Death match: Psych vs. Mentalist

My husband and I are huge fans of USA's show Psych. We've followed the adventures of Shaun and Gus since the very beginning. Each episode is comically packed with quick wit, 80's movie trivia, and random humor. Perhaps one of the top episodes contains Shaun and Gus auditioning for an American Idol type show dressed as Michael Jackson and one of the singers from Tears for Fears. If you have cable and haven't checked this show out, you must do it next Friday. Actually, rent the previous seasons AND THEN check out the current one.
Here's were I really was hacked with new television programing. Some network airs a show called The Mentalist. What is that show exactly? A BLATANT RIP OFF OF PSYCH! Someone thought he would be clever and turn the idea of a person with keen observation skills who passes himself off as a psychic into a drama. Guess what moron, it's been done and done better in Psych. How you haven't been sued or hunted down by an angry mob for stealing such a great idea is beyond me. I refuse to give your pathetic show the time of day because I adore what has been done with Psych. I hope your mentalist doesn't make it past season one because everyone realizes how much better Shaun and Gus do things!
The best part about my rant? In last week's episode of Psych, Shaun makes his own "shout out" to the show when Gus is reminding Shaun that he'll have to make some quality time up with his dad. Shaun responds with something to the affect of: "I'll bring over some big league chew and we'll watch a couple of episodes of The Mentalist." Ha ha ha! Take that you sitcom thief! Psych knows what you are trying to do!
I'm awaiting the death match when Shaun and Gus will be victorious!

Family First

January is half way over and that means I'm a smidgen closer to the 13th of July. If I'm really lucky, it might be sooner than that before I get to meet my very first child! Although being pregnant is the coolest thing I've ever been a part of, the one thing that has been truly emphasized through this process is the importance of family.

My family is incredibly close, and growing up we always had stressed to us that family comes first. When the rest of the world turns its back on you, you can always count on family to set you right back on your feet. As a teenager, and even a young adult, it was frustrating to me when my mom would give her "back burner" speech when I chose to spend more time with my friends than my family. It has only been through the grace of maturity that I see the point she was trying to make:

Two days ago my sister, an incredibly talented artist who is hoping to get into the Interior Design program at UNT, started a mural on the nursery wall. I was eager to help with some aspect that wouldn't screw things up too badly. She kindly obliged and allowed me to help pencil the sketch onto the wall. We talked and joked and were just like we were as kids. I truly love my sister and am so glad she is the one decorating my baby's room. Even though I have some pretty amazing friends, nothing could come close to that kind of time spent together.

No matter where my life sends me, I know where home is and who will always be waiting to greet me there: my family.

My Husband

*Note: This will be a very mushy and sentimental post. Avoid if allergic.

Last night a representative for our personal insurance came over to the house to add me to my husband's existing policy. While we were listening to our rep explain everything I really took at good look at my husband. Perhaps it was the lighting or maybe the color of the sweatshirt he was wearing, I know it's not the pregnancy hormones because I've done this kind of contemplation before, that made me fall in love with my husband all over again. It was like I noticed all the strong facial features I had a crush on years ago. Even the way he made sure to ask all the right financial questions. Since I do not have the attention span or mind for money matters, I'm always impressed when my husband steps up with his knowledge of how to handle a buck or two.

Of course my mind began to wander after that. I really thought about love and why I got married in the first place. As a little girl the idea of marriage and family was reinforced through books, television, and movies. I even knew exactly how I would fall for the perfect man. Did it all happen the way I envisioned? Well, there wasn't a white stead or a castle in the end, but overall I got exactly what I wanted. I have no doubt in my husband's devotion or love for me. That's the feeling that was reiterated last night when I looked at him sitting next to me listening to all the options for what would happen should one of us, God forbid, die sometime soon. By the end of the evening, all I could think was, "Dear God, in your wisdom please don't take my husband first. Or at least, take us at the same time." I believe that's what true love is.

I told you this would be mushy.

Summary of 23 Things

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

LibaryThing and RSS feeds are my two favorite tools.

How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?

It was nice to be challenged to really learn again. I'll admit, I don't spend too much time in my graduate studies really pushing myself. I'm so caught up with work and personal life that overachieving is not high on my list. However, having to work with that blasted wiki and learning some basic html code in the process was pretty darn cool. I'll keep that in mind the next time I don't feel like taking the extra step for something.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I'm really angry at my co-workers that will not give some of this stuff a chance. I hate being angry, but it is frustrating to know all the awesome things exist, and they won't even bother exploring them.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I loved the format of this class. It is very independent and keeps the participant responsible for completing everything. Perhaps there could be one day we meet at the beginning to see all the wonderful people we are supposed to be commenting on in the blogs.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Absolutely.

How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?

I'm going to do my best to incorporate this for my students. It will make my job easier and learning more fun for them.

How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.

I have my connections on the "inside" with people who get to explore this stuff all the time:).

Thing #23

It's really hard for me to separate the idea of "social" networking from work related sites. If it involves any type of advancement or education for my job, I do not consider that social. Why? Who knows? I teach English, and it might be a semantics thing. I also misunderstood the idea of social networking in the classroom and thought it might show social ways for students to network in class. And again, I did not think that would be useful.

I enjoy the wealth of sites provided through this course for networking. It will be interesting to see what I can find out there for English. Classroom 2.0 will probably be the most useful when I have a question about a specific tool though. Now that I know all of this exists of course it will be valuable information. I would be a fool to take the time to find all of this and not use it. It would not make me a very good life long learner would it?

Thing #22

Facebook is my social network of choice. I've had a Facebook account for a while now. It has been an excellent way to find people I knew in high school and college. Here's how I feel about three particular sites: MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn. MySpace is the more "childish" of the three. It's target audience are teenagers who want their own personal site to goof off with friends. All the ways it can be formatted and shared have a more juvenile feel. Facebook is more adult. It was started on college campuses; therefore, it's targeting an older set of social networkers. Finally there is LinkedIn. This site is for business professionals, or grown-ups. It has little in the way of frills and is not meant to be used for endless hours of chatting and photosharing...at least as far as I can tell.

For me, the main reason I should be familiar with these is to make sure I don't end up on fabricated pages due to someone's poor practical joking skills. Even with my Facebook, I am extremely careful about what I, or my husband, post in way of photos and comments. I allow my students to be my friends with a limited profile. If there is something that might be questionable, like being at a grown up party where certain beverages end up in pictures, I limit those photos where my students cannot see them.

Most of my students due use social networks daily, and it would just show my naivete if I refused to figure out how they worked myself. Just because I ignore them, doesn't mean they would go away. Kids are going to use them, and I should be aware of that.

As mentioned above, Facebook is my site of choice. I like that I have some control over the applications, but I don't bog myself down with choosing backgrounds and music and pictures, etc. I don't need to lose all my time to social networking. It is more casual than LinkedIn and a little more adult than MySpace.

Personally, I wouldn't want to use these types of social networking sites for the classroom. It is good to know how my students spend their time online, but I don't want to take away the entertainment and relaxation behind these sites for them by tying something educational to them. 

