2006 Ford Focus

(Reason for this post: This is the kind of car I'm renting while mine's in the shop)

I have decided that the 2006 Ford Focus really sucks.

First off, the car sits at an angle. The rear end is way too high. When I look out of the rearview mirror, all I see is my back seat... with the tiny sliver of space that the Ford company seems to think is big enough to be considered a window.

Next, when I look over my shoulders all I can see is the inside side of the car. Like I said, the car sits at a downward slope with the rear being higher than the front. I think this may be the reason that it's next to impossible to see out of the side windows.

Furthermore, there's an armrest in the front that is almost as tall as a large building. It gets in the way of my arm... so much so that it's not really an armrest because if you were to rest your arm upon it, it would look as if you've elevated your elbow to keep blood from rushing to it.

Also, it gets crappy gas mileage. In my Toyota, 1/4 of a tank will easily last me 4 days (going to work and coming back home). The Ford Focus has managed to guzzle down a 1/4 of a tank in a matter of 2 days.

Lastly, the windshield wiper settings were difficult to figure out... and once they come on, for some reason they will not go back off even when pushed into the "off" position.

The only positive thing I have to say about this car is that it does turn nicely.

And this part doesn't really have to do with the Ford Focus, but rather all automatics. I've been driving a standard for... what... 7 years now? Switching over to an automatic is just weird. Whenever I do purchase a new car it will definitely be a standard.

Anyways, just sharing my thoughts.

Car Rental

I tried to find a car rental place that was open on a Sunday. I needed a car before Monday so I would be able to drive to work. After about 30 minutes of looking in the Yellow Pages and making several phone calls, I finally found one that was open (and wasn't located at the airport).

The name of the place is Longhorn Car & Truck Rental.

My insurance company told me that they will pay a rental place $20 a day... up to $600 dollars. As I walked into the rental place, I told the guy I needed a car since mine was in a wreck. He told me that it would cost just shy of $40 a day.

This didn't appear to be good news, because that meant that I'd be out however much money until my car was fixed (or until I get a new one). The guy then asked if I had already arranged something with the insurance agency. I told him that I had not. So he got on the phone and got all the information he would need from my insurance people.

After all the paperwork was signed he handed me a receipt. I looked at it and noticed something that said "$15". I asked him if this was what I would be paying per day since my insurance company only pays $20 a day. They guy then told me that I wouldn't be paying anything. He said that their company likes insurance rentals so whatever the insurance is willing to pay, that's all they charge.

So, anyone in the Austin area who has been in a wreck and needs to rent a car, I would definitely recommend the Longhorn Car & Truck Rental company. The staff was real nice, and they got me into a car within 10 minutes.

I'm looking forward to hearing from my claims adjuster. I would like to know how much the repairs are going to cost, or if the car is totaled.

However, I have decided that if it is totaled I'm going to buy a new Toyota Yaris (liftback). It gets 40 miles per gallon... and I think it looks cool. :)

In case you're wondering what it looks like... here's a picture:


If my car is not totaled... then I'll keep it for now and just buy a Yaris later. Unless, of course, I find a car I like better down the road.

Oops

At the end of the day on Thursday (March 22nd)I was walking into the office so I could sign out for the day. One of the teachers stopped me and said something like "I know the classes that you're subbing in right now can be quite stressful at time, yet you always have a smile on your face." I decided to have fun with my response. I said something like "It's the end of the day... It's all up hill from here... I hope."

This was a bit ironic since... well... about ten minutes later I was in a wreck.

I went out to my car (which was parked in the student lot since the staff parking lot was full) and instead of going through the light (which I've done every time I leave that parking lot) I went down to a little driveway. Traffic going North was stopped for the light. The cars in front of this driveway I was at decided to stop to let me go. I looked to the right. The coast was clear. I then proceeded to make my left turn... but didn't see the female driver in the chicken lane. So we crashed.

Oh well. I now must wait to see what my insurance company says.

On a good note, no one was injured.

