The Daily News

1   Because I never talk about Oprah doesn't mean I was never a fan. In fact, the less I talk about some people the more I admire them. Oprah is one such person. I always thought she was as good as Johnny Carson used to be on the Tonight Show.

2   Okay, so I'm aging myself here. Actually, I'm not aging myself. Someone's doing that to me.

3   But Carson was SO amazingly good and so amusingly classy that people almost took the guy for granted. Jay Leno was a decent replacement, but there was only one Johnny, the same way there was only one Willie Mays, one Joe Montana, one Jerry Rice, and one Oprah.

4   I remember one year I was in Tahoe on a gorgeous afternoon at a friend's cabin on North Shore. This guy had brewed his own dark ale, and it was pretty strong. He offered it to each of his guests. I found it a bit "robust" when I tasted it, but decided I'd have a glass anyway, just to be polite.

5   One glass.

6   It was cold and frothy, served in a chilled glass, and went down beautifully on an afternoon frought with dappled forest shadows and summer alpine surroundings. Oprah played on the teevee, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why anyone would be watching teevee when they could be enjoying a splendid afternoon outside, breathing in the surrounding forest.

7   So I took my beer, walked outside, went down some wooden stairs and ambled around, looking up at the blue sky. People inside laughed and chatted. I sipped the frosty beer, enjoying the slightly bitter taste of the hops, and the clear,crisp flavor of a  near perfect concoction.

8   After a few minutes, I became a bit wobbly and thought I might find my way back inside.

9   I started up the wooden steps, which had suddenly become an escalator. I would walk right and the steps would drift left. I made it to the outside deck, righted myself once more, and stepped into the kitchen area.  I noticed a bunch of people zeroed in on Oprah in the other room.

10  I can't really recall what Oprah's show was, but I walked over and became instantly riveted with her ability to engage and draw me in. Thank goodness, because midway through her show, the host came up to me and asked if I would like another beer.

11  Looking down, I noticed my glass had dry crystals of my beer clinging to the side. Evidently I had been holding onto the glass, and to Oprah for dear life.

12  I thought the guy to be out of his mind. Had he slipped me a mickey? I said, "Uh, no thanksh, man. Thish ish jush fine. I""mmowkay. I'm jush fine!" I then took a step backwards, then forward, then righted myself like the soldier I am.

13  To this day I think that was the strongest and strangest brew I ever encountered, and to this day I thank Oprah for keeping me from dancing a hula on the kitchen table.

14   From that day forward I knew that any time the Oprah Winfrey show would be on, it would be an engaging time. I thank Oprah for stopping me from calling a priest and demanding extreme unction. I also realized how truly mesmerizing she can be.

15   Over the years I watched Oprah sort of the same way I use a lava lamp. Every now and again I tune in and see what swirls.

16   So I begin my final DN of the 2010-11 school year with a humble salute to the former Senior Class President and megastar, the goodly riveting Oprah Winfrey.

17   You will be missed, but it's nice knowing you stepped down at the top of your game, girl.

18   Moving on, Part the First: I didn't see Buster Posey's injury happen last night, but I listened to Dave Fleming's call on KNBR. I didn't want to look. I didn't want even to think about it. The Merc News had a picture of the exact second, and Posey's ankle turned in what I can describe only as a macabre angle. I cringe just thinking about it, and I hope it isn't a career-ending sitch.

19   All I thought about this morning was Mike Krukow's story about how after one of the Philadelphia playoff games, the Giants stayed up pretty late partying, and how Kruk found himself suddenly in an elevator with Posey. It was pretty late, and Krukow said, "You know, it isn't always going to be like this." Posey looked up a little confused and said, "Why not?"

20  At the time I thought it was such a sincere and innocent inquiry, and is all the difference between a rookie-of the year and a seasoned veteran. Kruk just smiled, and related that poignant moment of naiveté to his listeners the next morning.

21   Anyway, I just think Buster Posey is a young version of the Carsons and the Oprahs and the others in this world who exude poise and class. I sure hope the guy is okay, because he has played with a lot of guts and pain this year, and never gives less than his all.

22  I'll gladly throw some particles his way.

23  Moving on, Part the Second: Well, the last day of school went perfectly yesterday. Instead of making my support students do presentations that they had reluctantly been working on (or not) last week, I decided to show them Michael Hoffman's 1999 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

24  I sat next to a microphone and added little tidbits, and had played Mendelssohn's Midsummer many times during the year when they would be doing desk work. So as ithe film rolled, I did small narrations, the same way director's do on DVD's. I think it helped keep them focused. I told them that Mendelssohn composed a musical piece called A Midsummer Night's Dream, and that I had used the same music in our own production in 1995.

25   They didn't pay much attention until Lysander and Hermia got sleepy in the forest.

26   From there, it took off. I explained that Hermia wanted them to sleep apart in the forest, and that Lysander didn't. I also explained that by separating the two, Lysander could disappear after magically falling in love with Helena.

27   At one point, one of my students asked if I could put it on subtitles.

28  

29   There's a moment, if you think about it. They enjoyed the Pyramis and Thisbe scene, and as it got closer to the end of the class, I told them that I was honored to have been their teacher, and that in the end, we all bonded as a class.

30  I told them I loved their poetry, and that they have hearts as large all outdoors.

31  They loved it, said some sweet goodbyes, and left me standing alone with Puck's final speech.

32  "If we shadows have offended..."

33   I smiled, knowing that they learned more yesterday than they ever would have if I had lain the ruler down and insisted that they do presentations.

34  After school I saw the student who asked me to put on the captions. He saw me too, broke from his friend, ran up to me, shook my hand, and said,"Thank you for being a great teacher. Thank you for telling us all those stories. Thank you for everything man!" And he gave me huge smile and a big hug.

35  It isn't the years. It's the moments.

36  I became so inspired that I went back to my classroom, finished all my work, stayed until past seven, and finally headed home. I was the last guy standing in the parking lot last night.

37   On my way out, I looked at the ground. The early evening sun caused shadows to slant at long angles. It was great, because I had put two small amps, my guitar, a mic stand, and a guitar stand on a dolly, along with one of my two favorite hats. I had the other hat on my head, so I looked like a cross between Indiana Jones and Dick Tracy. The shadow added a trace of Bogart, so I had to take a picture. I must have looked ridiculous:

38   Haha, last guy standing. Here's the parking lot a minute later. Notice how many teachers' cars were still there:

39   But I finished.

40   I just need to go up and clean the coop today. That's pretty easy. Everything else is done, including this year's DN's. All of it is done.

 41  All of the grading, all of the insanity, all that you fashion, all that you make, all that you build, all that you break, all that you measure, all that you feel, all that you can leave behind...

42   I'll miss you.

43   The rest is silence.

44   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com

 

 

                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

finis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

   

The Daily News

1   The Sharks' loss last night was just about the best loss they could have had.

2   With 14 seconds left, a poor icing call resulted in a tie game that they clearly should have won. It was icing, but puck placement should have been at center ice. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...they still lost. And it wasn't that alone that did it.

