Step one:

Now thats what I call wort.

Did I ever tell you the story about...

Only the most beloved and honest friends and family will tell me that I am a terrible story teller. I've come to live with it, as it has been said: its not mean, its honest. I feel that with all the visitors I have had and activities that I have mentioned lately, I may have left some things unexplained. I have no real intention of making any of that more clear, but I'm merely warning you that this entry will be a hodgepodge of connections to past entries.

I made mention of a certain summer job opportunity a few weeks ago. Little did I know that it was going to start such a stir among my friends and family. Sorry to report, the position has been filled. I was too late. But at least I didn't look like this guy! I may have a new lucrative hobby however.

I am rather shy when it comes to blogging about alcohol related activities, depending on the views of my readers. But, I am announcing a shift in blog-self-censorship: I'm brewing my own beer! That's my new announcement (sorry Kellie...you can still scream if you want). I have loved beer since I was allowed to drink it (Confession Sidenote: I drank beer once about a month before I turned 21...oops...but if it makes you feel better, the beer was terrible!).

So, I decided to put on hold any desires for a Nintendo Wii so I could rock out with Rock Band. Or ideas about becoming an astronaut (yes, that is a hobby for teachers I hear). My new hobby: homebrewing. It was quite the investment, but my financial advisor was over-ruled by my longing for good tasting beer. No promises that I will actually make good beer for a while, but it will be a step up from the lack of East Coast micro-breweries, and the over-abundance of Euro-beers. I'm looking for a change (no that hasn't been trademarked by Obama yet) and I am looking for a hobby other than needle-point. Who knows, maybe I can make some new homebrew friends. I'll keep you updated on the progress...unfortunately the process takes a while (kinda like me posting to my blog!)

In the meantime, a friend of mine sent me the link to a pretty funny blog that I thought I would share with you...because of its direct connection to how white I am. Some of my favorites: Co-ed Sports, Recycling, Irony, the Sunday Times...classic. If you didn't know, I like to make fun of myself! Enjoy.

Standby for major life-changing purchase announcement!

I'm stuck...again...

So the funny thing about my job, is that its ridiculous! Wanna know why? Oh, you already know. Well, if you didn't hear that DC was waiting for the end-all-of-ice-storms, then you would've been sad to hear that the freezing rain wasn't that big a deal. Apparently it was bad enough for all the teachers in the district to just plain skip work. That's right, I showed up to work on Friday being one of two teachers from the 15 employed at our school. Small school I know, but when no one shows it feels REAL big REAL fast. By the time the bell rang there were 5, and a 6th showed up really late. The good news was several parents acted in the same defensive pattern. The best news being, that we were not required to teach students that weren't ours. I had a pretty calm day, though the admin hated babysitting in the gym I bet (sorry they owe me) because this morning I am sitting in a teacher
training for a web-based math curriculum. Yup. On a Saturday no less. Standby...I may freak soon!

A Happier Note

I'm not sure if you noticed, but the last entry was a little angry. And though this week wasn't any less difficult or stressful than last time I wrote, I did do something fun this week.

Thursday night, I went to my favorite coffee place, to see a concert. If I haven't told you about Ebenezer's, and you don't know about the Service Station in Spokane...let's just say its coffee served with a little Jesus! Its owned by a church (coincidently, one that I have attended a few times lately) and last time I went to their Saturday service, I saw a flyer for Brandon Heath.

Its funny that I think of him related to the Northwest all the times I've seen him, because he's from actually Nashville, but he is a great Christian songwriter/guitarist. He told a lot of the stories behind the songs (including how he found Christ at Malibu...no not CA...I thought about a shout out...but I was doing my best Wallflower act that night squeezed in a corner), he also played a bunch of songs that hadn't been recorded or performed for anyone yet.

Not bad for a Thursday night, but it did make me miss Spokane (ewww...did I just say that?) Alright, back to work...my weekend job of preparing for my weekday job. Speaking of jobs, my roommate sent me this link as a joke...but I don't think they expected me to apply. I'm hoping I hear back from them...because it would be the best summer job of all time!

All in a year's work...

