Desultory Thoughts

One of the worst things in the world is the inability to sleep, especially when you know that the alarm clock is going to go off at 5:15 a.m.  This happens to me quite a bit on Sunday night when I know I should start off the week with a healthy 6-8 hours of sleep.  I’m usually getting an average of 4-5 a night, sometimes less, but that’s not to say I’d sleep for 10-12 if I had the time.  I don’t know why I can’t sleep tonight.  Wednesday nights usually treat me fair.

Tonight (or this morning, rather) in my attempts to get tired I finished reading my Google Reader posts (I’m currently subscribed to 287 rss feeds) and then I checked out my Google Health profile and updated it with my latest condition, “Difficulty Sleeping”.  I wandered over to my Google Web History and discovered that I’ve had that thing turned on recording all my google searches and all the pages and images I’ve viewed since June 28, 2005.  I’ve made 13,338 Google searches since then.  I wonder if that’s considered a lot of searches in just over 3 years?

My blogging frequency is back to where it started when I tried out the blogging thing on Blogger.com in 2002 (an entire two posts) and then on MySpace (which I cancelled when it was creepy for a 30 year old to have a profile on what was mostly for teenagers and musicians) and now I’m somewhat regretting my cancellation because my old MySpace page now has some other shirtless Tyler Slack on it.  I got on board the FaceBook craze a while back (after a bit of resistance…I was afraid it would be like MySpace) but I don’t do much on it.  I log in after I get an email or two telling me I have friend requests and I make a point to ignore all invitations to join a cause and I still don’t know what a poke is, nevermind a superpoke.  It doesn’t sound like something a married man should be doing.

I created my FaceBook profile after I read a CIO.com article that advised me not to choose just LinkedIn or just Facebook but create a profile on both.  So I did.  In the last few months I’ve really noticed an increase of activity on that site, my goodness!  So I went ahead and imported some feeds to give the appearance that I’m an active FaceBook user, but I haven’t caught onto the idea of updating my status.  I’ve been dabbling with Twitter for a while, but haven’t used it enough to consider it a very useful tool for me, but I’m sure I’ll keep it around.

Now, after all that useless information you’d think I’d be tired.  Nope!  I still can’t sleep!  Here’s to all-nighters!  (We’ll see how excited I am about it when I’m falling asleep at La Caille tonight.)

I took the day off the other day to attend a sales event that NCSI (a vendor that sells network apps and utilities) hosted for a bunch of their customers.  It took place at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, so I didn’t have to drive very far.  Some of the customers came all the way from Wyoming to attend!  They were showing off some stuff from LeftHand Networks (iSCSI SANs).  Pretty cool stuff, but it pales in comparison to the pre-event!

First we were able to get out in a Mustang on closed course track with cones.  We took three rounds through the course to get a feel for it, but their advise to us was to drive the car like we stole it.  I’ve never in my life driven something with that much power!  It was pretty dang sweet!  After we warmed up we took three laps around as they timed us.  I wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t the worst either.  And I never hit any cones, so that was good.

After driving the Mustangs you wouldn’t think that it could get much cooler, but it actually did.  The coolest part of the experience is when we rode shotgun with professional drivers around the actual race track!  Their were three cars out there jockeying for position on the track, just like they would in a real race.  The only thing they held back on was actual tapping.  That’s what they do in a real race that so often ends with a car off the track, so I’m glad they held back a little.  I had my little camera so i pulled it out and flipped it into video mode and took some low-quality video of the experience.  This video doesn’t do it justice, but you’ll still get the idea.  It was a lot of fun!

I may get into analysis of this conflict in a future post, but for now, watch this tough as nails Georgian reporter continue her live broadcast after taking a bullet from a sniper. Her name is Tamara Urushadze and she’s reporting from the war-torn town of Gori in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Talk about grace under fire!

My wife and I enjoy watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and were excited to see that they were coming to Salt Lake City to search for talent this year.  The Salt Lake City episode aired tonight and it wasn’t long before I saw a familiar sight.  Anyone involved in the Special Olympics Utah program would recognize it in a heartbeat, it was none other then Brett Banford rippin’ it up out in the snow on the street in his ski jacket as he often does.  In fact, if you ever decide to volunteer for a Special Olympics event be sure to stick around for the dance that takes place after the first day of events.  You’ll have so much fun!

Brett is a very outspoken and charismatic athlete and he loves everyone he meets.  He told Kat he loved her on the show, but he told me that before, too.  He represented Special Olympics and people with disabilities so well tonight; we can all be proud.  I’ll upload his highlights and post it soon so you can all enjoy his performance and words of inspiration if you missed tonight’s episode.  His personality is addictive!

Way to go, Brett!

UPDATE: You can also see him in an interview on Fox 13 News.

During the May 20, 2008 Tooele County School District Board of Education Workshop Meeting a motion was made to accept the resignation of 40-year education superstar Superintendent Mike Johnsen.  He thanked the Board for the appointment that was made three years ago and showed emotion as he talked about the last 40 years as an educator and administrator in Tooele District.  He regretted leaving after so long but said, “Forty years is enough for anybody.”  He offered his help to the Board in any way that he could in the future and despite the timing, which was a surprise to everyone, left on a good note.

I’ve always been very impressed with Superintendent Johnsen as he’s lead a rapidly growing district.  I’m sure the Board will miss his leadership and great ability.  The very next item of business was to appoint the next Superintendent that will fill the very big shoes of its predecessor.

Board President Gary Gowans discussed the options that are available to a Board when faced with the decision of appointing a new Superintendent, including looking for someone out-of-state.  He cut to the chase and noted that with very capable people already in the district the Board had decided to appoint current Assistant Superintendent Terry Linares.  The decision was greeted with applause and a bit of emotion from Mrs. Linares.  She talked about her past experience and, much like Superintendent Johnsen, comes from a long history as an educator in Tooele School District.  She started her career in Wendover and continued at Grantsville Jr. High and Grantsville High School.  She’s been Assistant Superintendent since July 2007.  I’m sure with the support of the Board, her capable staff (including the likes of Ken Luke) and parents she’ll do an excellent job.  She was a driving force behind the recent “What Counts” meeting where community members from around Tooele were brought together to help shape the 2008-2009 Board goals.

In April I spoke to the Utah State Board of Education during public comment and let my opinion of Tooele County School District be known.  It was favorable and today it continues.  While the loss of great ones like Superintendent Johnsen will not go unnoticed, life continues on with the likes of experienced and caring professionals like Terry Linares.