I guess I should've posted this earlier... but I had other things on my mind. :)

Spring Break/Canoe Trip

Well, this is obviously a bit late… but I guess that’s ok. At least I have something to write as an update.

March 9th:
The school bell rang at 3:45 in the p.m. My students left the classroom to enjoy 10 days of no school… as did I. I took care of the few things I needed to take care of before I could sign out and leave the school. By 4 in the p.m. I was in my car and on my way to Mississippi. Everything seemed to be going well until I was about 20 miles away from Temple. I decided to go to I-20 (rather than I-10) because I was hoping to make it into Dallas in time to eat dinner with my sister and my brother-in-law as well as with Andy an Laura. Well, it sounded like a good idea… but traffic was pretty much stopped. What’s that? Oh yeah, I completely forgot about Spring Break traffic, rush-hour work traffic, as well as normal weekend traffic. What this translates to is me managing to go about 25 miles in 5 hours. Around 10 in the p.m. I decided to just pull over, take a nap, and hope that traffic would clear up by the time I woke up. Thankfully, it did. I woke up then continued with my drive. I made it to Dallas around midnight.

March 10th:
I was still driving to Mississippi. Needless to say, I skipped dinner with Ashley, Mike, Andy and Laura. It turned out, Ashley and Mike were on their way to California and wouldn’t have been able to eat dinner with me anyways… and Andy and Laura were in Wisconsin and were also unavailable for dinner. So it all worked out in the end. I ended up at Mike’s house (not Mike my brother-in-law). Mike and I ended up sleeping until about 11:45 in the a.m. We were planning on waking up around 9 in the a.m. to make all of our last minute purchases so we could be out on the Red Creek around 3 in the p.m. Obviously, this wasn’t going to happen. Anyways, Mike and I rushed to the store to purchase food (and beer) for the next 4 days. Once all the food was bought we went back to his parents’ house to put it all in the cooler and get everything that we needed into Mike’s truck. After that, we stopped at a sporting goods store so Mike could buy a bit of equipment that he needed to replace. At this point, I realized that I left my hiking/camping boots at my house… in Austin. So, I got to buy a new pair of boots while we were at this store. Now we were ready to get to the river. How far away was it? 3 hours away… in the middle of nowhere (which is good, we were going to do some real camping). We managed to get out on the river sometime around 9 in the p.m. Since it was pitch black we didn’t manage to go very far downstream. However, we did get far enough away from the bridge that we weren’t able to hear any cars that may have driven by. Mike and I set up camp for the night, talked, smoked, and drank a bit, then went to sleep.

March 11th:
I’m not sure what time I woke up, but I woke up sometime in the middle of the night because I was freezing. We were sleeping on sand… which seemed to be like sleeping on a sheet of ice. Guess what sleeping bag I brought. My super-thin fleece sleeping bag. I got the fire back to a comfortable temperature, warmed my feet and body up a bit, then went back to sleep. I woke up again (and again, I’m not sure how long I had been asleep) because I was freezing again. I got out of my pathetic “sleeping bag” and sat as close to the warm coals as I could. I didn’t want to get up to get more fire wood because when we walked on the sand it make this weird noise and I didn’t want to wake Mike up. But after awhile I couldn’t take the cold any more. I got up as quietly as I could and managed to find enough fire wood to last for a few more hours. Once I started stacking the wood over the coals, Mike woke up. He and I talked for a few minutes, then he gave me his foam pad to put between me and the sand. He said he didn’t need it since his sleeping bag was designed to keep you warm in colder temperatures. This pad is only about a quarter of an inch thick, but it was enough insulation that it helped keep me warm for the remainder of the night.

Mike and I woke up sometime that morning and enjoyed some sausage and fried eggs. Once we packed all of our gear back into the canoe we officially began our canoe trip. Our goal was to paddle for a total of 56 miles over the course of the next 4 days.

So we paddled for several hours then stopped to eat lunch. Once we finished eating we continued on downstream. The river had a bit of debris left over from hurricane Katrina. This made maneuvering the canoe a tad tricky. But we managed. We stopped a few hours later to set up camp.

