Busy summer...

Jeez.

it's been busy, that's for sure.

thanks to the infinite wisdom and impeccable planning of LAUSD, summer school for elementary and middle school students was cancelled this summer. for the entire district. 2nd largest district in the nation and summer school...cancelled. nice.

so, what is ol' weatherboy up to this summer? well...

i've been trying to work on my house. i have several projects on my list that i will get done before the end of summer. many of these projects include working out side. not a big deal right? well, it wouldn't be if we weren't having one of the most unrelentingly hot summers on record. it's been in the 90's almost EVERY DAY for the last...oh, two months or so. and, rain? nope. we're in the middle of one of the craziest droughts i've ever witnessed. so, it's kinda difficult to get my grass to keep green during these hot days. boo. i will prevail, though. anybody know how to get rid of a nation of rabbits that's moved into your backyard? (without killing them would be nice.)

why "busy summer" though? well, we've had MILLION visitors this summer! it's been great! don't get me wrong. but, it's been one right after another for the last few weeks and there's not a lot of break 'till school starts for me on the 8th of September. the nice thing about this is that BOTH of my siblings have finally decided to make this the summer they come and visit. only, like, four years after i move here! nice! well, i've only had a house for two of those years, but still...

anyways. not a lot to post. school isn't coming for a while. it's gonna be an interesting year, since LAUSD in it's infinite wisdom FIRED/LAID-OFF so many teachers that i'll probably have somewhere around 40+ kids in a class. goodtimes. no strain on my kids education whatsoever. thanks, jerks.

right, well. you all take care out there. keep positive. we'll get through this. and keep in touch, old weatherboy misses you all. don't forget to write.

and, as always...

...stay tuned.

creeping ever closer...

yep, 29 in less than 24. 

i'm getting old. i started this "blog" (god, i still HATE that word) back in, what...? 2005? and i'm still posting on it, however erratically. 

what's my current status, you might ask? well. it's 8:32 on a Saturday. why am i up so early? well, my dogs MUST be let out at around 6:30-7 EACH DAY. they sit at the sliding glass door in the bedroom and bat at it until ONE of the humans in the room wakes up and lets them out. WHO is the only human in that room that will wake up? ME. it's okay though, i'm a morning person. that's  why i'm already: logged into to facebook, gmail, my google reader (and i've already read EVERYTHING that's been blogged about that i'm following), and i've already been commenting on "the stranger's" "line out" blog. yep, i get a lot done in the mornings. 

today many of my friends and family and i are going out to celebrate my birthday by going to  the Los Angeles Craft Beer Festival. i don't know what to expect, but i'm dubious as my beer adolescence was spent in the great Pacific Northwest, the place where good beer lives, and i haven't seen ANY california beer stand up to even the middle of the pack in the Pacific Northwest. i'll go with an open mind though, i'm sure i'll find some good stuff there. 

i got a surfboard from my beautiful wife for my birthday! i'm totally stoked for it too! it's a softboard, but i'm still a learner, so a softboard makes sense. PLUS, it'll be a nice board for people who come to visit us to use so THEY can learn to surf too! i even got a wetsuit and a rash guard, so i'm all set for this summer's surfing season! i kinda wanted to go to the beach this morning to try everything out, but decided against it...i'm still a little sleepy, and i've got a big day ahead! 

i'm finally coming to the end of another crazy year of teaching. during this year, i managed to get LAID OFF (thank you VERY much LAUSD and California Legislature for not passing a budget for MONTHS after it was due!), get that layoff rescinded, and STILL not be quite sure what's going to happen to me as far as where i'll be teaching next year! i do know that i WILL still be teaching in LA...just not 100% sure where yet. i'm pretty sure that i'll be back at my regular school, but you never know what's going to happen! boo.

well, other than that. i don't have a ton to report. i'm still the same old weatherboy...i'm just a few years older. i still love beer, singing, playing guitar, teaching and various kinds of death sports. 

anyways, hope everyone who reads this is doing well! i'll be back in Washington again at the end of my school year! 

so, keep your eyes peeled, and calendars open! a night on the town is a MUST when i get up there!

take care, and RockSteady.

-WB 

Sorry...

