Beginnings & Endings.

When I first started blogging, I wanted to do something akin to online journaling/scrap booking - keep track of what I was doing, thoughts on various things...

I used to journal a lot when I was younger. But as I got older, I found that if I missed some time, getting back into it always felt awkward. The longer it got left, the less inclined I felt to start again. What do you say? Address the length of time it's been since the last entry? Pretend the last two months didn't happen?

That is just ridiculous - the last two months have been so amazingly busy - my brother got married to one of my best friends, I have a job for sure in the fall (which is SUPER exciting - and makes for a significantly less stressful summer), I am going to Quebec next week... Do I spend a large amount of time recapping?

While I may be a little bit older, my blogging habits are exactly like my journaling habits. The longer I do not write anything, the less excited I am about writing something new.

So I am unsure about what to do with this blog - it has served me well as a outlet for the past few years, but I think it is time to try something else. I might get it printed into a book. I might not.

At the urging of my principal I have been experimenting with twitter to keep me in touch with the education community and news, and at the urging of my friends I have become a bit addicted to Instagram to record little moments throughout my week. If you've enjoyed reading anything I've written, you can find me on either of those platforms under the moniker "thegingerjohnsn" - a nod to the nickname my MUN students gave me.

Thanks, blogger. It's been fun :)

Mad Libs.

Haven't blogged too much lately, once again because of job anxiety, but also because everything I wanted to blog about was related to Dom's shower and stagette. Since she reads my blog, would be hard to keep these things a secret. 

I made a whole bunch of shower games by downloading this awesome font, and stealing ideas from Pinterest. We played a hilarious game of "he said, she said", but my favorites are the mad libs. 

I love mad libs. My friends and I used to make them for each other. I wrote one "marriage proposal" story starring D and K, and took out all the identifying words. And I wrote an advice sheet, that I think is even funnier. 

Something about nonsense just gets me :)

Pulled Pork.

I made pulled pork last weekend. It was amazing. Slowed cooked in root beer for 7 hours. Discovered Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.... Mmmmmm.

Open Letter.

This is just something I needed to get off my chest.

An open letter to Michael Sam:

Dear Michael Sam, 

First off, congratulations on your recent NFL draft. I wish you nothing but success in St Louis. 

And thank you, for unintentionally holding a gigantic mirror up to our society in the process. 

The way you have been treated by some in the industry suggests that the worst possible thing someone could be is gay. Threats of boycotts because you are a terrible role model for our children? Of course! However, let's open the door and make room for all those convicted felons and abusers. We should judge them on only their raw talent, of course. 

Having a gay man in the NFL is a huge affront to societies ideals of masculinity, ideals that are becoming a more and more obvious problem. Men are expected to be all sorts of macho, paragons of virility, and if you don't measure up there is something wrong with you. This past weekend's events in Isla Vista, California, reveal the terrible consequences of this distorted view of masculinity we are teaching our boys. 

A virgin at the age of 22? Shocking! Apparently, that is the worst thing that could happen to a person. (Second only to being a gay NFL player, I suppose.) 

When a man's worth as a human being is tied to his sexuality, then women become commodities rather than humans. Don't believe me? Read through some of the #YesAllWomen on Twitter. Or, ask your friends, sisters or wives about their experiences. Then again, maybe not. Most women are afraid of speaking out because of the culture of victim blaming that has sprung up around us.

(By the way, truly nice guys respect a woman's decision not to sleep with them. Sure, it might suck and he might be sad, but if his reaction is violence, he was not a nice person to start with. Pretending you are nice to get people to sleep with you is just vile.)

Whether or not the killings in Isla Vista were a mental health issue or the result of an extreme misogynistic world view, in some ways makes no difference. When the discussion is brought up that "not all men" think like that, it completely misses the mark that a large number of men do. In much the same way that people who "aren't homophobic", but don't think they should be concerned with helping gays seek equality, are missing the boat. If you are male, you enjoy a privilege because of that. Straight? Privileged. White? Privileged. Do something with that.

