Happy Music

Do you like marimba music? I do. I especially love the kind that makes you jump out of your chair and dance with joy. The most wonderful marimba music I ever heard was at a end-of-the year picnic for students, hosted by Lewis and Clark College in June 1993. I had separated from my first husband two months before, and it was a sad and difficult time. I was a full-time college student with five children at home, and I was scared about the future.

I took the kids to the picnic because it was free food and I thought it would do us some good to get out and play in the sunshine. The food was fine, but the music was the best thing that had happened to me in months. Oh, it was wonderful. It was a group of marimba artists from Eugene, Oregon, and I think their music had a Caribbean flavor. I wish I could find a video of them on YouTube and post it here.

There are some wonderful marimba groups here in the Portland area. They play on marimbas of all sizes, and I especially love the groups that play music from Africa and the Caribbean. (I'm not quite as fond of the marimba music from Mexico and Guatemala - it's generally not quite as lively.)

Here's a group called "Dancing Impala," playing music similar to what I remember from that picnic back in 1993:


Here's a very lively group called Boka Marimba. Look how much fun they are having, and how much exercise they are getting! I love watching the older guy in the blue shirt (audience member) dancing - he's still going at the end of the song with some crazy moves.

While I was poking around on YouTube looking for marimba artists, I found this amazing group. They are children performing on PVC pipe marimbas. Check them out!


Oh, I do love happy music!

My Conversion Story

(A friend at church recently asked me to write about my experience of converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also called Mormons. I thought it was worth posting here, too.)

            I was baptized on my eighteenth birthday. My parents attended my baptism and supported me in my decision, although they have never had an interest in investigating the church themselves. But baptism is only one event in a conversion story; conversion begins well before the event of baptism, and we continue to be converted throughout our lives.

            My parents came from two different religious backgrounds, Presbyterian and Christian Science. My mother, the Presbyterian, has always believed in God and has liked going to church, but to my father, although he always believed in a Supreme Being, attending church was an uncomfortable memory from his adolescent years. They compromised by sending my brother and me to one church or the other from time to time, but we were never regular attenders, and we never were taught a specific doctrine beyond trying to be good people and do what we knew to be right.

            By the time I was a teenager, I felt that something was missing in my life. I began to attend the Presbyterian church in town occasionally, but I didn’t really understand anything of doctrine. When I attended one Easter Sunday, and a high school acquaintance, sitting in the pew in front of me, turned to me and said, “Oh, I guess you’re one of those C and E Christians,” (Christmas and Easter), I was dumbfounded and embarrassed. It was hard to keep going to that church after her rebuff.

            This was in the early 70s, when a movement nicknamed the “Jesus Freaks” was spreading among high school and college students. As I recall, this was a Christian movement aimed at youth, combining the idea of religion with adolescent slang. I spent some time at lunch with an earnest group of nice kids, kids who gave me a pamphlet that told me all I needed to do was invite Jesus into my heart. I took the pamphlet and went home and knelt down in my room and tried to invite Jesus into my heart, but nothing much happened, and I was too embarrassed and shy to go back to the group and lunch and ask them what I had done wrong.

            Not long after that experience, one of my friends from the high school band invited me to come to his church. He had recently joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I felt a little reluctant, because I knew some people considered the Mormons to be fanatical or odd, but I ended up accepting his invitation because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. My parents didn’t have a problem with me attending the church meeting, but I remember my dad telling me that if they tried to give me a Book of Mormon, I could tell them that I didn’t need one; we already had one at home. (A neighbor family had given the book to my parents about eight years before. We had moved twice since then, but my parents—notorious for purging extra belongings in a move—had kept the book. I now realize that the neighbors had probably been participating in a ward missionary challenge to place a Book of Mormon with another family. That seed bore fruit, but it sure took a long time!)

            The first time I walked into an LDS Sacrament Meeting, I felt at home. I loved the fact that entire families worshipped together, rather than sending the babies off to the nursery, which was the custom in other churches I had attended. I felt the Spirit during the simple ceremony of the sacrament, and I was impressed that no one passed a collection plate. I enjoyed singing the hymns. At the end of the meeting, one of my friends from high school came up to me and said, “Hey Kathy, I’m speaking next Sunday. Will you come again and hear me give my talk?”

