Whoa! It's been almost three months since I last blogged. Wow! What does it mean? Am I super busy? Am I just posting status updates on Facebook instead? Weird.

What would you like me to babble about?

A Bit O' Banff

Slow Going

So, I've been building my deck with my dad. I've been doing more constructing than you might aspect (if you know me), but it's been satisfying and exhausting. The super heat and humidity of the past two weeks were also our constant companion. Here are some photos:



Ta-Da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lil' Bro's Wedding

Here are a few pictures from the wedding on June 11, 2010:

Piles

I guess I come off as an organized person. You know, like someone who would wear out a labeling machine or something. And sure, I'm compulsive. I'm the first to own up to that. I'm very organized at school. At home, not so much. My office has piles of stuff. The top of my microwave collects mail and coupons that I eventually throw away after their expiration date. I have too many magazines, books, and plants laying around. hmmmm.... anyone else smell a summer project?

Movie of the Day: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Awesome. In Swedish. Not for the faint of heart.

You Make a Good Point

I was texting my new friend Kamil the other day and he wrote "Don't volunteer to suffer." WOW! It was so poignant! I think I "volunteer to suffer" frequently, or at least "to be uncomfortable." Do I have a martyr complex? Maybe. Did I take his advice? Yes. Bullet dodged.

Movie of the Day: Boy A. Such a good movie. I own it if you want to borrow it.

Really Random Wednesdays!

• I think it's funny when I own a book for literally years and haven't read it and then suddenly decide to read it and finish the book in two days. I feel like I need to be "ready" for a book sometimes. I can be intrigued by it, but just need the right mood or soil for it's idea or something. This happens over and over again to me.
• Tomorrow, I get to be an extra in a zombie movie. How cool is that?
• I have to do a little head shake when I think about how it's almost June. Amazing!
• I've started packing up my classroom. 5 full boxes and there's more to do. I can just picture the last day of school: I have one pen and 35 pencils. That's it in the room that doesn't fall in the desk category. Too funny.

How's that for random?

Movie of the Day: Iron Man. I finally saw the first one. Now I can see the sequel!

New Job

Some of you may know that Duluth is reassigning all of it's 6th grade through 12th grade teachers right now. The process isn't over, but many of us know where we will be next year. In fact, we are having staff meetings at our new sites today.

It's a little nerve-racking, actually. I do not know my new boss. I know all of my new math department, though. And, some of my friends from years gone by will be around again, which is great!

My current boss, a great guy, just sent the staff a peptalk email about using our leadership training skills from the past few years to help us through this transition. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Movie of the Day: One Fine Day.

Long Time, No See (or Read)

Sorry. I have no excuse. Here are a few things on my mind lately:

• I know the state of my life is in unrest when I empty my dishwasher one meal's worth at a time and start using spoons in place of knives.
• I'm wearing down, when I start thinking it's a good idea to bring a tape measure to see if my date's lied about his height.
• I'm so lucky to have arrived home BEFORE the Icelandic volcano. My students don't agree.
• I think I want to start a Kidney Walk team in honor of my friend Nate. What to call it? What to call it?
• My school is being closed for remodeling for a year and all the teachers are getting to reselect their jobs based on seniority. I have to decide where to go. Eek.
  

Movie of the Day: Young Victoria. SUCH a good movie!!!!! She's my new favorite queen!

Spring, Sprang, Sprung, Recoil

Spring usually arrives in Duluth in about May. Usually. This year, it decided to visit for a bit in mid-March. Everyone was happy, but skeptical. "What the heck? It's so warm." 90% of the snow melted. The only stuff left is under a pile of dirt and insulated. That's it!

So, when the warm temperatures realized just what they were doing and that they were extremely early, they decided to hightail it out of here for a little while. That's fine. If it snows again, which it may, it won't last very long.

On my way to choir this week, I heard the creek water rushing and decided to take a few pictures for my friends out of town. See above.

Movie of the Day: Hot Fuzz. Goofy movie.

Skate Your Way to April

So, evidently, April's weather has decided to show up in Duluth a month early. This is mostly a great thing. What's weird is that all of the snow that is melting is then freezing overnight (evidently April Weather has nights off). While the streets are mostly dry, yards, some sidewalks, and driveways are a smooth, shiny ice. If you are the skating type, hit the yard. If you're the skiing type, I'm sorry, but you'll have to switch to skates. Puddle-jumping is just around the corner.

Movie of the Day: Emma (BBC version). Mr. Knightley is hot. He'd melt that ice....

Stream for the Day

I haven't blogged in a while, so I think instead of trying to come up with a topic, I'll just babble for a bit.....I reserved a hotel room for my trip to London and even got a good deal...I've had a headache since yesterday afternoon and I blame the change in weather...I had a conversation about sodium in food last Sunday and now I'm paranoid about it....The snow on my driveway from the Christmas storm is finally gone...I joined Netflix, so I won't be out in public much any more....I sent a package overseas and it STILL hasn't arrived after 4.5 months...I could really go for a day off...I haven't xeroxed the quiz for today, so the machine better be working!...I was told to arrive at my meeting today thirsty, how very odd....

Movie of the Day: New York, I Love You! a response to Paris, Je T'aime. I liked both movies.

In Honor of Nate

I'm sorry I haven't blogged much lately. Things have been rather emotional in the World of Becca as of late. Above you will see a picture of me with my dear friends Nate and Dave. This is the first picture of me that I've ever put on my blog and I think Nate would be proud.

