That's no moon.

Inspirational.

2008-12-15T16:49:00.000-05:00

I found this online... I liked it. :D

Politics, the way it was.

2008-09-29T22:13:00.003-04:00

"What General Lee's feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity, with an impassible face... His feelings...were entirely concealed from my observation; but my own feelings...were sad and depressed. I felt like anything rather than rejoicing at the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which people ever fought...

"General Lee was dressed in a full uniform which was entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value...In my rough traveling suit...I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so handsomely dressed, six feet high and of faultless form...

"We soon fell into a conversation about old army times...Our conversation grew so pleasant that I almost forgot the object of our meeting."

-General Ulysses S. Grant, remembering the surrender at Appomattox Court House.

After watching debates, politicians blaming everyone and anyone on financial crises, and the overall distaste for taking blame for anything in our country, I wonder...Where are the people like General Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and the other eloquent, kind, caring, leaders of our past. Having never seen or met a politician like them, it's hard to understand, but I miss them.

First day of school.

2008-08-12T17:40:00.004-04:00

You know that smell of fresh pencils? The intoxicating scent of dry erase markers? The squeaky clean waxed floors? It's a beautiful thing for kids on their first day of school. But as today was my first day of school it was an amazing thing for me as well. It was very strange entering into the public school system after having been in a private school for the past two years. It's hard to believe all the stuff you have to do as a public school teacher. Papers to sign, papers to pass out for parents to sign, papers to pass out for kids to sign, papers to take from kids signed by parents to file away, papers that have to be in the office before a certain time, papers, papers, papers! And lest we forget all the wonderful tests and assessments we must perform and track with the kids. Oh, and I have a formal evaluation this year with several important people in the school system. Apparently it's not enough that you graduated college, they still need to test you. But you know what? Even with all of that looming over me and making me nervous, the smell of freshly sharpened pencils, dry erase markers, and waxed floors calmed all my nerves today.

The students were excited to be there and I was excited to be teaching them. We did little more today than get to know each other, and get them acclimated with the rules and procedures. There is so much for them that we'll be doing it all week. Most of it will be new until tomorrow and then we'll be reinforcing it throughout the week. But hopefully by doing that it will become second nature to them. Now I have to get onto "Tech Paths", which is how we plan out our units -- because we don't use textbooks -- and decide what we're going to do this month. It's sure to be an exciting year, and I hope you'll enjoy hearing about it here. Thanks so much to Kara and Big Nate who is envious of my sweet job (um, hello? You have a sweet job too, travel the world, save the planet? Ring any bells big guy? And with only 73 days left to go at the time of this writing hopefully you'll have an even better job, maybe somewhere tropical this time!? :D), thanks to mom and dad who are so very proud of me and pushed me and cheered me on time and time again. Thanks to Beth Ann and her family, people who keep me in smiles and stitches (the good kind, the ones that come from laughing at silly lines from Superman movies and Young Frankenstein quotes, and for the eye rolls that say, how do you two know that many ridiculous movie quotes ((That's Grant I'm referring too)), and the chubby cheeks that I love to kiss ((BRADY!!!!!)). Love you sis).And thanks most of all for my wonderful wife Sarah whom helps me believe in myself and helps make me a better person daily (it's our anniversary in less than a week so I'm really laying it on thick). I love you all. Until next time, I remain yours,

Jonathan.

P.s. Why does it sound like I just won some sort of an award? Well I guess CSLA is my reward for patience in finding a job. :D

Jamaican Honeymoon! Courtesy of animoto

2008-07-31T19:23:00.001-04:00

Not the Batman blog I promised, but something to tide you over.

Batman: AND BEYOND!!!

2008-07-19T14:14:00.002-04:00

The fandango system sold out like 90% of their tickets for all shows of the Batman sequel yesterday! I can't find the article now, but google for it, I'm sure you'll see it. Sarah and I are going to go watch it on Monday at the IMAX with some friends of ours. They say that experience is going to be unique. Quite a few scenes were shot with IMAX cameras so, we'll see if it's worth it. Unfortunately for BIGNATE he won't get to see it in all the glory and splendor. :( Oh well, I'll be excited for ya bro! Ok, gotta go, we're going to Mum and Dad's for the weekend. See some of you Sunday.

Photos! I hope.

2008-07-14T16:07:00.002-04:00

Ok, here goes nothing. Hopefully this works. Click the picture below for the Jamaica photos. It took me an hour to upload all these, so give me some time and I'll add some descriptions to them. :) Tonight at the latests. I swear!

Jamaica

Computers, heroic, or evil?

