Hello, my name is Rich. As with a lot of you, this is my first blog. I hope you find it interesting.
I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA but I now live in McHenry MD. McHenry’s claim to fame is Deep Creek Lake and Wisp Mountain Resort. It is located in western Maryland. Yes, Maryland does extend beyond Hagerstown and Cumberland. I have lived here for the past 15 years. Boy has the lake area changed in those 15 years.
I am currently a high school teacher, as you may have guessed from the name of my blog. I teach at Northern Garrett High School, home of the Huskies. Our baseball team just played for the state championship last weekend at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, MD. Unfortunately, we came up a few runs short in the last inning. I am the computer science teacher and I am finishing up my fourth year. My classes include Computer Applications 1 and 2, Programming 1 and 2, Web Design and next year I will be teaching Desktop Publishing. Along with teaching, I am also the local system administrator, Webmaster (http://www.nh.ga.k12.md.us), and a Technology Resource Teacher.
Before teaching, I have done a myriad of other jobs. I have been a carpenter, a tractor-trailer driver, commercial kitchen equipment installer, doorman at a bar, and a vinyl replacement window installer. Yes, I know these jobs do not seem related at all and everybody asks me how in the world they led me to become a computer teacher. Well, I first went to college (IUP) right out of high school in 1984. I was a computer science major but was not sure if that is really what I waned to do with my life, so after a couple of years I decided to take a year off from college. That year turned into 15 years but I finally made it back to school. I graduated from Frostburg State in 2002 with a degree in computer science and lucked into getting a job teaching at the local high school. It is the best job I have ever had. I actually look forward to work. I hope I do not lose that feeling a lot of my colleagues have done.
I married my wife Joy in February 1998 so we will be celebrating our ten-year anniversary very soon. My stepson and his girlfriend made my wife and me grandparents last September. I am too young to be a grandparent. I am only 41.
This is going to be a hectic week. I have to grade senior finals and get the grades submitted to the server by Thursday afternoon. I then need to get all of my underclass finals ready. Not to mention all of the assignments for this graduate class. Because of all of the snow days we had this past winter, I will not be done for the summer until June 13th. Please bear with me as I wrap up the school year.
