Half Way Point!

I hope everyone’s summer is going great.  Mine so far has been enjoyable.  Up till now, I’ve only done four things all summer:  Umpire, computer graphics for my mother-in-law, clean-up the house, and my favorite play with my daughter Kylee. 

I was out mowing my yard this morning, and I realized that in a little over a month I will be back in the classroom.  Exciting!  This down stretch of the summer is when I will be at my busiest.  I will be the head umpire the next two weekends for a youth regional tournament and a youth state tournament.  The following weekend I will umpiring in a men’s state tournament (I haven’t done a men’s game since 2001).  Then the following week I will be umpiring in the 16A National Championship Tournament.  So the rest of July will be fun. 

I will also continue with my computer graphics.

I am really anxious in working with my new interactive white board this year.  I think my teaching skills will go to another level.  I will not be coaching football this year.   I know this breaks my heart, but I will be coaching girls basketball and softball as well.  Also in the spring, I will TRY to umpire some college games as well before my summer ball begins.

And of course there will be some family time as well.  I always have fun when I spend my time with my family.  Kylee now is talking more.  A lot of gibberish still, but “All done”  and “Bye Bye” are the big ones.  Grandma Kutscher got to here those the other night.  She is getting so big and very daring.  We went to Sonic for lunch today, and they have a playground there.  Kylee climbed up the steps and headed to the highest slide.  She is so daring.  She climbed the first steps really well.  Next after bypassing the first set of slides, she attempts to climb over a dinosaur bridge.  Kylee had some difficulty here, so I helped her out just a little bit.  After going over the bridge, she comes to a fork.  She goes left over another bridge.  Kylee scanned over 2 slides and a narrow stairway and climbing wall going down and decided to head for the farthest slide which was clear on the other side of the area.  So we ran over bridge back to the fork and the other direction.  Now here you can go down a steep slide or climb another set of stairs to another slide.  Kylee decided, ’No Guts, No Glory!’  She climbed her way up to the very top and screamed as loud as she can, “Wow.”  Then by the encouragement of me to sit down, she slid down all by herself about 20 feet on the Tornado Slide.  Watching her go down was awesome.  All she could do on the way down was smile really big and laugh, which brought a big smile to my face.  I have told Heidi that Kylee is going to be a a roller coaster girl.  She will always look for the excitement.

Bumps, Bruises, and Cuts

Summer is flying by.  It’s already June 20th.  It seems like yesterday I was in the classroom teaching to my students and preparing for next year.  Not only have I been through a lot in the last month, so has Kylee.  She is always going 100 mph.  Even though in the last 2 days she has scared the living daylights out of me.  First, on Tuesday I was out cleaning my umpire gear and she was running around drive way and she stepped up onto a steep part of our grass and lost her balance bumping her head and cheek into the driveway.  Of course about 10 minutes of crying came with that, and Kylee was up running around again.  Then Wednesday night was probably the scariest day of her life so far.  Kylee is now climbing on everything.  I had my feet up on the footrest of our couch and she came running around then climbed up onto the footrest then slid down.  Well she does this about a hundred times a day.  Well this time I thought I would play with her a little bit.  She came running around the corner again and right before she got to the footrest, I put it down thinking she would run into the soft couch.  I was wrong!  She to lean over the footrest and went barrelling down to the flower, face first.  I was expecting maybe a little chuckle, but a blaring cry for help came instead.  I picked her up and noticed her lip was bleeding, really bad.  Kylee would not let me nor Heidi look at it, because she was in a lot of pain.  We found a cut on the inside of her lip and one on the outside of her lip.  First instincts for Heidi was to run to the emergency room.  But I didn’t think the cut needed stiches.  So we called her mom for advice, and was told to take her to the ER.  Then we went to our neighbors house for another opinion.  And they thought different, plus by then the bleeding had stopped.  Kylee is doing great now, but I never felt so sick in my life then that night.

Tournaments

The last two weekends I have been involved with two softball tournaments, both having bids to the national tournament.  The first one I was the Umpire-In-Chief (UIC).  This was a real good weekend.  There were a couple of minor issues and the team who won the 14 A division said that this was the best tournament they’ve been to. 

This past weekend I traveled with a crew to Chapman and got to work an Invitaional plus.  I worked 8 games over the weekend, and the community of Chapman really took care of us.  Daryl Beemer and everyone there did an exceptional job.  If any umpire got the opportunity to work in Chapman, go and do it.  And ask for something called “Cream Can”.  It’s really good.

It’s summer time!

It is that glorious time of the year.  Summer Vacation.  Hopefully everyone has a safe and enjoyable 3 month vacation.  I will be working on my computer and getting everything updated on it, plus get my Master’s classes up for the fall.  Since I will not be coaching football (this is a different subject), I will have more time to work on this.  I’ve already been umpiring softball games and have many more this summer, including the 16A National Championship tournament at the end fo July.  The best time this summer will be with Kylee, her and I will spend a lot of thime together.

Chapter 11 Geometry Posts

This chapter was about volume and surface area.  Write 3 paragraphs about this chapter.  Including your thoughts. Due Monday April 28th.

Algebra 1 Reflection entry for Chapter 10

Write 3 PARAGRAPHS about Chapter 10.  Also include what you thought.

Geometry Blog entry for Chapter 9

Write 3 paragraphs about Chapter 9.  Including what you think.

Softball Tournaments

The state clinic will be Sunday March 16th at the Holidome in Topeka, KS starting at 8 am.  At this time umpires will learn the new rules for 2008.  I will also be looking for umpires to work during the summer time. 

These are the following ASA Tournaments that will be in the Topeka for 2008.

8-Under: Coach-Pitch Kansas ASA Region 1 Championship June 27-29 @ Dornwood.

10-Under: Class C Kansas Region 1 Championship June 27-29 @ Dornwood.

12-Under: Class C Kansas Region 1 Championship June 27-29 @ Dornwood. Class A National Qualifier May 30-June1 @ Hummers and Dornwood.

14-Under: Class C Kansas Region 1 Championship June 27-29 @ Dornwood.  Class A & B Regionals July 11-13 @ Hummers and Dornwood. Class A National Qualifier May 30-June 1 @ Hummers and Dornwood.

16-Under: Class C State Championship July 18-20. Class A Northern National Championship July 30- August 3rd.

18-Under: Class C State Championship July 18-20.

Men’s: Class B & C State Championship July25-27 @ Shawnee County North.

There will probably be some other tournaments added on later.  I will not be the UIC for any regionals, national qualifiers, or national tournaments.

SPRING BREAK!

Spring Break is coming up.  Any big plans.  Keep the conversation going.  Remember keep it clean.

Algebra I Reflection. (15 points)

Tell me about Chapter 9, what you learned and what you thought of it.  This needs to be at least 3 paragraphs long.