...alright, my first year of teaching isn't even over with and I'm already amazed at the crap I've had to deal with: from paperwork to Human Rejects...I mean Resources, political gesturing from administrators to blanketed "grounds for termination" threats, I can only imagine what is still left to be experienced in teaching. Though this may be a heightened experience because I'm in DC (no I'm not using any performance-enhancing drugs), I see the latest drama as just another surreal feeling.

What is it you ask?: oh, yeah....they're talking about merging our school into another school, effectively closing down our building (the real estate will probably be worth millions...or a billion dollar rich-man-shopping-complex...or a sweet place for somebody's office). Let me start by saying: I will still have a job no matter what. Same teachers, same students, different overcrowded building...this is only a possibility. The consolidation reflects an attempted change in the past poor spending habits in the district. So, our new Chancellor (appointed by the mayor) has plans to shake up a lot of things. Long story short (which I am incapable of pulling off): the Chancellor is a political-economic head of a community-family-child based organization, and it will be hard for her to be liked at her job (sorry, no sympathy from me...I'm a middle school math teacher!)

Why did I tell you all this again? Oh yeah, because all you jerks in the northwest keep getting snow days, and late starts while my "white n nerdy" self was trying to look inconspicuous at a meeting with the Chancellor herself! She showed up to hear community input about pro/cons of consolidating another school over our school. Essentially its a purely business/numbers decision, and teachers-parents-community members tried to pull on some heartstrings. Now I'm just starting to sound negative, but its a little of my honesty. I guess I'm making this sound like a really bad thing everyone should worry about, and its not! Actually, I just wanted a snow day or a nap rather than this big showy meeting during my lunch hour! I guess I'll have to settle with tomorrow being Friday...not the same.

(note: I didn't link to any stories about the DCPS school consolidation plan because the un-biased ones are all on washingtonpost.com but you have to have an account. So feel free to search on your own, or just ask me) And here's another link to go along with my unintentional theme.

The first one from the right is my dad

And the other guys have been enshrined by the bathrooms at the National Portrait Gallery. I've been pretty excited for my dad to visit me this weekend because I knew we'd end up doing something fun like standing in line for the bathroom to see Colbert. Actually we will probably continue to do a few lame tourist things and not look like idiots too much. But thats the best part about having the biggest dork for a dad...you look a little less dumb when he's around. Alright off to do more exciting stuff. I promise no more toilet pictures.

This will scare the neighbors

Since we had spring like weather this week, my roommates and I decided that we should just pretend its summer. So we had a fire in the backyard fire pit and roasted some marshmallows while I smoked my pipe. Both our neighbors came out and were actually quite jealous, not scared. Meg does like her mallows on fire, and Brett just likes to play with fire! It was a fun night. By the way, no comment on the Seahawks game.

Back to school...

and I think I forgot about my New Year's resolution already.

My resolution: to have a social life.

The last 24 hours: about 4 hours of sleep, and about 37 minutes spent outside of my apartment/my classroom. 7 of those walking to and from work. The other 30 spent going on a run. Not part of my resolution...so, take that you over-eager-Resolutioners! (Side note: I only went running because it was 69 degrees outside in frickin' January. I hear you West Coasters are loving the snow! It'll be 72 tomorrow.)

Good start to the new year! I have to admit that the only reason I'm still awake, is because I'm sad that my lesson planning so quickly re-claimed my life. So, I rebelled and watched the BCS Championship (let me be the first blogger to congratulate LSU...except for those of you who knew it was going to happen the moment the match was set), and now that I'm bored of that game, its time for the return of Stewart/Colbert (sadly, no beards).

And as I start to doze (not really, my sleep is still screwed up from staying up late on PST), I figured I could at least wish for you all to have a snow day. Or maybe there will be some brilliant students, who take it upon themselves. In any event, I bet this guy is sleeping better than I am tonight. There you have it...I think I ripped off enough other stuff to make for a pretty lame post! Thanks for still reading this...

The Spirit of Christmas Past

So, as I'm sitting here wishing that winter break was a month, I'm also trying to figure out some way to comment on all the things I did over the last two weeks: seeing my family, seeing friends for the first time in months, sleeping on couches and sharing beds (sorry, no picture of me spooning with my brother). In general, I felt I couldn't have spent my time any better (except for having about 24 more hours in each place I went to see more awesome people).

