The first thing I wanted to show you is that I have learned how to make a Google Earth tour and how to embed it in a blog. To demonstrate this I have made a tour of my favorite places to eat in the San Francisco Bay Area. You may recall, I wrote a blog post of my friend Doni at her site Nomadicfoodie.com. This is the tour of that blog.

I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I did making it. The usefulness of this tool in the classroom is mind boggling. I mean, last year, I taught fifth grade. STATE REPORTS! Can you imagine each student creating a tour of their assigned state and then posting them. Wow, what a great learning tool and motivator that would be.

Next up I will show you all what I learned about sketch-up. This one is gonna be a bit more tricky, so give me a minute!

• You are hired and expected to start the next day
• You will be assigned an area of the company to work in, could be legal, HR, sales,.. who knows.
• You have no time to set up your office
• You have to pay for office supplies out of your own pocket
• You have to start seeing clients with no time to plan
• This job requires you to do more, with less, for less pay

This is what I am facing as a teacher. This summer I have been looking for a job after being pink slipped last spring. Holding out hope that my district was going to be able to rehire me was never an option. Rehire order was determined by random number lottery. Let me say that again, my performance, doesn’t matter. My student test scores, don’t matter. Because of the teacher union, my worth is based on RANDOM NUMBER LOTTERY. Pretty insulting. And I lost that lottery.

So I have been putting in applications for every job I see. It hasn’t mattered if that job is kindergarten or sixth grade. A job’s a job. But the jobs have been few and far between. School districts have been hiring internally and waiting to see if any relief is going to come from the government. None has. Districts are now starting to hire for open positions. With less than two weeks until school starts. Districts are receiving hundreds of applications for each opening.

Many districts are waiting until after the first day of school to hire open positions. Districts want to be sure that the students that are enrolled actually show up. So the first day of school there are classrooms with 40 students registered. Once all forty show up, schools condense classes and add a new section. Now they hire a teacher for that section. Great, another new job, but you are expected to start immediately with no time to plan, prep, or set up your classroom. And the school year has already started.

Not many people realize this but teachers aren’t given anything. Paper, pencils, all the necessary supplies come from students or the teacher’s pocket. That’s why I have that donate button there on the sidebar. Teachers have to set up their classroom from scratch. If a class has computers it’s generally because the teacher has begged, borrowed and scrounged them.

And with all of these budget cuts teachers are facing zero prep time. That means that students never leave their teacher. No more going to the science lab with the science teacher. Or out to PE with old Mrs. Johnson. The students will still go to science lab and PE but with their classroom teacher. Teachers are having to do more, plan PE and science lessons, with less time to plan than before. In what universe does this make sense?

What other profession puts employees through this? Just because I am a teacher, I am meant to take this abuse out of the goodness of my own heart? We (teachers) have advanced degrees and a unique skill set. Instead of being heralded, we are put upon and expected to take it all with a smile.

And the worst part? All of these young teachers who are struggling to find work are moving on to other careers. Good, young teachers are being pushed out. But within the next five years, all of the baby boomer teachers are set to retire. There is going to be a mass exodus of teachers and no one there to fill the void. Education is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Would you stick around a job like that? Would you put up with all of the injustice and bleak future? You would if you were me. You would if you knew that it was what you were meant to be doing. What you were made to do. What you were good at.

I just want to teach, dammit.

Driving into The Valley

Bridalveil Falls

Bridalveil Falls

HIKE ONE

Heading up the Upper Yosemite Falls trail

On the UYFT with Half Dome in the background

The valley is getting smaller. Half Dome in the distance.

Finally to the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.

Upper Yosemite Falls

Me at the base of Upper Yosemite Falls.

The Top of Upper Yosemite Falls.

HIKE TWO

Half Dome

I couldn’t take pictures on my way up the hike, as it was pitch black from 11:30pm- 4:40am

Here’s the valley down below as the sun comes up on Half Dome.

This is me on top of Half Dome. At 6am. After 5hours of hiking and an hour and a half sitting alone on the summit. Cold and tired.

About to head down the cables at 7am before the tourist arrive.

