TMI - Please Read Me A Story

This week's TMI questions made me happy.  Thanks as always to Sean for posting them. 

PLEASE READ ME A STORY!

1. Describe your favorite place to cozy-up with a good book.

I can curl up with a good book just about anywhere, but my favorite place to read is a chair in our living room. It's an overstuffed, leather chair that I can just sink into. I have to be careful as it is REALLY comfortable and easy to fall asleep in. 

2. What do you read when you're on the toilet?

I'm usually looking at stuff on my iPhone, unless I'm reading a really good book and then I'll take that into the bathroom with me. I make sure to put the phone down before I clean up and don't pick it up until I've washed my hands. 

3. Do you read when taking a bath?

Nope. I primarily take showers, with baths being VERY rare. But if I do take a bath, I'm just soaking in the tub. I'd worry too much about the book getting wet, or how to situate myself so that I was comfortable reading. Too much work. 

4. If you can, do you read when at the gym?

I've tried reading while on either the elliptical or the stationary bike, but I just can't do it. I generally listen to music and people watch.

Oh yeah, and actually work out too.  LOL

5. Do you still read newspapers and or magazines?

I do! We are subscribers to "Time", "Entertainment Weekly", "Men's Health" and "Men's Fitness".  I used to read the hard copies of USAToday and the Des Moines Register, but now I just look at the online editions.

Print journalism is dying a slow death. I just can't justify paying $2.00 for a USAToday. I do pay for a subscription to the Des Moines Register's online site and I feel that the price is worth what I get in content. 

6. What are your favorite genres to read?

I love mysteries, especially DaVinci Code style novels. Now don't misunderstand me, Dan Brown spins a great tale, unfortunately he's been spinning the same tale in his last 5 books, but at least they are well written. I'm also a huge fan of Steve Berry's work. Very similar to Brown's M.O., but better plotting and more importantly - NOT the same story every time!

I also enjoy historical fiction - James Michener, Edward Rutherfurd - for example.  I think I've read Chesapeake 5 or 6 times and Sarum at least 3 or 4.  

I'm also a fan of gay fiction, especially Michael Thomas Ford. I have most of his books and have enjoyed them. They are lighter fiction, but they help pass the time.

7. Do you read one book at a time or can you read several?

Once I start a book, that's the one I'm reading. I've never been able to handle two books at once - too much stuff to keep sorted out. 

8. If you start a book, do you finish it no matter what?

Yup, I finish it no matter how bad it is -

I'm looking at you Tom Wolfe (A Man In Full) and Jonathan Frantzen (The Corrections).

The one book that I have never been able to finish is John Grisham's The Chamber. It's about the death penalty and was one of the most depressing books I've ever come across. Got halfway through and finally had to stop.

9. Did your parents read to you when you were growing up?

Yes, and my mom encouraged me to read. I don't think there was ever a time when we weren't making regular trips to the library or getting books from relatives. 

10. Have you read to your kids/nephews/nieces?

I have two nephews that I don't get to see too often, but when I have seen them I have made an effort to be interested in what they are reading. I'll have them tell me about the books and what they think of them.

11. How do you feel about reading books vs. using electronic devices? Have your feelings evolved from one or two years ago?

I don't have an ipad, Kindle or Nook. Frankly I still enjoy reading honest-to-goodness books. Something about the feel of the pages and being able to see my progress has always brought comfort to me.

BONUS  
When was the last time you looked at or read an adult magazine to satisfy yourself? When was the last time you even saw one? 

I never really looked at adult magazines to, um, satisfy myself.  For me, fitness magazines usually did the trick (yeah, like those aren't geared towards gay men). Thanks to the internet I'm able to find what I need. :-)

When we go to Minneapolis, we will stop by Rainbow Road, the local gay bookstore. They have magazines and other materials in there. But we never actually purchase anything to use - again, that's what the internet is for. :-)

Sunday Selfie - Ouch Edition

Thought I'd try something different for my selfie. This is me lying on the carpet with the phone pointing down at me.  

Today has been pretty eventful with a lot of physical activity.

Today was rec league volleyball and while our team had 1 set win and 5 set losses, I had a moment that I won't soon forget.

We were playing the best team in the division, a team of students and cops from Iowa State. One of their best players, one of the cops, went up for a kill and did so with gusto. I took the blow, right off of my face - point blank, dead on. 

I was stunned, but there was no blood, nothing was broken. I took about a minute to shake it off and then went back to playing. The cop felt pretty bad about it, but I told him that I was fine and no hard feelings.  

