Ok, I'm not crabby, but I'm not enjoying myself while packing for our Boundary Waters trip.  My ADD-ness isn't really helping at the moment and I feel kind of like I did when I needed to be working on my research paper.  Just about anything seems preferable right now.  There is still a lot to do - find out if there is a fire ban (which will influence the menu for the first night), grocery shop, repackage food, find my sleeping bag compression sack, inventory/restock spice kit, Santa Clause my list, hopefully get everything to fit into two packs, roof rack on the car....

Sarah suggested that we get started packing this weekend, but I've never liked packing early for anything.  It makes sense, and for trips like this it would probably help, but it's just one of those quirks I have.

So I am done packing for tonight I think.  Time to read some James Herriot then fall asleep listening to the Twins Game and soothing British voices on the BBC.

Simple pleasure - going through gear
Peace

Well, we got our taxes done today.  Despite not having any federal or state income taxes taken out of my paychecks - due to the way payroll at my school works - we are still getting a federal refund. Once we find out about some property tax things, we'll see whether we owe state taxes or not.  It's nice to have it done relatively early again and to have thing organized. 

Sarah is a very good influence and presence for me.  I was ADDing hardcore while we were going through Turbotax.  I was reading instructions and individual words made sense, but any meaning they carried just bounced off my head and rocketed off into space.  On my own I would have eventually gotten through it after many hours and hesitations, but with her help it was relatively painless.  Because of her too, all of my tax information is pretty well organized and if we needed something from last year it only took a couple minutes to find it.  That's a nice change indeed.

Time to go put in a swim now.  It'll be another 2500 yards today I think.

Simple pleasure - inevitable peanut butter cookies
Peace

I swam today for 1600 yards, my farthest yet.  Though I could tell that I haven't swum in over three or four weeks, I was able to finish the workout without too many rests.  That boosted my confidence a bit.  I got out on the bike yesterday and got in a good ride too.  25 miles, average speed of just over 18 miles per hour, and about 85 minutes of riding.  I need to get the rack on the car so I can get out of the city and have fewer intersections to deal with.

Tonight I went to a basic bike care class put on by the Twin Cities Bicycle Club.  I met and talked with some club members for a while, and picked the shop owner's brain for quite a while too. The class was very helpful and convinced me that taking care of our bikes will be much easier than I anticipated.  I refuse to let our bikes fall into disrepair due to a lack of know how.  After talking with the members, I decided to sign Sarah and I up for the club.  They host tons of rides all year round.  There are slower, shorter, more social rides, as well as fast and more serious rides.  This should be a great way for Sarah and I to get out and meet a few people and get exercise at the same time.

Lastly, I took some Adderall this afternoon.  It was too late in the afternoon since my alarm is going to go off in 4 hours.  I think I can sleep now.  G'night.

Since I didn't have work today, Burnell asked if I wanted to tag along with him to the Minnesota Council for the Social Studies spring conference today. It just happens that this year it is at Mystic Lake Casino (there's sound in this link, fyi). Kinda funny.

So we showed up just in time to get breakfast and hear the morning keynote, a woman who works for Sesame Workshop, the fine people who created Sesame Street.  She talked about all the research and intentionality that goes into the development of versions of Sesame Street for other countries.  Sesame Workshop sends some people to meet with educators, and other experts from that country to develop a unique curriculum that addresses the needs of children in that country.  Hats off to them.

I went to a session about teaching about our population hitting 300 million and the implications of that.  While the session wasn't the greatest, we were given some good materials and what we did would be a good jumping-off point for some very good lessons and discussions. 

Neither Burnell nor I were all that interested in going to any of the later sessions, so I walked around the exhibits to look at text books, maps, different curricula and resource groups.  I picked up a few things that could be very helpful for once I start teaching.  It seems like the conference was pretty well done and full of resources and connections.  I am planning on going in the future. 

While we were there, I saw my cooperating teacher for my jr. high student teaching.  I didn't go say hi.  She never watched me teach once.  She wanted me to take on more than we were supposed to and when I struggled with doing all the extra stuff, she was unhappy with me.  Runner-up to state teacher of the year, my ass.

Burnell had to catch up with one of the state coordinators so he could get his continuing ed credit that applies to relicensure.  While he did that, I went into the casino.  I went up $.50 on a video poker machine and then went over to play blackjack.  I threw down $30 and left about 15 minutes later with $75.  Not too bad by my estimation.  I thought about staying longer, but when I noticed how much my hand was shaking (Adderall, coffee, and not much food), and that I indicated a hit on 19 (which I immediately realized was a mistake and the dealer was kind enough to allow for my oops) I decided I needed to be done.

We drove back to St. Paul and went out for a light lunch (on me.  HA!).  Burnell and I talked quite a bit about teaching, conferences and different educational opportunities and resources.  We talked about my school and students.  We talked about what's going on with Drew and Chris (ok and less than ok, respectively).  I get a kick out of him.  He's a really good guy with lots of perspective.  My mom chose well in marrying him.  He said that he appreciated getting a chance to just talk with me without the commotion of the rest of the family running all over.  Yeah, he's alright.

Now it's a quarter to two.  I've had some food, but I still feel a little shaky.  I want to take a nap, but it is 46 degrees and sunny outside.  Maybe I'll go for a run a little later.  I wish the tennis courts would clear off and dry up.

Simple pleasure - watching my pretty snow melt
Peace

I'm sitting here in Wiley Hall, trying to motivate myself to get some reading done. I am meeting Sarah and her dad at Town Hall in a couple hours so I came to campus to get some work done. Instead of even opening up my folder of journal articles, I have gone through Livejournal, checked email, looked for evening lectures on campus with large enough attendance that I could sneak in to listen, finished a crossword, etc. This is frustrating. I know I need to read. I even have some deadlines now that I've been to the writing center and will have regular appointments with them.

I know my Adderall is doing something as I have noticed side effects and that I am a little less fidgety, but I still have a hard time getting myself going. The woman I met with at Disability Services on campus gave me a few things that help me manage my time and I know I need to use them. It doesn't help that I developed an aversion to systems from when I was living at home with my mom's many different attempts to get people to do chores. "The Job Jar" was the worst. *shudder*

It is so frustrating. I know what needs to be done. I am able to get work done sometimes, but there are more times than I would like where I get very little done, which depresses and at times angers me.

Ugh.

One of the strategies that was suggested to me is to commit to doing whatever work I need to do for ten minutes. After that if I need to stop, I can stop. If I keep going, I keep going. Doing this helps fight the problem with just getting started. So I think I'm going to pack up here and just go over to Town Hall now and commit to working for ten minutes... and I'm going to hope that once I get into my next article, time will start to fly.

I've been in a relatively good mood today. This post has been a little depressing, but I'm not going to let it get me down. Today has been a good day overall and I am looking forward to the evening. I have strategies for managing myself, I am going to try a few of them until I find something that works and I will be more productive.

Simple pleasure - Solving 10-down
Peace

I have a month's supply of Adderall. YAY! I also have a sample of Nasonex, which might help me breathe through both nostrels more regularly. That would be nice.

I want my brain to work.

In the mean time, it might be nap time.

simple pleasure - late lunch
Peace