Sending home some prized artwork...June 1st 2011

Each year as my seniors are about to graduate I always give them the option to take home some of the prize pieces of artwork that they've created throughout the year that I'd kept on display in the classroom.  I did however take photos of them before I had to part with them because they should be remembered.  I've also uploaded photos of the artwork along with other fun school related events on my recently created faux "teacher" Facebook page where I have befriended any student that requests me.  I haven't been on Facebook all that long but I've always struggled with the idea of accepting students who request me onto my personal Facebook page (especially those under 18) because of the potential implications and overall conflict of interest it poses.  Instead, I decided to create a separate page for students only, where all of my information links to school--address, phone number, email, etc. all relate directly to those of Highland High School rather than my true personal info.  I even used the artwork created by one of my graduating seniors of a bouquet of flowers as my profile picture for my teacher page!    

**The Pitbull and Tinkerbell Line drawings were created on special black scratch off paper with

colored construction paper taped behind for pop! 

** The  three drawings are from the food challenge!  Students were allowed to choose what food item they wanted to draw and the only "rules" were that they couldn't trace and it must show both the outside of the package and the food item that is inside.  These were a few of the best! 

**The shoe assignment...the students either brought in a shoe or took off the one they were wearing and had to draw it twice, once with charcoal and once with colored pencil...this was one of the most accurate!  

**The gothic piece is from the assignment where the students had to modernize and recreate a rendition of a classic work of art--this one is modeled after the painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood.  The student had to use the house, the man, and the woman so that the art was recognizable but everything else could change!

**The last four examples are from the cool and warm geometric project...the students chose a picture and placed it amid the triangle patterns.  They then chose either the inside image or background space to be colored in cool colors (blue, green, or purple) or warm colors (red, yellow, or orange).  

I Bought a NEW 55" Flat Screen TV on a whim!?!?

So I've been living in a real house for nearly 4 years now and although I've wanted to upgrade from my 32" college-sized TV to an adult-sized flat screen, it just hasn't been in the cards or finances until now!  Well, that's not 100% true...I had every intent to buy one back in 2009 but that just happened to be the year that Baylie tore her ACL and I found myself paying for an emergency surgery, meds and numerous checkups!  After taking some time (years to be exact) to pay off said expenses, I did some light research on big flat screen TVs and was beginning to think about making this big purchase.  To be honest, I had just gotten some unexpected news about my dad getting engaged and was in need of some SERIOUS retail therapy...next thing I knew I was standing in the TV row at Best  Buy in a somewhat overwhelmed catatonic state.  I couldn't seem to get anyone to help me and/or answer my questions so I decided to get out of the one store in Bakersfield that smells like a mixture of armpits and dirty feet and go some place where employees work on commission!

 I drove across town and arrived at Urners where I was approached almost immediately by a not too pushy salesman.  In chatting I found out that he was the father of 2 daughters (one of which was a teacher) and a son...I instantly saw my angle!  I asked him what he'd recommend to his own daughter who wanted size, quality, and performance without spending a million dollars.  The battle was between a 55" Sony and Mitsubishi flat screen TV...at first they were toe-to-toe, both were smart TVs with similar resolution and price but THEN he gave me the sound demonstration!!! 

The Sony had two built in speakers that output decent sound and had an optional sound bar you could pay extra for.  The Mitsubishi TV on the other hand boasted 12 built in speakers that delivered 5.1 Dolby surround sound--I was SOLD instantly!!!  Sure someday I might splurge for a home theater speaker system, but no time soon that's for sure so this was the best option for me right now!

 So...I bought it, paid cash (well debit, but it's essentially the same thing), and turned down the extra $75.00 delivery and installation fee so that I could take it home with me right then!  I got it out of the car myself and used a skateboard to "carry" it around to the front door...then pushed it into the living room.  I had a momentary heart attack when I realized the box was bigger than the entertainment center cut-out cubby hole!  Luckily the TV was well packed in Styrofoam and ended up fitting PERFECTLY into its new spot with about an inch margin on each side...seriously couldn't have done better if I'd measured (which I didn't)!!!  I got it all set up and working by myself and temporarily perched on my coffee table...next order of business...finding a TV console that also fits into the dumb wall cut-out!!!          

