On visiiting the Land of the Giants

16-0. Phew! After putting up with more than three hours of CONNTINUOUS,insane smack talk from 2 drunken bitches sitting behind us in the Land of the Giants, we woke up this morning WINNERS! And they will wake up losers, with severe hangovers and mouths dirty enough to farm potatos. No, Tom Brady is not our father...and yes, we are old enough to consume alcohol. No we are not driving all the way back to Boston tonight, and the reason we are not yelling and screaming smack is because we knew we would be going home the victors.

Well, let me say there were a lot of Pats fans at the game last night...but not nearly enough to drown out Eli's Giants. We were cursed at, harassed, doused with beer, and screamed at...and sorry, the Giant guys were gentlemen and pretty much ignored us and thought we were cute; but the two bitches sitting behind us were clearly more interested in us than in the game.Too bad Baby Eli couldn't maintain his composure when the Patriots finally went on the attack. Eli never did come to save them.

So the night started out FAB! We were given a free parking permit and got to park right next to the stadium. With my daughter's compact little Corolla it was a breeze pulling into one of the few parking spots not occupied by a grill, beer bottles or a cooler. We walked to the stadium, took pictures, and made our way to our awesome seats...until the folks settled in behind us. I want it to go on record that not only were we harassed incessently, but those two females had THE MOST ANNOYING VOICES I have ever heard. And that was their redeeming quality. Welcome to New Jersey. Land of the Entitled. And the guys they were with clearly only kept them around for one thing.

So if they weren't annoying enough, the Giants ran down the field and scored on the first posession? What? The game was annoying too. Where was the D? The atmosphere was getting intense..and a little stressful. Are we bad luck? Upon leaving our seats to go buy beer "You're not leaving, are you??" said the Pats guy in the next row over...(Giant Stadium is ugly and not full of amenities, I might add), we return to our seats to discover our seats had been doused with beer...what, to make us mad? How could we be mad going 16-0?Poor sports. "When should we leave?"
"You know I think we may be bad luck. If we leave at the end of the third quarter, they will have time to catch up.We started plotting our escape...."If we wait til the end and the Giants win or lose, it's not gonna be very pleasant." "
"We should take off all our Pats gear, so we don't stand out!"
"Good idea...we can blend.."
So it was the third quarter and we were losing, and getting harassed, quite personally I might add, who wound them up? So we planned our escape after the Pats lost posession at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We had had enough. They had better win.

We take off our hats, sweathirts, and zip up our coats...Gate A. Out in the parking lot the stadium erupts. That's not good. But wait! My daughter is on the phone with her boyfriend "Randy Moss just scored a touch down..those are Pats fans!"
"Where have they been all night?"
SO to the car, onto the Parkway, with three cell phones to three different people, all giving us play by play, we made our escape from the Land of the Giants, off into the new Jersey night;with the intense satisfaction of knowing to the victors go the spoils...and to the bitches sitting in Section 216, no one to harass during their final glorious defeat.
There is no need for explaining why we were there.

What do you want to do next?

SO, what happens when your to-do list starts to disappear? As the year comes to a close, there is a realization that in spite of the year's ups and downs, items on THE LIST have been crossed off...goals accomplished, tasks completed, projects finished. So some things that are still on the list, as well as some new things that have been added to next year's list:

• Go to Foxborough Stadium...that will stay on THE LIST.
• Join the Wine of the Month Club
• Go to Foxwoods to play golf
• Break 100
• Buya Macbook Pro
• redecorate my Library (is that what I am calling it now?)
• photograph more....
• digitize analogue tapes
• digitize family photos
• introduce TED new!!
• party more new!!
• complain less new!!

I'm sure the list will be revised as the year begins. Life is just full of surprises, some good, some you can live without. But when you look back at your accomplishments and check your list, you will be surprised at what a difference a year makes. What do you want to do next? Before you turn 30? 40? 50? 60? 70? Look at your list...it's not too late. It's NEVER too late.

