I was really tired last night after staying up late a few times this week to watch hockey and plan lessons at the same time. For supper, I ate an entire 312 g Totino's pizza that I bought on sale for $1 before heading off to bed. The pizza crust was so hard that it scraped the roof of my mouth, causing layers of skin to come off, and still hurts at the moment. The toppings looked like it could have been the filling from a Taco Bell supreme burrito.

The Canadiens whipped the Hurricanes pretty convincingly last night, 6-1. In their own backyard, no less! And they were outshot by a margin of over 2:1.

This is going to be a great series.

Spring Break: Ten days of freedom.

Peeve: Driving at 75 mph (10 mph over the speed limit) on I-95 at dusk, and being passed by all sorts of vehicles, including 40 ft trailers loaded with dozens of new cars. Where are the highway patrol officers when you need them? Putting up "No Need 2 Speed" signs every few miles isn't cutting it.

New places visited: Myrtle Beach, Raven Rock State Park, Pinehurst

TV shows that I hadn't seen before (and enjoyed): The Andy Griffith Show; Whose Line Is It, Anyway?

This is for y'all who give me a confused look at the restaurant when I say I'd like an orange pop, please. This isn't a Yankee term, either. One of my friends from NYC didn't have a clue what pop was the first time I used it. She said, "Oh, you mean soda."

I think of "soda" as what y'all call "spritzer".

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

20% Yankee

15% Dixie

5% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

While you're waiting for my next blog entry, try to solve one of the most popular (and difficult) riddles on the Web, called Notpron. There are 138 levels, and less than one out of every 100 000 visitors have completed it, and only after working on it for several months or years.

You are free to search the web for clues (but finding spoilers will ruin the fun, so add -notpron to all of your Google searches.) You do need to know some basic things, like knowing where the URL shows up on your browser, and viewing the page source, but nothing else that's too technical.

I've been working on this for over an hour now, and have only gotten to level six.

Yesterday, some of the ninth grade teachers (and a few others, too) went on a retreat to Caraway Mountain (just outside of Asheboro, in Randolph County). The scenery was excellent, and the facilities were too. We got to ride the brand-new activity bus. The presenter was a little late but she was an excellent speaker. We kept her for the afternoon session as well. The topic of the day was team-building.

We escaped the rain. It rained for the most part while we were on the bus, but it held up otherwise. I would have loved to see the area a bit more.

Lunch consisted of roast beef, broccoli with cheese sauce, boiled potatoes and a roll. Dessert was banana pudding. We also had a glass of sweet tea. I finished everything on the plate, it was so delicious.

Four more teaching days until spring break arrives!