Course Map

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I'll leave you with a picture of the day from yesterday in Central Park. It's March and the trees are already blooming.
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Monday, Mar. 5th

Today we did a milk curdling experiment to give students more practice with the scientific process. I stayed at school late playing catch up from my work free weekend. The photo is from last night's dinner at the Dominican restaurant in the neighborhood. In the evening we watched Drive, a bit too gory for my taste. Today I read a fair amount from the book The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker and I'm getting pretty into it. I am looking forward to finishing it this weekend. I am reading it on my Kindle Fire, my awesome present from R.

Tuesday, Mar. 6th

Today we did a golf-bouncy-ping pong ball experiment for even more practice with the scientific process. My room was packed until 5:30 with students typing and decorating their science fair boards. I'm writing the blog at 11 pm but I have several things left on my checklist yet…tomorrow will be a coffee day for sure. I've been multi-tasking and listening to Super Tuesday coverage and Santorum and Romney's speeches. Wow. I'll leave it at that.

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Friday, Mar. 2nd

A good day. My student teacher did a very good job teaching a lesson about gravity and how it helps to keep the planets in their orbits. Then we had three periods of looking at brains! The Mount Sinai Neuroscience Outreach group came with four different brains (chimpanzee, whale, mouse, and tiger). The students were really interested. They also made models of neurons out of pipe cleaners. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a bit of elliptical. Trying to be smart about the injury…

Friday, Mar. 2nd

We slept in, did some errands down on 86th, I went to the gym and used the spinner for a bit, and then we headed over to Brooklyn to have dinner with R, I, and baby R. We (mostly me) weren't paying 100% attention on the way there though and we ended up having to cross the Brooklyn Bridge three times to get there. If you get in the wrong lane they automatically redirect you across the bridge. Ugh. R cooked homemade potato leek soup and a fancy homemade cake. Baby R is rapidly approaching toddler-dom. She does this super cute clapping thing where she gets all the adults to clap along with her. Having visited A and R's babies in the past two weeks I see how clever the little ones get about attracting the attention of adults - each one had their go-to "look at me!" trick.

Sunday, Mar. 4th

We woke up early and ran up to Washington Heights for Coogan's with A. I was the official cheerer/photographer, having decided not to race because of my knee. I still ended up with 10 miles total though because of the run up there and a jaunt across the GW bridge. The knee hurt - it wasn't smart to run - but I don't regret it. R ran a Coogan's PR and we enjoyed some Irish fare and beer at 10 in the morning, courtesy of Coogan's Restaurant. The rest of the day has been leisurely and relaxing - a bit of apartment cleaning, some tv, reading, thank-you note writing, and so on. We are probably headed out for Dominican food tonight. This is the last weekend in about 8 weeks that R will be here in the city. He has a bunch of work / fun trips coming up and so I try to go visit him in PA on the weekends that are sandwiched between out-of-town trips for him. We are both headed to Rhode Island and D.C. in the next month or so. I'm looking forward to the mini-adventures.

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Monday, Feb. 27th

Today marks day number three of not running. While the time away from running allows me to get other things done, there are some down sides: I don't have that guaranteed time for reflection, I miss that simple sense of clear-cut achievement, and that quote, "energy begets energy" is true in the sense that I can fall into being less productive in other areas (=work). Today was the day that all the data charts, graphs, and photos were due for the science fair projects. A lot came in at the last minute, but overall the turn-in ratio was high. Satisfying. The photo is from one of the projects, "What is the effect of potato chip brand on the amount of oil?" TV episode of the night: Private Practice.

Tuesday, Feb. 28th

Parent-Teacher-Student-Conferences are always an intense day. So many different styles of parenting! The stories are endless. Parents with complete faith in their children, parents who make their kids cry in front of you, the list goes on. I only wish more parents would attend. We have a pretty small turnout relative to the number of students we have. I did sneak in a two-mile run. My first run back. The knee didn't feel good, but it wasn't horrible either. TV episode of the night: Grey's Anatomy. The photo is of a bird that let me get really close. He was hanging out along the East River Promenade.

