One Week Left...

So there are 7 (almost 6 now) days left until voters go to the polls in Missouri and across the country. Who do you think will be the big winners? Will it be a long night next Tuesday? Please feel free to post your predictions or thoughts in the comments section!

KSPR Met Leaving

I held off on posting on this story for a few days out of respect for Josh. I wanted to let him break the news to the Ozarks. After serving this area so well for the past year, KSPR Meteorologist Josh DeBerge is leaving to take a job with FEMA in Kansas City. According to Josh he will "manage theExternal Affairs Cadre of On-Call Response Employees (CORE) who report to disaster sites across the country, and will be reponsible for maintaining relationships with media in a four state region, in addition to a numberof other tasks. I'll also be continuously on-call and will report todisaster sites in our region and across the country."

Josh, along with Kevin and Natalie, have been essential to the early successes of KSPR since their rebranding in 2008. I want to personally thank Josh for his work and his friendship. I wish him the best of luck in Kansas City.

Despite my desperate pleadings, Chief Meteorologist Kevin Lighty has refused to hire me to fill Josh's position. Maybe it is time to pull out the blackmail images from a few posts ago.

Gas for $1.99

Wow! According to Gas Buddy, prices for regular unleaded gas in some parts of SW Missouri are down to $1.99 a gallon. It has been such a long time since that has happened (or at least it seems that way to me). I remember right after 9/11 that gas spiked to $1.76 and we thought it was expensive. Earlier this year my friends and I were discussing the fact that we would likely never see gas below $2.00 a gallon again. Guess we were wrong.

I don't really know what the point of my post here is, but I just really wanted to comment on the price drop.

Nice side note... a student of mine calculated that if the price continued to drop at the same rate over the next 4 weeks that it has dropped the past 4, we would be paying around $.75 a gallon. I doubt that will happen. In the meantime, treasure the lack of green it takes to fill up!

Our Debate Tournament Results

I had a couple of people who wanted to know how our speech season was going so far. Here is a sample of how we did over the weekend. It was another successful weekend for the MHS Speech and Debate Squad at the Parkway West / Ritenour Tournament.

Advancing to finals and placing in individual events were: Gaby Rodriguez - 5th Interpretation, Nik Pate - 5th Radio Speaking and 5th Original Oratory, Kale Turner - 5th Novice Storytelling, Brit Isbell - 4th Original Oratory, Ryan Saunders - 3rd Novice Storytelling, Laramie Ellis - 3rd Novice Prose, Theresa Mangler and Chelsea Ash - 3rd Duo, Rolando Rodriguez - 3rd Interpretation, Rolando Rodriguez and Kacy Barta - 2nd Duo, and Emma Verstraete - 2nd Novice Intepretation and 2nd Novice Prose.

Advancing to quarterfinals and placing in debate were: Ryan Saunders and Emily Copening - 4th Novice Public Forum, Rolando Rodriguez and Hayley LaGarce - 4th Varsity Public Forum, Emma Verstraete - 4th Novice Lincoln-Douglas, Brit Isbell - 4th Varsity Lincoln-Douglas, Kale Turner and Brianna Petersen - 2nd Novice Public Forum, and Kirk Gandy - 2nd Varsity Lincoln Douglas.

The squad finished 4th out of 18 schools in debate sweepstakes and finished 2nd out of 16 schools in individual events sweepstakes. Congratulations!

Don't Vote Until You Read This!

That is the title of the email I received from WebMD this week. After reading it, I thought there might some of you who would be interested in their review of both Obama's and McCain's health care reform.

Reality Check

Lee Summit Teen Dies After Falling Through Roof

Jacob Blair, 18 of Lee Summit, Missouri, died after he and four of his friends decided to go to an abandoned production plant. The teens went to the plant to work on a video for their broadcasting class.

The facility had once been a plastic container plant and had been abandoned for several years. Blair had climbed up on to the roof and fell through what authorities believe was either a hole in the roof or a ventilation shaft.  Blair fell, landing on his head and later died at the hospital.

Sgt. Mike Childs with Lee's Summit Police said. "Anytime you're at a closed manufacturing site, especially one that's been closed for several years, you're going to have hazards there and it's not something to be playing around with."

While the case is closed, trespassing charges could be filed by the owners of the facility later on. 

