All in a Day's Work

6:12 am--The phone rings; it's my boss telling me that we have no power at school, but we'll proceed with school until we hear otherwise. Sadly, Dave and I have no power, either. Thankfully, oil lamps offer enough light by which to get dressed.

7:25 am--arrive at school. Head to cafeteria to help corral kids.

8:20 am--dismiss kids to go to 1st period.

8:30 am--head to 2nd floor--my post for the morning. Walk and walk and walk. Check on all classrooms. Move classes from rooms with no windows to hallways or open rooms with windows. Ask teachers not to allow kids to go to the restroom--there are no lights in there.

9:15 am--Answer for the gazillionth time, "I don't know when a decision will be made. The superintedent has to make that call."

9:30 am--Get the word to start collecting attendance; things are looking up. We wouldn't be taking attendance if we weren't thinking about dismissing.

9:45 am--Turn in attendance and learn we are dismissing at 10:15; start spreading the word.

10:15 am--Kids out the doors and to the bus loop.

10:40 am--Sit down to debrief about power outage and the latest student scandal--nude photos of a student are being circulated via text/multimedia message.

12:05 pm--Pick up lunch at Chili's To Go

12:30 pm--Arrive back to learn that some little darling decided we needed more excitement. A sink in a science lab was stuffed the water was turned on and left running. The overflowing water flooded that 3rd floor classroom, the 2nd floor classroom underneath, and the 1st floor computer lab underneath.

1:00-5:00pm--Blurrrrrr

The Beginning of the Summer of Concerts

Miranda and I typically go to concerts for bands that we follow on a semi regular basis. Since moving to Dallas we have frequented Billy Bob's, Gilley's and a few other smaller venues to see groups like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Rogers Band, etc. For some reason this summer, the stars have aligned just right and there are tons of good concerts that we have wanted to go to. Tom Petty, Jimmy Buffett, Cross Canadian Ragweed, among others.

Last night was the first concert in what appears to be a long streatch of summer concerts for us. We went to the Dallas House of Blues to see the Eli Young Band. They blend rock with a slight tinge of country music to produce a quite entertaining set. Neither of us had ever been to the House of Blues before. It was probably the nicest concert venue that I have ever been to. Small venue, balcony seating overlooking the stage, well decorated, etc. We had a fun time, but are paying for it today with ringing ears. It should be a fun and musical summer, but we might need to invest in some earplugs.

Shopping

I know people who go to New York for the fabulous shopping. Being a die-hard shopper, I was excited at the prospect of having some time to shop in the city. I had a couple of things I wanted to look for: 1)red ballet flats 2)a dress for prom--something attractive, but not too revealing, but not a dress that screams "Mother-of-the-Bride" .

Wednesday afternoon, we had time to stroll around the Times Square area. True to my fashion, I didn't buy anything on the first day, wanting to be sure I found just the right thing to buy.

Thursday, I had a little free time between dinner and Mary Poppins in the garment district. Before dinner, a dress in a window had caught my eye. So, two ladies and I strolled back down to look at the gowns. The shop was a wholesale to public one, with no dressing rooms. I found the dress in the window in my size. One of the ladies with me, suggested another dress. Both were pretty. In trying to decide which dress, I was given individual prices. Trying to make the hard sale, Mark gave me a price for both dresses. I hesitated saying, "I don't need two dresses. Just one." He gave a lower price for both. I still insisted that I only needed one dress. The price dropped again. I had to buy them both. Pam, the theater teacher with me, bought two dresses as well--one identical to mine. Mark assured us that we could try the dresses on in our hotel and come back the following day between 11-2 for an necessary exchanges. So, two lovely beaded gowns accompanied me to Mary Poppins.

Back in the hotel, I tried on the first--the one that beckoned from the window--it was beautiful, with a full waist, it is quite forgiving of little tummies. The second dress was lower cut that I expected, backless, and seemed to accentuate my little pooch. Pam called a bit later to say that her frocks were too large. We decided to bring our dresses with us for exchange on Friday. I carefully rolled up my dress to return and put it in my backpack before departing Friday morning. Back at the store, Pam quickly exchanged her dresses for a size smaller, while I chose a black dress made almost identically to the first dress. Knowing I could sell the dress on ebay or wear it made the purchase more fun.