So, first I would like to apologize to the people I told I would see, and then never did....I feel like such a jerk. Then, I'd like to thank the people who drove me around the Northwest: Mom, Dad, Keija and Northwest Bus Lines. All this driving around, sleeping in different places most nights, and then seeing my good friends Katie and Doss (congrats on getting engaged...actually Doss and Katie are engaged to completely different people, and happened at completely different times...anyways!) it made me think of a time 365 days in the past...in a little place I like to call, Chile.

Last January ('07), I got to take an amazing trip to teach English with a few friends of mine, and I thought about it a lot when I saw a few of them, and then more when I was riding on a stinky bus to nowhere, and then even more when I was celebrating New Years somewhere other than on an airplane. But most of all it just made me think of happy times.

So, Christmas was great. New Years was great. And if I ended up seeing you in the Northwest, that was great too. I enjoyed seeing familiar faces, and just being able live life outside of the "Mr. Milliron" realm. I will have to savor that fun for now, because I have to go back to work in the morning, but I am pretty excited to see my students again. But if I start to day dream in class, it will probably be about playing with Hank and Rudy (Hank is my nephew--the yellow lab--because my sister will never have kids, and Rudy--the black lab--is the child that my dad loves more than me)...alright, honestly I won't have time for day dreaming, because I'm completely unprepared for school in the morning. Good news: My sleep patterns are completely messed up! Alright, wish me luck tomorrow...

A million ways to get to Seattle

And I chose the Greyhound that drives through Wenatchee. Oh boy! So, I've slept and listened to music (oh Apple you've saved me again) I can't imagine anything more exciting than a 4 hour trip turned 9, because I wanted to stay in Spokane another day. But it was worth it, and now I have a smaller list of folks I haven't seen in too too long. Spokane/Coeur d'Alene was just like I left it, minus a few friends I have to travel elsewhere to visit. Unfortunately I have to travel cramped next to a new passenger who got on at this lovely central Washington oasis. Good news, he brought his own BO so I don't have to share. Lunch break over, we're back on the road. And for those of you trying to stalk me via satellite, we just drove past the Washington Apple Visitors Center in N. Wenatchee. I'll be in Seattle in no time. Remind me to write about something that I've actually enjoyed on this trip..

I made it in case you were wondering

And I even got a white Christmas, as you can see from the picture. I spent a few days with mom, and overeating a bit too. So, now I have my gifts packed up and I'm headed to Spokane to find a few friends I haven't seen in too long. Bend is always a great place to visit, especially when good friends invite you over for a Prime Rib Christmas Dinner. Following tradition, we saw a movie on Christmas (a tradition I'm convinced my family started, and now has become a blockbuster release day, your welcome America). I think the general plan for the next week is to watch bowl games, play Guitar Hero and sleep on people's couches for a small beer tax. Its strange being taxied around again like I'm on a 4th grade soccer team...and mom brought snacks too! Alright I'll try to post something more interesting about my return to the Graveyard...and I'll explain what that means so you don't think I'm a
freak. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Are we there yet?

...says the little girl running circles around the boarding podium. No little girl, you'll never get anywhere running in circles...and Santa probably won't be able to find your if we get stuck here through Christmas. I'm not that mean...but I have enjoyed making funny faces at all the babies in the airport and on the plane. I have a theory: there is a correlation between screaming babies and holiday travel. I think its because from birth we know that holiday travel is unnatural. Anyway, I meant to update my flight status not theorize...but hey, its my blog! Officially we're supposed to be only 30 minutes behind, but that was an hour ago. So its 7:30 and we might leave soon. Which is better than the guy I overheard on his cell phone say he's been in Chicago for 10 hours. Merry Christmas sir, I hope u get a Hummer for Christmas! Alright doors are closing. I hope this sends before they
throw me off the plane for being a terrorist...just kidding in case the government reads this.

I'm sitting in an airport bar watching a pretty good basketball game. Unfortunately, I'm still going to miss my brother coach his game, but I'll try to make it up to him by buying him gifts. I'm doing a little people watching too, and holy crap people are stressed out over the holidays! I don't know what they could possibly worry about, school is on break for two weeks. I'm not even worried about the fog delays in Chicago, only the chance of missing out on more basketball when I get on the plane. Alright food is here. I'm hoping people don't mind getting lots of random phone calls to hangout. That will start as soon as I get across the country...stay tuned!