Thing #7b

I am going to admit that I have not really added a lot to my reader recently. There are also some feeds I need to clear out because of the cancellation of Pushing Daisies. No show--no feeds. One of the feeds that I find fascinating is the New York Times one that deals with books. It has reviews about books coming out and keeps me posted on news in the literary world. Recently there was a story about how to manage a personal library. I'm a chronic book hoarder. It drives my husband crazy that I have to purchase a book in order to read it. (He is content with checking it out from the library, for free. ) Enjoy the article on Laura Miller's dilemma on cleaning out her bookshelves.

Thing #21

Google is not a new tool for me. For years I've searched in Google Images, looked for academic documents in Google Scholar, and this past school year I created a Google Calendar to post on my class blog with important due dates for my students. Believe it or not, I've never been much for discussion boards or groups. However, I did search in the Google groups only to be led to an outside group. I guess that means I used Google as a spring board into something else? My husband is trying to get me to use the new Google browser, but I am going to hold off until they really perfect it. I'm sure it has more growing to do.

Besides, this blog is something found on Google, and I will definitely be keeping up with the blog long after this class is through. Feel free to check frequently to see what kind of zany ideas are shooting through my head. Or you can just RSS feed me into your reader!

Thing #20

I love Google Docs. I've been using them for a while in my classroom, and they have actually helped me be better prepared for class. Personally, I uploaded a Power Point Presentation for my graduate class because they had Office 2007. My computer only has Office 2003. Google Docs does the conversion for me, so I just pulled it up on the class computer and was ready to go. My students are also seeing the importance of this feature because many of them are running Office 07 while the school still runs 03. 

In class I have had the students log on and take notes over different pieces of information. Then they had to upload what they found onto Google Docs to share with the rest of the class.

My favorite use for Google Docs was when I was out of town and needed to give my students reading quizzes. I created forms then put the link in my class blog. Each student was responsible for clicking the link and answering the questions. They only had fifteen minutes, the time stamp helped monitor their time, and I was able to check the answer all the way in Washington D.C. I knew immediately who did and did not read and take the quiz. This definitely cut down on cheating, and the substitute didn't have to worry about keeping up with any important documents.

Thing #19

VoiceThread is one of the more fascinating tools we've explored. For a basic use, I could post different pictures and shape TAKS like questions around the picture. Then the students could respond with various answers. I know we're not supposed to teach to a test, but it would be practice with the visual component of the test.

Currently, I am getting ready to start a unit on Edgar Allen Poe. I was thinking of a group project that imitates the opening paragraphs of "The Fall of the House of Usher." Each group will get a picture of a house and create a description that would also parallel the type of family that would live there. I could put the picture on VoiceThread and have the students tell their stories that imitate the opening of Poe's great short story.

Thing #18

You Tube is an old favorite in my house. I never really thought of it as a teaching tool because I use it for relaxing and entertainment purposes. My husband even made me look up specific videos as I was working on this particular thing.

My two videos for my subject area were those favorites "Conjunction Junction" and "The Preamble" from School House Rock. I don't care how old these videos are; the information is just as viable today as it was when I was growing up. It bothers me that current children's television doesn't have the same education focus. The "how to" video I chose to watch explained the intricacies involved in solving a Rubic's Cube. It began simply enough, but I think I'll leave that little slice of puzzle pie to someone else. The final video I searched and found was my favorite "Star Wars According to a Three Year Old."

Teacher Tube would have been the better place to search for English related videos. However, the layout for Teacher Tube doesn't seem to be as user friendly. It might also be that I am not used to navigating around it yet. I did find a cute video on the rules for comma usage.

Thing #17

The first podcast I previewed was The Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips because curiosity got the better of me. Was she really giving sound grammatical advice? Or would it be more work for me when my students stumbled upon the podcast and were misinformed. I am very impressed at the topics she covered and how accurate she was. The other choice was more personal in the Mugglecast. As big a fan of the Harry Potter books as I am, I'm not that big of a fan. It's nice that they are keeping up with so much HP news, but I just was not that interested.

Podcasting is not a new concept for me. I do have iTunes with a collection of personal podcasts: The Flight of the Conchords, Henson Studios, and Pushing Daisies. The biggest problem I have with podcasting is that I am not an auditory learner. If there are no pictures or video, it is really hard for me to follow what is being said. However, my auditory students would benefit greatly from podcasting. They could listen to information while accomplishing other tasks. In that way it seems like a very efficient way to learn.

I always told myself that if I have to miss school when I finally have children, I could use podcast to do quick lessons. This would guarantee that my students would hear exactly what I need them to hear (not that subs are unreliable).

Thing #16

Library Thing should be one of the first things we learn! I love, love, love books and think this is the coolest site. I really like the idea of Library Thing keeping me informed of local book fairs, author signings, and such. There are so many books I adore! Where do I start to add them all? My biggest hope is that a plethora of new books will be shared with me through this site. 

I have zero plans to use this site professionally. This will be my personal dragon's hoard of literature!

The thought did cross my mind to have all the members of my book club sign up. We already share a love of reading and deciding on the next book to read is so hard for us to do. This might be a way to narrow down the search and see what else the rest of us are reading outside of the club.

Thing #15

Being honest, I'm not a fan of tagging. Mainly because I cannot always remember the certain tags I used or how I worded them. I just know that I'll end up with a tag list that is two miles long because I'll write in so many different tags. However, to be fair I will give "delicious" a chance because I do like the idea of keeping all my faves on one site. 

As far as using it for educational purposes...

There will need to be a lot more exploring because I don't have many co-workers that have caught onto the social bookmarking. My first few networks may have to be strangers, so to speak. After a little more looking into all the sites that appear when I do a search for a particular topic, I might be able to find a more appropriate use for my "delicious" site. 

For my students, it might be helpful when they have to look up information on a topic. If I look into the most appropriate sites and tag them, I can simple share that with my students. Then I don't have to worry about the sources behind the sites that my students are using.

Thing #7b

I absolutely love my Google Reader! I check it all the time and get so excited when there is a ton of stuff for me to browse through. I know we are trying to find uses for a reader in education, but I have quite a few personal sites in my reader now. Of course I have a ton about Pushing Daisies. The good news is that they will complete season two and are negotiating a season three! Keep your fingers crossed!

My favorite educational article comes from The Catholic Education Resource Center. I think the name of the site may turn some people away from looking at what it has to say. Although many articles may focus on beliefs and doctrine of the Catholic Church in current society, there is a good number that speak on universal educational issues. For example, "Self-esteem vs. self-improvement" speaks on our society's too coddling view of building a child's image of himself or herself.

Thing #14

There are so many things I still want to explore and look at, but my time is limited since I'm trying to catch up. However, there are a couple of tools I want to discuss that could be used in the classroom. Letterpop (Experimental Thing #14 Newsletter) would be a fantastic way to have a class newsletter that parents/guardians could access online. The application is very easy to use and fun to play around with.

After making my newsletter, I decided a survey would be fun to create at Poll Daddy. I would love for everyone to take my Random Survey. There's no real theme to it because I was still learning how to build one. Again, it was relatively easy to drag and drop in order to create the survey. Recently, I've been using the Forms on Google Docs for online quizzes for my kids. Poll Daddy could become a second way to quiz my students over what they read without wasting paper.

Finally, for fun I played with Wordle. I just took a quote from Emerson about books and let the application do its thing. Now, to create a custom color palette, I did have to look up the html for colors online, but that is basic copy and paste once I got there.

