Top 10 of 2013

The Top 10 of 2013:

1. Home for the Holidays

         Jackson and I have been living in North Carolina for four and a half years now - and prior to this year we had only been home one time for Christmas, and that was in 2009. Both of us have large families with wonderful traditions and being away for the Holidays has come in many forms. We have spent several blissful Christmas's in New York with family and last year we decided to stay put and celebrate it together (until Jackson surprised me and flew me home Christmas day). But there was a lot of anticipation for us to be home this year. This was the last Olsen family Christmas. All of Jacksons siblings and their kids were able to be home for one last time. In total he has 2 brothers, 4 sisters and 13 nieces and nephews. All in all just his family, spouses and offspring now include a whopping 29 of us. We were able to be all together for several fun filled days of ice skating, games, pictures, dinners and gift exchanges. 

          On Christmas day we headed down to Orem to be with my family. I always thought I had a fairly large family, but after a few days with all of the Olsens, the Britts seemed to be a quaint, laid back group. Together we played a lot of ping pong, ate some wonderful meals, vied for my niece's attention (she was not particularly fond of me this time around…) played games and simply caught up. My grandparents were also able to join us for the last few days of the trip. My grandpa may be a mean cuss, but he sure has some soft spots when it come to us. My grandma is learning to enjoy her old age, she even found time to play a few rounds of ping pong with us kids. 

       

          We hope to be back again for Christmas next year. There really is something to be said about being  home for the holidays, and the Utah snow is about all we need to get us through the rest of winter.

2. Lake Powell

      

           For the first time since we've been adults, the Britts organized a family reunion for just the immediate family. We had been planning some sort of get together for over a year, knowing that we wanted to do something when Ben got home from his mission. We tossed around the idea of going on a cruise or renting a lake house, but in the end, and even better plan came to fruition. Thanks to the relentless efforts of my sister Crystal and her collaboration with our honorary sister, Alicia Heinecke, now Shideler, we were able to use the Heinecke family house boat, the Hakuna Matata, and enjoy time together at Lake Powell. It was hot, it was crowded, but it was so much fun and the food was great. We swam, explored the large lake on boats, went wake boarding and some even ventured to jump off a cliff or two. 

3. Virginia Beach

            Continuing a new and favorite tradition, the East Coast Olsens convened at the beach over Memorial Day weekend.  While we didn’t make it to a place as magical as Bald Head Island, Virginia Beach was still a blast.  Merlin got to meet his cousins Olivia, Ruby, and Sonoma.  Everyone got along splendidly, and it was a great time just being with Holly and her family.

4. Surviving a Scare

            The week before Christmas, Celeste and I were in a car accident. We were traveling around 50 mph when a car suddenly turned left in front of us. We had no time to react, not even to hit the breaks. We collided and were flung down a side road. Both cars were totaled, with our little Honda Fit losing most of its front end.  Ours was the kind of accident that has people leaving on stretchers, but not a single person was injured more than aches, pains, bruises or sprains.  We were protected by the hand of God and for that we are grateful. It was truly a miracle.

5. Merlin Turns 1

            What can we say about this boy named Merlin.  He is a treasure, and we recently celebrated his first birthday, and his one year anniversary of his becoming an Olsen.  There is a clever bumper sticker out there that simply says, “Who Rescued Who”.  Grammar aside, this saying perfectly defines our relationship with our lovable pup.  While we may have been the only thing standing between him and euthanasia, he came into our lives at a time when we needed his love and companionship just as much as he needed ours.  We were still recovering from the soul-crippling summer of 2012, and God prescribed a lonely, loyal, and cuddle-hungry puppy with a soft coat and eyes that can melt you on the spot.  Merlin continues to be an endless source of light and joy in our lives.

6. Thanksgiving in D.C.

            While we don’t think of it this way too often, life on the East Coast can be lonely, at least in the family/friends sense of the word.  That’s why being with them – anytime, anywhere we can – is such a blessing.  This Thanksgiving we drove a few short hours to the nation’s capital and spent the holiday with Gabe and Ellen Bush, some of our closest friends.  It was just like old times.  Lots of immature jokes, lots of good movies and music, and lots of laughing until it hurts.

