Well, for the first time since this move project started up, I began to have my first twinges of worry. I woke up yesterday morning trying to figure out what I was forgetting. Before yesterday, I hadn't been able to get worked up over it. It was coming, and I know there will be small things that will be missed, and we'll be in a panic to get them fixed. I've seen too many rollouts to know that won't happen.
My first thought was "Great, just three more working days (for me. Yeah vacation!) before the cutover and NOW I'm starting to feel the nervousness?" I hate to say it, but it cast a sour note over the whole holiday for me.
Of course I didn't feel that way upon waking up today. Today it was back to the grindstone. I woke up tired with way too much to do, and no energy to get started. That's more like it. That's what my days have been like.
Of course, maybe I am wrong about what I was feeling on Monday morning. Maybe I was just hungover from too much partying on Sunday night, (We had friends staying overnight, so there was no driving.) and the alcohol had given me nightmares. Yeah, that's it.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Say "Cheese"
The other day while reading a post on Amy's blog, I happened upon the word "cheese", mentioned as a drug. Like Jenny, I thought it a marvelous joke to lighten the mood.
This morning while listening to KERA, the local NPR affiliate, I heard a story about a drug being offered to DISD students. The drug was a mixture of heroin and Tylenol PM. This mixture is called cheese.
I'm not laughing any more. In my dealing with youth, I cannot recall ever having come across this term. Usually, we talk about alcohol, or pot. Suddenly, I feel so uninformed.
This morning while listening to KERA, the local NPR affiliate, I heard a story about a drug being offered to DISD students. The drug was a mixture of heroin and Tylenol PM. This mixture is called cheese.
I'm not laughing any more. In my dealing with youth, I cannot recall ever having come across this term. Usually, we talk about alcohol, or pot. Suddenly, I feel so uninformed.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
New Office
I finally got to go over to the new office yesterday. Here are a couple of pictures of the current place.
And here are a couple of the new place.
Update: 2007-05-25 07:14:00 - Seems like I did something to cause the images to disappear. I think these are the same ones.
And here are a couple of the new place.
Update: 2007-05-25 07:14:00 - Seems like I did something to cause the images to disappear. I think these are the same ones.
Done
I'm walking my son to school.
He forgot his backpack
And his conduct sheet,
Which I must sign.
When we get to school
I can feel it in the air
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Passing parents, teachers, and students,
their body language whispers
Done. Out of here.
Free.
"I won't have to help them!"
"No more late nights!"
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Winding roads becon
For new young explorers.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
The pool will soon open
So swim, play, or dive in.
Done. Out of here.
Free
Excitement is building,
It's on the move.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Turning towards the walk home,
the morning storm is retreating.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
The feeling follows
As I cross the road.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
And I wonder, if perhaps
The feeling that is following
Has nothing to do
With school's summer break.
He forgot his backpack
And his conduct sheet,
Which I must sign.
When we get to school
I can feel it in the air
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Passing parents, teachers, and students,
their body language whispers
Done. Out of here.
Free.
"I won't have to help them!"
"No more late nights!"
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Winding roads becon
For new young explorers.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
The pool will soon open
So swim, play, or dive in.
Done. Out of here.
Free
Excitement is building,
It's on the move.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
Turning towards the walk home,
the morning storm is retreating.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
The feeling follows
As I cross the road.
Done. Out of here.
Free.
And I wonder, if perhaps
The feeling that is following
Has nothing to do
With school's summer break.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Two Don Haywards
While I know that there are some bloggers that have a secret identity, blogging under their own name, and a pseudonym, that's not what the title means.
No, if you look to your left just a bit (These instructions are for those not reading in an aggregator . If you're reading via an aggregator, you should still be able to follow along even without the visual clues.) Under the Contributors section, you will see Don Hayward listed twice. No, this is not a bug in Blogger. In fact, it's a remnant of the fact that I got this blog before Google bought Blogger and Blogspot. I started this blog, logging in with my personal email address. While I have continued to do so, I have also added a Gmail account which I use, mostly, for Google Talk. I have decided to add that email as a contributor, so that I don't need to log out of the Gmail interface in order to post to my blog.
So, no Blogger's not broken. And, no, you haven't caught on to me living a dual blogger life. I do have a second blog page, but it is setup as a private page, and I haven't shared it with anyone. It was a staging area for here, with it's only entry being an early edition of The Circle.
No, if you look to your left just a bit (These instructions are for those not reading in an aggregator . If you're reading via an aggregator, you should still be able to follow along even without the visual clues.) Under the Contributors section, you will see Don Hayward listed twice. No, this is not a bug in Blogger. In fact, it's a remnant of the fact that I got this blog before Google bought Blogger and Blogspot. I started this blog, logging in with my personal email address. While I have continued to do so, I have also added a Gmail account which I use, mostly, for Google Talk. I have decided to add that email as a contributor, so that I don't need to log out of the Gmail interface in order to post to my blog.
So, no Blogger's not broken. And, no, you haven't caught on to me living a dual blogger life. I do have a second blog page, but it is setup as a private page, and I haven't shared it with anyone. It was a staging area for here, with it's only entry being an early edition of The Circle.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Absent
I could say that I haven't blogged in a while because I was recovering from the bad weather, or just a bout of Writers (Bloggers?) Block. Truth be told, it's been a combination of me being very busy, and very lazy.
Yesterday was my wife's birthday, and she took her car in to the dealership for it's 30,000 mile service. The dealership is near my work, so she took my car to run her errands. We picked up her car after work, dropped it off at my office, and then took my car to go out to her birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe (She felt like having happy kids at her birthday dinner). On the way home, we picked up her car. We made it 5 miles total drive from the dealership, including the layover at my office, when the "Check Engine" light came on. As the service department was already closed, we just dropped it off overnight, and began trying to figure out the logistics for today.