Mike and I dug a ditch into the sandbar that we chose for our campsite. We also dug a place on the side of our ditch to keep the fire. We then placed a tarp over the top of our hole. Once the shelter was completed, Mike and I gathered up enough firewood for the night. We had another amazing meal as well as great conversation. The shelter did an amazing job of holding the fire’s heat in as we slept that night.

March 12th:
Mike and I awoke and had oatmeal for breakfast. We then packed up our gear once again and canoed for the next several hours. By this point, I started getting a headache. Mike’s shoulder wasn’t doing so hot either. So this day we didn’t make it very far down the river. We stopped a short while after eating lunch and decided we could go no further for the day. By this time my head was pounding. I apologized to Mike because I knew I was going to be of no help with the shelter or the collection of wood until this headache went away. I laid down on the sand, tied my bandana over my eyes, and fell asleep. I woke up several hours later because it started getting cold again. Now my head was pounding even harder than before. I looked around and noticed that the shelter had already been dug, the wood had already been gathered, and Mike was just moments away from having dinner finished. I got up off the sandbar and walked into the shelter. I don’t remember much of the night after that. I remember eating dinner. I remember trying not to puke the dinner up because my head was aching so badly. I remember taking 3 extra strength Tylenols. And I remember waking up after dark to a sound in the woods behind us. Mike looked at me. I looked at Mike. We then whispered “What the hell is that?” It was something… or someone walking in the woods. We sat quietly and listened the best we could. My head was still pounding. The footsteps seemed to get closer. Then stop. Get closer. Then stop. Mike then got out of the shelter, K-Bar in hand. (For those who may not know, a K-Bar is a giant knife that the Marines carry when out in the field.) He then said that I should come out there with him. So I too went outside with my K-Bar and stood next to Mike. After a few minutes the footsteps stopped. Mike and I went back into the shelter, and that’s all I remember until I woke up the next morning.

March 13th:
My headache was gone! While Mike was getting breakfast ready, we realized something. Our steaks and our bacon weren’t in the cooler. Neither of us remembered actually seeing the meat after leaving the grocery store a few days prior. This meant that the only way we would have enough food for the rest of the trip was if we were careful with our consumption of the remaining food.

After we ate breakfast we got back on the river and canoed for another several hours.

We came across the bridge that was 15 miles from where we were dropped off on the first night of the trip. As you can tell, we were way behind schedule. There was no way we would make another 45 miles in only 2 days. We pulled in under the bridge and tied the canoe to a nearby bush. We then walked about a mile down the road to a gas station. I have no idea how anyone would know this is a gas station… because there was no sign on the small building. However, there were two ancient gas pumps out front. Mike and I went inside. They served sandwiches and hamburgers! Woohoo! If we ate here, we would still have plenty of food for the rest of the trip. Also, this gas station sold bacon and various canned goods. Mike and I ate one of the most amazing sandwiches I have ever eaten, and we bought a bit of extra food. Another reason we needed to make it to this gas station was so that we could use a phone and let Mike’s parents know that we were going to need to be picked up at the next bridge rather than the second upcoming bridge. We would’ve just made the call from Mike’s cell phone, but like I mentioned earlier, we were in the middle of nowhere and there was not a single bar of reception.

Once we were finished, we walked back down the road to our canoe, then paddled on for another couple of hours. We stopped and made camp for the night.

March 14th:
We ran into a few troubles once we got back on the river. The biggest problem was the river split. This wasn’t too big of a deal because Mike and his brother had previously canoed down this river before and he knew that going to the right would be the easier of the two paths. Well… I guess it used to be easier. To the left was a few fallen trees that made a perfect dam. To the right… it looked to be clear. We went to the right, but then realized that there were so many fallen trees and debris that it was practically impossible to get through. So we paddled upstream until we were in shallow enough water that Mike was able to get out and pull the canoe back to the tree-dam. We then pulled a few of the heavy items out of the canoe and set them up on the fallen trees. We then used every bit of strength we had to lift the canoe up and over the dam. After getting the heavy supplies back into the canoe, we were off again.