A large number of straight men, like Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen, have spoken out in support of your coming out, rather than reflexively going the easy road of negativity. I only hope that men of a similar vein are willing to openly discuss consent and women's rights in the same way. 

Thanks for being such a positive role model. 

(Date) Balls.

I know, I know. It's been a while. I'm back in job limbo, and trying not to think too hard about it.

Also very busy in general with school, grad, wedding shower planning and life in general.

I was not very happy, however, when I thought  my roof might be leaking, based on the spot that appeared on the ceiling in my bathroom. I was happy to find out that was not the case, thanks to my awesome brother, who did a bunch of roof yoga in my attic to figure out where the moisture was coming from.

Long story short, I owed him some dessert, and he picked date balls. I guess they are more commonly known as "fry pan cookies", and my grandmother used to call them "mice", but I prefer date balls.

I whipped up a batch last night using this recipe as my starter, but I don't really like adding nuts, so I use extra rice krispies, and I added in some rum flavoring for good measure as well.

Can't figure out why, but I have a heck of a time getting the coconut to stick to the outside. They stick to everything else, but not the coconut. Alas.

Balls.

A friend gave me a recipe for some breakfast protein balls, that I absolutely love. They are the perfect, easy go-to food when I have zero time in the morning (which is all the time).

I just have no idea what to call them. My family has just taken to calling them "balls", which is fine because apparently we are all 10 year old boys at heart, but I feel like they deserve another name....

Josee's Protein Balls 

2 C oatmeal

1 C ground flax

(Take some out if adding chia seeds, hemp hearts or sunflower seeds. As long as you have 3 C of dry mix)

1 C raisins/ craisins

1 C nut butter (I've only tried them with peanut so far)

1/2 C honey

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Liberally grease your hands with coconut oil, and roll into 1" balls. Place on cookie sheet in fridge until set, and store in fridge in an air tight container. 

Falling.

I occasionally (all the time) tease my students that I will throw them off the roof of the school, or throw things at them from the roof of the school (always to prove a physics point, I swear!).

On their most recent quiz, their answer to a question involving being dropped off the roof of the school needed to involve a  diagram. 

Apparently my students have mixed feelings about this. 

Some think it sounds fun.... 

and 

Some react with abject terror...

or

Churros.

Once again fallen off the blogging wagon a little. I've been experimenting with twitter at the urging of some colleagues (including my principal) and can really only think of so many things to post to social media. Coupled with how busy it has been the last week (volunteering at the trade fair, putting in time at school, planning shower activities, food club, open house this week...) it just hasn't happened.

Speaking of food club, we had a mexi-themed lunch yesterday. I attempted to make churros... without frying them. Mixed success. Was a big fan of the flavor... But the recipe I used was waaaay off. Not sure the people had actually tried making them. I used one egg instead of two, and changed the cooking instructions rather drastically. Can't decide if I want to experiment further, or just call that one a pass. 

On the plus side, I got kitty snuggles. 

Hi, Sid!

D&D.

The Dungeons and Dragons Club meets outside my room after school. 

Listening to them makes me happy. 

Denver.

Having a lovely time in Denver so far. True, our luggage arrived about 10 hours after we did (impressive given the flight is only 2.5 hours) but the weather is gorgeous, the water does lovely things to my hair, and my family here is awesome. 

I wanted to make a pie to say thanks (because none of them are big cooks) but I didn't count on how hard it would be to actually find the lard to make the crust. Two grocery stores didn't carry it, although one disgruntled Safeway employee tried to convince me that butter flavored Crisco is the same thing. 

So I made a pie with the softest (non-butter flavored) vegetable shortening ever, but it actually turned out better than I thought it would. 

Going to a hockey game today, playing tourist tomorrow and Monday, and planning on enjoying some of the beautiful outside weather before going back to my little icy corner of Canada. 

Security.

It has been a long week... Parent teacher interviews are exhausting. 

I am sitting in the airport, waiting to go to Denver to visit family for Spring Break. Have already seen 4 students in the airport who are also heading stateside for the week. 

I didn't get felt up by Security... That always happens to me... Feels like my airport experience is missing something. 

