My Champions!

So we are back home, but we had a great time in Kansas City! Megan & Erik had such an awesome showing! They didn't make the podium but they were so close: they finished in 4th place in the nation! They were just one percentage point away from 3rd place. It was such an awesome performance! I feel like such a proud teacher! Kansas City was so much fun, I have to admit I am exhausted. I just don't have the energy that these kids have! We were pretty much out the door everyday by 7 am and didn't get to bed until after 11 pm. And I couldn't be the last one up because as it turns out I am the teacher who needs to be responsible.

We had such a great group of students from St. Clair TEC. It was great. We had one student win the gold. He now gets an all expensed paid trip to Switzerland! He is pictured to the left with his advisor, please make your best guess at which won is the student! Here's a hint he is wearing the medal and has all his hair. I am sure if you looked at your face, you couldn't tell who is happier! It was so cool to see him up there on the stage! I hope my use of exclamation points conveys my excitement!

When the students had a break from all their competing we were able to hit my favorite spots. We also got to go on a tour of my old station KCTV5. My great friend Andrew so graciously gave us a tour. I think it was cool for the students to see what a different market television station is like. It was cool because the McEntee Fam came down to cheer Megan on, so we they got to come too. We toured the station and sat -in on the noon newscast. It was fun for me to catch up with my old friends. It's strange to see how things have changed, but somehow it felt so familiar despite the fact that I haven't worked there in 5 1/2 years. There is a picture of my friend Andrew and I. When I worked in television, I found that the people you work with really because like your family. You go through so much together, so it was really nice to come home (I feel the same way when I visit channel 4 in Detroit.) So thanks again Andrew, all my students, their family and I really appreciated you taking time (staying late) to give us a tour!

So now I am home, coming down from the week high! It was such a cool expereience, i am sure my writing is not so fresh, but with the lack of sleep my creativity is little or nothing! So maybe I will revisit this post later the next week.

Breaking News! I WON!

Yes, my video won the G. Love and Special Sauce Biggest Fan Contest. I actually found out earlier this week, but I didn't want to post anything just in case they reconsider. Here's what they had to say about the winners.

Tonight I find out how my students did at SkillsUSA. I got to see there video and regardless of their place I am really proud of them. But I am not going to lie, I am crossing my fingers for them!

SkillsUSA - Kansas City

Tonight was opening ceremonies. It was really a rockin' time. There was load music and the kids even though they complained about their red coats endlessly didn't seem to mind wearing them when you are in an auditorium with thousands of people in red coats. Michigan brought these crazy light up swords. We had fun dancing to the music, I certainly embarrassed the students, but hey that's what they pay me for.

Earlier today we spent trading pins with people from all over the country. My students got into the fun, they don't have the dorky pin collection like me but they really got into the spirit. We had a lot of fun. It got to the point where we were seeking out the "cool" pins and trading other states for them because we were out of the Michigan pin. Megan got a really cool Oklahoma pin, Erik scored this sweet Washington pin and I got a highly coveted Alaska pin. It's a lot of fun because you talk to all these people that you really wouldn't have a reason to talk to.

Tomorrow is D-Day for my students, the competition starts. I am nervous for them, but I know they will do well. I keep telling them that I am so proud of them, because I am. I said regardless of how you place here, just produce a video that you are proud of. They are such great kids.

So as for being here in KC, it's so nice to back here. When I moved away I didn't realize how much I would miss this town. I am really enjoying dragging these 8 high schoolers and two advisors to all my favorite food places. We went to a KC tradition tonight Gates BBQ, let's say I loved it, everyone else didn't see the charm. Well, oh well. Tomorrow night the girls are ditching the boys for some q-t on the Plaza. Two Words: Cheesecake Factory!

Big Brother's Coming Back...

but will I want to watch it without Dr. Will and Booger. Yes, I got caught up in the all-stars nonsense last summer and let's face it, it was really the dynamic of Booger and Dr. Will that keep me interested. So will I stick with this season? Will there be another Dr. Will? Who knows, but you have guessed it I am programming it in the TiVo. I will keep you up to date with my thoughts and oh so candid insights.