2008-07-14T14:45:00.002-04:00

My computer sucks right now... >.< It's very frustrating. All of my internet browsers have suddenly and inexplicably (at least to me) stopped working. When I boot them up they immediately stop and say they have to close due to an error. How am I typing this you might ask? Well I booted Firefox up in "safe mode". I don't know why it's safe, but it's working...Sort of. You see I'm having some problems getting things like pictures to upload. I just figured out how to get this blog to update (there are certain tweaks you can make to safe mode apparently). So hopefully that will also allow me to upload our Jamaica photos. We'll see. That's what I'm attempting next. So stay tuned for that.

The main point of this post I guess is to ask if anyone has any ideas. First of all I have no idea how this happened. Neither Sarah nor I have downloaded anything from any sites we deem untrustworthy, and I've run extensive virus scans a-la Norton Antivirus, and neither that nor Spybot S&D have found any problems. I then proceeded to uninstall both programs and then reinstall them both. That didn't work. Then I uninstalled one but not the other, tried it, didn't work. Uninstalled the other and reinstalled the first, didn't work. Then uninstalled both again installed one, restarted, tried it, didn't work, installed the last and reset, and then tried it. Nothing. I am at my wits end. If I have to I guess I can reinstall Windows, but I really, Really, REALLY don't want to do that. So, after that long winded explanation; Does anyone have any answers or suggestions?

Check back after this for pictures... I hope.

Jamaica: Sunburn Report!

2008-06-22T10:06:00.003-04:00

Sarah got it. Not me. :( We went snorkeling yesterday and came back and she was as red as can be. Sad thing was that we rubbed her down so good with spf 45! That was about 45 minutes before we left, then we were in the shade the whole day until we got in the water for about 30 minutes to snorkel and bam! We got out and she was bright red. That Norwegian blood must not do so well with the sun. We're going to make the best of it though and do some of the classes that they offer and games they have out of the sun. As for now I'm going to go get some breakfast for her. Day 2 was awesome, more on that later tonight.

Jamaica: Day 1

2008-06-21T09:49:00.002-04:00

Getting to Jamaica was actually very cool for me. Flying over water for the majority of the time was a new experience. And it was very awesome to see the little islands that dotted the ocean. And they were mostly just little strips of green with white sand outlines. I don't know what country they belonged to, but they were cool to see. Landing in the airport in Montego Bay was a new experience for me as well. I'm not sure how much damage the hurricane last year did here, but you could definitely tell a difference in our airports and Jamaica's. It's pretty much a third world country here, or at least a second world country (note to self, look up what third world country even means). It wasn't that it was scary or anything, it was just not... Not much, I guess I'd say. It's hard to explain without being here, but just walk into somewhere like JFK or ATL's airports, and then think about your church, without any decoration on the walls. That's what I was reminded of. And the line through immigration and customs was LOOOONG, which may be normal, but I was new to it, so it was interesting to me.

Once we got out of the airport we had to take a shuttle to Negril which is about a 90 minute ride out of Montego bay. It was very interesting. I've never been anywhere that rides on the opposite side of the road before. That was the scariest part. They drive like maniacs here. I'll never get mad at people who drive bad in Virginia again. They honk for the right of way here, they drive right through stop signs, and they only leave inches of room when they are passing. It was an experience. We also got to see plenty of the poverty stricken towns around here. One that I remember was Lucea (pronounced Lucy). It's not that they are all poverty stricken really, but it just seems that way. I guess because there are so many people on such a small island. Hotels are big business around here and beyond that it's only markets and crafts. They had an underwear shop here last year, but they closed it. I guess folks don't need to wear much underwear here. Anyway, it was quite a show, and not what I was expecting, but I guess we're just blessed to live in America where we don't have as much of that.

Once we pulled in to Couples Resort it was paradise. We don't have to lift a finger. I was going to carry my baggage (cause Sarah said if you don't you have to pay like five bucks to people who carry it ten feet) but the guy was like, "You're on Vacation Mon! No problem!" So that's absolutely nice, and you're not allowed to tip here on the resort so that makes it even nicer! The lobby here overlooks the pool, which looks out on the beach. Because we didn't bring the camera cord I can't show you a picture of the beach, but just imagine a desserted island with beach chairs and you'll get a good idea. It was weird for us yesterday time wise. We got up so early and were travelling all day. When we got here we lost an hour, they are Eastern but don't have daylight savings time, but we were exhausted by time we got here. Like I said in the last post we slept on the beach for a while after dipping in the water. Then we ate, then we went to bed! At like 9:45! So we're ready for a full day today.

Sorry if this post is stream-of-conciousness, but we're about to go eat breakfast. I want to get as much of my thoughts down as I can each day. Then I'll refine them into a longer post when we get back!

It's actually not all that busy here so there aren't a ton of people on the beach. The water is warm and the hammocks are so relaxing afterwards. The white sand is unbelievable soft, and the food has been great so far. Well Sarah's here, so off we go. See you all soon, but I hope not too soon. :)

Love,

The Johnsons

Negril....Wow.