I could really have fun with some of these tools on my facebook or personal blogs. Creating newsletters for my friends overseas to read about what is going on with my family would save postage and time getting to them. Not to mention if I'm in a crazy mood and want to survey or poll my friends on something irrelevant but entertaining.

Thing #13

I am disappointed in the various Flickr mashups. Both the sign generator and the comic strip generator have been removed from the internet, and I really wanted to use those two. Currently, I am contemplating reading a book written by one of the mashup creators because I want to learn how he creates his Flickr photo mosaics. It seems complicated, but it might be worth it.

Both of the mashups that worked successfully were in Big Huge Labs. It seemed to be easier to use my own photos for the following because I'm still trying to figure out the best way to credit other photographers if I use one of these masups.

Right now, these kinds of mashups seem like they might be of service if my students were working on some type of marketing campaign. They could make name badges, posters, or whatever to promote something. If they wanted to support the library, they could make collages of their favorite book covers? This is still a tool I need to spend some time with before deciding exactly what my kids will use it for in class.

Thing #12

I hate wikis! I hate wikis! I hate wikis! I followed all the directions for the slideshow and the stupid myspace code DID NOT WORK in my wikispace. The only thing it did was embed the actual code. I hate wikis!

I'm going to try to post it in my blog instead:

This is a condensed version of one of my favorite Grimms Fairy Tales, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses."

Here are all the photos I used:

A Wonderful Surprise Uploaded on January 16, 2008by audreyjm529

18th Century Spanish Officers Uniform Uploaded on October 8, 2004by mharrsch

Glass of Red Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Zesmerelda

Adelitas Uploaded on October 14, 2008by Omar Eduardo

Homecoming 2008 Uploaded on October 4, 2008by DanCox_

Silver Leaves Uploaded on October 6, 2008by beccaplusmolly

petite 18k gold leaf charm Uploaded on November 1, 2008by knitsteel

Emerald, diamond bracelet Uploaded on March 14, 2008by gemteck1

Happy Heels Uploaded on March 1, 2008by talekinker

The Fairy Tale Door Uploaded on June 15, 2008by David Masters

Enchanted Tower ? Uploaded on October 10, 2007by Curnen

Plea for Daisies

Out of all the mashups and third parties that use Flickr, I really enjoy the collage and speller. I'm still churning ideas over in my mind as to the application for some of these in my classroom. I will definitely use my mashup to help my favorite television show.




This is a plea for all those who may read this to watch Pushing Daisies on ABC this Wednesday 10/29/09 at 7/8 P.M. If you are afraid to get involved with a show in the middle of the second season, rent the first season, fall in love with the show, and jump in! The show uses unique and vibrant visuals to tell the most entertaining and odd stories. It would be a true loss to have such a show taken off the air. Please watch.

Thing # 11

I love Flickr as much as I am frustrated with wikis! A whole new treasure trove of images unfolds page after page after page. The documenting is relatively easy to do, especially if I only search within the Creative Common licensed photos. From now on, when I assign technology projects that would require images, I know how to instruct my students on properly borrow images from Flickr. Although, I have a feeling most of them already know about it and will be frustrated that I now know about it and will make them document their images.

The idea of using Flickr to illustrate vocabulary or to visualize a scene from a story really interested me. The vocabulary more because of the difficult nature to illustrate some words.

The photos I searched and chose were pink flowers and fairy tales. (Read the blog title: Hopeless Romantic...) Here is one of my favorites:





Photo by:
drops of spring Uploaded on June 1, 2007by Steve took it

Barack-ing the Vote Even if You're of the NObama Persuasion

Saturday found my husband and me early voting. It turns out we will actually be in Washington D.C. on Election Day, so we chose to vote now. As they scanned my driver's license (I seem to have misplaced my voter's registration) and lead me to the voting room, an intense feeling of pride for my country overwhelmed me.

Please understand, I do love living in America and am grateful for all that it represents. However, I've never really gone out of my way to be extremely patriotic. Yet, as I approached my voting booth it occurred to me that a century ago I would not be allowed to stand in this place and have my say in the government. It also occurred to me that were I in another country, I might be prohibited from choosing my country's leader. Just thinking about these things made me become irritated at those that refuse to vote because they feel it doesn't really count or will be canceled anyway. That's the loser's excuse for being too lazy to go and vote!

So what if another vote cancels mine? I still had my say and now reserve the right to complain if I don't see the change I am hoping for in a new president. Not to mention all the political positions that could affect me, my family, or my job that were on the ballot. If I had opted not to vote, I would have missed the opportunity to help a local hospital improve itself because my "for" in favor of money being spent for the improvements would have been left unsaid.

Regardless of the end result, NOTHING can erase the pride and excitement surging through my veins when I walked out of the early voting location. Everyone who is able, should get up and vote! Complain all you want later if your candidate doesn't "win." Just be grateful you have the opportunity to affect change.

Photo Provided by:
American Flag Uploaded on August 3, 2007 by Tanya Ryno

Thing #10

Somewhere in my subconscious I have heard of Creative Commons. Due to it being shoved so far back into my mind, I never really gave any thought to what it was or meant. Honestly, the little CC emblem on sites never caught my attention before. However, I have a feeling I will start to notice it more and more now that I'm aware.

As far as impacting my work and my students work goes, now that I know Creative Commons exists it will be harder for me to allow my students to pull material from wherever they please. Interestingly, as a Catholic I regularly go to Confession (that's not saying I go so often because I'm a rotten person...), and in this day and age part of examining my conscience with guidance from the Ten Commandments is asking myself if I have stolen any online material intentionally or not. Once I know something is wrong, I cannot keep doing it. I pay for all my iTunes (much to the chagrin of my husband), and I avoid using video, audio, images, or text from online sources because I do not want to accidentally steal what is not mine. Creative Commons will hopefully give me a safe and honest way to begin to integrate video, audio, images, and text!

My own teaching materials are so borrowed and modified from my predecessors, I would not know where to give credit. Actually, I don't even feel comfortable copyrighting my teaching materials because I feel curriculum should be shared among educators since we are all trying to educate future generations.

Of course the material on Creative Commons will always be limited because some people simply will not share. This is not a huge problem, and I really only see positive potential with this idea. The trick will be figuring out how to use it effectively.

As I watch Luke Skywalker battle the rancor...

This post will kill time for me in two ways:
1. My pizza hasn't arrived yet.
2. I have class in an hour.

I was informed that the reason more people have probably not responded to my "Burning Question" is because I messed up my sandbox page, and a person will have to join my page to participate in discussion. So this is an invitation to the other members or our 23 Things class, or anyone who loves me, to join my wiki page.

Well, the pizza's here, and they messed up my half! Adios.

The Platform Between 9 and 10

It's Sunday evening, and I'm avoiding grading papers. The fact that I now have both a blog and a wiki keeps me constantly checking to see if anyone has responded to my "Burning Question" or any of my blog posts. Yep, that's just the kind of nerd I am. Also, my husband heard about my incredibly basic knowledge of html code, thanks to that blasted wiki, so he had me format his website for him: LG Electronics Sucks! He was so proud of what I did, I didn't have the heart to explain that most of it was just copying and pasting from codes on the internet. Oh well...

