Fishtown pride

Today was an incredible day for me. It started with reading Isaiah 60:1 with Seth: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you." I felt like that fueled my day!

Tomorrow Nate (met him on the in-covenant retreat at Liberti) and I are going to a 76ers/Bulls game! I'm excited!!!! This will be the first time I've seen the Bulls play since Michael Jordan was in town. Man, that was fun. My dad took me to a game against the Nuggets during the season when they won 72 games. Something I'll never forget!

My new sneakers worked great for running today! I felt like I was running on clouds. So much fun!

Yesterday Seth and I bought our first Fishtown shirts. They double as a St. Patrick's Day icon, too! Gotta love the dual purpose. We donned some bags that Seth got with his jersey-style new bed sheets and had a photo op in our hallway.

I thought it made me look French.

Consumerism!

I'm feeling a little consumeristic right now. Seth and I went to several stores tonight and, I might add, were very successful in our shopping. We hit up GNC for free vitamins, Thrift Way groceries for lunches produce, Family Store for jersey bedsheets for Seth, and the Dollar Store for candy and envelops. Later tonight we went to Target, too. We shopped shrewdly and swiftly, and it made me feel excited about the ordeal--a rare occasion for those who know my violent history with shopping! It just felt really good to be productive, spend money wisely, and hope for things to come. We got some great deals on cereal and heavy duty trash bags (we're hoping to start picking up trash around Fishtown to improve the neighborhood). It was great!

This weekend my shins started hurting from my recent running (I've ran 8x in the last two weeks). The shoes I was using were over two years old cross trainers. After several people advised me to invest into new ones, especially since I'm really committing to this Kids Run Philly Style program, I decided to get input from my running consultant, Scott Parrott, and get some new sneaks. I went to Philadelphia Runner, which I found on Google today as I was looking for running shoes. The store was AMAZING..perfect for what I was looking for. I told the sales woman what my situation was, my recent shin pain, that I was a teacher in West Philly, etc. She said I would get a 10% discount on anything I bought since I was in the program. She had me take off my shoes and walk down the carpet so she could analyze my arches for what type of shoe I'd want! I felt like my shoes were being personalized to me (for those of you who are interested, I have a high arch that doesn't flatten out when I walk)!

I tried on several pairs, all of which felt really good. Finally, I decided on some Asics, which turns out to be the most popular brand of running shoe. They had a good return policy, so I decided to buy my first pair of running shoes. I love them!

What made me happier was when I got home and did a search for a cheaper pair of the same shoes. With the 10% discount, I could only find a pair for $2 less--certainly not worth the time and shipping...and plus, I wanted to give Philadelphia Runners my business for their personalized service. I'll have to send pictures of me in the shoes in future posts.

Friend raising

When I last left you, I was right about to leave for a conference in Baltimore. I returned safely Friday afternoon. The conference was called "Strengthening our Schools" and was hosted by the National Catholic Educators Association. The conference's purpose is to help schools raise money through development. At first I felt out of my league; I was the youngest person there by at least 15 years, and the job title answers went like this: "president, head of school, development director, principal, advancement director, board member, technology teacher." Guess which one I was! I was fortunately to be able to contribute to the discussions as the tech guy, which made me feel more confident and a needed/wanted part of the group. It was nice to walk away with a free mug and some useful ideas!

Raising money isn't something that naturally appeals to me by title. It's not something I've ever tried before, but it is area that intrigues me. I love getting to know people, meeting new people, learning about people's hobbies/interests/passions, and spending time with them. Actually, while I was there, I was reminded of a clear picture/vision I had of myself standing up in front of a group of people telling them about an experience I had in another culture. That thought first came to me several years ago, and I've been reminded of it from time to time. Perhaps I will be raising money someday, and if so, God may have used this conference to prepare me for that.

While I was in Baltimore, my sister Maria had some spills! She's been sick for a few weeks with mono-like symptoms. After some negative test results, the doctor decided it was a weird virus that had paralyzed her energy system. She missed several days from student teaching as a result. Her first day back to school, however, she fell down the stairs and severely sprained her ankle! She's on crutches now, but she'll hopefully be off them soon. Between visits to the doctor, hospital, student teaching communications and conflicts, and overall disappointment for not being 100%, she had a rough week. Please keep her in your prayers!

