2004-08-24 - 9:59 p.m.

I have to write a letter to send home to my new students. I'll introduce myself and tell them how excited I am and blah blah blah.

I have to make a bulletin board that says �Respect, Responsibility and Reverence.� That is the school theme this year.

I have to move the stupid Mac off the stupid cart and onto the counter, even though the computer teacher doesn't think it will work. I'm not interested in what she thinks. I'm interested in getting that cart out of my overcrowded classroom.

I have to print up my schedule for the week in a format that makes some sense to me.

I have to print up the students' schedule for each day and laminate them so I can post them on the board in hopes that the little monsters will figure out what they're supposed to do and when they're supposed to do it.

I have to prepare a letter for the the first day of school explaining policies to the students and their parents.

I have to prepare a packet for Back to School night so that the parents have something to take home with them.

I have to set up my grade book.

I have to go to 5 hours of meetings tomorrow, and roughly that amount on Thursday and Friday.

I have to plan for the first week of school.

I have to go to the craft store and get hall passes. (Maybe I should just print them out and laminate them.)

I have to get the second grade teacher drunk so that she can give me all the dirt on the administrative shake-down that happened over the summer. (I'm pretty sure that �not dwell on the past� is in the talking points memo, since all the returning people are using it all the time.)

I have to be grateful every minute that the other middle-school teachers are such good, helpful, and friendly people.

I have to find a quote that relates God and science. Like "Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." -- Galileo Galilei, but for science. (ed: found it! "The more I study science, the more I believe in God." -- Albert Einstein)

I have to remember, as my Pastor said the other week, �The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.�

I have to remember what the main thing is.