            I hadn’t planned on attending more than one Sunday, but how could I turn him down? It turned out to be his mission farewell, and he challenged me to meet with the missionaries and learn more about the church’s doctrine. I did. I read the copy of the Book of Mormon that had been sitting on my parents’ bookshelf for eight years. I struggled with some of the concepts of this new religion, which wasn’t fanatical, but which still seemed a bit odd to me. I prayed to ask God if this religion was from Him, if it was a true religion, and I felt happy and light and peaceful, and so I decided to be baptized.

            This was about three months before my eighteenth birthday, but I decided to wait until my birthday to be baptized, not because my parents forbade me to do so, but because I wanted to celebrate my journey into adulthood by being washed clean of all my sins and taking on the new life of a religious person. That was nearly thirty-eight years ago, and even though I have had periods in my life of discouragement and doubt, I have never regretted my decision to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My testimony has continued to deepen and grow over the years, and I hope it will always continue to do so.

Back to Work, Falling in Love

Spring break is over in Oregon, and yesterday was the first day of a new term at the high school.

Brand new students, just like the first day of school all over again...for the third time this year.

We are on a trimester schedule, which means several things:

• A "semester" lasts only 12 weeks
• Students get a full year of credit after 2 trimesters
• A two-trimester (full year) class might be taught fall/winter, or winter/spring, or even fall/spring.
• Students may or may not have the same teacher for the second half of a course

All of the above have several ramifications, including:

• Teachers have to be tightly aligned with our curriculum. That way, if our students get switched from one teacher to another at the trimester change, there aren't huge gaps or overlaps. We have to do a lot of planning and coordinating together.
• It's harder to form relationships with students in only 12 weeks. I begin on Day 1 of the trimester to intentionally build relationships with kids--between me and each of them, and among the students in the class--rather than just leaving it for time and chance.

I teach a one-trimester writing class, called Creative Nonfiction Writing. It's one of my very favorite classes to teach. I proposed it several years ago, when a colleague who had taught our high school's Creative Writing course for many years, retired. Two of us wanted in on the "creative writing" action, so I proposed a nonfiction section along with the more traditional creative writing prompts in poetry and fiction. Students write personal essays and personal narratives in my class, and they are thrilled to be able to write about their own lives and perspectives, instead of focusing on reports and other writing designed to elicit what they know about a particular course content.

Blah blah blah. Sorry, I got off into "teacher-land" for a bit there.

I admit, I was dragging my heels yesterday morning. I loved sleeping in over spring break, and I was as reluctant as the kids to be back to school. By the time we start the third trimester, it feels like we've already been teaching for a full year. Wanh, wanh. 

But by last night, going through their first-day (brief) writings, it was happening again: I am falling in love with my students. Not in some creepy-predatory-icky-teacher way that you read about in the paper. But this happens to me every term. Even from their brief writings yesterday, I am beginning to glimpse inside their hearts. One girl wants to be a motorcycle mechanic. Another girl will be getting married this summer. One boy loves being on student council because he feels he's found his home there. Another boy, a boy I've had in class before--so I know how "allergic" he is to writing--said he signed up for the class again because he likes to write about topics that he gets to choose. And on and on. 

Thirty-five hearts beginning, already, to open. Thirty-five individuals willing to take some risks and trust that they have something to say. Thirty-five writers, with more-or-less skills, beginning another term with me.

Today we'll play the get-to-know-you game I call "class Bingo," although it's not about Bingo, as much as it is about getting to know each other. Yesterday they all wrote a unique fact about themselves on a 3x5 card--a fact they were willing for others in the class to know--and last night I typed their facts into a 6x6 table. No names. I'm in there, too. Today we'll each take our sheet and wander around the classroom, asking people what their fact is. Here's a sampling; can you guess which one is mine?

• My little sister is 15 years younger than me.
• Every two years my birthday is on Thanksgiving.
• I've been hit in the face by an alligator.
• I'm training for a 1/2 marathon.
• I have about 108 freckles.
• My car only goes 110.
• I go wheelin' every day. I am solo'ed to fly.
• I hunt, fish, ride dirtbikes, I'm a triplet, and I'm going to be a motorcycle mechanic.
• I can do a Chewbaka noise and predator noises.

(Those last two are from girls, by the way.)