2008-06-20T19:31:00.002-04:00

Ok, so, we're here. For all my family and friends who are wondering... And it is A-mazing! We were here for four hours when I glanced at Sarah next to me in the hammock and said, "I'm totally relaxed right now, how about you?" And she looked at me, and sighed, and smiled, and then we fell asleep on the hammock. It is just so fantastic. And they have internet here. So check back each day for a quick itenerary and maybe some pictures. But those might have to wait until we get back. We love you all! And remember, it's NO PROBLEM MON!

Hey! You got your Star Wars in my Indiana Jones!

2008-05-27T20:05:00.005-04:00

(If you don't care about movie reviews (mom.) feel free to scroll down as there is some personal stuff for you down there) So, here is my non-spoiler review of Star Wars... I mean Indiana Jones. And actually there will be spoilers in this episode. But they will be discreet. If you see this tag.

*SPOILER*

Hooray! You did it. You might have seen my test post and already seen all of this. If you did, happy easter egging!

Then you know you should drag your mouse over the portion directly underneath the spoiler tag. Go ahead and try that now.

Good, now that you've got that down lets get down to business. I'm going to start in on the characters first.

*Characters*

Indian Jones:
You know, Indiana was in this movie, I just had to go through a lot of his other characters to see him. Some people may disagree with me on this, but I'm telling you I saw Dr. Richard Kimble in the first scene. A mixture of Jack Ryan and President James Marshall for other mixed areas throughout other scenes in the movie. And the most frustrating of them all I saw Han Solo at the end... And that's when I went "Ugh." Anyone reading this that knows me will probably be surprised that I went ugh at Han Solo, but it just didn't work, because he was supposed to be Indiana Jones! None of those other guys. Granted people say cut him some slack because it has been 20 years or so, he's doing the best he can. And I guess that's true. But it's one of the reasons I didn't like this movie.

Shia Labeouf:
I'm actually quite ok with this character. I can't tell you much about him, and I won't even say why, or what his name is. If you really wanna know just look here *SPOILER* His name is Mutt...Big clue there. As far as his acting goes, I really enjoyed it. I almost wish they'd given him more to do in this movie. The scenes he was in I enjoyed thoroughly *SPOILER* Except for that ridiculous scene with the monkeys. I mean come on! Anyway, I really did enjoy his part, but that's not saying much because I have loved all his movies so far. Yes, Even Stevens The Movie included.

Karen Allen:
Oops, I've been calling her Carrie Allen since this movie came out. I'm sure folks think I am an idiot. Anyway, Karen's character is back, Marion Ravenwood, and she does a fine job for the role she played, but it was even less of a role than Shia's. But what she did play she played perfectly. She's not the same Ms. Ravenwood we saw last time. Time has passed and changed her... And yet she's still the same old Marion. And that's the problem with all the other women in Indiana Jones, none of them were Marion. I think you'll enjoy the part she played.

All the other characters:
Um, yeah... All the other characters in this movie you can just throw away. The Soviets, they just didn't inspire me with fear. The KGB agents weren't even as scary as the arab guys after Indy and Marion in Ark. After Nazis it's hard to get a bad guy, you know? Cate Blanchett's character was extremely shallow and worthless in my mind. *SPOILER* She plays a psychic Russian Doctor, but her psychic-ness is almost shown, then not shown, then completely forgotten for the rest of the movie. I'd like to have seen that explored a bit more, and I think I'd have liked her character more if they'd showed more of that. As it was, I really didn't care if she lived or died. As a matter of fact I couldn't have cared less if she'd been in the movie. As far as Mac goes... Well, Mac who? They could have taken his character completely out of this movie and still accomplished the same thing. His character was absolutely pointless in my simple opinion. That's all I'm gonna say about him. *SPOILER* I'd also like to talk about the Indians in the ruins... What the heck. Where'd they come from? Are they just always hanging out in the crevices of the ruins waiting for folks to walk by? That was ridiculous. I would have rather they just walked out of the woods than the way they did it. And as someone else pointed out to me, what happens when the next group of archaeologists comes in? Now those Indian guys have nowhere to hide!

CGI
Before we move on I'd like to talk real quick about George Lucas and his descent into madness. I have no idea where I read it, but somewhere on the wonderful wild web I read that he wanted to make all his movies without real actors at some point. We saw some of that in his new Star Wars episodes with entire armies as CGI, and characters like Jar-Jar and Yoda as CGI. Well this movie felt like George was trying to put as much CGI in it as was allowable. *SPOILER* You'll see what I mean when you watch it, but what was with all the ground hogs. The first appearance was funny, but after that it was annoying. And the monkeys!? Again, what the heck was that about!? Some of the action scenes were very poorly done. I remember back in the day when Nathan and I would complain about the blue screen effect. Well now it seems the phenomenon has returned with a vengeance. Only now it's CGI effect.