Hey, I need something to amuse me until the return of America's Next Top Model.

Call Me: Bird Killer

I am not sure what it is about today and birds. I drove over to St. Clair this morning to meet up with Helen and I hit a bird. For a while I was convinced it maybe stuck to the front of my car. Then I am driving home and bam I hit another one. I am not sure if they are all trying to commit suicide and they are like that one will feel bad. But now I am left with the guilt that I am a killer. So I am on my way to Flint to see the fam in an hour, I am hoping that there won't be another episode in this deadly day.

Kansas City Here We Come

So it's a big weekend, why, well I get ready for a big week in KC. Yes, the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference and Competition is next week. As you may remember my students won the state competition so we will be headed down to KC for the National Competition. I am very excited for a couple of reasons: first I hear it is a great time (from those who went last year) and secondly because I used to live in KC. I am hoping that I will get a chance to catch up with a couple of my friends (Andrew, Carolyn, Gary, Streeter & Andre) at KCTV and my old anchor Jeff Vaughn who is now at the NBC affiliate.

As I look at the weather I realize that it will be just like I remember in Missouri at this time of year, that's right miserable. I love the city, but I don't miss the heat. It will be in the upper 80's and humid all week. Bruce will be be holding down the homestead in Attica.

On side note today was the last day of work for my friend Dave Hickman, he has decided to leave education and rejoin the real world of work. He taught Information Technology, Dave can be a royal pain in my butt, we have a brother/sister type relationship, and gosh darnit, I am going to miss him. Yes, at work you can always count on Dave to help organize the golf event (hence my new found love for golf,) he will always come down to your room to steal the good candy with caramel preferably, he has a quick wit that will leave you rolling and his sharp tongue is the best, unless you are on the receiving end, which I must add is always (ok most of the time) in good fun. So Dave you big LOSER, (pictured to the right with me.) I can't believe you are leaving us, but I guess I understand, so have fun, but you better come back to golf, because I bought NEW clubs.

But now that I think about it maybe Brad Baker from Grand Valley via the Junction Bouy, can take your spot, hmmmm I wonder if he knows anything about computers, I am sure he has a myspace? Gale what you do you think? Oh I make myself giggle.

A Second Generation Childhood Tradition

This weekend my sister, niece and nephew were in town. I headed down to Manchester on Thursday night because I had Friday off from school. We had a very busy agenda Friday.

9 AM - Trip to the Donut Store for chocolate covered donuts
10AM - Trip to the Park
11AM - Visit the Cousins
12PM - Lunch Back at the Sahakian Homestead
1 PM - Swimming at the Sahakian Pool (baby pool)
3PM - Golfing in the Front Yard
4PM - 6PM - Cartoons/Rest for the Weary (the adults)
6PM - Leave for Jackson
7PM - Arrive at the Parlour (The Jackson All-Star Dairy to us) for a delicious dinner of ice cream 8:30PM - Arrive at the Jackson Cascades.
9PM - Get in the car and head home

If you have never been to the Jackson Cascades it's a great adventure. It's a huge cement water fall that is full of lights. As evening goes on and it gets darker the lights get brighter. You can walk up and down the falls. Which for my niece and nephew it means running up and down the falls. My nephew Max likes to skip the steps and just run up the hills. I don't know how my sister keeps up with the two of them as soon as one of them slow down the next one starts going. Once it gets dark enough that is when the show starts and we sit back with the popcorn and watch the colors of the falls dance to the music. The Jackson All Star Dairy and the Jackson Cascades was a childhood tradition for my sister, brother and I, so it was tons of fun to see my niece and nephew enjoy it too. They loved the music, the lights and running around like crazy people.

I know they always say that kids say the darn-dest things, I think it was a tv show. Well the kids were full of them this weekend, but my favorite was when my dad was driving to Jackson. We come to a stop sign and my dad stops kind of fast and my nephew says: "Wow, that was a close one!" We all busted out with laughter. You know if we would have said that John Sahakian would not have been pleased.

