All About That Lightning Game

It's no secret that the Lightning have been wildly under-performing this season, so when I was summoned to use the available ticket my son had, my expectations were not high. 

Nevertheless, we headed down to Tampa on December 23. Traffic on I4 was worse than usual and did not thin out till we passed Champions Gate, but we still had time to stop at Five Guys for dinner. 

Love those free peanuts --- I take them home for the squirrels.

Walking through downtown Tampa on the way to Amalie, I am always intrigued by the Regions Bank. It looks like a house on the top of a building. 

While I wasn't expecting much, the game ended up being probably the best, most comprehensive game I've seen them play. 

They scored early (on the first shot actually) and often.  

Before the game, we always put bets on who will score first. This time, all three of us picked Point --- and all three of us were correct!

At the end of the 1st period it was already 3-0 

They added two more in the 2nd period

And another in the 3rd for a 6-1 win. 

Not a good game for poor Bobrovsky. But since he played like a madman in the playoffs shutting down the Lightning's offense, I didn't feel all that bad.  

Fun evening --- always better when we can enjoy a win. 

The Good With the Bad

The father of my little sweetheart came into school this morning to deliver a present to me. This was so incredibly sweet as one would expect that to be the last thing on his mind right now. 

Superman (what I'm calling him) had a port placed on Tuesday and started chemo yesterday and, according to dad, the effects were almost immediate. Yesterday there were no smiles from him at all which breaks my heart because he was always smiling!!! 

But along with this heartbreaking update came great news. His leukemia is type ALL and not AML!  This is the best possible outcome as childhood ALL has a less harsh treatment protocol (doesn't require a bone marrow transplant) and a much higher survival rate (90%). 

In fact, as a coincidental twist of fate, one of our teachers is himself a 12 year survivor of ALL.  

In other good news, he should be out of the hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home. 

When the Sadness Comes

On average, students spend more than 1,000 hours/yr with their teacher.  That number is astonishing. In all my years of teaching, I never stopped to think about time with my students in terms of hours spent with them. 

I guess that is because I never believed hours spent with them mattered much. To me, it was about building relationships with them. In this day of age of "rigorous instruction" and pushing to spend every single minute in the classroom doing curriculum, the relational part of teaching is dying away.  In fact, taking classroom time to establish relationships is seen more as a cover for lack of content knowledge or means of avoiding rigor. 

It gives me a lot of pleasure to connect with my students on a real and personal level. I like to know what their favorite color is, what is their favorite thing to do, how many siblings do they have, how do they enjoy spending their free time, etc. 

However, when things go badly, this pleasure can quickly turn to sadness and heartache. 

That is where I find myself right now...heavyhearted and hurting. 

One of my students is sick...very sick...diagnosed with leukemia. 

I am heartbroken for everything he will have to endure during this next year (at least)... pain, fevers, surgeries, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirates, lumbar punctures, chemo, hair loss, steroids, port accesses; the list goes on and makes me feel sick. A 7 year old should not have to go through this.  

   Sweet Skyler on our field trip beginning of October

Hang tough man...show that leukemia who's in charge! Beat it like a BOSS! 

Christmas Lights at Sea World

Now that Hollywood Studios pulled the plug on the Osbourne Spectacle of Lights, Sea World probably wins for best Christmas Light Display at an Orlando area theme park .

Since I get in free with my Universal employee ID and CJ gets in free as an educator, it has become a tradition to go the first Friday in December and walk through the park. 

Seeing as I get in free and it is only about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, it's actually amazing that this is only time I get there. I heard a radio advertising annual passes for $11 a month with no down payment so I am going to check it out for Zack.  He had one for the first 6 months we lived here. 

It turned out to be a gorgeous night in the low 70's.  Here are some images (mostly from Google)

The Saga Continues

Remember this post?

Well...let's tally another one.

It all began on Monday November 4. While driving to work, the RPM's spiked two or three times when using the cruise control. And then..............


I had someone from AAA come out during the school day to check the car, but aside from the battery (which failed the test) he could not find anything wrong and even told me the check engine light was not on anymore.  

And true enough, when I turned the car on after school the check engine light was not on. I was so hopeful!!!!

But then, as soon as I got on the turnpike and tried turning the cruise control  on...


And then, as if things couldn't get worse, the car started making this horrible knocking noise.  I decided to stay away from Carl Black this time and called the Starling Chevrolet dealership in St. Cloud instead. It was a great decision. 

It was not until November 12 that I could get a loaner so I had to depend on my friend to get to and back from school and my sons to pick me up from Huntington. 

I finally got my car back last week Monday after one new battery, one new tire, one new battery cable, a turbo repair, and $580!!! 

Thankfully, they were able to get the turbo covered under warranty because that would have been a $1,000 fix.