Steve Rossi

04/07/05

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING ROSSI EXCURSION 2006. CLICK HERE NOW. And once again, thank you Rachel for all the work you have done and are doing on this.....

So, sunday I'm bowling, not having one of the best nights ever. Got three 4-7-10 splits (see pic on left) in a row. Not an easy shot to get, missed all three. Then, right after them I almost got a strike. I thought that I knocked all the pins, 9 of them going down and the 10th sliding into another position. Except on the instant replay the weirdest thing happened, the 10th pin actually fell into the gutter and bounced back, standing and staying up. One in a million chance. It was amazing to see.

We also found out who our new principal is going to be, she's the principal of Bennion Jr. High, Terri VanWinkle. Can't say much about her right now, I'll have more details later. At least we know who it is that we're getting.

And finally, got the sheetrock put up on the ceiling and a few of the walls in the kitchen. Rented a sheetrock hoist from Home Depot and it worked slick as snot. Randall came over and helped with about half the ceiling, but the rest I was able to do by myself with the hoist. Put the sheetrock on the hoist, jack it up and it presses it right up against the ceiling while I screwed it in. Way cool, and worth every penny of the 30 bucks I paid for it. Once I got the ceiling sheetrocked I went out and got the track lighting for the kitchen and put it all in. It too looks great. Now it's time to have people over to show it off........

04/01/05

New stuff on the "got it in an e-mail" page. Click HERE to see what it is....

But here's one I just have to post right here on the front page :

Subject: The BasketBall Version of No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind - The Basketball Version
> 1. All teams must advance to the Sweet 16, and all will win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.
> 2. All kids will be expected to have the same basketball skills at the same time and in the same conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in basketball, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY BASKETBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL.
> 3. Talented players will be asked to practice on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in basketball, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like basketball.
> 4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th and 11th games.
> 5. This will create a New Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child will be left behind.

03/31/05

YES! The sheetrock is going up. Only got a couple of sheets up. The first one went real easily, enough wood to secure it to the wall. The other one is up, but not completely secure. I got some screws in on the frame I built where the door was, but I'm running into problems securing it to the old wall, the lathe and plaster. Tried a few different types of screws and they all just went into the plaster and spun. So I stopped to ponder, and went back to cleaning up the kitchen. Guess I'll go down to Home Depot and see what I can figure out. At least I'm making some progress. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures that show how much of a difference the sheetrock makes to that area......

03/28/05

Pictures of the remodel of the kitchen/dining area, check 'em out HERE.

03/26/05

Well, it was dumbass day at the Chevron today. Started out with a guy coming into the store for a cup of coffee and asking us "Ah, what state am I in?" Granted he was sleeping in the back of a van traveling from Colorado to California, but 1) wouldn't you ask your buddies as you're getting out of the van and 2) it just sounded funny. Then we had to spend all day explaining "no, the car wash is not working, that's why those fences are around it and that big old backhoe next to it." It's coming down in a few weeks because they're building us a brand new building, three times as big with a sandwich shop and twice as many pumps. And we ended the day with some lady, on a cell phone, driving away with the gas nozzle still in the side of her car, ripping it right out of the pump. She drives away with the hose dragging behind her, and didn't realize it until another customer knocked on her window while she was waiting for traffic to clear. Fortunatly the pumps are designed with that possiblity in mind, and they have a safety to keep gas from spewing all over the place. Made for a fun and interesting day. Which reminds me of another pet peeve of mine. Please folks, if you're at a store buying something, get off the cell phone or have them hold, and acknowledge that the person in front of you is a real human being worthy of your attention. It's also nice to know that the answers you are getting are to the questions you're asking, not the person on the other end of the phone. Anyways, you all have a great Easter.

03/25/05

Got the pictures from Alex of their trip to Arches. Click HERE to check them out.

03/23/05

SPRING BREAK!!!

Yeah, I know the weather doesn't say it, but I just started spring break. Now, you may think "Cool, a week off!", but I'm filling in a lot at the Chevron 'cause they're shorthanded and I can use the cash. But still I hope to get a bunch more on the house done.

Been working on the web site of another teacher for a while, it's turning out pretty nice. Jones had a cool concept and, to brag a bit, I think I did a good job on the technical end of the job. Click HERE if you want to check it out....

03/22/05

Well, I reclaimed the house. Most of the dusty, dirty work has been done, so I figured it was time to clean up the house and return it from the work shop it had become. Moved all the tools, spare supplies and trim I'm going to need out into the garage and brought the house back to normal, well, except for the walls and ceiling that need to be sheetrocked and painted. It's nice to have the house back. And with spring break starting tomorrow, I'll have some time to get the rest of the work done. Hopefully.

03/18/05

Brockbank finished accreditation today. We got a "6-clear". Ok, let's backtrack a little bit. Every public school, and maybe some of the private ones too, I'm not sure, have to go through accreditation every so often in order to show that they are meeting the needs of their students and working on meeting them better. We had to come up with a mission statement, improvement plan and DRSL's (Desired Results for Student Learning). Anyway, getting a 3 means that the school will have to go through accreditation again in 3 years, a score of 6-3 bumps accreditation up to 6 years, but with a little review in 3 years. A 6-clear means that they won't even be visiting you for 6 years. 6-clear is the best score you can get. Carole Harris, our principal who is retiring, likened it to a coach retiring right after taking state. Well, all in all it was a nice pat on the back for a job well done.

As for the house, I got the walls and ceiling all ready to start putting up the sheet rock and figured out the lighting in the kitchen. Put up some track lighting in the bedroom to see how it would look, it's nice. It's going to work well in the kitchen, but I realized that I'm going to have to do the track a little bit differently. I was going to hook all the track up as one piece, but after reading the directions, and considering the number of lights I'll be putting up, I think I'm going to break it into three pieces.

03/11/05

Click HERE for some twisted cartoons I got in an e-mail.....

03/10/05

Yea! I have lights again. I finished wiring, and hooked to the power, the lights in the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining room (this one hasn't worked since a few months after I moved in) and the hallway. Still have to hook up the lights in the computer room (this is going to be easy) and then the living room. The living room is going to be a pain in the butt because I have to somehow get the wires down inside the wall from the attic to the switches. Danny has a gizmo to do it and I decided I really didn't want the conduit showing in the living room, but it still isn't going to be a piece of cake. Oh well, c'est la vie. But right now it's nice having real lights back in the 'master suite' area.

03/07/05 Supplemental :

Click HERE for a diagram of the electrical progress I'm making. (Just got the light in the closet started, going to finish up on the switches for the dining room and the hall before I hit the sack - I hope ).

Got this in an e-mail over the week I was sick in bed. Click HERE.

03/07/05

Put in some new wiring yesterday, the house didn't burn down last night so I guess it was a success. I now have real plugs in the bedroom (6 sets of them) so I got rid of the extension cords. That's nice. Even got the house somewhat cleaned up so at lest the bedroom area, kitchen and computer room are in order. Progress. Slower than I'd like but stuff is getting done and I can actually imagine a time when I'm done. Yea!