Lacking that element of danger. Although my mother did inadvertently try to take some apples across the border. 

Customs agent: Do you have any fruit? 

Mom: No

Thirty seconds after walking away she says: Should I have told him I have two apples?

We turned around and promptly surrendered our apples. 

Pi Day in Pi Month?

Not only is today Pi Day (3/14) it is also Pi Month! Time to celebrate the inner (and in my case, outer) math nerd. Plus, I love pie.

As March 14 is also Einstein's Birthday, I decided to celebrate by starting a course on Special Relativity with WorldScienceU, the new project of Brian Greene. As I don't have tons of time to devote to it (semester is zipping by, and wedding related things are coming up quick) I am doing the theoretical, not math based course, and opted out of being graded. I've taken both Relativistic and Quantum physics courses in the past, so this is a for-fun refresher!

Iron Man.

Got a paper cut today and didn't notice, until I bled all over my mark sheet, a vectors practice sheet, and a poor student's lab. Rather than witness me bleed on anything else, one of my girls gave me an Iron Man bandage.

It's sad how much this brightened my day. 

#IronThumb

Baklava.

I made baklava for this month's Mediterranean themed food club. Lordy, it was good. Easier than I though it would be. 

I modified a recipe I found online to get this. 

1 pkg phyllo pastry

1/2 C butter, melted

2 C ground nuts (I used walnuts, but want to try pistachios. The recipe also called for chopped, but I found they just fell out)

3 tsp cinnamon

1 C water

1 C sugar

1/2 C honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Liberally butter a 9 x 13 pan. Mix together nuts and cinnamon. 

Cut the phyllo in half so it fits the pan, and store under a damp tea towel until you need it. Place 2 sheets of phyllo in the pan, and brush generously with butter. Repeat 2 more times, and follow with a thin layer of nut mixture. Repeat the two sheets of phyllo, butter, two sheets of phyllo, butter, nuts pattern until you have 6 sheets of phyllo left. Generously butter between each last layer of phyllo, pressing down before you do so. 

Slice into triangles or squares, cutting through all the layers. One pan should make about 30-40 depending on your size. Bake in oven approx 40 minutes. 

While pastry is baking, combine water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add honey, vanilla, and lemon, and reduce heat, allowing to simmer approximately 20 minutes. 

Remove baklava from oven when tops are golden brown, and immediately spoon syrup over the whole tray. Allow to cool totally before separating. Store in muffin liners, and drizzle with chocolate if desired. 

Rude.

Supervising a wake-a-thon tonight. Only doing a shift until 2 AM, so that's not too bad. 

Funny thing happened today...

A student of mine left his binder on the back counter of my room by accident yesterday, so I just left it there thinking he'd grab it today in block 4. 

He comes in and is happy because he thought he lost his math binder. Half way through class, he starts flipping through it, and says an unfortunately loud "what the hell?"

I go over to check it out, and on just about every page of the binder, someone has drawn a penis. Some are full page, some are more subtle. But every page for the first one has a penis, and then it goes to every second page, and at the end of the binder where his blank loose leaf is, there is about 1 every 6 pages or so. 

No idea who did it, because it definitely is not any of the students who actually sit in that corner. But whomever it was, that was commitment. Holy time consuming, and they had to make sure I didn't notice. 

So rude. And so funny. 

Brownie Cake.

Had a great but tiring weekend going from conference and dance chaperoning to family dinners to fundraisers. Made dessert for dinner at Dom's, and was pretty happy with how it turned out. I made brownie cake (recipe to come) with maple whipped cream and a raspberry sauce. Yummy!

I also took the opportunity to sneak a bunch of post-its featuring terrible pick up lines into her house, and hid them without her or Ken knowing. Success. 

Overtime.

We have been streaming Olympics on the large TV in the cafeteria at school. This was the scene today, when we effectively canceled block 3 when the women's gold medal game vs USA went into overtime.

Although this was before overtime started. It got really full! Practically the whole school turned out to watch! It was a cool experience to have everyone groan and cheer together (and groan really loud when the feed froze and the action stopped!)