Friday afternoon, I walked to Saks Fifth Avenue to purchase a New York City snow globe. Dave and I have begun a collection; we have Saks snow globes from Austin and Atlanta, as well.

Saturday, we spent a few hours in China Town. While I didn't fall for the knock-off designer bags, it's not that I don't love purses, it's just that all of these are so big, and I prefer small bags. The girls had a great time buying "Chanel", "Prada", "Coach", "Luis Vuitton", and other "designer"bags in back rooms.

I'm convinced the "back room" experiences of China Town are concocted to lure the tourists. As you walked through the streets, occasionally, someone would walk by quietly questioning "Prada"? "Gucci"? "DVD"? Evidently, cops crack down on Gucci and Prada knock-offs. The kids were smart and journeyed to the back rooms in groups. One group of five had the ultimate story. They traveled around a block with the leader to the back room, who was communicating via Nextel walkie-talkie to someone in the destination. Ascending three floors in a small elevator, they then traveled down a long, narrow, winding hallway to the room. There they were rewarded with "Prada" and "Gucci" bags. One girl declares that an area of the room had real Prada bags: the proprietor told her the bags were expensive ($250); she noted that the bags donned the real designer tags (the knock-off bags have no tags). Perhaps the bags were stolen?

While in China Town, I bought two pashminas, though I could have bought ten. I also bought three stone bangle bracelets. I considered buying a "Rolex" for Dave, but $50 seemed excessive for a watch that might not work and certainly carries no warranty. I was disappointed that there was no art work for sale in China Town. Many street vendors in the Times Square-Fifth Avenue area have cool prints and photographs for sale. I decided that I might get a better deal in China Town; I was wrong.

Saturday I found a Times Square photograph for Dave's office. I selected it specifically because a a billboard for The Lion King is prominent in the photograph.

I look forward to going back to explore fun shops in SoHo.

Dining

Really, I can't believe I'm devoting an entire post to dining because what we ate was not that spectacular. But, remember, we were eating breakfast and dinner on the tour company's dime.

Wednesday we had lunch at the Stardust Diner in Times Square. Many aspiring actors and actresses work here singing show tunes as they serve. We had a nice time listening to the talent. I wisely chose to have a salad for lunch.

Thursday for lunch I inhaled two hot dogs from Papaya Dog--a local chain specializing in hot dogs and smoothies. $3.50 for 2 hot dogs and a 20 oz. smoothie.

Thursday night we had dinner at a kosher restaurant. I had the corned beef sandwich--that's all it was corned beef on rye--no lettuce, no tomato, no condiments. I did add some mustard. The coleslaw was marinated and divine. The reason I mention that the restaurant is kosher: one of the boys in the group was celebrating his 18th birthday. A family friend who lives in NYC was coming to meet us with a gift his mom had sent. The tour guide thought it was a cake and told the restaurant owner to be looking for someone. The restaurant owner quickly came over to tell us that a cake could not be brought in from the outside since a rabbi had not overseen it being made to know that it was kosher. These are things you just don't worry about in Texas.

Friday's lunch was eaten just as quickly. Pam and I found a deli; while I could have gotten a salad, I had to get a meatball sub. It was delicious.

Friday night we had pizza for dinner--yummy New York style pizza--huge slices, one topping.

Saturday night we ate at Junior's in Grand Central Station. My burger was delicious and huge. I ate half. I also had fries and cheese cake. This was the most substantial meal the tour group served us.

When I go back, I want to have Italian in Little Italy and Chinese in China Town. And, I want to eat a leisurely meal. Everything was too rushed.

Oh Mower How I Hate Thee

Today was the first day this spring that I had to mow the grass. Ummm, make that mow the weeds. The heat, bugs, THE HILL, cigarette butts in the yard all combine for a rather miserable afternoon.

