Happy New Year!!!

I know the right thing would have been to put up a picture of all my stuff I got for Christmas. But I think that would be gloating as Brandon was very good to me this year and got me many GREAT things. The keyboard I am typing this on was part of a station for my lap top. I got an IPOD nano, a book on Europe (for my trip), some clothes, a GREAT new lens for my camera to take zoom shots and some clothes to take to the gym and work off my fatness. Very thoughtful (I should note that I requested the last thing on the list).

Instead of the goings on of Christmas stuff I think I will skip right to the Happy New Year greeting. So far I've enjoyed my time away from the ragamuffins. More than I probably should. It will be very hard to go back, but I got a reminder today of the joys of teaching by getting a text message (I don't know how he got my number) from a student reminding me I need to send off his 5 letters of recommendation, which reminded me of my other student I have to do it for, as well. Just one of the many joys I am so thankful list when it comes to my life. Speaking of which - I think the end of a year is a good time to state what you are proud of accomplishing in your life this past year. So here goes.

There are so many things I am proud of but here, including becoming an uncle - again - but here are my accomplishments that I am proud of (in no particular order)

1. Being brave enough to face another year of teaching teenagers

2. Helping 2 new dogs find "forever homes" and hoping to help one more early this next year.

3. finally getting my act together to start the process of taking students to Europe for the summer

4. Getting my AP European Students to pass the final AP test at a rate of 74%

5. STARTING to go to the gym

6. Finishing a major remodel on our kitchen

7. Almost running for State House 24 (I know that sounds lame to "almost" run - but it was a life changing moment for me.)

8. Getting a 195 out of 200 on my national teachers test called the Praxis (receiving a certificate of excellence for my performance)

9. Elected to the Salt Lake County Democratic Party as the First Vice Chair

10. Being appointed to the Davis County Education Association Executive Board

On the same note here are the top things I learned this year

1. Be careful because the rut of life can suck you in and force you to do things over and over again without thinking about it.

2. Watch out for Maryjo she'll sucker you into fostering dogs for ever even if they vomit all over the place, including the bed.

3. Going to Europe is nice, but going with 50 kids is scary

4. Mr. Tennis (My Principal)expects all my students from smart to dumb to take the AP test - and expects a better than 74% pass rate.

5. Just starting to go to the gym should not then end up with a stop going to the gym.

6. Remodeling a kitchen is not fun, not easy, not clean, not enjoyable - but in the end it is really worth it.

7. Sometimes jumping into things without looking so hard can be a good thing. Thinking too much can sometimes make you miss a lifetime opportunity. (I learned this one years ago when I was jumping on cliffs at Lake Powell. I found that if I just jumped without thinking I could get myself to jump pretty high and feel quite accomplished. Thinking and worrying about it too much would often result in climbing lower on the cliff or scooting my bum back into the water. Of course one should not forget the poor saps who don't think at all and jump in to their deaths.)

8. As much as I preach to my students about not procrastinating and pushing them to study study study it doesn't mean I practice that behavior. And it doesn't mean you have to do that to be successful.

9. Being a person in a leadership role means you must assert yourself and be the person you were elected to be. Leadership means just that LEADERship. Letting others lead makes you a follower. No one is elected to be a follower.

10. Don't overextend yourself into too many things. It is better to do one thing well than to do mediocre on 10 things.



But of course the thing I am most proud and happy for is being able to spend quality time with my family and friends who I love very much. For my health (albeit obese health) - and for the joy that I get to spend another year with all of you. (except manda, but I'll deal).

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE AND GOOD LUCK IN 2008!

May your year be filled with new positive leadership and an optimistic future for all beings on this Earth.


(PS - the reason the rat is the image for this post is because 2008 is the year of the rat. The reason it is dead is because their is no good rat, unless it is dead.)

My apologies to the Roarkies

Dear Roarks,

'Twas the week before Christmas, and you're 'bout to fest
The entire family was arriving, except Uncle Wes
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Uncle Weston soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Chubby - Uncy danced in their heads.
The kids were all crammed in one single room,
The pink room was open for that Uncley goon

When out of the blue Uncle Weston did call,
with word of his absence soon did reach all.
The Roarks were all mad and angry at him
They said they should have just invited Uncle Tim.

Uncle Wes did apologize for not having come
"The problem was flights and enough room for my bum.
Christmas time for travel is extraordinarily hard
I'm sorry for being such a big stupid tard."

The Roarks they said they had understood,
they'd see him soon enough and that'd be good.
So a promise was given by Wes to the Roarks,
"In spring I'll be seein' ya so keep the good forks."

