Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to my newspaper column! Eh, that doesn’t have quite the same kick as when I have a microphone in front of my face. Let’s try again.
Hello! I’m Mark Domeier, and I’ll be filling this space for the foreseeable future, either until I run out of ideas or until you get sick of me rambling. I admit to being a little intimidated following in the “casual” footsteps of my predecessor, a column I always enjoyed reading.
What will I write about has been the most common question I’ve gotten. The title of this column says it all! It’s a saying a friend of mine in college used to utter. It never made much sense since you don’t really flip waffles, but I guess that’s the point.
Being a teacher, I’m sure I’ll wander into the world of education. Being a sports fan, I’m bound to write about that. But I’ll begin with a little about myself.
I was born and raised in New Ulm, Minnesota, and am very proud of my German heritage. In New Ulm, we believe in a few basics for a fulfilling life: baseball, brats and kraut, and polka music. I graduated from New Ulm Cathedral in 1992 and headed east to Winona State University to further my education.
After graduating from WSU in 1996 and interviewing all over the countryside, Rich Lorenz called and offered me a job here at NRHEG. I’ve been here ever since and will begin my 17th year of teaching junior high English next week.
I met my wife Michelle on a blind date my first year here. We were married in 1998 and have two wonderful children. Jayna is entering 5th grade, and Anton will be in 2nd grade. We also have our big fat cat, Chewbacca, and enjoy life in Ellendale.
You can find me involved in many extracurriculars as I officiate football and basketball and umpire baseball. I suppose I’m best known for being the crazy guy shouting into the microphone at Panther football and basketball games.
As I type all these things, I have tons of ideas flowing through my mind for future columns. I should probably write them down, but if you have something you are interested in hearing about, let me know, and I’m sure I can explore it in a future column, especially if it flips my waffle!
Word of the Week: As an English teacher, I need to continue educating, even here! I’ll give you a word every week to try and insert in your daily dialogue and expand your vocabulary. It’ll be fun, and you might learn a thing or two!
This week’s word is my absolute favorite word in the English language: defenestrate. To defenestrate is to throw someone or something out a window, as in, “My sister really annoyed me, so I defenestrated her from the first floor.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!