PLOT
I'm not even going to say much here. Because I don't want to spoil it. Feel free to talk about it in the comments. AND CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED, DON'T CHECK THE COMMENTS IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS! This movie's plot was fine. And as a matter of fact I enjoyed it. As an action movie, but as an Indiana Jones movie I thought it was only mediocre. Most folks say that they rank this movie as number two in the Jones saga... Or heavens to betsy some guy said he liked it the best!? Wow, crazy. I personally put it at the bottom. Ark, Crusade, Doom, and now Skull. I think my main problem was the treasure that Jones is searching for. Usually it has some touch of reality to it. This movie not so much. Now I know Jones is not the pinnacle of reality, but it always has some basis there. This movie does not. At least not for me. This movie seemed more like a Star Wars flick to me... That's all I'll say about it here. If you'd like to get more in depth on why you hated or loved this movie, please feel free to put your comments in the comments section. I'd love to know what you think.

So over all here's what I give the movie as far as a score. As an action movie I definitely give this three stars. But as a Jones movie I'm sorry, but I gotta sadly say, only two sad fedoras.

Ok, now that that's over. Just to let everyone know. Sarah and I are going to be moving back down to Tennessee In the coming months. And yes we're very excited about it. While I am excited about it I'm also sad and a little stressed. Sad because I won't get to do things like my indoor camping trips or our field fun day coming up on Friday. But it's also a little stressful because of looking for new jobs and places to live. So hopefully you'll all be praying for that. Tomorrow is my birthday. Yes I'll be the big 3-0. Does that bother me? Am I feeling older? Am I sad? No to the first two, and yes to the second one. But I'm sad because I won't be with my wife on that day. That's right, she is off on another globe spanning adventure (well not really, but it sounds cooler like that). We probably won't see each other again for a week. So that's sad. But as far as the old thing, I don't even really think about it. So that's what's going on. Wish I had some cool pictures for you. We went to Harper's Ferry last weekend and I'm know we got some cool pics but I don't have them yet. So look for them early next week. Until then, I remain your

JediJohnson

A movie review:

2008-05-21T20:51:00.007-04:00

(I'm not even going to pretend to give an explanation to my lateness on posts. It's been too long to give any sort of excuse. I'm just lazy. Leave it at that.)

Sarah and I went to see Prince Caspian this past weekend and I wanted to share a review of it with you guys. It's especially for Nathan since he has a lot to do over in Afghanistan and I'm sure he's looking for anything remotely movie related. So in that spirit this review and other reviews will be completely spoiler free.

Now, if you've read the book Prince Caspian, which I hope you have, then this movie will come as no surprise to you. As in the original the writers/producers/directors follow very closely to the original story. Granted some things were changed around a little to make it flow a little better in the movie. In the book some flashbacks happen about halfway through the movie, then some flashbacks happen within those flashbacks, and then finally a flashback is told at the same time while something else is being talked about in a completely different area. In a movie that could get very confusing. So I think they were justified with how they handled this. To be honest with you I think I preferred it this way anyway. If they had tried to do it like it was in the book I don't think it would have worked as well. A really interesting thing to note about the beginning of the movie; if I didn't know it was Prince Caspian I never would have guessed that's what it was. It's all very Lord of the Rings/Gladiator-ish. Which is a good thing I think. Since the world is 1000 years older and appears different for the Pevensie children, it should be very different for us as well. (One of the funniest lines in the movie comes when Edmund makes a comment to the girls about this apparent time travel)

So anyhow, as far as the story went they followed all the rest of the plot fabulously. I thought that they would leave out some of the more important things (faith, lack of faith, renewing of faith) that Mr. Lewis had put into this book, but they didn't. As a matter of fact I'd say they did an excellent job of showing all of those thing. I also didn't think they'd be able to get a scene with Aslan that was as emotional as the scene with Edmund in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (heretofore known as TLtWtW) but they did. In fact I actually shed a tear or two in the scene where Lucy talks to Aslan. It was simply amazing, moving, and a wonderful reminder of how patient Jesus is with all our foolishness.

The only part that was more hyped up in the movie than in the book was Susan's crush on Caspian. It's really overplayed in the movie. Not to the point where it's unbearable, it's not even that big of a deal. But it is there, and I thought, how very Hollywood of them. This may have something to do with why Aslan confronts her with a secret at the end of the movie (I won't spoil it, but in the book it says it happens because she becomes too involved in worldly things, like boys and make-up!).

Out of the four kids that returned this time I have to tell you Edmund is my absolute favorite. His demeanor, the way he speaks (pride without being arrogant) the things he does, and the way he does them, all of these things make me enjoy his character more than anything else. Lucy was great too, and don't get me wrong, there is a lot of great acting in this move, but Edmund's character made me smile with almost every line, or every action.

