Wednesday, August 06, 2008

More on my shiny new life.

I was thinking last month about all the fine people I know at my old school who went back to work today. They reported at about 7:15 or so, and on the 12th, the kids show up. They'll have five classes each of about 30 kids. If I had not resigned, I would have spent today making 5 seating charts and writing out introductory letters to parents, writing 2 weeks worth of lesson plans, and trying to arrange my room to meet all the rules:
  • Make sure your content standards are posted where students can see them.
  • Make sure your class rules are written in font that can be easily read by non-readers.
  • Make sure all the tables (yes, table, not desks) are arranged in a way that kids can see the white board, AND the smart board, AND the television.
  • Format my lessons so that the CPS system is used (with the smart board) EVERY DAY.
A month ago, when I was thinking about this, I was wondering I was wondering if I'd miss it.

So this is how my day went, instead:

I have a morning run now on most days at 6 am. Today at 7:15 I took my kid to the same school where I used to work for cross country practice, but after the 12th, I won't do that any more.

Then I went home, showered, made myself a latte and egg-beater omelet, then drove my car to a shady spot not far from my house, and then pulled my bike out of the back and commuted downtown. It was about an 11 or 12 mile commute, and I got there early, time enough to look over charts and such for the day.



My commute is about 40 minutes. It's a flat dedicated bike trail along the river. Then I turn in and head down a few nearly deserted side streets, past a coffee shop, and then at the counseling center, park the bike in a storage room, and change out of my shorts. Most of the people downtown are used to cyclists and drive pretty slowly there anyway.

Today I had a full day of clients and it was definitely challenging, but not the kind of challenging where you take lots of deep breaths to avoid throwing things at people; it was more the problem-solving kind of challenging.

At the end of my day, I got home later than I used to, but again: that commute, along the river, which provided a lovely 40 minute buffer between work and home.

Is this my new life? Well, I'll take it, thank you very much.

...

15 comments:

  1. I wish I lived in New Mexico near you guys. You make everything you do sound fun and exciting. At this point in time I don't know any other couple that are enjoying life more than you guys.

    Congrats.

    I WANT A SHINY NEW LIFE TOO!!! WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

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  2. Congrats on fully embracing the "new"!

    Also, love the picture.

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  3. You had me at Egg Beaters...lol
    Sounds lovely.
    Congrats on enjoying yourself.

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  4. How nice you can ride your bike to work! Being able to skip the car commute is such a blessing. I've been able to walk to work since we moved last summer and you just can't put a price on that sort of thing.

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  5. Sounds lovely and sane.

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  6. I like the sounds of the shiny new life!!

    Love the bike ride to and from work - awesome.

    Em

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  7. That is just the best thing ever. Congratulations again :)

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  8. What a difference-woa! that is so awesome..

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  9. Sounds like my idea of a good day. I think you're going to be much happier.

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  10. Sweeeeet!
    Great photos!

    I helped my husband set up his classroom a couple of days ago. It was great to be on the "other side" while teachers scramble and do their "have-tos".
    I too like the fact that I can say "no" to meetings and such and still get paid for what I like doing! :-)

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  11. Awesome! I love reading about the new. It would be nice to have some time between work and home to transition (so to speak)

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  12. Anonymous9:53 AM

    You seem so much happier :)

    The pics are beautiful!!

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  13. The commute sounds fabulous! We are having a major uproar here, people don't want to share the roads with cyclists :( Its gone so far as one of the lccal tris was denied their permit for the bike course, that they applied for in FEBRUARY.

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  14. Teaching. Damn it. I don't want to go back. Don't make me go back.

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  15. You deserve it!

    I think the best thing about your day/life is that you APPRECIATE that it's good.

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