Thing #9

In order to complete the assignment for the Sandbox, I printed the "cheat sheet" AND I kept the instructions open in one tab and the example open in another. There was a lot of clicking back forth between the two tabs. My compassionate husband noticed my struggling when I couldn't seem to get my page to look right, so he read through the directions and "translated" them for me. Once I received them in "Lydia Speak" they made a lot more sense. After I tackled that hurdle, my frustrations vanished and I desired to distinguish my wiki. I went back to The Cutest Blog on the Block and figured out how to copy the code to fit in the wiki.

It turned out that I liked the background to my wiki better than the background on my blog. It only made sense to change the background on my blog to match! This of course led to me reformatting the fonts and colors for my blog...But this isn't about my blog, it is about my wiki.

I'm still not sure that I will have a solid use for a wiki any time soon. However, I will do my best to become more familiar with it so it is ready when I need it. As I said before, I welcome any tips for maintaining a wiki or shortcuts that make managing it easier. Please take a look at The Rock Princess wiki and respond to the question on the Sand Between My Toes page.

Ah...the sandbox. Well, it is definitely going to be a love/hate relationship. Obviously I was distraught when I wrote Thing #8 3/4. It pushed me to the point of trying to understand enough of how to "write" a wiki to customize my background and everything. Of course, I realized today that I misunderstood the directions and created my sandbox page as an offshoot of my personal wiki instead of the sandbox wiki. Oh well, I'm so please with how it has turned out that I don't want to change it! Now, if someone could only tell me how to make sure my fonts don't change regardless of which fonts are installed on the computer...

Thing 8 3/4

I just started looking into this Sandbox thing and realized why I don't like wikis. I'm following all the directions and the code is confusing and when I preview my page it doesn't look anything like the example. It should not be this difficult!

Yes, I'm frustrated, but I will be okay. I am pleading for any tips or advice for fixing my current disaster known as wikispaces.

Crisis avoided! I would still love tips for wikis, but they are a lot more work then I anticipated.

Thing 8

This is the "thing" I have been dreading because I'm not comfortable with a wiki. I have yet to see why anyone would choose to use a wiki over a blog because I couldn't imagine what the students would need to make changes on. As I explore the wikis on the 23 Things blog, I will also write my post. This way I can share my immediate feelings and questions as I work through the different wikis. With that said...



Okay, I like the way the 1001 Flat World Tales is set up. The tabs at the top of the page make navigation pretty easy. I can clearly see that it is a protected site, and it blows my mind that there are students working with this wiki in Hawaii, Colorado, and Korea. Honestly, I'm still not familiar enough with wikis to tell if anything is missing or if I would do anything differently. However, I do have an idea for a creative writing class and wikis (if I end up teaching creative writing). I love the premise of having to write a story to impress the "king." I suppose any English class could use the wiki to revise and edit a paper.



Moving on to the FHS Wolves Den page because it combines English and U.S. History. This site actually seems more complete. The coolest thing is the class chat option. If I could guarantee a time for students to all be on at the same time, this could be very beneficial. Right now I just get the same two or three students that track me down on my Facebook or shoot me an e-mail. Not quite sure how I feel about all that information in one place. It seems overwhelming, but I think that is because I'm just exploring and do not have a specific piece of information that I'm looking for. Overall, I like how this is very much a class website with all the stuff students might need for class, discussions, papers, etc. There is even a place for the summer reading:).



Finally, I'm looking into Room 15 Wiki. Unlike the other two, this one is on pbwiki. It also is a younger group of students then I teach, so I'm interested to see how the wiki is being used. So far, I'm not as impressed as I was with the previous two. This seems to be on the more basic end of wikis. The sections at the bottom are nice. I really enjoyed the book reviews, but I am not sure there is anything on this particular wiki I could use.



I'm still in limbo with regards to wikis. Again, I cannot see the difference in wiki as a website and blog as a website. I can post classroom information and calendars on the blog. My students can write book reviews and create pages for projects in a blog. The one use that I might try to implement is the revising/editing of papers. Also, all the wikispaces I looked at are done in cute colors with pictures. I went ahead and created a wikispace, but it seems like I need to be able to write code before I can change anything. I don't know code! Here's where I could definitely use some solid comments:



1. Who out there uses wikis and prefers them over blogs?

2. What are "cooler" uses in the classroom then just revising/editing papers?

3. How can I jazz up my wikispace without having to know code?



A goal I set for myself in the beginning of this course was to expand beyond my blog. I would really like to use a wiki as well.

Thing #7

Why does commenting make me uncomfortable? There's a great scene in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where Jay and Silent Bob are going door to door in order to beat up the people who have commented on a movie made about the not-so-dynamic duo. Perhaps I have an unreasonable fear that my comments will be misinterpretted and an angry blogger will be knocking at my door.
I just never really engaged myself in commenting on blog posts. This is evident when I expect my students to comment, and I don't go over proper ways to leave a comment. Fortunately, there are some great resources on our 23 Things blog. After reading a few of them, my confidence in commenting definitely went up. I'm more conscience of what I comment and how I comment. I figure as long as I think before I type and sincerely respond to the post, maybe no one will feel the need to pulverize me:).
It may also come down to criticism. Who likes being told that their writing stinks? Naturally, I think worst case scenario when it comes to the comments I may find on my blog. My fears of criticism, even if it is constructive, keeps me from being part of the "conversation" of a post. The good news is that I'm working on that!
Of course with all my RSS feeds, I will probably start commenting like a maniac. Here's to another late night!

Thing #6

Holy cow! I've spent so much time trying to connect to RSS feeds that it is now 11:10 P.M. on a Monday night. I believe I have collected everything from The Dallas Morning News to my current fave Pushing Daisies to Catholic Apologetics. Maybe I'm having too much fun with this RSS thing.

Google Reader is such a useful tool for simply collecting information. Plenty of my students would rejoice in such a discovery. My husband's curiosity spiked when he saw what I was doing. I then got to explain how the feeds work and why he should set up a Google Reader as well. Of course he wants to subscribe to all the boring stuff like politics and economics and business (yuck).

Right now my two favorite educational feeds are Students 2.0 (Think Different post) and The Fischbowl: Is It Okay to be Technologically Illiterate. Perhaps the biggest ideas that jumped out at me were the notion of having to educate life long learners (Think Different post) and how people who choose to remain ignorant of technology, "should be embarrassed, not proud, to say so in public" (Fischbowl).

Okay my fellow Thingers...some of you have not set up your blog to have RSS feeds. What is up with that? How am I supposed to subscribe to your blog if you will not give me the option? Also, thanks to a couple of you more savvy bloggers, I discovered TheCutestBlogontheBlock.com and my blog has a new look! Does anyone else think this is the coolest PFK s/he has taken?

Thing #5

First, I want to apologize to my fellow 23 Thingers. I should not be as far behind as I am. With that said. Here's my Top 5 List of why I like RSS feeds:

1. RSS feeds allow all of the information I want to access to accumulate in one place.
2. RSS feeds stay current so I know that the information is up to date.
3. Sorting through the feeds gives me something to do while I procrastinate on 23 Things or house work or graduate papers.
4. After finding the feeds that pique my interest, I can e-mail them onto my peers who may also be interested.
5. There does not appear to be a limit on all the trivial knowledge I can collect in my reader.

Now, one of the pages I was able to visit describes What Makes a Good List. Feel free to check for yourself and see if I met the criteria.

