Happy Birthday Ava Grace!!!

Your Uncle Corey loves you a lot!

(and he apologizes for the formatting on this blog… the new layout is giving him fits)

… but if I made a lot more money, I’d be a Mac.

But as it happens, I’m a teacher so when I went laptop shopping, I ended up with an Asus. I’m not sure how well it’s going to perform for me, but Consumer Reports always rates their machines pretty high and it has 7 hours of battery life. So far so good.

My new laptop

 

Will this lead to more blogging by yours truly? Time will tell, my friends. Time will tell.

Ava Grace and her Daddy after an evening cry

I’m on the tail end of my annual summer break escape from Texas to Arkansas trip, and it’s been a blast.

I got here late Saturday night and I’ll head home in a few hours. I always enjoy visiting, but it is nice to climb back into your bed for the first time in a week. Hello sheets and pillows, hello comforter (how apt your name is now), hello lumpy mattress – ah, the devil that I know. (if you really don’t care about the details of the rest of my trip… stop reading now)

I’m back in a hotel room for the second time in less than a week.

I think Don Chaffer’s daddy said it best. These rooms are lonely places. Sometimes that Gideon’s Bible is your only friend.

But it’s also nice to have free wireless internet in the room, and some deep cuts from a few new Pandora radio stations. I mentioned Pandora a while back. I don’t get to listen as much these days, but when I do, I always hear something cool.

My latest stations?

• Kim Wilson (harmonica and vocals for the Fabulous Thunderbirds)
• Lazy Lester (a harp player I heard about from Brian of 3 Time Fool Blues Band.
• Gram Parsons
• Mother Earth (former band of Bob, our new bass player)
• Mark Olson (Jayhawks greatness)
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (You just have to hear “100 Days, 100 Nights.” It’s like opening a time capsule.

That’s all for tonight. Goodnight from Lubbock. And in the words of Buddy Holly… Oh boy.

No posts since Christmas. Well, it’s not easy to get back in the habit of being a good blogger, but I’ve got to get something out there.

So here’s 2009 so far…

• Played to a packed house at the Flying Pig in Lewisville shortly after New Year’s.
• Joined a fitness boot camp (still going strong).
• Attended a fantastic men’s retreat at my church.
• Had my kids win a bunch of stuff again.
• Finally got my parents and grandmother down to see the band play!
• Dressed up like a psychedelic cookie monster and sang funk tunes for the students.
• Saw King Tut exhibit at DMA.
• Went to two Mavs games (both wins) – one with Casey, one with Dru.
• Got an old roommate back.
• Bought a new couch and love seat.
• Attended a rockin’ sushi party.
• Played kickball.
• Bought the amazing new album by the Derek Trucks Band.
• Wrote a song that might actually see the light of day in a performance.

And that’s where we’re at so far. I’m in the middle of a hellish April as usual and I’ve got another birthday coming up. But I’m back… and I’m blogging.

At least I got a car, I can drive tonight;

And I know it ain’t much but it makes me feel alright;

And alright ain’t good, but alright’s alright;

At least I got a car, I can drive tonight. – Don Chaffer

So… every year our school holds a Holiday door/hallway decorating contest. My class has only participated once because we’re usually busy trying to get  a newspaper out. But I pitched the idea of using old papers to the class this year and we had a few kids without deadlines who jumped on the idea. When the paper was finished, the rest of the class got into the act too.

We didn’t win first place (a pizza party), but we did get honorable mention which is probably worth a packet of crushed red pepper. Enjoy the photos. Merry Christmas.

This was the full shot of Room 2000 after the kids finished. We went green this year, almost all recyclable materials.

I'm not sure why I figured so prominently in our decorations. We call that my "werewolf face."

Here is our sign. Merry Pressmas and Happy News Year. Note the newspaper mistletoe at the top.

No deadlines and easy access to Photoshop equals Halezilla. If there's a connection to the Holidays, I'm missing it.

Our snowman had old SLR lens and body caps for his buttons and smile. Rubber viewfinder cups made the eyes. He has his reporter's notebook and pen ready to go.

Our tree was decorated with a star, photograms, pictures of our newspaper covers from this year, and more pictures of me.

Here's my awesome staff who created this masterpiece! Crushed Red Pepper for everyone!

Just a tiny splash of color

Here’s another look. I decided to bring back the color in her eyes. It’s kind of a clichéd technique, but I think it looks good here.

I’d also like to note that you are never quite so overrated as when your family overrates you, but it’s nice to hear just as well.

A beautiful girl I know

So I was messing around with Photoshop while at work tonight, trying to find a way to get a better black and white image. I can’t tell if this image is too dark or not or if it’s my monitor. Let me know…

So you’ve probably heard before that the definition of insanity is doing to the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Well, color me crazy.

Sometime within the last month, the touchpad on my school-issued laptop became pressure-sensitive. So if I scroll across it with too much pressure (read: any pressure), it interprets that motion as a left click. I am constantly opening web links, photos, documents, closing windows before I’m ready, sumbitting log-ins before I’ve typed my password, etc.

It is driving me nuts and I can’t figure out a way to turn it off. What I need to do is find a temporary fix for this problem until there is a permanent solution. And I know what the fix is.

I need to bring the optical mouse that is sitting at my apartment up to the school to plug in and use with my laptop. Problem solved. In fact, I will probably get better navigational control with the optical mouse than I ever did with the touchpad.

So why haven’t I done it? No good reason comes to mind.

Anybody care to psychoanalyze me for this little problem? Or do you have a similar problem to share?

I’m going to write myself a note on my hand. We’ll see if it works. Stay tuned.

My newspaper staff uses a special web-based software to write their stories, get edits and just communicate in general. One of the features is a board where we can post topics for discussion.

