Hometown fanatics

A couple blogs ago I wrote about how "happy" and at-ease I feel when I'm in my hometown. This blog isn't going to be about that. Instead it is going to be about sports in my hometown (or your hometown too possibly).

What I absolutely LOVE about being from a small, Iowa town is the pride we take in not only the town, but obviously our high schools. Right now I'm kind of obligated to be an East Marshall fanatic. I mean I coach there and they pay me. But secretly my favorite high school team in the world is still the Algona Bulldogs. When I went home a couple weeks ago, Dad and I listened on the radio as the Bulldogs were playing at MOC Floyd Valley. The next day I saw one of the football players in the store (I do know this kid, worked with him at Pioneer) and talked about the game. I read the Algona online newspaper all the time to see how the Dawgs are doing. I knew the volleyball team was solid (and by solid I mean ranked second in the state and something like 38-0). Tonight I was watching Monday Night Football when my MSN starting beeping at my wildly. My sister and another good friend from Algona were messaging the news that the Algona Volleyball team is going to state!!! I instantly called a couple people who were like "Sweet! That hasn't happened for awhile." That got me thinking. Only in small town Iowa can we take so much pride in the high school team that we graduated from 5/6 years ago and the town we no longer live in. Heck, I see the names of the girls playing now and I say "who?" I probably really only know one or two of the girls (I do know the coach, she was there when I was and in fact I talked to her this summer), but that doesn't take away from the fact that my alma mater made State! So congrats Algona girls. We'll keep cheering for you. And reason number 2291 I love small town Iowa.

Blog Anniversary!

Well, I was doing some research last week and found out that today is Pardon The Interruption's Blog Anniversary! So without further adieu, here is some self backslapping for how good my blog has been. Okay, okay, in reality my blog hasn't been that good lately. I haven't kept it up like I would like to. Maybe I've just been busy with school (which is going good- evaluated for the first time Monday and have had a couple students this week mention about how my class is their favorite because I actually "teach"), maybe I've just not had a lot of good ideas to blog about, maybe I've been waiting for this anniversary to rejuvenate myself. I can think of one reason though.

About two months ago now I wrote a blog about the beginning of school and how I feel very uncomfortable with myself sometimes. A good friend of mine from Lineville Schools told me last year that where ever I go in the future to assert myself more...don't worry about being liked and do what you are good at because I am. That has stuck with me, but I still have problems seeing what others see in me. I have awesome friends who could pump me up all day if need be, but I still don't see that in myself. Part of that comes from my upbringing...my parents always taught me and little sis to be humble and don't get in over your head with yourself. Good advice and I love my parents (something I don't tell them enough) but every once in awhile you need to have an attitude about what you are good at. Another part of why I dont feel comfortable with myself is my work ethic. I spend a lot of hours working at school, but sometimes not very effective. I also am at this point concerned about having "my time" more so than a lot of other things. I just want to come home and sit down. I don't even like having to go to the store sometimes. I just wish I could push myself more. There are plenty of things I would like to get into, like a good workout plan, but I always seem to fall out of pattern. Kinda like this blog. I say "oh, I'll keep it up a lot better" then I don't. Part of this just falls into the category of "I have a job that requires a lot of time." Lastly on my list of reasons for not "being confident in myself" is that I'm lonely. I hardly know anyone here, a lot of the other teachers have families, and I'm just tired of coming home and talking to myself. I know that "someone" will eventually come for me, but I sure as heck hope she comes quick. ;) Not that it will solve problems magically, but I have discussed with a friend about how when I have a girlfriend or an "interest" that I have a "swagger" to myself. In high school many friends would have described me as cocky. Not that it is good to be cocky or what I'm looking to be...but I just wish I could find/get my "groove" back.

Wow, that was quite the anniversary blog. Thanks for reading. I'm most certainly not in a "depression" and my spirits are always pretty high (except for around 2:30 pm last Saturday after the Hawkeyes lost), but just some things I would like to improve on myself and why not an anniversary to start that building/searching.

Strikin' It Rich

Today I informed some of my students of this exciting news that I will now share with you, the blogging public. On Thurdsay, Oct. 20 I will be a millionaire! Yes, that's right, I will have won the ginormous Powerball jackpot of $340 million! I probably won't go into school that day. I think I will continue teaching, but just take that day off. I won't give up my blog though. How could I forget those who have read me all along just because I will have far more money than all of you combined? I'll most likely be blogging from a brand spanking new computer though!

Seriously, how much of a blessing (and a curse) would it be to win this money? It would be nice to pay off loans, buy some things that I've been saving to buy, do some good for family and friends, and also give to charity. At the same time, everyone would know that I'm "the guy" who won the Powerball and I may not stay by myself in my apartment. I may just go home for awhile. Media will be on me, so-called "friends" will be popping up, all that jazz.

