Trick or Treat

Marie, the "cheerleader" and Josh, aka Power Ranger- Operation Overdrive, made the trek through the neighborhood tonight to fill their Halloween bags while little Sarah and I stayed at home to pass out candy to the trick or treaters. We probably had around 50 kids stop by; the weather no doubt was a factor to the small turnout considering it was drizzling/ 55 degrees.

Sitting by the window looking out onto the sidewalk, Sarah got the biggest kick out of spotting all the trick or treaters and then placing the candy into the bags of our visitors...although, a couple of the costumes spooked her a bit, so I had to take over a couple of times in depositing the treats into the goodie bags.

Boo at the Zoo

A Carnivorous Tiger and a Prodigious Power Ranger

Keepin' busy

Friends of mine at school all warned me…get through October, and the rest of the year should go relatively smooth. Well, I’m ½ way there, and having heeded the warning, I’m definitely looking forward to November 1.


October is THE recruiting month for our school…


2 Saturday Morning Placement Tests
We’ll have over 500 kids take this. Information packets on financial aid and academic scholarships are distributed to all the kids after taking the test.

Sunday Open House
Last week, we had over 65 families tour the school. Here again, I’ve always been just a participant in these. Planning them is somewhat more of a daunting task.

4 Information Nights @ Medina, West Akron, Coventry/ Barberton, and Fairlawn
These are typically hosted by “influential” Hoban parents who in turn invite perspective families to their home to hear our story. So far, the turnouts have been fantastic!

Old Trail’s High School Fair

1500 Count Mailing for the Admissions Viewbook (cover is pictured here)
I had no idea how much work went into this. We began composing the text/ assembling the photos over the summer, and then what seemed like an endless amount of proofs- finally sent it off to the printers at the beginning of September

1200 Count Mailing for Meet the Coaches Night (sponsored by Admissions)
The school’s attempt to educate perspective students/ parents on OHSAA’s recruiting and student athlete bylaws.

Publication of Knight Lights (Hoban newsletter sent to kids in grades 6-8)
I actually got to play a fairly significant role in not only the text, but also the layout design- which was definitely all un-chartered territory for me.

8th Grade Shadow Days
Over 250 eighth graders will spend a day this fall with one of our Hoban kids. As we tell the parents who call to make these appointments, this truly is the best way to get a true sense of how the school operates between the hours of 8-3 p.m.

The Telephone Conversations
This has perhaps been the most surprising part of my position. Still teaching 2-3 Microsoft Office classes a day, I'll arrive back to my office at times with 8-10 phone messages from perspective parents asking about placement tests, shadow days, registration procedures, general info on the school, or at times simply seeking encouragement that their child can succeed at Hoban, regardless of various learning disabilities/ financial situations...it's these conversations that can become quite involved.

Toss in those late night Tribe games, and I think I’ve quaffed (love that word) my fair share of Starbuck’s over the past couple of weeks. Am I enjoying this so far? Absolutely! It is so entirely different from what I have become accustomed to doing over the last 17 years, and the extra events are somewhat of a tradeoff for me no longer staying up till 11:00 each night planning lessons/ grading those beloved English essays.

There's just some pictures that need no explanation...

Josh's Kindergarten School Picture 2007

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I remember asking Josh the morning of school picture day, "How do you want me to comb your hair?" To which he replied, " Just do what you need to do to make me handsome!" Mission accomplished?

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...
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Marie and I traveled to Cleveland last night to celebrate her 13th birthday on the Nautica Queen. We left the dock around 7:30, and the ship meandered up and down through the Flats and then eventually headed out towards the lake enabling us to see the Cleveland skyline during a three hour dinner cruise. When I made these reservations about a month ago, I was expecting the worst in terms of weather, but we could not have asked for a more perfect October evening. We spent most of the evening on the upper deck after we finished our meal.











I think both Marie and I were amazed at all the suspension bridges that are located in the Flats. It's pretty spectacular to see these mechanical machines descend as the trains would go by and then rise for the water traffic. We had to stop at least on three different occasions for this to happen. Not to mention, most of the bridges in downtown Cleveland are all lit up with various colored lights, so it really was beautiful. The movie Spiderman III actually shot some scenes from the Flats area...our city's claim to fame.

Speaking of claim to fame, by 10:00, "the ballgame" was still not over, and everyone aboard was anxiously awaiting the outcome. Finally word got out that Hafner had just singled home the winning run in the 11th inning. I'm kind of glad that I didn't watch the game because by the sound of it, it was a real nail-biter. Not to mention, how many times in life can you spend an entire evening with your little girl- whose not so little anymore- cruising the Cuyahoga River/ Lake Erie.
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Happy Birthday, sweetheart.

And the Lord said, "Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and throughout the land of Egypt (as well as the Yankee pitcher's mound) the dust will become gnats." (Exodus 8:16)

Go Tribe!

Marie's 7th Grade

School Photo

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Marie will be 13 years old next week...Do I look old enough to have a teenager? Don't answer that, please.