Send Me On My Way

I've decided to save my interview with the friendly cats at Obama headquarters for tomorrow in favor of a more timely post. For those of you who are sick of waiting for the first in my much alluded to Campaign '08 series, just listen to the song "Apathetic Way to Be" by Relient K and rest assured that it will be up by 10am tomorrow.

For those of you who don't know already I've been working at a small cafe in downtown CSprings this summer and after previous summers spent working at a car auction (now closed due to severe cocaine-related bankruptcy), a moving company, and campus security, I can say that washing dishes, waiting tables and deep-frying the crap out of whatever crosses my path at The Corner Cafe has been, by far, my favorite summer job. And today was my last day.

After arriving in CSprings this summer I spent a half a week just waiting to move into my apartment during which I slept on the ground in a state park. But, after I finally moved in it only took one day of job searching before I got a call from Bob and Virginia at The Corner Cafe and before I knew it I had been interviewed and fitted for a shirt. I was working the next Monday, two days after moving in.

I have an almost miraculous tendency for finding good people wherever I go (maybe there are more of them than I thought) and Bob and Virginia are thus far my favorite Coloradans (Colorodians, Colodites?). They gave me a great job that allowed me to spend a lot of time reading and getting to know the city, they let me eat breakfast and lunch every day on the house (they even sometimes fed me on Saturdays), but most of all they asked daily how I was doing, had I talked to my family, what was my apartment like, etc. They have been no less than surrogate parents this summer and today they really went above and beyond and got me a going away present:

A nice card, a coffee maker, filters and coffee.

I mentioned to Virginia about a week after I started work that I hadn't had coffee a couple weeks. What followed what a mom-like one-sided argument about why me being happy and having coffee every once in awhile was worth the money I would be spending on it. I, however, being the cheap, loan-encumbered teacher-to-be that I am never did get around to buying a coffee maker.

Their gift was a total surprise and it really showed me how even two months spent with someone can really have an impact on them. For better or for worse. While I will miss Bob, Virginia, Steve and Marquina, I won't have too much time to bemoan the loss of my apron: tomorrow is my first day of training at Cheyenne Mountain Charter Academy. If you didn't know already I'm going to be teaching 8th grade English and an introductory Latin class to a combination of 7th and 8th graders. So, if you've got any sweet classroom ideas, leave 'em in a comment.

And now, your moment of Zen:




























Since I'll be officially starting at Cheyenne tomorrow it's going to get harder and harder to keep daily posts coming. So, if you're actually reading this stuff, give a shout out in the comments and let me know that I'm not just throwing around the bits and bytes for my own narcissistic enjoyment. Also, if you're sick of me talking about myself feel free to give me something to talk about. Just leave a comment that says "Zach, what do you think about Nutrigrain bars or human/unicorn relationships?" and I'll be sure to give you my 2 cents.