bricks

I only had to run 3 miles yesterday. which you think would be a piece of cake. Well, with the previous day's hill workout combined with 20 minutes on the trainer yesterday morning, my legs felt like bricks! 20 minutes doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was pretty much the first time my butt has been on a bike since October, and also I pushed it pretty hard in the middle of the ride. I'm debating whether or not to hop on again, but I have a tempo run this afternoon so I think I'm going to not risk having brick legs again...

overwhelmed...

So on my way home from the library and a run earlier this evening, Sammy called me and asked me to pick up some broccoli and some chips. I stopped at Econo, and even though Farmer Q's opened yesterday, we NEEDED some fruit and stuff for our lunches. I meandered through the produce section and loaded up a basket, topping it off with a giant mango lemonade to keep in my car for the next couple of days (I love living in the cold). I needed to walk through the grocery section to get to the checkout. I think I randomly walked down the cookie/cracker aisle. Now, normally, I don't shop at Econo, normally I go to SuperOne, which is quite a bit cheaper. The shelves at Econo are much taller, a regular sized person cannot see over them. As I walked down the aisle with my produce laden basket, I literally stopped and gave the shelves a good once over. I couldn't even count the number of products I saw! All of them in vivid, color packaging, calling out for me to buy them! I was overwhelmed by everything that I saw. Then I stopped looking and thought, "How many different, lab made chemicals are in these boxes?" Now, don't get me wrong. I am NOT an organic eating hippy, however, I am very concerned about what I put into my body.

I jump started my brain and made my way down the rest of the aisle, but I felt pretty proud of what I had in my basket. I also was greatful for the nutrition education that I have had through running, friends in excercise science, and friends who have chosen to educate themselves. I have been fortunate enough to also learn for myself and tie all of those opinions and my own reasearch into my beliefs. But what about those who are not as fortunate as me? I can't imagine not eating healthy, but rather, eating the foods from that aisle on a daily basis. The thought of that is overwhelming....

the good stuff

Remember running the Ridge Street hill in track when it was Taco Tuesday and almost every week, I would loose my tacos at the top of the hill? I took myself back to those days today. Dry pavement, the smell of Sara Lee, Burger King, and McDonald's all mingled together into one glorious, motivating aroma. This time, however, the motivation was not in the form of a food reward at the end. This time, the smell reminded me of how I got to this place. Food had become my vice and I finally have been able to break free. Now that I am free again, I need to remind myself of how lucky I am have come away with a better understanding of myself and what it takes to be truly happy.

Here's to hills...and Sara Lee, Burger King and McDonald's...may they continue to push me until Memorial Day.

Time

What did we do with our time before the Internet? What did we do with our time before television? What did we do with our time before radio?

This is a question that I ask myself on almost a daily basis. Sometimes I feel so frustrated because my students seem so much different than I was at their age. Now, granted, I was a nerd, but still, I still feel that our generation of students was so much different than the young ones I have now. Kids are so caught up in their TV/video game/myspace/facebook that they rarely have time to do a quality job on their homework. My students have such a difficult time picking up a book outside of the school building.

So here is the big question, do we keep our teaching methods the same, or has our society gotten to the point that we are so wired that we need to adapt our ways of teaching learners on this new frontier?

As a younger teacher, I've always prided myself on my ability to use technology, but now I realize that I do not use technology in my teaching. Yes, I have my students type all their writing....but that is about it. Technologies are indeed are a new literacy and our society is changing, whether we like it or not.

This leads me to ponder this question: are we becoming less intelligent or are we gaining a different kind of intelligences? And the biggest question of all: How do we get our students to value the traditional forms of intelligence while still embracing the new forms?

This is all quite mind boggling to me, perhaps because I experience it day in and day out. Plus, what will we be seeing in 5, 10, and 20 year from now? My head is spinning!

I saw this video at a technology conference last year- it is the 2007 update. Even if you've seen if before, I love it. Shift Happens

Shift happens, teach to the change.

following or stalking?

So I have been following quite a few blogs, but didn't want to put any of these blogs in the "My Blog List" on my page unless I have permission from the blog owner. If you want more folks out there to read your blog, leave me a comment and I will add you to my list. I *hear* all of your blogs!

WTF?!

Excuse my language, but why in the world is today's blog of note actually a blog of note?! My blog isn't great, but there are way greater blogs out there. http://chele76.blogspot.com/

Any blog with more than one photo...heck, even ONE photo from http://icanhascheezburger.com/ does not deserve to win. Does ANYONE out there agree with me?!

Disgruntled.

Also tired from parent teacher conferences. And after it is all said and done, I have to go up and time college regionals in Houghton. It never ends.

apologies....

Alright, I've had a couple of people ask what my time was. Let me clarify, first, however.

I won the race because there was maybe 10 women tops in the race. I am proud of the win, but the time was nothing to brag about. I have a long ways to go in order to get back into the shape that I want to be in. My time, for the record was 50 minutes and a handful of seconds. I wasn't even really sure, to be honest and I can't find the results online. I'm shooting for 42ish, so I need to knock more than a minute off of each mile.

I'm sorry for being a sore winner, I know that many people would love to run that time. I guess it is like Sten used to say, if you put forth your best attitude and effort, that is all you can ask for. It is not fair to act bummed out when perhaps somebody you beat gave it there all but just couldn't match up to you.

I hope this post clarified why I was bummed out. :) Time to head to school for a little while; parent-teacher conferences this week!