Dad and Lena got engaged...May 27th, 2011

So...it was Sunday, May 29th, 2011 at 7:04pm...and my phone alerts me to a text message...from Dad?!?  So strange because it was the 1st and only text message he had ever sent me thus far in the history of cell phones!  I think my world stopped for a moment as I read the message: "Hi kids...just wanted to share my happy news, that Lena & I got Engaged Friday night watching a sunset @ the cabin...would like to get together soon.  Love you, Dad."  The amount of thoughts and emotions that rushed over me at that moment was enough to cause the nauseous onset of vertigo!  At this point though none of that mattered, because I guess as of May 27th, 2011 congratulations were in order--Dad was officially engaged to be remarried.

Senior activities as the school year winds down...May 2011

It's May 2011 and it's crunch time...were quickly approaching finals, graduation, and summer school.  Often times it doesn't feel like you even have time to breathe!  Even with all the work related craziness, I think the thing that saved me was my commitment to bootcamp...at this point I was attending the 5-6am class five days a week at Bakersfield Fit and then I also tried to make it to Calvin's cross training class from 5:30-6:30ish a few nights a week.  As much as I hated waking up at 4:30 in the morning or arriving home at 7pm starving, they were a great stress release and ultimately made me feel better!  Back at school, we were planning end of the year celebrations and making constant calls home to remind parents of mandatory graduation events where they will be responsible to transport their students to and from.  Then the rush of having all final exams typed up at least a week early

because seniors take their tests early so that we teachers can get grades into the computer systems in time for the final clearance for the grad ceremony.  Amid all of that chaos, Kim Smith (my co-Deaf Ed. teacher in crime) decided that she wanted the seniors to paint the platform her dad recently built for her. 

You see, Kim is all of five foot and some change and often gets frustrated because in some of her larger classes the students in the back of the room have trouble seeing her.  In a standard classroom this wouldn't be such a big problem because the students can still hear the teacher but in our rooms this is not the case!  Our students are either Deaf or hard of hearing and actually do have to SEE us in order to "hear" us.  The signing space is primarily located in the torso area which for someone Kim's height puts her hands between 4 and 5 feet which isn't much above the head of a seated student.  So her father built her

about a 1 foot by 6 foot stage to put under her white board to teach from which she wanted brightened up!  This was a job for my 4th period art class...so we got to sketching.  Her rules were that it must be bright, must incorporate the school colors of green and blue, and because she is a girly girl it MUST have pink!!!  You be the judge, but I think we mastered it!  :)

A Pink Extension Cord!!!

Ahhh the joys of yard work...it's a tough job but somebody has to do it--oh, wait that's me!!!  It's a bit hard to think back to all the random things that happen in everyday life especially when I'm trying to do so nearly 6 months after the fact but according to my bragging text message that I'd sent to mom this all went down at the end of May 2011 too--like I said, May is busy!!!  I was diligently doing yard work, trying to keep up with the "Jones'" (who all but one have professional gardeners).  I'd already finished mowing both yards and weed-eating around the edges when I decided to go for broke and trim up all the bushes too (at least in the front yard)!  I began by going all "Edward Scissor-hands" on my coast live oak tree out by the sidewalk because that darn thing grows in crazy directions and needed some serious shaping!  Sadly, I'm no arborist and have NO idea how to properly prune such a tree so I got out a ladder, plugged in my Black & Decker Hedge-Hog and started chopping!!!  I finished when I was adequately satisfied with the tree's new proportions and then made my way over to one of my Robellinies (Date Palms).  This is where the mishap occurred, you see the date palms are still pretty low to the ground and they'd gotten pretty bushy through the spring season so I had to either be squatted down or hunched over to prune out the under layers and when I was about 1/2 way done my saw blade snagged my extension cord and gardening was over!  Lucky I wasn't electrocuted but slightly perturbed that I had to stop in the middle and leave a bush partially pruned to go to Lowe's to buy a new cord.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this beauty on the store shelves--PINK!!!  Not only was it a fabulous color, it boasted a beefy 14 gauge, 13 AMPs with a lighted receptacle PLUS it was the perfect length for my yard 80 feet (50 is not quite enough and 100 gives me too much, leaving me with a tangled mess)!!!   I know these things are abnormal to get excited about but when the job always falls to me these things matter!!!  :-)