So in saying all of that I give this movie 4 Roaring Lions out of Five.

Anyway, I know this isn't a terribly revealing review, but I wanted to make it something Nate could read and not feel "spoilerfied". Next week I'll give you my spoiler free Indy IV review. Here's hoping it's better than I'm hearing from my Carmike Contacts. Life's going great by the way in case you were interested. I'm great, Sarah's great, we both can't wait to be done with school and back in Tennessee. Virginia is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here much longer. Ok, well, have a great one, see you next week.

P.s. Please comment what you thought of this movie. And check back because I'll comment on your comments. :) Oh and make sure you vote in the upper right hand corner.

Not what you were expecting, eh?

2008-02-11T18:34:00.000-05:00

Sorry.

2007-12-17T18:58:00.000-05:00

I know I said I'd do this last week. But I got busy getting ready to come home, so I thought I'd wait for the weekend. But then the weekend got here and I had to fill out some crazy amount of paperwork for one of my students. And then I cleaned the house, and by time all of that was done I was too tired. So I figured I'd do it Sunday. But my internet got knocked out for about half the day so now I'm just getting around to it, and guess what? I have too much to do to get ready to come home this week. I've gotta get lesson plans ready for my sub, get things prepared for the field trip tomorrow and for the Christmas party at school on Thursday. Apparently it's gonna be a busy week. So please forgive the lack of a lengthy post this time (though I hear Rhino likes the ones that take less than a minute to read), and I'll make sure to get you a nice juicy Christmas Blog next week.

Should take 0:45 to read that. Merry Christmas Rhino. :)

Please stand by.

2007-12-12T06:20:00.001-05:00

New post tomorrow. Sarah is leaving tomorrow morning so I'm waiting to do the new post tomorrow night. Please, stay tuned.

13 and 3

2007-12-05T17:58:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how a change in environment and routine can bring something you are oblivious to normally, into sharp focus. On my way to, and from work daily I cross 13 bridges. Now normally that isn't a big deal. I've never even bothered to pay attention to any of them before. The one time I have thought about it was after that bridge collapse recently, but even then I only ever thought about the two long ones that I cross. Today however, ever bridge was very important to me. I saw them coming and started driving accordingly. Oh, did I mention? There was an inch and a half of snow and ice covering the bridges. Yeah. That'll get your attention. Not only that, but my change in routine was forgetting my cell at home today. So if I wrecked I'd have had no way to let anyone know. What's the number 3 up there for, you might ask. That's how many brides I skid on and thought, uh oh, I might just buy the farm here. Yeah. It was a stressful drive today, to say the least.

It started snowing this morning at around 5:30 from what I could tell. I decided I'd leave early and try to save myself some trouble. I left the house thirty minutes earlier than normal... I arrived at school thirty-five minutes AFTER I normally arrive. That means my normal drive is around one hour, today it was two. Who were the geniuses that decided to not delay school an hour? Then, we stayed at school all day. Even though the roads were being covered and the sky was dark with clouds, clouds that were pouring snow, and the temps were dropping with every hour. Who were the wizards that decided we shouldn't leave an hour or two early? With this track record we will probably have school again tomorrow... *sigh* I love school.

I have more that I'd like to talk about, but I may wait and write that tomorrow on the off chance that we're outta school. I'll upload the pictures from today after dinner. Other than that, enjoy your day, while I enjoy the snow.

One of those days...

2007-11-26T22:52:00.000-05:00

Edit: You won't know this because you probably haven't had a chance to read this yet, but I've edited this, cause it didn't make much sense. :D

It's Monday. I haven't been here for a while. Sorry. We moved to a new apartment, a week went by with no update. The second week came and we hadn't gotten internet yet, so another week went by. My normal day for posting got filled with church stuff, another week went by. My camera battery was lost so I used that as an excuse, another week went by... It seems those weeks can really add up. So what's been going on here? Not much really. We just got back from Thanksgiving. That was fantastic. Got to see all the family that I hadn't seen in forever, and friends too (sorry Scott, we gotta get together for Christmas). Got to see all of Sarah's family at the cabin, so that was great. Another rousing year of "Will it Burn!?" That's like a pyromaniac's game show. You ask the question, decide on yes or no, then toss whatever it is in the fire... Turns out, lots of stuff is flammable.

Now I'm home, it's raining, and I've got a chipped tooth. You ever have something like that happen and it just puts a terrible damper on your mood? Well this chipped tooth certainly has. That's what I've been feeling for the last hour. The thing that really gets me angry is apparently it's been that way for a while, I just didn't notice it. It's never bothered me, and I've never felt any pain from it. Now how is that possible. I hope I didn't chip it on my Wii... Hmm, careful Katie Nanna.