We made our last shelter of the trip seeing as how this was our last night. I noticed that in just a few days that not only did the quality of our shelters improve, but we were also able to dig the hole and get the shelters set up faster.

We had a fun-filled night of talking and fishing until we decided to go to bed.

March 15th:
We woke up, ate breakfast, gathered our things, and got back out on the river. We had to paddle like madmen since we weren’t exactly sure how much further we had until we’d reach our new pickup point.

A few hours went by then Mike said to stop rowing and help him with the tarp. I was a bit confused at the comment but then I felt what Mike felt. It was starting to sprinkle. Once we positioned the tarp over our gear we continued on with our rowing.

The rain picked up, but that was ok. The rain just enhanced the beauty of the scenery as well and giving us that clean air scent that only comes during and just after a rain.

After about an hour of rowing in the rain I saw a very interesting thing. I saw a momma duck and about 7 ducklings following behind her. This wasn’t the first duck that we had seen on the trip, but it was the first duck we saw that had ducklings. Now, when we came too close to the other ducks they would just fly away. Momma duck, however, did not. She did fly away, but she flew away with her feet slapping the water while making as much noise as she possibly could. I found this fascinating. I wasn’t really sure why she did this at first, but then it clicked. This was a defense mechanism for her babies. Oddly enough, it worked. We were distracted long enough that when we looked back towards the ducklings, we couldn’t find them. We decided to go a bit closer to the ducklings to see how momma duck would react. She came flying back around behind us and began slapping her feet in the water and making all kinds of noise as she flew back past us. After we decided that momma duck was probably freaked out enough we continued on down river.

We made it to the bridge around 2:30 in the p.m. Instead of going straight to the bridge, we stopped on another sandbar to have lunch. We weren’t in any big hurry because we weren’t supposed to be picked up until 5 in the p.m. Around 4:15 in the p.m. we decided to get over to the bridge in case Mike’s mom showed up early.

After waiting for about an hour (5:30) Mike’s mom arrived with Mike’s truck. She apologized for being an hour and a half late. Mike and I thought she was going crazy because she was only 30 minutes late… which wasn’t a big deal at all. She then looked at us like we were crazy and informed us that it was in fact 6:30 in the p.m.

Oh yeah… daylight savings time. ;)

We made it back to Mike’s place a few hours after we had dinner. We then slept.

March 16th:
After packing my things back into my car, and after hanging out for a bit, I began my drive back to Texas. I made it into Dallas around 9 in the p.m. and met up with brother-in-law Mike, Ashley, and Andy (Laura was out with a friend for the moment). After dinner, I decided to just stay the night with Andy and Laura. We had a great time just hanging, drinking, smoking, and talking.

March 17th:
I woke up and met Ashley for breakfast (lunch, actually) at IHOP. Once we finished eating and talking I continued on back to Austin.

That night, JJ and Sam came over to hang out. Again, we all had a good time of hanging out, drinking, smoking, and talking.

March 18th:
Sunday night is a blog-post in itself, so I may save that for a later time. :)

Anyways, that was my Spring Break. I had a blast. The river and its surroundings were absolutely beautiful. It’s always great to get out in the middle of God’s creation and just enjoy the “simple” things in life.

First and last day...

As I mentioned a post or two back, I have been substituting for a local school district. I have spent all of my time doing high school... except for one day.

That one day is what gave me the idea for this post's title. The other day I had my first and last day at a middle school.

The experience was beyond horrid. I was going to make this post the day it took place, but I was so angry that I just didn't want to think about it any more.

