Lansing, with Teens

What's up, America.

So, as I told you guys last year, Yours Truly is one of the co-leaders for our school's Michigan Youth in Government (MYIG) programs.  This organization introduces students across the state to Parliamentary Procedure (the manner in which legislatures 'perform,' for lack of better term, on the floors of the House of Representatives and Senate), the process of creating, debating, and amending bills, sitting on different committees, and campaigning.  It's a great and incredibly thorough introduction to politics for young minds, and for a History Teacher it's pretty badass to be able to give kids the opportunity to experience how our political system works.

Hot Wheels

MYIG has two conferences in the fall, with the latter being designated for middle schools.  Our school participated in this one, yet again, and so on Sunday myself and Wincent (the group leader) met up with our 26 students at the school to board our charter bus (a rented school bus - 'cause we're frugal) and departed for Lansing.  What followed was a three-day, two-night conference, where students got to push various pieces of legislation through several committees and hearings, and got to debate different bills on the floor of the State Senate in the State Capitol.

It sure as hell beat being stuck at work.

So check it out, Internet - the 2019 Michigan Youth in Government Conference.  (Once again I omitted most of the pics I took on this trip, as they featured other folks' kids, and that's a big no-no with FERPA. . .)

Some handsome guy, overseeing the settlement of his delegation at the big Welcome Conference. . .

Once again, Yours Truly lucked out with the room situation:  I had a full-size, spacious, deluxe room all to myself, with a king-size bed, extra furniture, etc.

Even came with a fridge - love it when that happens.

Booya.

Wincent, on the other hand, had a designated handicapped room:  a gigantic bathroom - with all the handicapped-assisting hand-bars and a zero-entry bathtub - that took up nearly all of the hotel room.  As a result, he was stuck with a queen-sized bed. . . poor guy.

That first night of the Conference, we more or less checked in, got our kids settled into their hotel rooms (four to a room), came downstairs for a Welcome dinner (and series of long-winded speeches), then proceeded into the 'election' process of the annual event.  Students from the various delegations across the state can run for Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, etc. of the make-believe legislature, and in doing socreate tri-fold boards highlighting their personal achievements outside of MYIG.  There's also a fair amount of bribery on hand throughout this cutthroat campaigning portion of the evening - free candy, free wristbands, you name it - that kids hawk out to other delegations in order to secure their votes.  One of our very own eighth graders actually won one of the Lt. Governor positions this year, which was pretty awesome. 

After an evening filled with speeches, committee hearings, bill debating, and lots and lots of parliamentary procedure, the kids shuffled off back to their rooms and settled in for the night.  In the morning, Wincent and I had to cook up breakfast for 26 hungry teenagers.  Last year, we bought boxes of cereals and some fruit - this year, we brought two griddles (mine and Ms. Bryant's, my science teacher) and a crap-load of pancake mix and syrup, along with fruit, to feed the masses.  Unfortunately, Wincent bought the kind of mix that you need egg, milk and oil for. . . and all we had was hotel room tap water to mix it with.

At first, we had both griddles running in my room (shown here), but after a few minutes of frying up breakfast, we blew the circuit in the room and tripped the breaker - all the power in the room went out and we were terrified to find ourselves cooking up pancakes in pitch blackness.  While Wincent called the front desk and reported the power outage, I plugged one of the griddles into one of our students' rooms and the other into the hotel hallway. . .

Whatever it takes, folks.  Whatever it takes.

Hordes of teenagers await shuttle buses to take them over to the State Capitol for a day of debating, compromising, and delegating.

Back in the Capitol's Rotunda.  Pretty cool room, if you ask me.

I was pretty stoked that I got to use the same bathroom as our state senators during a legislative session on the floor of the Senate. . .

Teenagers, hard at work. . .

As if I wasn't going to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of the State Capitol while I was here.  Pssshh. . .

I doubt the defensive capabilities of this field piece positioned right here in front of the Capitol.  What are we aiming at here, fellas?

. . . .oh, this not-at-all-menacing office building.  Carry on then, 18th century cannon.

Breaking for lunch, half-way through the day (where I got to escort groups of our teenagers throughout downtown Lansing so they could buy themselves something to eat at one of the area's various restaurants.)

Hey, look - it's this guy.

Meanwhile, back on the floor of the Senate. . .

Another shot of the Rotunda. . .

Like last year, we had to hold several committee meetings across the street in the Capitol in the Senate Building. . .

Around 5pm-ish, the last of the charter buses prepared to take the remaining delegations back to the hotel for dinner and an evening of debriefing sessions. . .

Some random dude, commemorating Michigan's involvement in the practically-unknown Spanish American War.

Waiting to board. . .