3   Nobody walking around expected them to play as well as they did. It was the best of losses; it was the worst of losses.

4   It will be one for the ages. The team came out against all odds and played hard, and played to win. And forever after, the icing call that was not waived off will be a sore spot in a series that could have turned around dramatically.

5   Sad, sad, sad.

6   But the Sharks didn't go down without an enormous fight, and did go down with dignity, and an amazing run that just hesitated a moment, and then a freaky goal. And as painful as this loss was, they stood tall in the end. It just wasn't their time. It seems it never is, but many of us thought we might be watching a possible miracle on ice unfolding with thirteen seconds left in regulation.

7   Ah, sports' fans, I could list a history of these sorts of disappointments, perhaps the bitterest being the 1993 Giants' winning 103 games and going nowhere in the end, or the '57 Niners' loss to Detroit.

8   Perhaps these things happen for a reason. Perhaps it will one day make the Sharks' ultimate destiny that much better.

9   If you really analyze it, most sports' teams DON'T get the prize, year after year. The odds are tremendously against nearly anyone making it to the very top. That's what makes following sports fun, in a strange sort of way. Two teams who combine both talent and luck eventually battle it out for the prize, and one team eventually wins it all.

10  So to the San Jose Sharks, I thank you for playing hard, and for going down fighting as hard as you could in the end. That game, and that series, could have gone either way, despite what people might be saying. It just wasn't the time.

11  But I'd rather they lost that way than not to have shown up. All the talk of players not giving it their all may have some merit, but really, they fought a team that somehow fought them off successfully. Stand tall for your team, and applaud the excitement that could very well have been happening this very morning were it not for an act of fate.

12   Once the game hits overtime, anything can happen. Once the game hits double-overtime, a hiccup either way could change everything.

13   So Sharks' fans, as tough a loss as this one was, applaud your team for being one of the finest teams in hockey. It's nothing new to Bay Area sports. They fought to the very end, and that's all you can ask.

14   Moving on, Part the First: How does one compete with a story like that? I guess one doesn't. The last day of the school year pales in comparison. At least I think it does. It's just another last day of the school year, like any other.

15  The toughest part about the last day of school is all the boushit you have to jump through to get out. It's a bit like trying to move, only having a billion other things being demanded of you. I timed the grading of papers and subsequent calculating of final grades almost to perfection this entire semester, knowing when to back off, and when to work twelve hours at a stretch.

16   My primary focus was making sure the classes had the best I could dish out every single day, and I walk in this morning feeling that I gave it everything I had, and then some.

17   The trouble is, we are given a series of multi-tasks that are seemingly endless. First, we have to get "signed out" with this annoying sheet in which we must go to the book room, the library, the chief of police, and the Kingdom of Jesus to get signatures saying we have no books out, no library books out, no felonies, and no venial sins before we taxi out of there.

18   We also have to calculate every grade, make sure all papers are returned to the students, put together a "gradebook" with every explanation as to how we reached our grades, and turn in about six billion sheets of paper confirming that every single day of taking roll is accurate.

19   There are many other common tasks that take forever to complete, but those are just a few. Yesterday I took my sign-out sheet around. The book room signed instantly, but the librarian was nowhere to be found. The attendance office signed a lot of things, but notified me that I was missing about seven weeks of attendance sign-offs, which completely caught me off guard. We get these sheets once a week, and sometimes I forget to sign them, so I put them where I won't lose them.

20   My own fault, to be sure, but seven seemed a pretty high number. Sometimes I fall behind by two weeks, and when a billion students' papers are being graded, I put those sheets somewhere where I won't lose them.

21   The trouble is, I travel with my papers. I grade them at home; I grade them at school, I grade them when I visit my Dad; I grade them when I visit family during the holidays. So the papers all travel with me, and wind up in various satchels, backpacks, suitcases, etc. Every once in a while they send us a memo telling us to get them in, but a lot of times there are too many seemingly more important things to do, like write vocabulary lists, plan incredible lessons, talk with students about real issues, etc.

22  So I wasn't surprised that I needed to turn in three or four of those, because I knew right where they were. But I absolutely couldn't round up three or four others.

23  I was off at 10:30 in the morning, had intended to go home and finish up grading all my papers and doing a billion other tasks, when the attendance people told me of the missing docs.

24  I had to tear my entire room apart looking for them. One or two had fallen into the stacks of papers I am constantly grading, and others were in three or four of the satchels and binders I have. The trouble was, I KNEW where several were, but had no idea of the last three or four. I spent almost two hours hunting those things down, which turned my classroom upside down. I found a stack of papers that hadn't yet been graded, so in the end, I got home last night at 6 p.m. having not completed my grades, and with no hope of getting "signed out" by the end of today.

25  In addition, I had brought my laptop to ensure that any students who had made power-point presentations would have a state-of-the art computer with which to project their presentations. Unfortunately, I left it at school when I grabbed the wrong satchel on the way home.

26   Ah, it's a long, boring story. The bottom line is that I normally have a nice end-of-the year piece in the DN, one in which I reflect on the year, and on life, and all the rest, before I write the words, "The rest is silence" on my board. Those are Hamlet's last words. Each year it is the last thing I do before jetting off for the summer. I completely erase my board, and then write this:

The rest is silence.

                       ---Hamlet

27  The rest is silence. It works on a number of cheap levels, and I always assumed it was deeper than I could comprehend. Still, it says a lot about the sudden end of the year and immediate onslaught of summer.

28   So I really think I owe it to the DN readers to give one more DN tomorrow, because of the Sharks, and because of all the stress of signing out, or whatever the school calls it.

29   Last night when I left, I took a picture of the parking lot. It had two cars in it: The T000000NDRA and one other car. I can't get the picture on the DN because the computer I'm working on won't recognize the iPhone, no matter what I do to make it do it. I'm sure it's simple, but the iPhone doesn't always cooperate with all computers and I've been too busy to take the time to find out why.

30  So a disappointing ending to the Sharks' season dovetails perfectly with my own vain efforts to ditch out of school for the summer. I wanted it all to be done and over by 6 p.m. tonight, and as of now, I don't see that in the stars.

31  Because of the frantic hunt for those absence docs, my classroom is torn upside down to the point that I have to go in early just to make it look like an organized mess. It's like looking at a closet you haven't checked in six years right now. I need to close the door long enough so that the students don't notice, and then I'll begin with the tennis racket, and move to the board games and loose socks.

32  Come on down tonight at midnight, maybe we could enjoy a cuppa Joe.

33   Meanwhile, it's almost 2:30 a.m. as I tack away at this. I need to slide under a comforter and get me some sleep.

34   You guys have a great day; I'll be sending you one final DN tomorrow morning.

35   Meanwhile, give a smile to the Sharks; they could use it.

36   And then give a smile to everyone who works their asses off to help educate kids. Most of us work long, hard hours, more than anyone can even begin to imagine, oftentimes twelve to fifteen hours. This includes anyone who works in a school, classified and certificated. They are some of the most dedicated, professional people on the planet, despite all the bad press. A lot of them work two jobs just to make ends meet. So salute education and salute the people who help educate young people. They are our hope for tomorrow. And the people who support them are some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet.