First off, I was supposed to be at the school by 8 in the a.m. Just as I'm about 5 minutes from the school, the substitute's computer system called me and informed me that my job for the day was cancelled. So, I turned around to go home. I decided that since I was already awake and dressed for class that I would call the high school to see if they needed my help for the day. The high school's phone lines were down, so I decided I'd go home and enjoy a day off. I got home, changed my clothes, sat down, then my phone rang again. I answered it. It was the middle school asking if I was coming in today. Needless to say, I was a bit confused since the job had been cancelled. I told the secretary that the job was cancelled. She said something like "Oh, that job was cancelled, but I went ahead and put you in for a different one." This was the cause for the confusion. At the high school, if the job is cancelled, the secretary just keeps the original job number on the books just sends us to a different classroom. (or at least that's what I'm assuming she does since I've had jobs switched on me before and I never received a cancellation notice before)

So I got dressed again and headed off to the middle school. The office was completely unorganized. I walked in and had no clue where I was supposed to sign in. No one was paying any attention to the guy (me) that just walked in. So I tried to figure out exactly where I'm supposed to go... so I just decided to walk around the office until someone asked if they could help me. It worked. I was told where to sign in, and was instructed to go to room "x". So I went in. There was another teacher in the classroom. She told me she couldn't find a lesson plan... so just pass out these handouts and have the class work on them. Ok.

1st period ended. The teacher I was subbing for didn't have a second period class, so I went to the office to see if I was needed elsewhere. They sent me to a math class. I went to the math class. Again... no lesson plans. I looked on the desk, on the table, everywhere I could think of and couldn't find a lesson plan. So I asked the students what they've been doing. As I'm sure you can guess, the answer was a resounding "Nothing." Since I didn't believe that I asked what they did the day before. They told me that they had a quiz... then one student said that they were supposed to have a test that day. Ah ha! Something they're supposed to do. I looked around again and found a stack of tests under some other papers. I told the class that they were going to take a test. I told them that if they talked or if I saw them cheating that I'd take up their test and explain to their teacher why I didn't let them finish it. That worked. The class was completely quiet until the last test was turned in.

Then 3rd period I went back to my original classroom. Again, no lesson plan... so I just passed out the same assignment that 1st period was given... even though this was a class of 7th graders and 1st period was 6th graders. 3rd period went fine until one of the boys decided to call one of the girls a "bitch" and a "hoe". Needless to say, this upset the girl and her friends... so they retaliated by giving him a note that said "Do you wear a bra? If not, you need to." and other such things. So of course, the boy got upset and came to me. I could tell he was upset, but I had no clue as to why since I was completely unaware of the situation at this time. He asked if he could go to the office. Well, seeing as how I figured I could handle whatever the situation was, I had him explain to me why he was upset first. He calmed down a bit and sat back down in his seat. I then asked the girls which one of them wrote the note. None of them answered. So I told the group that I'd give all of them a detention unless the guilty party admitted to writing the note. That worked. I got a confession. The girls then started explaining why the note was written... but they didn't get to finish because the story they were telling angered the boy again. This started a yelling match between the boy and the girls. At this point in time another teacher came in to help me out. She resolved the matter and the day went on.

Next was home room. Now, I remember that home room was supposed to be a time for the kids to work on homework and other such things... so it was ok that there wasn't a lesson plan. However, an attendance sheet would've been helpful. Since I didn't have one, I just passed out a sheet of paper and had the kids write their name on it. I also had to remind them to put their real names on it so they wouldn't be counted absent. The class was crazy. No one would stay in their seats and be quiet. Thankfully, their teacher came back to class about 15 minutes before class was over. I explained to her what took place during 3rd period. She thanked me for the information then told me that I was needed in the office.

I went to the office. They told me to go take care of another math class down in room "z". I went there. The classroom was empty. I looked around... couldn't find a lesson plan... then rummaged through the papers on the desk and found what I was supposed to have the rest of the classes do.

Thankfully, 4th period was this teacher's conference period. Instead of going to the office to see if they needed my help anywhere else, I decided to take a break since the day was already more stressful than any of my days at the high school.

Another home room class was next. The teacher instructed me to have the class read silently. I told the class this... but they didn't seem to want to listen. So I then had the students who were talking move to seats far away from their friends. That worked. Once everyone was split up, everyone sat quietly and read.

5th period... I was instructed to let the class do a warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes. I told the class that if they talked during the warm-up that I'd give them 5 minutes to work on it. If they didn't talk I'd give them the full 10 minutes. Needless to say, they only got 5 minutes. Over all, the class was ok. I did have one kid who gave me a bit of attitude a few times. Of course, that student's name was put into the report that I was going to leave for the teacher.

