Day 240

Today was probably the most rewarding day of my 13-year teaching career thus far. A former student of mine, Nicole Vargas, dropped by to chat with my students about hard work (and what I was like during my first year of teaching) and observe some classes at my school. What made this day especially cool was that Ms. Vargas is now in her third year of teaching in East Harlem. My favorite quote of the day came when Nicole was explaining that I actually wasn't a content teacher of hers. I worked with her as one of her yearbook advisors. "Mr. Vasquez may not have taught me math, but he taught me life lessons." As you can imagine, it was hard to contain my emotions!

Today's bow - the wonderful striped number that I placed on a Nirve bike - came by way of Xoelle.com.

Day 234

As the days continue to linger into nights I am anticipating another amazing year. Regardless of how tiring this craft may be, the early months of the school year are always incredibly telling. They always manage to break or bind. I refuse to buckle under. Instead I will allow the pressure to mold me into a stronger fighter. I realize this all may be somewhat vague to you if you just clicked on a link and found my blog. That's cool. I hope it makes you curious for my craft. I get to teach for a living. And, coincidentally, today was just another day I also got to wear a bow tie. 

Today's bow was acquired as a gift from the man behind Knot Now and Necks Tuesday. I haven't heard from you in a while, Carlos! I hope all is swell.

Day 222

The last couple of days has been a bit of a revelation for me, professionally. I was already genuinely excited about coming back for a 13th year of teaching, but with the addition of some great people to our team and some pretty fantastic upgrades I haven't felt this amount of peace about going into battle - dare I say it - ever. To quote our ship's Captain, "I really feel good about this year."

As good as it feels to go into this year, I have to report that I don't feel so good about the nearest train station being closed for a few months. We'll see how this new obstacle makes its way into character instruction/building. 

Today's bow is familiar, yet fashionable. I paired it with coordinating wingtips. Speaking of shoes, I can't believe how many people don't know the difference between a saddle shoe and a spectator. 

P.S. I love Penguin shirts. Now to get back to lesson planning. 

Day 220

Today I got a chance to represent our school's mascot with the official Bushwick Lion bow tie, handcrafted by Laura at xoelle.com. There's still lots of planning going on and I got to kick off new student orientation by reuniting with some former students. I can't believe there are seven days until the first day of school!

Day 217

Today's bow contains a combination of favorite colors. I'm not sure when or why I first began to enjoy the royal and gold pairing, but I ever so grateful for the gift from ties.com. Don't forget to check out their stuff!

Day 214

Today and tomorrow will be spent with a room full of math teachers who are from a variety of other charter middle schools in the network I work for. The days are sure to be spent doing one of three things: planning, planning or planning.

Today's bow came courtesy of the kind folks at ties.com. They have an enormous collection of cool stuff. Please check them out here. Don't forget to check out their blog, too. You might find some rad content there!

Day 212

Today is the first day back on campus (just teachers for a couple of weeks) and I'm ready (well, for the most part) to hit the ground running. After a day full of meetings with the whole staff I spent the afternoon unpacking boxes and getting some resources organized. I can't wait to get started on lesson planning!

Today's bow tie came by way of the good folks over at Cotton Treats. Not only do they have a cool selection of bow ties for guys, but their models do a fine job of making the bow tie an accessory for the gals, too!

Day 205

Today's bow was acquired at a local Century 21 at what I would consider a pretty nice price for a Penguin bow tie. Check out the new frames Lily found at the mall!

Day 196

The day after a big workout is usually an interesting one for me. If I'm totally wiped out and sore, then it may very well be that I didn't train properly. I'm happy to report that I felt awesome today - nearly well enough to get back on my training regimen. Although I felt well enough to get a WOD in I opted to force myself to rest up, fuel up, get ready for the week ahead and plan for my next event.

Today's bow was gifted by Monica Maria over at Bow-tie Expressions. It features the Peanuts characters from my all-time favorite Christmas special where my main man, Linus, breaks it all down for Chuck. If you're looking for a great deal on a HUGE selection of bows, you've got to check out their site. For $14.95 and free shipping, it's really hard to pass up. Order 5 or more and you'll get a free "mystery" bow tie included with your order. How cool is that? 

Day 188

The temperature's supposed to get up to 100 today and guess who was crazy enough to wear a bow tie out there. Yup. This guy. Check out today's bow tie of the day courtesy of ties.com. It makes me want to take a dip in a nearby body of water - sans the duck of course. 