These are the cables. They are what you have to use to climb the 70 degree rock face up to the top of the dome.

Down safely. Time to hit the trail.

Passing the base of Nevada Falls on the way down. The falls were flowing heavier than I had ever seen.

Lets go that way.

Vernal Falls.

The water coming off Vernal Falls was intense, they call it the mist trail but it was more like the downpour trail. The rainbow you can see at the bottom of the shot was so intense, I wish the camera had captured it better.

Done. 13 hours after I started.

Just got back from four days backpacking in Yosemite National Park. I go every summer; it’s my favorite place in the world. The quintessential hike in Yosemite is Half Dome: 16 miles and 4800 feet. Not an easy hike, yet I have done it every summer for the past four years. It’s become one of my traditions. This time I decided to do it at night to try and be on the top to see the sunrise.

When I told two people that I was sharing my campsite with, Alex and Leah (college kids from Portland), they asked if they could join me. I was glad for the company; I’m not going to lie, I was scared at the prospects of hiking 8 hours through the woods in the dark by myself.

We hit the trail on the valley floor at 11:30pm. It was a dark night with no moon in sight, but every star was out to cheer us on. Alex and Leah were not experienced hikers but they did well; Alex’s body did not like the sudden change in routine or elevation and he was getting nauseous, so we stopped more often than I would have liked. I know that I could not have done it without them though, it would have been unsafe alone.

Though I am an experienced trail guide and am familiar with Half Dome, the dark trail was very difficult to navigate. I led us off in the wrong direction a couple of times. The trail takes strange turns at times and I did very well to guess correctly. Only going off track four times is an accomplishment! Many people take wrong turns on this trail at night.

Once we got to the sub dome -the dreaded stone steps before you ascend the actual dome- I knew Alex and Leah could not get lost, so I went on ahead of them as I knew their pace on the stairs and cables would be slow. I made it to the summit at 4:40am and the sun was just starting to cast light, interrupting the starry sky.

4:41am

I sat on top of the world for half an hour, in the dark. Alone. I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag and fought to stay awake by thinking about my family and friends. I thought about this blog post and how I wanted to share this experience with you. I composed an email to my mom.

I took pictures as the sky revealed itself to me.

4:57am

5:12am

5:23am

Alex and Leah reached the top just as I was taking this last picture. I was so proud of them, that they made it up before the sun. About ten minutes after them, a group of three more, two men and a girl reached the top. The six of us shared this experience together:

Watching the sunrise from the top of Half Dome

At about 7am we set off down the cables and returned to the world. The hike down was slow going as well. Alex was feeling better now that he had rested (and was heading down!), but Leah now had a hard time with a sore knee. I could have gone on without them, I was feeling great and wanted so badly to get back to my tent and finally sleep, but we had been through something together and I wasn’t about to leave them. We finally made it back down 13 hours after we started. We were all exhausted and sore.

We ate at the Yosemite lodge as we were in no shape to cook and we’d earned it. We all tried to sleep but the heat of the day made it unbearable. I headed to the swimming hole and the other two went to shower. Leah called her father who is an avid rock climber; he has told her countless times to do this hike and that it is his favorite. Once I returned from swimming Leah told us that her father insisted we have dinner at the Ahwanee Hotel on him.

The perfect end to the perfect (two) day(s).

Thank you, Alex and Leah, we shared an experience and none of us could have done it without the others. And now I have shared it with you.

]]> http://www.mrorrsclassroom.com/2010/07/16/sunrise-from-top-of-halfdome/feed/ 3 http://www.mrorrsclassroom.com/2010/07/13/love-vs-ego/ http://www.mrorrsclassroom.com/2010/07/13/love-vs-ego/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:03:08 +0000 Jeremy http://www.mrorrsclassroom.com/?p=161 You are dating someone, you are in love, and then ego comes crashing in. It tells you you can do better. Or tells you you need your freedom. Ego is all of the selfish doubt we have once we have been dating someone.

I was sparked by this idea when watching this show on HBO called The Neistat Brothers. It’s a pair of brothers (duh) who are really creative film makers and tell random stories about their lives and the things they are doing and thinking. They use digital (photograph) cameras and make their own animations out of construction paper (or whatever they can get their hands on). It’s inspiring and fun and their style can best be described as guerrilla film making.

