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October Banter 2020


George BM
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5 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

I’m very curious to see how hybrid goes. Seems like a ton of work for the teachers. Our elementary teacher friend in HoCo said she’s working 70 hours per week managing virtual learning alone.

It’s a tremendous amount of work for this teacher. So much so that I can tell you that whether or not I make it to the end of year 35 is very much in question.

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Just now, WinterWxLuvr said:

It’s a tremendous amount of work for this teacher. So much so that I can tell you that whether or not I make it to the end of year 35 is very much in question.

Hugs. You got this, stay strong. Same for all our teacher friends here, who are juggling SO MUCH. 

And us parents too -- its tough. 

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6 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

I’m very curious to see how hybrid goes. Seems like a ton of work for the teachers. Our elementary teacher friend in HoCo said she’s working 70 hours per week managing virtual learning alone.

 

5 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

@toolsheds that’s rough and about what I’d have guessed. I don’t know what teachers with school age kids are supposed to do. 
 

@losetoa6 I hear that but it’s a lot. Think this year may cause us to lose good teachers from the workforce. 70hr weeks for months while adding in stress from childcare or elder care and general 2020 anxiety is a ton to manage. 

It's an extremely difficult situation.  I have my son who is in K set up next to me with his headphones on and I do my best to assist him throughout the day as I teach my classes.  My wife is a social worker so she is working crazy hours too meeting with her high needs cases, mostly trying to assist them with this same stuff.   Since I use almost every minute of what little free time I get during the day to assist him or take care of my 2 year old I end up having to do most of my non direct instruction related school responsibilities at night.   I am typically up until around 2am grading, lesson planning, answering emails and google class messages, and completing documentation and forms.  I am not getting enough sleep and its definitely wearing on me.  It's hard to pinpoint what is causing this to be more stressful (other than the obvious multi tasking issues) but its a combo of several factors.  My students need a lot more support on this platform.  It's a lot harder to find time during the day to take care of tasks.  The district has us doing a lot more documentation since we can't see the kinds face to face.  A lot of our tried and true curriculum resources are useless in this setting so we have to design lessons from scratch instead of pulling out and editing our files from past years.  For me the most stressful part is that I can not possible complete everything being asked of me, and that is not something I am used to or feel comfortable with.  But its just not possible.  Even if I worked 100 hours a week its just not possible.  Everyday I go to sleep at 2 or 3 am and I still know someone is going to be upset at me.  There was SOMETHING or often more than one something I just couldn't get to that day.  

All that said...I have a job and am healthy and so I am doing better than many people so it feels like this isn't the time for a woe is me type thing.  I just have to suck it up and get though this...there are millions of people in way worse shape then me.  

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8 hours ago, nj2va said:

I’m already ready for post-7pm sunsets again.  

I’m the other way around this time of year. I’m ready for pre 7am sunrises. Most people don’t realize it, but in this area, our latest sunrises of the year happen during the week before the time change. Even the early January sunrises in winter are earlier than the last week of October. I like later sunsets too, but I get more done in the mornings than I do in the evenings.

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2 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I’m the other way around this time of year. I’m ready for pre 7am sunrises. Most people don’t realize it, but in this area, our latest sunrises of the year happen during the week before the time change. Even the early January sunrises in winter are earlier than the last week of October. I like later sunsets too, but I get more done in the mornings than I do in the evenings.

Who was that guy who asked if the extra hour of light would make it harder for snow to stick when they moved daylight saving up in the spring?  

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3 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

Who was that guy who asked if the extra hour of light would make it harder for snow to stick when they moved daylight saving up in the spring?  

probably the same guy who said snow on the weekends sucked because more cars were on the road 

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On 10/15/2020 at 12:42 PM, nw baltimore wx said:

@CAPE

I’m starting the yeast this evening for the Fear imperial pumpkin beer clone (we call it Ichabod’s Imperial Pumpkin). I’ll pick the pumpkins from the garden this afternoon and roast them to make a pumpkin slurry for the mash, and then brewing on Sunday, 

Maybe we can meet in a couple of weeks on Kent Island and I can give you a growler.

image.jpeg.dd61405710063ceb5339ca36ad7b08ef.jpeg

Sweet kegerator artwork! And the beer sounds good, too!

I kegged my imperial stout last Saturday. It's a 16%-ish beast aged on Knob Creek-soaked oak spirals and dosed with a tincture made of 6oz of cacao nibs and 5 vanilla beans soaked in vodka and bourbon. I'm naturally carbonating this one, so I'm patiently waiting for another week or so before hooking it up.

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Been looking at places along/near I-81 for buying a house next year, but not being familiar with the housing market in these areas, I'm looking for advice on good up-and-coming or established areas. Looking mainly at the Hagerstown area and near the I-81/I-66 interchange anywhere between Winchester and Strasburg/Front Royal. Wife wants access to the western side of the DC beltway, so NoVA is more of a priority.

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6 hours ago, psuhoffman said:

Who was that guy who asked if the extra hour of light would make it harder for snow to stick when they moved daylight saving up in the spring?  

:lol: I remember that but don’t recall who it was. I also remember thinking that he was joking until he started arguing with people laughing at him.