I'm hoping to get a ride-along out of the deal. The captain of the other team is a good friend of mine (he's gay as well) and knows that I love to do ride-alongs. So he's trying to set one up for me. 

After the match, I went over to the gym to hop on the elliptical for a while. It had been a while since I dragged my butt to the gym, so I wanted to hop back on the wagon. I had a good workout and took note of a couple of hotties in the weight room. 

Tonight I'm getting to work on grading papers and getting ready for the week. This week are parent/teacher conferences and I'll be at school from 7:30 - 7:30 Monday thru Wednesday. Friday I'll be taking the math competition students down to Des Moines. 

Under Armour's Kevin Plank

There's been a bit of controversy surrounding this year's U.S. Olympic Speed Skating team.  Under Armour and Lockheed Martin designed a "supersuit" that was supposed to give the U.S. team an advantage at this year's games.

Unfortunately, this year's team has laid the proverbial "egg".

The blame at first fell on the suits, but team members are now throwing shade at the U.S. Federation and the lack of continuity in training facilities.

I've always been a "fan" of Under Armour. Let's be honest, it's incredibly sexy on hot guys. I mean, have you seen this year's bobsled team - MUY CALIENTE!

This morning I read that instead of running from the controversy, Under Armour is doubling down - not only renewing their partnership with U.S. Speed Skating, but doubling their investment! Along with the article was a photo of the company founder and C.E.O., Kevin Plank.

I think I fell just a little bit in love.

He built the company from the ground up, designing a shirt that would his "sweat" issues. As a student at the University of Maryland he began a business of selling Valentine's Day roses and took that money to found Under Armour. He sent shirts to his friends from the football team who played in the NFL and the company grew from there.

Sure, he donates to Republican candidates - sigh (no one's perfect), but I just think he hasn't met the right guy yet.

Oh yeah, and he's only 41.

Mother Nature is One Crazy B.....

Yesterday I heaped loads of praise on Mother Nature for bestowing enough snow and ice to cause our school district to cancel school.  Following the cancellation, the sun came out as did the warmth. It was absolutely beautiful and today was even better! The high today was in the 50s and I'm seeing college kids walking around in t-shirts and shorts!

Well Miss Thang must be on one because her mood is changing quickly.

When I went to bed last night the forecast was for some light showers on Thursday morning.  Nothing bad, just a little rain.

Oh what a difference a few hours can make.

The reason Thursday is of concern to me is that is the day I take a group of students down to Des Moines for a math competition.  These kids have prepared all year for this and I have a really good group.  Thursday is our regional competition which will determine which of our kids advance to the state finals in March.

This morning one of my co-workers asked me if we still were going on Thursday.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, we're gonna have a blizzard on Thursday," she replied.

And with that statement my day began its slow decent to hell in a fabulously decorated hand-basket.

We are now forecast to get about 6 inches of snow in the morning on Thursday followed by 50 m.p.h. winds which will create blizzard condition.  Not even blizzard-like, we're talking full on BLIZZARD!

A lot of variables are in play. If we delay or cancel school, but the competition is still on, we can't go because the district would be liable for any injuries if we got into an accident.  Parents could take their kids if they wanted to on their own.

What sucks is if the competition is postponed. More than likely it would be rescheduled for February 28th, one of our scheduled days off. Next week is parent-teacher conference week and for putting in the extra hours, we get Thursday afternoon and Friday off. I had already made some preliminary plans for that day - workout with my trainer, massage from a hunky masseur (get your mind out of the gutter CB!).

Trust me, I get that if we cancel school tomorrow that I will have the day off. It's just that I can't DO anything on that day off because of the weather. More than likely I'll end up shoveling the driveway (probably twice) and watching House Hunters on HGTV.

I'll get over this and take my kids down to the competition and be a supportive coach. I just need to let the stew for a little bit. I bitch and moan, but in the end do what's best for my students.

It just always bugs me at first when my plans are changed. Oh wait, I think I've sung this tune before. LOL

Love you awesome nerds,
Robert

Thanks Mother Nature!

Last night I went to bed anticipating bad weather in the morning. Forecasts had us receiving freezing rain, followed by snow. All during the morning commute.

Now anytime there's even the possibility of a late start, I have trouble sleeping.  I don't know why, but I always seem to wake up about 2 in the morning and can't go back to sleep.

So last night, right on cue, BAM! I'm awake.

After drifting in and out of sleep, the text I was anticipating came - 2 hour late start. I could hear the rain falling on the roof, so I figured the roads were probably slick.

I reset my alarm and crawled back under the covers.