I wish I could share the video of the cheer that erupted when they scored the winning gold! The whole group chanting CA NA DA! CA NA DA! and then the crowd goes wild!

One of our foreign exchange students took a similar picture to me, stating "this would only happen in Canada!"

Prepared?

Instead of prepping to take a group of students to a conference over the next three days, I have spent the evening watching vlogbrothers videos. Productive? Not really. Awesome? Yes.

Venus.

View of Venus out my bedroom window when I wake up in the morning. Won't be long before the Sun is up when I am!

Thoughtful.

It's no secret I am not a fan of Valentines Day. It's so commercial. You shouldn't let the people you care about know you care about them only because greeting card companies tell you that you should.

However, all sorts of cute and thoughtful things happen on Valentines Day, that I enjoy. Teenagers in particular go all out. It's a mating dance. I got a carnation at school, but the sweetest was from my "Valentine" (my friends four year old). 

He told his mother he had to buy me pink flowers for Valentines Day. And was super excited to pick out a little balloon for my bouquet. We made heart shaped pizzas and played Mario. To me, that's what Valentines Day is all about; spending time with those you love because you enjoy it. 

Darwin Day.

Way back in July 2011, when I started this blog, my first post was about a common misconception regarding the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Since today is Darwin Day, I thought I would revisit the topic. (Happy 205th Birthday Charles!)

Evolution is consistently in the media, and is often presented as something that still requires debating, as "just a theory", or as some skewed version of itself. One of the biggest problems is that evolution by natural selection is viewed as being mutually exclusive with religion. Last I checked, Pope John Paul II was a man of pretty strong faith, and he declared evolution to be a fact, so clearly the two can be reconciled. (Phil Platt, the Bad Astronomer, wrote an excellent column about it here)

From here.

Another problem is the issue of language. Words that have one definition in science can have very different meanings in other areas (such as work, law, hypothesis, or that dreaded one, theory). 

One of the words that causes problems is "fitness", as in survival of the fittest.  What does it mean to be fit? Does one have to go to the gym and bench a lot of weight to become fit?

Survival of the fittest at its most basic should really be regarded as survival of those best suited to their environment. Features and behaviors that benefit a organism in one environment might be a detriment in another. 

But fitness also is determined by how successful you are, not only at surviving, but at having your offspring survive to reproductive age, which ensures the passing on of your genes. (My grade 10's are often appalled when I tell them that, from a biology standpoint, if you don't reproduce you are a 'failure'). 

There is also an indirect type of fitness which provides explanation for colony and/or pack behavior. While individuals themselves may not reproduce, they benefit from helping close relatives rear offspring, as the offspring of close relatives contain similar genes, and the survival of those genes is still ensured. 

This difference between definitions of fitness can explain all sorts of physiological adaptations and behavioral adaptations, but often times the link to fitness is not obvious, lending the impression that the trait is not advantageous and therefore would not be selected for if evolution works the way it is stated. The difference between these definitions also highlights the  need for clear communication. Darwin himself knew he was making arguments that went against the popularly held beliefs of man's supremacy over animals, and that acceptance of his ideas was easily challenged in the eyes of the general public due ignorance about the nuances of language. 

I personally think that Chuck would be rolling in his grave if he knew that the debates that raged in the early years of his theory were still being held today, over 150 years after the publication of Origin. 

My Darwin v Lamarck tee has shrunk too much to wear...

...but I did wear these awesome earrings in honor of Darwin Day!

Olympics.

I love watching the Olympics. When else will the average person get super into biathlon?

We had a little Pre-Valentines/Olympics watching party last night, followed up with a little Wii Olympics competition. 

I followed Cupcakes and Cashmere's lead and rimmed some glasses with colored sugar, and attempted to decorate the borderline disaster of a cake  with Olympic rings as well. Since the top layer of the heart-shaped red velvet had already migrated beyond repair... It just made sense for the skiers to make an appearance. 

#SochiProblems

Rustic.