Also I'm really, really tired of driving to work everyday. That's becoming old very quickly. I can't wait for the day when I don't have an hour to drive to and from work. If you're considering a long commute, let me be the first to tell you, don't. And I'm a little ticked off because school is being nit-picky about the days I'm asking off at the end of our normal Christmas break. I want to have a couple of extra days, but they say that's not "policy". But I haven't seen that anywhere, so I'm not sure what that means. Turns out now I have a better excuse, I have to get a crown on this chipped tooth, so I'll just tell them that. So see there is a silver lining to that tooth. :D

As for good and happy things, we love the apartment. It's a huge upgrade for us, and it's not that much more ca$h. And it's got a laundry room with washer and dryer (even though the washer is on the fritz right now, but back to positive things). We have our Christmas tree up now too, which is awesome (don't tell anyone but it's been up fro two weeks now). It's on of those pre-lit jobs, which I didn't think I'd like, but am really enjoying now.

One last bit before I go, does ANYONE know what "Fox one, fox three." Means in the movies, or in reality? They say it all the time when they shoot off rockets and stuff from jet fighters. I have seen it several places in the last three weeks and it's driving me nuts to know what the purpose of that is. Thanks.

Oh, and by the way, don't go watch Beowulf. It sucked, 13th Warrior is a FAR superior movie about Beowulf.

Cool rainy day.

2007-09-14T18:00:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody! It's your friendly neighborhood spider-man, er, Jonathan. Back with this weeks Blog-tacular goodness! (Do you ever notice how people put -tacular with other words to make the normal thing they are talking about seem super great? I wonder if -tacular means "super great", the world may never know.)

This week has been rather uneventful as far as our time here in Virginia goes. My fifth grade class is going well, our sixth student will actually be here on Monday, so that's exciting (yes, I've had five kids in my class so far, I'm so spoiled). Sarah has gotten into her classes full swing now, and even has her first big test on Monday. So that's study central all weekend for her.

One big change that has come about this week (and is happening all over apparently. I think they are calling it Hemispherical Cooling) is the WONDERFUL drop in temperature. I'm fairly sure you've read about it over in BigNate's Blog, and we've had it about the same here. Yesterday and the day before the weather was in the mid-fifties when I woke up. Of course that was before the sun came up, but even the day stayed in the mid to low seventies. It was so nice. Today is beautiful too. Even though it's a little warmer, it still feels great because it's lightly raining. Sarah doesn't like it so much right now because she's outside playing volleyball in the in it for intramural.

I'm sitting in the car right now watching her play, leeching the Internet off the school which is nice. But I'll never understand why people like sports that much. Don't get me wrong, I love that she loves it cause she's so enthusiastic about it. I just wouldn't be. I'm reflecting on my life right now, and the only two things I can ever think of that I was happy doing in the rain was camping, and paintball. But I guess those sporty people love their sports, and more power to them.

Well, this weeks EINTKILFTM is a special shout-out to Scott Carmichael, you can catch his blog by clicking his name. He commented that he had no idea on the movie last week, so this weeks should be easier for him. Incidentally all but one person guessed correctly (you know who you are, I hope, cause I have no way of checking that). The correct answer was My Blue Heaven. I don't even remember much about that movie, but that part stuck in my head. Go ahead and have a guess at this weeks. It won't shock you if you guess wrong. Have fun! Till next week, I remain faithfully yours, Jonathan.

P.s. I'm just now re-learning how to get my photos up. When my computer went down I lost a lot of that info. Bear with me as I get a new photos section started.

P.p.s. Check out the first link if you'd like to get an email every time I post. Props to Big Nate for cluing me in on that.

Labor Day Weekend SPECIAL REPORT!

2007-09-03T17:22:00.000-04:00

Hello faithful readers and newcomers! There is a lot to discuss this beautiful labor day weekend, so let's get started.

Well the honeymoon was great. Even though we didn't get to go where we'd planned due to the hurricane we had a fantastic time in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Gatlinburg, and North Carolina. I'll get some pictures up as soon as possible, although I gotta tell you we didn't take that many. Sorry to disappoint. We would like to give major thanks to Nathan Johnson who went above and beyond the call of duty and got us rooms in both Knoxville and Chattanooga. The Chattanoogan was A-MAZING! Thank you so much for all you did for us. We would have been staying in the basement of one of our parents' houses if not for you. So thank you again and again.

School started this week, and it's going to be an interesting year to say the least. I have six kids in my class, and they range from accelerated to non-English readers, to well, to everything else. I'm excited to see how this year is going to pan out. I was so used to having more than 20 kids in my class before I got to Virginia, then I got used to having thirteen last year, and now six. I think we'll have SO much time on our hands that it will be scary. That means I have to work harder at keeping them occupied. We'll see what happens.