It was a great weekend like always. I love hanging out with them. I just wish that Chicago was a little closer so I could hang out with all them more.

I Got New Clubs
No Not for Hitting Bruce or My Students -
They're For Golfing

Well I guess they aren't exactly what you would call new, they are just new to me. I picked up a set of clubs this weekend for $5 at a garage sale in Manchester! (actually my dad picked them up, because as I write this I realize that I never paid him the $5 back.) My eagle-eyed sister was able to see them as we zipped passed the garage sale en route to Uncle Jimmy's house.

Of course these clubs are used and my woods are actually really made from wood. I consider them a collectors item. I am sure a real golfer would scoff at my clubs (Dave (pictured below) already has.) However, since I golf approximately two times a year these are the best clubs for me. Yes, I have recently taken up golf, well if you call attending the bi-annual (and sometimes tri-annual) golf outings. I never thought I would enjoy golf, but it's great, especially when you get to drive the cart. As for my game, well it's getting better and I am sure my new clubs will do the trick to get me to Tiger woods status. HA HA!

In the meantime, I will keep up my game, well at least as long as there are golf outings at work and we don't golf more than 9 holes, because frankly around 6 or 7, I could be done, so anything over 9 is WAY TOO MUCH for me to handle. Yes, those are my feet up relaxing in the cart, I must admit the other downside of golf, ok there are many, 1. I am not good, 2. I do not foresee ever becoming good, 3. I can only hand 9 holes, but another downside is recommended footwear, as you can clearly see here I am sporting my sneakers, apparently I should be wearing cleats however flip flops are not recommended in fact they are frowned upon while golfing. Clearly if this is a sport I am ever going to get into that has to change! :)

The Summer of the Dress

So last year was the official summer of the skirt, I went from lovin' the sh'pant (capri's to the rest of the world) to embracing the skirt. This year has officially turned into the summer of the dress. It has all started with, well I would have to say clothing companies have contributed much because there are more dresses out than ever before, but really it started with the purchase of a dirt cheap dress at the Gap, it's more expensive online than it is in the store. Well I bought it on a whim and I love love love it. It's so comfortable and looks great with my summer staple shoe: the flip flop.

Today Bruce and I went to Somerset looking for summer wear and I found another super cute dress again at the Gap, who knew I thought I had broken up with that store. So I officially declared it to be the summer of the dress. Now this does not mean that I won't break out the shorts, skirts and sh'pants on occasion, but I will do my best to enjoy this new staple that I have added to my wardrobe. I must confess that I borrowed these pictures from the Gap website, which btw does not have as good as prices as the store currently does. So what I am saying as this is not me pictured in the dresses and my strip dress is actually green which is becoming my new favorite color, another random tidbit of knowledge you probably didn't care to know. But you know now.

UPDATE: Bruce would like you to know that he is pushing for next summer to be the summer of the skort. I am not sure that is going to happen, but hey never say never.

Breaking News!

G. Love is coming to the midwest this summer. It had appeared that he would not be stopping in our neck of the woods, but he is and the best part is I am out of school and it's before we leave for Europe!

So I will be heading to Toledo, Ohio on July 10 and Grand Rapids on July 11. Who's with me?

Also still no word on the G. Love and Special Sauce Ultimate Fan Contest. So I am pretty sure this means I am probably not a winner, but hey I had fun making it.

Congratulations PH Graduates!