37  We'll see you again.

38  The rest if far from silence.

39   And thank you Sharks, and Sharks' fans. Rest you.

40   Peace.

~H~

 www.xanga.com/bharrington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily News

1   Wow, we talk a good game, I swear.

2   My entire plan yesterday was to get everything done, everything graded, and everything packed up so I could jet outta school and into summer by 6 p.m. Wednesday.

3   Yesterday I FLEW home on a minimum day to finish off about an inch standing of papers, and to figure out all my grades, tuck them into a packet, and then see if anything changes after a presentation final I gave my students.

4   <basketball buzzer>

5   The second I got home I felt starved, since a minimum day means minimum lunch. During my half-hour lunch yesterday I got visited by some of my awesome students, who wanted to give me cards and to hang out. I LOVED it, of course, because they are some of my best. And they took the time to come into my room to chat, to sign yearbooks, to reminisce, and to share memories. All the students who visited were my honors-bound students.

6   By the time I left yesterday, I needed to get home and begin the immense task of finishing up the school year grading and ultimate escape plans.

7   But when I got home, I found I was almost shaking from lack of food. I have been eating very little for the past month, with the exception of a bit of fun up in Caitlin Country this past weekend, so I had one healthy smoothie early in the day. I stopped at the store on the way home and bought a ton of vegetables, came home, jammed my blender full of romaine lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, almonds, nonfat milk, and cilantro. Technically, that's not a smoothie, because a true smoothie uses fruit and yogurt or ice cream. A smoothie is also a charmer, a smoothy, and a sweet-talker.

8  Just thought you might like to know that. AnywayZ I blended this amazing concoction and slammed two of them, and then settled into doing the grading.

9    While I felt ready to take on this immense task, my exhaustion said otherwise.

10  Still, I began grading papers figuring I could be done in two hours. I then ran into my support class's papers on poetry, and on the songs of Simon and Garfunkel.

11  Well.

12  Amazingly, these students WAY loved Simon and Garfunkel and the entire poetry unit. My honors-bound students enjoyed the unit, but didn't show half the interest in the Simon and Garfunkel portion. They were a bit ho-hum on some of the great songs. My support students, on the other hand, were dazzled by the Old Friends.

13   One of my support girls stapled her packet of lyrics to her paper with notes all over it saying, "LIKE", "LIKE", "LOVE", etc. with lines from songs circled. "When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light" had a huge "LIKE" next to it, and "I left my shadow waitin' down the road for me a while I'm...cloudy."

14  This music talked strongly to a generation you would think would have nothing to do with it. I was stunned, and slowed my reading down to see why they felt the songs much more than the honors' students.

15   I realized that Simon and Garfunkel dealt with issues that were quite real to these guys: isolation, emptiness, love, friendship, and feelin' "groovy". It was a series of some of the sweetest papers I ever read, complete with reasons the music meant so much to them.

16   One boy said that he had put all five songs on his iPod, and was going to put a whole bunch more, that these guys spoke to him way better than he had ever anticipated.

17   So this small class that was absolutely incorrigible at the beginning of the school year broke down and thanked me. The girl who circled the words and wrote "LIKE" on them was the same girl who told her friends loudly around the second week of school, "I don't RESPECT him!" I had kicked her out of class several times for constant disrespect, cussing, acting out, etc.

18   On one occasion,  I went into the hall to talk to her.  She refused to apologize, and was brought to tears. I stayed firm saying to her that her behaviors were not acceptable, and that some day she would see. I didn't "demand" nor even "command" respect at the time. I let her cry and hate me. I followed with a referral.

19   That turned around when the San Jose Rep brought Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie to our school and the English department had been invited to bring classes down to watch.

20   My students had to get forms signed by teachers in order to go. I used standard field trip forms, and they kept coming to class without them signed by their teachers.

21   All the honors kids were excited to be invited to go, and had their forms into me the very next day. My support kids really lagged at bringing them in. When I confronted them, that same girl said, "My teachers hate me. They won't let me go!" My heart sank. "Your teachers don't hate you," I said.

22  "They do! They hate me, so I can't go to the play!"

23   Can you imagine? And that triggered a lot of the students to say, "Yeah mines too. They hate us, Mr. H."

24   I had been put on the spot, because as the Activities' Director, I knew that field trip forms were simply a polite means of informing a teacher that the student would be missing class on that particular day. Teachers could refuse to sign, but the signature was simply an acknowldgement that the teacher was told by the student that he or she would be absent.

25   Long story, but it is called "equity" in today's vernacular.

26   So I was in the situation of my knowing the policy, but many teachers were not. I told the students, "Don't get in your teachers' faces, but you are protected in that area, and I can make it happen. You guys are going to that play." I said this to a class that majored in spitballs, wisecracks, and rubber bands.

27   They never believed me, nor that I would trust them to behave at such an event. I told them, "You are great kids. I totally trust you, and we are going to go into that Theatre with our heads up, AND I will secure the best seats in the house for us."

28   I knew how to do that. I'm not new to these events, and I know most teachers take roll in their rooms and then go to the Theatre. I told them to meet me at the Theatre on the day of.

29   They STILL didn't believe I could get that done, but when I put the tickets in their hands, they lit up. I told them to meet at the Theatre the next day, and the same girl said, "But my teacher won't let me go!"

30   I said, "Don't get in your teacher's face. If anything comes up, I'll deal with your teacher. You meet us at the Theatre tomorrow, because you're going to a play!"

31   That very day, the class turned around. Oh, they still acted out, cussed, ignored my pleas at getting quiet, and all the rest, but there was a different sort of disrespect going on. Hard to explain it, but I knew that prior to this, they would have been fine about flipping me off and storming out of the room, and that now they would pounce all over anyone who would even try that sort of behavior on me, especially anyone not in the class.

32   On the day of the play, a bunch of them got to the Theatre early, and we got center section, around five rows back. Once we establised territory, the latecomers were able to come in and sit down in those same seats. Some other teachers seemed a little stunned, but we beat them to the seats. Happens.  ;  )   <-----sideways winky guy

33   The place was lit down, and the atmosphere immediately became that of a professional show.

34   My students knew to act politely, and once the show started, they were the best behaved students at the event.

35   The show proper was amazing, and as professional a show as you will ever see. My students stood riveted, and asked questions at the end.

36   To me, it was one of my best moments as a teacher.

37   At least until yesterday, when I silently read their poetry and almost lost it a couple of times.

38   So I'm not really ahead of my work this week. I conked out early last night and awakened at midnight to begin streaming these thoughts out to you.