I was about one minute from getting out of bed when my phone chimed again - CLOSED! Evidently there were a number of bus drivers who could not make it into the city and visibility was horrible.

The funny thing is that once the system passed through around 10:30, the weather was beautiful! Temps in the 40s and a nice breeze. It did take me a while to get the driveway shoveled as the couple inches of snow that had fallen was pretty heavy, but it was a good workout.

Knowing that we'll have to make the day up, I still have to say that this was a welcome day off. I'm feeling recharged and ready to get back to work tomorrow.

But for now, back to watching "The Spy Who Loved Me" on cable.

Sunday Selfie - Travel Planning Edition

The title of this book was VERY misleading.

Today I spent the afternoon with Mom - going to lunch, taking her have her hair done, grocery shopping, etc.  While she was having her hair styled, I went next door to the library and check out a couple of travel books. 

Next year Matt and I will celebrate our 20-year anniversary of our first date. We've decided that we want to travel to celebrate and we both knew that we wanted to go to Europe.

At first, we just thought about traveling to England (London) and maybe a side trip to Paris. In college I journeyed to London as part of a school trip. It was an amazing trip and I've longed to return. In addition to London, I want to travel back to the city of Bath and maybe Salisbury (Stonehenge). Those were my favorite stops on the trip.

Matt has never been "across the pond," so we also thought a side trip to Paris would be fun as well.

A conversation with Matt's Dad gave us a chance to rethink our plans. Matt told him that we were thinking of taking a week, maybe 9 or 10 days, for the trip. Matt's Dad, Lynn, asked him why we hadn't thought about taking a longer trip and really seeing more of the continent. His thinking was, "when are you gonna have this opportunity again?"

So now we're pondering taking a couple of weeks, maybe 2 1/2 weeks for our trip. We've got time to figure all that out. 

Matt and I being the planners that we are, have started really thinking about what we want to see and do. I'd kinda like to see the International Olympic Committee museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Matt's heritage is German, so maybe traveling there as well might be fun. 

The hard part is how to get all of this planned! There's a lot to think about and a lot of decisions to be made. If anyone has any suggestions, we'd greatly appreciate the advice. :-)

Bon Voyage!

Robert

On a Snowy Saturday Morning

Yesterday was an unusual Valentine's Day. After work I had my back 'sugared' (so baby-butt smooth) and then.... rec league volleyball. Yup, the powers that be actually scheduled volleyball matches on Valentine's Day.

Following volleyball, I met Matt for a late dinner at Old Chicago. We were hopeful our favorite waiter, Zach, would be working, but alas, no. :-(

Valentine's Day isn't really anything special for the hubby and I. Nineteen years together will do that to ya. We generally keep it low key and just enjoy the evening together.

After volleyball and a good meal, I slept like a log. It's been a while since I woke up feeling this "refreshed". For a while I've been feeling like I've been starting out behind with how tired I've been.

So it's snowing..... again.


I really shouldn't be complaining as we really need the precipitation. Iowa has been in and out of drought conditions for close to two years now and every flake that falls is another drop in the bucket of water that we need.

Of course that doesn't mean I'm happy about having to go out and shovel. On the other hand, it is physical activity, and that is something that I have been lacking of late.

The ever present cold and snow have really put the kibosh on my workouts. Well that and a couple of really nasty headaches that I've suffered from.

Random Thought - I really wanna go on a cruise.

It was a long week at school as we began our standardized testing. I worked with administration to organize the administration of the tests - getting the right tests to the correct rooms, homeroom coverages, etc. It was exhausting, but in the end, things went smoothly.

I also took my first stats test this week and I'm anxious to find out my score as I'm pretty sure I did well on it. As much as I'm enjoying the course, having it two nights a week has proven to be a challenge after a full day of teaching. I also have an after school club on the same days, so I'm pretty much going from 7 in the morning until 8:30 at night.

Random Question - Can anyone recommend a good travel agency for a European trip?

Since the weather outside is frightful unpleasant, this morning has been all about watching the Olympics and now "Man v. Food".

A lot of blogs have been featuring skeleton racer John Daly.  The man is a ginger hottie!  So totes adorbs. Sigh.

This morning he was in position to win a Bronze medal. Unfortunately the blade of his sled skipped out of the groove at the start and his last run was a disaster. He finished the run, but ultimately ended up in 15th place. I gotta admit my heart was breaking as he was being interviewed following the race. After stalking researching John, I see that he has a British girlfriend to comfort him after his disappointment. I'm also available should be need a different type of comforting.

Le sigh.