Made scones this evening. I adore raspberry scones. Nothing like some tea, warm buttered scones and Pavarotti music to make a chilly Thursday evening all the better.

Day #1 of teachers convention today. Had a nice, fun day today. Tomorrow  is looking long. Good thing I'll have some biscuits to tide me over. 

They are these ones ... With some minor adjustments. (Less time, more moisture, and raspberries)

Still An Invalid...

Sort of. I can drive. I can (sort of) do stairs. I can wear certain pairs of shoes... I am on the way to being better!

Progress can sometimes be a very slow thing, whether it's a sprained ankle or the students in my classroom. We started a new semester last week, so it's been pretty busy lately. 

My classes consist of boys. Lots of boys. As one coworker described looking out over my block 2's, "that is a sea of dudes." Out of the 85 students I have in a day right now, 19 of them are girls. Just the way the cookie crumbles. 

Having such a massive gender divide in the class does funny things to the dynamic, but I have a lot of fun with boys. (Easier to handle than the semester long slumber party that was the class of 5 boys and 25 girls. Every time I turned around, hair was being braided). 

We've just finished with the getting aquatinted and doing review stage, and come up with the following class motto. I think it will be my motto for 2014 in general. 

Invalid.

So... I sprained my ankle last weekend.

For the past week, I have been incapable of putting on actual shoes, going down stairs slower than 90 year old men, mooching rides off friends and coworkers  (hello, yesterday's ride home in a Jag...) and being generally laid up.

It's particularly hard for me to stay off my ankle. Don't get me wrong, I love to rest, relax, and be lazy with the best of them... But only when I want to. When I have to?? It drives me nuts. 

Hasn't been too bad at school all week, but a weekend at home with no car? Sheesh. I did all kinds of things around the house today when I probably should have been sitting with my foot up... I realigned the drawer under my stove... Checked the fluids in my car (coolant is low)... Did three loads of laundry.... Rearranged some of the pictures on my walls (which included moving these prints by the art teacher at my school into the hallway where they can be appreciated more than in my room)....

Many more days like this and I will have all my Spring cleaning done... in the dead of winter. 

Ice.

We have been having some really, really unseasonably warm weather. Sunny, up to +5 several days in a row, +8 one day. (And in the States they were freaked out about the polar vortex. Bah. The weather where you are on a particular day doesn't translate to a climate trend! AH!)

One of the consequences of  all this nice weather, is melting. A LOT of melting. And the problem with lots of melting when you've had lots of snow, is that the water doesn't have anywhere to go. And the roads turn into giant skating rinks.

Icy roads are okay. Sanding crews come out, roads get bladed, drains unblocked... it sucks, but it is nothing, NOTHING, compared to the icy sidewalks and residential paths.

I had a bit of a doozy of a fall on some ice by my house last night. Body went one way, foot went another. Hobbling around today like an old person. I can walk upstairs just fine, but I had to take the elevator down at school three times today.

My father loaned me an old, retractable cane he had floating around that used to belong to my grandmother.

Touche.

Popcorn.

I admit it.

I have been avoiding blogging. 

Regardless of what I post, blogging causes me to think about what's going on in my life and reflect. Which is what I like about it. 

However, right now I am facing some serious job uncertainty, which causes all sorts of panic inducing, sweaty palmed stress, so I am avoiding thinking about it. There are only 15 days until my contract expires, and I know nothing either way. Not blogging helps me not think about it, and prevents the gut-wrenching anxiety. 

In other news, my father got a fabulous popcorn maker for his birthday, and I am addicted to homemade kettle corn. Seriously... Making it all in one pot? Genius.

Routine.

It's January 2nd and the holidays feel like eons ago. Strange how quickly you slip into a routine... It's utterly bizarre school will be back in in about 4 days. 

Quick trip to Ikea with Michelle today... it rained, in a bout of unseasonal mildness. The snow was perfect today, so her little man and I made fist sized snowmen in the slushy stuff after. 

Time to take down the tree, make healthier eating choices, and ponder if I want to make resolutions beyond my usual long term goals for 2014.