39   Even though this class did very little at the end of the year, they enjoyed Shakespeare, poetry, and the entire end of the school year. I still worry about them, but with what I read yesterday, a lot of them were given theatre, poetry, and self-expression in my class, as well as a sense that the language can be a powerful friend.

40   And you can't grade that sort of learning, or what it might have meant to students who six months earlier were saying, "My teachers hate me!" There are no state standards for what they learned. But somewhere, it made a difference. I know it, because I have lived it.

41   Somewhere this strange year, I succeeded perhaps better than I ever have, because THEY succeeded on an immeasurable level.

42   And having everything done, everything graded, and everything packed up so I could jet outta school and into summer by 6 p.m. Wednesday went right out the window.

43   But I'm looking forward to that class, which is my first class on Wednesday. They won't have their presentations ready, but they will give it a try. And after that, we're going to relax and talk, and they will be hugging and smiling in the end. Real issues will emerge, but they will be hugging and smiling in the end. That I promise. And they will cling to the friendships they made in that class for the rest of their lives. It was comfortable, friendly, and quite often a lot of fun. So they got love and respect from one another. In the end, that was what they came away with.

44   And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

45   And truer words were never said.

46   One more day. Or maybe two.

47   Godspeed. I'll be the last guy to leave the parking lot on Wednesday, but Godspeed.

48    Indeed.

49   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

                                                                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        The Daily News

1  Sharks!

2  OMG.

3  How on Earth...

4   On behalf of all Sharks' fans, I will say no more. I will say simply that we're still in it, and let's get behind these guys. It's pretty easy to see a game get lost because of an inability to score on power plays (which they have consistently been able to do all through the playoffs), or to have momentary lapses (which they have consistently done all through the playoffs), but yesterday it ALL simply worked against them.

5   Sometimes our teams just have a day that doesn't go their way and that DOES for the other team. Sometimes the other team plays well. Vancouver killed almost ten minutes of penalties the same as we killed the entire second part of the second period penalties the game before.

6   Happens. Yes, the pressure is on, but the pressure of losing AFTER getting a three game advantage AND at home is also on a team whose goalie has a history of getting shaken up in playoffs.

7   So don't throw away the hope nor the support. The Sharks came back when they needed to all year, and THAT is the team that needs to show up for the next three games.

8   Hope this helps.

9   So yeah, GO SHARKS!

10 Moving on, Part the First: It's tough to be a sports' fan when there are playoffs and craziness going on the same week as finals. Any college student will tellya that.

11  And any teacher or professor who is an avid sports' fan.

12   So this is the beginning of our last "week", which is actually three minimum days.

13   Moving on, Part the Second: So here's an update: I headed off a lot of challenges on Friday when I sneaked into the English office and successfully scanned all my benchmark tests. That machine and those sorts of tests tend to have huge issues and usually take much longer than most people realize. I figured a LOT of teachers would put that stuff off 'til Monday, and figured that Friday is a getaway day, and that most teachers would procrastinate. I guessed correctly.

14   So I walked in, and lo! The person from the district who repairs the machine was wrestling around with it because someone had changed the calibration settings.

15   I just sat patiently at the plate and waited 'til she was done fixing it, and then stepped right in and got my work done in about a half hour. Last year it took me about a billion hours, because SOMEONE had changed the calibrartion settings. But I digress...

16   Last night I checked my emails and saw that a bunch of teachers had HUGE issues dealing with the machine, and that some suggested changing the settings, and all sorts of other things.

17   I smiled, 'cuz I headed it off, and instead of it becoming a HUGE headache for me, I took the time Friday to finish the job and walked out a happy man.

18   So today I still have a TON of work to get done, but THAT was the number one worry I had on Friday. Why? Someone had changed all of the settings last year, and that stuff wound up taking me ridiculous hours, keeping me at the school until two days after graduation.

19   It's a longer story than that, because when I was Activities guy, one of the same people who it turns out probably messed with the machine wanted me to allow every teacher in the school access to the tech booth in the Theatre!

20   I gave a HUGE, "NO!" and that person bugged me about it for two years. My thoughts were that if everybody has access to something that needs experience and technical expertise, it will break down every couple of days due to hurried people, or to people who will leave a "problem" for someone else to solve.

21   In our daily jobs, many of us work with copy machines. This is akin to the sort of thing that happens when someone gets a paper jammed, and then leaves the stuff for someone else to figure out, with red and green lights blinking on and off incessantly on their departure. 

22   So I limited the knowledge of the light and soundboard to individuals who had clearly worked with them in the past.

23   The result? Amount of times we needed to send out for repair to the light and soundboard: 0. Amount of times I had the performing arts department mad at me about people who messed with light and soundboard settings: 0.

24   Small victory, I suppose. I had huge battles with that person on that issue, and my reasoning was sound as a guy who has done tech for years. Keep the room locked, and nobody "calibrates" settings. And in general, most people would rather have someone who knows what they're doing in there doing it for them.

25   So I now go into the week with a pretty nice advantage. And email sent from said person said yesterday that " the settings were now "fixed". I still have a TON of stuff to get done before I check out for the year, but whatever that person did to the machine isn't going to affect me this year. Getting those tests done loomed pretty large to me, as I had visions of once again being the only teacher in school still fighting and battling that stupid machine when everybody else has taken off to Europe, or to the Far East, or even to lovely Pinole, California.

26   In my case, Mars.

 

27   So I guess that's about it on a dizzy Monday. As I said, I'm still going to barely make it out of there by Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure I'll spend most of Thursday finishing up, but my hope is to be done and home by Wednesday at 6 p.m.

28   And then it will amazingly be time for the 2010-11 school year to come to a close, and for me to put the DN to bed for the summertime.

29   Oh, I'll probably send some form of the DN out there, but this is usually the time each year that all operations shut down, and I focus on all things home.

30   And with a wedding coming up this summer, I'm tanned, rested, and ready.

31  Sadly though, it isn't nearly as fun as in past years because colleagues are getting pink slips and some young, incredible teachers and some veteran and young staff still may not have jobs next year, despite recent optimism. And some amazingly great staff members retire this week as well, so it's all bittersweet.

32   So the mal-functioning of machines is just a small part of it. I'll be spending time at the doctors this summer being sure that my health stays, well, healthy. I had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago, but right now things seem fine.

                 

 

33  I simply need to slide through the next coupla days and then it will hopefully be smooth sailing 'til we start all over again in mid-August.

34  That's it for today.

35   Have a wonderful Monday.

36   Fly low.

37   Peace.

~H~

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The Daily News

Nicoley and Caitlin, the apples of mine eye.

1   Happy Birthday on Sunday Caitlin Harrington. It's the last time your name will be Caitlin Harrington on your birthday!

2   We'll be visiting her in Sac this weekend, hopefully taking in a River Cats game on Saturday night.

3   Gonna be fun. I told her I wanted to do a bunch of stuff, like rent kayaks and rock massages, for example.

4   Not really sure where you could do either of those things, but you know when you're on a weekend getaway you want to play tennis, fish, wine-taste, hike,  and do three thousand gazillion things that you can't possibly do in the allotted span of time?

