Archive for the ‘Change’ Category
Resolutions or Recommitments?
Posted on: January 1, 2012
- In: Change | E-flections | Health
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I gave up making New Year’s Resolutions ages ago. Like many people, I would have the best of intentions–eat better, exercise more, get organized, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera–only to “fall off the wagon” early on.
I prefer to reflect and recommit. Semantics? Maybe.
I think, for the most part, I do pretty well with regard to “eat better.” Sure, I have my cravings and junk-food binges (I have a horrible sweet tooth!), but I do try to make good choices the majority of the time, balancing grains, dairy, fruits & vegetables, and protein, and I’ve significantly reduced the amount of red meat in my diet. Back in July, the yoga studio where I practice held a green smoothie challenge, which I took up for part of the month; I had to take a break when I was in Europe, but resumed when I returned. I have to admit that once I got back to school, it got a little harder (and more expensive with the changing season) to maintain. I even noticed that my energy levels weren’t as high when I got away from the daily smoothies, so I tried to do at least a few days a week. With the holiday season, and all the goodies, I’ve really gotten away from it. Because nutrition is so important to both physical and mental well-being, I recognize that I need to make a more concerted effort in this department.
The first three-quarters of the year were pretty successful with regard to the commitment to exercise. On October 6, 2011, my finger was smashed in a freak accident, severely injuring the joint capsule of the 2nd knuckle on my left middle finger. No yoga, no Curves–too much stress, strain, and pain! (Thank goodness I’m right-handed!) A full two months of occupational therapy before I could resume all activities. By then it was December, and with all the holiday activities, and a crazy work schedule, it was really hard to get back into the routine. I’ve only recently resumed my yoga practice. I need to recommit to myself, and schedule exercise (both Curves workouts and yoga classes) into my planner so it’s “in my face” like any other meeting.
Organization? It has been a lifelong struggle. I have no problem admitting that! I was the kid who could never find anything in her desk. Because of that, I really stressed teaching my students to be organized: keeping an assignment sheet (back in the days before student planners), what to keep in folders, how to organize the items in their desks so they could be found. I often had parents tell me they were so glad I taught their students this skill. Harder to follow it myself. I think I’ve cleared out the remnants of my dissertation research and artifacts from my home office, and it feels like a space where I can think again. Now I just need to keep it up.
My final recommitment is the most important of all. A few years ago, I adopted a Ghandi quote as my personal motto: Be the change you wish to see in the world. While 2011 saw the completion of my PhD, it also held some disappointments and more than a few challenges. Sometimes it was hard to keep a positive outlook, and stay focused on those things within my sphere of influence. I need to remember that I can and do make a difference every day.
Resolutions or recommitments? Splitting hairs? What do you think?
NOTE: The text of this post is from an action email sent out by AFT Michigan.
On Tuesday, November 8th there is an election. You may not have heard much about it, and there may be no candidates on the ballot depending on where you live, but in every Macomb county community there is a proposal on the ballot for a Special Education Enhancement millage. We encourage you to go out and vote for this millage.
Some groups in the county are spreading hateful messages in emails, newspaper statements and handouts about the millage. In their published messages, they suggest we could pay for the needs of students by a $34 million annual cut in school employee wages. They warn readers the “tax hike on you allows big union/administrator paydays to continue.” They refer to education budgets as “jackpot spending.” They characterized public school employee salaries and benefits as “stealing from families with special needs children.” We want to make sure that accurate information gets out.
Here is important information to remember and pass along:
• The proposal is not a 40% increase in taxes. The ballot issue seeks only a 2-3% change in total property taxes, as verified by the Macomb County Equalization Department. It will amount to around 20 cents a day, $6.00 a month for the average Macomb County homeowner.
• The new funding will go directly to special education, which will free up funds for all of the county’s 131,000 students.
• The proposal restores only about ¼ of lost education programs and services funds in the county compared to 2008. Our school districts have and will continue to address economic realities through cost containment, programs adjustments and employee concessions.
• One in 7 county students—a 10 percent increase since 2001–now receives special education services, and autism cases have increased by over 400 percent in the past decade.
• All of the proposal’s funding will go to local schools and students. Not a dime will go to Lansing or Washington.
How you vote is a personal decision, but we encourage you to vote YES on the Macomb County Special Education Enhancement issue on the November 8th ballot in your community. If Lansing will not fully fund education then we must take care of our own needs.
Many people don’t know about this election or how critical is to all kids in Macomb county, please pass this message along to 10 other people, and ask them to do the same.
(More detailed information is available on the Our Kids Our Future website.)
