking about this man. I woke up this morning at 8:30 and the first thing I did was run to my computer to check the news page. The top story headline was: MAN KILLED IN HIT AND RUN ON I25. Here's the article.
I almost threw up when I read the article. A few minutes before 2 a.m. (I saw him at 1:55, which means he was hit a moment after I drove by) a man talking on his cell phone was hit while walking down the middle lane of I25. He was dead at the scene. The driver drove away but later came back to the scene. He has been arrested for manslaughter (and possible drunk driving). I25 was closed for hours while they did the investigation.
This has been on my mind all day, and I can't seem to wash it from my mind. Thank God I did not hit this man.
Kristen's party was fabulous. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and then we walked across the street to the Rio. I didn't have anything to drink but had a great time nonetheless (despite the fact that my friend's were very "happy" by about 11 p.m.). We all decided to call it a night, so I got in my car. It took me about 20 minutes of driving around downtown to find I25, but I was finally headed back to Littleton. About half way home, I got a call from a friend who was downtown and wanted to meet for a drink. I turned around and went back downtown.
By the time I got back down there, the party was in full swing. Both games were over and there were thousands of people out and about. I had to find parking AGAIN, and after driving around for 20 minutes looking for free parking, I folded and decided to pay for parking AGAIN. I found a parking garage, paid and parked.
And then I got lost in the garage. I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to get out. I walked around the garage for about 10 minutes before coming upon an elevator. I got into the elevator with three other people who were just as lost as I was. We laughed about it together. As the elevator opened, we found ourselves inside an apartment complex welcome center. More laughter ensured as we then tried to find out way out of the center.
I met my friend at Old Chicago and two hours later I was headed back to my car. I found the entrance to the welcome center (if you know anything about my navigating skills, you'll know this in and of itself was quite the feat). Panic set in when the doors to the complex was locked. I needed a key code to get in. How in the world was I going to get to my car?!?!
I started to walk around the building, and the only entrance I could find was down the entrance ramp. A huge sign read: NO PEDESTRIANS ALLOWED ON ENTRANCE RAMP. I took my chances and ran quickly down the ramp (to avoid being creamed by a car). The security guard gave me a big frown, but I ran past him hoping I would avoid any trouble. He was too busy to give me crap, so I went on my way. It took me another 10 minutes to find my car, but I was finally on my way back home for the second time that night.
I found I25 quicker this time, and soon I was cruising at 55 m.p.h. It was 1:55 a.m. and I was anxious to get home. Around the 8th Avenue Exit, I saw something that at first I didn't believe. There was a person walking in the middle lane of I25. Cars were zooming by at 55 m.p.h., and this man was on his cell phone just walking straight down the middle lane. I almost hit him. It was pitch black, and I could not believe that there was a person in the middle of the interstate. It freaked me out so bad that I started shaking. It didn't dawn on me until later that I should have called 911, but I was in such shock that I didn't do anything about it. All I could think was that this guy was going to be hit by another car. I just happened to be lucky enough to miss him.
I thought about it all the way home. I woke up several times through the night thinking about this man. I woke up this morning at 8:30 and the first thing I did was run to my computer to check the news page. The top story headline was: MAN KILLED IN HIT AND RUN ON I25. Here's the article.
I almost threw up when I read the article. A few minutes before 2 a.m. (I saw him at 1:55, which means he was hit a moment after I drove by) a man talking on his cell phone was hit while walking down the middle lane of I25. He was dead at the scene. The driver drove away but later came back to the scene. He has been arrested for manslaughter (and possible drunk driving). I25 was closed for hours while they did the investigation.
This has been on my mind all day, and I can't seem to wash it from my mind. Thank God I did not hit this man.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Roots in War and Peace
My grandma sent me this very interesting article:
Today is the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh. More than 3,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in one of the bloodiest clashes of the Civil War.
The battle was named for Shiloh Methodist Church in western Tennessee. The church was named after an Israelite town mentioned in the Bible's Old Testament. Ironically, Shiloh meant "tranquil" or "peaceful" in ancient Hebrew.
The King James version of the Bible translates Genesis 49:10 as, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."