Until tomorrow my friends.

Lies, Damned Lies......

and STATISTICS!!!!

This semester I am taking Statistics through the local community college. I'm doing it primarily to add a couple of endorsements to my teaching license. Last year I took Trigonometry online and fought my way through to an 'A'.

Do I really need a reason to post a photo of
Chris Hemsworth?  

It's a personal thing for me, but I'm a math teacher, so anything less than an 'A' in a college math class is just not acceptable.

I chose to take Stats as an actual class because of my experience with trig. I wanted to make sure that I had an actual teacher who would be available to answer questions.

In college, I failed Stats.

Yup. You read that correctly. The math teacher failed a math class in college.

But in all honesty, when I took the class in college I was a freshman and I was an idiot.  I thought I could just show up and not bother opening the textbook or even study.

I decided that it was time to get this monkey off of my back.

I gotta admit, I'm enjoying it! Maybe it's the 20 years of teaching math experience, but the subject material seems easier this time around. We took our first exam earlier this week and I'm pretty confident that I nailed it.

So here's hoping the good fortune continues.


On a completely unrelated subject, I love this commercial....

TMI - The Winter Olympics

Special thanks to Sean for posting his consistently excellent questions.  I love answering these!!!

THE WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES

1. In general (we'll get to the politics in a few) do you watch the Winter Olympics?

I've always loved the Olympics - always have, always will. So yes, I do watch them. Now I do continue to have a plethora of gripes with the way NBC covers them, but I've been happier with how they are showing events live during the day and then showing highlights at night.  They're finally understanding that people are gonna find out what happened 10 hours ago and STILL watch at night. 

2. Winter or Summer?

Honestly, I love em both. During the Summer Olympics there is so much to see and since I'm usually on summer vacation, I can watch to my heart's content. The winter games provide fewer events but since I'm teaching I can focus better. Plus the winter games have - bobsled, luge and skeleton - three events with the sexiest of competitors.

3. What are your favorite winter events? Do you follow any of them outside the game?

As much as I love the sledding sports (well, the athletes), the one sport that I get wrapped up in is curling.  There's so much strategy involved and a match can get incredibly tense. And well, the athletes aren't bad to look at, plus have you seen 

The Norwegian team showing off a little leg. 

the Norwegian team's pants!

4. Which sport needs to stay and which one needs to go?

Actually, I'm okay with all the sports that are in the winter olympics, even the newer "extreme" sports. The one that frustrates me is figure skating. I just don't understand the judging criteria. You think you see a great performance and then the scores come up and HUH?!

5. Which is the weirdest sport?

Two-man luge.  Yeah, I'm gonna say it, it looks a little gay.  But I still enjoy watching it. :-)






6. What is your POV on boycotting The Olympics by countries and or athletes?

I think Russia is reaping what they have sown. Because of the bad publicity and political turmoil, it's been fairly obvious that people just aren't traveling there. It's been rumored that Russia spent $50 BILLION dollars on these game. I would like to see the IOC not just look at dollar signs and really look at countries that are able to host the Olympics not only successfully in terms of the games, but also fiscally responsible.

7. Are you boycotting NBC or any Olympic sponsors?

Other than really not watching NBC's evening coverage, I haven't really made a point to boycott anything. 

8. Do you think boycotts are effective?

I really hate the term boycott as it makes me think of bullying. We don't like what you do, so we're going to organize against you. Present the information. If people don't like it, they'll make the decision on their own to either support that business or not. I feel like when an organized boycott is organized that it only serves to galvanize the opposition (i.e. Chick-fil-A). 

9. If you were an athlete what would you do?

The U.S. Men's Bobsled team - preferably in a group setting. 

Goodbye Facebook

Tonight I deactivated my Facebook account.

It ended not with a bang, but a whimper.

I had been thinking about doing it for a while. After 7 years I just realized that I was spending way too much time looking at it, posting, liking, replying, etc.

I need my life back.

I'll still blog and tweet.  I gotta stay connected a little bit. teehee

I'm sure I'll get emails from the fine servers at Facebook asking me to comeback. Maybe someday I will, but it won't be for a while. For now, people will just have to reach me the old fashioned way - by email.

Or Heaven-forbid..... CALL ME!

Sunday Selfie - Coffee House Edition

Today's selfie comes to you from Stomping Grounds, a coffee house in Ames. This afternoon I met a couple of my classmates from my Statistics class for a study session. We have an exam on Tuesday night. 