Thing #4

Interestingly, blog writing seems to free people of any inhibitions that might arise from face to face discussion. For some reason, blog posts tend to be entertaining in a different way from regular literature. When I read a book, I play a movie out in my mind with fully casted characters and settings. However, the voice behind most blog posts has a "smart-aleck" or "mocking-conversational" feel. An excellent example of this type of voice is the blog about assigning homework. I wonder if that is because as a blogger, I need people to "see" me more as a person since they are communicating, essentially, with a screen? That may also be why the more popular contemporary novels are written similarly to a blog--very conversational, accessible vocabulary, comfortable reading level, easy to visualize.

Unlike a novel, the blog allows interaction on the part of the reader. Comments are a great way to revise our thoughts or opinions about a topic. Sometimes they may seem ignorant or agitating, but they definitely bring up a point-of-view a blogger would not receive if s/he were only speaking amongst a group of friends that felt the same way. So many skills may be acquired this way. Students can learn proper ways to comment and proper ways to receive criticism. It could expand viewpoints on an issue. It could offer encouragement. It could even validate the reason the blog was written in the first place by the simple fact someone is reading it.

With so many advantages, it's no wonder why teachers are grabbing up blogs and using them in the classroom. In the end, it was the post about the true integration of this technology that really caught my eye. Right now I believe I am the teacher that wants to have all these cool things, but has yet to learn how to properly create a learning environment where the technology is used to its full potential. This is another reason for my interest in the course 23 Things. (I do have a class blog, but I know I do not keep up with it like I should.)

For now I'm going to keep blogging and learning.

Thing #1

Maybe it's a characteristic of my generation, or maybe it's my right-brainedness, to refuse following any type of regulations/habits that might make me a better person. I don't like boxes and I especially don't like people assuming I can fit a generic mold. With that said, I understand why we would want 71/2 Habits in order to be a successful lifelong learner. Lifelong learning isn't something that comes naturally to everyone. However, I think lifelong learning is more ingrained in the younger generations. They grow up being a part of their lives instead of simple bystanders. Many of my students are involved in multiple activities, extracurriculars, co-curriculars, and organizations. Many of my students know how to manipulate the internet to create blogs, myspaces, facebooks, etc. Many of my students expect to be a part of the education process.
Obviously, I am of a slightly older generation and need to discover more ways to integrate techniques to continue to encourage lifelong learning in my students. Out of all the habits, the very first one will be the most difficult for me to follow. Again, I am very right brained and do not put too much stock in having an end in mind. I take in and send out pertinent information in the most efficient and effective way. Then I see how it all comes together afterwards. It works out because there is always something that can be learned. The problem is that I did not know what I wanted to learn or to teach, so how can I assess if a skill was mastered? Next to the first habit, viewing problems as challenges seems hard to do. A problem is a problem. Having a problem implies that a solution can be found. All the "fun" is in finding the solution. When I see it as a challenge, my lazy genes kick in and it seems too much like work. In the end, this is all semantics and will probably resolve itself.
Playing with and teaching others are way too easy for me. I am young enough to know how to work my way around a blog, upload video and pictures to a facebook, and easily transition from 35mm film to high-tech digital photography. I want everyone to be as excited as I am about what technology can do, so I have zero issues with teaching others how to use it.
Right now, my toolbox is small and it needs to grow. I become too comfortable with one or two types of tools. This is good because I will utilize them, but that also means I'm not using the others out there. Continuing to build a solid learning toolbox definitely holds importance for me in this course.
Everything I gain from this course will also help with my Intel Teach class. If I can make it easier for another educator to integrate technology into the classroom, I will!

Thing #2

All three videos and the article ooze the kind of learning environment I would love to be a part of right now. The statistics in the videos were jolting and sometimes disheartening because I know too many teachers that just do not "get it." If we are going to live in a Web 2.0 world, it will have to be when all the kids that grew up with their multiple hours of Internet, graduate from college and begin teaching. Some of the "seasoned" educators are afraid of Web 2.0. They believe they are too old to learn and apply the tools. Part of it might also be that they do not anticipate teaching long enough for it to matter (I'm sure retirement is the light at the end of a very long tunnel for a lot of them). The problem is they need to realize that it matters RIGHT NOW. Even if they picked up a couple of Web 2.0 tools, like blogging or podcasting, they would be benefiting their students in a more effective way. Not to mention, they would save themselves a lot of extra work and paper copies. Desperately I hope to instigate some of this change. David Warlick's article can be a reality if we are willing to go that distance and educate ourselves about all that is out there.

Not a Year Too Late

Tons going on in my world at the moment. It turns out that I'll need a blog for some staff development for my job. Excellent! I already have one. Now I have a reason to keep up with this better.

Stay tuned...

The Joys of Teaching

Summer is upon me, and my calendar is already full for the next three months. As I glance at the stack of books that have been waiting impatiently, it occurs to me that the stack may simply continue to grow because my house is a mess and there is plenty of planning to do for the upcoming school year. However, my adoration for the movies will not be hindered by the chaos of my life.
I have already seen Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Both movies were the third installment, and Pirates far surpassed Shrek in the realm of thirds. I could easily go and see Orlando Bloom play the dashing/handsome/charming/brave/loving Will Turner over and over again. He is definitely one of the most beautiful human beings on this planet. I wonder if it ever bothers him that watching him on the big screen, as an incredibly sexy pirate, causes women to fan themselves while removing the jackets they wear to block the usually frigid temperatures of the movie theater. Mr. Bloom's flawless good looks are enough to keep my jealousy at bay when my husband drools equally as long over Kiera Knightly. Besides the fantastic eye candy in this movie, the plot is also worth the $9.50 I paid for my ticket.
So here's to a summer full of great books and movies. I'll see if my lists of things to do will be completed, or if I'm being idealistic in my goals for the next three months. Either way, I need to stop stalling and get back to cleaning.

April Showers

Life has an interesting way of taking care of me. My husband adores me, I live in a great two story house, and we own the sweetest dog. Nothing Earth shattering ever happens to me, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. There would be a tremendous amount of responsibility with fame, fortune, disaster, etc. More power to people who put their lives out there all of the time.

I absolutely love my job, and that is perhaps my greatest success to date. Seriously, how many people actually look forward to pulling into the work parking lot and working all day. Teaching is truly a calling and for any teachers out there that don't love their students and co-workers need to go to another school, or they need to find another job entirely.

My kids are teaching me things all the time. At this moment they are my greatest inspiration for my writing. So much life is being lived in the classroom. Teenagers are so passionate about the day to day things; they remind me to fully live every day.

Enough of work right now:). My current personal obsessions have shown me that I am a Science Fiction fan through and through. The graduate class I'm in is all about humanity in SF. It is really about time that "serious" literary critics appreciate what SF has to offer. I know there are plenty of essay about that very thing, but there is really something to some SF.

I haven't really seen any movies that merrit a review like usual. So instead I am going to talk about my new favorite artist:

Justin Timberlake is a true entertainer and artist. I had a good friend in college that tried to show me the bright starlight that is J.T., but it took a singin' cup of soup skit on SNL to start to change my mind. His newest CD is the guilty pleasure that I listen to in my car, and I totally plan on watching him host the Kid's Choice Awards on Nickelodeon...Okay, that last thing I'm not going to do, but I do love Justin!

All right, that is it for now. Family Guyis on and that Stewie Griffin is hilarious.