7. Graduation

            On May 11^th, 2013, I became the proud recipient of my Master’s of School Administration.  Although I am an Aggie first and a Tar Heel second, I will always have a special place in my heart reserved for N.C. State, for the Northeast Leadership Academy, for professors Bonnie Fusarelli and Matt Militello, and the entire body of people and experiences over those two years that molded me into the school leader that I am today.

8. The UNC Doctorate

            Third time’s the charm.  Or at least it was in my experience in applying to UNC.  The first time was a long-shot.  The second time put me on the waitlist.  It took three tries over four years (and a career change) for the stars to align and the doors to open at the greatest and most prestigious public university in the American South.  I am proud and humbled to be pursuing my doctorate in educational leadership at UNC.  I just completed my first semester in the program, and am loving it.  Hark the sound!

9. Home in Henderson

            Celeste and I can’t seem to stay put.  We’re averaging a move about every two years at present, and this year was a moving one.  We left our cute little home in Wake Forest and moved to Henderson, the town that we’ve worked in for the last four and half years.  We never thought we’d move to Henderson given its reputation for violence and crime, but we haven’t regretted the move once since moving here.  We found a great house in a safe neighborhood.  It has a big yard and a doggy door for our eldest son, and is a whopping 5-10 minutes from work, as opposed to 30-40.  We’ve also discovered that we actually rather like living in Henderson itself.  Like with many places, it is what you make it.

10. Cousin Wedding in New York

        

          In April our little family, including Merlin, drove up to Highland, NY to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Nick to his bride, Samantha. It was a wonderfully beautiful wedding at an exquisite chapel. Every detail was well planned and we are so happy for Nick and Sam. It also gave us the opportunity to introduce Merlin to a lot of my family - including my mom, sister Bonnie, and niece, who were able to come from Utah for the event.

Honorable Mention:

Benjamin comes home from his mission! - January 2013 concluded Ben's mission service in the Chile Santiago West mission. I was able to be there at the airport to welcome him home with the rest of the family. He is such a great brother and it's been great spending time with him again!

USU wins the Poinsettia Bowl - That's right.  Go Aggies.

IBMA Festival – For Celeste’s birthday this year, we spent two nights in Raleigh for the Annual International Bluegrass Festival, featuring Bluegrass legends like Bela Fleck, the Punch Brothers, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and the one-and-only Steve Martin, who not only busted our guts all night long, but he wailed on the 5-string banjo like his life depended on it.  The whole event just left us speechless and a few pounds lighter.

ZVES to NVHS – Midway through the school year, Jackson was called to leave his internship at Zeb Vance Elementary School to be an assistant principal at Northern Vance High School. Jackson has always wanted to work with high school students and being giving this opportunity before his graduation is certainly noteworthy.

A Merlin Anniversary

One year ago, we strolled into our local Petsmart with the intention of simply stopping by and saying hello to a friend who happened to work there.  We had no intentions of leaving with a pet, but we also had no idea we would be introduced to an adorable puppy we would come to call Merlin.  His amber eyes practically leapt out of his mocha-colored coat and put us under a trance we have yet to wake up from.  He is our surrogate son and a proud member of the Olsen Family.  Here are some of our favorite Merlin memories from the past 12 months:

At the Petsmart

Merlin's First Walk:
Merlin was terrified of everything on his first day with us.  On the drive home he hid on the floor of the backseat, unwilling to let us pet his underbelly.  When we got to the house, he immediately found the most distant and darkest corner closet where he hunkered down and refused to move.  We thought a walk was all he needed to cheer him up and warm him to his new surroundings.  "All dogs love walks," we thought.  We put him on a leash, but he didn't like it.  We literally dragged him out of the house.  The dragging didn't stop when we got to the driveway, or the sidewalk, or the end of the cul-de-sac.  After about 10 minutes of heavy pulling and having Merlin's footpads and nails scrape against the pavement, we returned home, and Merlin found his closet again.

Tired of trying to run away on his first day with us, he collapsed in his favorite closet.

