I decided to take a class this summer. A few weeks ago I signed up for “Classroom Management”. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 to 7:00. When I told my principal that I was taking the class he wondered why a teacher with 17 years of experience, who has been nominated for Teacher Of The Year twice would take such a course. He said I could teach the course. I told him it was simple. It's 2 easy credits towards re-certification and salary increase. He then said, Good move.

This afternoon/evening was the first class. There's about 25 people in the class. They all have different backgrounds, levels of experience, and ethnicities. The teacher asked everyone to tell why they were taking the course. We went around the room and most people explained that they had had troubles with their last class, had a marginal evaluation and their principal told them they had to take it, or they had significant discipline problems with students. When we got to me and I said I was simply taking it for re-certification and salary increase, everyone laughed. The teacher said there was nothing wrong with that and that I might actually get something from the class. Some of these people just shouldn't be in teaching. From the problems they described, I wondered how they were able to get the job in the first place. I'm sad to say there are some really stupid teachers out there. So sad but so true.

So the teacher talks about the class, what will be expected, what book to get to read, etc. Then we watched a video about how to set up the desks in your classroom to best deal with discipline. OH MY GOSH! It was the lamest video I've ever seen. You would have to be an idiot not to know how to set up your desks. I just sat there stunned that we were actually watching it. Of course the idiots around me were taking notes! I couldn't believe it. I guess I shouldn't be so mean. I'm sure there are those out there who are clueless. I should remember what it was like when I was a new teacher and I was learning new things. But damn, some things are so obivious. After the video we talked briefly about different classroom configurations. One older music teacher was concerned about how she would have her students sit in her class without desks. For the next several minutes we discussed her options and asked her many questions. Duh! Sit on the floor. My eyes were just rolling. After that he gave us our homework, which is to draw a floor plan of our classroom to show how we set up our desks. I feel like I'm a freshmen in college. Then he let us go. The class is supposed to meet for 3 hours twice a week but he said we would never stay in class that long. He said the longest we'd be in class is 2 hours. That's fine with me.

So for the next five weeks I'll have to endure the pain of sitting through this class twice a week. Maybe some of the idiots will drop out.

Today I went to the dentist for my yearly checkup. Yes, yearly. I refuse to go to the dentist every 6 months. It costs too much money and I can't take the pain that he always wants to inflict on me. There is always something wrong when I go to the dentist.

Last year he told me that I will need to have two crowns on two teeth that have very old fillings in them. One of them I had a root canal on several years ago. So today when he (well, not my dentist, his partner) told me again that I needed crowns. I wasn't surprised. This time I decided I would go ahead and get it done. So in two weeks I go back for the first phase of the work and get temporaries put on. Then I go another two weeks after that and have the final crowns put on.

The checkup today wasn't as bad as I always think it's going to be. The lady who did my cleaning was very nice and didn't cause too much pain. She did use this new tool that I haven't seen before. It was like an electric pick or something. It vibrates at a really high rate of speed and takes the plaque off your teeth below the gum line. I thought it might hurt when she was explaining it to me but it didn't. It was a little ticklish.

Other then the two crowns, which I expected, there wasn't anything else wrong with my teeth. Of course she said I need to floss more. I don't floss nearly as often as I should. Then again, I don't think honestly that anyone flosses as much as they'd like you to. And if you say you floss two times a day or after every meal, I won't believe you.

I was a little disappointed because my regular dentist wasn't there today. He was at a funeral or something. Shame. He's a hotty. Several years ago when I was having some work done I had Nitrous oxide. I was really out of it. During the procedure I remember rubbing his leg while he sat next to me. I was so embarrassed when I came out of it and realized what I had done. He didn't say anything or laugh or anything. Maybe it's happened to him before. Who knows. I know he's not gay though. He's married with kids and is very butch. I don't get a gay vibe from him at all. Too bad. I'd do him.

Today was the summer solstice. It was the longest day of the year. Well, not actually the longest. It was still a 24 hour day. The difference is that there were some 15 hours of daylight today. So when people say it is the longest day of the year they really mean to say it was the day of the year with the longest amount of daylight. Summer solstice signals the first day of the season of summer. It's all down hill from here. Each day will now have less and less daylight. It doesn't really matter these days how much daylight we have each day but 75 to 100 years ago farmers relied on more daylight each day to get the work done in the fields. These days corporate farmers do things differently I'm sure. Very little manual labor to work the fields. Things are different now.

The summer solstice is also a religious day in many religions. Because I'm not a religious person and could care less about what it means to those who need religion, I will not write about what the summer solstice means to those religions. If that is something you are interested in, you can go to this site and read all about it.

The summer solstice is also a party day for self-styled druids and new age followers. Some 20,000 gathered at Stonehenge to see the sun rise and celebrate the longest day of the year. Everyone has some bandwagon to jump on. Good for them. I hope they enjoyed it. For me, it was just another day. Nothing special. I don't think I would travel there, get up at the crack of dawn in the cold and the wet (like it was today) just to see the sunrise on the longest day (of daylight, that is) of the year.