Mr. Robbins

Me: The thing about seniors is that they KNOW you don't really want to fail them.

Mr Robbins: Yeah that's what they think, some of these kids are gonna' get clipped and they don't even know it.

Jessica Parsons

was my 4th period student in ECON. She works at Target, loves tanning, and has a blog. Her post about me made my day...even if it was for bonus points.

IMA JOOS KEEDING!

1st Year of Teaching

I was going through some of the papertrail I left throughout my first year of teaching and was pleased to find growth. I'm not sure how it could not happen. Students and schools are merciless - they kick your butt - you change and adapt. I'm thankful for my first year.

Dear 2007 Oliver, read this before you teach:

• Do as many tasks as possible electronically - this means if you can make a chart, write notes to students, record grades, make a seating chart learn how to do it efficiently on a computer. This will save you time and paper (things I was WAY short on this year) as well as open up opportunities to email important docs for anyone that would need them at any time. Not to mention my entire year of documentation and planning is stored around my neck.
• Keep an index card on you at all times, you will constantly realize/be told to complete mini-tasks that will slip your mind or becoming over-bearing if you don't write them down. EMBRACE the task mastering.
• Plan backwards - What do you want students to be able to do? How can they prove their competance to you? How can you prepare them to perform?

There is probably more, these are just the MOST important.

Outlaw for an In-Law

I wanted to blog about my ex-Amish brother-in-law Dave Miller. It's his birthday tomorrow and we had a barbeque in his honor.

I'm deeply indebted to Dave right now because he has not helped us move apartment not once but twice in the last month AND will more than likely help our final move to Dunwoody in June.

This man is a force of love to be reconned with.

Dave is the last to sit down and eat at dinner, he's the first up to help clean - no matter what house he's in. He asks and complains for nothing. He'll thank you for the smallest favor. He works and lays himself down for his family DAILY. I'm so proud of my brother-in-law and hope he has the best birthday ever.

TIME Magazine

Rick Warren has recently been quoted to say: "It's easy to be biblical without being relavent, it's also easy to be relavent without being biblical, but we must do our best to be both biblical and relavent."

I'm proud of my pastor, Rob Wegner, from back in Indiana; during a recent conference at Sattleback, he was interviewed by TIME magazine!

Crazy huh?

I'm glad that Rob, and many at Granger, struggle and struggle and struggle with the Bible and the news, hermeneutics and history, theology and culture so that when he sat down with the TIME reporter for three hours, he has compelling reasons for his positions.

Hot Flash

My daughter, Rose, is very observant. She finds, Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, and BMWs and calls them out for the appropriate family member that drives each type of car.

Just before church she kept complaining about her sweater, insisting she was having hot-flashes.

Aha Fash, Aha Fash.

Too much time with Grandma I guess...=)

Saving Money

With the price of gas and groceries rising I thought I'd share some of our methods of penny pinching.

A few ways we've learned to enjoy being healthy and poor:

• The library is our best friend for movies and books
• Water is our drink of choice
• If we "go out" we go for coffee instead of dinner
• Took an account of how many soaps, lotions, and perfumes we had and made a point of using these up completely before buying anymore
• Simply became good about shutting off lights after ourselves
• For basic cleaning we only need three of the cheapest products: lysol, bleach, and windex
• Free Brewster's baby cones!
  

Identity

I'm excited to share at our youth group this Sunday night on the topic of identity. I've attached my notes:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhswd8gm_697ntbhhn

Lion

Found another lion in a film called bella. Jose was a prospective soccer star who's life takes a turn after tragedy. Something else I saw about lions in this movie is that the primary origination of their character is rooted in how they have dealt with pain in their past. It seems that lions embrace and wait through pain and harvest depth that simply cannot be replaced by any other means.

Inevitably, if we can do this, we will stop caring about the things that don't matter and fight to the death for the things that do. I'm sensing that this is how we will be lions.

Friend Love

Ever just had friends and family just start invading your life with kindness so that you are inspired to live boldly?

• Our family from all sides have gifted GENEROUSLY to make buying our dream house a reality.
• The Kronewitters are thinking about joining us NEXT week in sunny SC.
• Got this e-mail from Brian Shakley a few days back:
• i'm rearranging my room. spring cleaning for the second time in as many months. here's my dilemma:
  
  sweaters.
  
  you are the cure. should you choose to want to be. i have a few that always looked better on you than they did on me. ie - navy with blue pinstripes from banana republic. brown and olive from american eagle. among others. (see attached.)
  
  i can send them all to you. tomorrow.
  
• Yes Brian, I did recieve your sweater love and they ARE awesome, AND you are cute. (Pics of Brian for single ladies available on facebook and eventually on okaywong.blogspot.com
• AND last but not least got an email from Cornettas:
• if a few friends wanted to come see you soon (perhaps over a weekend), how would that make you feel? and if that made you feel happy, when would you advise these few friends to come?

  we miss the wong family.
  

All you need is love...ba badadada

SUMMER!

Watched the AWESOME season finale of the office tonight and saw some commercials that got me a little excited.

