Glane1818

I love backpacking and I've been on the PCT a few different times. All places were equally as beautiful (Yosemite, the Sierras by Tahoe, and up at Castle Crag by Mt. Shasta). What were/are your top 3 areas of the PCT?

I had part of my brain removed as well. My brain surgery was about 7 months ago and I am luckily recovering way better than the doctors predicted. I rarely speak of it to people and most people around me don't understand what i went through. Most of it was a mental thing (no pun intended lol). I'm a father of a little girl and it was kind of torturous for me to think that she might grow up without a dad. She did nothing to deserve that... Anyways, thanks for sharing. It's nice to hear from others who have gone through brain surgery. I rarely talk about it. My question is: how has this been mentally for you? My neurosurgeon told me the tumor is coming back and we will deal with it when it happens. Do you worry about things like that? Do you appreciate the little things more now? I've noticed that it's difficult to stop and smell the roses all the time.

This is not meant to be rude, but I work with a teacher who was just awarded as national teacher of the year. Personally, I like her a lot, and she's obviously an amazing teacher, but she's obsessed with recognition, awards, receiving complements, etc. It's almost like a drug. Once she won teacher of the year for the community, she applied for every recognition known to man. When I read your comment I couldn't help but think that you might be running down that same path. Do you feel like you are becoming obsessed with a need for recognition and that you are losing your humbleness?

Edit: I just reread what I put and it looks really rude. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Congrats on an amazing achievement/reward and thank you for all that you do for your community, our nation, and our world. I guess I'm just trying to get into the mind of a colleague a little bit. Do you see this thirst for recognition in some people you are around who are also up for these awards?

I'm a history teacher in the United States, and I have a 17 year old female student who had to flee Iraq because of the invasion, and moved to Syria, and then had to flee Syria because of the war. Her family has been in the United States for less than a year (and she still has lots of family members back in Syria and in Iraq). She's an amazing young woman who's been through a lot. On the surface, she acts happy and she seems to connect with me pretty well, but I'd like to do more to help her with everything. What advice would you give me, as her teacher, to be sensitive to her situation and understand it more? I'm always a bit nervous when I bring up Iraq, ISIS, etc. Not sure if I'm going to bring back some bad memories, or what. I've talked with her individually, and she has no problem with it, but I'm still not quite sure. So, what do you think she would like from her teachers in America?

How does the staff treat you? I'm a teacher, and once was given a pretty lame job at a new school where the staff didn't realize I was a teacher on campus. I noticed that most of them treated me with less respect because they didn't think I was at their level. Since then, I've really tried my best to make sure people know that custodians are human beings as well.