Across the country in 8 days

It's crazy where basketball has taken me.....places I would never go otherwise. Atlanta more times than I can count, California, New York City, Little Rock, and now Tampa and Spokane, WA. Last weekend we had a whirlwind trip to Tampa. The team lost in their first game to some random team from upstate New York. They don't know how to play basketball up there!! At least I got to get a tan (well, sort of) and to have my first Chipotle eating experience. It was way warm and sunny and amazing. Well, amazing minus two consecutive days of 5:30am departure times. I'm all about waking up early, but that's just taking it too far. I was also really bummed because we had purchased tickets to the Yankees-Blue Jays spring training game on Saturday. When the team lost, we had to head back to Nashville and we missed the game. That made the second weekend in a row that we lost on a Friday and I paid for tickets to a sporting event I wasn't able to attend. Awesome.

This weekend we are going to Spokane, Washington. If anyone has tips on things we can do there, we would appreciate them. We're having a difficult time figuring out what there is to do in this place. As of now, it looks like we're going to rent a car and drive to Idaho. Woo!! (?) It's going to be quite the long traveling experience....and I'm counting on a two and a half hour layover in the Seattle airport to catch the Memphis game. They'll be dealing with one upset girl if I miss that game. Especially when we were really supposed to leave this morning instead of tomorrow night. I'll update about Washington when we get back, which hopefully won't be until Monday (after the team makes it to the ELITE 8!).

Countdown to Opening Day: 3 days!!

It's about time!

1 WEEK TIL OPENING DAY!

That is all.

Taking March Madness to a whole new level

This weekend, I was in Atlanta for the Men's SEC Tournament. Vandy played on Thursday, beating Auburn. We then advanced to the quarterfinals, where we had to play Arkansas. The game resulted in our second straight quarterfinal loss to Arkansas. I think our team was immensely disturbed by their "Calling those Hogs". That's where I believe our problems lie. It matters, but not as much as it could. We should still have a pretty nice seed in the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday.

Having the opportunity to see all of the games was amazing--this tournament has been incredible. If it's possible, though, the weather overshadowed the amazing basketball. After our loss, we stayed the night in Atlanta to come back early Saturday morning. We stayed downtown instead of going back to the hotel to wallow in self-pity. After walking around downtown Atlanta, Meg, Doug, and I went back to the Georgia Dome to see more basketball (mainly with the purpose of watching the Kentucky game against Georgia). I wanted to experience Kentucky basketball at it's finest. After hearing the "C-A-T-S, CATS, CATS, CATS!" cheer no less than half a dozen times on the street getting to the Dome, I started to get a feeling of what it would be like. We got to the Dome, and there was blue EVERYWHERE. It was crazy.

We found some seats and settled in to watch the end of the Bama/MS State game, which was amazing! They ended up going into overtime on quite the incredible Bama 3-pointer. I didn't have very much invested in the game, but was excited nonetheless. With 2:11 left in the overtime, we heard a really, really loud rumbling sound. At first, we thought there was a helicopter just flying too close to the Dome. The ceiling was rippling and the catwalks/displays were swaying around. That's when stuff started falling from the top of the Dome. My ears were popping and we thought that maybe a hole had been punched in the top of the Dome, which Doug said had happened before. Then, we realized that this wasn't the case.

If you know me, you know how much I dread tornadoes. It was more than a bit traumatic because many of my friends were next door at the CNN Center/Omni Hotel, which was even more damaged. Everyone I know is okay and wasn't physically hurt. Emotionally was another story, though. Here's a pic of the damage to the Georgia Dome from inside:


Not that bad (until the water main burst), but scary! And they canceled the UK/UGA game, so I didn't even get to experience Kentucky basketball! I'm really happy that everyone is okay, and know this is one tournament I won't soon forget.

I'll keep you updated on our NCAA adventures!

I love to laugh!

Cute kid story.

Today, they were finishing up maps they made of fairy tale lands. One of the groups had creatively made a lake out of bubble wrap. It had little tiny poofy orange balls on it. I asked the group if the poofy orange balls were meant to be there. This is the conversation that followed:

Girl: "Those are goldfish, Ms. Croft." (very matter-of-fact)
I smile and chuckle--I thought it was imperceptible.
Girl: "Why did you smile?"
Boy: "She just laughs alot."

