butki13

My life is getting way too intense as I explained in my blog this morning.

http://scoopstories.typepad.com/scoopstories/
got more than 10,000 hits and almost as many visits over the weekend.


This is how I explained it elsewhere:

Got my 10,000th hit last nite. I was at like 100 hits total about a
week ago.
Man, this was not what I planned, intended or wanted as far as blog
growth.

Meanwhile a blogger who writes for the Village Voice wants me to write
about the experience at his site but I said NO WAY am I going to
repeat this mistake.


I found myself wanting to scream - maybe in caps - "ok, all trolls
leave now but anyone interesting you can stay."

Instead I just put up lots of new content and will see if any of it
sticks.

I posted that I'm taking a blogging break - more due to studies than
anything else - and said it's "Your turn" - you tell me what blogs I
should consider good and credible, specifically showing me examples of
good blog journalism.

But then that'd be work instead of bashing so we'll see.

--------

Take care, everyone. I'll check back later to see if anyone responds then I need to take this off my bookmarks list until summer is over and the classes become less insane.

[Edited on Jun 15, 2005 5:52AM]

<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/18/AR2005061801219.html">The Washington Post story </a>about Ellen's difficulties in adopting Marina (and two photos of Marina, one with
Ellen holding her) is right under the fold on the front page and cute as hell.</p>

<p>
I lit a candle at church today for my family, asking for prayers and
good thoughts on the adoption front (and mentioning the Post story) as
well as for dad, who died about five years ago.</p>

<p>
I mentioned that as a fellow news junkie dad would have been very
excited about the front page coverage and would surely have circled it.</p>

<p>
I admitted - and this is terrible, probably - a bit of jealousy that my
sister had something (the two photos were hers) published in the
Washington Post before I did while working for that publication was for
years my career goal.</p>

<p>The timing of the publication of the article, which was completed a few days ago - along with the culmination of other projects I've been working on - made for a very emotionally draining day.</p>

<p>I'll write more about it after I get some more school work done.<br /><br />
One thing I hear repeatedly as I work with children and other students is "you must be a wonderful dad" or "You are going to be such a great dad."</p>

<p>Most have no idea what a compliment that is because being a good father is one of my biggest ambitions.</p>

<p>
I've even had students ask me which student in class is mine.</p>

<p>
Two twists on that front came this week: When I was going to a class at
community college and said a "good morning" to someone I presume was a
teacher she said good morning and then - apparently searching for the
appropriate social cue  - asked me if I was a teacher or a student. I
said "student" but if I was more awake I would have realized that soon
I could answer "both."</p>

<p>
Also in class today one of the students gave me a card she apparently drew for Father's Day."This is for you," she said.</p>

<p>It said, "Dad good." </p>

<p>Interpret it however you want but I took it as a positive sign.</p>

<p>And while I haven't gotten as much exercise as I should lately I played hide-n-seek for hours yesterday with two children and duck duck goose (although we said it in Spanish) with children this morning.</p>

<p>Good nite</p>

I've been awol but for good reason - I made the career change I've been planning for a year.

So last week I gave notice that I'm quitting the newspaper I've worked at for five years and interviewed to get into a local masters program for teachers and this
week I've been interviewing for education jobs.

Meanwhile I've been setting up my online photo gallery:
http://www.photoshowdown.com/gallery/sbutki

Come check it out and I'll try to get back here more often once my life gets more stable.

I have set up a Lifejournal so that people can bookmark and read updates - the good and bad and mundane - in my career change and other parts. This will mean less work for me to keep everyone interested informed without sounding selfish as I repeat it to some people more than once.

The link is:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/scoopstories/

Stay sexy.

Yeah life's been a bit crazy lately.

Next

{Commons.3.2580}: Scott "Scoop" Butki {sbutki} Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:27:38 EST (29 lines)

*Well, I got my grades back - electronically that is.

I didn't do as well as I would have liked but I did ok:
I received a B+ in my math class,
an A on an independent research class
and a C in my science class. The latter is the most disappointing
because I had an A going into the
final but did bad on the final and so a C was the result.

Meanwhile I mailed off two more job applications today - one for an
instructional assistant
position in Frederick County and one for a special education
instructional assistant positions.

Wish me luck.

What's next?
I'm scheduled to take the second part of the Praxis test in August as
well as a writing
and math placement test.

Classes resume in late August.
So I'm spending some of my break relaxing, reading, working on my
photography skills and
in other ways giving my brain a break.

I'm going to set up an appointment to meet with my adviser to see if
she has any suggestions
on other things I should be doing but am not.
=============================


*About three minutes after I typed that - and 30 minutes after I put
the applications in
the mailbox - I received a call from the Frederick school district.

Wow, I thought, they are fast.
The caller was asking if I wanted to
interview for a full-time but not benefitted special ed aide job on
Monday.
That would be a better job than two part time jobs but not as good as
a benefitted one, of course.

So I'll work to rearrange my Monday schedule - i.e. get boss clearance
to switch from day to
nite shift- and go do another interview.

They do seem to be interviewing me for quite a few spots which is, I
think, an encouraging
sigh.

Oh and in case I haven't emphasized it - one other reason I'd like a
job in the schools instead
of my current job for the next year is this: My current work schedule
is too erratic to allow
for me to take classes in-person at community colleges. And I'd much
rather take, say, math
and science classes in person than over the Internet.
I've tried to get my work schedule changed to accomodate that but
bosses won't allow it.

Now whether that desire outweighs working a job without benefits is a
question that remains
unanswered, the proverbial bridge not yet crossed.

SG isn't porn... it's art

Great.
Well, I've been busy and haven't been inhere since
Monday. I covered the Spelling Bee in DC yesterday
and today I turned down the job offer cause it
ended up being a part-time offer.

Tomorrow I'm going to sub teacher.

How's everyone doing?