This is a post that I do each year. It is a lot of fun to look back at the year and pick the top 10 posts that I have made to this blog. This year there were 25 that really stood out. So I'll have a top 10 and also honorable mention. There are so many memories from 2007 that stand out. The biggest are the improvements Aidan has made. He went from not talking at all in January 2007 to talking like a wild man in December 2007. He has grown a BUNCH.

Here is a link to last year's Top 10 List: 2006 Top 10

And without further ado... or A Do-ez (laughs):

#10: A Great Time at the Game Sunday, August 12th: This was the only Astro game we attended this year. But, it was a lot of fun. Aidan had a great time.

#9: The Nightly Battle Sunday, June 17th: This was a little video I put together of Aidan's nightly dance to sleepdom. It really is pretty cute. Little guy does a much better job now of getting to sleep. We'll definitely look back at this one years from now and laugh at how much work he was!

#8: Pictures from Aunt Katie's House Wednesday, July 18th: This was a really great day during our trip to PA this past summer. We had a wonderful time seeing everyone. Aidan enjoyed playing with all the kids. The pictures are really great because he so rarely gets to see everyone from PA. We are looking forward to seeing Aunt Katie, Uncle Tim and the girls in January.

#7: Aidan's First Trip to the Dentist Thursday, June 07: This was a great day because it went soooo smoothly. No problems. Aidan didn't even want to leave the dentist office. That is not something we expected. We are lucky to have such a great dentist for him.

#6: A Proud Teacher Tuesday, November 27th: This was really a special day for me. To think that I have had an impact on the students I teach is very fulfilling. I am a lucky person to be able to teach and help impact others.

#5: Old Town San Diego Sunday, July 15th: This was a post recapping the trip I took to San Diego. It was definitely a high light of the year for me. Learning about becoming an AVID teacher and enjoying San Diego was great. I really got to know some of the people that I work with a lot better and that has made this year even more special.

#4: Aidan's First Movie Experience Monday, June 25: The movie was Shrek the Third. The place was Huntingdon, PA. It was a lot of fun to see Aidan enjoy something that was a 'big boy' kind of thing. He really grew up a lot that day in my eyes.

#3: Galveston Trip 2007 Wednesday, July 25th: This is an annual event for us. End of summer trip to Galveston. We had a wonderful time.

#2: Christmas Pictures 2007 December 25th: This was probably Aidan's favorite day of his entire life. (all 3 years of it!) He had a great time opening presents and we had a great time watching and playing with him.

#1: Teacher of the Year Friday, March 23rd: This is the greatest honor that I have ever been given. Representing my school as the first teacher of the year in the history of the school was incredible. I am a very lucky person to have so many great friends and people in my life. Most people never get that pat on the back and appreciation from those that they work with during their entire career. I had a really great year!

Honorable Mention:
I wish I could call my Dad: Friday, March 09
Aidan says, "Aidan!": Wednesday, April 11
AVID Opportunity Wednesday, February 21
Zoo Trip 2007: Thursday, March 15th
Newborn Lullaby: Friday, January 26th
TOY Ring: Saturday, May 05
A Successful Wedding: Saturday, June 30th
Playing in Pappy's Yard: Friday, June 29th
Em: Thurdsay, July 19
We are Simpsonized: Wednesday, August 08
We are the Champions!: Sunday, December 23
Wow, What a Day!": Saturday, August 04

Christmas Eve 2007 from fordee on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve video from this week. Aidan really loved everything about Christmas this year. Today I had my Xbox 360 return box delivered and he was sure it was more presents. I felt bad for him, but then again he is spoiled rotten.