The Sneaky Pooper:
When we got Merlin, we were told by the folks at the Humane Society that he was house-trained.  That was a major selling point for us, both working full-time and too busy to tend to a puppy that couldn't hold his water.  When we brought him home on the first day, we sat on the couch and tried to let Merlin learn the house on his own.  We watched as he kept walking in and out of our bedroom at the end of the hall.  We made several comments to each other at how cute his behavior was, and what joy he was already bringing into our household.  This went on for about a half hour, then a curious smell prompted us to stand up and check the bedroom.  His "cute behavior" had left us with a few dumps and several large wet spots on our carpet.  We learned then that Merlin was not even a little bit house-trained.  What joy indeed.

Call of the Wild:
For as scared of the world as Merlin was (and still is, to some degree), he loves being in the wilderness. Our old house in Wake Forest backed up to hundreds of acres of undeveloped land, and Merlin basked in the romps and the unleashed walks in the forest.

Last Christmas, Celeste spent a week in Utah while Merlin and I stayed home.  During that week, I read Jack London's Call of the Wild (a Christmas present from Celeste), a fitting story of the reciprocal love between dog and owner.  While I would read, Merlin would lay on my lap or sit at my feet.  Then, in breaks between chapters, I would bundle up and the two of us would retreat to the forest, beyond the gaze of any neighbor or sight of any house.  We ran and wrestled and jumped over fallen trees.  I chased him, then he chased me.  At 27 years old and on the verge of earning a master's degree, I never felt so much like a kid, carefree and made happy by an indescribably profound companionship.

The Traveling Pup:
Merlin is a great traveler.  He lays down in his crate and stares up at us with his big puppy-dog eyes from the backseat as we drive him to a far-off destination.  He never barks or whines, whether we drive for one hour or nine.  He's simply content to be with us, and the feeling is mutual.

Merlin's first big trip came last April when we drove to New York for a cousin's wedding.  It was a great trip for him (except that he fell down their steep wooden staircase), and he made a great first impression with the fan.

On the Mid-Hudson River Bridge, Highland, New York

His next vacation was to Virginia Beach where he got to meet my sister Holly and her family, including  her three adorable little girls who showered Merlin with love and attention.  This was Merlin's first trip to the beach, and he showed no fear of the sand or the sea (just bikes and small children).

Three Amigos

The Cuddler:
As childish as it might sound, many of our favorite Merlin Moments have simply been epic family cuddles.  Probably because of his abusive upbringing, Merlin is fiercely loyal and desperately clingy, which makes him a great cuddling companion.  This means that after a long day at work, Merlin is so happy to see us that his tail wags so aggressively that it moves the entire back half of his body.  When we have a moment to relax, he doesn't just sit on our laps.  Oh no.  He cuddles with a pressured lean into your body that can take the air out of your lungs, while he looks longingly up at you with puppy-dog eyes and pupils as big as saucers, as if to say, "LOVE ME!!!"

We do, Merlin.  Here's to many more happy years.

Friday the 13th: A Day in the Life at NVHS

The Administrative Team at NVHS (I'm the one second to the right.  Carrington's standing behind me.)

Somewhere between the new school year beginning at NV High School, the start of my doctoral program at UNC, and the 14-hour days, 7-day weeks I've been working, I've found it difficult to do anything with my spare time besides collapse on the couch and sit on the toilet.  To give you an idea of what my life is like right now, here is a detailed play-by-play of my day Friday, appropriately falling on the 13th of the month:

