Iv'e been a bad, bad, bad boy. In the "ideal" world of blogging it is an unspoken assumption that one updates one's blog, at least, every couple of days. I noticed it has now been two weeks since I posted anything. I don't have any good excuse or reason for neglecting my blog and really have nothing to say other than my blog is my hobby and writing is "not" second nature to me as it is to many folks who regularly blog...besides....I am often a busy, busy, man and I often don't have much to say that I think would be much interest to most folks...which....was the case for the past two weeks. I had ten days off during the Easter/Spring break holidays this year but I really don't have much to report on. This year I split my time between visiting my mom and my girlfriends parents. I spent most of my time sitting around and socializing. Went to mass three times and other than that I didn't get out much. I'ts generally not the kind of vacation I enjoy. I like being outside and moving around doing this or that but my mom is getting up there in age and my girlfriend generally spends the holidays with her family so I sucked it up this year and went with the flow. Don't know how many, if any, Easters my mom has left so I do want to spend as much time with her as I can........... Since I was sitting around so much this year I did get in alot of reading. I read Crossan and Wright's book on the resurrection and polished off Bart Ehrman's books, Misquoting Jesus, and Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. At the present time I have really gotten into the whole early church history and the battles and struggles between the various faith communities. I think it is critical for our understanding, interpretation, and application of faith and I believe it is particularly relevant to the increasingly pluralistic religious society we all live in....and....I find it stimulating and refreshing after spending most of my adult life looking at reality through the lens of a particular religious subculture. I also like Ehrman alot because he appears to know his stuff but doesn't write like he is simply talking to the other ivory tower academics, in other words, his books are understandable ......Not much to report on since I went back to work this week. We spent much of last week talking about and promoting the series of big tests next week which will determine our place as a school on the education food chain. I do what I have to do during these times but I find myself increasingly cynical about the whole No Child Left Behind reform movement, especially, it's emphasis on testing. I hate teaching to tests and each year I find myself spending more and more time preparing students for tests. It's taking all the fun and personal satifaction out of teaching, not to mention, creating a lot more stress for educators across the board....and....to add insult to injury....the expectations here in California are absolutely ridiculous, IMHO. Give it another three years and if there aren't any changes I won't be surprised to see the vast majority of schools on some kind of academic probation....anyway.....I'll wrap this up and get out of here before my ramblings on education turn into a monologue between me, myself, and I.