Extremely Swamped!

Tonight I went to another meeting regarding the new high school. This is taking ALL of my time. The only reason that I can do this at all is because I really believe in the cause. Tonight I responded to some of the nay-sayers on the register news forum. Read my letter HERE.

Well, that is what has been going on this week. Meeting after meeting after meeting. Wow!

Plastics?

Wow, talk about cold! We are experiencing one of the coldest days we have had in a long, long time. So, what else is new? The car is leaking antifreeze now. I guess hitting the deer has caused it to spring a leak. Wow, it seems like all I do these days is work on vehicles.

Some of you have been asking me about plastics recently. I’d like to take a moment to respond to a column written by Jim Davidson in the Southern Illinoisan on January 27. In the column, Mr. Davidson quotes Dr. Edward Fujimoto (Castle Hospital) and the information he has been giving regarding the use of plastic in microwaves. According to Dr. Fujimoto, heating plastics in the microwave can emit harmful dioxins that can be absorbed by the fat in the food, and then ingested. Many dioxins are indeed very harmful, and can build up in one’s body. Dioxins have been linked to cancer, so the claim is certainly alarming.

To begin with, this rumor has been circulating for a very long time via forwards in e-mail. A quick search on the internet indicates this to be a full hoax. My honest opinion is that this story really is completely false. Dr. Edward Fujimoto specifically mentions Saran Wrap in his claim. According to SC Johnson, their Saran Wrap is 100% dioxin free. Of course, there are many containers that are not microwavable safe, and Saran wrap should not be allowed to come in contact with your food while you are heating it in the microwave, but that has nothing to do with dioxins (it melts and then you get plastic in your food.. Yuck!). If a container is not microwave safe, it can melt, which may in fact cause the fusion of chemicals into your food. Whether or not those chemicals are, in fact, dioxins seems to be up for debate.

That being said, there really does seem to be something that is causing more cancer in people these days. Maybe we are just better at diagnosing it, but I think it is something else. Could plastics be the culprit? I doubt it, but who knows? It could be any one of a number of things.

Taking Video

Okay, first off, sorry it has been so long since I have posted. This has just been a really busy time for us. Here is the latest project I have been working on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgExMhLdgk

It is the first of several videos that will detail the quality of the buildings at MVTHS. Our kids really deserve better.

A Future Baby Sitter?

This was a good weekend. Saturday night Amy and I had the chance to go out to eat with some old friends. The evening was really enjoyable. It sleeted Saturday night, so we were not sure if we would be able to make it to church or not. We were able to make it just fine. Sunday afternoon, one of my former students came over to visit. She was meeting the kids in order to determine the possibility of baby sitting for us in the near future. Cassidy had a great time playing with her, and it was really an enjoyable afternoon.

I’m writing this early on Sunday evening. Thinking about the upcoming week gives me mixed feelings. I have a lot to prepare for with my classes. In addition to that, Tuesday night is another meeting regarding the upcoming vote for the new school. At this point, the possibility of passing the referendum really seems hopeless. Some of the people in charge don’t realize how difficult it is going to be. A lot of the people in the city will vote for it, but much of the county will vote against it. We all played the game a few years ago. I put forth a ton of time, and the vote was like 80% against getting a new school. I’m trying to decide if my time is worth the effort. We need a new school. This town needs a new school. I think when you take an unbiased look at the arguments for and against a new school, the solution becomes obvious. Of course, I have children, I teach at the school, I have an advanced degree in education, and I have a decent understanding of how a school can impact a community. Most people just see the issue as another tax.

