Today I learned that one of my former students has been killed. She was in a car with her boyfriend at her house when the stolen gun he was playing with went off and hit her in the side. She died later of her injuries. They were both attending Turlington Alternative School for the semester. She has a twin sister who was also in my class last year.

Granted, she was not an honors student by any means, but when someone you once knew is no longer here, it affects the human condition, no matter what you thought before.

Well, the staff retreat to Sea Trail (in Sunset Beach, N.C.) was a lot of fun. I got to know a few staff members a lot better, getting to work with them throughout the workshop. It's too bad we didn't actually get to go to the beach, since it was one mile away.

We took a detour on the way there because I am certain that the signs in Lake View, S.C. were changed. Why we even went through S.C. was confusing (maps and directions provided by randmcnally.com and mapquest.com told us just that.)

The accommodations were great. High ceilings, a full kitchen, master bedroom, dining room table, two couches, drawers stacked with puzzles and things to read, and even a washer and dryer. I virtually had the whole place to myself since my roommate (an assistant principal) was always out having some sort of fun each night.

We were told that we came at the right time because Gov. Mike Easley was holding the Governor's conference at Sea Trail the day we returned home. So the staff were busy sprucing up the place while we were there.

104.6¢/L in Canada is approximately $3.41/gallon in U.S. dollars. So right now gasoline costs a little under $1/gallon cheaper in N.C. compared to Ontario.

Well, the warm temperatures went away real quick. Last Thursday we were in the upper 20s (degrees Celsius) and today we're a few degrees above freezing, and sandwiched in between was a heavy rainfall on Friday.

It was too cold to go to the zoo today, so I just stayed home and worked on school stuff.

Only at our school would you have a student:

1) tell a teacher to mind his/her own business, and that the teacher can't make student stop talking and work because he/she ain't [her] daddy.

2) asking to go to the bathroom, yet walk in the opposite direction towards an unknown location to smoke.

3) skip class to hide in the locker room with some friends where there's absolutely nothing to do except for maybe talk.

4) sleep in fourth period during instruction because they have received their free meal for the day, and they are out of energy. Yet they are fine chatting with friends during work time.

5) take out a cellphone during class to check the time (not permitted in school), when there's a clock on the wall (albeit an analog one).

But I'm not going to lose sleep over these types of students...America's future.

Daylight savings time has taken away one hour of sleep. Just in time for the beginning of the fourth nine weeks. And now, since it's still winter, we can't "spring forward" anymore, but puzzle master Will Shortz has suggested the term "March foward" as a replacement.

Today is a teacher workday, because it's the end of the third nine weeks of the school year. That means it's like a regular workday at a typical office. You go into your 'office' (classroom), sit at the computer, and enter records (grades), create reports (report cards), have lunch (at your discretion), work some more, and then at 16:00, pack up and go home without taking any work home.

I miss those days of leaving work at work...

Today our state-wide electronic attendance and grading system (NC WISE) was offline for the entire day, so we couldn't do any of the above.

The Freshman Success Academy (a great-sounding name for ninth grade students) held their awards ceremony this morning. Awards given for 'A' honor roll, 'B' honor roll, "survivors" (i.e. survived the first semester by passing all four courses) and perfect attendance.

In other news, we are only three days from the end of the first nine weeks of the second semester. Hooray!

I was in Raleigh yesterday. Sights and sounds:

- Crabtree Valley Mall - I don't even know why I go into malls anymore, I never find anything that I want...oh that's right, it has an Apple Store.
- N.C. Museum of History - Presidential portraits, Margaret Morley's photographs, more old stuff.
- N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences - my favourite museum - all of the Old North State, from mountains to the sea.
- State Capitol - self-guided walking tour. Outside I overheard a couple on bicycles who told passersby that they were from Canada, they didn't ride their bicycles from there, they were just renting.
- The Flea Market at the N.C. State Fairgrounds - I overheard a man asking at a coin shop if they would buy some paper Canadian money from him. They said they didn't need any. There was, however, a box containing low-denomination coins of foreign countries on sale: 4 coins/$1. I did find some Canadian 25-cent pieces, but that's still a 17% premium...and at that price, who's going to buy their 2 euro cent coins (value $0.026)?

Depending on the model of your car, you can unlock it remotely with your cell phone. A colleague was at the curriculum fair (open house) at our school in Raeford on Tuesday night, and her son was in Eutaw Village in Fayetteville, locked out of his car. She put the remote clicker close to her phone, while he held his phone close to the door. I guess it works if your car uses sound frequencies (she has a Honda Odyssey).