What An Experience

Newsy is checking in tonight for a quick update on what will be a very busy week for me.

If you have never had the opportunity to check out the Leadership Ranch west of Republic, then you are missing out on quite an opportunity! Today our entire faculty went out there and spent the day working on teambuilding exercises. I was pushed further than I ever thought possible and I learned a lot about myself in the process.

I was a skeptic before, but I am a believer in the process now. For more details on the ranch, click this link.

I wish I would have taken pictures!!!

Just Checking In

It has been crazy around the Show-Me Opinion world these past two weeks in which there has been little time to devote to blogging.  Newsy is off doing what he does best, and that is coaching his speech and debate team at an area tournament. I have just started back to work full-time as a project manager for a spice company.It has been two years since I have worked full-time, plus go to school. It will be a challenge but I feel very fortunate to have found employment with all the economic uncertainty.

My husband just left to play at a men's softball tournament (40 is the new 20 you know) so I decided to post something before going to the store after Icy Hot and Tylenol.

Well it's off to type up and print the church bulletins for tomorrow.  Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. Until next time... Have a great weekend!

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This (But That Doesn't Make Them Any Less Stressful)

Allow me for a brief moment to climb upon my soapbox and proclaim from the rooftops that teachers don't get paid nearly enough. I won't stay there long though. Likely because I am going to get knocked down by some unruly student who will tell me that my class is "dumb" or "boring" or "insert annoying insult here."

Should I take personal offense when a student makes those remarks? Probably not. I do anyway, however. I don't hear these remarks often as a teacher. Generally, I hear complimentary things about how I make history and government "interesting", "fun", or my personal favorite "not nearly as boring as I expected." Today, however, was not one of those days.

There were various moments today when I wanted to just yell "Do you know how long it took me to plan this? Do you know that I have little social life because I am required to spend nearly all of time working on things for you all? Do you know that I sleep around 4-6 hours a night because I work long into the night grading and planning and then get up early to make copies of handouts and to complete administrative paperwork? Do you know that while most adults are resting I spend my weekends with high school students? Do you know that I always advocate for you with the administration?", but I didn't. I promptly replied to the student that not everything in life would be fun, but that sometimes we have to complete tasks that we don't enjoy so that we learn the proper material.

I pour my heart and my soul into this profession and I am finding those heartwarming moments you have as a teacher are hard to remember when you have days like I had today. I guess my frustration is with the fact that sometimes I feel like no one notices the hard work I do. I don't want awards. I don't expect keys to the city. I just want a simple "thank you for what you do." I don't think educators in general hear that often enough. And people wonder why teachers leave the profession so regularly!!

Mama was right... there will be days like this. Yet, it doesn't ever make them easier.

How You Know You Have A Playoff Worthy Team...

...when you are up 49-0 in a high school football game at the end of the 1st quarter! I have been quiet about Monett High School's football success the last few weeks, but here is a stat that I thought you might be interested in.

MHS CUBS... OPPONENTS


247 points... 21 points


Ouch! Monett's toughest challenge will come the 17th of this month when they face off against perennial rival Cassville. Monett has taken down the Wildcats each of the last two years when they have been riding high. Hopefully Cassville won't be able to return the favor.

So... GO CUBS!

OJ Verdict - Guilty!

Late yesterday evening, the jury found OJ Simpson and his friend guilty on several counts of wrongdoing. Among them were the charges of kidnapping and armed robbery. This ultimately could lead to OJ spending the rest of his life behind bars.

The ironic twist to this story is that 13 years ago on that same day, the world gasped as the jury found Mr. Simpson not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. I don't remember much about the trial, except for some of the lawyers, the glove line, and the verdict. I was in 8th grade at the time. Therefore, I can't pass judgment on that original trial's verdict.

What I can say is that things usually have a way of working out and that people who do wrong end up getting their just desserts (although not always exactly when we think they should).

Through all of the media coverage there is one thing being left out. There are some people who really are the biggest losers in all of this. That is the children of Nicole and OJ. Now they have lost their mother and their father. I hope they have a tight knit set of relatives and friends to lean on. I know I would need them.

Palin/Biden Debate Live Blog

Analysis and reaction will be found in the comments section. Feel free to add to your comments there, too.