October's House of Blues

Okay, okay, so I don't keep up like a should. I am angry at myself for this because writing is such a catharsis for me.

Anywho, these are some of the non-stop notions plaguing my brain:

I love Blue October! Their new CD, Foiled, receives continuous play in my ole Honda Accord. (Man I have such a geeky car.) My favorite track being "Into the Ocean." Something about the chords gives it an Asian sound and I just love it. My husband, not so much a fan, says I like it because it has a very 80's feel. I replied, "So do you. Does that mean I get a new husband?"

Then to my glee, Blue October was interviewed in studio by Kidd Kraddick in the morning last week. I unfortunately did the "grown-up thing" and went to work instead of heading out there to see them. Regret still rests on my heart, especially since they won't be performing in Dallas any time soon. The interview was perfect and they even played my fave live on air:)!

On to another adoration of mine: House on Fox. Is it just me or does playing a cynical ass make Hugh Laurie super hot?! The show may be formulaic, but the dialogue never gets old. Not to mention the fabulous characters and their emotional interactions. I even wanted to write a research paper with this thesis:

The literary elements of characterization and dialogue are the key to the success of television drama; for example they are the driving force behind Fox's hit show House.

Naturally my prof did not find this a suitable topic for a graduate research paper. C'mon it would at least be more entertaining that dissecting the symbolism of a short story. I would know, I'm an English teacher!

With those two passions set aside, I have to comment on my station in life. This year I have realized why teaching means so much to me. The students make each day of my life mean something. This year they stop by to see me or "give me a shout out" when there are school functions. Their smiles and desire to succeed motivate me every morning and it truly touches my heart that I'm making some kind of impact in their lives. Even my challenging pupils that want me to care, but don't want me to know that they want me to care are worth getting out of bed for every school day. I find myself willing to stay later or help more because these kids want it and appreciate my effort.

As if this post couldn't get any more obnoxiously positive, my husband and I bought a house! Now all I need to do is pay someone to move for me. I loathe packing! The unpacking doesn't bother me and I'm not even irked by the transporting of the boxes and furniture. For some bizarre reason packing makes my skin crawl, kind of like doing the dishes.

For now I will say "adieu" and prepare for tonight's high school football game. Gotta love that Texan football pride!

4 Days to Rome

Well, I've almost made the entire month without seeing my husband. Frankly, it is killing me and I can only hope he is feeling the same pains of loneliness. I cannot wait until Sunday when I get to see him again.

Unfortunately for now I am in a small slump. The Dallas Mavericks just lost to the Miami Heat for the NBA title. Now, I am proud that Dallas made it all the way, but deep down my whole world is not going to come to a crashing halt because they lost. Basketball is not really my thing. I prefer Dallas Stars hockey and I am used to being disappointed with them. (Not that I love them any less.) So my sister left the house in tears and my poor father didn't even get a win on his 51st birthday. Hopefully there are better times around the corner. Either way, I think Mark Cuban kicks total ass!

Last night I viewed In Her Shoes. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this movie. The best character development was the dynamic between the two sisters. I am so close to my own sister that it was easy for me to understand why Toni Collette just couldn't let Cameron Diaz down. The storyline flowed nicely and there were fantastic poems used throughout the movie. As an English teacher this really pushed me towards adoring this film. It gets a full 5 out of 5 hearts.

Right now I am avoiding taking a shower and going to bed. It isn't that I'm not tired, but I have to wash my hair and I'm really not looking forward to it because then I will have to blow dry it. And that takes forever. Perhaps I will just go ahead and go to sleep and get up super early in the morning to wash and dry it...nah I better be going. Until next time...perhaps in Rome.

Worlds Apart

Happy Father's Day to any dads that stumble across my blog for today. I hope that the month of June is treating everyone well. As usual, the summer Texas weather is being rambunctious and we are having an incredible lightning storm right now. I naturally cannot sleep with the sky illuminating every five seconds so I thought I would type out a quick entry.

I do have a movie review for today: The Family Stone. This movies sucks. I almost cannot bring myself to give it a proper review because of my extreme hatred for the movie. In order for any movie to be effective, it needs characters that are multidimensional and that the viewer can relate to and feel for during the film. Sarah Jessica Parker's character was easy to despise due to her obnoxious compulsions. The problem is that it was too robotic, no one would want her at their family Christmas and I would never be able to deal with her after some of the crap that spewed forth from her mouth. The Stone family was equally despicable. Who would want to be part of them? There wasn't enough background between the family itself to really suffer along side them knowing that their mother was dying. (By the way, it isn't really all that obvious in the film.) The only redeeming quality of the film was Claire Danes because she looked stunning. So without further ado, I award this movie 1/2 a heart out of 5 hearts. Not to mention the movie was so bad it has thrown me into a funny funk all day.

On the homefront I am being tormented by the fact that my husband is countries away and cannot find the time to call or to send a small email to let me know that he hasn't fallen off of the earth. Grant it, he has been doing a good job of calling everyday even though the cell bill will be outrageous, but he spoiled me in doing this. Now I lay with the house phone and my cell phone on the pillow next to my head as I attempt to sleep in hopes he will call. I also run to my computer every 20 minutes or so to see if I have received any emails. I know he has read mine because he checks them every day, a little courtesy is all I ask. Just let your wife know about all the fun you are having without her miles and miles away...(no bitterness here:)). I'm not angry...he he he

Seriously, I am jealous that he is traipsing around Europe, but that is all right because in one week we will be together in Rome. Ah...I can hardly wait. I might even be inclined to jot down a couple of blogs once I'm over there. Till then I hear a Tylenol PM calling my name.

Smile File

Well, it's that time of year again to prepare for summer vacation! With the school year winding down, I finally have time to sit back and blog. I'm almost positive that my blogging will be updated much more frequently starting in June.

This past spring contained my very first trip over seas. I spent a high energy week in Ireland. (Money is already being saved for the day I go back.) The Irish were the nicest, most accommodating people I have ever met. What amazed me the most was the fact that they had bread, butter, and two types of potatoes at every meal and nobody was overweight. The food was divine and I had some scrumptious Irish stew that simply melted in my mouth.

The trip also held a lot of historical significance with visits to The Rock of Cashel where St. Patrick held his famous shamrock service, and we also got to view The Book of Kells at Trinity College. It was unbelievable how well preserved and beautifully the four books of the Gospel were done by monks centuries ago.

My favorite part of the country was in the South and Southwest regions. I did kiss the Blarney Stone (yes, I know what they say natives do to it), and I had some genuine fish 'n chips. The scenery was unmatched by anything else I had ever seen and it pained me to return. I'm definitely hungry for more traveling. Fortunately I will be satisfying that hunger this summer when I go to Italy, England, and Scotland.

Back to reality in the States. . .

I was asked to take on Honors Freshmen English and I overexcitedly agreed. Now I'm busy planning for all the new, cool things I will be teaching next year. This week is also Teacher Appreciation Week and I have decided it is my favorite week of the school year. I have been flooded with notes, food, and PowerPoint presentations showing gratitude from my students about their great experiences in my class this year. In my filing cabinet at home, I have created a "Smile File" (a great thing introduced to me in college) and it now holds all the wonderful notes that I have received. This is what teaching is all about. It isn't the vacations and it definitely isn't the pay. It is one of the times in my life when I have found my niche and I'm really good at what I do.

