Jennifer Martin

So, Jen is officially my wife. She went and got her name changed today. Now its done. We are old married codgers. Goodbye Single friends, we shan't talk to you again! HAHAHAHA!!! Losers.

Thus begins Jen's lifelong quest to sensor my insensitivity. Good luck with that one lady ;)

Our little lime tree

So about a month ago we had a new addition to our tiny family/apartment. I have been nourishing the lime tree everyday and charting it's growth and find myself strangely fascinated by how it is actually growing. Maybe it has to do with never really getting any other plant to grow but whatever it is I kind of want to take pictures everyday just to see the change.

It starts to flower and form the limes in the middle. I probably should have known that being a science teacher but I was just so excited to see that I was getting fruit growing!

I thought this was a cool shot of the fruit. Man am I really blogging about a tree??

My fruit

Anyways, there is our little tree found on our little patio of our little apartment. Hopefully one day it will grow up to be a nice big tree and make me proud.

Those poor children...

It is late, my wife is sick, and I should be in bed. But I had to take a few minutes to rant. We just got back from one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, "He's just not that into you". Everything about that movie was immoral. Every character was morally lacking and the entire movie was a giant (extremely long and drawn out) glorification of extra-marital relationships. Two thumbs WAY down!

Which leads me to the point of this blog. What kind of world are we leaving for our kids? Everywhere you turn there is sex, violence, and addiction. People cheat each other and back out of commitments if it is inconvenient. Things that were deplorable 20 years ago have become commonplace, accepted, and embraced. We have become morally bankrupt as a society, and everyday we spiral down even further. It seems like every morning I read something or hear about something else that absolutely disgusts me.

And then there is the financial situation we are leaving for our children. Our government is about to borrow another trillion dollars to "stimulate" the economy. With all of the great financial minds in Washington, the best they could come up with is spend another trillion dollars (on a lot of pork I might add, but we won't get into that here). Mark my words, this will be a colossal mistake and our generation plus the next 3 or 4 will be paying for it!

So what can we do when it seems like there is no hope for our children to lead a decent life? The only answer is to stengthen the home. Fortify the family to create a safehaven from the tempests of the world. Create a place where our kids will take shelter when it just gets to be too much. Family, Family, Family.

End Rant.

The radioactive face scratch!

So when Jon got the ball he was scratched by Scola and we joked about how he was going to wake up 6'10" and have long flowing hair (much like how spiderman got his start) Here are the pictures of him on the court fulfilling his fantasies!

Here he gives us a look and his face is just pure giddiness (if that is not a word it should be)

Here he is waiting to go stand at the end of the line and become a man!

Walking out among the giants!

This picture makes me giggle! A man fulfilled!

Pictures from the Rocket's extravaganza!

So I thought I would post pictures of our experience this weekend with the Rocket's. Through a friend, Lisa, Jon was able to go on court and get a ball from Luis Scola. I have to say that Jon was sooo nervous about this and I could not stop laughing out of pure joy for him! Many of you that know Jon know his obsession with the Rocket's so this was like Christmas for him. Needless to say we had a lot of fun so here are some pictures.

Jon by the Hakeem statue.


Here they took a picture of the group and got their instructions.


Jon calling everyone he knew while watching the team warm up.


Waiting in line...so close to the players!


It is almost his turn!!

Jealous much?

So, last night Jen and I attended a Rockets basketball game. This however, was not just any game. I was randomly (or perhaps not so randomly...Thanks Jen ;) selected to participate in the Rockets ball exchange. Me and 4 others went courtside and watched our boys in Red warm up. Then, as the lights went out and the music started blaring...you know the part that gets every true Rockets fans heart beating just a little bit faster...I got to stand at the end of the line (next to Dikembe Mutumbo) and recieve an autographed ball from Luis Scola as his name was announced. Actually, the ball is signed by Von Wafer, and I was hoping for Yao or Shane Battier, but Luis has been great this year, so I'll take it. He actually scratched my face when he tried to pat me on the back. I think he's got long fingernails. ha.

After that, they rushed us off and I joined my in-laws in a box seat to watch the ensueing blowout. The rockets won by 17 points thanks to a well balanced performance. Al Jefferson for the Timberwolves (he's on my fantasy team) scored 34 points and grabbed 22 boards to go with 3 blocks and 3 steals (that's for you Ben! ha).

After the game, we went down courtside again and heard a little speech from the only guy on the team who doesn't look like a giant, Aaron Brooks. Seriously, those guys look big on TV, but you can't even fathom how enormous they are until you are standing next to them. Then we got to shoot a free throw. I missed mine and Jen sunk hers. All in all, it was a great night, and one I will remember for a long time!

P.S. We saw the Globetrotters on Friday... they are a little overrated.

A Comment about 8th graders

First things first, a personal teacher rant. Why is it that a good majority of my students actually have pictures of the current President of the United States in their binder (making people think they are patriotic, I never carried a presidents picture around everyday) yet they are too cool to say the pledge? End rant.

On a daily basis I wonder what goes on in the minds of 14 year olds today. I think it goes something like this...
"................????.........." ha ha just kidding I will go ahead and use the stereotypes that I see everyday.
Emo girl "Why aren't there any vampires to date here?"
Emo boy "Why aren't there any vampires to date here?" (they also look like the emo girl, really they should just be the same entry)
Ghetto girl "She cain't where dat!" (literally girls of all colors write notes and add letters to make it sound ghetto....)
Ghetto boy "My president is black"
Skater kid "I wonder how many times I can say what?"
Smart kid "What is my grade?"

Now I feel like I need to say, obviously, I don't think that this is the only thing kids think about, however, I know they aren't taking in what I say.

Evidence: Everyday since August my students have warm up work for the first 5 minutes of class...that is about 6 months...yet as of today, even pre-ap kids can be confused about what they are supposed to do during this time and wonder why I am staring at them quizically. 6 months! That's what I should say/yell.

Evidence: For a warmup one day I used the board to explain afterward and left the information on the board, which happened to be on the test we were taken (coincidence...no) yet a good majority of students missed that particular question with the answer written on the board!

Question: Is it ok to tell kids we will begin learning things for those on the McDonalds career path? No?

I have had a very interesting year this go around (my 2nd year of teaching now) with some crazy stories. Hopefully you can find them as entertaining as I am going to try to! :)