January 20, 2013: Buzz, Buzz. Buzz, Buzz.

In the 1998 - 1999 school year, I was working at the Lawrence County Alternative School and my wife was working at Louisa Elementary School.  It was a good year. I was working with some people that were great friends as well as good co-workers: Phil Ratliff, Bill Morrison, Granville Senters, Sheri Perry, Pat Estep, Jaime Webb and a number of others who came in and out of our little world at LCAS. The work was rewarding because we helped a couple of dozen students get high school diplomas who would not have earned them otherwise. The 1998 -1999 school year was also the last time that Louisa Middle School did not finish first at District Governor's Cup competition.

So, yesterday, we hosted District 71 Governor's Cup competing against Blaine Elementary School, Elliott County Middle School and Fallsburg Elementary School. Sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students competed in: Future Problem Solving, Written Composition, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Arts & Humanities and Quick Recall. For the fourteenth year in a row, Louisa Middle School finished first in our district, over 20 students from our school advance to Regional competition on February 2nd. My wife and I are so blessed to have the opportunity to coach these children and be part of their lives for just a short while. Good luck and God speed to them all. I would love to take them all to State.

One of our parents was talking after the competition and said, "How about an Academic Team field trip to EPCOT?" If you're gonna dream, dream big and you know our motto, "Your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true."

On this date in 1930, the second man to walk on the Moon, Buzz Aldrin, was born. Buzz was the second man to walk on the Moon because Neil Armstrong was closer to the door. It was as simple as that. Now we could come up with all sorts of reasons why this is an excellent excuse to visit Walt Disney World but honestly, Buzz Aldrin --> Buzz Lightyear. How cool would it be to have a Disney character named after you? Wait a minute, my name is Bill and I am a science guy...

Buzz, Buzz. Buzz, Buzz.

Today is National Cheese Lover's Day. I love cheese. This morning I had one of my favorite snacks. For lack of a better name we'll call Billy eats cheese and we don't care. You get a paper towel, dump shredded four-cheese Mexican blend on the towel, get crackers and squirt catsup on a cracker while smearing the ketchup with another cracker (notice the two spellings for the condiment), take the catsup cover crackers and lay them on the pile of cheese coated side down then eat the cracker, catsup and all the cheese that sticks to it. Repeat until the pile of cheese disappears. Did I mention I love cheese? Go to Hollywood Studios and visit Muppet 3D. It's the cheesiest show I know.

Today is Penguin Awareness Day. Did you know that penguins mate for life? Did you know that penguin is Portuguese for "fat winged?" Kick up your penguin awareness by visiting Finding Nemo: The Musical at the Animal Kingdom. You won't learn much but there are two really cool penguins that are part of the show and this is one of our favorite attractions at WDW. Just go, trust me.

Remember, your best excuse is always: waiting for your dreams to come true.