...but i just read this and i had to comment on it somewhere.

http://theguide.latimes.com/ToddMartens/lists/146620/best-beer-bars

that is a list of "the best beer bars in Los Angeles." 

i just wanted to say...the BEST beer bar on this list would be considered average north of Bend, Oregon. father's office (#1) on the list would be shunned for the way it treats it's customers if it opened a location in the Pacific Northwest. the TRUELY best of the list in my opinion would be Lucky Baldwins, it doesn't put on heirs, but has a great selection. (and they make their own beer!) 

all this article did was prove to me that Los Angeles is still YEARS behind the Pac-Northwest when it comes to good beer. (my tavern idea would KILL down here!)

seriously...?

ok, let me just say FIRST that i have GREAT RESPECT for our troops. I DO. often i feel like i'm more on their side than their own current commander in chief.

BUT, i'm here watching the Army vs. Navy football game and army is wearing CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS. like the camo they wear out in the desert. NOW, i do understand the reason why they would wear that, you know, probably a nod to the alumni and current troops there...and a nod to the idea that they might be going too. but, come on. they look like a team from that poorly devised XFL with those cartoon like uniforms.

The Army vs. Navy game is one of the more revered rivalries in college football, does Army really need to cheapen it with gimmicky uniforms? what's wrong with their school colors? there's a LOT of honor and respect tied to those colors. but CAMO?

it's just sad.

In other news, USC and UCLA will be reviving an old custom of BOTH teams wearing HOME jerseys in their rivalry meeting today at the Rose Bowl. Some people see it as a sign of disrespect to UCLA (since THEY are the ones who currently play their home games at the Rose Bowl), but those people probably don't follow history very well since I believe that, until the early 80's, both teams wore their home jerseys when they played each other. honestly, i think it makes the game more fun. BOTH teams wearing HOME jerseys? it kinda makes it feel like LA is up for grabs, and the winner takes it all! both teams claim LA but only one gets the bragging rights at the end. seems rad to me.

well, all we can hope for is that Florida stomps 'Bama, Missouri beats Oklahoma, and then, if all the stars align, MAYBE USC will get a title game nod.

...and, as always, we pray that UW can pull off just ONE win this season. but, against a once ranked CAL...it doesn't look too good. winless this season? (sigh)

finally.

it's finally cold here in california again. i've been waking up to what i can only really describe as washintonian mornings these last few days. it's been down right BRISK outside when i take the dogs out AND there's been a good amount of fog greeting me as i look around our little canyon. it's just like walking around outside on a brisk fall day in...say, Seattle, or my hometown of Olympia. makes me a little nostalgic for those places, i have to admit. but, i'll be there again soon enough.

thanksgiving was pretty rad this year. through some workings of schedules and whatnot weatherjen and i picked up the task of having the california family dinner at our house. we did christmas last year, and now this was our first official whole 'so-cal family' dinner. it was amazing and the food was beyond good. mother-in-law decided to come down on a last minute whim and she's been staying here the last few days and helping with the food and cleaning. it's been pretty nice. her extra help has turned this 'holiday break' into a full-on vacation! ...now, don't get me wrong, i've been doing work too! but, an extra set of hands certainly lightens the load quite a bit!

today is saturday, and i'm probably going to be driving family to different places. we had our little cousins (13 and 10) staying with us (because cousin Jenny is SO MUCH FUN!) and while weatherjen works, i'll take them and my mother in law back to "grandma's" (in-law's mom) house. i'll most likely be back in plenty of time to watch the USC game. don't think i even want to watch UW play. 0-11 is almost TOO much to bear and CAL very well could make it a NO WIN SEASON! ...good god, how sad. but, i'll watch to see what happens with the rest of the PAC-10. i have no real plans for tomorrow or the rest of weekend. just trying to get things done and hoping that the next holiday break will come quickly.

