Kale and the dentist

I took kale to the dentist yesterday to try and get some cavities filled. It did not go well. Right now my teeth hurt just thinking about it. Everything was fine, the gas seemed to be calming him down, then the drill hit his teeth, you know the sound and the feeling. He raised his hand to let them know he was in pain. The dentist tried one more time, with me holding him. This time Kale raised both his hands and his whole body tensed up like he was in convulsions. He tried not to cry, but you could see he was in great pain. The dentist stopped and gave us a few options.
1. Take him to GF and they can put him under
2. Bring him back in a few months to see if he can handle it better

Option 2 is out the window. He never wants to see another dentist again. I don't blame him, the most painful experiences of my life were getting cavities filled at the dentist. The gas never worked for me. At about 12 years old I experienced novacaine for the first time, what a miracle! I never used gas again. Not sure what we will do, but at 4 1/2 years old, Kale already hates the dentist.

On line classes

There has been some talk of on line courses for high school students. I think if a student can take a course that is not offered by his/her local school, then by all means give the on line option a try. Or if they are unable to come to school, or if they are like some families who's jobs are always moving, maybe the online ption is a good idea.

However, students who take courses online that a school already offers is wrong in my opinion. The local school district loses money for that student. Also, some of these online courses are a joke. They take 10-20 percent of the time of a regular course. Also, the biggest problem with an online course is accountability. How do you really know who is doing the work? Mom or dad could be taking the tests or older siblings for that matter.

The biggest problem I have with online courses (and I would throw in home schooling on this one as well) is that one of the major aspects of a child's education is social skills. By doing classes on a computer one loses all verbal communication and misses out on a great deal of interaction with other students and teachers. I would not want my 16 year old spending a great deal of their day alone, on a computer. What kind of society would that create?

Philippine American War

How many of you have ever heard of the Philippine American War? Not many is my guess. Now most educated Americans have heard about the Spanish American War of 1898 which was fought to free Cuba from the oppressive Spanish and in the process the US gained the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Many people may remember the war chant, "Remember the Maine" about the warship that was sunk off the Havana Harbor. Referred to as "A splendid little war!" Because of all that was gained in such a short time and at the cost of only about 1000 American lives.

Let me now explain about the Philippine American War. It lasted 15 years from 1898-1913, 4300 American lives were lost (as many as 200,00 Filippinos may have died). This war was fought why? To stop the Philippines from gaining independence. The US annexed them instead. We just fight a war supposedly to help Cuba gain independence, and now we have just fought a costlier war to stop another country from gaining theirs. What is worse is that the US committed unspoken about atrocities to the Filipino people. Women and children were killed, villages were burned, it was horrendous!

The meaning of this blog post is to point out the fact that the Spanish American War is still celebrated in this country and well written about, yet a longer and more tragic war with the Philippines is hidden and hardly written about at all. Why? Because we are embarrassed and would prefer to hide that part of history. History is written by the winners, what will happen when we lose? What will the history of the US look like then? Hmm....

Here is a link to a Mark Twain writing about the Philippine War. It is a nice snippet to some of the atrocities that we committed there. It is also a good read as Twain is masterful with his sarcasm!


http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/25/26060/timeline/docs/sources/theme_primarysources_Culture_17.html

Hunting season

This has been an extremely successful hunting season for the Geiser-Bauck deer hunting group around New York Mills, MN. At least 6 potential wall mounter bucks have been shot. Dad shot a 164 inch 13 pointer 150 yards from the house (deer drag story to come later), my brother Cody shot a 140 inch 12 pointer, my uncle David shot a 147 inch 9 pointer about 200 yards from my stand, my cousin Shanna Shot a 130 incher right by the house, cousin Sam shot a 137 incher, and my cousin Isaiah shot one that will probably go over 130 as well. 15 years of passing up little bucks is paying off!

But I do not measure success of a hunting season on the size of the bucks we shoot. It is also about spending some time with family, getting out in the woods, and relaxing. In those areas this hunting season has been very successful as well!

