Post Wisconsin Observations

Madison is changing - mostly vertically

They sell beer by the six pack and there has been no apocalypse - contrary to what the beer distributors here think will happen if Pennsylvania were to make that move

If you put in bike lanes, people will bike - trying the converse is neither practical nor responsible

Budget Bicycle Center's service department is disappointing - it shouldn't matter how fancy or unfancy a bike is, you give it the same attention as every other bike.  We took my daughter's bike (which we won in a drawing - it's not fancy) to get the chain tightened and the service guy couldn't even be bothered to get out of his seat to talk to us or even get the ticket.  When we picked it up, they hadn't even bothered to put the training wheels on in a way that the rear tire touched the ground.  I'm actually opposed to training wheels, but they might be right for her.  Either way, we were clearly treated with less than acceptable service because of the pedigree of her bike.  I will not return there on any trip.  I should have gone to the Yellow Jersey where I know the owner values any bike (or at least any customer) to come through his door.


Beer tastes better on the Terrace

The Dane County Farmer's Market is still amazing - how many different beasts can you get jerky from with one circuit?


You need to go to the source to get truly delicious fried cheese curds

There is an art to making a Brat

There is an art to making a Kringle


The best cart (name) I saw - FIBS:  Fine Italian Beef & Sausage (they went with the alternate meaning for that acronym)


There is a much wider variety of beers than just pale ales and IPA's

Woodman's is still the best grocery store around

My new favorite brewery doesn't distribute out of state

Oh Yes It's Honors Night and the Feeling's Right

We had our middle school's annual honors awards banquet tonight.  This is the sixth year I've been teaching at this school and the sixth time I've attended.  Is it a night of my free time that I spend to attend?  Yes.  Do I have to go (is there any mandate or official remuneration for going)?  No.  Do I attend grudgingly because of an unofficial expectation?  Surprisingly, no.  Is it nerve wracking being up on the stage to give the awards, even if I'm not speaking?  Yes.

Why do I go?  I go for the kids.  I go because this is one time during the year where the only expectation is to honor kids who go the extra distance to do remarkable things.  Is it geared towards academics?  Yes, but it also goes beyond.  There are kids who are invited because their grades have been stellar all year long, but we also invite students who have done something special.  These reason range from doing good things for others, being helpful, being a positive leader, basically just being awesome for the sake of being awesome.

That being said, I cannot understand why people would regularly not attend.  Sure, things come up once in a while, but aside from that, what message is being sent to the kids.  "I'll teach you during the day, but beyond my classroom doors, you don't exist to me."  It bothers me that there is not a better representation on a consistent basis.

Am I trying to put anyone on a guilt trip?  No.  I just don't understand why, if our primary responsibility and focus is on our students, everyone wouldn't make an effort to attend.  This isn't a night to make a statement that one doesn't feel valued by the administration or some other gripe.  We are honoring our best and that should go above politics and conditions that they have no role in or control over.

Every year I love seeing the reactions of different students to the awards they get and the public attention for something good that many often fail to receive.  We have some great students.  We need to let them know.  Being there is the first step.

Wine by mail, beer still by the case.

No, the title is not misleading.  It will make sense at the end.

Here is an excerpt from the recent Gene Yaw newsletter outlining how one can get a free photo ID which will be necessary for this fall's general election.

If you do not possess any of these forms of identification, you may obtain a free photo ID from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. It is a simple process. First, you must sign an affirmation that you do not possess any forms of identification listed above (Voter Affirmation), then you must complete an Application For Initial Photo Identification Card (DL-54A). Finally, take these documents to your nearest Photo Licensing Center along with your Social Security Card, accompanying proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate or passport, and two proofs of residency such as a utility bill, car registration or lease agreement.


I have three questions about this.

1)  If you have a passport, I'm pretty sure it satisfies the requirements stated in the first option of acceptable photo ID:  


Identification issued by the United States Government that includes your name, a photograph, and an expiration date that is not expired. 