This past weekend Sarah and I decided to take a walk in old town and decided we'd head into the "Shop around the Corner", or as it's known here, Winchester Book Gallery. It's just a little book shop on the corner of old town. Some of you may have even been in there. Sarah was looking around, saw some photos and paintings from locals and said, "I wonder what you'd have to do to get your own photos in here? I'm too shy to ask though." Good thing she married me, cause I'm not shy and I asked them directly, what's up? How do we get her stuff in here. Well turns out they do "First Fridays" where they bring in local artists, and show all their stuff on the first Friday of each month. They even bring drinks and food. We're excited to check it out this Friday and maybe even try to get some of our own stuff in there next Month. Something else interesting also happened there, but I'm gonna save it for the end, because it also has something to do with the blog.

Today Sarah and I had a jam-packed Labor day. We had a picnic with our friends from church. We went to Sherando Park near Winchester, we had hot dogs, beans, watermelon, and peach tea! It was an extravaganza of food! Then we went for a walk through one of the nature trails. Finally we ended up on the tennis court. There were six players and only four rackets so Sarah and I just shot some hoops for a little bit. Then the others came and played basketball while we went to play tennis. We had so much fun playing tennis that we thought we'd go buy some rackets next week and make it a weekly thing. We were having so much fun playing singles and doubles that we played for about an hour and a half. I didn't even know I could play that well, but I felt pretty confident after a while.

Finally I have one more little piece of information and a fun little weekly game for my visitors to play. You may have noticed the poll at the top of the blog. I got the idea from several things this week. When we went to the book store the owner and I started talking about how we lived right down the road. He started a mini-movie rental in his shop called The Underground, and he started it especially for people who lived in the area. He had quite the large selection, their were all bought according to his taste, and he and I have very similar taste. He's a little more into foreign films than I am, but action, comedy, drama, and indie, we're spot on. We talked for a while and struck up a quick friendship. We'll probably be spending a lot more time in there now. That got me thinking a lot about al the movies I've seen. Anyway, Sunday I wore my new suit to church. We ended up having a church picnic and we were outside. Needless to say I left my coat in the car hanging up nicely. It reminded me of a movie I hadn't seen in forever! It took me a day to figure out what the name of the movie was, but I finally pulled it out of the black morass of my mind. Because of all this it's time to introduce a new addition to the blog, it's the Everything I Need to Know I Learned from the Movies quiz! Just check it out in the top right hand of the blog. Each week you'll get a hint, and then several choices one of which is correct. I'll put a new one up and let everyone know what the guesses were from the last week. Make sure to come back each week to find out the answer and see if you got it right.

Back in town.

2007-08-27T09:43:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone. I'm back in Winchester, Virginia, married and loving life. I'm about to go to school now to get my room set up, so I can't go into anything too expositionary. So, instead I'm gonna give you a sneak peek at the wedding pics.

Click here to see them.

Hello?

2007-08-08T04:04:00.000-04:00

Should there be a countdown to my wedding day on here? Yeah, there should be. I don't know why I haven't put one up. I guess it's because I figure everyone who cares that I'm getting married knows when it is. If you don't know, well, then I guess you just don't care. It's August 18th, exactly 10 days from now... That's crazy. Just crazy. But real exciting. Also, be sure to check out the trailer for the next big Bourne movie, no, not Bourne Ultimatum... The Bourne Complacency!

The system is down.

2007-05-20T09:37:00.000-04:00

My computer is fried. I'm actually doing this from my Nintendo. Which is kinda cool, but very hard. Check back for updates.

2007-05-07T17:55:00.000-04:00

Hey all. Sorry it's two days late but last week was killer. I'm learning all about being a teacher and what that means I have to do and deal with. Friday could be quantified as the worst day of my teaching experience, short though it may be. One of my students was spit on by an older student during the older student's birthday party. Several of my students followed as he did this and knew it was going to happen. They tend to get into trouble when around this boy, and I've tried to tell them to stay away from him, but boys will be boys. So anyway, the worst part of it wasn't that they were involved, it's that they didn't see how it was wrong. They said the kid "deserved it". Let me assure you that this child in no way deserved what happened to him, even if he was a mean child... which he isn't. The kid is an angel, and smart too. Unfortunately he's new, and recently arrived from home school. So that ended my Friday on a pretty sour note.

Then it was Saturday...I had to get up at 0500 to get to school so I could take my kids to their track and field event. Did I forget to mention on here that I'm the Assistant Track Coach at school? Well I am. This past weekend I became, THE coach. Coach Beall's son graduated from Bob Jones University on Saturday and couldn't make the meet, so I was in charge. It was great. I never thought of my self as a "Coach". I really got into it this year though. I loved every minute of it. I made good decisions on who to pick for what events and we came away with tons of individual ribbons including several first places. Overall we took 3rd out of seven, but considering we were only off first by 20 points, and that school had three times as many entrants as we did, not a bad showing. Even if I do say so myself.

