don't forget to watch PARRY tonite!

Without a trace

CBS 10 PM Eastern Time

                                                      That is all.

I'm sick.  It was all because of one day really.  As my mom says, your immune system is at its weakest from exhaustion. 

Friday was that day for me.  I took some of my seniors on a college trip that day.  Since only 5 students were interested in the schools that I was going to, I decided to have them come along in my OWN hoopride instead of renting a car. 

Mom: "You shouldn't do that.  What if you get into an accident? Make sure they sign waivers.  Next time..."

 Yes mom.  Anyway, I thought 5 was pushing it in my lil Nissan Sentra, but I figured if I did it strategically, it would be fine.  Our biggest kid went in the front, and the 4 in the back had to alternate sitting forward and have one duck on occasion when we pass a cop car. 
So I took them to Bard College and SUNY New Paltz.  It was ~2 hour drive to the town of Red Hook and Poughkeepsie, respectively.  Plus I got 2 of my ex-students to give us tours.  Suh-weet.

Bard was nice and small.  But as my former student, Pamela put it:

Pamela: "Bard's teachers are great.  You need to be open-minded and be willing to be challenged.  There are a lot of "weird people" here.  You must also get used to people who don't brush their teeth, shower or shave their legs."
- Nice way of putting it, Pammy.

Me and P-Lo.  (Check out the Felix the Cat shirt she wore for my arrival!  Awww)

Nex stop, New Paltz.  Of course we got lost, but it wasn't just my fault.  I even asked the kids what route we should take but they didn't seem to mind since they were enjoying their "road trip".  Guess they don't get out of the city often. 

New Paltz was great.  Of all the State Universities I've been to, it's the "coziest".  Real pretty.  Looks exactly like the picture!  My former student, Luca, absolutely loves it there. 

                                Me and the artistic, Luca. 
Anyway the whole experience was fun but we were 2 hours BEHIND schedule.  Perhaps the cutest thing on the trip were the kids in my car worrying that I didn't have enough gas.  I kept saying we did but they kept pressuring me to get some more!  How responsible! 

Got back at 6:30pm after leaving at 8:30 am.  Done right?  Nah, From 7:30-11pm, I had to DJ the High School Dance.  Man, these kids were really pissing me off.  Saying stuff like...
Annoying kid 1: "Yo, play this."
Annoying kid 2: "Yo.  This song is too slow."
Annoying kid 3: "Yo.  This song is too fast."

You get the point.  These kids were freaks out there though.  I almost had to cover my ears and eyes when I played "Doo Doo Brown. "

Sheesh.  Kids these days. 

Well, we got the raise and its at 15%. 

Not too shabby.  There's of course that fine print that goes along with it but it doesn't affect me THAT much.

-- I stay way over the 10 minutes a day anyway so that extra time really doesn't affect me.

- The three less days of holiday kinda blows but its worth the extra 5g.

- The contract is good for 4 years and it expires Oct. 2007.  Not bad.  So in another 2 years, I can expect another raise!

As for another note, baseball season is over.  My beloved Mets are out of the playoffs but NY fans saw a couple of bright spots.  They are:


1. 3B David Wright  and  2. SS  Jose Reyes

*Thanks for the memories Mike Piazza!