• 4:45 - Wake up.
• 4:54 - Wake up again.
• 5:00 - Two bowls of cereal (Crispix) and Bible Study (Gen. 38-39).  I am reminded that the Old Testament is weird.  For every faith-inspiring story, there is a scripture about a man spilling his seed on the ground.
• 5:10 - Shower and dress. Ditch the trademark suit and tie for a pair of khakis and a NVHS t-shirt to show school pride for the varsity football game.
• 5:20 - Indulge Merlin in a quick wrestling match.  Win.  Reinforce alpha male dominance over my dog.  Kiss on snout.
• 5:25 - Leave for school.
• 5:30 - Arrive at school.  Unlock the building.  Walk the hallways, unlocking all entrances on my way.  This is the most peaceful moment of my day.  I am completely alone for at least an hour.  The halls are quiet and the only noise I hear is the sound of my shoes clicking through the corridors.  Mentally I prepare for the imminent onslaught of raucous students, like a runner preparing for the bulls of Pamplona.
• 6:00 - Sit at computer and weed through e-mails while listening to podcasts (Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me and Stuff You Should Know are favorites).  My inbox is overpopulated with disciplinary referrals sent from teachers identifying students who have violated school rules (cursing, dress code violations, skipping class, disrespect, fighting, sexual misconduct, etc.)  From these e-mails I create a "Hit List".  Before the day is over, these students will be introduced to my justice.
• 7:15 - On post.  I stand in the lobby where students pour into the school from their buses and cars (far more bus riders than car drivers).  I strategically position myself to scan the hoards for hats, du-rags, headphones, cell phones, spaghetti straps, and bare midriffs.  I keep an eye on the bathroom for smokers.  The smokers are resourceful and have lookouts of their own.  We do this dance every day.
• 8:00 - Tardy bell rings.  I move from the lobby to the Media Center where I dish out tardy passes to grudging students.
• 8:30 - Deal with stragglers and hall-wanderers.  T.O. refuses to go to class and tells me I better suspend him now because he's ready to get into a fight.  J.H. refuses to go to in-school-suspension.  He is 18 years old and still in the 9th grade.  This is his fourth time as a freshman and has accumulated 2 credits.  His story is common, not unique.
• 8:45 - Hit List.
• 9:10 - Visit classrooms of new teachers.  There are 14 first-year teachers at our school (accounting for 25% of our teaching staff).  I observe each new teacher at least once a month.  During their planning periods later in the day, I will catch up with them and watch several of them cry.
• 9:35 - Tardy bell for second period.  Media Center.  Tardy passes.
• 10:00 - Parent-teacher conference.  S.G.'s mother has come to talk with me and a teacher who wrote him up for calling this particular teacher a "f---ing jerk."  Student denies infraction.  Teacher reiterates offense.  Mom defends child.  I grind my teeth to a pulp.
• 10:30 - Hit List.
• 11:15 - Tardy bell for third period.  More Media Center.  More tardy passes.
• 11:25 - Stand in the school courtyard for lunches, monitoring.
• 11:45 - Five students approach me.  Tell me that a student in their last class had his penis out and was flashing it to them.  I have them write statements and add student's name to the Hit List.
• 12:30 - Hit List.  Save big infractions for the end of the day.
• 1:35 - Tardy bell for fourth period.  More tardies.  More grudging students.
• 2:00 - Big hitter on the Hit List.  Team up with my oversized, colorful colleague, Mr. Carrington.  He's a big man with an even bigger personality.  We work very well together.  In addition to being a full-time assistant principal, Carrington is also a pastor of a large Pentecostal church.  He calls me his White Mormon Brother.  We call this hour of the day "Shake and Bake".  It is filled with parent phone calls and suspensions.  A smoker gets three days.  A student who we bust for skipping class tips us off that a student tried to sell her pills during lunch.  We begin investigation.
• 2:35 - The flasher gets 10 days.  He talks junk to our head principal (who happens to be in my office) and the principal response by slamming my office door so hard that particles from the ceiling tiles above me break off and fall into my keyboard and onto my desk.  He is escorted off campus by our school resource officer.
• 2:45 - We bring in the drug dealer.  She is a beautiful 14-year old Hispanic girl who speaks softly and admits to doing drugs, but not selling them.  A search of her belongings suggests otherwise.  We uncover two pills.  Vicatin.  She breaks down and cries.  She sells them for $10/pill.
• 3:00 - The drug dealer names a client.  A big white boy with a mental history and at least one attempted suicide.  While Carrington calls his teacher to send him to my office, I go to intercept him to ensure he doesn't ditch anything in a trash can or bathroom.  I turn the corner near his class, and I see him putting something into the tiny crevice of a locker.  I inquire, he says it was just gum.  I walk toward it, at which he rushes back to the locker and pulls out a dime bag of weed.  I rush over and try to apprehend it, but he is putting it into his mouth.  We struggle with each other, but he is much bigger than me.  I call over the radio for backup.  The bag goes into his mouth.  My hands are on his jaw.  He swallows and coughs violently.
• 3:15 Law enforcement arrives.  Both students are suspended for 10 days.  Juvenille petitions filed.  The boy's father is furious with us (he himself has spent 12 years in a federal prison for drug-dealing and counterfeiting).
• 4:30 - Eat Lunch.
• 5:00 - Clean up the mess on my desk: confiscated pills and money, suspension paperwork and student files, police reports.
• 6:00 - Head to the southern end of the county where our boys will play in-town rival SV High School.  We're all on high alert, and extra police have been called in to work the game since last week's home game had a fight and a student arrested for possession of a firearm.
• 7:00 - Game starts without incident.  Stand at the gates with our School Resource Officer and keep out suspended students.
• 8:30 - First fight breaks out between two girls from the opposing schools.  Police escort out of the stadium.  SV is putting on a clinic, 26-6.
• 9:00 - Game ends, 33-8.  Our boys hang their heads and board the bus.
• 9:30 - Two more fights erupt in the parking lot.
• 10:30 - Stadium empty, parking lot clear, we get the green light to go home.
• 10:45 - Walk into the living room of our house and find my darling wife and my adorable puppy sleeping peacefully on the couch.  I join them.