Building Blocks

Cassidy and I spent an evening this week building with blocks. Over the past several years, I’ve discovered that deep inside many individuals lies a quest to build. With the help of our family and friends, Amy and I have built two houses. The church we attend has built several buildings. The school I work at wishes to build a new school. Throughout history, man has built cathedrals, stadiums, skyscrapers, towers, arches, pyramids, and space stations. And yet, the glory of it all, indeed the wonder of it all, can be captured in something as simple as building with good, old-fashioned blocks. We carefully separate out the different kinds, plan our magnificent structure, and painstakingly place each one ever-so-carefully in its own, unique little place. And the moment the last one is seated, the structure is complete. The wonder is, at last, displayed in all its beauty. Then, with a might and swift blow, Cassidy brings it all tumbling to the ground in a crash. The once magnificent structure is diminished to the mundane clutter from which it first arose. As if on cue, the blocks go back to their pale, where they patiently await another night when they will once again come to life, and rise up like the mighty fiery Phoenix from its ashes of Greek legend.

New Year's Resolutions

Okay, it's a little late, but we have been wanting to post some of our goals for 2007. Here they are:


General
Grow closer as a family
Have a better spiritual relationship (both personally and as a couple/family)
Build friendships
Read more and watch television less
Journal more
Give more
Learn more


Health
Amy: lose another 25 pounds
Ryan: eat healthier and exercise


Home
Get a gas insert for the fireplace (update: done!)
Rebuild and move shed
Side the house
Remodel the kitchen
Continue on a budget
Remodel bathrooms
Landscape the yard
Pool or Vacation

Fancy Monkeys?

This week has been a difficult week. Starting a new semester is often quite challenging. I have a lot more students this semester, and no student teacher to help me prepare for General Science (a class I have never taught) this time. Thankfully, the other teacher who is teaching the class has agreed to share some of his material with me. That will save a ton of time!

General Science is made up of a wide variety of students. Many of them have been placed in that class because it is considered to be the “lowest” level of science. As a result, I have a lot of students with learning disabilities, and a lot of what would be considered “at risk” students. Needless to say, they are the most difficult ones to reach, and yet the ones who need to be reached the most. Of course, the needs go beyond just those two classes. Between my 5 classes this year, I have at least two students who currently have a parent who is dying, one student who is pregnant, one student who left to go to jail, one student who just got put in jail, one student who’s been in rehab, one student who’s been caught with drugs, one student who beat someone up, one student who’s afraid she is going to get beat up, and one student who tells me, “Mr. Robinson, you sound just like my therapist!” Almost every single student seems to have major problems in their life.

This past week I taught the unit on Evolution. All across public schools, and sometimes from the time children are very young, we teach them Darwinian evolution. Part of that theory (which has become more of a doctrine) teaches our kids that they are the product of random mutation and natural selection. It leaves them without purpose, and teaches them that they are nothing more than an animal. Although I kept mostly to the textbook, I made it a point to explain to students that they are, in fact, more than a “fancy monkey.” We had a bit of a discussion in the classroom, and it was very apparent that some students wanted to believe they were more, but have never really been treated any better. They have rarely, if ever, been told that they matter in this world. How sad. We wonder why our prisons are full, and that suicide accounts for so many deaths among young people. I wonder, when will things change? What else can I do to help these kids?

The fact of the matter is, they DO matter. We live in a fallen world. This accounts for all the suffering and pain. But we still have a choice as to how we live. This is why we are more, so much more, than fancy monkeys!

Comet McNaught

Cassidy and I got to see the comet last night. It is very difficult to see in this picture, but is is low on the horizon just up and to the right of the two lights that are on the ground. Through binoculars, it was spectacular!!

Okay, that picture just doesn't do it justice. Here is one from Sky and Telescope that is a lot more what it looked like in real life.

On the Road Again!

Amy drove the car today. I have offered to drive it and let her drive the jeep, but she said no. She did ask me to clean off the deer guts when I got home. At first she was a little embarrassed to drive it with the blue fender, but then she noticed several other cars just in our neighborhood with damage. If it were up to me, we would probably keep the fender blue. It certainly makes for good conversation! Along that note, a wonderful lady from church called us last night and said that she thinks her husband might be able to paint the fender for us, and possibly work out some of the dents in the hood. I’m sure it will look better than the $2.00 can of spray-paint job I have planned for it. What a blessing! I do plan to post more pictures of it. I’m sure some of you are curious to see what it looks like with that blue fender.