My summer will be plenty busy and this blog will be plenty full by August.

Movies and the Stars that make them

The end of the school day is quickly approaching and I know that if I don't blog now, I won't blog later.

Some monumental events have occurred over the past two weeks. I joined a health club and signed on with a personal trainer. I have yet to regret my decision even though my body is planning a mutiny some time soon:). I was given a meal plan with foods that I would not touch with a 100,000 foot pole. I looked at my calorie count and I am allowed 1400 a day. I figured that as long as I stay under that number, I could modify my eating habits to include foods that don't taste like cardboard or Styrofoam. I just pray to God that I see results eventually and that my $600 was not spent in vain.

Number two cool thing to happen: I attended a workshop on teaching about the Holocaust. It never occurred to me that all these facets were involved in that period of history. There are so many things to look at and people to study. My favorite was a session on "Myths and Misconceptions." We got to speak with two survivors and had a teleconference with the actual United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (www.ushmm.org) in Washington D.C. The neatest fact was the Jerry Springer-esque involvement that Hitler's paternal grandmother had with two different brothers (one being her husband), thus clouding the validity of Hitler's bloodline. I was able to reunite with an old high school chum, she was attending the conference for another high school in my district, and we had a great time.

Last Wednesday my husband and I attended a private screening of Firewall. This is Harrison Ford's new action movie. If the screening had not been free, I would have demanded my money back. There are already a slew of Harrison Ford movies where someone is in jeopardy and he has to fight his way to save him/her. I did not feel a single thing for any of his family members and wished they would have died to spice up the ending. The only character that drew any attention from me was the antagonist played by the marvelous Paul Bettany. The underlying message of the movie was to be aware of identity theft, but my message is to: SEE ANOTHER MOVIE. It wasn't a total waste of time, because the great Harrison Ford was there in person to answer questions after the film ended. He looks great for a guy in his mid 60s. In all honesty, I truly love him, I mean, could you picture anyone else playing Han Solo or ole Indiana? He also has no delusions about acting as an art. He understands that he is handed a script, does his job, and goes home at the end of the day. He enjoys what he does and respects all aspects of the film making industry. Mr. Ford is definitely on my "cool guy" list.

I had a "girl's night out" with one of my dearest friends and we rented a movie called St. Ralph. Everyone see this movie! In fact, rent this instead of paying to see Firewall. This movie captured the essence of a young man in a Catholic school being told to forget about believing in miracles. He wants to win the Boston Marathon, which would be a miracle, and use that miracle to save his mother who is in a coma. Being a devout Catholic, I loved the way everything was handled and the actor who played Ralph was simply adorable. My friend said it best when she told me that when the movie was over, it would be one of my favorites. It just plain makes you feel good inside. 4 out of 4 hearts for this warm and fuzzy masterpiece.

Now for the biggie: I MET THE GREAT GONZO! That's right, I met Dave Goelz the voice of Gonzo and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew from the Muppets and the voice of Boober Fraggle. Those close to me know about my devout adoration for Jim Henson, what he stood for, all he did, and the legacy that carries on after his death. The chance to meet one of the original "muppeteers" had me all a flutter and shaking like a 5 year old on her first day of school. I wasn't sure it was going to work out. My husband and I went to the theater, where they were showing three unaired episodes of Fraggle Rock, to purchase tickets and meet Mr. Goelz. Unfortunately they sold out of tickets ten people in front of us and I cried all the way back to the car.

When I got home, I decided that that was not going to be good enough. I mustered up the courage to go back up to the theater and ask if I could just meet Mr. Goelz after the movie. Not only did they say 'yes,' but they also let me in the theater and sat me right in front of him! Karen Prell, Red Fraggle and the worm from Labyrinth, was also in attendance so my adrenaline was flying all over my body. After the show, I was led to the very front of the autograph line and was the first to meet these two muppet icons! Some memories will be with me forever and this will definitely be one of them.

I hope this blog was a bit inspiring to show a little courage now and then and to always keep an open mind, even when it is being turned to mush by a bad movie:).

Before Romeo and Juliet . . .

there was Tristan and Isolde, and quite possibly original storylines. I'm not saying the movie was a total bust, but I have seen versions of "forbidden love" done much better. A movie goer definitely feels the entire 125 minutes of the movie. James Franco as delectable eye candy couldn't even convince me that my $7.50 ticket was worth it.

Aside for my lapse in movie picking judgment, my Saturday has been relative stress free. My husband is busy "earning" money in Vegas for a couple of days so I'm taking full advantage of the big screen television. To my surprise, it has yet to combust due to the football playoffs not being viewed on it.

I actually just finished watching Miracle. Of all the sporting events in history, that is one I wish I could have been alive to see when it happened. Now I'm deciding which of my movies to watch next. It could be an inspirational teaching movie, due to the fact 20/20 showed just how far behind the US is in education. It's times like these, I feel like I picked a failing profession. What kills me is that everyone is aware of how crappy teachers have it and that the system is what is failing the kids, but no one wants to do anything about it. My own mother was furious at the suggestion that I educate my children outside the states.

Well, I just baked a cake and it is ready to be iced and eaten. Sorry this is relatively short, my life has been relatively uneventful.

Many Moons

Apparently my blog updates are going to have to come a month apart. Who would have thought that working would interfere with all the free time I used to have?

The second six weeks is over and that means that Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks are right around the corner. I have decided that I do enjoy teaching and I love my kids, but only if I can keep my act together and stay organized. I was a total wreck last grading period and it is by the grace of God alone that I had my grades ready to go into the system today.

I really think that grades stink. I mean, the same kids will always do well and the same kids will always fail. So what is the point? I am actually a bit of a "softy" because I will try to help my kids pass. It amazes me how many of them just do not care to learn or work. Why are we forcing these kids to stay in school? The whole idea of each kid having the right to learn is bull crap. If a kid wants to drop out, let him/her. All s/he does in my class is disrupt it and distract the other students.

Seriously, teens are incredibly lazy and expect to be handed good grades for no work. They feel like they are owed a passing grade. Newsflash*In the "real world" you have to earn your keep. I blame the psychologist/parent/whoever that thought of the bright idea of rewarding all children for mediocrity. Oh sure, let's give everyone a medal and not just the winners. Yeah, like that really helps self-esteem. All this does is teach kids that they deserve top honors/rewards regardless of effort or ability and the students that do excel in certain areas stop trying because they know they will be judged at the same level as the rest. Parents should actually discover what their children are good at, uh-oh that means they have to spend time together, and then encourage and reward based on each individual child's strengths.

But enough of a lowly ole teacher's ideas about child raising. On to more entertaining stories about married life. . .Oh wait I don't have any. I absolutely love being married and my husband is my Prince Charming and then some, but the most exciting thing around here lately is the big screen television he bought weeks ago. Naturally that meant we had to get a new television stand and that lead to new shelves for DVDs and videos. Of course we didn't want to waste our money on anything nice so plastic shelves from Target did the trick.

Now the best news is that a Kohl's department store is being built 1 1/2 minutes down the road! Everyday when I drive to and from work I check on their progress. I am hoping it will be complete in time for Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I already purchased beautiful Christmas cards and my mom is helping me find a little tree to put up in my new condo. I'm not sure what is going on my list just yet, but I know it will be good.

