The Brickyard Experience

Bryan and I chose to go to the Brickyard 400 this year. We try to go to at least one race a year and have managed to do so for 4 out of the last 6 years. The race didn't start until 2 so we drove up to Indianapolis yesterday morning. When we were about a mile and half away from the track we decided we should park and walk the rest of the way to the track. For those of you that have not been to the Brickyard, there is not really a parking lot because it is in the middle of a neighborhood so people allow spectators to park in their yards for a pretty penny. We paid $20 for our spot a mile and a half away. The closer you got to the track the higher the price. Close to the track they were going for as much as $60.
Once we entered the gates, which was a joke because they didn't check anything and would allow you to bring basically anything in, we decided to walk around on the track and take a peek at Gasoline Alley and pit road. The Brickyard is basically a flat track so as I didn't realize I was walking on the track itself until I almost got hit by Jeff Gordan's car that was being pushed into its starting position.

Jeff Gordan's car that almost hit me.

Me on the track

Our seats were sort of a disappointment. We were next to a very nice covered grandstand and we could see all of the people that were sitting in the shade as we were being scorched under the blazing hot sun. I have to give Bryan credit, he thought we would be able to see the backstretch, turns 3 and 4, as well as pit road and the front stretch from our seats because we sat in a similar section at Talladega. We ended up only being able to see turn 4 and part of pit road and the front stretch so I was really envying those shaded seats. The experience is still unlike any other. Turns out the race was rather boring though thanks to Goodyear. The entire race was run in 10-12 lap segments with "competition cautions" in between because the tires would be completely worn out and would blow out after about 15 laps. Basically that means every 10-12 laps the cars had to go in to get new tires for safety reasons.

Our best view, turn 4

This was the grandstand that was next our stand, believe me those fans were much cooler than us.

At the end of the day we were glad we went and will be able to say we were at one of the races that will be discussed for years and years. We stayed the night south of Indianapolis and came back home today.
I am sorry to report that I did not eat my traditional turkey leg. I saw plenty of them, but decided I would go for a standard burger and fries for my lunch and ended up not being hungry enough to eat the huge hunk of meat that I usually ingest at a race.


We made a list of some of the strangest things we saw at the race, and to think, this list is shorter than it would have been after all of our previous races. Here they are:

• woman carrying her water bottle between her boobs
• guys that were a mile and a half away from the track and too drunk to walk at 10 a.m.
• men who took their t-shirts off but were so sunburned you couldn't tell they had their shirts off (horrible burn lines)
• hundreds, no thousands of people that had way too much body and way too little clothes
• people getting into verbal and even physical fights over the number that was on the other person's shirt, hat, tattoo, etc.
• tires that were completely worn out after only 15 laps :-(

This post had contributions from my loving husband, Bryan, just so you know.

Home is Where My Heart Is

I don't like being away from home. I am very much a homebody, so I was especially glad to be able to come home yesterday from 5 days of learning at the Rough River State Park. As soon as I walked through the door, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of comfort. It wasn't so much about being in my house, but the fact that I knew I would be greeted by Bryan and two loving Yorkies. We have truly built ourselves a home. Our home is full of witty comments (thanks to Bryan), laughs, and love. Our home is where my heart is and will forever be.

