a week behind

This is the only picture of both of us (all of us?) from last weekend's baby shower. Thanks to Gretchen for the snap.

Last Saturday was G's blessing ceremony at our house, followed by a trad baby shower at Maple Ave on Sunday. Traditional in the D'Amato sense meaning tons of food, and a million things that people knitted. I think my mom made the blanket in the picture, and Aunt Zoe made the perfect bear. There is a little dinosaur outfit and Gretchen's mom Joan sent a Starfleet uniform. Watch this space for a picture as soon as he's big enough to fit in it.

I made it through another week of school. I was not the world's most interesting teacher this week, but to be honest how fascinating can kinematics be? Most of the time I had a good time with the students, which is what makes the biggest difference to me.

cat moment

Ilsa, Weehawken, 2001. Never got brushed enough.

 

old and unfocused

No, I was talking about me but I guess it describes this picture too. I should be grading exams but instead I am going through pictures with the new version of Picasa, which is great.

I survived a full week at school and taught a complete unit on Introduction to Force and Motion. I thought my test was too easy but most students found it challenging enough.

This weekend G is having her blessing party and baby shower, and tonight I am clearing out of the house so as not to interrupt the flow of yin energies with my raging yang.


The pic is of Shona, Kate, Owen, and Chris on the steps outside our old house in Weehawken. I guess this must've been in 2000 or so. I wish it was better focused. Even more, I hope we all get to do something similar together in the future!

G is still smaller than most RV's and she is being very brave. I am keeping both vehicles full of gas, and I am starting to worry about my substitute lesson plans.

Back to school

OK so I have survived 3 half-days and three full days so far. Only about 177 to go til summer. It's been mostly great but some days are very hard. I am mostly settled into a routine. Up at 4-4:30 to make lessons and then school from 7am-4pm or so.

Time with the kids is great. Unless I don't challenge them enough, or challenge them too much. I have tried to make something interesting to see or touch in every lesson. The first day I did a cool thing with a vaccuum cleaner, which I will describe at some point. Then I had a cool holograph thing. Then I spent a day on my rollerblades. All these things were big hits.
Today I didn't have any "hooks" and it was tough. It never occurred to me that the customers would not be just as interested in the boring ol' nuts and bolts of actually doing physics.

Well, everyone tells me that this is completely normal and the only way to improve is with experience. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

What else is going on? G is very big. Friday we get the baby turned around, hopefully, so that we can go ahead with a normal birth. At the moment he's still right-way-up which is not the, uh, right way. No big worries but a little anxiety.

Otherwise, what's exciting with us? We've joined mainstream American culture again now that Dr House MD is showing every Wednesday on the internet. We just finished watching our download of Hex and we enjoyed that so much we are considered starting Buffy.

Yes, that's as much excitement as we can handle at the moment. Other than the whole new house, new job, heavily pregnant thing.