Baltimore bound

Phew! This week's already half over! It's gone by quickly.

The 8th grade student who ran away has returned home. Details are still being sorted out, but she was found at the home of the school crossing guard! Rumors persist about if she simply stayed there and spent time with other people or what. Regardless, it's sad it happened, and I keep praying that other students don't see her actions as being cool and decide to do likewise.

Related to the run away, I've been pausing the regular cirruiculum and talking with my middle school students (and 5th grade a little bit too) about MySpace.

I turned in my grades for this trimester. We have report card conferences next Thurs and Fri...which is mostly hang out time for specialists. As a general classroom teacher, I would be pretty nervous and worried, but there haven't been any concerns from parents regarding technology.

In other news, Krista Carter confirmed that we made it into of Shadows, the movie we were dancing extras in.


I had hoped to write more, but I'm off to Baltimore for a conference (the second part of the development workshop). More later!

B-E-A-UTIFUL!

The weather here in Philadelphia has been delightful this weekend. Yesterday's high was 60 with brilliant sunshine, and today has been more of the same! This morning I went for a jog with Sarah, and it felt like Florida! Simply delightful. After I cooled down a little bit, Seth and I made a delicious meal of breakfast burritos (onions, garlic, salsa, cheese, tortillas, and eggs complete with a fruit salad!). No joke, it was the best breakfast I've had in months! Sarah, Seth, and I decided to eat breakfast in the backyard. Wow! I can't wait for spring/summer now!


Seth and I enjoying fine dining in our backyard.

I think that Sarah looks even more beautiful when contrasted by my post-jogging attire.

Last night a bunch of us went out to Mama Palma's for scrumptious gourmet pizza. Sarah, Seth, Melanie, Kallie, Justin, and Casey from Liberti went too. While we waited, we went for a walk and enjoyed the warm March air along the Schuylkill River. We even saw some stars. After waiting for about an hour for seats, the manager surprised us by giving our table free appetizers, then later with two free desserts for us to share! Quite delightful. The pizza was better than 84 East even, which is saying a lot. =)

Note: Seth is on a self-proclaimed campaign to have his eyes closed intentionally in almost all pictures taken of him in public. I asked if it was in order to get back at all the people who close their eyes in photographs he takes of them, and he said no--the campaign is just to be funny.

Seth and I went over to Kamil's house Thursday and made some INCREDIBLE BBQ meatloaf muffins. We ate them with some leftover oven roasted rosemary red potatoes that Sarah and I had made for our homegroup. The meatloaf muffins melted in my mouth. Next time I make meatloaf, I'm making these!

You might ask if all this cooking recently has affected my weight. Well, it's hard to say since we don't have a scale. However, if my belly size and belt size is any indication, I think I've officially gone into hibernation mode for the winter. After talking with my personal trainer/health consultant about it (aka: Sarah), I've decided to make a conscious effort to work out more. So far so good: I went for a run three days this week and started doing push-ups/sit-ups again. Let's hope it continues!

Head banging

Last night our church's homegroup had our final "multiplication" meeting. Okay, so it wasn't a meeting, but a potluck supper. We've had counts of 20-30 people at our homegroup meetings, which is a little much for intimate gatherings! So, we had to split--er, multiply--into two groups. This week was our meeting in the new location for people who live East of Broad St. It's hard to split a good group into two different ones! Unfortunately, God sometimes calls us to do things like that. On a positive note, we have TWO great groups now! We should consider ourselves lucky: the disciples had to go out in only groups of two. (that is, I don't consider our group's quality or dedication the same as the disciples who left their homes and finances and walked through towns in pursuit of God's Kingdom...at least yet!)

Sarah and I will be attending the new location in Alex and Lisa's house. Unfortunately, they are a little shorter than our two previous hosts, and their ceiling lighting fixtures reflect that. I managed to bash my head twice on their lamps. A photographed dramatization is below:

We're getting lazier

This invention is just ridiculous. No other word for it.

Now this video about new computer screens, is just futuristic. We're pretty close to it!