As Christmas day came and gifts were all opened,
Little Kali was seen head hanging - she was a mopin'
Grandma asked her "whats wrong?" and gave her a hug
She said she missed her Wes even though he does bug.

Just then she did see an unwrapped gift,
"From Uncle Wes" it read - she bent to lift.
She opened it up to reveal nothing there,
The family did gasp some even pulled hair.

Kali giggled and smiled with such grand delight,
Her mom asked her why? Why was that alright?
She said, "oh Mom I just remembered right now,"
Uncle Wes is always here with us, wanna know how?

'Cuz he loves each and every one of us with all of his heart,
So he just sent us this gift so we could remember that part.
He wishes he could say before he has us in sight,
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Tay Tay & The Poo Poo

So yesterday I went to get a haircut from Chelsea and of course the side benefit of that is being able to visit with family - including cutie patootie Tayler. He is at such a CUTE stage.

While we were waiting for the cut then I was holding Tayler and we went into the kitchen. Chelsea had just finished baking some cookies and what seemed to be brownies. But what was left looked much like something else - at least to Tayler.



After looking terrified that we'd ask him to eat poo poo he finally relented and had some.



It was hilarious. Chelsea was then concerned that they may have to have a future lesson on not eating poo poo. Lets hope not.

The second funny thing was the tree. Apparently Tayler likes the way the tree feels on his tummy.




And



You can hear him ask to see himself after he did it. He wanted to see him do it on the phone. So he says "Tay Tay?" It is so cute!

The Joy of being a foster parent - with update!

Today when I got home from work, a little late - but that is all I will give as my fault to this situation, I was in for a big surprise.

It had already been a long day in that I had to stay after work with the Sophomore Committee doing pictures and meetings. That was fun. But I did get home about 5:30. As I do, since we are fostering right now, I say hi to Lacey and give her a little attention before I go and let the beast out of the kennel.

A little background: A couple of weeks ago the Utah Animal Advocacy Foundation (UAAF) leader Maryjo asked if we could take a little terror into our hands. Normally she is always boarded up in Brigham City where a nice boarding place donates space to the UAAF. She didn't have a foster home. The reason she was there is because she is a bit aggressive. She has been returned to the group twice because she bites strangers. Once involving a mailman.

Anyway when Brandon brought her home he "claimed" she had nipped at him at the Petsmart where he picked her up. Okay, she probably did. But he still brought her home. This dog that apparently is timid around men and her timidity is what brings on the biting. Great - let’s bring the dog to where two men live. Anyway, She's here.

He brought her over and told me "do not look at her directly in the eyes. Do not go down to her level. Be careful with your hands. Do not reach your hand toward her. No sudden moves. Don't talk too deeply. Etc..."

Oh great! What have we got ourselves into? So we greeted Lily with our garden gloves on. Soon enough she had warmed up to us- more so to Brandon than me. In fact she is still protective to the point of biting or killing in this order. Brandon over Me and Lacey, Brandon and Me over Lacey, and Brandon, Me, and Lacey over anyone else. I hugged Brandon and got a growl. I reached toward her while she was sitting by Brandon on the bed and she growled. Lacey and she do NOT get along. They have attacked each other multiple times. It seems as though she is doing it to protect us most of the time.

Yesterday when I was to take them both for a walk when I got home from work then the garbage truck was going by. Lacey loves to bark at the trucks. Lily loves to try and kill Lacey when she barks. The larger the louder the truck the worse Lacey barks, the worse Lacey barks, the more her life is threatened. Immediately Lacey barks and lurches towards the truck. Lily immediately attacks Lacey. In a brawl of fur I saw the following snapshots.

1. Lacey under Lily - Lily's jaw on Lacey's ear
2. Lily being pulled back by me - Lacey biting Lily's tail
3. Lily again on top of Lacey me pulling on both their leashes - it isn't working
4. Lily's jaw around Lacey's neck - my foot kicking into Lily's side to remove her from my dog.

Ahhh, it was great.

So anyway - where was I? Oh yes. The point of this post: today.

Today I came home from work a little late. I spent my time with Lacey. Something didn't smell right - literally. I figured Lacey must have had an accident. But how odd - that never happens. I sniff around. Nothing. I said to Lacey, "should we let Lily out?" I'm sure Lacey's response was "hell no" however since I was distracted by what I saw in the kennel I didn't hear what she said. I wish I had and had listened to her advice.

In Lily's kennel was a pile of dog dung. It looked a bit like curdled pesto. I am not sure if I will be able to have pesto soon. The good and bad news is the poop was there. The bad is that - well - it is poop I am going to have to clean up. The good news is that it was still there. One thing I forgot to mention is Lily has a history of eating her own fecal matter.

