Go Green Racer, Go!

I am not an avid Indy racing fan, but tonight on the news I saw a story worth mentioning. It's not going to solve the world's problems, but I do think that the Indy car program is setting a very good example - they are now racing "eco-responsibly". Evidently, the Indy cars racing the circuit this year are running on 100% ethanol and you can read more here, here and here (all different links).

At the very least what I think this move does is generate conversation and raise awareness about our ecological footprint which in turn will hopefully get more people thinking about changes they can make in their own lives. As our favorite frog famously lamented "It isn't easy being green", but at least now Indy Racing is making it popular!

Re-evaluating

Last week I challenged all you who frequent this blog (or those who just happen by) to take on the "Too Easy" attitude for a week. Now I'm playing the role of your conscience checking in on you to see how you did.

I, myself, lapsed a couple of times BUT as I said, this is just an opportunity to do it better this week.

Here's to another week of positive attitudes!


I love you Mike!

False Advertising

I know that admitting that I did this is pretty much sealing my fate as a total lunatic, but I'm going to share anyway. A couple days ago when I was sitting around watching what was probably entirely too much television I saw a commercial for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Sadly, as much as I enjoy wonderful recipes from Bon Appetite and the like, I still like this old stand-by. The commercial claimed that it was "now even cheesier" and I went right down to our grocery store and bought a box (no joke, I really did). I even made the choice to buy one of the boxes with the new packaging with "now even cheesier" right on it! I was out of milk (something I didn't realize before I went to the store that day) and so I finally got around to making it tonight.

I am, sadly, very disappointed. Some of you will say, "yeah, it's macaroni and cheese, what did you expect?" Well, I'll tell you...I EXPECTED IT TO BE 'NOW EVEN CHEESIER' and it tastes the exact same as it always has! I won't go so far as to say that I'll never eat this Kraft product again, that's just plain silly because it's too easy to give up on for good. But, I just wanted to put it out there that they, in fact, have not made it "even cheesier" and for that, we can all be a little sad.

I love you Mike!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

East Coast time, some of us are already started and West Coast time...I'm not far behind! :)

If YOU need any help getting started, here are some of my favorite Irish toasts...

Here's to the land of the shamrock so green,
Here's to each lad and his darlin colleen,
Here's to the ones we love dearest and most.
May God bless old Ireland, that's this Irishman's toast!

There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,
the ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships,
and may they always be.

May you always have a clean shirt, a clear conscience,
and enough coins in your pocket to buy a pint!

and of course, the most simply stated...

'Sláinte!'


I love you Mike!

In our thoughts

In light of some recent conversations about OPSEC (operational security) I can't go into much detail, but I'd like to ask everyone to keep in their thoughts someone in my family who is embarking on a year-long deployment of his own. When and if I can say more on this blog, I will, but for now please keep his wife, his parents and all of his family and friends in your thoughts. I know how difficult this type of deployment can be and I just wanted to put it out there so that we are all keeping him close to our hearts.


I love you Mike!

when it rains, it pours

Two posts from me in one day? No, you aren't dreaming! I just had an after-thought and didn't want to save it as a draft because, knowing my week ahead, I'd forget it was even in there. I was catching up on blog posts this weekend and read one from our friend Stimp over at My Desert Adventure. He was discussing how the Army (or the unit he's with...not sure if he's saying ALL Army in general) has this "can do" attitude that he is finding sparse from the Navy counterparts. While I do beg to differ with his assumption that Navy personnel does not have this same attitude, I do concede that it is likely the case with some of the sea going ranks he's running into.

That got me thinking - such is life, isn't it?

So, this is my challenge to all of you. Start with just this week. Attack all tasks and situations you are faced with this week with the Army's "Too Easy" attitude. After the week is up, reflect on how you did, how it felt and what you could do better. Take those reflections and implement them the following week. I'm hopeful that if we all take on this challenge, and approach our daily lives with this attitude, things just might start to get better - in our immediate spaces and possibly even the world-at-large.

Those of you who went to high school with me (Mike and Kim) might find this ironic as I was voted - I still claim I was just "misunderstood" - class pessimist. I persist, however, that I am an optimistic soul and believe that we make of our lives what we put into them - and we are forever and always beacons to all those with whom we come into contact...let us be beacons of hope and positive, helpful attitudes.

Enjoy the week all!

I love you Mike!

Long Overdue (and I'm not just talking about my library books!)

I promised my sister I would post something this weekend since it has been WAY too long! She said she's sick of looking at a bag of Lays potato chips and I don't blame her.

So, what's new in our split San Diego/Iraq world? Mike said it's getting hot again which he's not enjoying, especially since he's still walking everywhere. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he's home before the 130 degree temps pick up again, so we'll keep everyone posted on that. We are 'long-distance' planning our wedding...which is both fun and frustrating. We can't really "make decisions" very easily because we have to wait to email each other...but it's working out all right. We've got a date, a location and even invitations so we're off to a good start! I'm also branching out and creating another blog (cuz I have SO much spare time) so that Mike and everyone in both our worlds can get more information about the wedding. It has NOTHING posted on it yet, give me a week to get some things up there...but check it out when you get a chance (and try not to make fun of me too much for creating it): Mike and Colleen's Wedding Plans

In my 'vending machine' world, things are more crazy than ever, but I'm enjoying it. So, to clarify, the Lays bag of chips stands for a directorship of one of our new schools. It's like a principal, but we don't have those. We are opening with a ninth grade class in the South Bay area this upcoming fall and we will be adding a new high school grade each year after until we get our full four grades. Our second year we'll also be opening an elementary/middle school which will eventually become a full K-8 program. I can honestly say that I didn't foresee this new job as an option in my vending machine until about 5 years from now, but to mix metaphors, I'm running with it since it's come early! I'm slowly being "replaced" in my classroom so that I can be figuring out teacher hiring, budget, design plans and making the ever-necessary and very exciting community contacts.

We will be operating under a broad environmental theme, where we'll be looking at our "local" environment, including our classrooms and the San Diego area as well as more national and global environments. Our school plans include an ERC (an Environmental Research Center) - like a large greenhouse for research - where our students will be participating in local, national and global research projects and data collection. This program is loosely based off of another program currently operating in Israel. The gentlemen who founded and are running that site have visited our school and have been wonderful contacts for us and a true source of inspiration and excitement about our project.

The building itself is being constructed with as much "green" thinking as possible including as much natural light and passive ventilation systems as we can muster. Our website is not fully updated yet, but you can check it out and check back often to see our progress (the new campus we will be at will be Chula Vista).

I think that is about all I have for now. I will try and post more often (a promise I've made a lot during this deployment and have often failed at keeping...but I'm an optimist...so I'm still going to try!). Please keep Mike in your thoughts as this deployment is winding down. I know that he would love emails because sometimes the last few months are just as hard as the first few! I'd also like to have everyone keep my friend Kym and "her" Mike in their thoughts as he's about to be stateside again very soon! She mentioned me in her latest blog and I need to ditto her comment back at her - this type of deployment is hard on the "significant other" who is left behind, no matter how busy, strong or "ready" they are. I have found Kym to be a source of support, strength and humor for me during this deployment and I KNOW that we will meet someday and we'll look back on this year as one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, times of our lives! Thanks Kym!!

I love you Mike!