Cute/ Not Cute

Cute or not cute? 

I bought these monkey candleholders a few weeks ago from Target. They were on clearance so I thought I should get them because Ahmie has been so infatuated with monkey stuff. When I bought them home she looked at me with a mixed look. She looked at me like I brought home a beautifully arranged bouquet of dead rotting roses. She liked the gesture but was not sure if she really liked the candle holders. She said the monkeys looked kinda scary; especially when tea light candles are placed atop each candle holder then it will look like the monkey's head is on fire.

So I leave it up to you, are they cute or not cute, please comment.

Awww look at the wee bairn

Well during this past week Liam became 3 months old this Thursday. He has really grown and have changed in these (short/long) months. Choose one, both are real to me. It has been 3 short months and have seen him change so quickly. Equally valid, I can't believe that it has only been 3 months seeing him grow and change. It has felt like a short lifetime.

In 3 month's time Liam went from:

This


Liam at 1 day old 

To This


Liam at 3 months 3 days old 

As you can see he has changed very much in the 3 month's time. He has gotten much longer and heavier (at least 16 lbs probablly pushing 17).

I really cannot believe that Liam is 3 months old. Time has gone by it seems, very slowly. The past life of Ahmie and Garvin seems so far away, even the life of pregnant Ahmie and Garvin seems well a whole "lifetime" away. It seems so long ago that we had that hell first week dealing with Liam's Jaundice. The move seems so long ago even tho we have lived in the house on Tate for less then 2 months. I think time must seem slower because time slows when I am with the baby.

I think life will speed up again as Liam grows, but I think I'll take it slow while I can.

LicenSURE Fun

Well Tuesday's fortune cookie did not prove to be prophetic after all. Really it just turned out to be a note wrapped around a stale cookie. I heard from the vice principle of the school that I interviewed on Thursday. He was really good and kept in contact with me throughout the week. But I was passed on because I did not hold an Ohio teaching license. I sensed some lament in his voice probably because I was a superior candidate but I just did not have the credentials to teach at that time.

A note about licensure, many states have interstate agreements with other states to uphold a valid teacher licenses from other states. The idea of this is so that teachers may move more freely from state to state. Originally I became a teacher in 1999 out of pure luck.

After I graduated from Case Western Reserve University I had originally intended to move to Virginia because Ahmie wanted to go to Gallaudet University in Washington DC to pursue graduate studies relating to Advocacy for the Deaf community. I had originally wanted to pursue research positions at the NIH in Bethesda Maryland. However I had landed on the wrong side of the river and too far from both DC and Bethesda. Ahmie was temping at the time and I was working at a company called Mediatech. I was working in the manual labor filling cell growing fluids in sterile conditions, and other warehouse work. Ahmie heard from a coworker that the school systems around Northern Virginia were desperate for teachers. So I gave it a go. I did not get much of a chance to finish my application until early mid August of 99. However I was interview right away and was hired to teach at Douglass School a week before school started. I was given a provisional license and then I had 3 years to get the education coursework to lead up to a full license. Suffice to say I did that.

Anyway...

Two weeks earlier I had received a letter from the state saying that I could not qualify for a teaching license because I did not have Student Teaching experience. I talked to the teaching licensure rep about the fact that I had 5 years of successful teaching experience. She said sorry, but you need teaching experience and that they don't waive that requirement.

That knocked me out of loop for a week. HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO GET STUDENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE WHEN I WAS A REAL TEACHER FOR 5 YEARS AT THE SAME SCHOOL AND I GOT TENURE TOO. I resigned to myself that I would not be able to teach this year as a full time teacher. Because I was sure that I could be licensed somehow, and that this rejection for student teaching was a mistake. Then the following week I had the Interview. So on last Friday I took a day off work to call the state and heard in more detail that I was still not qualified to get a full teaching license because I did not have student teaching experience. I was however able to convince them to give me the name of a supervisor. So this mooring I called.

All weekend long I was dreading making this phone call.

So this morning I called the Center of Certification/Licensure
And spoke with a supervisor and she reassured me that I could possibly get a teaching license as long as my education course work was sufficient. That since I have taught under a full license the student teaching requirement should be waived. She told me to resend the licensee application attention to her, and she said that she would evaluate the application.

I was somewhat relived because it would have been impossible to be a student teacher and work with Northeast Care Center in my current capacity. Because student teaching was basically 5 months of unpaid teaching. All that time I would be at school for most of the work day and cannot work. If I need to take a few education classes to shore up my knowledge to align to Ohio's standards then that would be possible because I can take a few classes and still work full time. But of course the ideal circumstance is that I get my full license.

Let's hope for the best.

Chinese Lunch

I found out that a can sprayed out lubricant was what was the cause of the strange odor in my car. Unfortunately my lunch Cup o noodles were also in the trunk. I took one of the cup of noodles out of the car today and tried to eat it. The odor of the lubricant seeped into the Cup o noodles. So without anything else to eat I went and got lunch. Not wanting fast food take out, naturally I got some Chinese food. The lunch was mediocre at best.

The highlight of my lunch was a stale fortune cookie.

With integrity and consistency your credits are piling up.

Pondering upon that, I remembered the interview for Mid Park High School yesterday.

They asked this question:

What do you think is the most important traits you look for in a teacher?

I answered enthusiasm and consistency. Naturally I elaborated more during the interview.


I hope that this is a portent of good things to come.

Where do I live again?

We went around the east side of town this afternoon; we went to Microcenter, then to Half Price Books. Surprisingly we spent under 10$ there. Then we drove down towards Cleveland to Little Italy to visit Valentino's. This was a restaurant where I worked in the kitchen for a year and a half during college. I made a very good friend in Bill Lee who also worked there as the Pizza maker. He still works there and it was nice to see him again. It was the first time he saw Liam (he is one of the many people named William for whom he is named after).

It had been a busy night for him. With the athletes of the International Children's Games housed at the dorms at CWRU down the street. He was bogged down with orders for 25 pizzas and other kitchen orders when the restaurant opened for the night. It was nice to be back at Valentino's the familiar smell of dough sauce and the finished pizza. Anyway Bill treated us to dinner. We (as always) ordered a White Artichoke pizza, and their signature Hot Valentino sub. We tried to enjoy our dinner on the patio they have but the weather conspired against us.

It's weird while I was out and about today I keep getting a feeling that I'm seeing these stores but Think I am in Virginia. I'm like hey there is a Marc's (local discount store chain) I did not know they have ones in Virginia.
It is weird. I haven't moved back a whole month and it seems I am integrating and settling in Cleveland. But I guess we step back and regress in time abit.

I think this is something interesting about the human mind. In a universe that flows in one direction our minds can travel back to anytime in our memories. Like the smell of a familiar sent can bring back fond memories. We can immerse ourselves in or memories and catch up with the past in an instant. Sometimes the boundaries between now and yesterday blur and that is a strange feeling.

Blurring between the present and the past is weird enough I don't think I can comprehend blurring with the future.