Where is the Fall Weather??

Its hot...and humid. This is Maine, and I'm back to school - its supposed to be cooler, crisp and wonderful. Everyday I teach and sweat like a pig. Thank god for t-shirts under my dress shirts. Fall is my favorite season, but it seems to come later than it used to. Its not supposed to be 90 degrees at the end of July. I'm going camping the weekend of the 6th, and I hope its cold. I love tenting in the fall and seeing your breath in the mornings and warming by the fire in the evening. Right now its just miserable, but hopefully we'll get our beautiful Maine autumn very soon.
~ MET

First Day With Classes...Thanks Larry Craig!

Its 4:30pm and I'm spent after my first day actually teaching classes. I always get really horse for a few days when I first go back, but its kinda something I look forward to now. I'm thanking the good senator from Idaho for providing me with ample material to engage a roomful of 17 and 18 year olds. What a complete moron he is, but the folks like him make my job more interesting. We also got interesting news today - our superintendent resigned, effective in 90 days. Yikes. I'm sure we'll get a plethora of great candidates 3 months into the school year.
~ MET

Back to School...What a Mess

This is not a picture of Winslow High School, but its what I saw in my head as I looked around the building the past two days. We have added a major addition to the school, and they are also improving ALL of the rest of the school, and updating us with the latest technology, all at the same time. The addition is "done", but all that means is that we can use it by skipping around the rubble. Other than that it has been an exciting couple of days. One of the interesting things about being a teacher is that you build very close relationships with people, and then every June you all go your separate ways...but then at the end of August we get back together and pick up exactly where we left off. Its an interesting paradigm. Today was only for freshmen so I did not teach - but I do have a freshmen homeroom this year, so I did get to meet them. They will be with me for 4 years, and I am always wary of who I will spend so much time with. But, they all seem awesome! Its a fun group of 12 (well, after knowing them for a day). I am very excited about diving into my courses tomorrow, and all the other activities I am a part of - more posts to come.

Learning the Game from the Master

Tut and I took some time this afternoon to prep for the upcoming league. As the newcomer to the team, I felt like I should at least do some work so as not to completely embarrass myself. Tut is a good teacher, even with my unorthodox inside-out release. If any of you have bowled with the smaller balls, it is much more difficult than ten-pin. An excellent bowler averages around 115, and any average over 100 is great - Tut averages around 105. I wanted to be around 75 today. With my Dad's help my scores for the 3 games were 94, 81, and 98. We'll go out again next week and then its on to the season a week from Monday. I am looking forward to spending this time with my Dad.

On another note, I hope you have enjoyed the dancing version of my brother that I added last night. If you want some real laughs go to his blog (linked to the left) and watch his reply. This WILL NOT become a "battle of blogs"...I know when I'm out of my league. Enjoy.

~ MET

My Brother Thinks I Need to Get Back to School

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

More Family Meals

Yummy hamburgers with the fam tonight. We are experiencing a bit more of summer today...very muggy and 90 degrees. Not all that hot, I guess, but we were beginning to enjoy fall. I talked to Chris online - he is having fun, and making a list of the stuff he forgot. One more day of vacation, and I'm off to school.
~ MET

Blogger Participation Time

This one is kind of fun. There are 75 band names depicted in this photo.I could only find around 25...but I'm old. Good luck, have fun. (double click on the pic to make it larger)
~MET

My Boy's Off to College

Chris & JT moved in today, and classes start on Monday. The weekend is filled with seminars and entertainment. I hope he gets off to a good start and gets the most out of the experience. He has a month or so before basketball starts, and I'm assuming he will have a grand time. I'm confident that he'll do well - and I'm very proud of him.

~ MET

New Furniture

We decided to replace our living room set, and found a really good deal on some leather furniture. Its very comfortable and looks nice, even though it does not quite match the pair of ottomans we are using currently. M-S bought some nice pillows that are not in these pics because I don't know where they are. The BIG challenge now is to keep Owen from scratching, but we have a plan for that too. Hope all is going well with all of you.

~ MET

The First of MANY Meetings

Off to a meeting in Oakland tonight to discuss the potential impact of Governor Baldacci's school consolidation plan. For those not following along thus far - Within a couple of years Maine will go from about 290 school districts to 80. So, we all have to decide who we will be paired up with. Each new district must have at least 2,500 students and will share in all the administrative costs, and contracts. Winslow has 2 possible scenarios: 1. Pair with China, Vassalboro, and Palermo. Those 3 towns would still have high school choice, and we would certainly be the big fish in the little pond. Or, 2. we could team up with Messalonskee and Waterville and form a 7000 student "mega-district" with 3 high schools, and 9 or so other schools. We would be the smaller of the 3 - but also have the best teacher contract, which would give us some immediate leverage. Either way I could become the Jimmy Hoffa of central Maine. Its going to be an interesting couple of years as all this shakes out...
~ MET

