Week 4… Moo situation. The blogs I read on this so far sum it up. It’s just plain confusing. I’m a gamer, and I understand servers, but I don’t understand intricate details of technology. I play the game, not develop it. Sometimes, I manage to crash a computer or glitch a game in the process, but the Moo article(s) I have gone over seem to be redundant on the fact that it is a server. If I’m wrong, then tell me so. I’m assuming it must have been the first server created and that is why the files are kapooshed. Much of the RPG games played with this server were done by typing in the commands; whereas players use hotkeys, voice, and mouse now. The MOO library is a touch of history that we need to remember the further on humans venture with technology. For example, Space Flight: Should we ever live on another planet, we wouldn’t want to forget the day we first set foot on the moon. Now, if someone tells me I’m wrong after that tear jerking line…
Posts Tagged ‘Technology’
Randomness
This week has been a hard week to actually concentrate on one particular area. I have had so many things cross my desk at work. My husband surprised me and was sent home. He arrived at 0215 Wed. Good he didn’t have the house keys, that could have been disastrous. I always have the shot gun ready. But, I suppose I can try to think through a few things. Mostly thought oriented then applicable.
Two of my professors have me organizing technology magazine articles for several years. The only issue I have found in doing this extremely long and tedious job is that these articles are all interesting to me…lol Some even apply to my research action class (which I need to get a move on).
I also have been playing Monopoly City Streets, but they are doing a restart. I have made my allies and my enemies. If one particular competitor logs before I do, his buildings will be the first on my list to crush. If I run out of chance cards to do it, I have a few allies, that also view him as a threat. What’s sad, is that he’s from France and buying up in Morehead, KY. He also is purchasing up all over the world. I see the genius in that strategy, but I’m not here to play genius games. I’m going to keep it simple and defend my ground. Okay, let us move on….this opponent of mine can really rile me…lol
Like I mentioned, my husband is back. I went with him to check in the other day in order for him not to be AWOL. I had previously met the senior ranked soldier in charge and he was really cool. He was about to retire in 30 days at the beginning of the summer. He would be someone who I would say is wise. They may be Special Forces, but with time, came wisdom. Well…this time was different…he was still there and still awesome, but the guy to take over was back from Iraq. Lets just say I had to excuse myself before I opened my mouth. I don’t want to ever get my husband in trouble or myself. He informed me that the vice-principal for Carter County was there. Bet some of ya didn’t know he was SF. I didn’t know what he looked like and I can be very defensive toward soldiers, especially those that are rude with a touch of humor for their amusment. Men/Women act different in uniform then when they are in civies. The last thing I needed was to tell the vice-princ. that he has the IQ of a brick wall and then him interview me for a job down the road…lol
Hertz Car Rental: I mentioned this in my TX blog. The lack of technology that Hertz computers were capable of, but this is funny – this is a human technology malfunction. A brain to hand disconnect happened somewhere…lol I had to make a 200.00 deposit for my car that would be deposited right after I returned the car. 11 days later and no deposit. I called them today. They marked on the form that the transaction was done in cash. I never carry cash on me. Somewhere, there was a neuropathy backfire with my attendant I guess and she mistaken my debit card for 200.00 in cash. They said they would fix it. We will see.
There is more I’m sure, but I will have to think on it. It has been a very disorganized week…with the whole family back and all. Have a good weekend.
Found Food for the Demon
I was “page turn’n” and came across this blog: Free Technology for Teachers. What brought it to my attention was the posts inside it. I was doing random searches for action research and eventually ended up at this site. The first post on this site talks about a previous post that apparently turned out to be very successful. – 12 Essentials for Technology Integration- (ETI) ETI is really neat, especially the alternative to YouTube. I was diverted from my research route onto the ETI path for an hour or so. After being introduced to SnagFilms, I couldn’t possibly just read and run…it aloud me to watch National Geographic for free. Anyways, take a look and it might be something worth feeding to your gator; I let my demon have it.
Let There Be No Internet and There Was NOTHING!!!
