rustypants speaks

today was another good one at school. a morning full of behavior management meetings and a quick bite to eat with lise, several other teachers and my principal (no – no more singing from him today, but we did discover that numerous videos exist of his singing and impersonating). then it was back to school to finally tackle the mess in the classroom.

about a month ago i posted a picture of the room as we saw it while construction was going on and installation of central air into the building. it was in slightly better shape when i got in there this week, but still pretty boogered up. some progress was made and frankly, now that it’s clean and i’ve got my desks where i want them, i can start envisioning where things will go and how the class dynamics will play out in relation to all the furniture. i just needed it to be a bit cleaner so the imagination could roam freely, unfettered by junk.

it being friday and all, i ran home, played with the pup for a while, made some cocktail sauce, threw on the swimsuit, gathered up the wife, and took off to maria’s seafood for our friday night seafood and sunset on the beach. we found a number of pretty cool seashells, cooled off in the Gulf, took some sweet pics of the sun going down (and the video below), and dove into some shrimp.

i can’t imagine ever getting bored with the sunsets down here. it really is stunning and such insane variations from one day to the next.

this video is about a minute long, documenting the final seconds of the sun before it disappeared on the horizon.

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my first day at semmes elementary started with a blast – my principal came out on stage to Eye of the Tiger blaring over the speakers, decked in full boxing gear and sang the song at full tilt.

it was, needless to say, a riot. this guy is awesome.

i arrived an hour early (not meaning to, but not realizing that 8am is the starting time this week) and when i got there and no one else was there… i thought maybe i was in the wrong place. :-)

breakfast was served and i got the chance to float around the cafeteria and meet just about everyone – i’m happy to report: these folks are all very nice. it looks like we’ve got a top-notch team at this school.

a few meetings were held and we got our keys to our classrooms. over the summer, central air was being installed and sadly, they’re not finished yet. even more sadly (and the only sour note to the day): the window unit in my room is kaput. imagine 120 degrees, no breeze and high humidity: i was basting in my own juices again.

lunch with fellow staff members was good and getting to hear more stories about who they are, why they’re in education – this is the stuff i live for.

scavenging through some other empty and unused classrooms for extra tables and furniture, baking a bit more in the heat, one more brief meeting and getting to spend time with my teaching partner (cole) talking music and educational philosophy rounded out the day. i’m looking forward to working with this guy and with the other teachers / leaders at this school.

it’s gonna be a good year.

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to all my friends in cincinnati who said upon hearing of our move to pensacola, “oh, my – are you wanting to cook yourself in the heat down there??” i can only point this out:

cincinnati’s forecast for the next several days

pensacola’s forecast. (and our “daily t-storms” last about 30 minutes and are over)

now, i’d gladly trade you humidity ANY time…

he’d have been baptist.

as near as i can tell, every church down here is a baptist church.

this has to be an implication of something but of what, i’m not sure.

the proliferation of baptist churches makes me want to visit the only other denomination with multiple congregations, the seventh day adventists, just out of spite.

ehh… no.

there’s a joint about 10 minutes from our place here in pensacola called Maria’s Seafood Market – they’re not nearly as big as joe patti’s, our favorite seafood joint here in town, but they do something that joe patti’s does not: you order your shrimp or crabs or whatever, and they’ll steam it for free on the spot.

so we’re making a couple of routines here, one of which is becoming: make some of scott’s famous seafood sauce (the trick: Lea and Perrin’s Worcestershire Sauce), grab a couple waters, throw on the swim gear, grab the camera, go to Maria’s, get a pound of jumbo shrimp ($5.99 a pound, dude!!), have them steam it, spice it, and package it, then:

hit the beach, look for seashells, enjoy the waves, watch the sun go down…

and. eat. shrimp.

MMMmmmmmm… SHRIIIMMMMP.

so tonight, this is exactly what we did.

gentlemen, let me strongly suggest that should you try this with your sweetie: do NOT eat the last shrimp without offering it to her, first.

she packs a mean right hook.

my friend matt was telling me about adding my new address to his gmail address book when he was given the following option:

i sure wish i could say i did it on purpose…

huge billboard on I-65 in alabama, en route to pensacola.

hee hee – what are these people thinking?