It Could Happen

Why not?
BTW:
Wily Mo Pena: 3 games, .455 average, 2 HR, 3 RBI...How much is Boston paying JD Drew? hehehehehehe

Yet, Something Else to Blog About

I took Burt to my parent's house to get groomed, and while there my father talked me into playing on his Monday night candlepin bowling team beginning in September. I will most likely be the youngest, and the worst bowler in the league. But...it will be fun to spend those nights with my dad, and to see if he can turn me into the next Earl Anthony. Stay tuned - the posts and pictures should be hilarious.
~ MET

Thanks, Red Sox Nation

Well, its finally happened. The Nationals have been talking about obtaining Wily Mo Pena from the Red Sox for a long time. I think its a good move, in that any move by a last place team is a good move. Wily Mo had a double and scored 2 runs in his debut last night. The fans of the Sox have been down on the slugger for a while, but we Nats fans now get to hope he becomes for DC what David Ortiz became for Boston. Ortiz was not doing much for Minnesota when Boston grabbed him - Pena is young (25) and could blossom in the nation's capital. Here's hoping that happens.

Mom & Dad's August Dinner

Mammie, Tut, & Murph came by for the monthly meal - Surf and Turf. The steaks were purchased at Josephs and spiced with Montreal seasoning. The lobsters were excellent. We had shrimp and scallops with bacon for an appetizer, and M-S made her wonderful potato salad. We also had baked asparagus and brussels sprouts. For dessert M-S made strawberry-rhubarb crisp...awesome!! We were able to sit outside for dessert and coffee, and it felt like fall: cool breeze, and about 50 degrees. We ate our meal in the "West Wing", which added to the feeling of a late summer feast.

~ MET

A Great Day in Portland

A fantastic day in Portland today. We decided to go to the Museum of Art and out to eat, and it was really quite a different eating adventure. We first went to have a drink at one of our favorite places: Bull Feeney's (pic 1). It is a true Irish pub, and we like to first have a cocktail somewhere other than where we will eat. Then we went to the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit at the museum. The 2nd picture is of one of his print tables. He was more talented at designing the things that went into the houses he crafted than I ever imagined. I really like going there with M-S, and the exhibit is very well done. Mira-Su picked a restaurant in the historic Munjoy Hill neighborhood that she read about in Downeast. Bar Lola is a funky and cozy place that has its own version of tapas. The menu is split into small, salad, medium, and large. The object is to choose something from each section, and they bring the ever growing dishes in separate courses. The "large" dish is smaller than the average entree, so by the end of the meal you are satisfied, but not stuffed. Beginning with the 3rd pic: the 1st course we had bread and dipping sauce, a cheese variety, and assorted olives. Course 2 I had smoked salmon with vodka dressing and M-S had chilled golden beet soup. The 3rd round included a mozzarella, roasted red pepper salad, and I had Maine raised rabbit with white beans and peas. In the 4th, and large course I had pulled chicken with fennel gravy, and M-S had sole. The last pic is of the dessert we shared - basil vanilla custard. It was all very good, and we shared everything. I would recommend Bar Lola more for the fun of the menu than the quality of the food, even though it was very good. You'll also notice that the owners have taken great care in choosing very interesting pottery and serving ware to present the many courses....much fun.

~ MET

MET, the Challenger

I'm not a huge fan of personality tests, but I find that the more involved with leadership I get the more of them I seem to take. I took one today that labels me a "challenger". The address is here: http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/persdisc/persdisc_instructions.asp The test takes about 15 minutes, and be sure to read the directions carefully. Here are my results:

Mike, you are a Challenger.
Challengers want freedom to explore, and they want the authority to examine and retest findings. They can make daily decisions quickly but may be extremely cautious when making bigger decisions: 'Should I take that promotion?" "Should I move to another location?" In their drive for results and perfection, Challengers may not be concerned about social poise. As a result, they may be cool, aloof, or blunt.
During this test you answered questions which measured four important aspects of your personality - Dominance, Influence, Stability and Compliance. Based on how you scored on each of these factors, we could conclude that your personality profile is that of a Challenger.

Is this me?

~ MET

Flora From Burt's Walk

One of the comforting things about living in the country is that nothing changes much. The houses look the same, the people we see are the same people we see every day, and there won't be any "big box" stores coming to our community anytime soon. But there is change, you just have to look for it. I took theses pictures on an early morning walk with the dog. If I had decided to take shots of roadside plants in April there would be a whole different collection. Its interesting to watch the "progress" along the Whitefield roads. It was a lovely morning - heard the loons on Clary Lake, spooked a partridge, and spent some quality time with Burt.