For Labor Day Weekend, I traveled to San Antonio, Texas to visit my husband at Fort Sam Houston. While there, I had no access to the Internet. My cell phone wouldn’t even call into the little ole’ holler I like to call home in Morehead, KY. Needless to say, it gave me some perspectives on life and technology. I think I’ll just start from the beginning and go on day by day.
Before we can even begin this wonderful story, the trap that ensnared the likely victim, me, into its claws needed to be set. Mummy-in-Law decided to call and tell me that she wants to buy a plane ticket, the car rental, and the room in order for my husband, John, and I to finally see each other. Mind you, it’s been almost a half year since he left home for military training. Of course, I’m going to jump at it. We never got a honeymoon, missed our first anniversary, and never really got time to have any real dates in the last 8 years we have been together. We have been a full-bore 100% go get-em family since day one. I was ready for a break!!! All I needed was a babysitter for 5 days. Easy, right….lol Not in this world. Eventually, someone was willing to do it for a couple hundred. Which, I will never do that again. No one can take care of my children like me. My eldest child looked like a dirty little heathen when I got back. The baby was squeaky clean, but she smelled like fast food. On with the trip now…
Day 1 – Thursday: I have got to get to that airport over an hour drive away. On the way there, I kept looking at my car radio. My husband put in a $2000.00 system. We appreciate nice music. My favorite in that car to listen to is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I love electric orchestras. The technology that goes into manipulating the sounds and the fluency created is amazing. As I was traveling down 64, my mind was wandering through history thinking of how orchestras developed. I had pictures of people dressed in gaudy robes strumming harps and tooting horns while pushed in a castle corner to now boldly sitting atop or just below a black marbleized stage. Eventually, I parked my car in long term and put my pass somewhere I was sure to be unable to find it at a later date – hint, hint.
Kiosk time. Every time I come to the airport, these things change, and that’s at least every 18 months or so. I can’t imagine how monumentally important it is to have the most up to date check-in methods at the airports, but as a nation, we are panty-wasted with electrical tech. for our school systems – especially the ones that need it the most (poverty). Check-in at Lexington is easy, and security is even easier. I wasn’t even considered a threat; whereas, I will be in another airport…lol
There was a stop in Atlanta, and I had to do a marathon run to the opposite side, but eventually, my 3 hr plane ride was over in San Antonio. This would be the first time I have ever acquired a rental car. I went to pick up the car and they told me I had to put down a $200.00 deposit. The problem here is that I only brought 300 with me. I am one of those people that absolutely will not bring or allow my access to a large sum of money. I would drain my whole account if I did. It’s vacation after all. Luckily, Mom got on them about it, because this was her treat to us. I think this was a guilt make-up thing for her. It all got worked out and everyone was happy an hour later. This was a time when I was amazed how little technology has come along. Hertz couldn’t do so many different types of transactions. I wanted to pull my hair out and scream at all the limitations their computers seemed to have. Eventually I found myself next to the tiniest little blue car you have ever seen and was making marks on a paper to signify scratches (I was gonna be daffy if I was paying for any marks on that little thing). I then proceeded to leave the lot.
Until this moment, I always thought of San Antonio as one of the smaller cities in Texas. Fort Sam Houston was supposed to be about 15 min. from the airport. It took me 5 HOURS to find it. There are so many interstates, highways, one ways, turnarounds, offshoots, etc… Even though John and I hadn’t seen each other for so long, he was about to blow his top when I finally did get there. He tried to look upset when he was coming toward the car from a block away, but it was gone within 30 feet of the car…he was just irritated with me…lol Thursday was a family day, so he had to report back in by 2100. He only had 3 hours left by the time I got there and we had to go to the hotel across town to check me in, because mom put the hotel in his name. We then have to come back and drop him off on time. If he didn’t get back in time, his pass could be revoked.
Day 2 – Friday: Graduation John is released for the holiday around 1400.
Day 3 – Saturday: Schlitterbahn Water Park
http://www.schlitterbahn.com/nb/attractions/
This made me think of technology beyond electronics. One of the soldiers with us had said, “It’s amazing what you can do with a little rubber, cement, plastic, and water.”