What a Difference a Day Makes
Posted on: July 23, 2011
During this morning’s news conference, the Oslo Chief of Police said that there is no reason to close off the city center, and no reason for people to stay home. He did, however, request that people stay back from the cordoned-off areas.) in yesterday’s post of my experience, I included a picture taken across the street from our hotel. Here is that same intersection, less than 24 hours later.
- In: Change | E-flections
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So far, I’ve had an amazing vacation. We spent the first week in Stockholm. (You can see pictures in my public facebook album.) We visited the Royal Palace, the Vasa Museum, as well as the Nordic Museum. We saw many amazing sites in the city, and ate wonderful food. Since we are on vacation, we haven’t been too concerned about being “up and at ’em” too early. Today was different. We got an early start because we had an 8:30 train to Oslo.
The six-hour trip was uneventful, save for the customs agent who stopped by my seat to ask me questions; that was momentarily un-nerving. We got off the train in Lillestrøm, Norway, and had to board a bus for the remainder of the trip to the Oslo train station due to construction. When we arrived at the station, my sister got my mom and me settled at a coffee shop while she went to find out the location of our hotel and how best to get there.
I don’t really know how much time had passed; it was long enough to finish half a sandwich and a cup of coffee. We were just talking about what we might do over the next few days, when BOOOOOOM! in addition to the sound, we felt the percussion of the explosion, and saw the whole wall of the station shake. A group of young people at the top if the escalator started laughing–you know, the kind of nervous laughter when you don’t want to admit you are scared. I looked toward the exit in the direction if the sound, and saw people just outside the exit. But without really knowing the station, I had no way to know if this was normal. We saw a few people make some phone calls, but no one seemed particularly bothered.
I have to admit, the first brief thought I had was “bomb” but I quickly brushed that aside. I said with all the construction, maybe something very large, like a crane fell. I also thought maybe a train had crashed. Mom thought it sounded like someone lit an M-80. After a few minutes, three security guards went flying through the station, and came running back a few minutes later.
Not only did we not know what was going on, we had no idea about where my sister was in relation to the commotion. Turns out she was at the hotel getting us checked in when the explosion occurred, and alarms were sounding. She ran out of the hotel to find us. It was a relief to see her! However, in her haste to get to us, she had no idea of where she was, so it took us a few minutes to get bearings and find the hotel.
By the time we got there, reports were out that it was a bomb in the city center, very near to the hotel. You could see the stress and concern in the expressions of the staff. Two of them appeared to be doing a check of some kind, going in and out of various doors.
We settled into our rooms and found the English BBC station, where the initial reports were coming in. From our window, we could see some of the same buildings in the broadcasted shots. One of the first things I did was go to my Facebook account (and Twitter) and post that we were all safe.
After absorbing what was happening, it was time for dinner. But the restaurant near the hotel was closed. Everything at the train station was closed. The mall was closed. (Normally it would be open until about 8PM on Friday.)
We found a restaurant across the street that was open and serving. After we sat down, we realized that the window was all boarded up. When my sister asked if it happened today, the waiter said yes, “because you know what happened today.” He didn’t even want to speak of it.
One of the callers on the BBC broadcast said, “This doesn’t happen in Norway. We are the good guys.” Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And it sucks.
This picture was taken about 1 block from our hotel, around 8:00 PM the day of the bombing.
Change-up!
Posted on: July 6, 2011
- In: Change | E-flections | Health | Twitter
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Photo by cafemama
(Note: this post is cross-posted from the TEMT blog.)
Today’s Recipe:
2-3 cups of seedless grapes (I used green)
1 handful of parsley (I used curly)
2 cups of spinach
2 cups of water
I thought about adding a banana, because I really like the texture it adds, but decided I would try the smoothie without banana today. This recipe is particularly refreshing. First you taste the sweet tang of the grapes, then the freshness of the parsley hits. I did not really taste the spinach at all. I’m actually thinking this one might make a good slushie by incorporating chopped ice.
Wish I would have taken a picture this morning. It was a lovely bright green!
Review, Reflect, Revise, Reset
Posted on: July 2, 2011
- In: Change | E-flections | Health | Twitter
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NOTE: This post also appears in the Twitter Exercise Motivation Team blog.
The summer of 2010, I was in a pretty good place with my health and exercise. I had been working out consistently at Curves for over a year, lost 10 pounds and a few inches, and generally eating well. I also added yoga to my workout regimen. I even got on the twitter #temt train and wrote a few posts for this blog (here, here, and here).