Even if a passport doesn't meet those criteria, I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, that passports are far from free and as a possible supporting document kind of negate the whole FREE photo ID thing.

2)  As a second option for proof of citizenship, birth certificates aren't exactly free either.

3)  Is there any conceivable situation in which someone has no proof of residency, but is a resident (perhaps an elderly parent living with a child who is not responsible for paying any bills and doesn't drive)?

I checked the website, you can bring someone to vouch for you.  However, that seems to undermine the whole point of this new legislation

OK, only one of those was actually a question, but you know what I meant.

Then there's Senate Bill 10:


Senate Bill 10 - is a proposal that seeks to amend Pennsylvania's Constitution by allowing individuals the freedom to purchase their own health care. The legislation would prohibit the enactment of any law requiring a person to obtain or maintain health insurance coverage, except as required by a court; prohibit a person from or penalizing a person for making direct payment to a health care provider; or instituting any penalty, tax, assessment, fee or fine for a person's failure to obtain or maintain health insurance coverage.
On March 28th, this bill passed the Senate by a vote of 29-19 and will now go before the House State Government Committee for their approval. Since this bill is seeking to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution, it must be voted in two consecutive legislative sessions and pass a statewide referendum before it can be approved.

Yeah!  They are guaranteeing freedom.  That means it has to be good.  I can only guess this is in reaction to healthcare reform.  Is a constitutional amendment a bit strong?  I admit; I'm a bit confused by this.

Finally, we have Senate Bill 790:

Senate Bill 790 - is a proposal which amends the Liquor Code to allow for the direct shipment of wine from out-of-state to Pennsylvania residents. The bill would permit a producer, with a direct shipper's license, to ship up to 18 liters per month to any Pennsylvania resident who is at least 21 years of age.

The state is going to allow mail order wine from out of state, but we still have to buy beer by the case?

This state is confusing and disappointing me.

Pensions cost us paper!

It's that time of year again.  The school year is over 3/4 finished and supplies are starting to run low.  Today we get the message that we are going to run out of paper; please conserve.  Within an hour later we get the message that the two cases of paper in the copy room have gone and will not be replaced.  Now I know that everyone wants paper to make copies with, but raiding the only paper left so you can make copies in a couple of weeks is just lame!  Now all copies have to go through administration first to get approval.  Many thanks to the vultures and jackals that have made this possible.

But as you can read in our illustrious paper, the real culprit is the exorbitant pensions teachers are getting these days.  Why are education funds being slashed?  I think it's summed up best here (Click here).  Yeah, the rhetoric is getting hot again and it's our greed that has led to this problem.

Spring Training

Following the winter high of have a great time doing cyclocross, finishing 3rd in my age group for the overall points series in the River Towns Race Series, and having a blast (as always) during the Humdinger, I felt it prudent to sign up for the River Towns Half Marathon (I did resist the full marathon, for now).  While fully under the influence of that continued rush, I was also contemplating doing the 45 Miles of Mon-Tour, which is just 2 weeks after the marathon.

I used the rest of my winnings from last year's series to register for the half and started thinking about how soon it actually is and how long my current long run has been (past tense, I ran about 5 times in March) and realized that I couldn't go much farther than 5 or 6 miles after school and be able to pick up the boy from daycare.  "That's ok," I thought.  "I can do long runs on the weekend."  Then I started thinking how much time it took to train with 20 mile bike rides and how much longer it would take to get me, and my rear, in shape for riding 45 miles.  Combined with the hectic nature of spring and school and my time constraints, I decided not to do the 45 Miles of Mon-Tour.  However, now that I'm writing about it and seeing that I would have 2 whole weeks after the half...

The training for the half is going great, though.  I was thinking that I would like to finish in under 2 hours, which equates to about 9-minute miles.  While I've gotten my 5k pace down to 8-minute miles, I'm just about redlining to finish and that's only 3 miles.  So, last week I head out to do 5 miles and I average 9:27.  I felt like I was pushing, but not too hard.  A few days later I do 8 miles and average 9:50.  This week I go for a hard 4 and average 8:48 miles and today, I did 10 with a pace of 9:24 min/mile.  The best part about today's run was that I wasn't killing myself to keep the pace.  I think my goal is within reach and I have 5 weeks to get my mileage and speed up.