In an episode a few weeks ago Casey (one of the brothers) made a film called Love vs Ego. I love this idea because it is one I have been working through all my adult life. Casey talked about in in relation to his girlfriend and his decision whether or not to break up. He goes through a constant battle and perceives these two emotions as the monsters waging the war. Casey does a great job of explaining the concept but comes to no conclusions except to say that he hopes as one grows older, the ego diminishes and you just need love. He is 26 and “has no grip on the slippery wet noddles that are ego and love.”

I’m 31. I have been wrestling these wet noodles for the past 15 years or so. To me, love seems so exciting at the start; it has all the appeal of ego. You want it to maintain that luster but it invariably diminishes over time. Something shinier comes along and it’s only shiny because it’s new. This could be someone new or something new. That’s ego. Ego is that part of you that longs for the excitement and wonders if there is anything else. Ego is doing what you perceive is best for yourself.

Casey goes on to say that the worst part about the push and pull of love and ego is that your decisions don’t just effect you, they effect someone you care about as well. This is the part that really struck home for me. I have always been such a pleaser when it comes relationships. I want people to like me. I have remained friends with many of my exes. I have a need to be liked and a need to not let anyone down. I am aware of this. However, too often it guides my actions. I end up trying not to hurt people and in the process am not true to myself. To me this is the biggest battle that love and ego fight.

Love and Ego are two monsters battling for control of a young man’s brain. It’s a battle between freedom and commitment. Between settling and mystery. Between loving someone and hurting someone.

I always thought that I just needed to meet the right person and the love would conquer the ego but I have learned that this is never going to be the case. Ego, like anything else is an impulse you have to learn to control. It’s got nothing to do with anyone else but you. IT’S EGO! You have to realize that and take it for what it is. Learn to live with it. Embrace it. Get to know yourself. Become comfortable with who you are and the monster of ego begins to shrink. The doubts begin to quieten. You begin to relax. And you let love in.

Here’s the thing about ego, it’s doing what you perceive is best for yourself. However, the best thing one can do for oneself is to love and be loved. It has taken me so long to learn that lesson.

Until one day I came home and found a phone book on my lilies. I’m talking about *crushed* on top of my lilies. The guy going around delivering phone books carelessly tossed one over my fence and landed it square in them, doing maximum (Jean Claude Van) damage. Who on earth uses phone books anymore?! Why do I get three of them on my doorstep?! Why have they crushed my lilies?! YAAAARG! So in an attempt to save the lilies, I started watering the plants in my front yard (patio).

No more than a week into my diligent watering, a rose started to bloom. A perfect pink rose. I was actually taken aback by how pretty it was. This just provided me more motivation to remember to give the yard a good soak every night when I got home or after the sun went down.

I can look out my window now and see both pink and peach colored roses. Six of them currently in full bloom with about six more buds that haven’t shown their petals yet. I don’t forget to water them because I am invested in them. I want to see them bloom.

It is amazing what a little water on your rose bush can do. Just a little effort, everyday, towards a task that you are motivated for. That’s all it takes. Now of course I am talking about more than just roses. There are so many things in my life that if I put in just a little bit of effort, I see results, get motivated by them, and then really get something done. Physically there is my running and using my hand weights every night. I love doing both of these things but I go through periods where I just don’t. All it takes is a little effort and motivation to keep it up. Writing. There’s another thing. I get such great response from people with this blog but I don’t write as often as I should. Just a little effort. That’s all it takes.

Find something that you want to do and just start doing it. Don’t put it off, make it happen. Don’t wait for someone to crush your lilies.

I never thought it would be me- dating someone who lives 1,000 miles away. The late night phone calls. The skype dates. The only seeing her once a month. I always thought I was too smart to put myself through that kind of anguish. I have been close several times and always called it off. Too much headache, too much hassle. I never wanted to take the chance. What is the point to dating someone who lives so far away? Especially when you live in the San Francisco Bay Area where there is an abundance of amazing, available women.