Update on the Car

We have not had much time to post lately, mainly because of the car. It has consumed our lives since the deer collision. Saturday finally brought a lot of progress. After the accident, we were left with just a few options. We have never carried comprehensive insurance, which would have covered deer accidents. Obviously, hindsight has near perfect vision, and now we wish we would have had it. In our defense, neither of us have ever hit a deer in our combined 30 years of driving experience! At over $100 dollars a year, that would have amounted to roughly $3000 we have saved; the Kelly Blue Book value of our car is less than half of that, so, I guess it is nice to know that in some, weird way I feel like we have beaten insurance company on this one. Of course, we still have a wrecked car!

So, getting back to our options. First off, we could have junked the car and tried to find something else. But then you are left with wondering how the other person took care of the car, and what you are getting. I recently sold a car to a student who has had nothing but problems with it, and I don’t need that karma right now! I know I have kept the oil changed in this car, and generally not driven it too hard (except the night I hit the deer). And anything at all is going to be at least $2000 dollars. If I took our car to be fixed, it would no doubt far exceed $1000. So the question became, “how much money do we want to spend on our car, considering it has high mileage?” We obviously couldn’t sell it for much, especially in the condition it is in. We really don’t want to spend too much money, and we absolutely don’t want a car payment.

Well, to make a long story short, I called around and got estimates from salvage yards (sounds so much better that “junk yard”) and found out the following:

Used Headlight Assembly: $55
Used Front Fender: $60
Used Bumper: $80
Used Door: $125
Used Hood: $100

Before tax, that would be a grand total of $420, and those are just the items that I thought it would need. I‘m sure a professional would have found many more things wrong. Hmmm, that is a lot of money. So, I decided to purchase the headlight assembly and the fender, and see how far my “absolutely zero experience doing this” could take me.

I installed the headlight assembly and the fender, pounded out the dent in the door, and did the best I could to pound out the hood. It still looks bad, but considerably better than it did before, and at least the car can now be driven. From a distance, one might not even be able to tell it is damaged… well, from a long distance anyway. Oh, and the person looking would have to be color blind too, because our green car now has a blue fender. Oh well, for $133 dollars, what can you expect. Stupid deer!

Strange Advice?

A co-worker today read the blog and suggested that I be careful about putting so much information on this blog. She seemed to be concerned that Amy and I might get "conned" somehow. Strange? Well, I have never really considered us to be naive, so yeah, a little. We don't generally give money to people (other than church and charities). We obviously aren't going to post our credit card numbers on here. So I guess I am at a loss on what she was really trying to say. Maybe if she reads this she will post a comment...anonymously of course!

Bad Day

On the way to church tonight, we had a not-so-good encounter with a deer (better for us than for the deer). This is the first time either of us has ever been in a deer accident. To be honest, it was pretty scary. It is a fairly long drive out to church, and Callie was being pretty fussy. I was getting stressed as it was, and was really trying to "hurry up and get there." Needless to say, I was driving a little fast anyway, and the deer was there in front of me before I barely had time to break. I hit the deer hard, and we got quite a jolt from it. Being about a mile from church, we decided to see if the car would make it, and it did. Once there, I looked it over, and made sure nothing was leaking or going flat. We limped home on one headlight and a noise I'm still trying to find.
Not a good way to start out the year, but I suppose it could have been much worse. The air-bags did not deploy, and for that I am grateful. From what I hear, they are not the gentle marshmellows they appear to be on television. And, the deer did not fly up (or through) the windshield. Perhaps a slight split-second swerve kept that from happening.
So we survived the deer accident. Now what? Well, we need to decide what to do with the car. I will keep you posted. And in case you are wondering, those are indeed deer guts and hair all down the side of the car...and I just washed it too! Oh well, I have to at least try to laugh, or else I will cry. Wow, what a deal!

Happy New Year