we leave for washington on friday, december 19th in the evening. i can't wait to be back in washington. it'll have been almost a year since i was last there. more than 11 months. that's WAY too long. i really have to start being better about getting back more regularly. it's just a matter of planning, and as some of you know, i'm terrible at planning. anyways, i WILL be around for ten days starting on the 19th though, so plans really need to start being made. i think Jen and i are going to flesh out a schedule so that we can divide our time pretty evenly between Oly and Seattle. we have so many people that we want to see that it's gonna be necessary to have a schedule to let everyone know where we'll be and when. i'll post again when we have an idea of what we're gonna do. BUT, we're talking about having a couple of different nights where we (jen and i) just go to a bar in a central location (maybe u-district and some other place, possibly on the east side) and send out the clarion call to all comers. i just want to see as many people as humanly possible, since it's been so long!

k, well this post has been nice and lengthy. i'll send this out now, with more to follow as more news becomes available. actually, there's lots more stuff to say, but i'm gonna go and take a nice mid-morning nap. i always get up WAY too early and get tired and start falling asleep at un-fun times. you gotta love the holidays!

so, yeah.

stay tuned.

Ooh...

...and eight.

how much more can i take? the huskies have not won a game ALL year and some people think they very well might not get a win ALL SEASON. i think they'll probably pull a win off during the apple cup this year, but that's gonna be basically a battle for the bottom. it's just sad.

that said, i'm looking forward to positive week. last week was SUPER stressful at school. we had No Child Left Behind advisers come to our school to review us and give us help. (for the record, our school's test scores have gone up EVERY YEAR i've been there; it's just a formality that NLCB flagged school have to go through) that was totally nerve wrecking! in the end though, they only came into my classroom for like two minutes and that was it. a lot of buildup for not a lot of action. but, i'm totally okay with that. grades are due this week, but that's not too big of a deal.

i'm most excited for tuesday! i'm gonna be on a field trip with my kids to UCLA for a musical thing. it'll be cool getting the kids out and into the collegiate world. but, we'll be back before the end of the day so i can get to the polls and get my vote in before i head home and spend the majority of the afternoon and all evening watching CNN to see when our new president is chosen. i'm just praying that the current polls are right and hold firm!

PLEASE...don't screw this up America!

updates...

or lack thereof.

so, i'm still learning the whole blogging thing. (you guys should know that HATE that term-blog. i don't know why, i just like "online journal" better.) honestly, i wish i were as adept at it as my beautiful wife is. i still need to learn to add pictures and whatnot. but at least i can add hyperlinks! woo!

so, jen and i saw W. this weekend. it was good. honestly, at points, i actually felt bad for old G.W.. i kind of agree with the way that Stone portrays Bush, it didn't seem too off the mark, or unbelievable. i don't think that i could do the movie justice in my review, so i'll stop. i've never been very good at writing reviews of movies or books. you can find weatherboy on citysearch, but not so much on book reviews and stuff on amazon or things like that. anyways...

uh, school's fine. Jen's fine. she does a good job updating everyone on the goings-on with us on her blog as linked above; a much better job than i could.

my beloved Huskies lost again, i know when do i give up? the answer: never. i'll always want to stop what i'm doing to watch the Dawgs play football. someday, they'll start winning again. you guys can move on, if you want...i'll let you know when they win again. for now, i'll stand by my 0-6 Huskies. yes, ZERO WINS, and SIX LOSSES. nevertheless, i keep the faith.

oh, i just got a RAD lp in the mail. for those of you that don't know, i collect rare vinyl, of the rock/punk/alternative/grunge styles, from the late seventies to the mid-late nineties...all from the Pacific-Northwest. yes, i'm a child of the grunge era. i'm bringing that word back. especially since i've noticed that some of the old "grunge fashions" are starting to sprout up again. flannel seems to be creeping back into vogue...who would have thought? hm, moving on...i just got the Eight Way Santa album from the band TAD. i already own it on cd (also very rare), but i bought the LP with the "banned cover", here's the wiki page for the album, the picture of the original LP cover is there too. if you don't know TAD, you should. probably THE most underrated grunge band of the late 80's and early-mid 90's. plus, they ROCK...HARD. probably one of the heaviest bands i've ever heard. Tad's website is pretty rad and he's posted some of the band's songs and the band's history on it. OH, btw...TAD is the band, Tad Doyle is the guy who started the band and is the lead singer/guitar player.

sorry. i'm just really jazzed about the LP!

right, well, it's late and i have to get up and administer a LAUSD Test in English early tomorrow!

WOO! STANDARDIZED TESTING!

-rocksteady