I got there about 30 minutes early and treated myself to a hot chai latte.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :-)

The study session went well and I think we will all do well on the exam. It's been a while since I met with a study group, but it felt comfortable to slip back into it. The feeling of being "the teacher" of the group did creep in as my study mates looked to me for my math expertise.

Did I happen to mention recently that I'm sick of winter?  

No?  Have you read my blog recently?!  :-)

I'm not minding the snow so much, the shoveling has been good exercise for me. It's the bitter, bitter cold that is just draining me.  We have another wind chill advisory for tonight. First thing in the morning the wind chill will be between -20 and -30. 

Anyways, I'll be getting my gym bag ready for an early morning workout. It was a bad week last week for getting to the gym. But I've been making too many excuses for not getting there. My fitness has to be a priority.

Tomorrow is also a double workout day. I'll hit the gym in the morning and then workout with my trainer in the afternoon. I also meet with my counselor tomorrow. We should have a lot to talk about. LOL

I love you awesome nerds,

Robert

Johnny Bobsled

I have an utter disdain for all things Johnny Manziel, a.k.a. "Johnny Football".  The arrogance, the attitude, the general butt-ugliness.

But today I discovered a new Johnny - Johnny Bobsled.

Johnny Quinn is on the 4-man boblsed team for the United States and well, he's hot.

I've always had a hard soft spot for bobsledders, lugers and skeletoners. What's not to love about hot guys with great bodies wearing spandex and flying down a track at high rates of speed?

I discovered Johnny this morning from various stories that stemmed from this tweet....

So of course I had to look him up and fell in love. :-)  He's fairly new to the world of bobsled after a career as a wide receiver (mmmmmmhmmmm) with the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills.  He's from Texas.

And yes, he's a future ex-husband. Sigh.

Sunday Selfie - Goals Update

Okay, really hating this selfie, but I took it, I'm owning it.  I'm a horrible cell phone photographer. Thank goodness iphone has that little "magic" button. Otherwise I was pasty as Casper the Ghost!

So how the heck has 1 month already passed?!  I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that with our insane cold snap this winter, that days seem to just blend together - one cold ass day after another. I think there was actually ONE day where it was nice enough to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and "warm" air. Of course, that was the day I was inside all day grading papers.  

One month into the year and I need to update where I am on my 2014 commitments.  

I made it to the gym this morning after almost a week away. As I related in   post, I've had a week where I just was drained. No energy, no motivation. My only thought was how nice and warm my bed is and how much I wanted to be asleep in it. Heck, even my, um libido, was on the fritz, so I KNOW I'm out of sorts. (I'm pretty much ready 24/7).

So after a workout and steam, I stepped on the scale and read "225". Not horrible, but not what I was ultimately hoping for. It certainly didn't help that I wasn't at the gym and wasn't eating great during the past week. Also I know I haven't been drinking enough water as I've had a headache for most of today. 

But 225 is lighter than I started the year, so I'm counting it as a successful month. For February, I'm shooting to be sub-220. My trainer Kyle offers "online" training, where I workout with him once a week and then he designs two or three workouts to do during the week. It's a little bit of an additional cost, but I'm ready to pull the trigger and go for it.

My second goal deals with reading one book a month. Not doing as well on that goal. I checked out House Odds by Mike Lawson. It looked interesting at the library and looked to be the kind of book that I would like. 

It's sat on the hutch next to the front door for the past month. :-(

Time to sit on my ass and open up the book and actually read it!  LOL

200th Post

I wanted my 200th post to be.....

Monumental!


Epic!


Life Changing!


Sigh.  I got nothin.


I'm sitting here on the couch watching Missouri Valley Conference basketball, snacking on semi-sweet chocolate chips (out of the bag) and just trying to feel something close to normal.

The past week has been rough. I haven't been "sick", but just run-down. The weather, school, Stats class, the weather, basketball, lack of exercise, THE WEATHER, have all been wearing on me and there are times where I just want a few minutes to just breathe.

Towards the end of the week my tank was running on empty. Friday I wanted to stay home from school so badly, but I was out Thursday for a math curriculum meeting, so I sucked it up and went. In the afternoon I felt a migraine coming on, so I took some "magic" pills as I call them and fortunately they worked. Having the bell right at the end of the day was music to my ears.

I did end up feeling good enough to go play rec league volleyball on Friday night. Did I overdo it? Sure, I always do, but at least it was physical activity, which I haven't had since Monday.

Today, my day has consisted of sleeping late, getting out with Matt to shovel the driveway (it snowed last night) and trying to stay hydrated. We have a women's basketball game tonight and I'd like to be able to enjoy the game.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should go take a nap.