More recent Bible translations use "until tribute comes to him" instead of "until Shiloh come" in that verse. Some fundamentalist Protestants and orthodox Jews, however, still assume "Shiloh" here refers to the coming Messiah.
Parents looking for unusual names often found them in the Bible, but before the battle, Shiloh was very rare. In the 1860 U.S. Census, there are only eight Shilohs. All were male, lived in Kentucky or Tennessee and were probably related.
In 1863, 12-year-old drummer boy John Clem became famous for shooting a Confederate colonel who demanded he surrender at the Battle of Chickamauga. Shortly after, William Hays wrote a song called "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" that became wildly popular.
People began confusing the song's hero with Clem. He became famous as "Johnny Shiloh."
Clem parlayed this fame into a military career. When he retired as a colonel in 1916, Congress promoted him to major general.
The song and battle inspired a few more parents to use the name. By 1900, the U.S. Census listed 142 people with the first names Shiloh or Shilo, 22 of them women.
Shiloh was probably even more common as a nickname for Civil War veterans. When the film industry began, writers of Westerns sometimes used Shiloh as a character name. For example, the 1950 film "Wagon Master" featured a character called Uncle Shiloh Clegg.
Television reinforced the Western connection when the long-running 1960s show "The Virginian" was set on Shiloh Ranch. In 1963, the TV series "Disneyland" also featured a segment called "Johnny Shiloh," based on the legendary exploits of John Clem.
These Hollywood connections kept Shiloh alive as a rare given name. By 1990, it was used as often for girls as boys, perhaps as a different but not too different alternative for the popular name Cheyenne.
The Hollywood connection may also be why actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand considered naming their son Shiloh when he was born in 1973. They chose James instead. Today he's the actor James Haven.
Haven's sister, Angelina Jolie, remembered the family story of Shiloh. This reportedly inspired her to name her daughter Shiloh Nouvel in May 2006.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has inspired enough namesakes to propel Shiloh into the top 1,000 list for girls. Four hundred sixty-eight American girls were named Shiloh in 2008, making it the 650th most popular name.
It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for a name that means both "peaceful" and "bloody battle."
Today is the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh. More than 3,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in one of the bloodiest clashes of the Civil War.
The battle was named for Shiloh Methodist Church in western Tennessee. The church was named after an Israelite town mentioned in the Bible's Old Testament. Ironically, Shiloh meant "tranquil" or "peaceful" in ancient Hebrew.
The King James version of the Bible translates Genesis 49:10 as, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."
More recent Bible translations use "until tribute comes to him" instead of "until Shiloh come" in that verse. Some fundamentalist Protestants and orthodox Jews, however, still assume "Shiloh" here refers to the coming Messiah.
Parents looking for unusual names often found them in the Bible, but before the battle, Shiloh was very rare. In the 1860 U.S. Census, there are only eight Shilohs. All were male, lived in Kentucky or Tennessee and were probably related.
In 1863, 12-year-old drummer boy John Clem became famous for shooting a Confederate colonel who demanded he surrender at the Battle of Chickamauga. Shortly after, William Hays wrote a song called "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" that became wildly popular.
People began confusing the song's hero with Clem. He became famous as "Johnny Shiloh."
Clem parlayed this fame into a military career. When he retired as a colonel in 1916, Congress promoted him to major general.
The song and battle inspired a few more parents to use the name. By 1900, the U.S. Census listed 142 people with the first names Shiloh or Shilo, 22 of them women.
Shiloh was probably even more common as a nickname for Civil War veterans. When the film industry began, writers of Westerns sometimes used Shiloh as a character name. For example, the 1950 film "Wagon Master" featured a character called Uncle Shiloh Clegg.
Television reinforced the Western connection when the long-running 1960s show "The Virginian" was set on Shiloh Ranch. In 1963, the TV series "Disneyland" also featured a segment called "Johnny Shiloh," based on the legendary exploits of John Clem.
These Hollywood connections kept Shiloh alive as a rare given name. By 1990, it was used as often for girls as boys, perhaps as a different but not too different alternative for the popular name Cheyenne.
