May 8

May 8 Teachers...Weekly Weight Update

There are two things work reporting on this week. One is an amazing event. One is a terrible lapse in judgment. Let's start with the good stuff: Teachers.

I'm lucky enough to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Loudoun Education Foundation. Every year the Foundation hosts the Outstanding Teachers Banquet to honor all the teachers that were nominated for the Washington Post Teacher of the Year award in Loudoun County along with the winner of the Principal of the Year from Loudoun County. This year it was my pleasure to serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. This mostly consists of keeping the program moving and announcing the names of all the honorees. It also includes giving a brief speech on why the event is important and why teachers are important. I thought I'd share my speech with all of you. Maybe my words will inspire you to donate to this worthy cause. Or, maybe you will feel bad for me and still give them a few bucks.

Here we go. Keep in mind that I wrote this to include some breaks for speaking purposes so it may not be 100% grammatically correct because I wanted to add some pauses and breaks for my speech.

Hi everyone. My name is Wes Clark and I’m the Treasurer of Loudoun Education Foundation. This is the part of the program where you get to check your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts while I talk for a few minutes about why this event is important and why teachers mean the world to me and, well, to the world.

I’m going to start off with a quote from my favorite TV show, The West Wing. There is an episode where Sam Seaborne, played by the way too handsome Rob Lowe, is in a verbal dual with an FBI agent named Casper, played by the greatest actor on the planet Clark Gregg. Casper makes the comment, referring to the FBI, that “our failures are public and our successes are private.” I hear that and I think about teachers, including teachers in this room and outside of this room, and I think that teaching is the exactly same way. Your failures are public and your successes are private. And that is a travesty.

We are constantly bombarded by news stories of educators that went down the wrong path and did something terrible. But Rarely. Rarely. All too rarely do we see the news story of the teacher that created a STEM lab at her school that went on to become a model for other schools in the district. All too rarely do we read of the 5th grade teacher that foregoes his own time off over the summer in order to serve as the Summer School Principal. And all too rarely do we hear of the 6th grade language arts teacher who goes above and beyond to find the “sparkle” in each student writing so that it can still be felt by a high school senior years later.

I’m as guilty of this fault as anyone. As a student at Park View High School I took every single class offered by the business department; literally every one of them. I was in the business hall of the building so often that the teachers went out of their way to purchase me a gift for graduation. They bought me an engraved pen as a thank you and good luck in college.

I can’t remember the name of any of those teachers. It’s tragic since I’ve gone on to get a degree in accounting, become a Certified Public Accountant, and the Director of Auditing and Accounting at a CPA firm. What those teachers gave to me has lasted me a lifetime. They provided knowledge I needed to succeed in today’s world so I can provide for my family. They gave me the confidence I needed to pursue a career and prosper. And they gave me a pen. This pen.

Teachers are an important part of my life. My mom is a retired teacher from Loudoun County Public Schools. My sister is a middle school history teacher at Seneca Ridge. My wife is an elementary school special education teacher (it’s in Fairfax County but try not to hold that against her). For them, and for all of you here tonight, I hope that one day we can change the world so that for every teacher your successes become public. This event is just one small step in that direction. This event allows us to show our appreciation and to celebrate the successes that you and so many other teachers have. It isn’t nearly enough but until the day teachers truly get the recognition they deserve, let me way: to my mom, to my sister, to my wife, to the 1994-1998 business departments of Park View High School, and to all of the teachers in this room and around the world, THANK YOU.

Now for the terrible lapse in judgment. It was awful. It was a catastrophe. Here, I'll just let me tell it myself.

Can you believe what a buffoon that guy up there is? What an idiot! Want to see the results? I know many of you won't want to see this so I'll add it all the way at the bottom as a PS but the pain was awful!

Let's get into the weight loss update. During the various checks I did this week I was getting very frustrated. I felt like I was doing everything right. I was working out on a regular schedule and eating the appropriate amounts but every time I checked my weight and I thought I would get good news I was either gaining a little bit or staying the same. I felt like I had hit a plateau since I've been at virtually the same weight for several weeks without making any progress. Needless to say I wasn't confident at all walking into Weight Watchers on Sunday morning. Turns out it wasn't so bad after all. I ended up dropping 1 lb this week. That brings the total weight loss back below 60 lbs to 60.8 and the current weight down to 206.6. Only 1.8 lbs until I get a massage and I can't wait.

May started off with a bang for #TeamClark. I still have my trip to watch Captain Steve Rodgers beat the hell out of Tony Stark to schedule. That will happen soon. I'll also have another victory to schedule when the month of May is over and I lock myself in the basement to enjoy a private viewing of Star Wars. Rizzo somehow thinks she is going to win May to take a visit to Red Door Spa but there is no chance I'll let that happen. The first week I dominate 42.3 miles to Rizzo's 37.3 miles giving me a 5 mile advantage after just one week. Rizzo better start looking for Obi Wan because it is her only hope.

P.S. Just as I promised, here is a close up of my boobs to show what happens when you don't protect your nipples. Look away!