If I did win, I would seriously do what I said. Not spend too much, just some things like a tv, computer, some new clothes, items I was going to get anyways, just without all the saving. A lot would go to family and friends and charity. Why? Mostly cause I'm a good guy, but mainly because why do I need $340 million (mind you about half will go to taxes, so why do I need $170 million)? That is just too much money. What would I do with it? One thing is for sure, I wouldn't be stupid like some who have blown their good fortune. Whatever I don't use on friends/family/charity, which I'm assuming would still be a cool $50-100 million, would just go into the bank and I would continue working. Simple as that. Interactive Blog Alert!!!: What would you do with the Powerball jackpot?

Familiarity and other thoughts

This last weekend I got an opportunity to go home to Algona. It was a nice weekend. Saw Mom and Dad and the dog (who was way excited to see me by the way), ate some homecooked meals and took a few back to mtown with me, watched the Hawkeyes win a big one on the road, and caught up with some hometown friends to see a movie. A pretty good weekend.

About my hometown: I made a bet with a high school friend once that we both remember and will continue to remember that before I'm 50 years old, I will live in Algona. If I lose, I take her and her husband on a cruise with me and my future wife. If I win, they do the same for me. I'm becoming more and more okay with the idea that I may lose this bet. I just get a different feeling and a different sense of myself when I go back home. I'm not saying I'm not happy where I'm at, but I get an easy feeling, one that is very confident when I'm at home. I know everyone and everyone knows me. My mom thought that she was with a movie star when I went to Hy-Vee with her for breakfast on Saturday morning. It is just my kind of place. I do have one goal for myself before I move back someday, actually two. First, have my guidance counseling license and secondly, be married. A-town is not the best place to move when you are single and find someone.

A couple other thoughts. The baseball playoffs are going on now and I'm disliking it. First, I don't have a lot of time with school and volleyball (which ends for me this week) but I also HATE the White Sox and the Cardinals. I know damn well too that those will be the two teams in the World Series together...GREAT! I won't do it tonight, but soon I need to do another picks and pans blog. Lots of new music/movies/fall tv shows to discuss. Finally, I just starting getting Newsweek, got it through a fundraiser from L-C that one of the senior girls sent me. I think I'm going to enjoy having this. A couple real good articles this time around. I was intrigued by the Cover article on Mormonism and its growth over the last several years. Most certainly an interesting religion. They have some very interesting points and I like how they dont mix in politics too much with their faith, but then I read something like the following quote: "LDS doctrine states 'as man is, God once was; as God is, man may be.'" They actually believe that we in the afterlife will become gods also? Huh? Also that Jesus made a visit to the Americas post resurrection? Makes you wonder that if Joseph Smith (the founder) were alive today and had started this new religion by single-handedly translating plates buried near his house from "reformed Egyptian" into English, how would he be treated? Would he have been another David Koresch and the Branch Divideans? The other article that intrigued me was George Will's "Last Word" column where he rips Bush (Will is a Conservative by the way) a new one for not even coming close to the normal Conservative ideals. I see where Will is coming from, but if Bush isn't living up to those ideals and most certainly isn't living up to the Democratic/Liberal ideals, who is Bush actually serving here? Him and his buddies is probably the correct answer here. Well, gotta go. Later all.

Guess who's back? Back Again.

Wow folks, it has been a long time. Things are going well here. This weekend happened to be overally pretty, pretty, pretty good. The Hawkeyes won, my Fantasy football team stomped a good friend of mine's team, and Curb Your Enthusiasm tonight on HBO was very funny. I went into school today too and accomplished close to everything I wanted to.

Therein lies my blog topic tonight. It just seems like I can never get caught up. I need a week of no school, no practice, no games for me to grade everything and plan ahead a bit. That week isn't coming any time soon though. Tis the life of a teacher. I really enjoy what I do overall, but I definately see where burnout happens. Maybe I'm not "grown-up" enough yet, but it really bugs me that it seems like I have NO time for myself right now. I check, I plan, I teach, I coach, I check, I plan...the cycle goes on and on. I don't know how those with families do it. But, I would like to meet someone and begin working my way towards a family and I don't have any time to really meet anyone to do so. I think this is the definition of a "vicious cycle." Enough complaining for now, I don't mean to come off as a "debbie downer" type person.

Other school news, it was homecoming this past week and twice my car was saran-wrapped and had little messages window-painted on. All in good fun. We also had a breakout of the whooping cough. What shocked me is that we didn't even cancel school. Usually that is the first step when a number larger than 1 have been confirmed. I had a couple of these kids in my classes, so following directions I was on some antibiotic last week. Made my stomach somewhat unsettled all week too. Thankfully that is over with. I wish I knew more or had some really funny stories, or something really cool/interesting that has happened to me that I could share but I don't. I guess, one thing is that I was asked tonight to be a groomsman in a good friend's wedding this next summer. That should be exciting. I'm targeting this wedding as THE ONE that I will have a date to. Target date, July 29, so keep your eyes and ears open for me ;). One last thing: I promise that I will try to keep this updated more often. Especially now that volleyball season is winding down and I'm starting to settle into my new surroundings/job a little more. Later