The Hollywood connection may also be why actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand considered naming their son Shiloh when he was born in 1973. They chose James instead. Today he's the actor James Haven.
Haven's sister, Angelina Jolie, remembered the family story of Shiloh. This reportedly inspired her to name her daughter Shiloh Nouvel in May 2006.
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has inspired enough namesakes to propel Shiloh into the top 1,000 list for girls. Four hundred sixty-eight American girls were named Shiloh in 2008, making it the 650th most popular name.
It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for a name that means both "peaceful" and "bloody battle."
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Training has Begun
I guess I can say that I officially started training for the MS150 today. We covered about 15-20 miles of trail, which included one big hill, and it felt good to be on the bike again. I rode with Kari, Sonya, and Amy, and we had a really good time.
Last year, we had four others join team Thunder From Down Under. Collin joined us, along with his best friend Ben, Kari's co-worker Dean, and a random friend of a friend Dave. Here's a recount of year two. Kari and I were super excited to have four others on the team. 
Kari and I were the first to do this ride three years ago. Here is a recount of year one. Although we rode as part of the Enterprise team, we really were a team of two. 
This year, our team has grown a little bit more. Right now we have seven signed up, and that does not include Collin, who is being a slow poke with that task. He plans on riding, though. Included in that seven is Sonya and Amy, two friends who have no connection to MS other than knowing my dad and Kari's sister. Just the fact that they are riding to support us means the world to me. Our team name this year is Saddle Soar.
If you are interested in supporting me, please click here to see my personal page. You can also access my team from my page to hear their story.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Job
This has been a very stressful time for me, and I can tell I'm grinding my teeth a lot in my sleep. I tend to do that when I'm stressed. Apart from all the rigors of daily life, I am coaching. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy my girls and the game of lacrosse, and I plan on coaching again if I am presented the opportunity, but it is a huge time commitment. It's a lot of work to plan for five practices a week. I am also prepping for three classes. Most teachers only prep for two classes. Since taking on the boys class, which I also love, I am having to prep for one more class.
Apart from all that, my job is on the line. I have tried to share what is going on, but my principal has lacked the courtesy and professionalism to keep me in the loop. I have not been pleased with his communication skills, but that's a different story for another time. I was finally able to track him down today to ask him about my job.
He told me that there are 20 teachers in the district they are trying to place with a job. Several of those are English teachers, which isn't good news for me. However, the position at Chatfield that is available is a one-year temporary (what I am on right now), and they will do everything in their power NOT to place a tenured teacher in that position. That is the good news. They will try to place those tenured English teachers in a permanent teaching position, so that means the position at Chatfield will be a LAST resort to be filled.
That does not mean they won't fill it. If there is no where else to put that teacher, then they will use the position at Chatfield. With all that being said, he hoped to know more by next week (he keeps saying that). Continue to pray for my job. It keeps me up at night thinking about not having a job.
There are no jobs to even apply for in the area. Teaching in NOT the profession to be in at this time, but I hope and pray that things will get better in the years to come. Education is in a sad state, but that's for another blog as well.
That's all I can tell you right now. I still don't know if there's a job for me or not. On the bright side, I did sit down with Mr. Principal today for my evaluation and he said some really nice, great things about me as a teacher. Too bad it had to be dampened with job talk.
Apart from all that, my job is on the line. I have tried to share what is going on, but my principal has lacked the courtesy and professionalism to keep me in the loop. I have not been pleased with his communication skills, but that's a different story for another time. I was finally able to track him down today to ask him about my job.
He told me that there are 20 teachers in the district they are trying to place with a job. Several of those are English teachers, which isn't good news for me. However, the position at Chatfield that is available is a one-year temporary (what I am on right now), and they will do everything in their power NOT to place a tenured teacher in that position. That is the good news. They will try to place those tenured English teachers in a permanent teaching position, so that means the position at Chatfield will be a LAST resort to be filled.
That does not mean they won't fill it. If there is no where else to put that teacher, then they will use the position at Chatfield. With all that being said, he hoped to know more by next week (he keeps saying that). Continue to pray for my job. It keeps me up at night thinking about not having a job.