See what I mean about falling in love? Aren't they amazing and interesting and wonderful? I can't wait to see them again today and get to know them just a little bit better.

One day at a time.

Fabric Balls - Craft Tutorial

Updated May 2011 with easier access to the free pattern.

(See below)

This is my favorite gift to make for my grandchildren when they turn 1 year old. It's perfect for little fingers to grab as they chase it around a living room or play room. The finished ball is about 8" in diameter.

Update November 2012: Here is a video of a 6-month-old baby successfully playing catch with one of these balls. They are WONDERFUL for babies!



Materials:
You can make it with a variety of fabric scraps, or with two colors (one for the outer surfaces, and one for the inner surfaces). If you scroll down through the tutorial, you will see both styles of balls. If you choose to make it with two different colors, you will need about 1/3 yard of the inner fabric and 1/4 yard of the outer fabric. Other materials:
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Scissors
Needle for hand-stitching
Polyester fiberfill for stuffing

Directions:
Cut out 12 of the half-circles and 12 of the football shapes (see pattern below).
With right sides together, sew one football to one half circle. Begin by making a tiny, tiny snip half-way along the curve of the half-circle. It's only about 1/8" of a snip.

Here's another picture of the tiny snip.

Then lay a half-circle and a football shape together like this. Remember to keep right sides together.

The stitching will go in the direction from the bottom of the half-circle up to the middle, BUT don't start at the very bottom!

You will begin stitching about 1/4" from the bottom corner, (see where the scissors are pointing to?) and the seam allowance will be about 1/4". Go ahead and begin stitching about 1/4" in, and be sure to backstitch at the beginning, as these corners need to be strong.

Continue stitching carefully along the football.

Stop BEFORE you get to the very corner of the football. You are going to need to pivot about 1/4" from the end of the football, and pull the football over to stitch along the other side of the half-circle. Like this:

Now you will see why you made that teeny little clip at the beginning, because this allows you to turn the half-circle to the other side of the football. Line things up for the first inch or so and begin the stitching. Don't worry that it all doesn't easily line up right when you make the turn. It will get easier as you go along the other side.

See? It's lining up better now. Continue carefully along your 1/4" seam allowance. Stop before the very end, and line up your stitching with where you started.

Like this. Backstitch again to secure the threads and...

The top should look like this.
Repeat for all 12 of the half-circles and footballs. Now you are ready to begin stuffing.

Stuff the little shape firmly with the polyester fiberfill.

Have your needle and thread ready to go, with a knot in the end of the single thread. Now you are going to have to get firm with this little puffy shape, and fold in the seam allowance (about 1/4") of the half-circle edges. Don't worry about the whole seam for now, just make the very top corner behave, and begin stitching the edges together with a slip stitch or a whip stitch (slightly easier, but more of the stitches will show). As you go along, you will be able to continue working with the edges to fold under to the seam allowance, and sew the rest of the edge.

You will end up with a shape that looks kind of like a puffy triangle with a football shape at the top. Tie a good secure knot at the bottom.

I like to finish off my thread by poking the needle partway through the stuffing and back out again, at any random place, then snipping the thread next to the fabric. The end of the thread will disappear into the stuffing, and the knot will stay secure. (Sorry these pictures are in my lap - they were taken in the car on the way to my darling granddaughter's birthday celebration. It was a long drive...took me about an hour in the car to do all the stuffing and sewing you see here and below.)

Repeat with all twelve of the little shapes. Now you are ready to sew them together into a ball.
The rest of the photos were taken with the two-tone ball I'm making for another grandchild. This will let you see a different style, with only two fabrics.

Sew two of the puffy shapes together, at the bottom and at the point of the footballs.

Then add a third one.

Sew the last two football points together, so that you get a three-piece segment of the ball. Repeat three more times with the other nine pieces. You will have four sections that look like this.

Now sew two of the sections together, stitching together at the football points and at the bottom.

Add the third section in, attaching at football points and the bottom.

When you add the last (fourth) section in, it's a little tricky to sew the bottoms together. You can skip that step if you want to, but I like it better with them all sewn together. Again, stitch the football points together and...

You have created a wonderful ball for little fingers to squeeze and throw. Congratulations! If you make one of these balls, I'd love for you to email me with a photo, or post on your blog and send me the link. If you have any questions about these directions, I would be happy to answer your questions via email:
haynieoregon@gmail.com
Have fun!