Nulla dies sine linea

All the questions have gone out of my head for today..in their place is a kind of white space..now don't laugh...it's a good thing. The tree is now decorated...and there are some really, really good pictures capturing the moments . Family photos..of course, not really, because I am not in them, I am taking the pictures. Today I will upload my photos so I can finally start posting them. I am getting aquainted with my new camera, but I need a tripod..too much camera shake. The fireworks setting is perfect, though, for caputuring the glowing Christmas tree and the fire in the fireplace. My favorite...capturing the ornaments against the backdrop of the tree lights using the macro setting. I discovered the pictures look a lot better when printed, then in the viewfinder....I wonder what they will look like on the computer screen?

Lots to do today. The monkey is off my back. I am done fighting with my inner self. Life is too short. Every day things happen that are out of our control, and all we can do is control how we react to what is being flung in our direction. There is a really big picture out there...a jumbotron. Kind of like comparing what you can see through the camera's viewfinder to what is really out there. The camera can only capture part of it..and there is only so much you can control. But when you sit back and take in the whole scene it becomes easier to manipulate the camera to try to capture the essence of what is happening. And then you have nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the moment.

Yesterday my thoughts were actually spoken out loud by someone else...I have not spoken them out loud to anyone..how weird is that? Karma...once again, so it seems. A sign. So for today I am free from my thoughts. The last one standing? Maybe....

On keeping your chin up...

So not really a question, really, but an observation and a reflection...on keeping your chin up..that could mean a lot of things. Keeping your chin up, without holding your guard up, exposes your face to attack...perhaps a knock out! So why say "keep your chin up?" Hang in there? Hold your head up? Because to stay in the game you need to have confidence, you need to know you can win. Keeping your chin up and holding your head high means a lot these days, when there are those that cannot even look you in the eye.

In sports they say the best defense is a strong offense, and I would have to agree. You cannot let negative energy draw you away from your offense, which is your strength. You cannot be so worried about defending your face that you spend all day with your chin down, avoiding people, avoiding confrontation, worried about defending against attack. Be prepared. Be strong in the message you send and be confident that you know the right thing to do. Keep your chin up. Positive energy wins.

Tree Questions

Oh Yaaa. Here's a question you may have heard before: "If a tree falls in a forest does it still make a noise?" Maybe...probably....I can tell you if a tree falls in a living room and it is covered with glass ornaments and lights, it definitely makes a noise..although not as loud as you would think, and we did not see it happening so we did not yell,"TIMBER!"

Tis the season. On Friday my brother brought us a tree he cut down from his property and thank goodness he stayed to help put it up! It was beast..probably 10-12 feet tall. "You are the only ones who have a living room with tall enough ceilings for it," He said. Hoist it up, tighten the screws in the tree stand. "Does it look straight?" Good enough. Get the big step ladder, let's put the lights on first..... we can decorate it over the weekend....

Saturday. "Does that tree look tippy?" It does look like it' s leaning, but I think it's the tree..the trunk isn't straight-there's like a double trunk and a little bit of an open spot near the back.....uh,huh.

Saturday Evening. "Are you sure that tree isn't leaning? It looks like it is....but after a day of Christmas shopping and up at 5:30, everything looks tippy. Let's go to bed.

Thank goodness the tree is near the window and the ceiling beam..nice to rest on, if you're a tippy tree.
12:45am...the tree is leaning, ALOT...it will tip over if we don't do something immediately. Did I mention I was in bed...sleeping?
Did you ever wonder why it takes so long to decorate a tree? Well, it only takes a fraction of the time to un decorate a tree. SO the tree comes down, we trim it down about 8 inches, and hoist it back up...straight this time, I swear. Back to bed, kinda.

Sunday 9Am......snow, snow, snow, but the tree looks wonderful...decorated, pretty straight....but I have my head in a computer for the day working.....

4pm....Time to take a break to make Lasagna. Does that tree look likes it's leaning slightly? No, I think it was leaning a little when we put it up (at 2am.)