Maybe I should do the 45...

Humdinger 2012

Today was the Humdinger.  This has really become my favorite race.  It's not my favorite while running and I don't do as well compared to the field as I do in other races.  This race is just fun.  It had to be moved from its old location due to new restrictions or something like that, but the race organizers outdid themselves making a new course and a race that was better than ever.  They cut and dug all new trails for most of the entire course and added some interesting obstacles at the end.  It contained the usual fallen logs, completely slanted trails that make you feel like you're running uphill even when headed down, and stream crossings (leaps).  The very last of these was my favorite.  It was after about 5 miles and the stream itself was only about a foot wide, but the sloping ditch on either side opened up at least 6 feet.  I saw a young guy (high school) in front of me negotiating it and I just went for it and leapt the whole span without much of a run up.  I must have made it look easy because from behind I heard, "Nice f-----n' jump!"  That felt good.  After that we got to the obstacles.  We finished with a choice of a rock wall climb, board climb, cargo net, and hay bales up into the 2nd floor of the Pig Barn and a slip-n-slide down to the finish.

Above is the route and elevation profile of the course as I ran it.  Great job to the River Town Race Series!  You did a great job.  There's a reason I try to do as many of your races as possible.

A new low in my teaching career

I about lost it today.  Things were going well.  I'd designed an activity (Jojo's Cheese and BBQ Emporium) and was ready for some nicely hidden drill and repeat practice.  First class went great.  Then the next class came in.  Now I'd already moved a test from Friday to Monday because the kids were working hard and I didn't want to rush through anything just to get a test in.  I figured an extra activity (see Jojo above) would be good.  I stayed up until almost 2:00 AM making it.  We got through exactly ONE new example in an 84 minute period.  ONE!

Even that, in itself, would not have been so bad if it weren't for the complete lack cognition on my students' part.  We were using two formulas:  one for Interest and one for Balance and both for simple interest (I don't know what I'll do with compound tomorrow).  I say we because this class is co-taught.  There are two certified teachers in the room.  I asked everyone to write down the formula they were using at the beginning of each problem.  One of the students asked me for help (that is to say he was staring blankly at his paper doing his best not to attract my attention in any way).  I asked him to write down the formula.  He asked which one.  I asked him which formula matched up with the given information and he proceeded to point to a formula that had nothing in it that was provided by the problem.

Meanwhile, my co-teacher was asking a similar question of another student, but she narrowed it down by saying, "If you are choosing between these two and it's not this one, which formula are you using?"  Her student still picked the wrong formula.  Actually, that's not true.  Her student picked up her calculator to try to figure out the answer.

Back to my student whom I had told which formula to use by this time (maybe he'll choose right next time) and I ask him to write the formula down.  He copies it wrong (the equal sign isn't that important, right?).  I remind him to write it down exactly how it looks on his sheet.  He proceeds to switch around the order of the variables.  I remind him again, a little sterner to get my point across, "Copy it down exactly how it looks on your sheet."  Still not right.  Eventually he gets it, so we start filling it out.  I ask him if we know the first value.  No, so keep the variable.  What comes next?  No, you have to include the equal sign still.  Do we know the next value?  Yes, good, write it down.  No, don't skip it, you have to write it down.

I don't know what happened after that.  I honestly cannot recall.  I think I may have a stress induced mini blackout.

At one point, I just sat in a chair that I have at the front of the room.  Defeated.  If the co-teacher weren't there, nobody would have been teaching for a while.  I have never wanted a drink so badly while working in my life and I can't actually think of a time when I really did want one.

Tomorrow's a new day, by which I mean they will have forgotten whatever they gained and it will be a fresh start.  Cthulu would have a hard time stealing my sanity from this class.