So for our last class before the break yesterday, I posted the following thread.

Giving Thanks

Take a little time and share some of the things for which you are thankful.

———————————————————————-

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Then I posted my thankful list.

Mr. Hale is thankful for the following: Fantasy football, Strawberry Bliss Smoothies from Bahama Buck’s, the amazing Cuban album he found at Goodwill for $1.99, the Sunday Homestyle Chicken Dinner at Cracker Barrell, the barebones deliciousness of an Icedream cone from Chick-Fil-A, the generosity of his family, the kisses he’ll get from his 1-year-old niece on Wednesday night, the health of his parents and grandmother, the drop in gas prices, the literary genius of Flannery O’Connor, the musical genius of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the fact that his DVR will not let him miss the series finale of The Shield on Tuesday night, his new friends in Texas and old friends scattered across the country and around the world, the technology that allows him to keep in touch with them, his faith, his church, future grace, the return of Tony Romo, his brother’s sarcasm, his sister’s laugh, his sister-in-law’s smile, a home to go home to, a new haircut, a great job; and a staff that works hard, gets along, cares, laughs, makes him laugh, makes him proud, and makes the job so great in the first place.
Oh yeah, and Grub Rub from Dickey’s Old Town Meat Market. That stuff is off the hook/chain/charts and whatever else you got.

I asked the students to post their own comments. I heard them talking and giggling about it throughout the rest of the class period. I figured it just turned into a string of inside jokes and silly back-and-forth comments. I totally misjudged my kids. I forgot how smart, funny and profound they really are. Here’s a sample of the things for which they were thankful:

•  
  • for Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson.
  • for Snapple and Chicken Fried Chicken. Cheeseburgers, Fratelli’s pizza and the Godfather.
  • for having awesome parents
  • to have more than what i need, people to love and to be loved from
  • for surviving cancer and catching it early
  • for the male gender..because if the world was all females..it would suck
  • for creepy vampire books
  • for overcoming shyness
  • for silly animals..they make me laugh
  • I’m also thankful my parents didn’t name me an insane name like Bronx Mowgli.
  • for being able to work and make my own money
  • for having a roof over my head and clothes on my back
  • that me and my brother aren’t on the verge of killing each other any more (sounds familiar)
  • for soccer, even if i cant play for a while >:(
  • for the newspaper and having more stuff to do that takes me away from my house
  • for Harrison and his crazy jackets and singing
  • for my mother who has given the world for me
  • Also music. and the concept of love. that’s some pretty great stuff right there.
  • for a staff that works hard, loves the newspaper and each other, and is also arguably one of the best looking staffs out there.
  • for football – paticularly the Dallas Cowboys. TO AND ROMO REPRESENT!
  •  for the random phtoshop creations on the wall only a few of us understand.
  • for my job, even though at times they screw me over more than anyone should. The people there are some of the coolest people ever.
  • for the beauty that is cinema and the way I can look at it so throughly to the point people think I’m a freak.
  • for living life and being around amazing people throughout high school, and throughout my life in general. Leaving this place in May is going to suck, but the memories will last forever.
  • for good music *radiofire* , these super awesome laptops, my new house, my good friends, life, the cold weather, forgiveness, the wonderful memories i have of my brother, my cell phone , vans brand shoes, sunny D, food, my cats and dog, my family, twilight the movie, hair extentions from hot topic, LHS, Choir, all you wonderful newspaper people, and of course, the way i feel when i walk in this room. all my worries are left at the door and i feel welcome, needed, and even better, wanted.
  • for my small but sweet family of two.
  • for coming to Texas.
  • for Mr. Hale and his interesting taste in music.
  • for The Sooners kicking Texas Techs butt on saturday, for the bears beating the rams, my amazing family, my amazing friends, very thankful for my sister moving out and me getting my own room finally, thankful for my grandpa letting us stay in the house for atleast Christmas.
  • for my nasty disgusting tooth finally getting pulled even though it hurt reallly bad
  • for a fabulous newspaper staff and the wonderful people who make it up, my family, the freedom that comes with living in our country, Jason Mraz, my health, John Mayer, DANCING, Maroon 5, cranberry sauce on thanksgiving day, my Gotta Dance posse, dark chocolate, my dog Sophie, my nasty green 1998 Nissan Altama, gushy romantic movies, the gifts God has given me, Jimmy John’s Beach Club with no tomatoes, my parents who love me, my 11-year-old brother, having teachers who care for my future, my education, my church.
  • for all the memories I have created during my lifetime. For all my amazing friends. For my family that has always supported me and given me everything I have ever known. For the stars. For the rain. For the weather that brings back many more memories and allows for creating more. For how easy it is to make me happy.
    I’m thankful for all the simple things in life.
    Life would be so much better for everyone if we all just took the time to enjoy the simple things.
  • for mr hale putting on free bird!
  • everyone’s little quirks because without that the world would be boring, guitar solos, air guitar, football, LOST, tv, the internets, the sun, the ocean, schlotzkeys, the farhar staff, creativity, photoshop
  • white chocolate covered pretzels..The seasonal limited aditions to the starbucks menu..the many smiles i have during this time of year..my cellular device..the break coming up..my awsome friends..my brothers..my father..my grandparents love and exceptance..my camera..my doggy..the good times in newspaper..the diversity of great music
  • to live in AMERICA so i can be free
  • for the following: The outdoors, forests, tractors, fires, electric blankets, computers, his 360, modest mouse, all other music, people, candy, chicken fried steak
  • my sisters cello playing ability
  • staying up all night with a voice recorder
  • Also all of newspaper staff. Especially Hale. Wouldn’t want to do this without any of you guys.

This life is a blessing. It’s just a shame that it takes so much effort just to see that.