One thing you should know about me is that I have always been single. I mean always. Yes, I have dated people but never anything serious. I am in my very early thirties and have never lived with someone; never come close. I was a late bloomer when it came to dating: no high school sweetheart, was too busy working through college to date. It wasn’t until the last five years that I really started looking to date anyone for any serious reason. In that time I’ve met some fantastic people and really come into my own … but have been very selective. Few have made it past the few month barrier. For too long I have been looking for perfection. Not flawless perfection, just perfect for me.

And then this woman comes along. Wrong for me in several key ways- distance being one of the most key. Yet she is so perfect for me.

I have learned a lot about myself and dating in general through this experience and I’d like to share with you now if I may. Thanks.

Be yourself.
This advice can never steer you wrong but I mention it in regards to dating and especially long distance dating because it is so easy to lose yourself. When we date we try and put our best self out into the gene pool. We want the other swimmers to be impressed. You are on your best behavior and clipped your nails that morning. Once you start dating someone, the real getting to know them begins. You start to learn their flaws and idiosyncrasies. Either you break up or you settle in and accept each other part and parcel. With long distance dating there is less of a definitive end to this honeymoon period. You only see the person on occasion so it is easier to keep putting your best self out there each time. It is imperative, if you want the relationship to progress, to be yourself as early on as possible. Get comfortable; let the person you are dating see the everyday side of you.

Be available.
In a long distance relationship you can easily lose sight of the fact that you are -in fact- in a relationship. It can sound like the best of both worlds; when you are together, you are in a blissful partnership and when they are gone you have your freedom. **BUZZER SOUNDS** Wrong answer. Thanks for playing, please see Vanna for your lovely parting gifts. When you are dating someone that lives far away you have to put in just as much time. A long distance relationship requires communication. Sometimes the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day is talk to anyone except your pillow and Mr. Sandman. If you want it to work, you have to make sacrifices, be available and don’t treat it like a convenience relationship.

Be Trusting.
When you long distance date there is an “out of sight, out of mind” factor that if you really want a relationship, you must be bigger than. You have to trust and you have to be trusted. What’s the point of being in a relationship with someone if you can’t trust them? I have never understood this. I know it is a jealousy and insecurity issue and I have never been that type of person. Even if it is not in your nature, you have to be aware of it in a long distance relationship. You have to make sure that your actions are trustworthy. Be honest, be open, and if you have issues or doubts you must voice them. Again, this is part of any good relationship and all leads back to good communication.

Be Bold.
Take a chance. This is the biggest thing I have learned from this experience. Take a risk. Break your own rules. Sure it’s going to suck at times, it’s going to be hard. But if this is the right person then it is totally worth it. If at the end of the day you feel good about it, you should never let distance be a factor determining your actions. Of course it would be easier to date someone within a 30 mile radius but I have met this person and they are rocking my socks off. So you know what universe? Rock away. It’s summertime and I can just wear flip flops. Distance is an excuse. Make excuses or take action.

Not that I need to worry about any of the difficulties right now; she’s sitting next to me on my couch.

A few months ago I decided that I was going to teach myself how to cook some of my favorite dishes. I have my tried and true stand-by menu items that I fall back on every few weeks or so: Shepard’s pie, teriyaki chicken soft tacos, jambalaya; nothing too fancy. I decided it was time to step my culinary game up. I was going to learn to make my favorite restaurant dishes. First up: beef wellington.

The Wellington:
One time I was at a steakhouse on a date. She had a giftcard from work and wanted to take me. I had to dress up nice. I ordered this “beef fillet-mington” a fillet of beef covered in mushroom compote, wrapped in puff pastry and baked. SO DELICIOUS. Just the idea of steak wrapped in puff pastry. Who came up with this and where can I thank them?
Step one: Learn how to cook a fillet not on a grill. So, you have to “sear” the beef in a pan with some olive oil for three minutes per side and then put it in the oven on broil for 20 minutes. Since it is only three minutes a side and you are “searing” it, I turned the stove up to high, poured some oil into the pan, let it heat up and then place my meat in the skillet.