Camera + Barren River Lake = Tragedy

Today I sat with a book in hand by the bank of the Rough River Lake. I arrived late yesterday evening for an advanced Reading/Writing institute at the Rough River State Park that will be going on for the next few days. Although there was a heat advisory out because of the near 100 degree weather, I was quite comfortable for the hour and half I sat under the shade of a small tree. I was very cautious today while lounging by the lake. I managed to keep all of my possessions clear of the water which was not the case last Wednesday.
My ultimate water tragedy happened. I was fishing at the Barren River State Park. Yes, I know it is strange and out of the ordinary for me but it was one of those excursions again. After we had been fishing for about an hour and half I sat down after baiting my hook with the millionth nightcrawler of the day (I only caught a tiny bluegill the whole time, which was one out of the three that was caught all day from the whole group that was there). I sat down pretty close to the water and as soon as my tale hit the ground I heard a clink, clink, clink, splash. My camera, which had been in my pocket, the camera I take everywhere, capture all of my memories with, and received as my only spontaneous surprise from Bryan fell into the water. Immediately I started jumping up and down while screaming "please save my camera!" I know I looked ridiculous, but I felt like a part of me was drowning. My middle school buddy took his shoes off, got in the water, and retrieved my camera. With water dripping from every nook and cranny, I immediately tried drying it off. I tried turning it on a few minutes later and nothing happened. It was dead. I stayed composed the rest of the time we were at the lake and during the carpool ride back to the Housing Authority, but as soon as I got in my own car, the tears started gushing. I had to leave for a meeting in Louisville that next hour so I headed over to Bryan's work to tell him goodbye and hoped that I would receive some comforting. I didn't tell him over the phone that there was anything wrong so as soon as he sat down in the car, he started asking questions.
The conversation went something like this:
I held out my camera and said through my sobbing, "I dropped my camera in the lake."
B: "What were you doing at the lake?"
S: "I was fishing."
B: "You were fishing? Why were you fishing?"
S: "It was part of my class and I dropped my camera in the lake and now it won't work." (still sobbing)
B: "It's just a camera. We can buy a new one."
S: "I take it everywhere."
B: "It will be ok." (hug)
S: "It will not be ok!!!!"
B: "You're being kind of ridiculous. Do you know that?"
S: "I don't care."
B: "Ok, well I will see if I can fix it, but I have got to get back to work now."
S: "Ok, bye."

As you can tell from the conversation I was not taking my loss of my camera very well and Bryan did not provide much comforting because I was being a little ridiculous. I got home and via webcam talked to my professor, mentioned that I dropped my camera in the lake, and she told me she would buy me a new one. I felt a little better and I am very grateful. I am still recooperating from my loss but hopefully soon I will be back to my picture taking self again.

Horseback Riding

I had my very first horseback riding experience today. Of course, I have been on a horse before, but I have never really ridden on a horse for an extended amount of time where it was not led by someone else. Well I had two 45 minute rides today. It was not too bad. I went horseback riding because it was part of one of those excursions I had to do for my July term class. To document my LTCY 527 field experience, I had a flip video recorder with me. My middle school student that I was working with let me use the camera during the second 45 minute trail ride. Here is my first video and a glimpse of what it was like on my first horseback ride. Sorry it is so shaky. Enjoy!

Back in the Kitchen

I recently read an article written by Rachel Ray. She said after a long day at work, even if she got home really late, she liked to cook dinner and that was her way of relaxing. I struggle to even have the desire to cook if I am tired, much less actually do it. For the past year and half, I have not been in the kitchen much. I absolutely love to cook and I love watching tv about cooking and I love to read new recipes, but for one reason or another I have not done much cooking. I think my lack of cooking began when we moved into our house. The kitchen was not very pleasing to look at so I avoided it. We started going out to eat more and I started missing being in the kitchen. So we decided to paint the walls and cabinets and replace the appliances. We were going to do that anyway we just worked on the kitchen before many of the other rooms. The only thing that we lacked to do was replace the countertops and that is still on our to-do list. Even after doing all of that I still avoided the kitchen. I am not sure if it was because I had such a great kitchen and pantry at the condo and this kitchen was a huge downgrade or that I wasn't pleased with the layout of this kitchen or that it still had that old feel to it (if that makes sense). I am not sure what the exact problem was and still is with it. Then I started graduate school and my dinners usually took place in the car after driving through some fast food restaurant. Many dinners were also very late in the evenings when I was too tired to cook something so Bryan and I just went out to grab something to eat. I also lacked the time to go to the store to shop for food and after doing that for a year, it kind of became habitual for us to go out to eat.
This weekend I decided that I was ready to get back in the kitchen despite my reservations about it. I went to the store and I started cooking again. Bryan even helped with the dishes. (I hate taking care of the dishes.) I am still going to have to find some type of cabinet or storage area for food because we only have two cabinets for food, but I am sure that I will be able to find something. We have a huge hallway area right beside the kitchen so some piece of furniture can go there. I am also going to try to get the new countertops as soon as we can . I think that will also help. We have enough room for an island and we might try to add that to expand the countertop space and storage. Regardless, I am going to try to make a conscious effort to not get into a non-cooking slump. I am also going to have to try to make time to go to the store and make some meals in advance when I am working all day and working on graduate work this next year. I love to cook and I have missed creating lots of dishes. I am feeling excited and I am looking forward to being back in the kitchen.