So I let Lily out and knowing about her submissive biting/peeing/pooping issues I decided I better not be mad or mean - I mean after all, I was late. I felt bad. As she climbed out of the kennel you could tell she was very ashamed of what she did and was expecting a beating (no doubt why she is so aggressive because she was mistreated by someone). I bent down to pet her and she peed on the floor.

"Oh, okay Lily," I said in a high toned sweet voice. Trying to not make the issue worse. "Let’s go outside..."

Continuing my sweetness I bent down to pet her again about 6 feet from the kennel (which is in the office) in the kitchen. Oh - peed again. Full sized amount both time, mind you. We're not talking a little piddle. This time I am trying to continue to be sweet and Lily does her second timid thing and rolls on to her back. Right in her pee.

"Oh, okay Lily," I say again in the sweetest voice I can muster. "Outside."

She goes outside and I turn around to put my coat on the counter. Apparently she came in from outside through the dog door right behind me.

"Bleh" (sound like a Tupperware of chunky chicken noodle soup being opened and sloshed onto a wall)

Suddenly I feel something cool on my leg to accompany the sound. I look behind me and a substance in similar color but more fluid than the poop in the kennel was sprayed all over my leg, two square feet on the floor on the side of the stool and the side of the bench by the door. Pesto-rama all over again.

"Sweet lily, please remove yourself from my presence and go outside please." I ushered both dogs outside and began to clean quietly and patiently. Normally I would have cursed more now than a lifetime's worth but for whatever reason I continued calmly. I mopped up everything; I cleaned up the poop in the kennel. I took my pants off and washed off the pant leg. Everything was spic and span.

I let the dogs in. Back to the routine. I fed them dinner. I was turning on my laptop and relaxing from my "welcome home pesto party" and then I see Lily walk over to the fireplace. Almost to the tile - but of course not quite. Her back arches in a poop-chute sort of way and there it comes, farts and all, greasing on the rug and the tile. Apparently Lily was not done.

After calmly removing Lily from the house again (you'd think she would have gotten the time during the 15 minutes I was cleaning to do this out side. But if you did think that - you'd be wrong) I cleaned up her mess again. Then I left to go have dinner with Arlyn.

As I returned I called Brandon to let him know I was on my way home. During the conversation I heard a familiar sound. Think Chicken Noodle Soup in a Tupperware and the wall again. Then Brandon said a few choice words. Apparently Lily was sitting on his lap, as cute as it is, and vomited all over him, his computer, the desk, and the floor.

So there it is. A night as a foster parent. In all its glorious glory. All because people breed their dogs we do this. Thanks a pant load. (pant load comment copyright Manda Holty).

Well it is off to bed for me. Off to the only room of ours Lily hasn't soiled. At least yet. I wonder what pesto explosions while you sleep sounds like?

UPDATE- Lily vomited and pooped in the bedroom. The sanctuary is over. Also observe the vomit counter on the left <----

My head hurts...I'm tired....I'm out...

Well, I finally made a decision.




It was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make in my life.




Since Ralph Becker, member of the Utah State House of Representatives was no longer running for his seat because he was elected to be Mayor of Salt Lake City his seat was open and in a special election a replacement was going to be found to finish up the remainder of his term.

For about a week or two I have been throwing around the idea of running. I know I am young, I know that I am inexperienced, but I truly felt that I had something unique to bring to the race and that I would bring something that no other candidate could. I think that I truly had a chance to win.

So why not run, you ask? Well besides just being a plain old wimp I think that I have other obligations that I must finish up and stick with. I need to make sure I do the things I have already committed to as fully as I can. If I were to run I would have to neglect my students, neglect my job, neglect my position in the County Party, neglect my position as an Executive Board member of the DEA and part of the PAC committee. I have Europe this summer, I have dogs I am fostering, I have the Board of the Community Council I need to pay better attention to. There is just too much right now.

I want to be in a leadership position. I think I have what it takes to be there. But I am 28. I'm not there yet. There will be future opportunities and I hope that then I will be ready to take them.

I'm very disappointed in myself and hope that I will be ready when the next opportunity arises.

In the meantime if you are so inclined and you want to know how serious I was and how ready I was to throw my hat in the ring you should look at my website I put up. www.westonclark.com Everything was edited and ready to go (with the exception of the "issues" page that needed some editing) but it will have to sit now and await 2009 when Eric Jergensen's position is up on the city council and I am ready then to take that challenge.