5   I never even HEARD of rock massages until about a week ago.

6   <mellow voice> It's like...SEW organic...we use like rocks like from like...natural creek beds...and we like...

7    Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd rather have "like" a 300 lb. sumo wrestler walk back and forth on me, north to south, using scrunchy toes and toe separators.

8    And cucumbers on my eyes, because that's what people in Hollywood used to do "back in the day."

9    Retro, baby.

10   I used to hate guys who put the word "baby" after some other word.

11   Annoying, baby.

12   The most common one is "Vegas, baby!" Like really?

13    I wonder who threw THAT one into the grapevine?

14    Uh...Vegas gaming marketers?

15    Now everybody going to Vegas brags, "Vegas, baby!" like they get a free ticket to every golden ride in heaven and then ride the golden rails back again.

16   I'm also not exactly a disciple of the word "like" being placed between every other second or third word in a sentence, like you know like the way that like this sentence is like ending.

17   When did it all come to this?

18   Ah, well. The world ends Saturday anyway, so who cares?

19   Moving on, Part the First: as the bizarreness of the end of the school year continues, I find myself taking it all in stride.

20  Education doesn't know what it wants to do nowadays. First, they tell us that we should be adding much more joy and student interaction in our lessons, that the days of strict lecturing are archaic, and that students need to work on group projects and teach each other things.

21   They have us take classes to teach us all of the methods I've used for years. Music and technology should be integral to learning. Fun activities should rule the day, all things I've known for years.

22   Then they turn around and demand that we raise our standards to ridiculous levels, and that we become much more "rigorous", a word that I never understood nor saw any educational value in anyway. We must issue out six times the homework that we ever had to do while in high school, and we must demand that students do at least an hour or two of homework per class each night. I'm almost exaggerating, but these are the mixed messages sent down to us by people who have been removed from the classroom for years.

23   Ummmm...really?

24   The most boring classes I attend are by people who teach teachers how to teach.

25   There's some irony going on there.

26   Most modern studies are just beginning to realize that a nice atmosphere, lots of interaction, group activity,music, and technology make learning more fun.

27   Mixing things up and having different activities will engage students into more interactive and enjoyable learning.

28   But the state and the school districts ALSO want to show the public that we are "raising" our standards and "challenging" our "youngsters", a term I always thought was ageist and ridiculous.

29   If they are "youngsters" are we "oldsters"?

30   Don't EVEN get me goin'.

31   My deal is to make it real, and to make it interesting, enriching, and enjoyable. It's not rocket science. A friendly, fun classroom where students feel warm, secure, and safe with friends is the key.

32   But it all comes with demands from the state, misinterpretations by "experts" in the district, and decisions made by people who removed themselves from the classroom years ago.

33   AND we have made it nearly impossible for young, energetic, and creative teachers to get into the profession without jumpin through ridiculous amounts of hoops and boushit. Where do we get good, new teachers?

34   Well, we don't. Good new teachers have to put up with some much stress that I would never have gotten in if I had to do it all over again. They have so many hoops through which to jump it is a miracle any of them get there.

35   Many of our best and brightest younger teachers are sons and daughters of veteran teachers who have been through the wars. There are still thousands of young teachers who know they were born to do it, but the frustration level is beyond anything I've ever witnessed. And still, they come. And still, they fight. And still, they bring hope and vitality to a profession that is being sucked dry by lack of funds, lack of public support, and standards that make creative teachers cringe.

36   Where is this headed?

37    I've a success story to anyone trying to get into this business.

38    Yesterday I received a text from my daughter Nicole. This was the news I couldn't reveal earlier this week. She had been approached by her principal who assured her that she would be re-hired next year, which in this economy, is almost an impossible promise.

39   I sat on it all week, but yesterday's text said that she had signed a contract, and will be a full-time teacher again next year!

40   Nicole had one of the most challenging years of her life this year when she took on a kindergarten class that was unruly, and quite challenging. She used all methods at her disposal, the best of which was watching the television show "The Nanny", and eventually won the hearts and minds of her students through consistency, high expectations, fun, sweetness, music, art, and a whole lot of patience.

41   "Miss Harrington" is officially a veteran teacher, and one of the finest in a profession that is steadily losing good teachers. Her class is designed using all modern methodologies, and she adheres to the state standards better than most, but more importantly she is caring, wonderful, and amazing with her students, and with her communication with parents.

42   So congrats to both my beautiful daughters here at the crossroads of both their lives. We fully intend to enjoy some time together this weekend to celebrate Caitlin's birthday and Nicole's triumphant school year and return next year.

43   It is going to be one of the best summers ever, that's for certain.

44   Well, unless the world comes to an end this Saturday, which is clearly a certainty in many eyes.

45   Just duck and cover.

46   I would be remiss in my duties as the purveyor of the DN if I didn't wish the Sharks all the luck in the world tonight. Just don't be a bunch of jackasses if you want support from your fans. The other night was a tough pill to swallow, fellows. Just go out and play your game, and not the game they are suckering you into playing.

47   Clearly the results of the educational system of the down.

48   I think that's about all the boushit I can throw around for one last Friday before the DN goes into hibernation for the summer.

49   You all have a great weekend, and to my daughters, Daddy loves you with all his heart.

50   Peaceout, like homies.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

 

 

 

                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SHARKS! ARE YA KIDDIN' ME?

 The Daily News

1   After the Sharks started getting beat up, I drifted off to sleep last night. I'm not really into self-flagellation.

2   No team should lose like that, and no fans should have to suffer that sort of a loss. They looked like a kid with freckles getting trounced by the neighborhood bully, and being unable to control his subsequent tantrum. Ridiculous loss, ridiculous game, ridiculous lack of dignity, lack of class and lack of composure. We've all had those moments, and they are pretty ugly.REALLY ugly. Not pretty.

3   Fortunately for the Sharks, there are some of us out there who don't give up on teams. Look what Detroit did to us, and we still got past them.

4   So chin up, Sharks' fans. It isn't what you wanted to see, but it is still only one game.

5   And yes, we do need a miracle, since the Sharks seem to be head cases these days.

6   And still, they are where they are because they have talent.

7   What they need is a psychiatrist. They deserved to be placed on time-out seventeen thousand times last night. Absolutely embarrassing.

8   But I'm still down with the locals.

9   Playing home is an entirely different thing, so we'll just have to keep the faith. But dudes. Don't make it tough to root for you by being public spectacles. That was really a shameful loss, and I don't say that about many teams or games. But there was no excuse. None.

10  Moving on, Part the First: Meanwhile...the Giants lost a lead and still came back to win last night, against the Dodgers no less.

11  I'm a bit angry with myself because I devoted last night entirely to the Sharks, and left my Giants to fend for themselves.

12  THEY managed to win, and to win big in a game that seems unimportant.

13   But in baseball, even one game can make the difference when it gets to the end of the season, so I take nothing for granted except that they have had the strength and brains to win the seemingly unimportant games. They also managed a six-game win streak with wet noodles for bats.