6th period. *deep, calming breath* 6th period was a nightmare. I can usually tell how well the class will behave by how roll-call goes. After attendance was taken, I could tell that this was going to be a very very bad period. I told this class the same that I told the last class. If they talk during the warm-up, I'd only give them 5 minutes to work on it. If they didn't, they'd get 10 minutes.

Before I continue, I must say that there was one girl in particular that during roll-call I knew she would be my biggest trouble-maker. And I was right. She started off talking rather than doing the warm-up. I asked her to move seats. She looked at me and stated "I'm not moving seats!" At this point, I was ready to walk over to her desk, grab her around the neck, and drag her to another seat. But since I couldn't legally do that, I just told her again to move seats. And again, she stated that she wasn't going to move. I then gave her a choice. I said "You can either move seats or you can have a detention." At this point, she just glared at me. I stood there staring right back at her. Finally she got up. She slowly gathered her things and slowly walked over to another seat.

By this time, not only was the class talking, but I noticed that only about 4 of the students were actually working on the warm-up. I instructed the class numerous times to work on the assignment. After repeating myself for the thousandth time I decided to turn off the overhead. Warm-up was finished. I told everyone to turn in what they've completed. Uh oh... this didn't make the class happy. Now their teacher would know that barely any of them were doing what they were supposed to do.

My trouble-maker started up with her attitude again. "We don't turn them in to you, we turn them into our folders!" I looked at her, then said, "That may be true, but today you're going to turn them into me. That way your teacher can see the progress you made on it." And again... more attitude.

I reminded the class that I have to leave a report for the teacher as to how the class went. My trouble-maker then said "Yes, we know! We've had substitutes before!"

Ok... let me just say... by this point, I seriously wanted to harm this child. I have never in my life (and this includes my time in the Marine Corps) had to exercise as much self-control as I had to at this point. I wanted to grab this girl by the hair, drag her down to the closest bathroom, and drown her in the toilet. I wanted to stick tooth picks under her toenails and then force her to kick the wall. I wanted to throw a desk at her. I wanted to throw a chair at her. I wanted to slam her down on the ground. I wanted to torture her for hours. But... again... since none of that is legal... I instead informed her that the report I was leaving for their teacher was going to have a large section just for her.

This didn't make her very happy. So she asked if she could go to the office to do her work. WOOHOO! Needless to say, I gladly sent her ass off to the office. The rest of the class was still talking, but they were at least doing some of there work here and there.

The class period went on... then all of the girls were called to the office for some screening by the nurse. Once all the girls left, all the guys pretty much stopped talking and actually began doing their work. Hmm... no girls in the classroom and the guys stop trying to impress them and do there work. There's got to be something up with that.

Anyways, about 15 minutes before class was over, all the girls returned... including the trouble-maker. Dang it. For about 5 minutes everything seemed to be going ok. But then I noticed her walking towards the door. I told her that she needed to stay in the classroom. She just ignored me and walked out. I went out in the hallway and told her to get back in the classroom. She came back to the door, but then stood next to the door. She would not get in the classroom. I told her over and over again to get back in... raising my voice with every time I had to repeat myself. The belligerent little twit would not obey. She then tells me to "get out of [her] face!" even though I'm a far cry from being "in her face". She then decided to just walk off. And since I couldn't legally grab her and throw her back into the classroom, all I could do was let her meander down the hallway. By this point, my left eye was twitching, my heart was beating about ten thousand times a minutes, and I was beyond pissed.

Once the class was dismissed, I went back into the office to put the report in the teacher's box. The lady in the office then asked me how the day went. I told her about how I have never come so close to beating a child... and not caring about the consequences. She apologized and said "Well, I hope you can come back for us sometime." I looked at her and said "Honestly, for the safety of the children, and for my own well-being, I don't think that's such a good idea."

So... that was my first and last day to ever work at a middle school. I'll stick with high school.