Hunting pics

Politics and War and the Media

As far as I am concerned politics and war and media do not mix. Take Iraq for example. We have won a war there, yet the politicians to the left and the media refuse to admit it. On a website I check frequently for casualty numbers (icasualty.org) one can view casualties, both hostile and non hostile for every month of the war, and the facts don't lie. In May of 2007 the American troops suffered 123 hostile fatalities, and in Oct. of this year they suffered 2! Some will say that the Iraqi civilians are taking the brunt of the violence now, also not true. In Sept. of 2006 there were 3300 civilian fatalities, in September of this year: 96! For some reason the media and the politicians to the left don't like positive things. Maybe they should read the book, "How Full is Your Bucket?" When things were going bad in Iraq there was criticism everywhere, people wanted Bush out of office. It was a key issue in the campaign during the primary races for President. Another sign that things got better is that the nearer we got to the election last November, the less of an issue Iraq was. Why? Because we are winning and no one knows it or wants to write about it. And everyone likes to claim how well we are supporting our troops yet we refuse to admit that they have gone over and kicked butt, is that support?
Now Afghanistan is a different story. Things have gotten worse there as it is trending the other way, fatalities are getting higher. The military is asking for 40,000 more troops now. Obama says he is thinking about it. Americans are dying while he is thinking and the politicians to the left are using rhetoric and stall tactics. If I had a son or daughter in Afghanistan and the military leaders were requesting more troops to help, I would not be happy with the situation happening in the Capital right now. It was proven in Iraq that troop increases helped win the war. I say give it a try in Afghanistan. To me it is time to go all in or go home. This half way stuff is costing Americans lives! I thought we learned lessons from Vietnam, obviously the wrong ones it looks like.

I guess my main point is this: How can we as Americans let the media and politicians get away with this? All these positive things going on in Iraq, when positive news can be so good for the American people and the troops, and nothing is said. That is sad, and it hurts the morale of the American people. I am sending an email to Obama, Clinton, and Pelosi and highly encouraging them to read the book "How Full is Your Bucket?" It might help.

Great message!

We had a speaker in today who graduated HS from Grygla, and was near the bottom of his class of 20 there as a senior. While there he had 2 teachers and the career counselor tell he could not do what he wanted to do- fly F15 fighters for the Air Force. His counselor told him he should be a pig farmer like his dad or work at Marvin Windows- he has been flying F15 fighters now for 4 years and makes 75 grand a year. Soon he will be one of 40 people in the world who flies U2 Spy Planes. His message was simple: work hard to achieve your goals, don't let people tell you what you can't do, and have a plan of how to achieve your goals.

For me the coolest part of the presentation was a video he showed at the end of his presentation. It was a montage of photos from Iraq and Afghanistan that showed soldiers fighting, soldiers wounded, and soldiers being carried in caskets. The most emotional photos, however, were those showing fathers hugging their sons or reuniting with their families. Very powerful. If I find it I will post it. Also, when he was asked why he does this, all the sacrifices and being away from his family, he said it was because as a fighter pilot he gets to help ground troops be safer and help them return to their families. A true patriot and lets us no that there are some good guys left in the world.

Kids say the darndest things...

Here is one of my favorite photos of my son, he posed unprompted to look like a prairie dog he had seen for the first time. The real prairie dog is also shown here.


We were at a Halloween party for kids on Saturday when my 4 year old son pointed out one of his classmates, I told him that his friend's dad was a doctor, he replied with the following: "Did you know Michael Jackson died, because his doctor gave him drugs." So am I to believe that he thinks the doctor will give him bad drugs?

Another line of Kale's this week came from school. They had a visit from the police officer and I asked how it went, he replied with, "They can't arrest kids because their hands are too small for the cuffs." Often times we tell him to behave or that the police may arrest him, oops, maybe we should be more truthful.

Nature vs Nurture...Solved!

I am going to try and follow any negative post with a happy positive post. Halloween is a great holiday. Kids love it, adults are allowed to be wacky for one day a year, it is just a whole lot of fun. And witnessing Holloween through the eu=yes of a child is by far the best. My two kids are both enthralled with the holiday. My daughter, Ruby, is going to be Belle (who is a Princess according to her) and will be wearing a pretty yellow dress with pretty ruffles and pretty shoes and her hair will be done to look pretty as well. There is a theme here- my daughter loves being pretty, and pink, and barbies, and princesses. In short, she is a girlie girl. My son, Kale, is going to be a Power Ranger. Anything that gets to punch things, look powerful, and make lots of noise is a costume he would like. He could care less about putting clothes on or shopping, he only cares about the fun and practical uses something can give him. In short, he is all boy. Now I have discussed the whole nature vs nurture thing in college classes and with friends over the years, and we have never truly solved the dilemma of what is more important to a persons life: nature or the genetics a person is born with or nurture- the environment a person is raised in. My two kids have solved the problem for me. Nature, or genetics, is definitely the more important of the two. We try to raise our kids as to not give in to all of the gender biasses. I tell both my kids to be tough when they fall and have spanked them both for misbehaving. How on earth did one child fall in love with pink and shopping and princesses and the other have no desire for any of that and all he likes to do is play rough and shoot things? Genetics! It is solved. Now I know everyone is effected by their surroundings as well, so in my scientific analysis of nature vs nurture I will give nature 64.7% and nurture 35.3%. You can use these figures in your research if you like. Have a great Friday!