He was referring to all the money that Schlitterbahn makes off of such simple water ride contraptions. Even after I returned home, I continued to look around and observe the contraptions that humans have made to occupy our time, the devices that provide entertainment and amuse us in order to evade boredom. I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to finding a distraction from life’s hardships. I indulge into games or work.
I would like to say the day was all fun and games. It was a total blast and one embarrassment to boot. Luckily my husband was there to save me. We were racing down those speed slides on tubes, I came out first, out of my tube, and out of my top…yikes! My husband covered me quickly enough that only the lifeguard noticed, whew…close one. All this technology and you think we could develop water park proof swim suits by now.
That evening, we went back to the hotel to address the continuing technology issue with the hotel. I had no laptop, so classes were out of the picture and my husband told me to try and forget them for now. He said it would only ruin my weekend. If he only new, that everything I looked at imprinted the words I can blog about that all over it…lol The other issue we were having was the cell phone. We could not contact the babysitter. Still, we had no luck this night either.
Day 3 – Sunday: Alamo and RiverWalk
The Alamo was amazing. I was so sad to see so much of it is gone. Just two small buildings are left. Inside, the history of the Bowie Knife was in one of the buildings. If that isn’t technological evolution in its finest, I don’t know what is. I also found out a fact that I didn’t know before, or didn’t care to remember. KY had the most men at the Alamo then any other state. They counted TX and Mexico together and they still didn’t have as many men as Bowie and Crockett brought with them to fight from KY. There is also the fact that a lot were labeled Ireland and Scotland and in fact, they came with the Kentucky group. – KY Rocks!!!
Adventuring through downtown, I was able to really get a grip on how we, as a nation, have militarily advanced. All of our proud moments, especially of modern years, consist of the use of electrical gadgetry. Every other show on the Military and History channel is about the next advance weapon to come.
I want to see education shows on more often about the next classroom advancement. I want to see them talking about it with excitement. Show some excitement for learning. Most educational shows for materials are low-key and dead donkey boring. The vocabulary is too professional and gives no room for the passionate and free of heart. I argue that professionalism is a must in teaching, but I am speaking of a TV telecast now, not a team meeting.
One other thing that was odd that brought about all this techy stuff into one bundle was the idea that I forgot my camera on what was suppose to be one of the most memorable moments of my life. I was going to get to spend a weekend with my husband and I don’t have one picture to show for it. We could have bought a camera, but when we went down the River Walk, the memory of being together and environment seem so beautifully engraved into our minds, that no picture could do it justice. I looked at the couples walking ahead of us. John and I, him in a medical career and I previously, relate a lot to it in our conversations. I mentioned to John that I don’t think we need a camera and he nodded in agreement and put his arm over my shoulder. As we waited for families to take pictures, we spoke about the effects of Alzheimer and how our long term memories of this moment will be so much more vivid then of the people with cameras. The power of our mind is technologically more powerful then we give it credit for. When the end (of our life) is close, our mind is all we have; grasping that last memory of hope – something no camera or computer can do.
That evening, I called up to family in Florence and had them call down to Morehead. The cell worked just fine from city to city. It just couldn’t penetrate the holler.
Day 4 – Monday: Drop Off and Time to Go Home
I dropped John off around 0600 and headed for the airport. John loaded my luggage with some of his military books so he wouldn’t have to carry them on to the next school. Some of these included cultural books. So, I got chosen to have my incredibly overweight suitcase searched. As you already know, I was there to honeymoon/1st anniversary, so you can imagine that they didn’t find the Qaran and Book of Islam Beliefs sitting on top of my Pooh Bear Pajamas. Let’s just say, whoever got to search my bag got an interesting find…lol
I had the safest plane ride home, which was for sure. Half of the Boeing was military. There was a huge Police dog lying in the isle half way through. He stared at the screaming toddler most the trip to Atlanta. If his master took the muzzle off, I just knew he would eat the little tyke. Once again, my mind trailed off about our developments with animals. We do so many things with animals. They have come far beyond pets to family members. Unfortunately, I returned home to find my Christmas present, Cally, was gone. She was an albino cat. The most gorgeous skinny white kitty anyone has ever seen. It is day 6 since her disappearance. Tomorrow, I hope to pass out flyers. So much for technology when your heart is broken. I have yet to find a way for it to fix that issue.