Then September hit. A bit of a backslide as school started up. (Scroll the blog archive for many references to that phenomenon). Added to the “regular” (whatever that is!) stress was the urgency to complete my dissertation and defend by the end of the semester. By the beginning of November, it was “do or die:” if I did not finish all 5 chapters by Thanksgiving, I would not be able to defend until the winter semester, which meant paying for a second credit ($500!) that I did not need. So basically everything except work and the dissertation went to you-know-where-in-a-handbasket–including diet and exercise. Writing binges do not play well with good eating habits, in my experience. I tried to squeeze in 1 or 2 workouts or a yoga class each week; some weeks were more successful than others.
I started easing back into the exercise routine, but on December 31, I broke my toe, and couldn’t workout for a couple of weeks. Then I was sick, etc., etc., etc…. Second semester I ended up working a lot of hours, which made it hard to get the exercise in, I would often get home after the gym closed. 😦
Now that it’s summer, I’ve a new resolve to get/stay in shape and eat better.Still not getting all my Curves workouts in, but I am committed to getting in as much as I can. I also thought about my eating habits, and I’ve started to minimize meat. I’m also participating in the Awesome Green Smoothie Challenge with Santosha Yoga. Today’s recipe:
Irish Banana Split:
1/2 cup strawberries
2 bananas
1 cup pineapple
2 cups packed spinach
1 pint water
It was totally rawsome!
I had one for breakfast (about 1/2 liter), and the other for dinner. Amazingly filling. Just a funny side note, when I see “Irish” with a recipe, especially a beverage, my first connection is Bailey’s (yum), and I couldn’t figure out what it had to do with a green smoothie. Then, duh! the other ingredients are found in a banana split and the spinach makes it green. Silly me. 😉
I’m committing to trying this for 1 week, and if it goes well, then into the next. How about you?
Change…is good?
Posted on: May 30, 2011
- In: Change | Dogs | E-flections | lessons from dogs
- 1 Comment
I have 3 Pomeranians. Two of them, Hayley and Abbey at 10 and 8 years old are almost considered “senior” and both could lose a little weight. Oreo, on the other hand, is only 4 and could afford to gain some weight. Abbey and Hayley are “hoovers” when it comes to food–you put it down and they inhale it like a vacuum! By contrast, Oreo is more of a grazer; if she were an only dog I could let her free-feed. Hayley and Abbey need a “lite” kibble, and rather than have Oreo on something different, I just give her a little more. Complicating all of this, is Hayley has a chronic form of HGE. We’ve nearly had to let her go several times, but we finally found a combination of medication and diet that keeps it under control. The food is by Three Dog Bakery, and I swear it has saved her life.
When I got Oreo, I was told she was a picky eater. We’ve found that is not the case. She was a breeder’s dog (although she was never bred because she couldn’t gain weight) and I think she just may not have had enough opportunity. I thought maybe she wasn’t eating the Three Dog Bakery kibble because of the size; she would eat it when I broke it in half. (Did I mention my dogs are spoiled?) So I bought her a “small bite” kibble. This meant I had to make some separate feeding arrangements, but we worked it out.
After a while, Oreo started refusing the small kibble, and eating the Three Dog kibble from the other dogs’ dishes. (Which, of course, they did not like!) When the small bite kibble ran out, I didn’t buy more. But, again, after some time, she started refusing the Three Dog kibble. So off to Pet Supplies Plus for more small bite kibble, and the process repeats. (Did I mention my dogs are spoiled?) Yesterday, at doggie dinner time, there was not enough of either kibble to feed all the dogs (I thought I had another bag). With a storm approaching, I didn’t think I had enough time to safely make it to Three Dog Bakery at Partridge Creek, so I made a quick trip to Pet Supplies Plus and bought some Eukanuba because it was on sale, and it was only a stop-gap measure. Oreo’s dish ended up with three different kinds of kibble in it and what did she do…picked out and ate all the Eukanuba (new) kibble!
So, what’s the point?
I think about all the changes in education (and in life). Some are thrust upon us, and we have to accept them. Sometimes there is a very good reason behind the change. The decision I made to switch to Three Dog Bakery food was based on several factors, but the most important one was the health of my dogs. For Hayley and Abbey, it works. They accept it. Oreo’s health concerns, however are different from the other two; so “one size fits all” in this case doesn’t fit! She tried a another kibble for awhile, and then went back to the original, and switched back again. When she was offered something else, she tried it and liked it. And at some point she’ll go back to the others if offered to her.
Sometimes teachers try new things in their classrooms whether by choice or by necessity. And, like Oreo, sometimes they go back to previous practice, only to change back again. And, if you expose them something new, they just might try it and like it better.
E-flections of an Educator 