Remembering the Blackout of 2003

This might seem like a day late, but I just copied and pasted from my journal, date 8/14/13:

Ten years ago today, I was an intern-grunt working at Hock Films in New York City.  We were housed in a high rise at the corner of West Houston Street and 7^th Ave in lower Manhattan, just beyond the campus of NYU.  It was the mid-afternoon, and I was busy logging digital footage for the ESPN series Streetball when all the sudden my computer screen went blank.  At first, I thought it was just me, but as I wandered through the office, I noticed all the lights were out and all the computer screens were blank.  There were about thirty of us working in that office, and we all thought that it was a temporary power-outage.  But as phone calls were made and people from other offices started coming by to see what was going on, we realized that the entire building was out.  After waiting about a half hour to see if power would come back, we were all instructed by the super to exit the building.  Nineteen floors and a whole lot of stairs later, we finally spilled onto the 7^th Avenue, and I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The streets were crawling with people.  Manhattan is usually busy, but this was busy on a whole new scale.  It was as if a foot from the sky had kicked the New York anthill, and we scurried and scattered in every direction.  It was a frantic, anxious, pulsating busy with thousands more people at our little street corner than usual.  I looked at the traffic lights.  They were dead.  I looked at the building signs.  They were dark.  I looked at my cell phone.  There was no signal.  A brief moment of panic entered my heart as I recalled memories of the infamous 9/11 terrorist attack just two years prior.  I wasn’t in New York when that happened, but most of the people around me on that street corner had been, and they had fear in their eyes.

I don’t remember how it came to happen, but I soon found myself walking northbound on 6^th Avenue, or Avenue of the Americas toward Midtown.  My feet carried me farther and faster than any cab, bus, or train could; the entire city was shut down.  There was congested traffic in every direction, and the intersections were manned by ordinary citizens (I would have volunteered, but only a true New Yorker, battle-born and refined by fire, could have so aptly barked orders at the angry mobs, the frightened tourists, and the wily cabbies).  Meanwhile, all public transportation was at a rigid standstill.  No buses.  No trains.  No subways.  Several people were trapped in tunnels under the East and Harlem Rivers while they waited in darkness for hours for power to bring them safely from the subway’s belly.

I was living in Queens at the time, but thankfully, my sister’s boyfriend-soon-to-be-husband lived on the Upper East Side, and it was in his apartment five miles north of Hock Films that I found refuge for the next 72 hours.  The people of New York transformed somewhat during those days from the hard-nosed, fast-paced, sharp-tongued sports freaks to an affable bunch of porch-partiers.  People sat in the sun and swapped stories while their radios provided updates in the background.  As for Mandy and Bryan and I, we read, played board games and suppressed bowel movements as best we could (plumbing was out, too) until our corner of the city was back on the grid, and lived to say that we survived the Blackout of 2003.