"Bet Your Bottom Dollar, You'll Lose the Blues in Chicago..."

We definitely lost our warm weather blues in Chicago this past weekend!

The leaves were turning color, the weather was COOL, AND we got to wear our jackets!

We miss Fall.

Why is Houston still so hot?

I need a Fall...
I don't mind not having a winter- I'll take Houston winter.

But I need Chicago's Fall.

Is that too much to ask?

Anyway- back to the trip.

The purpose of the trip was to see these cousins- The Moodys...

and their newest addition...

AND go to a BYU football game.

More about that in a minute...

Chicago was SO much fun to walk around...

and walk we did!

Wrigley Tower

 Mmmm... the Hershey's store!

Tribune Tower has different stones/rocks from famous buildings from all over the world! 

Soldier Field

For those of you who don't know-

I served an LDS mission for 18 months in Poland.

I've always been so bummed that Houston doesn't have a big Polish population.

I mean, really.

Jon doubts that I speak Polish.

We heard someone speaking Polish once on our cruise and Jon says "Go talk to them!"

Sorry but no. 

I don't want to have an awkward conversation in Polish with someone I don't know.

Thus Jon continued to doubt my speaking abilities.

He made me promise that if we went to Chicago that I'd talk to someone in Polish because Chicago actually has more Poles than Warsaw!

So we took a gander down some Polish neighborhoods...

And found a great restaurant,

with some legit Polish food!

 And yes I communicated very well with our Polish waitress and Jon was SO impressed that he wanted to take a video...
But I forbade it.
I'm mean, I know.

 But doesn't this food look amazing?
Ah... it makes me want to visit Poland SO bad!

We called it a day for Friday and went back to their apartment.

P.S.

The view from their apartment was AMAZING!!

Saturday we headed to South Bend, Indiana (never been to Indiana before!) for the 

BYU-Notre Dame football game.

It took some intense prep work...

the fluffage of the hair.

This little girl is ready for her first game!

Before the game, we stopped off here...

And then made our way over to Notre Dame campus.

 We of course got a lot of comments on Jon's hair.
The best comment by FAR was this...
Guy - "DUDE, is that your REAL hair?"
Jon- "Yep, sure is."
Guy- *Calling to buddy* "Hey come here! Come check out this WHITE guy with an AFRO! *turns back to Jon* I've never seen a white guy with hair like yours."
Jon- "Ummmm, thanks?"
 They preceded to have a nice conversation about the F-word, Mormons, Mitt, and how Jon is a conservative AND an environmental engineer.
The guy didn't believe him.

 It was beautiful!


And very crowded...

 Pretty sweet buildings on campus...

 Ok but as pretty as it is-
we are ready for some football!
We made a stop at "Touchdown Jesus" for good luck...

 got our tickets...

 And headed into the stadium!

 We had amazing seats... five rows back.
I was on the edge of the BYU fan section.
Which meant I had some Notre Dame fans on my right.
Let me just say this...
I'm glad Jon's obsession with college football does not include getting stone drunk every weekend.
Blessing.

 It was a great game...

...but too bad BYU can't ever win.
Ugh.
Nothing like easing the wounds with some deep dish Chicago pizza from Giordano's.

Sunday back in Chicago, the Moody's blessed their little girl.

AND it was a beautiful day- so we did some more walking around the city.

Millenium Park

Underneath the bean sculpture...

So mind boggling.

I got so dizzy looking at this.

 More skyline...

And an evening stroll down to Navy Pier...

 And we even ran into Obama and Mitt :)

 

Thanks Chicago and Moodys!
We had such a fantastic time!

Beach + Camping = Winner

We made our way down south Friday afternoon for a little beach camping...

Galveston!

But Galveston was not the spot of our camping escapades, oh no.

We had to get over to Bolivar Peninsula... which included a ferry ride!

(And also some waiting...)

Made it onto the ferry- here we go!

Over on the other side is 27 miles of beach...

and you can camp wherever you please!

So we pulled over on a random street, and set up camp.

 It was a tad bit windy... and we almost lost a tarp or too in the madness of it all.

The sunset more than made up for the wind!

No filter- no editing- just beautiful!

Our dutch oven made her debut and did not disappoint!

 Tin foil dinners and cobbler was delicious.

 And of course- 2nd dessert was S'mores.

The wind and ocean waves made for a very comfortable sleeping environment...

even though it COULD have been a bit cooler.

We're still pushing 90 degrees here.

AND woke up to beautiful day.

Good morning!

 More delicious food was made...

 Looks a mess- but it was the most delicious breakfast hash in the whole world.

And it was back on the ferry to get back to real life...

(ok it was really to watch a BYU football game that ended up being a disappointment)

Final conclusion?

Beach camping was amazing.

Nice breeze.

Beautiful scenery.

But the best thing?

No bugs.

No mosquitoes.

AND no spiders...

which is kind of a big deal in the South where bugs are rampant.

We loved it.

The End.

About That Time...

It's about that time again to share my teaching gems.

10.

I just have to say- this week has been INSANELY crazy with Homecoming and festivities.

There wasn't school on Monday, which throws things off...

Wednesday was a half day... 

the kids are on no kind of schedule and are in the mind frame that they shouldn't have to do anything all week.

Yeah right!

Yesterday I wanted to throw in the towel...

and then today the best thing happened!

One of my problem students was switched out of my class.

Halle-freakin-lujah

9.