1. Steve Carrel and Ush on SNL this weekend.
2. Get Smart
3. Don't Mess with Zohan
4. Narn
5. Dark Knight
6. Coldplay Viva La Vida
   

Now if I can only scare up some money and time...

Please Pray

The mother of a girl in my class is in the hospital in serious condition. Her father already passed in the beginning of the year - she is a very sweet girl - please pray for her and her family.

Evening of Comance

Went for ice cream at Brewster's on our night out and Kyra ordered a "baby cone" which was not a cute exaggeration - the ice cream she ordered really was for a baby or small toddler. We knew that because the girl asked if we wanted sprinkles on it, it was sizable to a baby, and it was free.

If you know my wife this is funny because she would insist on ordering something so small that that it would be fit for an infant AND if there were no floor limit on the size of said order it would potentially become so freakishly small that it would lose market value all together.

Tonight, it just finally happened.

Anniversary

Tomorrow is me and Kyra's 3rd anniversary. So much has changed, to say the least. We'll never go back to the first few days of our marriage (which is both good and sad) but my reaction to these years is that they have gone so fast! I'd better watch out - I'll bet the next thirty pass at the same rate.

Here are my top ten memories from our 3 years - other than having babies cause that would be too obvious. The following are not in order to significance:

10. When that huge "palmetto bug" almost crawled in my mouth while I was sleeping.
9. When we bought tickets to Carowinds and went to the front of the line for the Batman roller coaster because we were a couple.
8. When went out for coffee on Valentine's day in the snow.
7. When we bought our whiteboard.
6. When we sang guy and girl parts to the Postal Service.
5. When you helped me rebound the basketball - when you were pregnant.
4. When we went to the beach and you were wearing blue.
3. When you dared me to do a back-flip on the diving board.
2. "I cry myself to sleep JIIIIMMMM."
1. Sampson

Happy 3rd Anniversary - I love you tooooo!

Laughing at ME

I have been a long time observer at people to are very good at laughing at themselves. I don't have any studies but I'm almost sure that those types of people are happier. To be honest, I'm not very good at this - but I'm working on it. Doesn't it seem like when we laugh at ourselves we forget ourselves it gives us a chance to start over - and as Lewis says - start over as a child again?

House (part 2)

Still on the hunt for houses. They say location is everything but I think "neighbors" would be in a close second. Kyra and I saw a man in fatigues chasing a little dog in his yard with a black trash bag.

We went on to the next house....and so would you.

lol

Deferred Gratificaton

Daniel Goleman did a popular study in the 1960's on deferred gratification finding that four-year-olds that managed to wait 20 minutes for 2 marshmallows instead of 1 did better in all areas of life than children that chose to eat 1 without waiting. In other words, the most correlative trait to success is the ability to wait for good things because it is the foundation for a dozen other positive character traits.

In light of this discovery let me ask you an icebreaker question I love: If you had to scrimp and save on every expense from your house to your shoes, but could have ONE item to COMPLETELY indulge, what would it be?

Kyra: Home Furnishings

Oli: Travel

You:?

Wong News

• Rose got her first hair trim last night: "See Doddy?...See Baby Brudder?"
• Leo broke the cell phone last night...by peeing on it. (I'm a little miffed, but a little proud)
• Rosey's finger got closed in a door today =( "Owie")
• Moving towards making an offer on a house.
• Pre-ordered the new Coldplay and Deathcab jams - using only certificates from Christmas and Valentine's Day - sweet delayed satisfaction! (p.s. thanks Aunt Norene and Kyra!)
  

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mother's day to all the MOMS: Kyra, Gammy, Nana, Adrienne, and Rainbow!

Dad's Birthday

A retraction and additions:

June 9 - Kyra's mom's birthday
Aug 1 - Oliver's Dad's birthday

*thank you to Kam Wong for the reminder ;)

Upcoming Wong Dates

May 11 - Mother's Day
May 14 - 3rd Anniversary
June 16 - Rose's 2nd Birthday
June 18 - Dominic's 15th Birthday
August 6th - Kyra's 25th Birthday

YYEEEAAAHHHH!

Dan Kimball

A Pastor named Dan Kimball spoke at Willow Creek last spring and shared his survey findings on what would make people more open to church:

1. I wish church was not just a sermon or a lecture but a discussion.
2. I wish the church would respect my intelligence (I JUMPED out of my YouTube seat on that one - seriously)
3. I wish the church weren't about the church building.
4. I wish the church were less programmed and allowed time to think and pray.
5. I wish the church were a loving place.
6. I wish the church cared for the poor and the environment.
7. I wish the church taught more about Jesus ?!?

These observations resonate deeply with me - to the extent that my Christian experience has caused me to feel these things before I heard them. I try not to be a ranter so I won't but I think the take-away is valuable: Our peers don't want/(real/felt) need more commercializing, glam, charisma, or spectacle. They just want/need honest something - anything real.

P.S. Did I mention #2 get's me fired up?

Love and Logic

I've been advised by so many sources to embrace inconveniences and annoyances in life because these events/relationships are trying to teach you something.