Wednesday, Feb. 29th

Another busy day at school. We worked on the results and discussion sections of their reports. A challenge considering the 15 project choices going on simultaneously. My student teacher had her professor visit for an observation today. He came at a different time than we were expecting, but she still wowed him and earned a good rating. She is a strong student teacher. I made it to the gym after school and rode on the spinning machine for 12.4 miles, followed by a few weights. It felt good to have the adrenaline rush again. Spinning is hard! The knee felt okay. TV episode of the night: Gossip Girl. The photo is another science fair project photo that one of my students sent.

Thursday, Mar. 1st

I ran two miles early before school. The knee is still sore, and now not just in the back, but in the front too. I webMD'd it and I think I might have chondromalacia or Runner's Knee, though I'm not convinced. Here are some key quotes:

Avoiding painful activities that irritate the knee for several weeks, followed by a gradual return to activity is important. In this time, cross-training activities, such as swimming, can allow an athlete to maintain their fitness while resting the knee. Many patients have a race in two months, have the onset of chondromalacia, and expect a few days of backing off their training schedule should cure the problem. Sorry. You need several weeks, at a minimum, to allow the irritated cartilage to settle down. You'll then need several more weeks to slowly build up your activities in order to resume your training schedule.

School was long, but productive. We sent the kids home with the tri-fold boards they'd purchased. We also had a "type-fest" in my room after school. Between the two science teachers we had 30 students stay after school for two hours to type their projects. The photo of the day is another student project. Weren't you just dying to know which bounces higher - frozen or room temperature golf balls?! Hah. TV episode of the night: House.

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Thursday, Feb. 23rd

Half a day of laziness. Half a day of productivity. The morning included four episodes of TV, the afternoon was about catching up on finances, my blog, and science fair judge coordination. I ran 8 miles in the evening and felt significant soreness in the back of my left knee. I think my 29 mile run is catching up with me…
The photo is actually of our hiking trip on Saturday.

Friday, Feb. 24th

I woke up with the intention of running 10 miles, but realized that the pain from last night had not diminished. I ran 1 mile instead. I used the extra time to start the application for a scholarship from Amherst, the 1954 Commitment to Teaching Scholarship. I won it once in 2008 and poured the funds back into my classroom. I'd love to have this happen again!

I drove down to see Ali, who lives in a suburb of Philadelphia. I would post a picture but I accidentally left my phone and house keys inside R's apartment. It was wonderful catching up with her and sharing stories. She and her husband are doing well. It was lovely to hang out with her son - at a year and a half he's full of energy!

I made it back to R's apartment and he'd left a note on the door as to where to meet up (since I was sans phone). The rest of the evening consisted of good food, good drinks, board and card games, and lots of laughter-generating conversation and antics with R, D, and M. The photo is of R with his camera on Friday night.

Saturday, Feb. 25th

We woke up late - 11 am! We hopped into the Wrangler and headed out to Peace Valley Dam via scenic roads. We never made it though because we were lured away by a different dam and trail system we happened upon. The hike was perfect. Then we had a late breakfast/lunch in Pennsburg at a bar and grill. We were back home and all four of us fell asleep for a few hours. After that we woke up and played some cards before heading over to The Farmhouse, a restaurant within walking distance of R's apartment. We were on the late end of the spectrum so we had the place mostly to ourselves. The bartender was pretty hilarious. We enjoyed sharing jokes until around midnight when we came home and watched Dirty Dancing , ogling over Patrick Swayze. The photo is of D and me.

Oh, and today's the day my 2012 Running Streak officially ended. My tendon behind my left knee thanks me for knowing when it is time to rest!

Sunday, Feb. 26th

D, M, R, and I woke up earlyish. I cooked popovers and we all lounged around the dining room table for a few hours enjoying coffee and conversation. I was all packed and ready to head to NYC for the rest of the day but after a long and intense conversation R convinced me to stay here. He was sweet and set up his printer for me, bought me my favorite snack, and let me delve into school work. He's even waking up at 4 am with me to go for his long run. Solidarity around super long Mondays. The photo is actually from Saturday evening at The Farmhouse.

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