There are no jobs to even apply for in the area. Teaching in NOT the profession to be in at this time, but I hope and pray that things will get better in the years to come. Education is in a sad state, but that's for another blog as well.
That's all I can tell you right now. I still don't know if there's a job for me or not. On the bright side, I did sit down with Mr. Principal today for my evaluation and he said some really nice, great things about me as a teacher. Too bad it had to be dampened with job talk.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Run-In With the Law
A few months back, I was riding with two friends when we got pulled over. My guy friend was driving, and he knew he was not speeding, so we could not figure out why we had gotten pulled over. The officer took his license and registration and said he would be right back. About five minutes passed before the officer walked back to the window. He asked my guy friend to step out of the car and come to the back with him. My guy friend got out, and before my girlfriend and I could even comprehend what was going on, our friend was patted down, handcuffed, and escorted back to the police car.
It's a rather long, involved story, so this is the VERY short version. Come to find out, my guy friend had gotten pulled over a year prior for expired tags on his new car. He was told to renew his tags and show up for court. He renewed the tags but forgot about the "show up for court" bit. When he didn't show up to court, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Now, a year later, he happened to get pulled over for expired tags on the car we were driving. The officer saw he had a warrant for his arrest and did just that: arrested him. The car was also towed, so my girlfriend and I had to hop in the car with Shan and Jeff, drive all the way back to Denver (this happened in Fort Morgan), get in my car, drive back to Fort Morgan, and bail our friend out of jail.
Keep that story in mind as I share this new story. This past weekend, I rented a car and made the trek across Colorado and Nebraska. My final destination for the weekend was Lincoln to attend my friend's wedding. I arrived within Lincoln city limits during rush hour on Friday afternoon. I WAS NOT speeding. It was impossible to speed with all the traffic, and there had been a lot of cops in the area, so I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was not speeding. I had my cruise control set for 65 mph. Imagine my surprise when the police car that had been following me for a mile turned on his lights behind me. I turned on my blinker to pull over, and he followed me to the median. Shoot, he really was pulling me over. The only thing I could think of was there was something wrong with the rental car. That HAD to be the problem.
He came up to my passenger window and asked me to step out of the car and follow him back to his car. Immediately, I go into panic mode. These had been the same words spoken to my guy friend in December, so my first thought was I get arrested for something. My hands started visibly shaking. I grabbed my wallet, along with my rental contract and followed him back to his car. He cleared the front seat for me, which made me feel a little bit better. He wouldn't have me sit in the front seat if he was arresting me, right? I had never been in a police car before, so I quickly scanned my surroundings.
The reason he asked me to sit in his car was because it was safer than him standing outside my window with rush hour traffic whizzing by. I began to calm down after knowing this information. He told me he pulled me over for following the car in front of me too closely. I must admit, it's been 13 years since I had to take a driving test, so I didn't even know that 1). this was a law, and 2). you could get pulled over for it. I apologized to him and said I hadn't realized I was even following the car too closely. He said he clocked me at 1.8 seconds three different times, and the minimum is 2 seconds. He said he would give me a warning.
Phew! I got out of a ticket. The officer was a young guy, and he was super friendly. In fact, I dare even venture to say that he was flirting with me. I used this to my advantage and flashed my smile and made good eye contact. I can be quite charming when I put my mind to it. ;)
He proceeded to ask me about my hair. On my license, and naturally, I'm blonde. I recently dyed my hair brown, so I do look pretty different from my picture. I explained this to him, and he took a minute to take in my face. He wasn't quite sure what to put on the warning, but he eventually chose brown.
His next question caught me off guard. He asked me it was a carrying anything illegal. I couldn't even figure out what he would be talking about, but of course, my answer was no. He again took a moment to scan my face, and he must have believed my answer because he didn't press it any further. He told me the reason he asked was because:
1). I was in a rental car,
2). I had CO plates,
3). I was from Denver,
4). Denver has the highest amount of marijuana being transported out of it than any other city in the U.S.,
5). I-80 is the busiest interstate for drug transportation than any other major highway,
6). Most of the Mary Jane is transported in rental cars,
7). The majority of the drug transporters are ladies around my age.