Making Progress

The past couple of days I have been making a lot of progress in my classroom. I am not going up to school again until the day before our Back to School Bash on the 31st so I had to get it as presentable as I could so that I can finish some last minute things then. I only have a few bulletin boards to complete and I am going to have to move one piece of furniture to make room for the computer that goes along with the whole videographer position I now have.

This is the view from the door.

The cubbies

Part of my classroom library area (some books still need to be sorted as you can see from the stacks on the left side of the photo)

The math board

I used the cabinets for our word wall where all new words that we learn will be posted.

We also now have a concrete slab! We can now begin working on the new garage as soon as we get the building materials ordered. As least we have something done though because for the last six months we have had to store garage stuff all over the place like on the deck, in the basement, behind the house, etc. It drives me crazy! I am thankful that the tree fell in our garage because it was in really bad shape when we bought the house, but I just wished that it didn't take so long to replace it. Here is a picture of the progress so far:

On a different note, one of the baby birds, from the third set of baby birds that have hatched in a nest on our front porch this year, fell out a few minutes ago. I am not sure if he decided he was tired of sitting in the nest or if he got spooked, but he is now on the ledge a few feet below the nest and he was obviously not ready to fly just yet. The mother and father bird are chirping away trying to figure out wether how they can return the little guy back to the nest or get him to fly. I feel like I should do something but I am not sure how I can help without causing the parents to shun the baby bird forever because it smells like a human or without them pecking my eyes out for getting close to their baby and the nest.

*In the time that the pictures were uploading I went to check the status of the baby bird. It is now gone so I am assuming the parents convinced the little guy to spread his wings and try to fly early. I'll check later to see if he returns to the nest.

Two views of the baby bird

The father and baby (maybe giving him a pep talk?)

Coping with the Madness

I feel I should follow-up from my previous post. I am not so blazing mad anymore. I am coping with my July term class after some much needed venting. After blogging, Bryan and I went to eat and had a very nice discussion about the concept of my July class, cultural diversity, and how I can relate this experience to my thesis. Although I am going to suffer through these next three and half weeks I will be able to handle it. I also had some time to cool down while Bryan was disc golfing. We went to the disc golf course behind Natcher Elementary so that there wouldn't be many people there and Bryan could yet again practice his new driving technique. I started walking with Sophie and Bella on the gravel track around the course. As Bryan was nearing the first tee box a guy walked up to him and said that he was having some trouble finding all of the tee boxes in the course and asked Bryan if he would mind if he followed him. Well, the guy was amazing. He was Jeff Watson, the 1983 Men's Professional Disc Golf Champion!!!! He played with Bryan around the whole course and showed him exactly how to throw the new technique. Jeff came down from Louisville for the day just to play all seven disc golf courses in BG. He headed back as soon as he was done playing with Bryan. I missed out on all the conversations because I was walking the dogs but I got to talk with him for a few minutes after they were through playing. Bryan didn't tell me who he was until after he pulled away in his car. Bryan and I were so excited we decided to play (I just watched) through one more 9 hole round. On the 4th hole Bryan's disc flew into the woods and the only couple on the walking track stopped and helped us look for his disc. The guy even gave Bryan his keys that had a flashlight on them to use in the search. We are going to have to go back tomorrow to actually find it because it was so dark but it's ok. As I got in the car I thought to myself there is no reason for me to be so mad. I am living in a place where people will go above and beyond to help you and you just can't be mad around so many happy and helpful people.

Age of Technology

I have realized as I have been sitting through a very long and drawn out training on videography that I am thankful that I have been able to learn as much about technology as I have. It makes me feel good to already know so many of the things that our district is just now teaching their teachers. I am thankful for Bryan who has inspired me to learn about things I would have never dreamed about. I am also thankful that my graduate classes have pushed me to be technological. Now I am plunging into a more complicated and advanced world of technology. Not only am I now going to be the videographer at my school but I have purchased my own domain for my classroom website: teachertillery.com. It is coming very soon. In this age of technology I feel I am staying above water. I am holding my ground. I can do this and I feel good about it!!!