I have never really been a fan of mowing, but I have convinced myself that it is good for me to get out and get some exercise. I'm starting a counterargument in my head about how I can get out of mowing this summer....Who am I kidding though. I am way too cheap to actually pay someone to mow the grass for me. The fall can't get here soon enough.

Seeing the Sites

Saturday we spent time at Ellis Island. We rode the ferry from the New Jersey side to Ellis Island. Due to the chilly weather, we skipped Liberty Island. I could have spent a day at Ellis Island. I knew that my Fouts ancestors didn't come through Ellis Island, but it would have been fun to have time to look for other ancestors in the registry. Exhibits of artifacts brought my the immgrants were fascinating.

The great hall--seen here--has been immortalized in several films, including The Godfather.
The exterior of the building at Ellis Island.
The Statue of Liberty from Ellis Island.
After riding the ferry to the New York side, we walked through lower Manhattan. Below is the interior of Trinity Church--the oldest church in the city. The choir was practicing for Easter Sunday services.
Alexander Hamilton is buried at Trinity.
Friday, we walked through the south part of Central Park. Fans of Sex and the City, Big Daddy or countless other shows and movies will recognize this photo of the park. According to our tour guide, this is the only straight path in the park. The other paths all curve.
We also stopped for a moment at this memorial to John Lennon in the Strawberry Fields area of the park.

This is the Dakota where Lennon was killed. Yoko Ono still lives on the seventh floor; until recently she owned the entire floor, but has sold some square footage of late. It is just visible at the top of the photograph; it's the floor with the black wrought iron fence.

The boathouse at Central Park. Another Sex and the City reference: Carrie fell in the water here; the scene with her and Big.

Friday afternoon we had lots of free time in the Times Square-Fifth Avenue area. I chose to sit and soak up the sun in Bryant Park. The 50 degree weather was tolerable--with a coat of course--in the sun

This is one of several pools that lead from Fifth Avenue to Rockfellar Center. When we were here on Wednesday, none of the Easter Lilies were planted. But on Friday, the area was adorned in its Easter best.
Skaters were enjoying one of the last days to play on the ice.
A view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the ferry.

Traveling (Woes)

Thankfully, our flights to and from NYC were on time with no problems. However, finding our hotel was an adventure. We were staying at a Sheraton in Iselin, New Jersey.

We left NYC around 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon in the rain in the hands of our trusty-bus driver, Dave. (Despite what I'm about to tell you, he really was a great guy.) Around 6pm, we got in the vicinity of the hotel. Our tour guide had been instructed to call for directions, which she did. According to the first person she talked to, we had gone too far on the NJ Turnpike and needed to turn around and take exit 131A. We turned around. We took exit 131. We called back. Take 131A. We went to 131A. A Hilton, but no Sheraton. We pulled into a large cemetery to turn around. Imagine backing a tour bus from a narrow, barely one-lane cemetery drive onto a two-lane road at dusk in the rain. We used a student's iphone to access MapQuest, "no information available" was our response. We headed back to the NJ Turnpike, talking to the hotel, again. Thinking we had gone the wrong way when we exited, we attempted to go across the NJ Turnpike the other way. Oops. It just dumped us back on to the highway. We went up several exits and turned around. We went back to the area around the Hilton and called again. This time, someone stayed on the phone with us for 10 minutes while we were directed to the hotel. Once we got the hotel in our sights, it still took 10 minutes of looping around to make a left turn to get there. So, four hours later, we got off of the bus. It's like this Sheraton was in the Bermuda triangle of New Jersey.

Night two . . . we got lost again. Some gave the driver different directions. We were told to turn at the 4th light, turns out it was the 3rd light.

Night three. . . we made it to the hotel with no miss-turns on the FIRST try!

Beyond this inability to find the hotel, Dave was a great driver. He was patient with lolly-gagging students when double-parked in the city dropping us off. Whenever we were exhausted from walking around, Dave's big golden bus arrived like a chariot to offer rest to our weary feet and legs. Having someone drive us around in the chaos that is NYC traffic was fantastic.