Student quote of the day in US Government: We were studying the constitutionality of burning the American flag when one student said, "No way, you can't burn a flag, it's like burning a bald eagle."

rumblings

I love hockey. It is fun. Hopefully everyone can experience the greatness of the sport!

Boston

Darci and I are signed up to go to Boston! I can't wait. Darci will running in the 113th running of the Boston Marathon on April 19th. We will be there from the 16-20th. I have been to Boston once already, but there is so much to do there that it will be great. I love traveling. Something about seeing new things and different lifestyles that is very interesting. My only dilemma is what to see there? We really only have two days of sight seeing. I have narrowed my list to the following:
Salem Witchcraft Trials
Fenway Park
Little Italy
Plymoth Colony
Harvard
JFK Library
Lexington and Concord
The North Church
Freedom Trail
Cheers
the John Adams house
the USS Constitution
The Battle of Bunker Hill

So many choices and so little time. I'll have to do some research and find out what we will have time for.

Being a father

Being a father is a job that nothing prepares you for.  Over the past few days my 4 year old son has ticked me off 2 times for two accidents he could have avoided.  Example number one occurred at my in laws.  He was walking around outside when I heard him screaming, he came running to the house with a boot missing.  I realized he had stuck his foot into a bucket full of gas!  you heard it right, a bucket full of gas, now who keeps a five gallon bucket of gas lying around?  That is beside the point, who willingly puts their foot in a bucket of gas?  I got angry to say they least.  In a few moments Kale was crying and profusely sorry, I threw his boots outside and when I did, he had put his gas covered pants in with a load of clean laundry!!  I was mad all over again.  Kale cried some more, and I threw him in the shower and that was that.

Example number two occurred right outside my classroom.  I had a few groceries to get, glass olive jars were among them.  After shopping, I stopped at my room to take care of a few things.  Kale got bored and irritated and went to the Jeep by himself.  I took a few more minutes and then went out.  I saw Kale with something in his hands, when I opened the door I could smell what it was.  He had banged two jars of olives together and broken them.  I was furious!  The car smelled, he was soaking wet, needless to say Kale was crying and profusely sorry again.

The scary part of this story for me is this:  I remember my dad getting angry with me, and I feared him, and still do to a point.  However, I also remember my dad telling me he loved me, giving me great advice, and just doing things great dads do.  I just hope I am giving my son the right mix of fear and love.  I didn't realize how great my dad was until I was a dad myself, so I may never know.  I know one thing, I am going to let my dad know.

Perfect night and my old tree

Last week a fellow teacher wrote about the perfect night, sitting in a deer stand.  I have to agree.  On Saturday night I got the chance to go bow hunting for only the second time all year, it was cold, windy, and snowy.  But that did not matter.  The important thing was, I was out in the woods.  Away from the rat race of life.  I think that is something non hunters struggle to understand about hunters.  I am not a cold blooded killer (okay, given the chance I can be) but really I just enjoy being out in nature.  I saw one deer at about 150 yards away eating in our turnip food plot, it spent half an hour there, then left.  I still consider it a successful hunt.  I got to go and sit in a deer stand for 2 hours.  No cell phone, no TV, no talking.  Just me and nature.  Priceless.