Here's the birthday girl enjoying her new ball. Like her outfit? Check out her mama's blog, Helping Little Hands. Tons of great craft tutorials...that cute little skirt is made from recycled jeans! And her mama made a Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake-cake to keep the theme going at the birthday party. Directions for all of these great ideas will be on her blog. Here are some ideas that her mama posted for super birthday gifts for one-year-olds, including more photos of the fabric ball.

Here's a link to another photo of a fabric ball, made by my good friend Dorothy for her one-year-old granddaughter. Beautiful, bright colors! And there are more fabric balls here. And a fun update to the worldwide fabric ball movement here.

January 2012 - another fabric ball from Indonesia.
September 2012 - check out a German fabric ball, here
October 2012 - a beautiful fabric ball in Switzerland.
January 2013 - a Cat in the Hat fabric ball made in Oregon
February 2013 - an I-Spy fabric ball from the U.S.
January 2014 - a polka-dot ball from the Czech Republic
March 2014 - the only handmade gift at a baby shower!

Here's the updated link to the pattern: FREE PATTERN
The link below to the pattern on Scribd is 1) upside down and 2) requires a sign-in to Scribd that I don't have. But it's the same pattern on the link above. Enjoy!


Pattern: (Oops! Ha ha - sorry the pattern is upside down...that's ok, just print it and turn the paper around. I have reached the limit of my tech skills here, and that's even with help from a son-in-law and a daughter to get the pattern scanned and uploaded. Thanks, Mike and Polly!)
Fabric Ball

Earth Hour

I love checking up on the family blogs, but I won't be on the computer tonight between 8:30 and 9:30 pm, local time. That's Earth Hour, an hour to turn off the lights and other electronics, to raise awareness about energy consumption and its effects on Earth's climate. I hope you'll join me in your home!

PS - I haven't used the car at all today! Went on a 5-mile walk to train for the Goat Mountain Gallop, then rode my bicycle to the grocery store.

Update at 9:45 pm
We actually turned out the lights at 7:30 because we were outside finishing up a last bit of yard work by the light of the streetlight outside our house. We went for a walk around 8:30. Got home about 8:50 and dug through the camping gear to find another head lamp (I had one in my pocket already) and a couple of candles. That was enough light to get showers and do a little reading until 9:30. I skipped blow-drying my hair, but we did use hot water.

This one-hour experience made us thoughtful about people in pioneer times, and today in developing countries, who use(d) so much less power than we do on a regular basis. Makes me want to be more careful about how I use lights and other electronics.

Happy Birthday, Rebecca!

We had a wonderful visit yesterday with Polly and her family. Their sweet baby Rebecca will be 1 year old tomorrow! We drove up to Granger for the day and thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

The family in front of their home.

Darling Rebecca with the fabric ball I made for her. She liked it!

(I almost have enough photos to post a tutorial on how to make them...coming soon...)

Rebecca loves to feed herself! Yum!

Katie...just chilllin'...until her parents saw her and told her to get down!

Seth with his popsicle. 

He's wearing his bike helmet because we went for a walk (kids on bikes) to the nearby Dinosaur Park!

Eric and Katie on one of the dinosaurs at the park.

Granger bills itself as "Where the Dinosaurs Roam."

There are dinosaurs all over town! No particular reason...no fossils discovered here, or anything.

Eric made it to the top! 

(We're not surprised, of course. Nor were we surprised when Polly told him to get down right now!)

So then Katie wanted to get to the top of the baby dinosaur.
And she did it all by herself - she just took off her shoes and socks so she'd have more traction.

Mark and I thought the baby dinosaur looked tamer, too.

Back at the house, some story time...

Seth spent some time on the computer. He got to the website Starfall.com all by himself!
Maybe it's dangerous...he's still in the helmet...

Eric made yummy homemade tortillas while Polly cooked fajitas.

We had a wonderful visit, and then drove home last night.

Thank you Polly and Eric! Happy 1st birthday, Rebecca!

Family Time with Angela and Tim

We are having a wonderful time with Angela and Tim. We'll be here for two more days. Today we're going for a walk in Muir Woods!

Family photo

They live in Tiburon, California - just north of San Francisco.

The view of the SF Bay from their apartment balcony.