I fit into EVERY single one of those criteria for being a drug dealer.
He must have believed my eyes. Or perhaps it was the, "I swear to you, I am anything but a drug dealer. You can search my car if you want," that made him believe me.
He chuckled and said, "No worries. I believe you. No need to search your car."
He finally swiped my license into his system. He looked at the computer screen, looked at me, looked back at the screen. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Ma'am, did you know you have a warrant for your arrest?"
Sheer, absolute terror rose into my face. I could feel my stomach start to get sick. My eyes began to water. I started to stutter. "I I I don't know what you're talking about. I I I have only ever been pulled over once for speeding. I I I think you have the wrong person. It's impossible. There is no way in . . ."
He cut me off with a laugh. "Calm down. I'm only kidding. Not all cops are bad, you know. Some of us like to have fun. Some of us are funny."
"That was NOT funny, sir."
"I thought it was. You should have seen the look on your face. That was priceless." He continued to laugh as he finished my warning.
By this point, my hands are shaking so badly that I can hardly keep hold of my registration. My stomach is churning and all I could think was, "If only this officer knew about my story from a few months back. He would understand why I didn't find this so funny."
As he wrote the warning, he wanted to know what I was doing in Lincoln and why I was dressed up. I told him I was headed to a rehearsal dinner for my friend's wedding. He said laughing, "Well, now you have a story to share with all your friends."
He handed me back my information and told me to have a great afternoon at the rehearsal. I walked back to my car, got in, put on my seat belt and got ready to merge back onto the interstate. I had to sit for a minute, though, to get myself under control.
He certainly was right. It did give me a story to tell all my friends.
It's a rather long, involved story, so this is the VERY short version. Come to find out, my guy friend had gotten pulled over a year prior for expired tags on his new car. He was told to renew his tags and show up for court. He renewed the tags but forgot about the "show up for court" bit. When he didn't show up to court, a warrant for his arrest was issued. Now, a year later, he happened to get pulled over for expired tags on the car we were driving. The officer saw he had a warrant for his arrest and did just that: arrested him. The car was also towed, so my girlfriend and I had to hop in the car with Shan and Jeff, drive all the way back to Denver (this happened in Fort Morgan), get in my car, drive back to Fort Morgan, and bail our friend out of jail.
_________________________
Keep that story in mind as I share this new story. This past weekend, I rented a car and made the trek across Colorado and Nebraska. My final destination for the weekend was Lincoln to attend my friend's wedding. I arrived within Lincoln city limits during rush hour on Friday afternoon. I WAS NOT speeding. It was impossible to speed with all the traffic, and there had been a lot of cops in the area, so I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was not speeding. I had my cruise control set for 65 mph. Imagine my surprise when the police car that had been following me for a mile turned on his lights behind me. I turned on my blinker to pull over, and he followed me to the median. Shoot, he really was pulling me over. The only thing I could think of was there was something wrong with the rental car. That HAD to be the problem.
He came up to my passenger window and asked me to step out of the car and follow him back to his car. Immediately, I go into panic mode. These had been the same words spoken to my guy friend in December, so my first thought was I get arrested for something. My hands started visibly shaking. I grabbed my wallet, along with my rental contract and followed him back to his car. He cleared the front seat for me, which made me feel a little bit better. He wouldn't have me sit in the front seat if he was arresting me, right? I had never been in a police car before, so I quickly scanned my surroundings.
The reason he asked me to sit in his car was because it was safer than him standing outside my window with rush hour traffic whizzing by. I began to calm down after knowing this information. He told me he pulled me over for following the car in front of me too closely. I must admit, it's been 13 years since I had to take a driving test, so I didn't even know that 1). this was a law, and 2). you could get pulled over for it. I apologized to him and said I hadn't realized I was even following the car too closely. He said he clocked me at 1.8 seconds three different times, and the minimum is 2 seconds. He said he would give me a warning.