Broadway Shows

I was quite excited about seeing musicals on Broadway. We saw Mary Poppins, The Phantom of the Opera, and Legally Blonde. I was least excited at the prospect of Mary Poppins and most excited about Phantom.

Sometimes feelings are all wrong. . . it turns out Mary Poppins was my favorite of the three shows. The technical aspects of the show were amazing. Sets and a flying Mary Poppins are all benefits of a Disney show. While our seats were quite high in the balcony, this view afforded a great view of the staging. It's been years since I've watched the Disney movie Mary Poppins; "Chim-Chim Cheree" and "Supercalifragilisticxpialidous" were the only songs I really recalled. How could I forget "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" and my favorite, "Practically Perfect." It's like Mary and I are long-lost practically perfect soul sisters. I loved Mary's long fitted jackets; she must, too, as she donned one in black, blue, red, and purple.

The Phantom of the Opera was disappointing, many of the Phantom's songs were unintelligible. I think my reaction to the show might have been different had we seen Phantom before Mary Poppins.

Legally Blonde was a fun, fast comedy. As a fan of the movie, the musical is just as fun. The girl playing Elle had a voice that was a bit nasal at moments, but Orfeh, (yes, just one name) who played Paulette, the hairdresser, had a fantastic voice. I still find myself humming along to "Ohmigod You Guys" (you can listen to it if you click the link above and look for it--but do so with caution, you'll be humming along) and a song called "Ireland" was added by Paulette's character--it was a cute tune about how listening to soothing Celtic music takes her to Ireland.

Our seats for all three shows were in the upper balcony (last 2 rows for 2 shows), but they weren't that bad. You could see the entire stage and a lot of the technical aspects. When I drag Dave back to see The Lion King, we'll get better tickets.

New York, New York

Last week for the last part of my Spring Break, I traveled as the administrator on duty with a group of 23 theater students to the Big Apple. There were three moms and a teacher along as chaperones, so the trip was really quite well supervised. The kids were good, and we all had a great trip. I don't really know where to begin with all that I saw while I was there. Do I divide by days or theme? While I contemplate that, I can say that I'm ready to go back to NYC. I've always wanted to go; Dave has had no desire to accompany me, so this trip was just perfect. And, I gushed each night about how Dave really must see NYC--if nothing else for the architecture--that he has said he's willing to go with me. (Now, we just have to find the time and the money.)

I've decided to go with the thematic approach; I'll try to cover everything over the next few days: Broadway Shows, Traveling (Woes), Seeing the Sites, Shopping, Dining.

Daveation is Growing

When I posted about NationStates a couple weeks ago, my new nation was pretty small and the issues for the country were pretty tame. I have gotten a few other people hooked on this game with that post. Miranda started The Republic of FlipFlopGirl . Letha started The Empire of Hellnet . And Lesa started The Free Land of Lesatania.

My how things have changed for Daveation. See the description of Daveation below:

The Grand Duchy of Daveation is a very large, devout nation, remarkable for its complete absence of social welfare. Its hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical population of 81 million are ruled by a mostly-benevolent dictator, who grants the populace the freedom to live their own lives but watches carefully for anyone to slip up.

The medium-sized, corrupt government is mainly concerned with Law & Order, although Religion & Spirituality and Defence are secondary priorities. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 14%. A healthy private sector is led by the Uranium Mining industry, followed by Retail and Book Publishing.

Motorists' locations are constantly tracked by intelligence and law enforcement agencies, heavy industry must go to expensive lengths to dispose of waste and avoid even more costly cleanup costs, married couples must call each other "darling" or risk a fine, and record sales of 'child-whacking sticks' have been recorded. Crime is moderate. Daveation's national animal is the Geiko geeko, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its currency is the gold dubloon.

Daveation is ranked 1st in the region and 4,768th in the world for Most Corrupt Governments.