The other subject I was reminded of this weekend was on a little sadder note.  I went to check my deer stand in my Grandpa's swamp on Saturday.  My tree is starting to die, even as I write it is hard to keep a dry eye.  I have spent 17 years hunting out of this old tamarac tree.  I am on my 3rd stand in the tree.  I have the old one at about 15 feet up, the second one is a crude box stand at about 17 feet up, and my portable is about 35 feet up, so I know every inch of this tree.  I have spent hundreds of hours thinking, watching, and just enjoying life from that tree.  It feels like a piece of me.  I even get jealous when other people sit in it, not because they might shoot my deer, but because they are in my tree.  Several years ago one of my brothers cut off one of the branches, I could have killed him!  People don't understand my connection to this tree, and probably never will.  I am trying to decide what to make out some of the wood of this tree when it dies.  Maybe a coat rack?  I am not sure, but I will have a piece of it to remind me of all the fond memories of this tree for the rest of my life.  I will probably ask that a chunk of its wood gets buried with me.  Oh yeah, in 17 years I only shot 5 deer from it!  Again, hunting is not about killing, it is about getting away from the rat race that is life.  

Facebook

Here is a link to my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/kenny.geiser

I find facebook amusing and slightly helpful, nothing more nothing less.  It is the "rubbernecking" of our day.  We talked about this yesterday at our history conference.  Facebook is a huge gossip column with photos.  To some people that is great.  But to me it is quite uninteresting.  I don't really care if you are having a bad day, or if you are so happy to see your hubby, or if your dog pooped on your carpet, or if you got lit up last night.  I like the more private email versions of contact.  Call meold fashioned!  Who would have thought that email was old fashioned?  I did have students tell me last year that email was obselete, maybe they are right.  Time will tell.

Finished my book!!

Well, I stayed up until 4:30 in the morning to finish my book called "The World without end" by Ken Follett.  A great book and sequel to "Pillars of the Earth."  My only problem now is what to read next?  I feel kind of spent after reading "Shogun" and this book, both very large epics and time consuming and mind draining.  Maybe I will just sit back and watch more TV for awhile?Need to go in search of some good movies.

Favorite quotes

We are reading portions of the book "Incidents in the life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jacobs in US History.  It has some of the most amazing lines of any book I have read and was written by an escaped slave in the 1850's.  Here are a few of the lines that have so much meaning and emotion:

...The slave child had no thought of the morrow; but there came that blight, which too surely waits on every human being born to be a slave.

...These God-breathing machines are no more, in the sight of their masters, than the cotton they plant, or the horses they tend.

...The laugh of the little slave children sounded harsh and cruel.

...The poor black woman had but one child, whose eyes she saw closing in death, while she thanked God for taking her away from the greater bitterness of life.

...Every where the years bring to all enough of sin and sorrow; but in slavery the very dawn of life is darkened by these shadows.

...If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse.

...I would ten thousand times rather that my children should be the half-starved paupers of Ireland than to be among the most pampered among the slaves of America.

... Why does the slave ever love?  Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wresched away by the hand of violence? 

Books are addicting, but also frustrating

I have gotten addicted to reading books over the summer, and have read a dozen books since June.  I am focusing on historical fiction, as i think this interests me most and also helps me professionally the most.  I have read Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" and am reading the sequel called "World without End."  Here is where my frustration comes in.  Follett is a great writer and Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favorite books, however some of his character portrayals frustrate me.  It seems that no matter what, siblings must be at the complete far ends of their parents genetics.  Usually there are 2 siblings and one is inherently good and smart and the other is inherently evil and dumb.  Life is not like that.  I have 4 brothers and we are not very different.  Yet every family in his books has good and evil sides.  Frustrating.

RSS feeds

Is this something I will use or not?  Maybe.  The problem is that you get used to using the same thing for news over and over, and it is hard to change old habits.  For example, I always go to 3 major websites: yahoo, theguillotine, and weather.com.  These three sites provide me with most of what I need, and I know exactly how to navigate them because I am familiar with them.  I can see the huge advantage of using iGoogle and RSS feeds, but it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Igoogle, the one stop shop

Wow, igoogle is an amazing page.  Rather than going to yahoo, cnn, weather.com, espn, etc.  it is all there for you.  I am excited about the possibilities and have made it my homepage.  I also have had some dealings with igoogle in the past when I started to create a library.  I worked on that for a while today as well, what a cool place.  I have stored all the books I have read this summer in my library and all those I wish to read.  Good stuff!

Rookie Blogger's first try...

Welcome to my first blog attempt. We are in the 8th day of school, and who would have thought that I would be spending my time blogging, on an unblocked site, in the school, for a project for common prep! Oh how things change- for the better of course. Well, time to get to some real work.