A couple more gratuitous pics of the State Capitol, all lit up for the evening. . .

Old guy selfie, in front of a famous building. . .

The Christmas Tree in front of the Capitol.  By this point in time, myself and about a dozen or so students from various state delegations were still waiting for a rescue bus to take us back to the hotel.  We were the last batch to leave the Capitol area. . . of course.

Catching up on current events while waiting for dinner. . .

The next morning, Wincent and I prepared for one, last breakfast with our students.  This time around, we knew what we were doing, having learned some valuable lessons the first time around. . .

. . . I like to think we did a pretty bang-up job with this whole feeding-26-teenagers thing, to be honest. 

On the way back to our school, at the close of yet another MYIG conference, we once again stopped off at this cafeteria Wincent knew about on MSU's campus, where you pay a $10 cover and you can eat as much as you want at about two-dozen eateries.  It's pretty awesome, but thank God we don't have anything like this anywhere near Midland, 'cause if they did I'd for sure weight about 400 lbs. . .

- Brian

Remember, Remember, Ye Randoms November

The Cannonball high-fives a robot at a school STEM night.

Happy November, readers.

The Pre-Season of the Holidays went by quick, which came as a surprise to, well, no one.  This time of year sees Girl Scout cookie orders coming in by the boat-load, work and school accelerating into a fever pitch, yard work taking up a ridiculous amount of one's time, and Thanksgiving Break kicking off the official start of the Holiday Season.  It goes by fast, and we had a lot to juggle this month, as we did in October.

So, long story short, here's your month-end wrap-up of everything else that happened this month.

Enjoy.

Abby made this 'craft' at school.  I don't see how constructing whore houses aligns to third-grade curriculum, but, then again, I teach Middle School.

Alayna and a group of her friends - numbering about a dozen or so - created an elaborate recycling program at their school (yes, our Alayna.)  This was 100% voluntary, and totally their idea.  They go around the school collecting Ziploc baggies from various classrooms and the cafeteria, once a week, and hold weekly meetings during lunch recess to discuss their program.  Then, once a month, they take boxes filled with these plastic baggies to the local recycling center.  It's beyond eerie that a bunch of fifth graders - our daughter included - are this motivated about something.

One weekend, Kris' good friend Sabrina and her family came into town to visit with relatives.  Kris and the girls met up with them for lunch at a downtown restaurant, where Abby hijacked Kris' phone and did what she does best. . .

After the lunch, Kris, the girls, and the Hilger family checked out the Whiting Forest Canopy Walk - the new Ewok Village-looking structure that spans the forest nearby the Dow Gardens.  It's usually pretty packed with Instagram-happy, Midland soccer moms and their kids.

Houghs and Hilgers

A furry selfie.

This looks a lot like a Falmer pen from Skyrim, doesn't it?

My roommates are huge dorks.

Earlier in the month (when it still looked and felt like Fall), Kris had a hankerin' for a warm, cider-y cocktail.  She came up with this.

As usual, the girls and I had the day off of work/school to go and do our civic duty.  Our voting center is at the girls' school now, which is pretty convenient.

Two days later, on Thursday, I had to take the day off in order to pick up the kids from their random half-day of school (thanks a lot, Midland Public Schools.)  Coincidently, this would mark the last day of relatively Fall-ish weather.

The following morning (Friday) as I got up to get ready for work, I was met with this bullshit.  Winter hath come.

Later that morning, Watson got his annual vet check up, and we renewed all his tags.  Health-wise, he's in great shape (he's up to 18 lbs now), but his canine teeth need some cleaning.  We're going to stop giving him Dentastix and switch to a more clinical (and expensive) treat at night.

Friday, during the day.  Kris snapped this of our backyard.

And our front yard.

We ate dinner over at my mom's house later that evening, and while we were there she showed us the upstairs guest bedroom where they knocked out a wall, thereby connecting mom's old office with Chris' old bedroom.

The next day, it was time for Midland's annual Santa Parade.  I was busy packing for an upcoming work trip, so Kris hung out with the girls down by her office (located behind Kroger.)

 

Alayna marched with some of the other fifth graders from her school during the first half of the parade (which was insane, because it was freezing outside), then stopped when she got to where Kris, Abby, and a few of Kris' work friends and their kids were waiting.

Still in high spirits.

Waiting for candy. . .

Here comes the cavalry.

The girls got to meet the Midland Loons mascot (I forget the stupid thing's name.  Probably something like 'Loonie' or whatever, 'cause minor league baseball isn't all that creative.)

Santa Claus, at long last.

Abby shows off her plunder.