I kid you not, within three minutes, smoke had filled the room. I rushed to open all the doors and windows and was so lucky my fire sprinklers didn’t go off. We are talking plumes of white smoke. My upstairs neighbor came to check on me. I apologized profusely and tried to explain that I was experimentally cooking. She didn’t get it. I seared the next fillet over a medium heat and it came out beautifully.

Step two: figure out how to do the puff pastry. As many good cooks do, they consult another chef. So I called my mom. She makes very delicious british sausage rolls (sausage rapped in puff pastry). She told me that she just buys jimmy dean sausage, the kind in the tube and wraps them in the pepperidge farm puff pastry sheets. Culinary lesson learned: you don’t have to be super fancy and from scratch to cook. Side note, learned how to make kick ass sausage rolls.

Step three: the mushroom compote. I’m not a big fan of mushrooms; I’m actually anit-mushroom but thought if they were necessary and all ground up and stuff, I could manage. Fearing the whole mushroom situation I decided to do some investigation online. I found this video of Gordon Ramsay making beef wellington.

I learned that he smears the fillet with mustard and then does this compote and wraps it in prosciutto. Not only is that now getting too serious for me but I just don’t like prosciutto (Yes, I am a picky eater, get off my back). I decided in the name of experimentation to forge ahead without the compote. The mustard idea could stay though. The only fancy mustard I had (I couldn’t rightly use yellow mustard) was the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (my favorite beer) Mustard.

So, I have a seared fillet, I slathered it in mustard. I wrapped it in a puff pastry sheet and trimmed the edges. Gordon Ramsay said to brush the top with egg, so I brushed the top with egg (Yes, I stole a little paint brush from my classroom. Yes, I cleaned it first). Then I threw the finished product in the oven to broil for 20 minutes and waited.

What appeared after 20 minutes was my finest culinary achievement to date. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the beef wellington:

And would you believe it, there’s a steak in there!

It came out moist and delicious and the mustard was perfect. The mushrooms would have made it hold together better but with careful fork work it was not a problem to eat at all. I made it again for a “special lady friend” and scored big points.

Moral of the story: Don’t be afraid of cooking. Try. Experiment. Don’t give up if you fill your apartment with smoke. Good things come to those who learn how to make them for their own damn selves. Up next, I learn how to make “The Soup”.

“It was a rare quality, this summer effect; rare and yet something every post-adolescent male has encountered at least once in their lives”

I love the movie (500) Days of Summer. I mean the soundtrack alone was the ish! But even better than the music was this notion of “The Summer Effect”- that there are some girls that come into your life and have a certain “je ne sais quoi”; something that makes them stand out above the rest. It is not based on appearance, it’s something else. A life, an effervescence (did I just use that word? Blarf. Sorry.), something that makes you go, ‘wow’ I want to be with this girl. She might not be the girl for you, but you can be blinded by the effect. It is an effect that I truly believe every boy and man has experienced

(I don’t know if this effect happens with women seeing it in men or not, you’ll have to let me know) (Granted, I believe that there is something amazing about every woman and fall in love with everyone of them I meet).

I know it exists because I have been fortunate to experience The Summer Effect several times in my life.

The first time I was working at a summer camp. I think every boy who ever met this girl fell in love with her. I pined after her instead of doing anything about it and she went out with my best friend instead.

The second time we worked together. I was constantly amazed by her; she was intimidating as a they come- a knock out with The Summer Effect to boot. I convinced myself that I wasn’t good enough for her. She was a ten and I’m a seven at best! I never did anything about it. She and I became friends and the window of opportunity closed.

The third time we met through her writing. I commented on something she wrote and we struck up a conversation. I immediately recognized the effect in her and learned from my two previous errors. I took a shot (vague, I know, but that’s all you get).

Inspiring people come into our lives everyday- male and female. We’ve heard the old adage, they put on their pants one leg at a time, but the fact is, there are some people that just have more going for them. Some people who amaze you and leave you in awe. These people can be intimidating.