You see, Nate passed away last Saturday, unexpectedly, at the age of 36. The whole past week has been a rollercoaster of happy and sad thoughts of Nate. He was brilliant, funny, friendly and inclusive to everyone. He couldn't understand why I didn't put heaps of pictures on my blog or why I didn't invite every last friend to stay at my house during our 10-year-reunion.

He stayed at my house that weekend and I remember him talking on the phone with Claire (his future wife), sitting on Brighton Beach doing homework (quizzing me with random questions that I failed), and getting me to organize the troops to hang out.

When I went to visit Claire and Nate in Paris, he asked me to bring Cap'n Crunch, peanut butter and tortillas, if I had room in my suitcase. He rationed the Cap'n Crunch that I delivered. We were both obsessed with checking our email and staying connected with friends and we both proof-read our emails before sending them.

I remember we both got our wisdom teeth out the summer of 1992. His dentist didn't tell him to avoid straws, so he was healing slower than I was and his surgery was a day or two before mine. I remember he took a little cooler packed with ice with him to the Blues Fest. He made things happen.

I miss my dear friend and I cannot begin to imagine how his family, wife, and two small kids are feeling right now. I just hope that they know that Nate was loved by everyone who met him.

Okay, We Can DOOOO This.

I have one week before receiving the rest of my Christmas vacation. Yes, Duluth likes to cut the December break short and give us 4 days tacked on to Presidents' Day. It's nice now, stressful for busy folks in December.

So, what will Becca be doing with her week off? I'm not sure. I know 7 teachers going to Mexico. I was even invited along, but my passport is away on "renewal" and I don't think it'll return in time. Bummer.

I will, therefore, look for fun things to do around here unless I'm invited to some exotic domestic locale.

Movie of the Day: Airplane! Saw it for the first time today. I liked it.

Finals

Do you remember that feeling in your gut when you were about to take a really important final exam? Maybe everything hinged on your performance or maybe you're just a perfectionist who always wants to ace things. Maybe you were very relaxed and just figured what will be will be.

I was the stress out until I'm shaking kind of final exam taker. Okay, maybe I wasn't QUITE shaking, but my knee was bouncing and my hands were cold (I lose circulation when I'm nervous.).

I can empathize with my students who are taking finals today, but many of them aren't like Student Becca. Many of them have calculated their grades and decided "good enough" is "good enough." That drives Teacher Becca CRAZY. I don't know why exactly. Is it because I think they're cutting themselves short? Is it because Student Becca is envious of their chill-ness? I don't know.

Either way, it's interesting to watch.

Then, the correcting begins.

Movie of the Day: Inglorious Bastards. Church ladies reading this, pass on this one.

Go Bananas!

Okay, so I have no idea where I heard about this first. I watched a video on YouTube, but there is no way I would have found it on my own, so someone suggested it to me. Suggester, I apologize for forgetting your identity.

What the heck are you talking about Becca?

Bananas. I've been opening them incorrectly pretty much my entire banana-eating life.

Tuesday, I noticed a colleague trying to open her banana with her molars. Maybe her wisdom teeth. I looked up, shocked. Suddenly I remembered the YouTube video on "how to open a banana".

So, are you ready for a paradigm shift? Hold the "top" of the banana in one hand. Open the "bottom" of the banana. It opens right away. No gnashing of teeth (ha ha) or using a knife. No mess on your fingers or under your finger nails.

Maybe we aren't as evolved as we think, but we're catching up!

Movie of the Day: Gorillas in the Mist

Christmas Snow

My buddy Nate always suggests I add a few photos to spice up my blog. So, here is a glimpse of my Christmas Day. The location is my folks' house. The orange thing is a prism for the absent sunshine.


Anyone for a dinner on the deck?


My fancy boots. I wore them Christmas Eve with a long skirt. Walked around the grocery store like that. (Yes, I changed into classier shoes for church).


Movie of the Day: Home Alone. That guy knew how to shovel.

New Year's Resolutions

Our local Sunday paper had an article on the New Year's Resolutions of some of our local government officials, business leaders, or whomever they decided was important around here. I scanned the article, reading the ones of my friends or people I've heard of in the past.

BORING!!!!!!!!!! Sure, one person wants to run a 5K every month and one was about locally grown food. The rest was bland. Cliche. Lose 10 pounds. Yep, heard that one before.

I don't even think I want to hear "Enjoy more sunsets" (puke) or "Spend more time with the kids." That's a "given" in my book. I want to hear things like "Floss enough so I don't get yelled at by my dentist or bleed all over the hygienist" or "Quit stealing my neighbor's good magazines." Put a little thought into it.

You might be asking yourself, "Self, what did Becca resolve to do?" My answer is kind of lame, but I thought of it before reading the paper. My resolution is to make more interesting lunches for work. I always pack my lunch and many days it's the same D@%^ thing. So, I'm going to try to be more interesting.

No, it's not on the level of "I will quit making out with my best friend's uncle's cousin's son," but it's better than stating the obvious that you will lose the same 10 pounds you resolved to lose last year.

Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise

Yo

Greetings, Salutations, and Happy New Year! How the heck are ya?

I survived the first day back at school. The kids were super excited to talk to each other and not so excited about radical expressions (the math not things like "DUDE!"). Oh well. We'll all get into the swing of things soon.

I saw two great movies in the theater in the past 3 days: Blindside and Sherlock Holmes. They have completely different "speeds" to them, but both were great.

Did any of you see any good movies?