The next morning (Sunday), Yours Truly drove to work and dropped off my car at my school parking lot, and upgraded to this 2018 Toyota Sienna.  I'm co-sponsor of our school's Youth in Government chapter, and over the next few days we were headed down to Lansing to debate several student bills on the very floor of the Michigan Senate.  Both myself and the other teacher would be hauling seven teenagers apiece, along with all of their luggage, so we had to get decent-sized vehicles for the trip.

Inside my Space Van.  This thing was super fancy, and it took me awhile to hook up my phone to the vehicle's Bluetooth, program the channels, adjust the seat, etc. 

Needless to say, it was a considerable step up from my Focus.  Fortunately I'll be getting a car in the next year or so - it was definitely hard going back to my trusty old car after three days with this baby.

We stayed at the Royal Crown Plaza, down in Lansing, which was a very nice hotel.  I had been anticipating sharing a room with the other teacher that co-led our delegation, but at the last minute we were given our own rooms.  Booya.

View from my room.  I've had more scenic.

Kris texted me this pic while I was sitting in delegation meetings.  It was starting to warm up outside, so the kids decided to make a mess of the backyard and create this crime against nature.

This snowman kinda looks like Mickey Rooney. . .

This is weird.

Descending down the elevator in the hotel's main lobby.

The next morning, after we breakfasted in the hotel, we loaded our students onto charter buses and drove over to the State Capitol.  Youth in Government has each student in the club draft their own bill for debate at the Lansing Conference.  They learn Parliamentary Procedures, how to negotiate with other delegates, and how to play the ol' Politics game.  It's pretty cool to see, but unfortunately for all of you, I didn't include any pictures of any of that stuff:  showing students in pictures is a major violation of FERPA.

Downtown Lansing.

 

Most of my morning was spent in Committee hearings in the State Senate Office Building, located across the street from the Capitol.  Pretty cool view from our boardroom.

Inside the Rotunda.  I took better pictures during me and Alayna's fourth grade field trip last May - check those out if this isn't doing it for you.

Following a long lunch (I pulled double chaperone duty during lunches, covering both sessions' lunches and walking around downtown Lansing with dozens of teenagers for two and a half hours), we returned to the Capitol.  Our afternoon sessions would all be taking place on the floor of the Senate itself.

Since I was in an advisory role in Committee, I had the afternoon during Session off.  So I more or less just chilled up in the gallery, taking pictures of our students debating their bills on the Senate floor below, and putting a serious dent into the current book I'm reading:  The Day the World Ended.

After a long day of politicking, the buses pulled up in front of the Capitol (which I didn't know they illuminated at night, which was kinda cool), and we headed back to the Royal Crown Plaza or the evening's banquet and award ceremony. 

Following the banquet and awards, students from all over the state got to go to a dance that was held in the hotel ballroom, or else hit up the pool and game rooms.  The other teacher and I hung out by the pool, where there was a table and not as many kids.  This pool had a pretty cool changing-light thing going on.

When I finally got up to my room at the end of a long, loooong day of advising and wrangling teenagers, I found this note next to my shower bag.  Apparently my housekeeper has good taste in movies (or else was just gunning for a tip.)

When I came back home, I saw that Kris had continued Pinterest-ing up our house with Holiday decor. . .

The day after Kris and I had stayed up decorating the Christmas Tree (and watching Some Like It Hot, of course), we let the girls throw up some candy canes.  Kris and I never really care for the look of candy canes on trees, but the girls love it. . . more or less because it turns the tree into a giant, yuletide vending machine.

About a week later, our social circle convened for a night of cards and tomfoolery, once again over at the Shepherds' house. . .

Mark it in your calendars, America: after TWENTY YEARS, I was finally able to get Kris to play Euchre.

This was pretty good.  Had it a stronger ABV, it would have been a hell of a lot better.

(Pete despises the Beastie Boys.)

Kitchen dance party.  Not that out of the ordinary with this group.

Found more Abby selfies on my phone the next day.  Shouldn't be surprised anymore.

Monday, Nov. 26th:  our first Snow Day of the school year.  Gave me an extra day to catch up on all the grading I didn't do over Thanksgiving break.

I love snow days.  Pajamas, movies, and not a shower to be seen for as far as the eye can see.

Mr. Hough's room got a little festive the first day back following Thanksgiving break. . .

Kris' friend, Kim, had her husband - who works with wood - carve out this silhouette of America's Greatest State for our gallery wall in the living room.  Kim then stained it with a white coat that gave it a distressed, textured look - which was super nice of them.

Our Holiday Booze section of the kitchen - as usual, slowly growing in size as the Season progresses. . .

I stepped outside one evening, at the end of the month, to take a picture of my external Christmas lights, pretty early on in the Season this year so as to get a picture with all of the lights still working.  Alas, God hates me.

It never fails.  I hate Christmas lights.

- Brian