~ MET

Helping Suz & Grant

As many of you may have read, my sister has a new kitten. As far as I know, the cat remains nameless. A few people have made suggestions, but he is still without a moniker. This picture is of my cat, Owen - who was named after my favorite fictional character. If anyone has suggestions you should leave them on Suzanne's blog (click the link to the left). Also - I have found the perfect cat-naming device online. It gives you a different cat name every 3 seconds! The one I liked for your cat from this site was "Tofu".. Go here: http://www.alistair.com/catname/
God luck to the both of you,
~ MET

Yard Work & Tickets Purchased

Yesterday M-S and I did a lot of work outside in the mid-day heat. I mowed and Mira-Su planted all of the perennials you see in the pics along the fences. The pictures do not give a good indication of how nice it looks, and the work involved. This morning I ordered our tickets for Fame Forever. We will be sitting in row 'B' in seats 2-14. (double click on the picture for a larger view) Jim, Grant, Suz, Mom & Dad, I'm getting your tickets for you as a thank-you for Chris' laptop. We think going to dinner at the Freedom Cafe before the show would be great. We'll take care of the the reservations. With the Common Ground Fair the next day it should be a fantastic weekend!

~ MET

A Film Worth Seeing

M-S and I watched Driving Lessons last night, and both really enjoyed it. Its a British film that is a little hard to follow at first, but in a short time the Julie Walters character captures your attention and won't let go. I liked it because the story had a real John Irving feel to it: strange people, unexpected violence, and the ever present feeling of behind the scenes sexual escapades. I guess Rupert Grint is also in Harry Potter, but I've never seen those movies so my impression wasn't tainted. You will hate Laura Linney's character (and you are supposed to), not only because she is an evangelical nut - but also because she can't seem to hold her fake English accent. The real star is Julie Walters. She plays an aging ex-actor with more than a few eccentricities...very funny. Its certainly worth renting.
~ MET

Sarah's Next Show

These pictures are from Sarah's performance of Into the Woods at the Waterville Opera House a couple of years ago. She and her college roommate are now in rehearsals for the sequel to Fame. It should be a great show - and we will be attending on September 22. The Opera House has a pretty impressive line-up this season : http://www.operahouse.org/ I'll be getting our tickets on Wednesday if anyone wants me to pick up yours...let me know. Sarah is pretty excited, as this will be the United States premiere of this new show.

~ MET

If I Were in the Simpson's Movie

To help market the release of the film you can download a picture of yourself and they will turn it into a Simpson's character. I think this is a darn good likeness. I had to try it a couple of times to get it to work, but it was fun. I may put some other family members into the Simpson world over the next few days. You can try it here: http://simpsonizeme.com/#
Enjoy,
~ MET

Mills Road Excitement

M-S and I had a bit of a scare yesterday afternoon. We were both out running errands, and when we where returning we were diverted by a fire on our road at about the same time. We did not know if it was our house - and we could not talk to each other due to "country" phone reception. I got home first and was able to call her and tell her it was not our house. It was a dry kiln business that specializes in drying wood for log cabin construction companies. Firefighters from 9 different towns had to be called in, and of course it was all the talk down at the Whitefield Superette this morning. We're just glad our house and pets were ok.
More on the story: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4164649.html
~ MET

Looking For A Trivia Team

Wow...another two post day, and its not even 9am. M-S and I are looking for 4 people to complete our trivia team at the Liberal Cup this coming Tuesday night. If you have not been, its really fun. The game starts at 8, but you need to get there by 6 to get in and have dinner, etc. A team of 6 is a good number. Anyone interested??? We are going no matter what, but it would be fun to get some folks to join us. BTW...the Nationals have now caught the Marlins, and are tied for 4th in the NL-East!!!
~ MET

Mike Bacsik - Your Trivia Answer

National's lefty Mike Bacsik threw the pitch to Barry Bonds that sent the young hurler into baseball lore last night. Bonds smashed number 756 and passed Hank Aaron. Bonds went 3 for 3, and Bacsik really never looked like he was fooling the new home run king. The baseball card under his picture is of his father, who pitched for the Twins and the Rangers. Here is a baseball oddity that I learned last night while watching the game: last night Mike Bacsik pitched to Barry Bonds, who had 755 home runs. In 1976 the elder Bacsik was a 24 year old relief pitcher in Texas, and was brought in against the Milwaukee Brewers to face Hank Aaron - who at the time had 755 home runs!! What are the chances?? Aaron did not (and would not) hit another home run. The younger Bacsik was not so lucky.

The Nats won the game last night 8-6, and will be featured in 10,000 highlight clips today on every station on TV. Man...how can anyone not love baseball?

~ MET