Snowmageddon Stats

Yes, I know that it's been a million years sense I last posted. I've been busy, up until a week ago when DC was treated to the most snowfall it's seen sense 1892. Yes, as in 112 years.

I was basically stuck in the house from Friday the 5th until Friday the 12th (I did go to work in last Monday and Friday) . In honor of this dubious occasion, I thought I would share my Snowmaggedon stats.

Deepest snowdrift in our backyard- 40 inches

Time waited in the grocery store line on Tuesday night- 1 hour (Yes we were part of that particular madness, it's not my fault we were out of milk)

Number of lessons I had to reschedule- 30

Time it took me to get to work via public transportation on Monday between the snowfalls- 2 hours (It normally takes me 20 minutes)

Number of times a fell down while trying to get around outside- 4

Movies watched- 6 (The Princess Bride, Shakespeare in Love, Pride and Prejudice, Empire Records, Singin' in the Rain and Star Trek)

Heroes episodes watched- 16 (Yes I know that I'm a dork, and I know that this show isn't that good, but it was oddly memorizing while the snow was falling down.

Baked goods created out of sheer boredom- 3 batches of cookies and an apple crumble

Settlers of Catan games played in my iTouch- 200 (Ok, so this one's probably an exaggeration, but I played it a LOT, like enough that I had to fully charge my iPod twice on Wednesday)

Happiness factor of my puppy as she got to bound though snow twice her hight- 10

Happiness factor for me while tromping thought knee deep snow so my puppy could frolic- 3 (and all 3 of those points come from seeing her so happy, none from actually being outside)

Days until our street got plowed- 5

Percentage of sidewalks shoveled last Monday- 30%

Percentage of sidewalks shoveled today- 70%

Oh, the funny.

My students are hilarious. Every once in a while they say something so funny that I have to write it down and add it to my facebook quote section. I thought that you would also enjoy some of my students "greatest hits" in terms of goofy stuff.

"With spagetti- gravity applies, with jello, no gravity whatsoever "- Hugo Hentoff, 11.

"Everything but by brain is annoyed. I've got to make everything right so it gets unannoyed"-Matthew Dittersdorf, 11.

"My muscles have amnesia"- Victoria Barnett, 9

"I'm going to be an actress......or a welding artist"- Victoria Barnett, 9

"I would think that zombies would prefer their brains with a side of fries....."- Hugo Hentoff, 11

I'm asking a favor

I have a brand new beautiful website! I think it's amazing- but the problem is what google has no idea that it exists. I've found out the best way to solve that is by posting a link on my website- and then having people use it. So I'm asking that everyone who glances at my site to just hit the little hyperlink under the post. It would really help me out.

If anyone wants to even more amazing- the more links that exist to my website also help. So if you have some out of the way place on your blog and wouldn't mind posting my link there- you might just find out that you are my favorite person in the whole world.

Anyway- here is the link. www.firstnotesacademy.com

In other news- Luke and I are in the midst of house hunting. It's frustrating and stressful and I just want it to be over. The housing recession has NOT reached DC- so tiny little homes are still 300,000. Finding the right house in the right neighborhood in the right condition (we need it to be awful for it to be in out price range) is hard, and when we do make an offer we keep getting out-bid. I just want to pull my hair out.

Obama-mania

Happy Inaguration Day! Luke and I had a great day (he got the day off because they closed every possible route between our house and Luke's work). Here was the scedule

10:30 am- Started watching the inaguration. I thought Michelle Obama's gift to Laura Bush was a great idea (no- this is not a long standing tradition, Michelle thought it up all by herself).

12:00- The inaguration actually starts. I really liked Obama's speech- it was very inspiring without just being a conglomeration of feel good sound bytes.

12:45- Head down to lunch at Ben's Chilli Bowl. I decided that this was what I wanted to do to celebrate the inaguration. Ben's is a DC institution, and Obama famously ate there a few weeks ago with our Mayor. We waited about 30 min to eat (pretty good, the wait is over 2 hours now), and it was totally worth it. Best Chili Dog Ever.

1:45- Took our picture in front of a red, white and blue "OBAMA" ice sculpture.

1:50-3:00- We decided to keep walking around and see what else was going on- so we walked to our bank in Dupont Circle, and then back home. Highlights were the street vendors selling huge amounts of Obama stuff. My personal favorite was a T-shirt with Obama's face plastered onto the body of a boxer and some slogan about him being the champian. There was a cummunity board covered with messages to Obama- many congratulations and my personal favorite: "Don't pardon Bush!"

Insert Clever Movie Quote Here

I know that it's been a long time, I used to be an awsome blogger, but then my life got just a little busyer- so here is the last month in point form.

1. The "Obama is coming!" good vibes have continued here in DC. My students and moms were buzzing about what school the first kids are going to go to. They picked the same one the Chelsea Clinton went to because it has the most secure campus and such. It's about half a mile from Middle C and I have a couple of private students that go there, so it's very exiting.

2. My parents and brother and sister came down to DC for Thanksgiving. It was a fun time. I created an apple theme with thanksgiving dinner, which is ultimate proof that I can and will theme anything. The Apple Cider Sweet Potatoes were about the best thing I've ever had in my life- so I'm declaring it a sucess.

3. My very first ever Christmas tree is up! My favorite store (Word Market) sells Christmas ornaments, many of which are Asian inspired. I have mostly traditional stuff, but I also have dragons, teapots and geisha girls on my Christmas tree. I was afraid it would look silly, but it dosen't. I'm convinced that I have the best Christmas tree ever.

3.5. I have added a fifth day of teaching on Thursday. This should allow me to expand to about 50 students. Hopefully this will make buying a house easier.

4. My student's recital is today! Recital day is always fun, and stressful. I'll be happy when it's over and I can stop harping on my kids to practice. This recital features two original pieces written my my students (one called "Hard Liquor to Fight the Power"- teenage rebellion can be so funny), a drumset duet, and two sisters playing "Wild Thing" featuring the store owner Myrna on vocals. It's going to be memorable.

5. My Christmas shopping is almost finished! I need to start wrapping, but I'm having trouble finding the right paper. I want solid colors or simple graphic patterns. This is a lot harder to find that it sounds.

Shiny Happy People

On Tuesday I voted for the first time ever.  Walking up my street I noticed that there was a real exitement in the air- kind of like Christmas or a 4th of July.  Waiting in line took over an hour and it was kinda fun, I was expecting up to 3 hours because that's what the new said the wait would be in DC. 

I went to bed after they called Pennselvania- I have never doubted that Obama is going to win this election. At midnight Luke and I were woken up to fireworks, cheering, crying, horns honking and sirens going off. 

That's how I learned Obama won- now lets see what happens. 

The obligitory political post

America sucks!

I am truly at a loss at who to vote for. I'm uncomfortable with Obama and McCain. I was going to vote for the Libertarian, until I did some research and found out that Bill Barr wrote the Patriot act back when he was the most right wing republican in existance. He has sence recanted of his previous beliefs, but I can't get behind him either.

GRRRRRRRRR.