14   That's the difference between a good team and a great team.

15   It's cliche, but you have to be in it to win it.

16   The Sharks don't seem to get that. They still have hope. So much is in the attitude.

17   Anyway, all I can do as a sports' fan is to root for the home team.

18   It's not always easy.

19   Moving on, Part the First: I kept thinking that yesterday was Thursday.

20   Yeesh.

21   Today is Thursday. This week is eternal.

22    Yesterday I started taking stuff out of my classroom for the summer.

23    It feels so unusual to have the school year ending this early, especially with the colder weather.

24    But yesterday really hit me. My classroom is starting to look like a house or apartment when you are moving.

25   I have boxes everywhere, and papers stacking up to the ceiling, chaos all over the place, and miles to go before I sleep.

26   Everything is pretty strange. The students got yearbooks yesterday, which is usually the beginning of the end for teaching anything.

27   What's really strange is that it is mid-May, yet summer vacay begins next week.

28   We had a meeting yesterday to say good-bye to each other.

29   People who might be laid off stood with flowers, and we applauded.

30   Retirees told us all to fight the good fight.

31   It was quite surreal.

32   I still have two days of real teaching left, but it just doesn't seem like it.

33   This is by far the oddest ending to a school year ever.

34    I just did lights for a choir concert the other night. It feels like mid-March.

35    Strange days.

36    Well, I think the Sharks lost horribly last night, and that the Giants won.

37    I think I worked on a film yesterday with the AACI students, and with Thuy Ann and Sonny. I think it was a meeting of the minds.

38    I think I had a fruit/veggie shake, salmon, and wild rice.

39    I also think I'm in the Twilight Zone.

40    Did yesterday exist?

41    It is always strange at the end of the school year.

42    I think I'm going to pull the covers back over me and get safe and cozy.

43   You have a great day.

44   I'll just walk through it.

45   My students still have a bubble test tomorrow.

46    Nothing is real.

47    And nothing to get hung about.

48    Except the Sharks.

49    Oh, and the end of the world, which supposedly is Saturday.

50    I ain't trippin'.

51    Peace.

~H~

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The Daily News

1   Where we headed? Which way? Where to? A-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!!!! Who will show up?

2    Whew.

3    Glad that's outta me.

4    Whew.

5    It's the time of the year for "Whew."

6    Just is. Go Sharks. You have to play the WHOLE game. Keep your legs. You have all of us completely out of sorts. Your job is to kick some major butt tonight. Please accommodate.

7    So...Harmon Killebrew walks into a bar...

8    He hit over 40 home runs in eight separate years at the peak of his baseball career. At one point in his career he was asked, "Harmon, what do you like to do for fun?"

9   His answer: "Well, I like to wash dishes, I guess."

10  How do you not love a guy like that?

11  Anyway, we lost another one.

12  Heaven, or whatever you think Heaven is, now has yet another amazing person.

13  You will be missed, lad.

14   Moving on, Part the First: How do I begin to explain to people why I volunteer to do lights and sound for our Performing Arts Department at EV?

15   Is it because I miss the sound and the fury of live performance?

16   Well...

17   Yeah.

18   Last night I did sound and lights for our final Choir performance, and as always, I got lost in the music, and the mirror.

19   It always brings back the memories of Shawna Fleming and our wonderful Choir concerts over the years. I don't know if there is anything more pure and beautiful than students bringing their love of song to the general public.

20  Every single time, I find moments so touching and wonderful that hey are beyond words, and certainly beyond my diminishing ability to spell.

21  Students know how to sing with passion and meaning. They know that what they sing can move audiences.

22   After the Show last night, one girl asked how I thought they did.

23   My response was this: you made me cry.

24   You would have thought that I bought her and all her friends the world's yummiest pizza.

25    I was geniune about it too.

26   These are moments that nobody will ever get.

27   These are moments that make me feel that I have the best job in the world.

28   These are moments.

29    At one point they segued from a song about a "Good-bye" to the song "Goodnight" by the Beatles, a rare gem on the white album. This brilliant girl named Sara played our grand piano so beautifully that I thought some stars in the night sky might tingle and fall to the ground. The entire place stood amazed at all of it.

30   I was in the booth doing lights and sound. I got locked in, and all was music, music, music.

31   The entire evening moved me and touched all our hearts.

32   I miss that.

33   It made for a rather late night, but it also made for a cleansing at a time in the year when we all could use a good cleansing. Even the rain felt cleansing.

34   The last song of the evening was a beautifully arranged version of Disney's When You Wish Upon a Star. And yes, they played a lot of interesting music from all sorts of people over the ages.

35   But that song has always been a lovely one. I once had Nhat put it on one of my Toons For theT000000NDRA CD's. What was fun was that it accidentally cut off and went immediately to the Indiana Jones' theme. It  worked better than a Disney ride. I've since lost that CD, which is a shame, because it just worked. The T000000NDRA can go from Indiana Jones to a peaceful ride up a mountain at the touch of a button. It is the ultimate transformer because it has that Disneyesque thing goin' on.

36   Music. When you wish upon a star...what a sweet song.

37   Well, that's about it for this morning. Late night. DN gets short shrift. Yesterday I sent the DN out sort of late, so it landed on people's porches a bit drenched and filled with spelling gaffes. Just sloppy stuff. I've always been a pretty good speller, even won a spelling bee in sixth grade. It wasn't a class one, it was the entire school one.

38    I was a hero for around twelve seconds, and then just as quickly became one of the squares in an eternal round of four-square, just like the next guy. But for twelve seconds... <music up>

39   Okay, so that's my brag for the day. Like everybody else, I need these useless affirmations.

40   Have a well-writ day. Enjoy music.

41   And please.

42   Go Sharks.

43   Peace.

~H~

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  The Daily News

1  I NEVER write about dreams, nor talk about them much really.

2  In fact, whenever I hear someone say, "I had a dream last night," I always think of Mercutio's line, that "...dreamers often lie."

3   But it woke me up. In the dream I was clearly downtown at the Center for the Performing Arts, some huge awards show of some sort. I remember seeing many luminaries in the San Jose theatre community, but the only one I recognized was Diana Schuster, who was a thunderously talented director there for years.

4   I was alone, but enjoying people watching. I was wearing my black bathrobe, a black pocket tee, and light blue flannel pajama shorts. As always, I felt invisible, so I didn't really think anybody was watching me.

5   But there was mingling, and some important guy in front announcing arriving names as they would come in.

6   But I had to use the rest room, and at one point got up to head there. As I reached the entrance to the place, some important luminary's name was announced at the exact moment I hit the doorway. I had heard a bit of a buzz, and then enormous laughter.

7   Obviously they had been expecting some important luminary, and here was a guy in a black robe. My legs showed that I was in a pajama shorts and a black pocket tee, so I sort of waved and walked off like a king. A huge laugh, and slight applause as I headed down a hallway. They then announced whoever the big luminary was, and there was great applause.

