First-time carvers

It's become a tradition to carve pumpkins at CE2. And it's also a tradition to get people involved who've never before carved a gourd! LOVE IT!
We had several first-timers wielding carving tools. And they did great!
They always have mixed reactions to the slimy innards and the smell.
While some worked on the little guys, others started in on the 100 pounder.
Mariana:
Juan:
Ethan:
Anny:
I love my CE2 kiddos :)

Happy Halloween!!

Had to do something fun and yummy for Halloween... haunted rice crispie treats! Served in a Halloween bowl, of course!
And I didn't come up with a costume this year, but I am sporting one of my many pair of Halloween party pants and new socks from Brad:
How about a closeup of those beauties?!?
Nice :)

Band and a run

We finished up the 2011 fall marching band season Saturday with championships at Hillsboro Stadium. Despite the very cold, foggy start to the day, Tigard did great, scoring 77.55 in prelims and taking second place in our division... and earning a place in the evening finals performance!

Then it was time for our annual pit crew breakfast at IHOP.
All-you-can-eat pancakes. Nice!
Thanks to my wonderful crew: Robert, Scott, Luann, Ricardo, Greg, Eryn, Lynn, Donna, Dave, Mark, Kati (left to right). I always knew I could count on them - and that makes my job SO much easier :)
Then Eryn and I went for a run around the stadium. By then, the sun was out and it was perfectly cool and beautiful with all the turning leaves.

Eryn set a goal to run under 11-minute miles... and we finished (run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute - four times) at a 10:54 average! YIPPEE!
We did 4.05 miles together, then I did another couple for a total of 6.2. I sped it up for the last 2 and ended at a 10:14 average overall.

THS did amazing at their evening performance, leaving it all on the field. We're so proud of them!

Until next year....
:)

Track Thursday: happy feet

Last week's track workout was a failure, with foot tendonitis flaring up mid-run. Major bummer.

I took a week off from running, taking Aleve and icing like a crazy person. It's been markedly better, so I decided to lace up my running shoes after work and try again.

Since I didn't complete last week's plan, I decided to do the same one from No Meat Athlete's "3 Track Workouts Guaranteed to Kick Your A$$":

3 x 1 mile with 400 m rest intervals
Pace: Determine 5K mile-pace and subtract 10 seconds.

Just in case you aren't getting the notation, consider my example: My 5K pace is about a 6:12 mile, so I'm looking at 6:02 for this workout. After a warmup, I run one mile at 6:02, then jog slowly around the track one time, then repeat the whole thing two more times, for a total of three repeats. Too easy, tough guy? Try resting for only one minute instead of one lap.

My 5K PR is 9:01 (a lot slower than that guy!). So I planned for an 8:51 pace: Because it was sunny and dry, I took my camera with me to the track (which happens to be about 50 yards from the door of my classroom!)

No spectators... ATHLETES only!!!!! The whole track to myself: I worked out the last two days, spin Tuesday and stadiums Wednesday, so my legs were a bit tired. Still, I felt strong, completing my first mile (after a one-lap warmup) at an 8:48 average.

I walked a lap and then did another mile at an 8:40 average.

Walked a lap then did my final mile at an 8:32. Negative splits, baby!

I cooled down for a lap and ended up doing 4.05 miles in 39:16 - a 9:43 average overall. I'll take it! The first mile was easy. The second felt good. The third mile took a little more effort. I think I'll try the same workout again - maybe with just a half-lap recovery between each mile. My feet felt fine throughout the run - no pain at all. It flared a little right after, but I iced and that helped a lot. I don't think I took any Aleve before bed, but I did take some this morning ... I don't want to push it.:)

No. 30

Thirty books down - sweet!
I just finished Sue Grafton's D is for Deadbeat. I liked this one - the ending was better than others that I've read. It actually explained and wrapped up. What a concept :)

Not sure what's next... maybe E, maybe something else...

:)

Are you wearing purple today?

I am proudly wearing purple today! Are you??
Today is Purple Day at Tigard High, sponsored by the Gay-Straight Alliance. We're joining with teens and others across the country in remembering young people who have committed suicide as a result of homophobic bullying.
The GSA club put out these facts from a 2009 study by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network:

* Nearly one-third of LGBT students reported skipping a class at least once in the past month because they feel unsafe at school.