So after an hour at the dealership and rental company today, I am currently driving a Mercury Mariner. It's not bad, but I feel like I'm driving on a large stack of telephone books. I'm used to cars much lower to the ground. Of course I also have my car with me, so I have the joy of driving back out here this evening to pick up the rental after driving mine home.
Yesterday was my wife's birthday, and she took her car in to the dealership for it's 30,000 mile service. The dealership is near my work, so she took my car to run her errands. We picked up her car after work, dropped it off at my office, and then took my car to go out to her birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe (She felt like having happy kids at her birthday dinner). On the way home, we picked up her car. We made it 5 miles total drive from the dealership, including the layover at my office, when the "Check Engine" light came on. As the service department was already closed, we just dropped it off overnight, and began trying to figure out the logistics for today.
So after an hour at the dealership and rental company today, I am currently driving a Mercury Mariner. It's not bad, but I feel like I'm driving on a large stack of telephone books. I'm used to cars much lower to the ground. Of course I also have my car with me, so I have the joy of driving back out here this evening to pick up the rental after driving mine home.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
SDC
Whew! I have just come home from a weekend Spirituality Development Conference, also known as SDC. SDC is designed for Youth in my church, primarily those who are members of the YRUU(Young Religious Unitarian Universalists). This was kind of a last minute thing for me. When we found out the date, the other adviser could not attend, because he was going to be out of town, and I was previously unavailable. When I bacame available, I did not follow up, because I presumed that he had found someone else to go.
He hadn't. I got the notice on the date of the "deadline" and signed up right away. I put that in quotes because I know of people that signed up the day before the event, almost a week after I did.
On Friday of last week, I was thinking that I should probably ditch, but I couldn't figure out how, since I was the driver. I'm glad that I didn't. The first thing that they had us do was to write the stresses of our everyday lives on a baggage tag (ie this was the baggage that we were bringing with us) and they had us check them. For all that it was a simple mental trick, it was very effective. As we were doing introductions, we were asked to list a high and a low from the past week. My high was checking my baggage. This got a laugh from the whole room.
So what do you do at SDC? SDC isn't about increasing your own spirituality, but about teaching you to lead worships yourselves. Personal spiritual growth will likely come as a side effect of leading worships, but this conference didn't generate that growth directly. That said, I helped lead 2 worships, and participated in 6.
SDC is not a rally. It is much, much more about the work. Even so, we do have free time. Before sessions start in the morning, over meals, and during the infrequent breaks, or while walking back from the one location or another around the retreat center. And then there were the Ice Breaker games. Lot's of time to get to know each other, or to reacquaint yourself with each other. And of course attending the sessions did not preclude cuddle puddles from forming in the evening.
Also, unlike a rally, there were showers. We were ALL thankful for that. And the camp food was remarkable. My only regret, as far as the food went, was that I hadn't elected a vegetarian menu for myself. While not a vegetarian myself, I am told that the vegetarian meals that the chef at the retreat center cooks are fabulous. I was actually envious of their meals a couple of times. Don't get me wrong, the omnivore meals were great too. Actually, the worst part was sleeping in a bunk bed in a camp dorm. The mattresses were thin, and they creaked every time someone rolled over.
So, what do 12 youth and 8 adults do for worships, when some are pagan, some agnostic, many are atheist, and many were seeking answers? Some of the worships turned inside, seeking to find understanding of and from our own nature. Most focused on the community, on sharing, on interconnectedness. Most of these worships were circle worships, which helped to strengthen the sense of community, by having everyone see each others face during the worship, and encouraging everyone to participate and share.
I'm glad I didn't ditch. It was fun.
He hadn't. I got the notice on the date of the "deadline" and signed up right away. I put that in quotes because I know of people that signed up the day before the event, almost a week after I did.
On Friday of last week, I was thinking that I should probably ditch, but I couldn't figure out how, since I was the driver. I'm glad that I didn't. The first thing that they had us do was to write the stresses of our everyday lives on a baggage tag (ie this was the baggage that we were bringing with us) and they had us check them. For all that it was a simple mental trick, it was very effective. As we were doing introductions, we were asked to list a high and a low from the past week. My high was checking my baggage. This got a laugh from the whole room.
So what do you do at SDC? SDC isn't about increasing your own spirituality, but about teaching you to lead worships yourselves. Personal spiritual growth will likely come as a side effect of leading worships, but this conference didn't generate that growth directly. That said, I helped lead 2 worships, and participated in 6.
SDC is not a rally. It is much, much more about the work. Even so, we do have free time. Before sessions start in the morning, over meals, and during the infrequent breaks, or while walking back from the one location or another around the retreat center. And then there were the Ice Breaker games. Lot's of time to get to know each other, or to reacquaint yourself with each other. And of course attending the sessions did not preclude cuddle puddles from forming in the evening.
Also, unlike a rally, there were showers. We were ALL thankful for that. And the camp food was remarkable. My only regret, as far as the food went, was that I hadn't elected a vegetarian menu for myself. While not a vegetarian myself, I am told that the vegetarian meals that the chef at the retreat center cooks are fabulous. I was actually envious of their meals a couple of times. Don't get me wrong, the omnivore meals were great too. Actually, the worst part was sleeping in a bunk bed in a camp dorm. The mattresses were thin, and they creaked every time someone rolled over.
So, what do 12 youth and 8 adults do for worships, when some are pagan, some agnostic, many are atheist, and many were seeking answers? Some of the worships turned inside, seeking to find understanding of and from our own nature. Most focused on the community, on sharing, on interconnectedness. Most of these worships were circle worships, which helped to strengthen the sense of community, by having everyone see each others face during the worship, and encouraging everyone to participate and share.
I'm glad I didn't ditch. It was fun.
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