8   As I headed into the bathroom, I heard a sort of "Whisper, whisper, whisper" and then heard, "Mr. Bud Harrington, ladies and gentlemen!" And then I heard laughter and applause.

9    I smiled, but still had to go. When I looked up, the bathroom was mixed with both men and women. The women stood in bejeweled clothing in line at the urinal's, some of which were trough style, as in a stadium. Nobody thought anything of anything, which made me laugh, because 'twas ever thus in theatre.

10   Even when I ran the Theatre at YB, girls routinely went in the boys' rest room, and boys in the girls'. For whatever reason, there never seemed to be rules in that area. I laughed to see that it worked on a professional level as well.

11   I also remember right before I awakened that enough people in the San Jose theatre community had heard of me that I received applause. I've no idea what it was I ever contributed, but it was nice, in an odd sort of way.

12   Oh, I served on a youth outreach committee of some sort for a few years, and stunned the executive staff one year when they wanted educators to come up with some sort of rating system for plays, the same as they have with movies: G, PG-13, that sort of thing. They were WAY serious about this, and I spoke up.

13   This part is not a dream. This actually happened. I raised my hand and spoke quite eloquently about how as a kid, I would be taken by hand by my Mom to the grand San Francisco theatres, The Curran, The Orpheum, and the Golden Gate. I told them that those theatres blew away all other theatres in the Bay Area, including what was at the time the Civic Light Opera, or CLO.

14    I told them that what attracted me to the theatre originally was how cutting edge and how bold it was with language, with topics, with political edge, and with macabre portraits of our silky view of life. To me, putting ratings on plays was an insult to some one of the greatest arts around. It would be like rating art museums, or world art. My world wasn't the world of popcorn and movies, although I enjoyed and continue to enjoy film.

15   But watching the world actually talking about rating plays seemed abhorrent to me, and does to this day.

16   Did you ever speak in front of people, and for whatever reason, your words just hit on all cylinders? That day, right in the midst of my anti-censorship talk, Diana Schuster put both elbows on the table and gestured with palms up, a sort of, "Gimme, gimme!" finger movement, as though she had fought this battle for years, and that it had kept landing on deaf ears. I was a fresh voice, almost telling the emperors the proper means of covering up.

17   I was young, and being genuine in my thoughts, and my thoughts were that theatre should never be rated. Period. It loses the essence of theatre and gives power into the hands of the feeble-minded. The idea was that CLO/AMTSJ was moving to the masses, receiving more grants, but also reaching a more mainstream audience.

18   Since a more mainstream audience meant children might attend, they wanted some sort of parental-guidance attachment to theatre.

19   So I understood where they were headed, but it still drove me crazy to think that art should change its display because of people who perhaps don't understand the unbridled power of the theatre, nor the nature of theatre in general.,

20   Theatre is a powerful force when it speaks of real issues. It has caused strikes, and changes in thought. Even Wicked brought some very real political issues despite its mainstream appeal. There were no warning labels put on Wicked. Can you imagine?

21   Wicked: Rated PT. Political Thought. May be unsuitable for small children or for people with half a brain.

22   I do recall Diana Schuster looking to me as the innocent voice of reason at a time when reason was quickly leaving all walks of life. I didn't realize it at the time, but after that meeting, there was no longer talk of rating systems on plays in our town.

23   I have no idea if my little speech spoke that powerfully. I can't even lay claim to this. But I do know that they were already convinced it needed to be done, and the only discussion was what to call each rating.

24   After that meeting, all talk of rating professional plays dissipated.

25   To this day I have no idea if my input caused that. I do remember that I was clearly incensed that anybody would consider putting moral ratings on any sort of art.

26    So that dream I had was sort of interesting in that regard.

27    I never in my life was comfortable with being recognized for things. I just always figured that people who do get recognized for things often get recognized for speaking logically.

28    Since the world is an illogical place, logic often warrants applause and recognition when brought to the front.

29   To me, it's like getting applause for saying something like, "We really should think about others first, then ourselves."

30    <thunderous applause>

31   And I always consider what a dunderhead I am, and what a hypocrite, so I seldom think I deserve any sort of praise. My Dad deserves praise. My Mom deserves praise. But myself? Not in this life, not in the next. I wish I could be half the man my Dad is. I'm not even in his league.

32   So I have no idea what the dream meant. I never considered that anything I have accomplished is any better than anything any other schmuck has accomplished. It was a strange moment indeed to hear my name on a microphone, followed by applause.

33  I guess like most people, I feel that I'm pretty much a sham.

34  It's all I can do to stumble through each day without pissing somebody off.

35  Very strange.

36  Well, I guess that's my rant for the morning. I had no idea where this was headed when I awakened yesterday and began writing it. We're always told to write down our dreams, but to be honest, I don't think I dream that often. Most days I wake up and stuble through the day just enough to make it back to a pillow at night.

37   That's about it. And do the best I can to do the right things, I imagine.

38   Anyway, I may never pay attention to a dream again. Seems pretty pointless to me. I'm sure there's something in all of that, but really? No idea.

39   Moving on, Part the First: On a normal note, I passed all health tests yesterday when I visited the doc. My blood pressure had receded remarkably and was pretty normal. No real signs of anything critical, and I even looked pretty cancer free, at least for now. The doctor said I was in really good health and praised me on my diet and exercise regimen.

40   It was great to hear, and made for a rather enjoyable evening.

41   So that's about it for today. Weird dreams and good health I guess.

42   See you again.

43   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Daily News

1  I personally take the blame for throwing the Sharks off last night. I chose to head to Red Lobster in order to watch the game, and we did great going into the third. I decided to head out and try catching it on a secret VS stream on my computer, but when I got home, it buffered. And you know what THAT means...

2   These guys could pinpoint where we are from deep space, but they can't keep a hooked up stream from buffering! Okay, so I tried to get something for nothing, but still. It was flowing when I went to dinner.

3   I am certain that I interrupted the particles that worked so well in the restaurant. The bartender didn't want us to leave, because all was smiles and a lot of great plays.

4   It's funny, because when the Giants made their run I did the same routine every single night. I got home, fed the cats, put on my regalia, started making dinner, and poured a couple of drinks in orange/black parfaits.

5   I did very little to change that routine. Same regalia, same hats, same parfaits, sometimes different food!

6   Even when I was a kid I would do stupid things, especially when we played the Bums. I remember one time putting clothespins on each of my toes in an effort to get a rally going!

7   That might explain my need for wide shoes now that I think about it.

8   Anyway, next time I'll stay. That would be Wednesday. There's still a LOT of hockey left to be played. We looked good except for a few zigs and zags that I never really saw anyway. It was like some UFO flew over and interrupted the flow, locked up the legs, flattened the tires. And Sharks' fans, expect miracles.

9    I will try with all my might not to jinx sports anymore. I felt bad enough that I hinted about Lincecum's throwing of a no-no earlier this week, but that was a legit hint and within the okay way to do it, I insisted to nobody in particular.