 

6 hours ago, mattie g said:

Sweet kegerator artwork! And the beer sounds good, too!

I kegged my imperial stout last Saturday. It's a 16%-ish beast aged on Knob Creek-soaked oak spirals and dosed with a tincture made of 6oz of cacao nibs and 5 vanilla beans soaked in vodka and bourbon. I'm naturally carbonating this one, so I'm patiently waiting for another week or so before hooking it up.

Dude, that sounds so good. We have to set up a meet sometime and exchange brews. By the way, my gf says thanks for the artwork compliment. Here are a few of our regulars we have on hand frequently.

image.jpeg.ac8e6285994e9b9c2d2eb9cb60026940.jpeg

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13 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I’m the other way around this time of year. I’m ready for pre 7am sunrises. Most people don’t realize it, but in this area, our latest sunrises of the year happen during the week before the time change. Even the early January sunrises in winter are earlier than the last week of October. I like later sunsets too, but I get more done in the mornings than I do in the evenings.

Yep, that’s fair.  I haven’t noticed it as much this year since I’m still working from home - so I’m not up as early to commute.  But when I was, it sucked.  

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5 hours ago, Ellinwood said:

Been looking at places along/near I-81 for buying a house next year, but not being familiar with the housing market in these areas, I'm looking for advice on good up-and-coming or established areas. Looking mainly at the Hagerstown area and near the I-81/I-66 interchange anywhere between Winchester and Strasburg/Front Royal. Wife wants access to the western side of the DC beltway, so NoVA is more of a priority.

Think you would like it here. Personally I think the housing market is over valued but there’s a lot available so you can probably negotiate your way to a decent deal. The area between Winchester and Strasburg is beautiful and Front Royal is just as picturesque community as you will ever find, right at the base of Shenandoah National Park

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20 hours ago, Ellinwood said:

Been looking at places along/near I-81 for buying a house next year, but not being familiar with the housing market in these areas, I'm looking for advice on good up-and-coming or established areas. Looking mainly at the Hagerstown area and near the I-81/I-66 interchange anywhere between Winchester and Strasburg/Front Royal. Wife wants access to the western side of the DC beltway, so NoVA is more of a priority.

With access to the western side of the beltway in mind, suggest focusing on something south of the Potomac.  Where, depends on what your priorities are.  Having to cross a bridge around here can be a royal pita, especially during inclement weather or accidents.  To access NOVA from MD there's only have 4 options after you get away from DC - Chain Bridge, 495, Whites Ferry, Rt-15 and I-81.  On any given day, one or more of them have significant backups.  Throw in even a minor incident and a normal drive across a bridge can be a nightmare.  Rt-15 is getting notorious for backups between Leesburg and the Potomac/MD.

In NOVA, it's all about price vs commute.  In the reference to "Western side of the DC Beltway", what are the things your wife is interested in and how far out are you looking?  As WinterWxLuver pointed out, the area around Front Royal and Winchester is beautiful if you're looking in that area.  It depends on how far west you want to be.  From I-81 it's a min of 45 mins to an hour to get to the Beltway, w/o any traffic

FWIW - I-66 is torn up yet again for widening and will be a construction zone for the next several years.  I-66 is also a demarkation point in that if you have to cross over it to go from N to S across FFCO or Loudon to PW County, crossing I-66 can be akin to crossing the Potomac.  

If you get west of Rt-28 (and north of I-66) Dulles airport is another obstacle.  The main arteries/routes running E/W to the western suburbs are Rt-50, the Greenway, Waxpool Road and Rt-7.  If you go as far west as Leesburg, the options to get to NOVA are the greenway (F/T toll road and $$$) and Rt-7 (also under construction for widening).  

If your focus West of the Beltway is closer in towards the Tyson's area, it's hard to beat Vienna, Oakton and Reston.  That triangle is convenient to I-66, the Dulles Toll road, Tyson's, multiple shopping areas, plenty of hospitals and medical care, and only 30 mins to downtown DC (non-rush hour).  The challenge can be expense.  The old saying used to be, for every mile outside the beltway in NOVA the price of a house goes down $10,000.  That figure still roughly applies.  

Hope this helps.  

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2 hours ago, losetoa6 said:

 

Anyone catch this article about a teachers union in Virginia.  They are pushing for total cancellation of in person through summer of 2021. And the big thing that stuck out was they want 14 days of (0)  community spread as a metric . That's impossible.  

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/521945-teachers-union-in-virginias-largest-county-calls-for-virtual-classes

 

 

Consider where that “place” is

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4 hours ago, losetoa6 said:

 

Anyone catch this article about a teachers union in Virginia.  They are pushing for total cancellation of in person through summer of 2021. And the big thing that stuck out was they want 14 days of (0)  community spread as a metric . That's impossible.  

 

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/521945-teachers-union-in-virginias-largest-county-calls-for-virtual-classes

 

 

VA doesn’t actually have Teacher Unions like most people think of them.  This is one of several “associations”, which looks like it accounts for 1/4 to 1/3 of the staff for Fairfax County.  They definitely appear to be way out there on the cautious side, to an absurd extent.

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