"Welcome to the DC streets"

That's what the lady at the DMV told me when she handed over my new DC plates and a parking sticker on Tuesday. She said it straight-faced like it was almost a warning. If I wasn't feeling so dumb that it took me 4 months to register my car, I might have felt intimidated. But I'm just glad I don't have to hide my car from the cops in our garage. After a quick trip to a different DMV office, I now have a more favorable view of government services and no need to go back for a good long while. So now that my car can sit on the street safe from the police, we'll see if it can survive the streets of DC. That's my house in the background (the red brick right behind the tree) and actually my neighborhood is pretty safe. The only worry on my mind now, is making it through one more day of teaching so that I can fly home for the holidays on Saturday! We had a fun Christmas assembly today...yes Christmas not Holiday, we even sang religious carols...strange. More on how awesomely strange my school is later (including fashion show, step team, drumline and oh yeah...breaking up more fights) for tomorrow the students should be fine and I might even let them have fun!

My wish this Christmas...

...is to have a better excuse for not blogging. I don't want to forget to blog, so I don't know I'm wishing for excuses...why do people make wishes for Christmas anyway? I don't know, but if I wind up getting a few, I'll probably blow it on stupid things that no one needs. (Seriously though, I need a toaster...why not a transparent toaster).

In all seriousness, I do hope that when I come back to the Great Northwest next weekend, that I can enjoy two weeks that are just as relaxing as last weekend! I spent two days in California, MD (link goes to correct state if you can't figure it out), and felt like the guest of honor for people I'd never met. Imagine your cool Aunt & Uncle (or maybe your friends "cool" parents, if you have crazy relatives), then imagine that the couple opened up a B&B you could never afford similar to the "all-inclusive Sandals Jamaica" except in Southern Maryland.

The short-story version: we ate, we drank, we were merry, and then we slept! And by we, I mean my sister and brother-in-law, who are always good company in addition to our lovely hosts Mike and Debi. But as I said, I'll be back on the Westside in less than a week, and I hope its at least somewhere close to that relaxing. I'll be driving all over, to see as many people as I can...so let me know where you will be and I'll try to come see you too! For now, I'm still trying to push through one more FULL week of school, and pretend I'm not still relaxing from last weekend. If we do get Christmas wishes...make sure to wish that I make it through the week, and to see my family...and world peace too!

Getting into the holiday spirit!

So, my roommates and I have been talking about getting a Christmas tree for a while now, and we were all pretty excited to start the holiday...and I'm most excited to start a holiday vacation! As city lights are going up, people are killing each other for the newest tickle-me-furby, and radio programming is transitioning to 24-hour holiday Delilah, the new addition at our local outdoor market is the Christmas tree guys from West Virginia. So, we planned for this friday to be our big night. The key to understanding the post would be, the red-head is Brett, and the girl is Meg. Both my roommates, neither of which am I dating (but they are dating each other!)

We bought the tree we liked the best. (Sorry, you'll have to turn your head...sometimes the internet is dumb)



Then we walked it home (yes walked...only about 6 blocks in the cold.) Not quite the "cut it yourself and walk through the woods" holiday experience, but we tried.















When we finally got home, we turned up the Christmas tunes to 11 and started decorating.




I figured I'll save money on a Christmas card this year. I hope you enjoy this one (a classic pose, and a family favorite) Merry Christmas:

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know. That was last week, but give me a break...I'm still mad that the vacation didn't last a whole month! I can't complain, because I have the best 9-month-out-of-the-year job, in the world! Sometimes, I feel like I'm trained well for something in the security profession though.

Anyways, I would have written more this weekend, but I got to play tour guide for another visitor (and this one cooked for me and bought me presents...keep that in mind if any of you want to visit...just kidding!) No one cooks like a mom, and my mom even flew across the country to cook for me. Its a good feeling to be gluttonous and lazy every once in a while...if only that could be my profession. I feel like my tour guide skills are improving and I tried to fight my laziness, with my mom waking me up early on my vacation, but I understand its a waste of daylight when you're in a city with so many things to see.