Along with things being insane... we've had some exciting things happen at school.

I found alcohol in my dressing room on top of the lockers.

Wrapped in a brown paper bag and all :)

A gun was brought to school a few weeks ago.

Exciting.... 

and a little scary.

Fire alarm was pulled today during a passing period- 

sending 3,500 students outside with no supervision.

Isn't pulling a fire alarm with no fire a federal offense?

8. 

I love, love, love it when my students are police for me.

It gives me a break from yelling at students when they do it for me!

"Girl! Your booty be hangin' out of them shorts!"

"All the black girls need to shut their mouths!"

"Why you not be dressin' out? You can't dance in a dress!"

7.

I don't know if this is normal...

maybe someone can correct me...

but at the high school I went to- Homecoming Royalty was decided by a vote of the student body. 

Everyone was on the ballot.

Here?

They "run" for Homecoming Royalty.

Just like you "run" for a student body office!

I think it's so bizarre...

6.

Sometimes when feeling lazy, I wonder what other jobs are like...

For example-

The lady that gives the traffic updates on the radio.

Is that all she does?

"Good morning- there's slight congestion on the freeway... So yeah. You should avoid that route."

Sounds posh :)

On the other hand- I pass by a doggy daycare on the way home...

and I do not envy those workers standing out in the sun with 50 dogs slobbering all over them.

5.

One of my students came in during her lunch period to finish an assignment.

She sat in my office and used my computer.

When I came back in I found my white out tape DESTROYED!

No decency.

Best part?

"Lashaundra... did you mess with my white out tape?"

"What? No... "

"So... you're telling me that before you sat down in my office- my white out tape was working. Now you come out- and it's destroyed."

"I didn't touch it!"

"You're sure?"

"Well.... I thought it was broken... so I pulled it all out."

Really? Really?

Punk.

4. 

I love eavesdropping on overhearing conversations...

Students were talking about having babies and what people are "allowed" into the hospital with you.

Girl #1- "Well I heard that you are only allowed to have IMMEDIATE family in there with you while

have the baby?"

Girl #2- "Really? What does that mean?"

Girl #1- "It means that only people you are related to can go in... so not even your HUSBAND can come in with you because he's not immediate family."

BAHAHAHAHA

3.

I never knew how long I could hold my bladder...

until I became a teacher.

I'm seriously impressed with myself.

2.

"Mrs. Brame can you open my locker?"

"You don't know how to open your locker, yet?"

"No you gave me a new one...."

"You still turn it right first, then left, then right..."

"Oh... for real? But the numbers are higher than the last locker combination I had so I don't know how."

.....

"You don't know how to count past ten? Or what's the problem?"

(Ok I didn't really say that last one BUT that's what went through my head!)

1.

Student walks up to classroom still dressed in their regular school clothes...

Me- "Turn your butt around and go get dressed."

Student- "MISSSSSSSS.... uuugggggh."

Me- "Go get dressed."

Student- "But Miss I'm early and there's no one in the locker room, yet!"

Me- "So go enjoy the peace and quiet."

Student- "But Miss there are ghosts in there!"

Me- "....... oh really?......"

Student- "Yes there are ghosts in there and they might rape me!"

I have no response for such ridiculousness.

They're crazy!

A Little Bragging for a 300th Post

With Rice's centennial celebration happening this month- 

there is a lot of excitement around campus and a lot of exciting opportunities to take advantage of!

The School of Engineering hosted a competition in which grad students submitted an abstract on their research... and 44 were picked to present a 90 second "elevator pitch".

Thinking that this wasn't a big deal... I arrived at Rice Thursday evening and was bombarded by hundreds of people outside said classroom where this was supposed to take place!

They even had appetizers and drinks for everyone- 

heck yeah :)

Jon presented his pitch and had everyone laughing and intrigued...

"Water, water everywhere, but nary a safe drop to drink!

In a world of intense use and increasing pollution of our limited freshwater resources, this ancient rhyme may become a modern reality.

Let me briefly tell you about several water-related facts relating to the number nine:

Ninety percent of the flow of the Trinity River, which is Houston’s main source of drinking water, is actually wastewater from the city of Dallas. This wastewater includes many pharmaceutical compounds — such as Tylenol, Oxycontin and birth control — that pass right through current wastewater treatment systems. Chances are, if you drink a glass of water in Houston, you’re drinking somebody else’s birth control. *This is where everyone laughed... hard*

Ninety-nine percent of many of these pharmaceutical compounds can be removed from water using the technology I’m researching called photocatalysis. A photocatalyst is a material that takes the incoming energy from light — such as the lights in this room or the light from the sun — and converts it into chemical energy that can be used to oxidize and remove these compounds from the water.

I’ve developed a portable photoreactor system that can be taken to any wastewater treatment plant and used as a proof-of-concept to test this technology.

Furthermore, what we’ve learned in this research can also help in the developing world, where 900 million people still lack access to safe drinking water.

To put that number in perspective: Every 90 seconds — the length of these talks tonight — five children die in the developing world from water-related diseases that could be prevented using this technology.

Thank you."

 

We had to leave early... to get to clogging...

and were shocked (well Jon was... I wasn't!)

when we got a text from his advisor saying he'd won!

And now we're $500 richer.

Thanks Jon for being so smart.

It quite literally does "pay" to have a nerdy husband.

Link to Rice University News website which highlights the event...

http://news.rice.edu/2012/10/05/screeching-success/