Day 185

Today's adventure took us from Ridgewood to Hoboken and back again. After an exhausting workout, I took the family over to one of our favorite spots for sweets known the world over because of the reality show called "The Cake Boss." Fortunately for us, there was no need to wait on the long lines. We typically order online and just swing by to pick up our sweets, that last a few weeks thanks to our freezer. 

Speaking of treats, check out this silky sweet special from Cotton Treats. Very summery, no?

Day 172

One more school day left before I get to spend lots of quality time with the fam ... 

Today started out with a stepping up ceremony (our Javi is moving up to the 1st grade!) and ended with a stepping up ceremony (our 8th graders at the middle school are going into High School!). One of the coolest moment today was hearing that an astounding 97 percent of our 8th graders passed their math regents exam. Shout out to my colleague Keri Taylor for working her magic and undoing all of my mishaps when I taught them in the 6th grade. The candids above display the other cool thing that happened today. I got to unveil a gift for the staff, handcrafted by the totally rad Laura from xoelle.com. Aside from bow ties, she made these awesome infinity scarves, fabric belts, hair bows, headbands, and neckties. I convinced a few people to coordinate with me for the ceremony and I think it worked out pretty well.

Day 162

I like anchors. My father always wore this anchor on a chain around his neck for as long as I can remember. Maybe that's why I like them so much. 

Today's bow features sailboats and anchors and was a gift from the good folks at OoOtie.com.

Day 156

What a lovely day to embrace the suck. Huh? Yup embrace it. Sometimes we skirt around the truth or try to sweeten it with soft memories of easier times. The hard truth is that sometimes the challenges we face, the obstacles we must endure to strengthen our resolve to do better than the low expectations society places on us purely and simply suck. It isn't pleasant to force yourself out of bed at 4:30, complete a rigorous workout on little rest, run when it's colder than you'd like it to be and encounter excuse after excuse why to you could do other things with your time than evolve. It's far more pleasant to be at peace with my best effort, knowing I am truly living life to the fullest capacity that God has granted me with. I choose to embrace the suck today and not take any more moments for granted.

Today's bow was a gift from Carlos over at KnotNow and NecksTuesday bow ties located here in Brooklny, NY.  

Day 148

Today's bow was salvaged from a vintage retailer in SoHo over a decade ago. I don't know what's cooler - the fact that it's one of few pieces in my wardrobe that has stood the test of time or the fact that it's outlasted the store where it was found. Have a great rest of your holiday weekend, folks!

Day 145

Yeah, I see you Thursday. Come at me!

Today's bow was inspired by Father's Day and our little ones each have their own clip-on version that they wore to match my outfit last year. I can't wait to reveal this year's all-new set of Father's Day inspired bows constructed by yours truly!

Day 141

Here's another Vasquez original I constructed out of fabric purchased on ebay. Gotta love online auction sites. So who else is looking forward to the Miami Heat losing to the Indiana Pacers?

Day 22

Ah, Sunday morning. That's my lovely wife's finger popping into the frame at church as I took some quick pix of today's awesome bow tie courtesy of my new friends at 80spurple.com. Check out their collection of men's accessories (and more) here. This one's a pre-tied beauty from Ashton Michael and features a d-ring buckle closure system in the back. Pretty nifty, right?

Pictured below - the Vasquez boys also wearing their own bow ties. Both Javi and Lucas are wearing clip-on versions of a pair of customized ties created by Elle over at Xoelle.com. Luis is sporting a black/white plaid number that I found in a Hot Topic in Santa Monica last year.

Day 17

Week Number 2 our study in capacity finds us celebrating 89% mastery of the concepts taught last week dealing with customary units and moving forward with converting between metric units. Unfortunately, not all of the results on Friday's quiz were the sort of stuff to write home about. Apparently we still have much to review pertaining to multiplying and dividing of mixed numbers. Oh, fractions!

Today's bow tie came by way of the good folks at OoOtie.com (rhymes with bow tie). I absolutely love the silver anchors and sailboats on this dark royal blue number. Check out their collection of cool ties!

Day 6

Today's bow tie was actually a gift from a former colleague of mine, Thomas Garza. I'm pretty sure he'll be famous one day for his work in education reform. You can watch a profile of his work here. I've always loved the combination of blue and gold and enjoy the fact that these just so happen to be my school's colors.