Me and George Bush Sr.

Now, what exactly do I have in common with the aforementioned? Really nothing other than our location the past couple of days. Former President Bush and I were residing on the same block… he at the Mayo, me at the neighboring hotel. Funny we didn’t bump into each other. 😉

I’ve decided to write this entry on the bus ride back to Brainerd. Certainly because I’m bored and anxious to be done with the sitting, but also because I want to write while it’s all fresh. Two days of conferences will fill a person’s head, and it seems after a night’s sleep I lose half of what happened the previous days.

I boarded a charter bus with 32 other teachers Wednesday after school. We headed down to Rochester for a Response to Intervention Leadership Summit. The conference itself was great – but I won’t bore you with those details.

Last night I joined Sarah and Sue, two teachers from the eighth grade wing. We first stopped at a nearby establishment to socialize a bit, and then headed off to Barnes and Noble. It’s been so long since I’ve just browsed around a bookshop – I usually just order online. So, I picked up The Homework Myth, as I’ve been meaning to read it for a couple of years now and happened upon it last night. After the book shopping we found a little Irish sounding place (turned out to be fairly mainstream) and grabbed dinner. It was so nice to get to know a couple of new people. It’s amazing that we work in the very same building, but chances are we won’t run into each other again for some time.

I roomed with Trudi (our 5/6 counselor) and Tammy (our assistant principal) who motivated me to wake up early enough to get a workout in before heading to the conference at 7:15. I always LOVE the day so much more when I start out like that, but so often I can’t muster up the energy to do it on my own. Of course, this allowed me to feel like I had a license to eat every sweet thing nearby – which always seem to be abundant at educational conferences! I even made the mistake of stopping at Starbucks before we walked down and found that the seasonal pumpkin spice latte is out. Yum! (Okay coffee friends, give it a try!)

I’m anxious to get back to Brainerd. I think we’ll still try to drive up to Cook tonight – we’ll see how alert Bill is, and how organized I am. It’s really starting to feel like fall – and I can’t think of a place I’d enjoy more than the bay before Black Bay. (nice alliteration, don’t you think?)