Big Ol' Stack of Work

I never enjoy taking days off work. Catching up afterward is such a hassle, it rarely seems worth it. Taking five days off in a row has a greatly amplified effect. My work stack of papers and things to sort out upon my return to work is daunting, indeed. I spent about half an hour just sorting papers without having the chance to grade any of them. I have two student assistants--something I would never consider having if not for my work load. I don't know any of my students' names.

The difference between this and any other day-off conundrum is that this time it was totally worth it. With my son at home, I want nothing more but to be there. If there were a way to work at home, I would take it up in a second. leaving home is harder than ever before and I have to take the time before I mosey out the door to sit and just watch him sleep. He's such a stud and he's the most worthwhile thing to look at since I met my wife.

Vincent Isaiah Prindle

I have a son.

It's my new favorite thing to say.

I have a son.

There is nothing I've felt that is so amazing or surreal or insane or holy. Since his arrival, I've had so many thoughts and feelings that I don't even know how to process them all. "My wife and I made that." "My wife was a rockstar and pushed that out." "He's so little." Then a floodgate bursts and I'm speechless--lost in the sea of emotion.

So far my favorite thing about him is his tiny hands. When he grabs on to my finger, and I know that's all he can hold, it just undoes me. I love wrapping him into his little burrito. I love just holding him and doing nothing at all.

Work has been a little nutty. Planning for an absence and not knowing when that absence will begin was driving me crazy. And as it turned out, it has all happened right before a new semester, so I have a sub starting my classes for me right now. Planning that about drove me bonkers. To top that off, I got a call just before eight o'clock this morning to tell me that my plans were not to be found because the internet was down at the school (I had emailed all my plans to my sub). The beauty of it was I didn't care. The sub is awesome, and if my plans don't get done just so, whoopty-doo. It doesn't matter to me at all.

Because I have a son.

My Twitter and My Blog

Last night I went wandering through my blog posts over the last year and a half, reading comments and taking note of how frequently I would update and how my thoughts were developed. Among the post, I noticed how many were just odd occurrences and student mishaps. "Why haven't I written post like these in so long?" The answer: Twitter.

I hopped on the tweeting wagon last summer during a tech class, having no idea that I would actually use the thing, let only use it frequently. And though my tweets started as bad Facebook-esque posts (i.e. I'm eating candy again!), they have turned into a home for student antics and stupidity. Now, instead of producing a web log entry to show how I am responding or to show my reflections on the sad state of the world, I cram them into 140 characters and let my followers respond and reflect.

There is a benefit to all of this. More people read my tweets than read my blog (because my tweets double as my Facebook updates), and therefore more folk get to laugh at what goes on in my school life. Also, time is saved (when I began blogging my posts took me forever to craft, but that's another writing issue I've got to deal with).

I do want to blog more often and more thoughtfully. The depth issue may be resolved with the near arrival of Young Master Prindle (I can't begin to think what my brain will do when he arrives, and he may give me more to write about also). I suppose for now though, I will have to settle for a few posts a month unless otherwise inspired.

So feel free to bring it on, Muse.

First Work Week of the Year

Lincoln Public Schools ranks in the dumbest of districts in the category of planning. When we take our time off around Christmas, we have to return to finish the first semester. This is stupid for several reasons that can be easily foreseen (such as students' forgetting everything before the take the final for any given class). This year, however, poor planning could not have been entirely avoided. As our semester leaks into 2010 (pronounced twenty-ten if you know what's good for you), Lincoln find itself in another run of snow days. Just as it did right before our Winter Break, we have had three snow days that have left us baffled as to how to best end the semester. The days we have, by the way, are not so much connected to the snow, but to the temperature which is reaching its icy fingers down into the negatives (a "feels like" -20). I don't know when that will clear up, but as it stands, we have had to work twice this week back from break. Nutty. I don't know that it would be any better had the semester ended sooner, but at least I would not have to deal with students strolling in on finals day asking, "What are we doing?" Because for that, I don't know what I could give them and consider it fair.

Bring it on 2010

I'm very technical when it comes to the new year. The joy and romance and tradition that many people put on means very little to me. It simply means that it's 2010 now instead of 2009. In that mindset, I rarely set up any kind of resolution system, for I feel that resolutions are like so many rules--made to be broken. However, I did get a wave of inspiration this morning, a romance that I'm pretty sure was the result of sitting and thinking that at any time my wife and I will have a permanent house guest. The idea of living for two has been a mighty powerful force that comes in waves and knocks me around, rolling me on the floor of reality and stealing my breath. So with young Prindle soon to be arriving, I've been thinking of ways to enrich my life in ways that benefit ore than just me.

33 Push-ups daily
50 Sit-ups daily
Write 2500 words per week
Write/revise one poem/song per week
Schedule one photo shoot per month
Memorize at least one hymn per month
Learn a new song per month
Prepare one sermon per month regardless of my obligation to preach it
Read at least one Ellen White book

Other ideas went through my brain, but I wasn't sure how to put them in a way for me to quantify. For example, I want to put more focus into the martial arts, maybe get to the point where I'm picking up a new discipline. I want to be the best dad in the known galaxy. I want to record music and make podcasts. The list is already large enough that people could tell me that it is too much, but I figure that if these are worth doing, then I can and need to make them happen.