coming UP for AiR

Two days down...178 to go.

After all the craziness and worry ("will the children like it? will they like me? what about the parents-what will they think?" etc. etc.) getting my classroom together, I'm happy to report that I am alive. I have a class of 19 second graders that, so far, are happy to see me in the morning.

Their journal topic today was, "What do you want to learn in Second Grade?"

One boy wrote: "I want to discover more about this class. I want to learn more about you."

Now I remember why I'm doing this.

knpv

I Miss Amsterdam

One city I would like to visit again is Amsterdam. When I go back, I want to see the KNPV Dogs in action.

"KNPV" stands for "Koninklijke Nederlandse Politiehond Vereniging" or "Royal Dutch Police Dog Association"

Maybe my next dog will have to be a Dutch Shepherd. Awesome dogs!

Back to School

Just found out a few days ago that my new classroom will be where the teacher's lounge is (well, was). Spent two days simply moving furniture and decades of stuff. Worked 12 hours yesterday and 10 hours today and I don't even know what the kids will be doing come Monday. Oy. Such is life; feast or famine. Somehow, in the midst of this clutter clear nightmare I got myself on the ballot running for Union rep, too.

At least a colleague kindly laminated my lunch cards (one thing about teachers, they love to laminate everything!). The laminator is still in my room, so it's been one big party. While I'm frantically scrambling to decorate my walls, I enviously watch as my fellow teachers laminate name tags, posters, birthday graphs, welcome signs, little, cut out paper apples...all laminated to glossy perfection...sigh. One day, I, too, shall laminate.

Setting up room 4:

It's a mess, still and Roman really wasn't much help...another couple of 10 hour days and I should be ready to go Monday.

Real Men Ask for Directions

Bikram Yoga - Healing or Simply Hell?

I've been practicing various styles of yoga (Bikram, Iyengar, Ashtanga, 'Flow') for ten years now. I kind of slacked off during the school year (ok, not kind of, I did slack off) but started up again a few weeks ago. A studio near my house was having a special: $29 for a month of unlimited yoga. Bikram yoga is hot yoga. This studio cranks up the room to 105 degrees. The purpose of this is to warm your muscles to prevent injury and detox your system. I've done Bikram before, but only at 90 degrees. What is 15 more? Well, I tell you, it's hell.

After my first class, I lost one pound of sweat. I'm not sure that's a good thing? I couldn't do all the postures - not because I was too stiff (which played a part, I admit), but because I felt like I was going to have a minor stroke. My t shirt was drenched in the first ten minutes; sweat raining on my yoga mat. Then there was the smell. Suffice to say, it was quite foul. While doing triangle pose, I was amazed that my wrists were sweating. The air was searing and I found no relief breathing. Surely, I was dying, but I managed to power through thinking, "I am not attached to this pain, this is good for me, I am not attached to this pain..."

At least I wasn't alone in my misery (yes, I am one of those people who takes comfort in other people's misery). People were constantly going to the bathroom to rinse their faces or vomit. I thought, "...after this next person comes back, I'm going." At that moment, the owner of the studio, who was participating in class, announced, "If one more person goes to the bathroom!!! It's like a f*c&!$g highway in here!!" Ohhhh...K, guess not!

At the end of class, the instructor opened the window two inches and cool air never felt so good. A woman leaving class took a deep breath and announced, "THAT is the smell of feeling good!" WTF? I had to reply, "Are you out of your friggin mind?! THAT is the smell of dog anal glands and dirty socks- only worse!!!" Actually, I really said, "Ummm, no, the smell is, well...bad." "No, no..." she insisted, "It's the smell of feeling good," I decided not to argue with a woman high on the scent of dog anal glands and dirty socks. Obviously, there was not going to be a connection. I went home, rang out my wet clothes and had a nice Thai dinner. I do admit my body felt good but my mind? Not so much. Wonder why?

So, what do I do after that so not yoga experience? Well, I'm going back tonight, of course. Hopefully, there will be no swearing. I have a nice bottle of cab waiting so I can re-tox afterwards. Yoga is about balance, after all.

Snakes In A Living Room

OK, I admit it, I really liked the movie Snakes on a Plane.

In fact, it was after that movie that I decided I really wanted a snake...or, even, a snake tattoo. I was born in the year of the Snake, so that must be why I have always had a fascination with them. Unlike the tumultuous relationship I have with spiders. You simply can't trust someone with eight eyes and don't get me started on the legs and dietary habits.

So, I have a couple of corn snakes and, hopefully, soon I'll have several corn snake babies.

I do like taking my corns out and letting them slither around my arms, neck and couch.

BUT, one thing you MUST do with your corn is keep the lid of his terrarium locked. Something I neglected to do last night. I was awoken at midnight by Erik yelling, "Mom, the snakes are OUT!!!" If that doesn't wake one up, I don't know what will. Cobb was happily cruising the perimeter of the living room. doG only knows how long he had been out. I guess it was good Erik was up doing hisspace and AIM and happened to look down and see Cobb sliding by.

Temperament Test continued...

Proof that we actually did it can be found here.

Roman is on page 2, Tikka page 3. I wish the photographer got more pics of the dogs withOUT me in them! Now, which pics to buy?

Introducing...

Tikka, TT

and...Roman, TT

We finally got our first titles! TT stands for Temperament Test and is issued by the American Temperament Test Society.

Each dog had to pass 10 subtests that presented the dogs with visual, auditory and tactile stimuli along with neutral, friendly and threatening situations. Both dogs passed with flying colors. Roman had absolutely no reaction to the gun shot test; in fact, he nonchalantly lifted his leg to pee when the shots were fired. He put himself between me and the "threatening stranger", alerted when the stranger came running at us, but didn't move from his post. The evaluator asked me if this dog was worked in obedience since he was in 'obedience mode' the whole time (walking on my left, looking to me, even though I couldn't give him commands or talk to him in any way). He also said I should consider doing therapy work with him, as Roman scored high on friendliness and had "excellent people skills." (sounds like a job application)

Tikka did surprisingly well, too. She did take the opportunity to take a dump at the friendly stranger station (nothing like a dog to keep you humble), but she stood her ground at the threatening stranger though appeared quite unimpressed (the guy was dressed like a bum, walked like a drunk, waved a stick and yelled incoherently-like a lot of people we see on on our walks to Moscone Park or certain family members). Several dogs that were tested panicked and tried to get away from the stranger, hide behind the handler, or refused to walk over the grating. This is an automatic failure.

Needless to say, my bozos made their mama proud.

Next, the CGC, Rally, Novice and Agility. My cousin said I had too much time on my hands (between all the dog shows, training, fish shows and breeding, it's been a busy summer); Suzy, I tell you, I don't have enough!