Phew! I got out of a ticket. The officer was a young guy, and he was super friendly. In fact, I dare even venture to say that he was flirting with me. I used this to my advantage and flashed my smile and made good eye contact. I can be quite charming when I put my mind to it. ;)
He proceeded to ask me about my hair. On my license, and naturally, I'm blonde. I recently dyed my hair brown, so I do look pretty different from my picture. I explained this to him, and he took a minute to take in my face. He wasn't quite sure what to put on the warning, but he eventually chose brown.
His next question caught me off guard. He asked me it was a carrying anything illegal. I couldn't even figure out what he would be talking about, but of course, my answer was no. He again took a moment to scan my face, and he must have believed my answer because he didn't press it any further. He told me the reason he asked was because:
1). I was in a rental car,
2). I had CO plates,
3). I was from Denver,
4). Denver has the highest amount of marijuana being transported out of it than any other city in the U.S.,
5). I-80 is the busiest interstate for drug transportation than any other major highway,
6). Most of the Mary Jane is transported in rental cars,
7). The majority of the drug transporters are ladies around my age.
I fit into EVERY single one of those criteria for being a drug dealer.
He must have believed my eyes. Or perhaps it was the, "I swear to you, I am anything but a drug dealer. You can search my car if you want," that made him believe me.
He chuckled and said, "No worries. I believe you. No need to search your car."
He finally swiped my license into his system. He looked at the computer screen, looked at me, looked back at the screen. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Ma'am, did you know you have a warrant for your arrest?"
Sheer, absolute terror rose into my face. I could feel my stomach start to get sick. My eyes began to water. I started to stutter. "I I I don't know what you're talking about. I I I have only ever been pulled over once for speeding. I I I think you have the wrong person. It's impossible. There is no way in . . ."
He cut me off with a laugh. "Calm down. I'm only kidding. Not all cops are bad, you know. Some of us like to have fun. Some of us are funny."
"That was NOT funny, sir."
"I thought it was. You should have seen the look on your face. That was priceless." He continued to laugh as he finished my warning.
By this point, my hands are shaking so badly that I can hardly keep hold of my registration. My stomach is churning and all I could think was, "If only this officer knew about my story from a few months back. He would understand why I didn't find this so funny."
As he wrote the warning, he wanted to know what I was doing in Lincoln and why I was dressed up. I told him I was headed to a rehearsal dinner for my friend's wedding. He said laughing, "Well, now you have a story to share with all your friends."
He handed me back my information and told me to have a great afternoon at the rehearsal. I walked back to my car, got in, put on my seat belt and got ready to merge back onto the interstate. I had to sit for a minute, though, to get myself under control.
He certainly was right. It did give me a story to tell all my friends.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Job News...
An email from my Principal...
I wanted you to know that yesterday’s Involuntary Transfer meeting resulted in Chatfield receiving NO teachers to displace anyone here. The next step is that the other areas of the district will go through the same process and if there are permanent contract holders without a job, our temporary positions could be filled by someone. I hope to know this by Friday or maybe Monday. One of the articulation areas is not having their meeting until the end of the week. I am very sorry I do not have definitive answers yet.
Please believe me that I have advocated for you with our Community Superintendent, but there are contract obligations that the district must adhere to.
I wanted to speak personally with you, so forgive this impersonal email. I was out all morning and will be out most of tomorrow and Friday with district obligations. After the staff meeting tomorrow, please know that we can talk further if you have any concerns. I know how difficult this time is, and I sincerely appreciate how gracious you have been.
Have a great evening.
I wanted you to know that yesterday’s Involuntary Transfer meeting resulted in Chatfield receiving NO teachers to displace anyone here. The next step is that the other areas of the district will go through the same process and if there are permanent contract holders without a job, our temporary positions could be filled by someone. I hope to know this by Friday or maybe Monday. One of the articulation areas is not having their meeting until the end of the week. I am very sorry I do not have definitive answers yet.
Please believe me that I have advocated for you with our Community Superintendent, but there are contract obligations that the district must adhere to.
I wanted to speak personally with you, so forgive this impersonal email. I was out all morning and will be out most of tomorrow and Friday with district obligations. After the staff meeting tomorrow, please know that we can talk further if you have any concerns. I know how difficult this time is, and I sincerely appreciate how gracious you have been.
Have a great evening.
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