Belated Easter with Carter...Sunday, May 8th, 2011

So Easter this year was slightly postponed due to the Grimes Family using Easter Break for a MAJOR road trip to Colorado!!!  They left immediately after work on Friday, April 15th in a car headed for Vegas and by Sunday they were well into their 2800 + mile road trip bound currently for St. George Utah.  Then on Monday they drove from St. George to Grand Junction Colorado to pick up Cara Spotts.  On Tuesday with Cara aboard they traveled from Grand Junction to Steamboat Springs.  On Wednesday they went from Steamboat Springs to Estes Park.  Thursday the road trip ventured from Estes Park to Denver Colorado and on Friday from Denver back toward Grand Junction with a quick stop in Golden CO where the Coors Brewing Company is located.  On Saturday after staying the night with Cara in Grand Junction they made their way toward California through St. George UT and Zion National Park.  By Easter Sunday, April 24th they finally arrived back to Bakersfield far to tired to celebrate Easter!  The Grimes family celebrated Easter on Monday because Sherry and Matt had the day off and everyone was feeling better after a good nights sleep in their own beds!  The rest of us were back to work on the 25th so Mom and I brought the Easter baskets we'd compiled for Carter over the following Sunday once things had gotten back to routine.  Carter seemed quite impressed with his loot surrounded by marshmallowy chocolate goodness--not bothered a bit that he belated date!  :-)

The super cute Cars apron and chefs hat featuring Lightning McQueen was given to me to pass along to Carter for Easter by Kacey McNew (a coworker/interpreter at HHS).  He seemed to like it too!!!  :)

Lifehouse Smoke & Mirrors Concert...May 4th, 2011

On Wednesday May 4th, 2011 Sherry and I went to a concert featuring Lifehouse, Daughtry, and Cavo at the Rabobank Arena.  She and I have liked Lifehouse since our college days in Fresno but the icing on the cake was that Chris Daughtry (former American Idol finalist and super cute rocker) was opening for them!!!  We'd never heard of Cavo (the first band that was opening in front of Daughtry) but we were pleasantly surprised with most of their music as well!  I'd have to say that Daughtry put on a equally entertaining show to

Lifehouse (if not better)...especially in the way of sound quality!  Lifehouse's

sound just seemed a bit off--still good, but not as great as we were expecting.  We also wished they threw in a few more oldies-but-goodies along with their new stuff that we weren't as familiar with!  Overall though, it was a good night!!!  :-) 

Yard work and sunburns...April 24th, 2011

The weather had been sunny and warm which leads to lots of outside time.  I was clearly wearing a sports bra under a strappy tank top for my all day marathon event of yard work and the aftermath was a very goofy shaped sunburn!!!  This sunburn took almost 2 weeks to fully snake up and peel off--so gross!!!  Part of the day involved pulling crabgrass for hours which gave me a nasty water blister on my index finger that I had to pop in order to get the water out!  Baylie on the other hand seemed quite satisfied with me being out in the back yard and able to play all day!!!  Sure wish I could teach the girls to eat the weeds then I wouldn't have as many to pull up!  :)

Classroom Upgrades...Spring Break...April 2011

Highland High School went through modernization a few years ago and most teachers were given brand new blue desk chairs...I actually opted out of the order because they really weren't very comfortable and my old hand-me-down chair was actually quite comfy--just a bit of an eye sore!!!  To be honest, I forget exactly when I decided to reupholster my chair but I'm pretty sure it was over my Easter break sometime after I'd run across the most PERFECT (albeit gaudy) plaid material!!! Highland's mascot is the

Scotsman and he dresses in a Royal Blue and Kelly Green plaid kilt and this material was IT...and at a low low clearance price of 70% off (which brought it down to less than $2.00 a yard) a downright steal!!!  For my

first reupholstered desk chair I gotta say it came out looking pretty good!  Thanks to mom giving me the idea to use the old material as the pattern because I was trying to decide how to measure everything out and was a bit

scared I'd get it all ripped apart and never be able to get it put back together again!  Admittedly there were a couple of humpty-dumpty touch and go  

moments where I had one stripped screw and a couple extra parts with no place for them to go, but with a bit of frustration and some creative thinking everything seemed to come together in the end!  Once I got it back to school a bunch of people wanted one just like it!  :) 

Wayne's Job Site...Cap Pour

Today’s pour!... My alarm went off at 1:20 AM.  Ouch.  We started pouring at 4 AM and finished at around 8:30.  It was just shy of 550 cubic yards. (3ft x 3ft x 3ft per cubic yard).  We had two 5” pumps running non-stop with two trucks dumping into each at a time.  By comparison --- Moe you had one 2” pump at your house with one truck dumping.  We had 32 guys involved between pouring, vibrating, managing cord, and directing trucks.  That doesn’t count office and superintendents. (40+)

Glad its done and nothing collapsed.

Crashing after.

Wayne Stonecipher
Project Engineer

cell: (510)502-1510
fax:(510)337-3808