The big scary of Saturday though was Margarita Melendez's spectacular fall during the 100 meter race. She'd slipped on some loose gravel and face planted. Her knees, hands, and wrists had so much black asphalt in them I cringed when I saw it. She stood up and I ran over and helped her. My intention was to help her to the finish line, but she said she just couldn't do it. So I picked her up and carried her to the first aid station. I left her there and went to the next few events thinking she was just scraped up. Some of my kids came to me and said she was hurting and they were going to call an ambulance if she didn't get better soon. I was astounded, I hadn't imagined it was that bad. Then I saw someone else who said she was fine so I thought they'd exaggerated. Nope. Ten minutes later an ambulance rolled up and got her. She was complaining of back pain and couldn't breathe. Wow. I was scared. I had picked her up. I've been a doctor's kid my whole life. I should know better than to pick up someone who was hurting. I called Sarah and had her call family members and pray, but the next hour and a half I was scatter-brained. I couldn't think straight. Sarah helped alleviate some of my fear by commenting that if Margarita got up by herself then it probably wasn't a back injury. Soon Margarita was back and laughing and speaking French... Which is odd because she's Hispanic... She was hopped up on pain medicine apparently. We got home that night at 9:45. I should have crashed. But I needed to watch a movie, so Sarah and I popped one in, and I promptly left at it's conclusion, crashing until the next morning.

That morning at church Pastor Jon spoke on Slaying your Giants. I wish some of you could have heard it. I don't think it was really the sermon that so moved me. I'm not sure what it was to tell the truth. The sermon was all about David and Goliath, and how more giants came after that, and how God had made David to be a Giantslayer. Now there are other giants, and we are the Giantslayers. I know all of this. I've heard it before, but Sunday somehow it was new. There are some giants in my life that I've been working on getting rid of (cynicism, bitterness) and I've not been doing a good job on slaying them. So I went down to pray. Then pastor came over and prayed for us and laid hands on us...I gotta tell you, it was...Hm, I don't know how to put it. I felt tingles all over my body. I felt this weight lift off me. I started crying. It was great. Crying, then smiling. I just felt so good. Not only that but I had been aching majorly all over when I woke up that morning. My back was so stiff I could barely move. When we left after the prayer I didn't have a sore muscle in my body. All I can say is, thank you Jesus.

On a side note, this is a drawing my student Seong did for me. She's quite the artist and I have tons of her work. Thanks Seong, I love every picture you've drawn for me! Keep up the great work.

First Field Trip...Ever

2007-04-28T12:01:00.000-04:00

Hey guys. This is gonna be a quick post because I have to go do laundry. :D I may come back later and add some more to it so be sure to check back. Anyway, after a long week of Standardized testing with my fifth graders we were all ready for some relaxation. We headed out to the Shenandoah Caverns on Friday morning. It was beautiful. They have some of the most fantastic cave formations of any cave I've ever been in, and I've been in a fair few. The cascade room had some of the most amazing flow stone formations I've ever seen. Of course, having to plan this trip, get it all coordinated, and making sure my kids (who are unbelievable unorganized... Karma? I think yes) were ready to go, helped me do the unimaginable. I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! Egads, it was even sitting with the directions and all the student information that I needed to bring. So it seems even when I am organized there must be a little bit of disorganization in my life... I think I can live with that.

Ok, well that's all for now. Housework calls. I'll see you all later.

Jonny

Track and field, warm weather, and... Cats?

2007-04-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon my fellow bloggers, family members and friends. This week has been fun and exciting overall. All last week we trained and trained the track kids (at least the ones who showed) for the track meet that happened on Friday. Apparently there is a bit of a rivalry between my school and Fairfax Baptist Temple. We are usually trailing in 2nd place by 50 points or so. Well this year we got it down to 10.5. Our kids were extremely proud of themselves. We had several students that place 1st and second and we placed at least 5th in every race! They did a fantastic job all of them.

The week itself was cold and miserable though. We had that wicked Nor'easter blow through, and though it was only supposed to last two days it seemed to last all week. Except for friday. It was a B-E-A-Utiful day on Friday. About 60 degrees and perfect for our track day. The weather has been that way since. Today it has gotten into the high 60s and there is a wonderful breeze blowing through. As soon as I get done here Sarah is gonna go study outside while I play or read out there with her.

Last night we went to a benefit concert for a medical mission trip that SU is doing this summer. It was the praise and worship bands from the Methodist church and our church. It was great... except for the cats. They had kittens to give away for free. If you've spent anytime with me whatsoever you probably know two things about me... I'm colorblind, and I hate cats. I spent all week with my brother wondering where Mr. Tom was going to attack me from next (no offense to Nate or Tom, I had a blast anyway). Needless to say Sarah immediately wanted to get one and who am I to say no... :( Now all we have to decide is which one. What do you think?