Tonight I went to Port Huron's High School graduation. It was the longest one I have ever been to. There were 350 graduates and they ran this thing like a military ceremony. It was really cool when they walked in, in step, in the dark with these glow stick thingys. (Yes that is the technical term.) The kids always complain about having to go to several days of marching practice, but after tonight I now see why. The only thing that is disappointing with such a big class is that they graduate like a herd of cattle, just one after the other, so the ceremony does not take a year and a half. But none the less it was really cool. What can I say, well I had one student at this graduation that has been with me for two years. What can I say other than, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, CARL "WET CAT" MARTIN! I am glad I got a chance to go. I will never forget Carl, he's grown into such a great young man. I won't lie, I did get a little teary. Yes, I am such a dork, but you just have to know Carl, you would have cried too. And I didn't cry until after the ceremony, thank God, the best girlfriend in the world (Carl's Girlfriend who did receive the official award) Coley was there to comfort me. Yes, I know I am a dork, don't worry my other students who happened to walk by at that time and laugh out loud reminded me.

Carl wasn't my only Port Huron Grad. I had two others, who I am also very proud of, however they only had my class for one year, I know they wish they could of had more. Ha ha. There is Sean and Kristen. Unfortunately all my pictures of Kristen were blurry, that's what happens, when you start crying and forget that you took your camera off auto focus and you get wrapped up in the moment. But here is a picture of Sean "Too Cool For School" Tinney and I, can't you tell I am his favorite teacher. Ok, I am sure he will tell you otherwise, but this is the story I am sticking with. I am not going to lie, I will miss all my seniors.

Oh by the way if you hadn't noticed, I got my hair cut. I am going in and out of hair-cutters remorse, but today I like it. Jay took about 8.5 inches off. It will be a good summer/switzerland style, at least that is what I am telling myself, but enough about the hair, congratulations again grads.

The Wait is Over..
My G. Love Biggest Fan Video Submission is Finished

So if you didn't read my last post where I explained that part of my absence from the blog has been due to my commitment to creating a video for the latest G. Love contest. I finally finished last night. I have to thank Olive who helped me come up with the idea and helped me find Steve the Travelin' Blues man on Memorial Day. I am not sure if I have a chance of winning, but I must admit it was fun making it.

I hear that the youtube video may not be working, I can't tell at school so here is a link to the video.

Congratulations Graduates

Today I went to see to of my now former students graduate high school (sniff sniff,) it turns out after spending 2.5 hours a day with these students for two years you end up liking them. I will really miss my seniors next year for two reasons: number one they were my first class and kind of learned with me and number two they are really great! It may sound like I am gushing but really how many students throw their teachers surprise birthday parties and how many students give their teachers a huge signed poster at the end of the year.

However as I sat in the world's hottest gym sweating listening to the student speeches. I couldn't help remember the day I graduated high school in a hot gym on a raining day, frankly it doesn't seem that long ago.

On another note, the reason why you haven't seen a lot of new posts on the TiVo Changed My Life Blog is well qix.net could be the worst internet provider ever, so this week we canned them and went with satellite internet, wildblue. I am crossing my fingers we have more success, when I called the people at the phone company the woman pretty much laughed out loud when I asked her how soon we would see DSL in our area. Well there are good and bad things about country living, internet is one of the hard things. Another reason for my lack of attention to the blog is the fact that I have been very busy making my submission for the G.Love and Special Sauce biggest fan contest. I will post the video here when it is finished, I am sure it will be a good laugh and hopefully a winner, I won't lie Olive helped me think of the idea! Yes, I had my own personal producer. I have also been busy with my grad school class, this week we learned the beauty and difficulty of CSS (cascading style sheets) for web design. Here is my submission. It's not great but CSS is harder than you may think.

We stopped at Somerset Collection on the way back from a day of shooting video of the Rouge River Clean-Up. Yes, we looked awful and smelled of bug spray, but what a better time to shop at the ritziest mall in southeastern Michigan. No we had to pick-up a part at the Apple Store and Bruce needed to get his hair cut from his guy. So it made sense. When we got there, this is what we saw in the middle of the mall, a strange bridal show. It was gated off apparently you needed an invite, and there were models in wedding gowns standing on risers and then there were all these tables set up with the most outrageous floral arrangements. It was cool to look at the picture doesn't really do it justice. On another note the apple store at somerset just reopened after remodeling and I got a free t-shirt. Now who doesn't love apple swag!