Pretty much sums up my life. :o)

Positivity

I'm getting really close to my last day of student teaching (it's 3 days away), which means I'm getting really close to what I have been dreading since I was a sophomore: Graduation. In order to keep myself from getting embarrassingly sad about "the day", I just keep thinking about all the great things that will come after I grow up. Here's what I focus on the most:

1. Affordable laundry. Yes, I am writing this as I wait for my load to dry after the dryer ate $1 of mine, and then I had to go get more quarters.

2. Readily accessibly laundry. I know that the machines are just down the elevator, but it's still a pain and prevents me from washing clothes as often as I should.

3. Slightly more counter space. The current 2 square feet in the kitchen are no longer cutting it.

4. Dishwasher. I hate washing dishes almost as much as I hate doing laundry. Despite the impression my dislikes may give off, I do quite enjoy cleanliness.

5. Parking. If you've ever tried to park at Vandy, you know what I mean.

6. Schedules. Student teaching has given me a schedule, but that's all about to go away. I get much more done when I wake up at the same time daily (and have a reason to do so).

7. Oh, yeah. Income.

The only problem with this thinking is that I begin thinking about all the things I will miss about college. It's inevitable. But, for now, I will enjoy what's left and keep thinking about the positives, as sparse as they may be.



Opening day countdown: 21 days

C'mon, Congress

ESPN's top story on Tuesday was about congressional hearings that hadn't even happened yet. Not the fact that pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training, or that Livan Hernandez, arguably one of the best pitchers in the game, signed with a new team. Nope. I was about an old pitcher who may or may not have had a couple of injections of steroids several years ago. I'm sad for ESPN that they have to report this crap. They can't focus on the reason the sports network exists--to present and promote sports in America. Instead, they have turned into a type of CourTV (which now is called "TruTV"?!).

While I feel for them, the ones I really worry about are those Congressmen who feel there is nothing better to do with their time than to hunt out sports figures. (Let's not forget about Arlen Specter looking into the New England Patriots and SpyGate.) I have a list of 10 things they would be better served spending time on:

1. No Child Left Behind
2. Economy
3. Homelessness
4. Immmigration
5. Health Care
6. Poverty
7. Global Warming
8. Crime Prevention
9. Unemployment
10. "War on Terror"

You might say that many of these things overlap. That's the point. By addressing one of these things, they could have an effect on many others. By addressing Roger Clemens' supposed use of steroids, they affect........high-end drug use? I'm gonna venture that our crashing economy is a more pressing issue.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the Patriots should be able to secretly tape other teams' practices, NOR do I think that steroid use should be tolerated in any setting. I DO, however, think that these things can be handled internally, within the private organizations. Congress can spend its time much more wisely. Even I know that.

One thing I would like you know about me is...

When I first got to my placement, the teacher had the students write paragraphs to me about themselves. She gave the prompts for the four sentences they had to write ("My name is...", "My favorite color is...", "I like to...", and my favorite, "One thing I would like you to know about me is...").

I thought that you might enjoy reading what my students wanted me to know about them, so here we go....

- One thing i would like you to know about me is you is great.
- One thing I Would like you to Know abut (about) Me is I play with barzs (Bratz).
- One thing I would like you to know about me I am good.
- One Thing I would like you to know about me is i like to dochors (do chores).
- One thing I would like you to know about me is that I am nice.
- One thing would like you to know about me is i am good in school.
- One thing I would like you to know about me is I love to play my laptop.
- one thing I like would to you to know about me is I like play in the snow. (yes, that's how he wrote it)
- One thing I would like you to know about me is I like te (to) eat bananas and orange's.
- One thing I would like you to know about me is I watah (watch) TV.
- One thing I would like you to know adout (about) me is I have three sister and one brother.
- One thing I would like you to now about me is I watch t.v.
- One thing I would like you to know about me is i love to read.
- One thing I would like you to know about me is I play a psp games!!!! (Playstation)
- One thing I would like you to Know about me is I have a bro.
- One thing I would like you to konw (know) about me is I like to ride my bike.
- One thing I would like you to know about me is I like to play games.
- On thing I would like you to Know about me is a (I) like to read book.
- One thing I would like you to no (know) about me is you ar (are) prtty (pretty).
- One thing I would I like you to know about me is I woch (watch) tv.

I'm gonna miss them..... :-(