Grandpa Mark with J.J. 

(You can see a photo of me holding him here.)

We went to J.J.'s blessing at church on Sunday. Here are the men who were in the priesthood circle.

Angela put on a nice lunch in the Relief Society room.

Cousin David Haynie came to the blessing,

I haven't seen him since Angela and Tim were married 11 years ago!

Audrey and Sam model high fashion while they enjoy their gluten-free cupcakes.

Grandpa couldn't eat the chocolate cupcakes, but I caught him...

stealing a marshmallow Peep off the top of one of them!

Later the kids colored Easter eggs.

Then Angela organized a game to see whose egg could out-tap the others'.

The last one with an uncracked egg was the winner!

Another Literary Son-in-Law

I have a number of literary sons-in-law. Eric and Chris are widely read, and often encourage me to read books I might not otherwise pick up (especially Eric). (That's not to say that I actually do read the books, but they encourage me.)

Chris also likes to write stories in the gothic 19th-century tradition.

Mike writes more modern short stories; he and Julia met through a writers group posted on Craigslist. Mike also gives me suggestions on what to read.

My son David has written several chapters of his fantasy-adventure novels.

Now another son-in-law has joined the literary ranks. Welcome, Bryan! I should have known this was coming, as Bryan first captured Katie's heart with an illustrated story of how a monkey (Bryan) and a giraffe (Katie) fell in love. Now he has gone on to publish his first illustrated book, Nathaniel Gets Scurvy. This little charmer was written for one of his science classes at BYU. You can read more about the creation of the book on Bryan's blog, here and here.

What fun to connect, not only through their beautiful families, but also through books and writing.

Catching Up

Here are some updates from the last couple of days.

I finished my PSU class. Yay! All nine books and both papers. All put to bed. I learned a lot, and I'm glad I took the class, but I'm mostly just glad it's done.

Mark and I are packing for a road trip. We'll leave tomorrow right after work to head south, and we'll reach the Bay Area sometime on Saturday. We'll spend several days there with Mark's daughter, Angela, and her family. We're especially excited to meet little J.J., our newest grandson, born on Valentine's Day. We'll get to be there for his baby blessing on Sunday.

I started training for my half-marathon Gallop. Yesterday I walked 3+ miles of hilly Oregon City. This morning I got up and walked/jogged two times around the middle school track. Today I'm tired and sore! I did some looking on line, and I'm going to try the following schedule:
M/W/F work out at Curves in the morning
T/Th brisk walk - 3+ miles
Sat - brisk walk, gradually adding more miles each week
(Week 1-4 miles.    Week 2-5 miles.    Week 3-5 miles.    Week 4-4 miles.   Week 5-The Gallop!)
I'll try to fit in one longer hike if I can. I'll be concentrating on my walking form (posture, leg/arm position) and distance. The websites I looked at said to focus first on distance, not speed. I was pushing myself hard for speed yesterday, and I think that's why I'm sore today.

(Considering that I did almost no training when I walked the Goat Mountain Gallop two years ago, I think this will help me have a more successful experience. It would be better if I had 2 or 3 months to train, but hey--this event is held in April in Oregon. It was rainy-snowy-nasty 2 or 3 months ago! So I'm making the best of it, and I'm looking forward to my training schedule.)

Goat Mountain Gallop

The area around Goat Mountain, Oregon

Now I've done it...I signed myself up for the Goat Mountain Gallop. As a walker, of course, not a runner.

I was so inspired by Jen finishing her 5K run, and Alex training for a triathlon, and Annemarie running a half marathon that I decided to fill out the form and send it in. I keep saying I want to get more fit, so I might as well commit to it, right?

What is the Goat Mountain Gallop, you ask. It's a funky half-marathon out in rural Oregon - from Colton High School to Molalla High School, around and over an area known as Goat Mountain. The description on their brochure says that "It's hilly, by golly," and yup, it is. The brochure also claims that there is a net elevation loss, but you couldn't prove it by me.

I walked the Goat Mountain Gallop in 2008. Boy, was I a novice! Thirteen miles sounded like a hike to me, and I have lots of hiking experience...

I trained for the event by hiking in the Columbia River Gorge. On the day of the Gallop I wore my hiking boots. I had a fanny pack full of water and snacks along with me. I thought it would be like a hike! Ha ha!