Tonight we actually went to Wal-Mart. That happens once every 10 years or so. We spent our $150 of gift cards on groceries. We got the surprise gift cards through school last Friday at our Christmas lunch. For a couple of teachers, $150 can come in handy! Thanks to Grandma Fran for the excellent advice of using the gift cards at Wal-Mart for groceries. It worked out perfectly and (in my messed up way of thinking) that money gets substituted for our new laptops. :)

We took Aidan to see Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie. It was horrible. But, Aidan enjoyed it. He was dancing in the isle at the absolutely horrific musical parts. Norma and I just kept watching the clock slowly tick the hour and a 1/2 down. But, it was totally worth it for Aidan. He had a great time. Little bugger.

I found out that I won $300 for winning the fantasy football league that I am in for this year. That started my brain a 'tingling.' At first I wanted to take the money and buy Norma a new laptop. She really deserves one. She has been using an old one that is REALLY slow. Plus, she works late, late into the night on her Economics lessons. She totally deserves a new laptop.

So I started doing the math, looking at laptops, adding up gift cards and cash that we got for Christmas. After finding some really good deals on Dells and HPs.... I decided on the HP Pavilion dv6000 series. These laptops have won design awards and they have improved on previous pavilion models. My 17 inch laptop is loud, mammoth in weight and the power cord port blew out on it. The battery is also now toast.

So I read a lot of reviews on Dell Inspirons and HP Pavilions. Conclusion... they are both great laptops. The Dell is a bit bigger, bulkier... but also quieter. The HP is more slick looking, lighter and a little bit louder on the fan. But, the bottom line from most reviews I read was... they are both great and you can't go wrong with either.

I started looking at pricing and that is where the difference popped up. The HP was being sold by the big box entertainment stores and the prices were really low for more muscled laptops than the mail order Dells. I have a Dell desktop and have had NO trouble with it... so I was tempted to go Dell. But, if they couldn't deliver by next week I would have to drive across town to pick it up from FedEx. That is a huge pain.

The HP Pavilions were about $200+ dollars cheaper and came with a better processor. Plus, I could buy it and have it at home that night. Not a hard decision in the end. The part that got tricky was how I convinced myself that I needed one as well. Go figure. I'm greedy. But, I also use my laptop a lot and also use it for teaching class at night (I teach an accelerated certification class a few nights a month). So the search was on for the best deal at Circuit City and Best Buy.


We purchased the very last $650 HP at Circuit City on Wednesday night. It also came with a free print, fax, scanner and free tax and internet security software. So great deal there. The next day we drove to Baytown to pick up their last HP Pavilion and that one was $849, and it also came with more memory, bigger battery and extra software. It was also a limited edition white ceramic model, which looks really slick.

So far so good. I am playing with Windows Vista now and seeing what I think about it. It seems to take forever to load windows, but once it is loaded it looks pretty stylish and nice... but form isn't everything with me. I would rather it function well. I will have to create a special boot cd of WindowsXP if I want to install that instead because the hard drive on these things is so new the WindowsXP install cd won't actually even see the drive. So that'll be work for another day... if we need to go that direction.

So far so good. I am really loving the new laptops. We will use them all the time so I thought it was a good gift for the both of us. Also we have really worked hard this fall and it was nice to reward each other. We are really lucky to be able to do so.

I'll update in the future on my reviews of these laptops. So far, so good.

Dave's Pavilion - ceramic white

Norma's black Pavilion

Aidan's 2007 Christmas Wishes from fordee on Vimeo.

NPR: 10 Year Anniversary of Blogging

Hard to believe that there have been blogs since 1999. This is an interesting report and very creative. They do the 'audio blog' concept. Interesting.

I began blogging in 2003. It'll be 5 years in 2008. It really is amazing how much information is out there on the internet now. I just don't have enough time to take it all in. I am finding myself more disconnected now because of it... which is odd. But, there are tons of tools now to help search, find, and more importantly - learn more effectively.

What I am talking about are the Web 2.0 technologies. These include Wikis, Social Bookmark Sharing (my personal fav is del.ici.ous), blogs, YouTube, etc. It is amazing to see how the internet has expanded.

I am working on trying to incorporate wikis into my 5th six week's digital projects. This way the kids can be working on the computers from home and collaborating on their work. Should be interesting. I am sure the first time I try it there will be some bumps in the road. But, nothing ventured... nothing gained.

And isn't that the message of blogging? Putting your ideas, stories, pictures, videos and thoughts out there on the internet for all to read is definitely venturing. And I believe that I have gained quite a lot in the process.

Que Queen "We are the Champions!"
Norma won our family fantasy football league tonight. She is the official 2007 "Leather Helmet League" Champion! We keep the league crown in the house. I won last year and Norma's "Aidan's Armadillos" take it this year.

Norma defeated her brother-in-law Brian for the win. Brian had a great season and it is a shame someone had to lose. But, it is the first ever championship for Norma. She is pretty pumped!



In my $money$ league, I won the whole enchilada. Sweet victory for my first time in an auction draft league. It is a really competitive league and I am just amazed that I was lucky enough to win! Awesome. I will actually get some mula for this! $$$ Comes in handy this time of year.

Way to go Dragons!

Well, I don't know. Maybe I am getting too old and this is a sign? My 360 died again today. This is #4. I don't really know if I want another one or not... but, I did pay good money for the thing.

I haven't played in MONTHS. Last night I booted it up and played a game of football and actually won. I was thinking, we'll looks like I'll play a bit over the holiday. Funny thing happened... the dvd-rom started making this TERRIBLE sound. I bumped it and it seemed to keep working ok.

Tonight I booted it up again. Terrible Sound again... then a horrible scraping noise. I popped the disc out and it was all scratched up in a circular pattern. Put the disc back in after shutting down and restarting - error "unplayable disc." So I figured my game disc is just shot. Put in another disc just to see what would happen - same error "unplayable disc." The drive will make this burping sound a couple of times and then - nothing. Unplayable.

I just don't have the energy or will to call 1-800-myxbox right now. Maybe tomorrow...

or maybe never.

Aidan really loves his Uncle George and Aunt Marla. We had a really nice time with them today. They drove in from San Antonio this afternoon. Aidan and George played quite a bit and Aidan really had a great time. He's such a boy and loves to get physical and jump and wrestle.

Tonight we went to Fuddruckers in Town Center and had a real nice meal. Tomorrow we'll open some Christmas presents and spend some time together before they head back to SA.

Finally had a chance to finish watching Transformers tonight. Quality summer flick. I liked it. It is amazing what technology can do these days. Those transformations were incredible. And they looked awesome on my hd tv. Sweet.

Norma and I are both vying for Super Bowl wins in two separate leagues tomorrow. Fantasy Football. What a blast. Marion Barber got me off to a good start tonight with 24 points. I'm up 24-13. :) Sunday will be a big day. My defense goes Monday Night on Christmas Eve and might just rack up the win for me? (Keeping my fingers crossed... and toes too) Their is actually $money$ riding on this!

During 6th period today my building principal and associate principal came to my door. They had a wide-eyed look that made my heart stop I was so scared. I figured something serious must be going on. They said, "Sorry but can we talk to you outside for a minute?" I drew in a deep breath and stepped outside.

They said, "Hey we have a conference coming up that we would like you to attend.... it is in March... right after Spring Break... and thing is, it's in Hawaii." I said, "No, where is it really?" I didn't believe them at all.

They said, "No seriously. Hawaii. We are sending a number of teachers and principals to a conference on new learning strategies and we really want you to go." I was stunned. My principal said, "Of course you will need to talk to Norma about it."

I'm still kind of shocked about it all. To imagine me going to Hawaii. That is not something I ever planned to do. It is too dang expensive and not very practical for any real purpose. But, I am going. Norma wrote me back an email that period that said, "Of course you have to go RETARD!" I was worried that she might be upset. Last summer I went to San Diego for AVID training, now this!

Really crazy.

I still can't believe it and I am typing about it... so I'll write more later.

Today was a really wild day. We have 1/2 days on Wed/Thu/Fri to end the semester. There are a couple of finals each day. Today was my AVID class final. They wrote essays that they have been working on for weeks and today they had to come in and write them out. An easy final, but the kids really put a lot of work into it. AVID is an elective, so it's not meant to be super hard.

The kids really poured their hearts out on these essays. I have been sitting and reading them tonight and just crying like crazy. I don't understand why I am such a sap... but I am.

One student wrote about how AVID has changed his life. He said that before AVID he was doing drugs, fighting and running with gangs. Now he really is starting to believe that he can go to college. Amazing.

Another student broke down the AVID class very scientifically: the big binder for organization, tutoring to help with classes, guest speakers, college trips, inspirational and motivational videos... it was a real piece of work. She basically put down on paper what the program is perfectly. Next year she's going to have to read that to our new freshman groups. (She doesn't know that yet!)

It really has me in a sentimental mood. Sometimes all the work that you are doing and all that you are accomplishing gets hidden because you are just trying to clear the next hurdle. That's why I love teaching so much. There is a finish line. We cross it tomorrow at 10:25 and then I can look back and critique how the race was run. I feel pretty confident I will be happy with where we are at!

Funny thing happened this afternoon: a technology recruiter (i.e. head hunter) called me on the phone. He said, "What is your current situation?" (obviously implying he had a job for me) I almost laughed. I said, "Hey thanks for calling, but I am a teacher and will be one until I retire. I am very happy with where I am at right now."

It is a pretty cool thing to be able to pass up that kind of money so easily. But, my total compensation as a teacher is not in raw dollars alone. The energy and enthusiasm that kids give back to me is priceless. I am indeed very lucky to be a teacher.

Our school district has gone through a really tough week. At the school where Norma and I used to work HHS, they lost their principal this week. He had a series of heart attacks. He was a young man it is such a terrible loss for the community.

Tomorrow at AHS we are going to replace our usual red/white/blue with purple to support our sister school. I have a drawer full of old Humble shirts. So I am actually very happy to wear one and support everyone that is going through such a tough time over there.



We also lost our school board president the very next day to a heart problem. That was also a terribly tragic loss. He was young as well and it is just a shock to everyone. He spoke at our back to school meeting last year and was so impressive.

Of course, these terrible tragedies have reminded me so much this week of my dad. Tonight in the car coming home I was telling Norma the story about how great a whistler my dad was. He could do one of those 'fingers to the lips' whistles that would 'bring the cows home.' And that whistle used to bring me home for dinner when I was all over the neighborhood. I swear you could hear it for miles away.

Aidan was in the back seat and said, "Daddy's Dad?" And Norma tried to explain we were talking about Pap Pap (what all the grandkids called my dad). Aidan said, "Pap Pap? Nooooo... not Pap Pap... Pappy!" It is because he knows Norma's dad's name is Pappy. But, I started to explain that my dad isn't around anymore... boy did I start to cry. It really hits me at the strangest times. I was very happily going along and explaining it with no problem and then POW.

So tonight before his bath I picked up Aidan and showed him the pictures of my dad holding him. They are along the steps going upstairs. Aidan looked at the pictures, then back at me and said, "Your dad." Just like, ok. I get it now. Then he said something that really made me laugh, "My Daddy looks YOUNG." And he reached out and touched my beard and laughed. I guess I didn't have as much grey back then! Observant little sucker!



I really miss my Dad and I want to keep his memory alive by telling stories to Aidan. But, I am going to have to learn to stop crying someday. That makes it a lot harder.

I love this time of year. Mostly for this reason, "Aidan... you do know that Santa is listening, right?" It makes everything a lot better. :)

Today we finished the tree and decorating inside. We even put up lights outside. We have been a bit behind. I say "we" -- but Norma is the Christmas decorator-extraordinare. She is really festive about Christmas. She loves it.

We have presents purchased for all the little ones in the family... just have to get some for the big people just yet. Those are harder to buy.

Christmas will be here before we know it!

Super Star Parrot