By the way, I'm officially 25 years old and my husband is 36. That's right our birthdays are two weeks apart and we are all caked out. I did receive an autographed picture of Jim Henson and the Muppets, a string of pearls, a shopping spree, Dallas Stars tickets, and a picture with the Stanley Cup. Not bad for a quarter of a century old.

Well, that is all for now. I have to take a shower and go to bed.

My Wedding

Hello out there to all my friends that survived the tumultuous weather that recently bombarded Texas. I closed my old email account and opened a new one. I sent one last message to my peeps so please reply so I can add you into my new address book.

I am officially a Mrs. and not a Ms. I went to the DPS and Social Security offices yesterday, but more on that later.

I have been asked if my wedding day was everything I had hoped it would be. Well, the only thing that would have made it perfect would have been if all my loved ones were able to make it. I understand that somethings are just out of our control, but I know that they would have been there if possible.

I woke up and the first thing on the list was pedicures and manicures. My mom made a delicious breakfast for my bridal party and after stuffing ourselves with egg and sausage tacos, we piled into a couple of cars and headed to Beautiful Nails. We completely monopolized the salon, we had made an appointment, and for the next couple of hours we were pampered in massaging chairs. The highlight was when my father showed up for his own manicure because he would be shaking so many hands. It took zero convincing from we women folk for him to have a pedicure. Our neighbor walked in to pick up his daughter, she was hanging out with us, and he totally busted my dad while he was sitting with his feet in the water. Needless to say, a camera phone insured our neighbor some blackmail material against my father:).

At 1:00 P.M. we returned home so that my cousin could begin working diligently on our hair. Of course I wanted to go first, I just to have my hair fixed up. After setting the tiara and veil I just had to wait for my make-up. My two bridesmaids and my maid of honor looked absolutely stunning after my cousin finished with their hair. I even made matching haircombs to put in their hair. At 3:30 P.M. my Mary Kay lady came over to do make-up. I watched as she meticulously adorned my wedding party and finally my face. We were all picture perfect.

The limo showed up at 5:30 P.M. on time and we began to load up to leave for the church at 5:50 P.M. Then came the first hiccup: The limo would not start once we were all inside and ready to head to the ceremony. Twenty minutes later, we loaded up one of my bridesmaid's SUV and I was only fifteen minutes late getting to the church. That was one for the memory books.

The ceremony went off without a hitch, or with a "hitch" if you are from the south.;) I was getting a bit sick of photographs by the end and didn't know if I would make it through the reception.

We did get to the reception only 45 minutes later. . .The food was delicious! There was some little finger foods, but then we had a pasta bar! It was so good that I was mad when I had to stop eating because my dress would expand and make room.:) The second hiccup occurred when the DJ cut off the first dance song too early and $165 worth of dance lessons went down the drain. The final hiccup was when my husband got ticked at the photographer and we almost had a throw down by the cakes. Other than that, everything was the wedding I had hoped for:).

I must be going for now, but I will return soon.

12 Days and counting!

Have I mentioned how much I love my job? I absolutely adore my students and I am excited at the potential I know they have inside. The problem is that someone started underestimating them and now they don't believe they can do the work, or just don't want to because they had a teacher doing it for them.

I'm going to begin planning for the next six weeks and I am very interested in seeing how my students respond to Frankenstein and Night, the two books we are reading next six weeks. The best part is that my students are benchmark testing the two days I will be out of town so my sub does not have to work hard.

Homecoming is also this week and I am ready. I made me a little mini-mum to wear on Friday. I know I will face teasing and stuff like that, but I don't care. I am proud to be teaching at my old high school and I will be at the game ready to win.

Enough of work. . .On to the wedding! We paid off the pictures, cakes, flowers, and rings this past weekend. Talk about a feeling of accomplishment. I have to drop off my engagement ring tomorrow so that my band can be attached to it, and I am not excited about not having my ring for two weeks. I guess it will be kind of cool because I will be seeing it for the "first time" again on the wedding day.

I also picked up my bridal portraits this weekend and they are gorgeous! I know very few people that do not enjoy having pictures taken. It was cool to have all my hair done and make up on and the entire dress and veil.

My fiance and I finished our dance lessons so now we only need to practice, practice, practice. I am looking forward to the reaction from everyone at the reception when we finish dancing. My fiance was cracking me up when we worked on the presentation at the end of the song. It it nice to know that my fiance loves me enough to take the dance lessons so we look great at our reception.

In one more hour we'll be at 11 days to the wedding! 9 days to the season premiere of Lost! (I'm not more excited about this than the wedding, but you know. . .)

And I have risen from the dead!

Salutations. . .It has been a whole month since I last graced the computer screen with my words of wonder and awe.

So many things have happened within these past few weeks. I think starting globally and moving in to more detailed accounts of my life is how I will do this. Hang in there if you are irritated or bored, I will get interesting eventually.

Hurricane Katrina completely demolished the city of New Orleans. There are a lot of mixed feelings about the thousands of people left in the ruins. Let me just say that I did make a donation to the Red Cross (www.redcross.org 1-800-HELP-NOW) and it truly is a horrible thing to have happen. However, my sympathy for a majority of these people has left about 85% of me. The news media has finally numbed me to the plight of the many still seeking aid. Yes, this is bad and yes, we should all do what we can, but were they not told to leave? Some would say that they had no choice, but there is always a choice. Choosing to live below sea level between a lake and a river. . .think about that. This is also not the first time a hurricane has desecrated that city. Some one surely had to think, "how safe is this city if it were to be flooded?" My fiance had a fantastic point about the corruption of the government in that city. When emergency funds are being "stored" in the pockets of city officials, what is supposed to be used to fix a situation like this? I am a firm believer that a person can be smart, but people are stupid. Even if I were inclined to drive there to help, I could not get in and I would be mobbed and possibly killed by those desperate for help. I do pray that we can come together as a nation and help, but that is all I will do for now. People help in different ways and that is great.

Narrowing topics. . .I saw a new movie! The Brothers Grimm stars the handsome Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. I enjoyed the weirdness of the film. My sister appreciated the references to the wonderful political statements that were unjustly labeled as children's stories. My fiance didn't like it at all. This is a renter or wait till it goes to cable. The love story was ambiguous and I definitely think that Heath Ledger should have gotten the girl. This one only gets 1 out of 5 hearts.

To the point. . .19 days and I will officially go from Ms. to Mrs.! The best advice I could give to anyone is ELOPE! Don't ever convince yourself that it is about the bride, because it isn't! It is about pleasing the loudest most complaining members of the family. Being a bride means that you just get to wear the best dress. When I try to stand up for what I want I am dictated to and reprimanded for being so selfish. When I do get what I want I am shamed for making whatever choice I made. I mean, how silly that I should want the wedding my way. I found out today that the second most important person in the wedding is my mother, she told me so herself. Hmmm. . .So where does that put my fiance? I know my mother only wants the best for me, but I would think she would realize that only I know what is best for me. I'm not a child any more.

With that said, I am very excited about being married. The wedding is just an event, but my marriage will be a lifetime of fun and happiness.

Side note* The other fabulous thing about the week of my wedding. . .Lost is premiering its new season on the Wednesday before the wedding!!! I am already dreaming of the things that may happen. I have a hankerin' for some Sawyer! September is going to be a great month.

Well I'm peacing out.