I'm sorry, visa hasn't been around for over 500 years...

To answer Valinda's question, no we missed #7. It was the only one we missed, but they showed the ending again and again later, so we saw that. It was amazing. One of the news guys held up a pencil and said that the difference of that 1/100th of a second is about the size of the eraser and the metal crimp on the end of a pencil (Werty tells me the metal thingy is called a ferrule). Wow. And it really did look like the other guy was gonna win from the video of it.

So, my poor husband went to BYU today to try to get paid for some work he did last week for his former boss. Even though he worked there for 7 years, he has to do the paperwork all over again. He brought his documents, but the student employee said that she can't accept a laminated social sec card. Werty, in his youth, thought it would be a good idea to keep such an important document in good condition, so he laminated it. Every job he has had has commented on his card and told him, you know, you're not supposed to have that laminated. And every time he has said, yeah, I know, but I was young and didn't know that. No one has actually refused to take it before. But now we live in a post-9/11 world. The student employee refused to take it. She said that the stub that comes with the card explicitly says not to laminate it. Well, Werty still has his stub (this is my careful husband we are taking about) so he looked it over, and no, it doesn't say that on his stub. (Then again he's probably a decade older than the student employee at the window...so maybe it says that on HER card...and I am proud at him for keeping a cool head and not pointing that out to her). She gave him a paper listing all the other types he could use instead. So, Werty heads home and gets his passport. The nice paper the lady gave him said that a current or expired passport would work. He drives back to BYU, to the same window with the same girl. He hands her the passport. She starts to fill out his paperwork, and just when he thinks he is good to go, she asks him if he knows the expiration date. He tells her it expired last year. Well, I can't take that if its expired, and she stops filling out the form. He points out to her that the happy paper SHE gave him said it was acceptable. Oh, well...hmmm....I guess I can take it then, but I'm gonna need your social security card. ARGH! Wasn't that the point of him driving home to get the passport? Or did we just want to waste gas and time for the fun of it? So, in the end, it took Werty 3 hours to get the paperwork done and get paid for a job that only took an hour to complete...and he has to bring a new social card back within 30 days.

Happy Birthday Zinx!

So tonight, Werty and I went out to eat with his family to celebrate Zinx's birthday. Zinx chose our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. Last night we had Chinese at another restaurant with my grandparents and family. If we had known we were going to be going out to eat twice this weekend, we wouldn't have gone out for Chinese on Monday...

I finally finished my IB curriculum outline on Friday at about 3:15pm. Too bad that was on my to do list on Tuesday and Wednesday...so I didn't get all the things I wanted to get done, like lesson plans. I wasn't slacking off...I worked 11 hours on Wednesday, and over 9 hours the other days.

Being involved with two clubs, IB, and all the federally required first year training sessions, and having a prep only every other day...no one expect me to be available any time this year. So, please, no one be offended if I can't do something. OK? ok. One of the clubs will require a few hours of my time about twice a month. No problem. The other club will require one afternoon a week plus many Saturdays, which I was not expecting the Saturdays. The club does lots of cool service though. The reason why this club will take so much more time is because they honestly DO so many different things. You could break this club up into three different clubs, really.

So, we are at Klari and Ged's house right now. We watched Phelps win his 8th Beijing Gold medal on Ged's big screen HDTV. Exciting stuff! /cheer

Time to get busy!

After spending 6 days in meetings being told all the stuff we need to do, I have a humongous to-do list in my head...and only 3 days to get it all done. Tomorrow we have our dept meeting, and the day after that is the NHS meeting (I am going to be a co-advisor for NHS). But, I did manage to get all my paperwork done for the IB training I am going to in October. And I have a shiny almost-new laptop for my classroom. Unfortunately, the old desktop is still in my classroom taking up space. But they are supposed to come and take that away someday to be used in one of the student computer labs. (Can't use the desktop even if I wanted to - IT guy won't give me a user account since he gave me the laptop). Basically, I got all the stuff done that required waiting in line at work. WooHoo!!

Why students will be angry, reason #1

I found out today that school will be starting 5 minutes earlier, and end 5 minutes later, oh and lunch will be shorter. Thanks to all the students who can't seem to get to class on time, convincing the powers that be that they need more passing time. They have 7 minutes passing time already...I had 4 in high school, and yeah, the halls were packed and it took strategy to make it to class on time, but it was possible. The one big difference is that we didn't have cell phones, so we didn't need calling and texting time during our break. That must be it.

Anyway, more meetings today. My mentor teacher passed on giving me a tour of the school. I wasn't able to sleep last night, so I'm hoping I get some rest tonight since my contract time starts tomorrow at 7:00am with a staff meeting.

Time to watch the men's gymnastics final!

Transitions

Yesterday was the funeral for my student. His family are members of our church and I could tell that they had a lot of faith. The most heart-wrenching part of the services was watching the younger brother sob over the loss of his brother. Kevin had so much potential. It's comforting to know that he still exists and will someday see his family again on the other side of the veil.

Today our Bishop was released. I guess he has been the Bishop for over 5 years - which is longer than usual for a BYU student ward. We have been in the ward for only a year, but our Bishop really made us feel at home. He is very warm and insightful. Since Werty and I are moving this month, we were already preparing ourselves for goodbyes - this one just came two weeks earlier than planned.

Last week I attended new teacher orientation. Long days of sitting in district meetings. The food was pretty good though. This week my contract time begins, so I will be sitting in staff meetings all week instead. Tomorrow I meet with my mentor teacher. I am lucky, in that I already know my mentor teacher, and he is excited to have me in his department. I am going to take the rough draft of my IB curriculum outline to him for review.

I have to give props to my brother Glump. He works at a grocery store and has been kind enough to collect boxes for us for our move. We picked up a load of boxes from him on Thursday night. Since it was his night off, we hung out and went to see Prince Caspian, since Werty and I hadn't gotten around to seeing that yet. It was great fun. The movies I have seen this summer: Prince Caspian, Iron Man, Dark Knight, Emma Smith: My Story, WallE, Made of Honor. WallE was my favorite, hands down.

Enjoy the Olympics!

Tragedy

On Sunday, we had a wonderful, uplifting day at church. There are a couple of people in our ward who have suffered serious tragedies recently and there were many testimonies shared that were both touching and brave. I remember thinking of how being a teacher I get to meet so many young people and hear about their struggles and tragedies. I believe that yesterday's experiences were my preparation for today. I received a call from my friend and co-worker today about the death of one of my students. He was killed on Saturday in a car crash. I remember what he wrote last year about his goals for the future. He wanted to be a soccer star. He was one of those kids that would procrastinate and come in the last week of the term to raise his grade those last few percentage points to pass. So, we teachers got to know him really well. He was going to be in 10th grade next year. My heart goes out to his family and friends. It will be strange to see his friends without him this Fall.

Zinx's Wedding

Here are a few pics we took at the temple of Zinx and Cherry's wedding on Friday:
Surrounded by many younger siblings. Zinx is #5 of 9 children. (Werty is #2). Cherry is #5 of 10 children. The bride's family wore pink and brown. The groom's family wore the green and brown.
We waited over an hour for them to finally re-emerge after the ceremony. I forgot to take any pics of the reception or the cake >.<

After the wedding, I met up with my sister and we waited in line for the midnight release of Breaking Dawn. We got our books a little after 1am. I'm only about 1/3 done, even though I read until 4:30am last night.