Hyperlink Poem

My life will never be the same
now that bikesnob has a name
Alas!

I Am Not a Hero

It could be that I'm in the middle of teaching T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men," but classroom time just hasn't seemed all that worthwhile lately. I remember seeing Dead Poet's Society when I was fifteen and having that crazy, deep-in-the-gut-sense that if I could just get myself into a situation where I could make that sort of difference I'd be happy my whole life. Twenty-some-odd-years later, I've realized the truth about teaching.

Here it is--Hollywood tells these stories about "heroic" teachers because our culture isn't willing to imagine teaching outside of this heroic model. We're big fans of the flash of inspiration, that eureka moment when a student looks up from a piece of homework (beaming of course) and cries, "I understand." We're not such big fans, however, of what it takes to actually get there--long, hard, sometimes mind-numbingly dull hours of work and practice.

I don't care what you saw Jaime Escalante do in Stand and Deliver or Erin Gruwell do in Freedom Writers, Rocky-style training montages don't cut it. In fact, the real-life Gruwell was only in the classroom for five years. Most teachers I know clocked that before they finished their degrees and got their "real" jobs. Our society treats teachers like heroes because heroes do it for the satisfaction. I am not a hero. I am a highly trained professional, with a specific and necessary skill set. It's nice that my job (like most) comes with occasional moments of satisfaction, but I wouldn't last long if my only reward was "satisfaction." Students come and go--most of them are hardly memorable.

Ultimately, my commitment is to the knowledge. I try to pass it on in the hopes that it will exist for at least one more generation. I hope to stave off the next Dark Age just that much longer.

This is the way the class ends
This is the way the class ends
This is the way the class ends
Not with a bell, but a whimper

Mmm Balls

After an excruciating twenty-two hours of student conferencing over the last three days--and yes, I'm really, really, really sure that the word isn't emplicationing--I was definitely ready to get out of my head a little after work today.

Luckily the weather cooperated and I was able to a backwards brick, which consisted of a 5k run followed by a ten-mile bike ride. Neither of these distances is especially impressive, but I haven't combined workouts in forever and old men like me have to pace themselves. My goal for both the run and the ride was to put out a consistent 75-80% effort. In other words, I wanted to see what I could do, but be sure to save enough to get home. Looking at the numbers my HRM collected, I'm fairly happy with the turnout. I finished the run at around 23:00, took my time changing shoes and getting on the bike and then finished a fairly hilly ten-miler at around 35:00. Counting the "transition," I worked out for a total of 1:11: 33, with an average heart rate of 143 (which my monitor tells me is 78% of my theoretical max).

In related news, the diet creeps along. I've been stalled in the lower 180s for the last week or two (see below), but at 182--what the scale said after my workout today--I've lost exactly twenty pounds since I began eating more carefully in the beginning of January. I've added some muscle in the upper-body region, so I don't know what my fat loss might work out to be, but I can feel the difference--especially in my runs. That said, I'd probably be closer to 175 if it weren't for things like this:

Cake Balls

First you bake a cake--I opted for a plain white cake, but I suppose anything could work. Next you prepare of bowl of frosting. Crumble the cake into the bowl and mix everything together until it forms a fairly coherent dough.  Roll teaspoon-sized portions into balls, decorate as appropriate, and ignore the
whimpering of reason in the back of your head.


Actually, these weren't as good as I hoped they'd be, but they're still cake-and-frosting balls so how much can I complain?

Texas Bird's Nest Toast

Breakfasts are pretty special around my house, especially on weekends.  Since I don't eat meat and I'm trying to eat a specific level of protein there are a lot of egg in my breakfasts.  Usually schedule and cholesterol concerns hold sway during the week so I'll do whatever sort of egg white omelet I can put together with oatmeal or grits and eat quickly before I have to go teach.
 

The weekends are another story. Today was chicory coffee from New Orleans and Texas Bird's Nest Toast.  Cook a thick slice of wheat bread on a very lightly oiled cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Give the bread a few minutes head start then crack the egg into the cut out.  Flip the whole deal after a couple minutes then cook until the yoke sets. Sat and pepper to taste. Serve with curried home fires, soy bacon, and grapefruit on the side, you're talking about the sort of breakfast someone can sit over a solid couple of hours.

Finally, I had my first swim in years yesterday.  Alternating freestyle and breast stroke I did 500m in about twenty-five minutes (counting a couple breaks).  That's nothing to brag about, but I think it does mean that I can do the tri that my buddy from work wants me to enter with him in September.

Spring Break

So we sent to Florida for spring break.  I know, "not bad," you're thinking and you're mostly right.  It was however a working trip, most of which the missus spent at a conference and I spent working on a presentation I have to give next month.  Getting to work on it near the beach didn't hurt though.

Additionally, when the weather was good (really only the last day) I had a great run that took me across the intercoastal waterway on this

and all the way to Sarasota Bay.

I'd say I clocked about fifteen miles over the trip (not counting the 1000 or so I did in the car).  My next race is a 5K in May--I hope to be under 21 for that one, but we'll see.