Rage against the machine

photo by:Mark Adkison

I'm reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It is putting words to many of the feelings and observations that I've had over my short teaching career. Quite simply, we are not providing a rigorous, challenging education for students and it is partly the low-expectations of our society coupled with a lack of desire to do anything that isn't "fun", that is to blame. The gears are spinning in my head; have been for quite some time, in fact. That isn't a good thing for me. I feel so conflicted about trying to foment real change because I know how difficult and thankless of a challenge it is. Up until this point, my teaching career has pretty much consisted of me repeatedly pissing off parents and incuring the dislike of students due to my "high" expectations. I say "high" because I don't think that my expectations are high, I think they are a bit on the low side, given the employment future that my current students have before them. A true sea change needs to occur...

Didn't make the ride today. I've committed myself to knocking out all of the loose ends left on the bathroom this weekend. If the plan holds, all that will be left will be tiling the floor. The long ride today was an 80 mile jaunt around Lake James (the infamous "Lake James, bitch" ride). I think that the wind and cold worked a double whammy on a lot of people as I saw a couple of truly shattered countenances rolling in. There will be another ride tomorrow at 10 am.

Too Tall Trey picked up his brand spankin' new BMC Fourstroke 03 mtn. bike, yesterday. With a 23" frame, it is the largest full suspension mtn. bike I have ever seen. It fit Trey like a glove and made him realize pretty quickly how cramped up he's been on all of the too small bikes he's been riding. I can't wait to hear his ride review next week!

Check out the new BMC Pro Cycling Team and read a review of the Blackburn Ultra Trakstand Trainer that we just got in stock (we have 2 left)!