To all of my adoring fans, I apologize for the long overdue blog update. Many things have happened over the past few weeks, but I will spare details and get down to the nitty gritty.
The first topic of today's blog deals with the current BCS rankings. South Florida, Kansas, Hawaii ... it sounds like the the first three games of the Penn State football season. How can a Penn State team that completely dominated 17th ranked Wisconsin still not fall into a BCS or AP poll rating? At the same time the highly overrated Michigan Wolverines some how managed to find their way into the 24th spot. Does anyone in a position of sports responsibility remember that Michigan lost to Appalachian State and Oregon. Also, they managed to squeeze by Northwestern (should have lost), Purdue (should have lost), and Eastern Michigan. O.k. O.k., so they beat Penn State 14-9 in a real shootout, but did I mention Michigan lost to Appalachian State. Do the sports columnists of this great country not have any dignity for the sport of football. The one positive is that when we beat first-ranked Ohio State in two weeks, it will be that much sweeter.
Well now that football is out of the way, we can talk about my life. I recently spent some time in Denver hanging out with the Rippin Skiers. They showed me a great time, and the possibility of a move to Denver seems all the more reasonable. Perhaps the highlight of my trip, aside from spending time with friends, was my run-in with crazy Chuck, a South Dakotan autochthon full of spirit, song, and alcohol. This man had a song for every occasion. If your hair was blond he had a song, if the sun was shining he had song, if your shoe was untied he had a song. While having a song for all occasions is no real feat, it was the enormous amount of mucus that Chuck would cough up while in mid-song that made his act something to see. There were a few occasions when I thought his heart was actually going to stop from a mucus clog or he was going to rupture something and cause internal bleeding. Either way I guess I was not the only one concerned because the waitress cut him off at 5:30 in the afternoon. Chuck, if you are reading this (which judging by your basic demeanor and the fact you were paying for alcohol in spare change makes me think you are not), I really do wish you the best buddy, and South Dakota misses you dearly.
The trip was great, and really helped with my headspace. I am back in the classroom and loving every minute of it. In what other profession could a lesson on garbage and pollution turn into a 15-minute discussion on flatulence? I was teaching about garbage and landfills, and just as I was explaining how the methane produced underground from garbage landfills needs to be released to prevent combustion, one of the students farted. In the education world we call this a "teachable moment." You can imagine my students surprise when their teacher told them that if I was to hold a match to their fart I could produce a tiny explosion (the adjective varies depending on the lunch being served that afternoon). I had a few teachers ask me later on in the day why my kids were discussing methane to the other students. The way I see it is if they can remember the word methane, it shouldn't matter that they are talking about flatulence.
I hope to keep this blog updated from here on out, but I do not put any guarantees on that. I look forward to talking to everyone soon, but in the meantime stay good. Love you all.