* 86% of LGBT students were verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their perceived sexual orientation; 67% were harassed were acting "too masculine" or "too feminine".

* The average GPA for LGBT students who were frequently harassed because of their sexual orientation/gender expression was significantly lower than that of LGBT students who experienced less harassment.

* Most LGBT students who are harassed or assaulted in school did not report the incident to school staff. The most common reason they gave for not reporting was that they believed staff would not do anything about it.

This is not OK. ALL students have the right to feel safe at school - no matter the circumstances.

Two huge honors

Our Monday started with an assembly at Tigard High. No one knew what it was for, just that Oregon State Superintendent Susan Castillo would be there for some kind of award recognition.

Well, it turns out that one of our social studies teachers, Frank Caro, was selected as one of just 40 teachers nationwide to receive the VERY prestigious Milken Educator Award... with a $25,000 cash prize!!
Holy cow! We are SO excited for Mr. Caro!

Click HERE to read more about the honor. You may have seen the article last night and this morning in The Oregonian.
And Frank, who is not only a great teacher but also a real class act, sent out this e-mail to the THS staff (who are all dreaming of how WE would spend $25,000!!!!):

THS Teachers, Administrators, Counselors, Support Staff, Custodians!

I want to THANK YOU all for your support the years I have been at THS. Any honor I receive for teaching is not accepted alone. It is YOU ALL who have helped me do my job each and every day so this recognition is something I truly and profoundly share with all of you. I am blessed to work with all of you and I wouldn't work anywhere else!

Go Tigers!
Frank

What a great guy! Congrats, Frank :)

Then at 5 p.m., senior color guard member Kalen Weigel was honored with a ceremony by the U.S. Army.
Kalen was selected to participate in the elite 2012 U.S. Army All-American Marching Band, which plays for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January in San Antonio, Texas.

Just 125 marching musicians and color guard members were chosen nationwide. Each will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the bowl game.

The ceremony was really cool!
My mom, Kalen's marching band director, was glad to be a part of the pomp and circumstance:
The whole family was there:
Kalen's color-guard instructors:
Mom gets to keep that hat!
And we're so proud of Kalen!!

:)

Homecoming '11

My packed weekend of randomness got under way right after school Friday with the annual homecoming parade down Durham Road.

When I started at THS in 2008, I insisted that CE2 have an entry in the homecoming parade - because it's super cool and we need to represent! (2008, 2009, 2010, 2010 part 2) Fortunately, I have the best coworkers in the world... as long as I get my tasks done, they pretty much let me do whatever else I want to enhance the CE2 experience for our kiddos!

So I recruited a bunch of students to help brainstorm and design our entry to the circus-themed event. And since we have several CE2 kids also in GSA (gay-straight alliance), we combined efforts.
Kayla is an amazing artist:
Angela's talented hands did the tiger on the left:
Here are some of our CE2/GSA friends (a few peeps were doing a last-minute Dollar Tree run during picture time):
Eryn always helps out - she's a great assistant! Mom's with the marching band.
Andy and daughter Ava joined us again this year. Those tiger hats are from Andy's mother, when she was in high school (in Toledo, Ohio)!
We had a blast handing out candy to the kids who were waiting along the parade route! Then we celebrated with a little pizza party in CE2 before heading to the football game.

What a great fall evening!
:)

Weekend randomness

My weekend was packed with lots of fun ... and randomness!

It got started right after work Friday with the homecoming parade. More pics to come:
Then the football game, where Tigard AGAIN creamed the other team. It's been a great season so far.

I got home fairly late and found Brad chasing a squirrel around the attic.
Luckily for the squirrel, it ran out (through a hole above our porch) before Brad could get out his childhood BB gun.
I still think that shooting (even BBs) in the attic was not a good idea :)

Saturday was a trip to Eugene for another band competition, this time at Autzen Stadium, home of the University of Oregon Ducks. There was an REI sale that morning in Eugene, so we stood in line for far too long and found some good deals before heading to Autzen.
Sunday, Brad's folks met us at Fresh Grill in Beaverton for burgers and sandwiches. Yum!
Then we ran a couple errands, including using up a free Cinnabon coupon that expires this week.
Because of my tendonitis, I didn't run this weekend. Instead, I hopped on the elliptical. It felt OK on the foot, so I did 53 minutes while listening to tunes.
Felt so nice to sweat!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, too! :)