Here’s what I have learned: everyone has flaws and insecurities. If you don’t take chances and act like they are better than you, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy and you will come off as insecure and uninteresting, losing what chance you might have had. Not only are all people flawed, everyone has something special and interesting about them. Play up your positives. Work with what you’ve got! Down-play your perceived negatives; you are your own harshest critic anyway. Most of those things that you see as your faults, others most likely don’t even notice. Self confidence is so attractive. That’s probably creates The Summer Effect. You notice their confidence and that’s what takes you aback.

I used to think there were certain classes for dating. I’d judge a couple and think, “what’s she doing with him?” (we all have!) or think that someone was too good for me. If you carry yourself with confidence and have a positive attitude, you can be with whoever you want to be with. I’m not saying looks don’t matter, that would be unrealistic and naive of me. It’s just the world we live in. My point is, you can take care of yourself physically as well as mentally you can carry the confidence required to ask out a Summer (or a … Steve?) and succeed.

As for me and the writer? At least I took a shot.

The obligation

This weekend I flew to Washington D.C. for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party. My grandmother has had Alzheimer’s for the last 14 years; the last six of which have been severe. That in and of itself is tough. I hate seeing my grandmother that way. She doesn’t know who I am. She asks the same questions and you wonder how much she’s taking in. Alzheimer’s is a hard condition to watch someone go through.

The Excuses

When I was told about the trip I knew it would mean that I would have to miss one of the conferences that I do volunteer work for. I was OK with that, but it is an opportunity to see many of my friends who I only see a handful of times a year. Then a month before the event, one of my oldest camp friends announced that he was having his 30th birthday party that weekend. A camp-out in the woods at his property up in northern Northern California with kegs, barbecuing and lots of old friends who I had not seen in a long time. This I was upset about missing. Regardless, grandma only turns 90 once, and that is an accomplishment. Then a friend from Twitter makes plans to come to town. Then a tequila tweet-up is scheduled. Now, the universe is fucking with me.

If missing all of that weren’t enough to make me anxious about the weekend, you should know, family trips or any gathering for that matter have never been easy for the Orrs. My brothers and I get along well individually but put us in the same place for any amount of time and we drive each other crazy. My mother gets worked up easily as well to make for a tense environment.We cannot make it through a family event without someone getting upset. My family is as dysfunctional as any.

The week of the event I get a call from my brother, “did you hear? We (he, my older brother, and I) have to share a room.” Three 30+ men sharing a hotel room. Who don’t get along. This will not go well. Then a few days later he calls again, “did you hear? We are having pork loin for dinner.” Neither he or I eat pork (except bacon, but that’s a fruit). Great. I’m gonna be uncomfortable and hungry, which will just make me even more unpleasant to be around.

The Acceptance

At this point, what could I do? All I could control was my own attitude. My choices? Miserable SOB or pleasant JO. So I decided that I would do everything in my power to keep a positive attitude. None of this will kill me. I can get through this. So I hopped on a plane Friday morning and decided to start a list on the notes of my iphone – instead of getting mad, I would turn to my list for therapy. Every time I got frustrated I would write it down. My TIHTBMT list, Times I’ve Had to Bite My Tongue. This way I would have an outlet for my frustrations.

The Reward

What started as a miserable trip that I was not looking forward to, ended up providing me with more than a few surprises:

One of my brothers found a friend to stay with.

My Aunt decided to make steak instead.

My grandmother, despite not knowing who I was, was a lot of fun to talk to. She has a great energy and was so happy to be there. She even provided the best line of the night in a room full of comedians- zinging my verbose uncle.

My brothers, my dad, and I caught a Nationals game.

On Sunday I went and did a little site-seeing before my flight.

I had some nice conversations that weren’t super awkward.

Some of these things were luck, but most of them were possible because I was open to them being possible. I’m not one of those sunshine and roses people; who feel that you can control everything that happens. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. What I do believe is that you can control what you can control. This weekend I could control my attitude, and because I chose positivity over being a miserable SOB, good things came of it. I still kept my list though. I don’t think I would have maintained a happy demeanor without it. It was 22 items when it was all said and done. By no means was it a perfect weekend. It still wasn’t what I wanted to be doing and the cards were stacked against having a good time; but by being positive I was able to salvage some great moments because I was open to them.