We made it to several pretty cool places, and a few new activities I had not done, like seeing a few memorials at night that make things kinda eerie and somber (until tourist-teenagers come screaming up the Lincoln steps with their cell phone cameras flipping around!) We went to the National Cathedral, and I even got my mom to ride the Metro without getting lost or mugged (just kidding...you'll only get jumped in the hallways of my school!) Mom even made her way to my school to distract my students from working and telling them embarrassing stories about her son (thanks again for that...a mother's favorite past-time!) I think the half attempted Thanksgiving traditions even made it, with a sappy movie and a delicious pumpkin pie, and the oddities made it good too. With a roommate and the music teacher from our school to round out the Thanksgiving dinner party, it turned out to be a great holiday, and a great weekend.

I keep forgetting that I need to have a social life, and when people come to visit, that helps to remind me. So, thanks mom! And, I'll be on the west coast again in a few weeks for the next much-needed break from grading papers...speaking of playing catch up...I hear coffee calling my name. Look for posts coming soon about: little known DC facts, dramatic accounts of Mr. Milliron's teaching adventures, and another family visit! Thanks for reading to the end...and now for the payoff!

Don't call it a comeback!

But after a month with nothing, I'm probably shocking your system with too many posts. This time with 37% more pictures, 26% less boring stories (no promises) and the whole thing is biodegradable (still not approved by the FDA).

So, I should start with a brief background of my hostess for the weekend: In short, we took baths together when we were little...and in terms of gossip blog spin-control...we aren't dating. (Beth, does that about sum it up? ) Actually Beth is one of my oldest friends, and mostly by default because our parents are friends. But, now without adult supervision, we had our own fun, and I even made a few new friends (her roommate and friends who hangout, but don't pay rent). So, here's to a great weekend:

I got in late Friday night, and met her friends (all surprisingly from the great state of Tennessee, which makes them automatically a joy to be around). We were fast friends, but in the morning, Beth and I were quick to ditch them for what would turn out to be several train/subway rides. After winding our way up to the Bronx, we dropped our stuff off at the LV house, where Beth had made some friends over the past year while she was volunteering in the not-so-distant state of Rhode Island.

Then, what better way to see one of the largest cities in the US (largest by population) than by foot. So, we got off on the wrong side of Central Park (walked it, and even had a not-so-celebrity siting...but at least I know his name now...you've been googled!), then changed our minds about 20 times on what to do next (walked some more, as it got colder) saw a few more sweet things along the way to dinner, and then to the John Butler Trio concert! Let me directly quote the repeated phrase Beth used to describe the concert: "Freakin' Awesome!" Ditto (and not only because she said it 50 times) it was awesome! He is a ridiculous guitar player, and probably has the most talented/entertaining drummer and bassist I've seen (sorry Keith Urban not really in the band). They definitely rivaled DMB and BHIC for live shows! Anyways, check out those links.

The rest of the night we enjoyed the high...no, we weren't high, but plenty of the concert-goers were...so, let's say the drug-free excitement we picked up from the concert was great. So, we tracked down Beth's friends somewhere near Times Square. While we traversed NYC above and below ground, I saw Broadway (someone turned out the lights), Birdland, homeless guys spooning, little kids awake at 2 am, subway/street performers, all before a subway ride back to the Bronx at a decent hour for the city that never sleeps (you think I'm going to admit the time?...my mom's probably already had a stroke that I SLEPT in the Bronx...I'll spare a few details!)

So, I'll let pictures tell the rest. The next morning we had a few fun stops before we went back to Long Island, where Beth lives. Times Square again, the Top of the Rock, and McSorely's (did I mention I want to be Irish and hangout withe guys every day?) Sorry, it seems like I wrote a lot...so I'll go hideout for a few more weeks and let you catch up reading (and I'll catch up on lesson planning!) Not to mention my mom's coming for Thanksgiving...might need to pick up the place! Thanks for all your comments, and thanks again to Beth for being a great hostess...and avoiding the tour guide Barbie stuff! What a great weekend!

Whaddaya mean I can't pump it myself?

So right after my last two part message, I pulled up to get gas. I forgot my friend told me once that Oregon and Jersey were the only lame states to make pumping your own petroleum prohibited. It was an interesting experience to have on the east coast, but so was seeing all of New York City from the top of Rockefeller! Another pointless story brought to you by Jake...who else!