10  Oy.

11  Moving on, Part the First: Caitlin found out last night that the church in which she is getting married won't allow CD's or iPod songs AND that any songs in the church have to be either classical or modern/Christian, whatever THAT means.

12  She originally wanted a live version of I See the Light from Tangled. The church just put the kibosh on that one. I sort of understand, because people could come in with some raunchy things, knowing people as I think I do.

13   But in Caitlin's beautiful eyes, Josh has made her see another side to life, and she has shown a tremendous interest in the Catholic church. The song could be seen as a wonderful combination of her dreams of a beautiful life with the perfect guy, as well as her steps into the church, and the glorious side to all of that.

14   I'm hoping we could convince them that the song could be completely about both love and spirituality.

15   Because right now we've been listening to lots of other songs, some cliché, some not. Some are quite beautiful, and will certainly work. But I really like I See the Light, because THEY love it. Let's not lose focus. It is about the young couple.

16  Last week I played that song for my students and told them that it was the song Josh and Caitlin wanted played when they walked down the aisle. My students LOVED that idea, especially if my sister was going to sing it. We thought of getting a guy to sing with her, and that was where it was when they were told yesterday that they couldn't have that song.

17   But each time I listen to it all I can think of is how much it is the two of them.

18   Anyway, I'm hoping we could still arrange to get that song into that church; it would be quite special for the rest of their lives.

19   Sorry, just thinking out loud here. Having been raised a Catholic, I feel I have a right to say that the religion I attended my entire childhood has had a long history of changing rules, and sometimes doing what is in the interest of its parishioners.

20   I won't go into religion too much here, because it is always a hot topic and sure to ruffle some feathers. I keep my religious and spiritual beliefs pretty much to myself, as they are personal. I don't mind calling out hypocrisies and faulty reasoning, and I fully believe that there are no coincidences, that math works, that positive thinking usually ends with better results than negative thinking, and that there is something to Joe-the-Bear. Oh, and to particles.

21  Beyond that, I will bury myself in hypocrisies and faulty reasoning when I begin spouting stuff.

22  But two people are in love. And they have a song that is everything that they are.

23  So I'm going to pray tonight that something miraculous can happen. How many people absolutely know that they have met their destiny? I truly think that Josh and Caitlin have. And I think that love needs to move through every nook and cranny of that church.

24   So Josh and Caitlin, I'm going to have a little talk with my Mom tonight, and all the bright spirits that always seem to work. Maybe we can make some magic happen.

25   It's be a great way to start the week. Always expect miracles.

26  Moving on, Part the Second: So I've a follow-up appointment with my general practitioner today at 4. I went in a few weeks ago to have a lump removed from my shoulder, and did fine; it's disappeared nicely. But they found my blood pressure was off the charts, almost literally.

27  Since then I have completely gone on a massive health kick, eating lots of fruits, vegetables, grains, non-fat milk, legumes, and lighter portions of meat. I have completely cut back almost eighty per cent on sodium, and I'm going for walks and even hopping on the treadmill. I haven't felt this good since I was swimming with the turtles in '09.

28  It's just that it is scheduled for a Monday, which makes for a long week. But it's all good, because if I have a wedding to be a Dad to, then I should have a clean bill of health.

29   I've felt wonderful lately, so I'm crossing my fingers and moving ahead. And I expect miracles. 

30   Anyway, those are the rantings of a simple man on a simple Monday.

31   Live life.

32   Love life.

33   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHARKS!!!!!!

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau, left, celebrates as Detroit
Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, right, skates past at the end of Game 7
of an NHLhockey Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal playoff series Thursday,
May 12, 2011, in San Jose, Calif. San Jose won 3-2 to take the series and advance to the conference
finals. (Eric Risberg/AP)

 

The Daily News

1  The DN stood on hold all last night.

2   I got home pretty fast after school yesterday.

3   The second I got home I made a huge smoothie with grapes, bananas, lettuce, melon, non-fat milk, and natural almonds. Lip-smackin', and then Nicoley came over with some AWESOME news, but I am not at liberty to reveal it quite yet.

4   And then I went on hold. A half hour before the Sharks/Wings game I watched all the pre-game hoopla with Greg Papa, Some Chick journalist from Detroit, the venerable Ray Ratto, and the Merc News' Mark Purdy. Some Chick journalist predicted the Wings were going easily to win because of their experience; Ratto stayed with "Sharks in six!" and Purdy said what he said a week ago, "Sharks in seven, because lot of these guys are old enough to be your grandfather," referring to Some Chick.

5  The reality is that either team could have won.

6   But the Sharks got hungrier early.

7   Amazing game, amazing battle to the bitter end.

8   But we all knew our Sharks HAD to win this one, for the history, for the franchise, and for the Town.

9   Anything less is almost scary to think about.

10  But the Sharks showed up. Not for the second period, but for MOST of the game.

11  Some amazingly wussy moments, but overall, they did what they needed to do to win, and Patrick Marleau the Gutless stepped up when a goal was needed and faithfully laid a puck right between the Red Wings' shoulder blades.

12  I actually thought I heard a "KUH-RUNCH!"

13  The six-on-five at the end was a bit scary, but really, an open net means desperation, no matter how aggressively you try to describe it, or how "dangerous" the other team is. Open net means open desperation, and you losin' dawg.

14   Anyway, it is sure nice to have another Bay Area team in there competing with the big boys. And the Giants' and Sharks are pretty good friends, so hopefully the particles will fall over he entire northern part of the state.

15   And what is REALLY fun about the Sharks is that they are homespun, home-town boyz. It's OUR downtown, and OUR town, and everything that is home.

16   And last night HAD to happen. I just had to.

17   And say what you will: the Sharks knew this.  Yes, they rested a bit in the second period, but in the end, they laid the handle down.

18   And yes, it IS fun to live in the very town that wins big.

19   Where it goes from here is anybody's guess, but something magic happened in Sannozay last night. We are somehow suddenly running with the big boyz, and don't it feel good?

20   Walkin' on sunshine.

21   Good times.

22   It's all about a huge victory last night.

23   I talked with lots of people, and the prevailing attitude all day yesterday was amazingly one of apprehension and hesitation. I saw very few Sharks' fans stepping back and remembering that this was a HOME game, and a seventh game after the Sharks began 3-0.

24   I tried to pump it up, but I'll admit that there were times during the second period when I started wondering if these guys were standing down a little. But Niemi's wall and a huge hit by Boyle turned a lot around, and when Marleau came up big, it started to look storied.

25   The rest was a race to the finish. I found myself rooting for the clock more than for the players. I wanted us to eat up the time, run it down, and keep them out of our end of the ice.

26   A great, great win for Sannozay.

27   It is okay for all of us to be proud this morning.

28   Hats off to a fiesty Detroit team. What an incredibly tortuous series.

29   And now let's look to tomorrow.

30   Go Sharks.

31   Have a great weekend everybody.

32   Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington