‘Equipment’ – Overview

Well, it was NOT a good day for me!  I have to be honest, I was pretty furious about how my day started and even now I’m pretty upset at everything that happened to me over the course of the day.  I got up this morning and found out the kids and I both had an hour delay.  I figured I would wait a little bit to get the kids up and I would wait a little to get ready for school.  I found it odd that I did not get a call from the school, but I would find out later that a miscommunication in my school led to half the teachers not getting a phone call.   After about a half hour, I got the kids up and told them to head outside to shovel the driveway while I started to get ready for work.  I took a shower and updated Heather as to what was going on.  I then found out that the kids didn’t have school today.  They were excited and I was furious because my school along with one other school, were the ONLY schools in the county that refused to close school today!  I had to scramble to get Heather home in time to get myself off to work.  Not only did I have work, but they never changed from the one hour delay.  I then left the house as soon as Heather got home and had an interesting drive to work.  On my way to work I did a 360 degree slide because my district had decided to do a one hour delay and a second portion of the storm was hitting as I was on my way to work.  I got down the road a little further and just before the Brandywine, I got pulled over by a cop and told the roads were under a state of emergency for the next hour and I shouldn’t be on the road.  I told the cop I was on my way to work and he asked where I worked and I told him Binghamton.  The cop didn’t believe me and went back to his car to check and came back and waved me on and said he felt sorry that I still had to go to work and I said I was glad someone felt sorry for me.  I got to work and the kids and adults were ALL furious!  My walkers were mad because they had to walk in the snow, and many of the adults had similar experiences that I had and felt they had risked their lives to get to school.  In my humble opinion, it was a bad call to make and for the safety of the staff and students, we should have stayed home!  But, I got through my day, and on some positive news, I managed to get all of the equipment from the concert put away today.  I got through my school day and called Heather and came home.  We had a nice dinner of quesedillas and spanish rice and then Heather and I had a date tonight to go to a desert theater at our church called “Bethlehem Inn”.  It was fun and it was nice to go on a date with my wife!  We came back home in time to watch “Star Wars:  The Clone Wars”, and I really liked this episode with Kit Fisto, it was really cool!  Then we watched “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” and then “Dateline NBC” on the Casey/Kailey Ann Anthony case.  It was interesting.  We finished watching T.V. and went to bed.

Okay, so here’s the overview of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 6

Well, it’s Thursday and I thought I would have a delay this morning, but I woke up to not much being on the ground.  All well, such is life.  I got the kids up and we all reluctantly got up and ready for school.  The kids were even a little disappointed and I told Austin that they had spooked the snow day as they had a song last night called “Snow Day” and we poked some fun at him about it.  He thought it was funny.  Our babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  I got to school and found out the kids were going to be getting out of school at noon, so I quickly texted Heather at work and she said she would get out on time to get the kids at home.  At that point, my school was not getting out early.  At about nine o’clock this morning, the district had decided to head home early.  So, it was mass chaos from that point on.  The kids were misbehaving all over the place and I couldn’t blame them too much because our schedule was all messed up from that point on because we had to try to feed them before they went home.  I got out of school and got home by about ten after noon and the kids came home as well and Heather and I ate lunch while they did homework, since they ate lunch at school.  Heather and I then went downstairs and we watched a tape of shows from the week.  We watched “Big Bang Theory”, “How I Met Your Mother”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Worst Week”, and “Law and Order”.  We even decided to take a nap for a little bit only because we were so exhausted from the week.  We got up from our nap and continued to watch our tape and then it was time to eat dinner and we had a great dinner of Cheese Ravioli and sauce and had an honest discussion with my son about responsibility.  I won’t talk about what spawned the talk, but I think he’s starting to understand that he’s not being responsible in school and around the house.  At least I hope so.  We got done with dinner and Heather and I went downstairs and we watched “Jeopardy” and then watched “Survivor” and “C.S.I.” while I worked on grading papers.  It was a long night and I shoveled the sidewalk and driveway once.  It was getting ugly outside with ice and a mix of rain and snow.  I have a pretty strong suspicion that we will have a snow day tomorrow.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 6 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 5

Well, it’s now Wednesday and it’s the day after my concert and I have to say that I’m relieved that the concert is now over.  I’m not sure why I feel that way as I was not stressed over the concert to beging with, but I think it’s just nice to know that it’s one less thing I have to ultimately worry about.  I got up this morning and got the kids ready for the day.  It was an interesting morning as Ruth and Austin got all dressed up in a nice fancy dress and a shirt and tie for school so they could look nice for their daytime concert assembly.  They got ready for school and I got ready for work.  Tara and I went at it this morning because she refused to read her book to our babysitter, so I had to INSIST she do what she is told.  She did it on purpose as an act for her babysitter.  I’m getting tired of the act!  I finished my fight with her and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  I got things set up for my work day.  The eighth and seventh graders were working on keyboards and my sixth graders were working on recorders.  I managed to make it through my day today with little frustrations.  I got done with my work day and I got home and continued to work on moving my videos over to DVDs.  That took up most of my free time before we ate dinner.  After eating dinner, we went to Ruth and Austin’s concert.  I also began to realize why I hate big crowds with ignorant people!  I had a lady that got mad at me because she had to crawl past me and told her husband that if I had managed to loose a pound or two and not be such a fat ass, maybe she could get by.  She continued to complain about me, and I had to move because I couldn’t listen to her anymore or I was going to say something I was going to regret.  We sat through a wonderful student by my kids and as usual, my son was a complete ham, including marching on stage and marking time and marching off.  I can’t imagine where he learned that from!!  LOL!  We got done with the concert and Heather and I came home and we watched “Criminal Minds” and “CSI:  NY” and then went to bed.  Tomorrow’s weather looks pretty “iffy” and there’s a strong possibility that we will have a snow day or a delay.  Here’s hoping.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 5 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 4

Well, it’s Tueday and it’s the day of the concert.  I got up this morning and got myself going for the day.  I have to say I was really tired getting up, but I knew I would get my second wind once the day got going.  The kids had a two hour delay, but NOT my schoo.  Luckily Heather was home from work and could stay with the kids.  We still havent’ worked out what’s going to happen if this happens to me and the kids and Heather doesn’t have the day off.  I got to school and got things set up for the day.  I have to say that for the first time since I’ve been at Binghamton, I was not worried about the concert whatsoever.  I got through my instructional day and then got to the lunch hour and we had practices involving all the groups.  It went fairly well and then we had an assembly for all the student body to see the concert.  It went very well and everything went smoothly, which is all that any school can ask for.  I got done with my day and came home.  I took a brief nap, ate some dinner with the family and then headed back to school for the evening concert.  That concert went just as well and the parents were happy with the concert.  I think it was a good day overall.  I got done with the concert and came home and watched “Fringe” and “Law and Order: SVU” and then went to bed.  Tomorrow will be an interesting day.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 4 of “Equpiment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 3

Well, it’s Monday, beginning of the work week and the beginning of what I consider to be a long week for me.  I have a concert this week, the kids have their concert this week, Heather and I have a date night Friday night, a FanForce party Saturday.  It’s just going to be a long week.  I got up this morning and have really never been that tired.  Then I realized that when I woke up, it was only five-thirty in the morning and I realized that the only reason I woke up so early was becasue my wife had gotten out of bed.  I tried to go back to sleep, but just after Heather left to go to work, the phone rang, but it was a wrong number.  At this point, I was up!  So, I got out of bed and got an early start to the day.  It was good as it gave me some extra time to get another video processed at the computer this morning.  I then got a shower and got the kids up and got them going for the day today.  The babysitter showed up on time and I was off to work and the kids were off to school.  When I got to school, I started to get things ready not only for my classroom, but for the school concert which is tomorrow.  Put up lights, taped down cords and that was just the beginning of the day.  I even did this during my ususal prep periods.  The lunch hour went fine.  I only had chorus on the stage, so it made it a little easier as far as running around to make sure everything was set up.  Tomorrow will be the real test as it is the concert.  I finished with school, and I’ll be honest, I left as soon as the bell rang.  I figured I’ll more than make up for the hours with the concert being tomorrow and tomorrow night.  I got home and found out from Tara that she got a 100 on her last reading test, but she forgot to bring it home.  We had some nice time with the kids and I got a chance to get some work done around the house as far as maintenance and what-not.  I went downstairs and took a small nap.  I got up, went upstairs and ate dinner with the family.  I came back downstairs and decided that I needed to now start networking.  So, I started a “Facebook” and a “Twitter” page based on this blog and podcast.  I was amazed at the people I found on Facebook.  Many of them were old friends from college I had not talked to in ions!  It was great to see many great and wonderful faces and I hope they start to check in on me, my life and this blog and show.  Who knows, maybe we’ll all reconnect.  I then went and picked Austin up from Boy Scouts as Heather had dropped him off and then I watched my usual Monday night shows “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Heroes” , and “C.S.I. Miami” and then went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 3 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 2

Well, it’s Sunday and it’s supposed to be a day of rest and for those of us in the Crissman household, it really was.  We got up fairly early this morning to get ourselves going for the day.  As the kids got themselves ready for church, Heather and I got ourselves ready for church as well.  This morning was going to be the first morning that Heather was going to sing with the choir for church.  She also asked me if I would join them for the hymn for the first hymn this morning.  So, we got to church early this morning and got to practicing.  We practiced the hymn and I then set up my trumpet upstairs in the sanctuary and then I went into church with the kids.  They were very well behaved today and I enjoyed another wonderful service at this church.  We even made an announcement about last night and talked about how we fulfilled Robert Peaks’ dream yesterday by having a Christian Party with over 4000 people there that were bussed in from all over the county.  We got done with church and the kids had Youth Group this Sunday, so we went to Subway and got some subs and came home.  We ate lunch and I watched football and we both just relaxed.  At two o’clcok I went and picked up the kids and continued my quest to change all of my VCR tapes to digital.  I got home and we had a nice quiet afternoon and even I took a nap tonight.  I then decided to get online today and edit my “My Space” page and finished up with that just before dinner and can be found here:  http://www.jedicouncilspeaks.myspace.com.  I then went upstairs and joined the family for dinner and then went back downstairs and worked on some other things for my blog and podcast.  I then graded papers and continued moving toward my all digital future.  Heather and I watched the end of “Amazing Race” together and then went to bed a little early.  The beginning of this week is going to be busy with the school concert, so we needed the rest.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..

‘Equipment’ – Part 1

Well, it was Saturday and I have to say it was a lazier day for us all.  But, it ended on such a positive note, it would be uplifing to all Christians everywhere what we witnessed tonight!  But, first let’s start with our day.  I woke up this morning to continuing to work on the small projects around the house.  I worked from about nine o’clock this morning until about three o’clock this afternoon doing all sorts of odds and ends around the house.  We cleaned my shop, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the dining room, put up Christmas decorations, made a new greeblie for my costume, worked on Austin’s helmet, painted portions of Austin’s helmet, continued to work towards making all the VCR tapes digital, cleaned out the basement, and Heather and I worked feverishly to steam clean the house.  I also managed to fix three CD Players and a wireless mic in the house today.  It was a LOT of work, but it was all worth while.  It was worth it to see this house clean and to see all the things I fixed today.  I am even creating space in my house, it’s just a matter of patience and time.  We got done with all of that and Heather and I took a shower and then we left to go to the “Andrew’s Good News” Party at Davis College tonight.  We tried to make the first run of the bus, but actually just missed it by about a minute.  So, we waited for the second bus and got registered in the meantime and met some very nice people from our church in the process.  We then got on a school bus and headed to Davis College.  When we got there, it was complete chaos, but in a good way!  They had expected 2000 people for the event, and over 4000 people showed up!  It was a HUGE success!  They had so many people they ran out of food and drinks of all sorts.  We ran into Jeff Coglin and he told us they ordered an extra pot of Chili from every Wendy’s in the area and we still ran out of food there.  The most important part of the evening is the witnessing that was going on!  It was wonderful!  We got done and came home tired and a little hungry.  So, we decided to retire to the basement, popped some popcorn, and watched “The Santa Clause 3″.  We then went to bed.  It was a late night, but well worth it!

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 1 of “Equipment” by Matthew Woodring Stover…..