Category: Journal (Page 1 of 971)

It was HOT yesterday. We went up over 100 degrees. I forgot to do a screenshot while I was in Long Beach, but here’s the one from Torrance, where it doesn’t get quite as bad.

We went outside for our morning recess, but stayed inside later, during our lunch/recess time. Fortunately, the air conditioners were working overtime, so the classrooms were cool. Also fortunately, temperatures are supposed to get back to normal over the next few days.

I got messages from some former students yesterday. I couldn’t message them back, so I’ll just say hi here. Hi, guys!

I was off of school yesterday for Labor Day. I wanted to do something special on my extra day. I decided to go to Temecula. It’s a town about an hour and twenty minutes east of my house that’s known for wineries. It’s also known for Beth going to it every time she visits me, because there’s a school there that is enrolled in her dual credit system.

On the way there, I stopped at a lake that was just off of the freeway. It’s called Lake Elsinore.

I walked through a park by the lakeside, and was delighted to see a fairy ring!

After my brief stop, I continued on to Temecula. There is an “old town” section that I walked through.

There was a historic jail there, but it was closed, so I didn’t see the inside.

There was also a garden store there, and I got a plant. It’s another crested aeonium! I’m so excited! This variety is called “Sunburst”.

Before heading home, I stopped at a winery. It was slammed with people, and had some really loud live music going on. I did not stay. But I did walk past the grapevines on the way from the parking lot.

It was a fun day, and I was so glad to not just spend all that time on the couch.

Yesterday, we ended our first week of school by having a faculty party at the home of one of our teachers. She has a pool and a hot tub. I ate some food, then got in the hot tub and stayed there all night. I didn’t take a picture of the hot tub, but here is part of the pool:

It was fun to chat and to get to know my coworkers better. It was also fun to sit in a hot tub for hours. Mmm… warm water…

Now that I’m back in school, I’m driving toward the east every morning, and seeing sunrises every day. Sometimes they aren’t super colorful – it’s just the sun coming up from the horizon. Other times, there are clouds in the sky, and I get a color show.

Yesterday was a color show day:

If I drive in too much later, I’m blinded by the sun for the whole drive. It’s good motivation to get moving earlier in the morning…

School has started, and I’m busier and more tired than I was a week ago. One of the things that is being affected is my participation in the New York Times puzzle group I’m part of.

Each morning, we do puzzles from the New York Times called “Wordle” and “Connections”, and share our results with each other in a text group. I like it, because it keeps me in contact with friends in Nebraska. The last few days I haven’t gotten to it though, because my mornings are filled with school preparation. Maybe I’ll just pretend I did it, and share fake results. That way I can at least participate in the text conversation.

For the memory archive, I should record what these puzzles are. Wordle is a puzzle where you try to guess a five letter word. If a letter is yellow, it’s right, but out of place, if a letter is green it’s in the right spot. You have six guesses to get it.

Connections is sixteen words that are in groups of four. You try to guess the groupings. If you get four wrong guesses before you’ve sorted the categories, the game is over.