With the Good is the Bad and the Ugly
This entry starts off on a personal note. I will say I am beyond excited, because I was able to speak with the in-laws and all is well with them, but they had something to share with me…a surprise! They wanted to send me to go see my husband over in Texas. As most the readers know, I have not seen him since he deployed for military training over five months ago. In all this excitement, I was able to speak to my father-in-law…a very rare privlage. Why do I say that? I more than admire him. His intelligence is so vast beyond what I have ever known any other persons (including all my professors). A short history on him would include: engineer for the Navy, Chief Engineer for GE (retired), and is now a physics teacher for a private high school (just so he’s not bored). He’s a vey silent man who sits and observes his surroundings. I thought he hated me when I first met him, but when we discovered we had a technology connection…it was smooth sailing.
That connection although, may have been compromised as of recent. While speaking with him last night, the school he teaches with is practically all paperless and every student carries a Mac Book /Pro (The screen on the Mac can be changed by just tapping -software- the side of the screen; therefore, many of the students are not even on the class sites). As an educator, a professional in engineering (submarines), and keeping a company like GE together, it is irritating when the students are all just lazely touching the side of their Macs as he walks about the room giving his lesson. The amount of disrespect is very annoying. I tried to find more information on the school’s site about their current technology trend, but they do not recognize it as an important enough value to make it a point in which to brag about. Unlike Kentucky, technology in California private schools is a little more readily available and not as special. Apparently the need to site it on the internet is not necessary.
One other oversite on the whole from “good” to worse in technology movement…the Mac keyboard. Their keys are soft coated; therefore, when a semester of teaching is over, and you have finished using a decent amount of time on the dry erase board, your Mac keys are also black. That was just the educator’s complaint that was thrown in there. There is a solution to this, magic crayola remover!!!
Tapped In
My experience with Tapped In was good. I honestly didn’t like the look of it at first, but as I began to delve further into it, it slowly became more interesting to me. Eventually it was loaded with mountains of valuable information. My office address is: http://tappedin.org/tappedin/do/WelcomeAction?state=displayChatRoomFrame&controller=com.sri.opentap.controller.WelcomeAction
I have yet to do ‘tips and tricks’ since it obviously has not arrived yet, but as some have seen, we do have a couple PDs coming up. There is one tomorrow at 9pm that may be interesting just to listen in on. I do not have the education or career prowessto go toe to toe with a group of such skilled professionals, but it wouldn’t hurt to observe. I tried to maneuver around all the corners, including defacing Dr. Lowell’s Whiteboard, but I am sure there is so much more to learn in there.
I could see how ‘Tapped In’ could be used as an active site in the school system for students who need to contact their teacher over homework. Teacher’s could figure out many other ways to use the program in the classroom(and out) with the schools who have laptop programs.
Hello world!
Hello Everyone. In the picture to the right, you see my lovely little girls. Hopefully my husband will be home soon and I can have a full family picture (Army). Until then, I will be taking this course with my 4 month old daughter Leanora Camille and 8 year old daughter Sierra Rose.
I’m working on the third and fourth floor of Ginger Hall, but you can mostly find me in GH 301. I am a GA for the Ed. Dept. Later on in the year, I will also be working for Rowan County as a Reading Tutor w/ Project AIM.
But, I do have to say, that my first day back at school after a one and half years out, was fantastic. I got the opportunity to teach a junior level class which was also ITV. I couldn’t help but to keep raising my voice like the offsite campuses couldn’t hear me. They probably thought I was a loon, but I naturally talk loud and move about the classroom a lot. Tuesday, I get to instruct a senior methods math class. I can’t wait, to teach that is. I wouldn’t mind a different topic. The prof. is due back then and I’ll have to return to normal GA research duties probably…but while the fun lasted.