So this time I'll wear my trail runners. No fanny pack. And I'll train by walking lots of our hilly (by golly) paths and sidewalks here in Oregon City.

In 2008 my goal was to finish the thirteen miles, and not come in last. I did it! I'll be happy if I can accomplish the same goal in 2010.

Anyone want to join me? I walked it mostly alone last time (I was slower than all my friends I signed up with), which was fine, but I'll bet it would be more fun with a buddy, by golly. :)

This Too Shall Pass

Life seem a little chaotic and overwhelming lately? Too many things happening at once? I know I sure feel that way...a little too often, if truth be told...

What's to do but try to be happy in spite of it all? Even because of it all?

My son David has a blog called "Funny Clean Videos," and today's video is a winner. Click here to see a hilarious, amazing, surprising video that will make you smile...in the midst of the chaos!

17 Things I Love About Mark

I have the sweetest, most patient husband in the world. He puts up with me even when I'm cranky and impatient! He knows that I will consistently bite off more than I can munch, but he supports me anyway when I start out on yet another project. He's been sick today, so I sat alone at church, and oh I missed him. Here are some of the things I love about Mark.



1. He got on his knees to propose to me, even though it meant kneeling in the mud.
2. He is supportive of me taking night classes at the university.
3. He can fix almost anything.
4. He can play the ocarina. He's self-taught.
5. He can calm the fussiest grandbabies.
6. He's tall and handsome.
7. He likes to go for walks with me.
8. I've only cleaned the toilets once or twice since we've been married. He always cleans them! With bleach! Without me asking!
9. Ditto for mopping the floor.
10. He compliments me on my cooking (not my favorite chore).
11. He fixes the scrambled eggs every morning. (I fix the fruit; we take turns starting the oatmeal.)
12. He gives really good backrubs.
13. He isn't afraid to say that we need to change direction when something isn't going well.
14. He has a strong testimony of the gospel and he acts on his beliefs.
15. He tells corny jokes.
16. He loves kitty cats, even though he's allergic to them.
17. He hardly ever gets mad.

I'll stop there because he says that 17 is his lucky number, but I could go on and on and on... I am so lucky to be married to this fella!

Happy Day Saturday

We have sunshine this morning!

Tomorrow is the start of Daylight Savings Time!

And I woke up with this song running through my head.
(Ok, I stink at embedding videos in my blog...this is the first time I've tried it! But click on this link and you'll get to this cute, lively song.)

That's a Lotta Data for an English Teacher...

I crunch a lot of numbers in my job. For the last five years, I've only taught English classes at the high school part time; the other half of my job is to be a "literacy coach" and go around and help all the other teachers (science, social studies, health, etc,) include more reading and writing in their teaching.

I do trainings on reading strategies and trainings on writing strategies. I meet with teachers individually. I help co-teach lessons to demonstrate strategies. I give feedback to teachers. I develop teaching ideas for them. And to demonstrate that what I do is in some way effective, I track data.

Reading test scores.
Writing test scores.
Percentages of improvement in the scores.
Improvement from last year to this year (two different groups of kids).
Improvement from 8th grade to 10th grade (same kids).
How many teachers have tried a strategy.
Etc, etc, etc.

I like all the parts of my job, including the number-crunching. Even though I don't teach math, I'm not allergic to numbers, and it's kind of fun to track trends and try to figure out what is working (or not working) and why.

Earlier this month we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday, March 2. This is a pretty common activity in schools, but usually it's at elementary schools, and it's called "Read Across America."

We decided to give it a try...what if 2000+ kids read for just 12 minutes in each of their 5 classes on one day? That would be 2000 hours of reading all in one day! We did some publicity and the school library had more kids come in to check out books, and we did it! We called it "Read Across OCHS."

I surveyed the teachers about Read Across OCHS on Friday, and just compiled the survey results this afternoon. We have around 100 teachers, and 55 of them responded to the survey. Of the 55, only 2 said they didn't want to do it again. From those 55 teachers, I was able to tabulate a little over 1500 hours of reading, so I feel confident that we reached our goal of 2000+ hours of reading in one day.

I was working with a couple of other English teachers to do the last of the number-crunching at the end of the day, and another teacher walked by us and commented, "That's a lotta data for some English teachers..."