Epitaph

This is an epitaph that I started when my car Buddy died on a lonely, snowy road between Benjamin and Payson. I'm done mourning, but I thought I'd share:

Bad Boy Blue a.k.a. Buddy (Feb 1998-Dec 2009)

Across the country once and back,
Three sets of tires, three windshields cracked,
Carting scouts and fording rivers,
Enduring smells that give most shivers—
Only once a dropped transmission,
Faded paint, a faulty light, a visor missin’
Spills and splats and marshmallow stuff,
I’m sorry, Buddy, you were treated so rough(ly)
And even though your defroster never worked,
You eventually always got me from and to work,
To class, to meetings, to meet my wife (rrrr)
Buddy, you’ve been a major part of life
These past twelve years, and so, adieu,
Farewell, my friend, my Bad Boy Blue.

If any of you have a favorite memory of Buddy, please feel free to share.

Happy New Year a Month Late!

So…yeah. Here it is the second week in February, and I still haven’t written any goals. Loser that I am, I haven’t written too much of anything. However, after helping with a short seminar for newer teachers regarding teaching writing across the curriculum—using writing as a tool in different content areas to be more exact. And as I wrote and had them write, I decided that I needed to repent.

To start off, I thought I’d review the goals I optimistically made at the beginning of last year.

1. I wanted to write for 15 minutes each day at least 5 times a week. In short, it didn’t happen. There was that stint in December where I wrote every day, but I still didn’t get into a better habit.
2. I wanted to publish another professional piece. That didn’t happen; I missed several deadlines. Doh! However, I did present at the CUWP conference in October. P.S. I’ve been accepted to present again in March. Sign up at utahteacherswrite.org to tolerate me and see three other awesome presenters.
3. Muses? Anybody seen the muses lately? I have a few ideas written down for some posts and articles, but I haven’t actually taken the time to put words to paper (or keyboard). Anybody wanna kick me in the butt and decide for me what I should write about? Any funny stories you want me to retell or invent?
4. I haven’t finished any writing projects lately, so I’ll just move along. (Nothing to see here.)
5. I believe this is the only of my five goals that I accomplished. However, this year hasn’t started too well. And looking at this piece of reflection, the muses are taking an extended lunch. For those who have read any of Frank Beddor’s Looking Glass Wars books, I feel like Arch’s machine that drained the imagination from Wondertropolis has affected me.

Now, in my defense, I did ask all of you (few) to keep me on track, but nobody really pushed, prodded, poked, or pestered me to keep going.

Now, I do want to write more. I need to write more. I must write more!

I could make two one point twenty-one kajillion excuses why I’m not writing, but none of them would hold any weight.

I will make some goals here soon, but I want to ponder for a while longer…once I get this crazy hayride called a doctoral program under control. Suggestions or bacon are both welcome.