Lazy 4th of July Weekend

I have been so lazy these past few days and it has felt good but also bad. I love the time that I have spent relaxing but I feel as if I have not accomplished anything and my body just feels like blah.
On Friday evening we went to the fireworks and symphony at WKU but it was not as pleasant as last year. Bryan and I and our friends Casey and Jo sat under our umbrellas for almost the entire time we were there. The rain just would not stop, but we were not leaving. We stuck it out and saw some beautiful fireworks, but in the end we weren't really sure it was worth it.
On Saturday I finished reading Eclipse the third book in the Twilight series and finally started reading Poisonwood Bible (which I said I was reading for a while now). So I spent the majority of the day in bed. That is where I do all of my reading since I still haven't gotten that perfect reading chair and ottoman that I have always imagined.
Today Bryan and I along with a few other people went out to the disc golf course. Bryan is practicing this new driving technique and I just tagged along so that I wasn't just lying around the house. The rest of the day I have just watched tv. I feel useless. Our house is so messy and I don't even care. You would think I would do some cleaning or something useful but I just don't feel motivated. I am hoping it is just a weekend slump. To top it all off I have eaten horrible this weekend. Not only did I have a Sonic Reese's Blast but I also had donuts and fast food three times. Maybe that is the true culprit for my blahs.
I like to relax but these lazy days have been ridiculous. I am hoping for a fresh start tomorrow.

Saying Goodbye

Why is it that saying goodbye is so hard? Last night was our friends, Kelly and Nathan's last night in BG. They will be moving to Midland, Michigan today to start the next chapter of their lives and I can't help to feel selfish about it. I don't want them to go. I want them and all of the friends we have made over the years to be wherever we are. It seems like everyone we share our lives with and become close to, slips away to a new place. It has happened multiple times now since we have been married and it is just so dang hard to make new friends. I sit here crying because I know the gap that will be in my life for the next little while because I have experienced it before. I know that I will get to see my friends again although just not as often, and thankfully with today's use of blogs I can feel like I am still connected, but it is still hard. To all of our friends out there that we have had to say goodbye to, we love you, we can't wait to see you soon, and please, please, please keep the posts and emails coming.

Tidbits

I haven't had enough to write about one particular thing for the last week and a half, but I have a few tidbits of what I have been thinking or doing. Here's what's going on in a nutshell...

• I have been working in my new classroom a lot lately, probably 4 days or so. I have made a lot of progress and it is starting to feel like my classroom. I absolutely love getting a classroom ready for the kids and I am so thankful I still have another month to make it even more an environment that fosters learning. When I'm in a school by myself, I tend to get wrapped up in thoughts about my past and future as a teacher. It's been nice to have a time to reflect on my career.
  
• I bought some of that Aveeno chapstick the other day and I absolutely love it. I think I am going to switch completely from Carmex to Aveeno. That's a big step for me because I have been using Carmex for over ten years now and I take the type of chapstick I use very seriously.
  
• I watched Office Space for the first time the other evening. We tried renting Office Space because Bryan thought I was nuts for never watching it before, but we could not find that movie anywhere. What good is a movie rental store if it doesn't have anything you want? We ended up buying it. It was also our first dvd purchase because we have never owned any movies. We don't like watching the same movies over and over again so we kind of feel buying movies is pointless for us anyway. I just like getting surprised when a movie we haven't seen in a while comes on tv.
  
• I have hit a slump in my reading for the summer. I just get in these spells where I like to read a lot at one time and then I need a break. I still desire to read but I just find other things to occupy my time. Like...
  
• we have been going to play disc golf a lot more lately. Bryan is trying this new technique and so I take the dogs with us to give them and me some much needed exercise. I love walking through the parks. I love breathing in the warm summer air and seeing all the beautiful colors of nature.
  
• I have been going on a sort of treasure hunt for a small table, a unique chair that can be turned into an author's chair, bean bag chairs, and cool looking lamps for my classroom. So far I have come up empty handed but the quest has been fun. I really like going to consignment stores. It's amazing to see what some people think is junk turn into someone else's treasure. (Also, I am in need of 96 tennis balls to put on my students' desks. I have one source but if anyone else has any used tennis balls lying around, I would greatly appreciate them.)