During your first year of teaching you are amazed at the disrespect SOME students will have for boundaries. Ultimately, you will face two primary challenges: students will break your rules flagrantly and THEN they will confront you aggressively.

My initial response was to similarly match if not escalate aggression to maintain control. Interestingly enough when students would be loud and talk over me (which by the way - they still always do) some of the quieter students will say, "Why don't you just tell them to shut up?" or "Why don't you just write a referral?" In my frustration I assumed these comments projected what they had seen other successful teachers practice.

I was wrong.

In the face of boundary testing, especially of the aggressive nature, it is essential that you firmly de-escalate the situation. "Mr. Wong this is BULLS--T". I pause, look at the child in a way that reminds them we are truly not enemies, slowly walk close to them and in a very low tone (so barely anyone else can hear me) I can't accept what you have to say in that tone.

As I get older I love it when Jesus advice works - when it would be a miracle that peace/non-aggression would be the solution and then it is.

So...

So I've made a commitment to never start a blog post with the word "so".

The Meaning of Leo

Some have asked why Oliver and I chose the name Leo for our son:

Picture with me a man who is a little too wild, has a surprising strength, a rugged charm, a hearty laugh, he is a defender of the weak, with deep integrity, roused to anger by injustice, passionate about his work at hand, possessing a wisdom that surpasses knowledge, and all this character unable to be tamed by mens expectations or the worlds limits and you'll picture a character that Oliver and I will in short refer to each other as "a lion".

You've seen the "lion" in literature, movies, scripture, but he's hard to find as a neighbor; and if he is your neighbor he might just upset you because he's not the tamest of people. Tristan from "Legends of the Fall", Micheal from "Redeeming Love", King David of Israel, obviously the lion himself Aslan from "The Chronicles of Narnia".

We are to emulate Jesus as his followers. He is the greatest lion of all. Some how we are safest in his arms as he leads us down the wildest of paths enough to take our breath away. So.....we like the name. Leo: latin for lion. A man we love to love.

2008 Faculty-Student Basketball Game

Wanted to brag a little before I went to bed about the great faculty victory over the student's in the 2008 basketball face-off at Southside High School.

Props to Jamar Quarles and Mike Mattison (3rd and 7th Period Econ students) for their skillful and valiant effort against an experienced and weathered staff team.  Ya'll got skills.

But in the end it was Robbins' blocking, Ballenger's threes, Painter's steal/breakaway, Franks' strong paint game, Tate's ball-handling, Reeves' ref badgering, Gause's leadership, and Herman's generous officiating that helped the black-shirted faculty take the game 80 to 71 this afternoon!

Go Tigers!

House

We've been on the hunt for a home in light of an offer from the state to help teachers. Because there are no teachers poorer than me in South Carolina, Kyra and I get the MOST money. YAY! =)

We're out tonight to Simpsonville. We covet your responses via email or blog comment for conventional or insider real estate advice.

We'll have you over when we get one!

Strawberries

I just witnessed my daughter slam a jumbo strawberry. This strawberry would have been big even for me but because of her smaller proportions, this thing was like the size of a baseball in her little hands.

Is it strange to say I wish I too had little hands and a little mouth so that food items were bigger? Imagine with me what it would be like to eat a hamburger the size of a frisbee. Or a pizza slice the size of a traffic cone.

Absolute and Comparative Advantage

The Essential Question of our last economics unit is "Why do nations trade?"

Part of understanding this answer, economists say, is knowing about absolute and comparative advantage. Absolute advantage, as it turns out, is deceptively less important than comparative advantage in the scheme of things because comparative advantage determines who should specialize in producing a product to maximize efficiency.

I think it goes like this...

If there is an young man and an old man (I realize this is two agist blog posts in a row but oh well) living on an island we find that the young man has absolute advantage in everything because he is faster, stronger and smarter. But we also know it is not economically efficient for the old man to sit around and do nothing. Instead, the young man should do what he does best and what the old man cannot do at all - perhaps hunt.

Even if the young man is better at cooking the old man should cook because he has the comparative advantage in cooking. The reason for this is that the old man's opportunity cost for cooking (doing nothing) is smaller than the young man's (hunting).

Applying this analogy to the community or global level we encounter a very interesting truth: when people work together, they achieve more than they do apart. Further than this, maximum productivity is sometimes found when individuals sacrifice operating in their greatest strength for the overall benefit of the team.

This is profound to me.

I was once told that horses can actually pull more weight than the sum of each horses capacity to pull. Does this mean that if we put unity above personal performance that productivity is greater?

Hamerick's

I wish I had a photo to show you something Kyra and I saw tonight in a store called Hamerick's on Woodruff Road. Kyra described the store to me as for elderly people and she was quite right. Most of the fashions there were kind of old-timey and or orthapedic.

What was most interesting, however, was what I can only explain as the men's waiting room at the front of the store. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that there was a set of about 8 chairs in the front of the store where older men small-talked and surely griped a little while their wives shopped!

This was very funny to me but at the same time I kind of wanted to sit too.