It's Worked So Far.....

Janko's about to take the court in his 4th round match against Rainer Schuettler. So far, every time I've posted a picture of him, he's won. Highly doubtful it's because of this, but superstitions abound. Janko's favored in this match, so hopefully it will be a cakewalk for him.

Edit 1:21pm: AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH! DAMN DAMN DAMN!

Round 3

Janko tries to make the 4th round at Wimbledon today for the 2nd time. His opponent this round is Dmitry Tursunov. He's ranked a little lower than Roddick, and by Tipsy's own admission that he doesn't try as hard when he's up against a lower ranked player I feel a touch of forboding here. Still, I will have my fingers crossed, and my camera ready for when he come to NY for the Open this August.

Tipsy Vs. A-Rod

I've done a bit of soul-searching, and as much as I would love to see Roddick advance to another Grand Slam Championship, he just cannot break my love for Tipsy. So when the two play on Thursday, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Janko to make it to the 3rd round.

Should this feat fail, at least he is in the 2nd round of the doubles, so hope is still alive there also.

Edit (6/26 3:15pm) YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

Go Tipsy!

My favorite tennis player, Janko Tipsarevic, has his first singles match today at Wimbledon. Fingers crossed!

Edit (4:06pm): YES! Janko won his first match 7-6 6-4 6-2. Next up is Andy Roddick. I'm going to be so conflicted over this one. I want both to make it to the end, yet now only one can. Soul searching is required to determine who I want to win more.

Insanity

AHHHHHH! 1 sister, 1 brother-in-law, 1 two year old, 1 two month old and 1 giant mess. How will I survive to Thursday? Can't even get to movies....tv...and barely internet.

THWACK!

I just found out that this is the student I've been tutoring for the past few weeks. I changed the names in the article to initials (and removed addresses), just to be nice; but they are public information. He does get points for originality for choosing a wrench as the possible weapon. And he's been nothing but super respectful with me.


Rye high school student accused of threatening principal with wrench

RYE - A high school junior is accused of threatening his principal with a pipe wrench after the teen was told he couldn't attend the prom, police said.

CA, 17, has been charged with third-degree criminal trespass, third-degree menacing and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon with the intent to use it, all misdemeanors, said Lt. JV of the Rye police.

CA had met Friday with the principal of Rye High School, JR, to discuss whether he would be allowed to attend the school's junior prom that night. CA was serving a three-day suspension after pulling a chair out from underneath a teacher's aide and causing her to fall.

When CA was told he was banned from the prom, he left the school and returned 20 minutes later with a 2 1/2 -foot pipe wrench, the kind used to open fire hydrants, Lt. JV said. CA joined the Rye City Fire Department as a junior volunteer member in January.

The school psychologist saw CA pacing with the wrench outside the principal's office and asked the teen to come to his office. The principal joined them, as the psychologist tried to coax CA into surrendering the wrench, Lt. JV said.

"At that time, the young man raised the pipe wrench above his head in a threatening manner toward the principal," Lt. JV said. "Ultimately he turned over the weapon to the psychologist."

CA was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital for mental evaluation before school officials notified police. The teen was arraigned on charges Friday night and released on $500 bail.

Superintendent ES of the Rye City School District said "based on the threat of violence, he has been suspended again," pending a school hearing scheduled for next week.

"It certainly isn't something that happens very often," ES said of the alleged threat. "From time to time, there are young people that make poor decisions in response to anger and frustration."

ES said CA couldn't be expelled from school under state law, but could be given a lengthy suspension. He said it's possible CA could be suspended up to a year, meaning he would receive school instruction at home.

JD, a fire inspector and lieutenant with the Fire Department, said neither volunteers nor career firefighters are issued fire hydrant wrenches by the department. He said he thought the fire chief would suspend CA, pending the outcome of the charges.

"He's always been respectful and nice around me, but I don't know what he's like in the classroom," JD said. "Obviously as he demonstrated here, he is not ready to be a member of our service."

A call to CA's home was not returned. The teen did not respond to an e-mail message.

Summer Fun

The school year is drawing to a close here in NY in just a few scant weeks, and it's looking quite likely that I won't have a job in a district for next year before that happens.

I have an opportunity to drive a cab for a family friend's company over the summer, that might prove to be fun for a bit, I always enhoy meeting new people.

I was thinking that if I can't get into a school for next year. I might try the field of journalism or publishing. I do have a M.A. in English, so it might be enough to get my foot in, then see what happens from there.

Is there anyone reading this with knowledge of either field and what possibilities there might be out there for me?

Tutoring Frustrations

Ugh......now that the school year here in NY is winding down, all the problem students/parents seem to be finding their way to my schedule. Let's see....

Student #1. Didn't bother to show up for 6 weeks in a row, never answered the phone if I called and wouldn't return messages. Then she calls the company and says that now she really wants to work so she passes for the year. I had her transferred to another tutor.

Student #2. For the past 3 weeks, has refused to get out of bed to come to tutoring. One time, I even had to go to his bedroom and try to cajole him to come. No luck. and kind of creepy. The parent &/or relative just stands there and asks him to get out of bed, but he just says no and they just shrug. They threaten to take away his video games, but they don't know the systems, so they don't know which components to take. I'm not for child abuse, but if I ever have a child who pulls that, I guarantee that he/she will be gotten out of bed for the tutor.

Student #3. The one student I could trust, catches the flu. No clue when he'll be better.

Student/Parent#4. I've been calling them to set up an appointment for the past week, yet no one has called me back yet. Looks like she'll fail too.

Student/Parent#5. The information for the student comes from the school. This family gave the school 3 different numbers. 2 don't work anymore and the third is for a local bank that no one for the family works for. So no way to contact them.

Student/Parent#6. I called this parent today to set up an appointment, but she does not speak English, only Spanish. I took French in high school, so I had no way to convey to her what I was calling for, so she hung up on me. Now don't accuse me of being immigrant phobic, I don't know the backstory of this family, so I can't pass judgement, I'm solely coming at this from the point that I have to tutor this student for two weeks and administer an exam, yet short of constantly calling the house till I get someone else, I have no way of setting up an appointment.

The next 2 weeks should prove interesting.