5pm. Lasagna cooking,.Patriots winning. Miami Dolphins winning.

6pm. Eating lasagna, drinking wine...life is good.

7pm. Relaxing in the TV room.......

CRASH! Oh shit....

Tree resting on the bar...Thank goodness it fell forward and not to either side! "I just don't understand!? Is it a different kind of tree?" It's top heavy, I say. Get it out of here, I'm done.
"Well we have to trim it before we get it out of here....are you sure you want to get rid of it? What will we do, have no Christmas tree?"
"Whatever! I am tired.... More undecorating. Miraculously, only 2 broken ornaments. This is getting really old. I don't even like this tree as it gets smaller and smaller....take another foot off the bottom. "Hey, we can see the fireplace now, that's a good thing! And we only need three sets of lights! "

But the lights are broken, the tree stands naked in the living room in defiance. The ornaments, so carefully packed away wrapped in tissue paper have been thrown into a box, a disheveled mess. The Nutcracker soldiers are toppled over on the bar where they tried to defend against the attacking tree.

Trees are nice, but they are not Christmas. I don't even care about a tree anymore. I want a day off and I want eggnogg.

What's your passion?

Today was definitely one for the books. Gut check. Reality. But always something good comes from life's interruptions. I realized passion is important...a passion for what makes you get out of bed every day. Passion is what I am about. Passion and intensity-two things that can get sucked out of you if you let it. So what' s your passion? I love my morning coffee and reading all the news I can get my hands on for at least an hour. I love listening to music on my way to work. I love it when the lights are green and there is no line of traffic. I love a full tank of gas!! I love to reach into my pocketbook and find my keys..the first time. I love dark chocolate and milano cookies..together, with milk, and no guilt. I really love to write even when it is quite possible no one is reading and no one is listening. You never know....I really love surprises! And I love getting to know people...because you think you know, but you really have no idea and every day you learn something new about yourself. I am passionate about golf..because I love a challenge, and I love success, especially when it doesn't come easily. I am passionate about learning, especially, and about sharing. Tomorrow is a new day. A new T-day, followed by a wild Wednesday..a new adventure awaits.
Live your life with passion.....otherwise, life is just ordinary.

How do you spell that?

OKAY..just another reason why I LOVE the Internet....not only can you look stuff up, you really don't need to know how to spell what you want to look up...sounding out is good enough!! There is always someone out there that knows what you meant to say. And there is always someone out there that has the answer to what I want to know.

So the focus today is on just a few of the Les Mills Body Combat moves that i just had to know how to spell. The instructor looks really cool and sounds even cooler. She is intense, but what did she say? And how do you do that? So here goes. After a month of classes (the routine is already changing...just when you figure out how not to fall over, they throw somethng new at you!) I kinda got the basic moves...although the left side of my body is still a little weird at times. The routine is broken down by track, with a different martial arts focus for each track...with some basic aerobic stuff thrown in between to keep your blood moving. There is also breathing..lots of breathing...and, interestingly enough, the moves ARE in fact based on a variety of martial arts techniques, moves, forms, whatever. Here is what I found out:

Muay Thai- aka, Thai Boxing, the national sport of Thailand, originated on the ancient battlegrounds of the Siamese army. Check out http://www.thaiboxing.com for more info!

Mawashi-geri – aka-Roundhouse kick – from Tae Kwon Do- this site is a good demonstration and explanation of the technique http://www.physical-arts.com/training/techniques/mn_roundhouse_kick_right.html IF you want to check out the differences between the roundhouse kick used in various martial arts, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhouse_kick

Kata-jaoanese, meaning “form” used to describe detailed choreographed series of moves practiced either solo or in pairs.

Jinga- or Ginga-is a fundamental move in Capoeira, a martial arts game or sport that originated in Brazil by Angolan slaves check this out! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_capoeira_techniques#Ginga

SO there you have it. And don't forget to check out http://www.lesmills.com if you want. Although be prepared to wait an eternity for the demo moves to load.....of course I was too impatient to wait. I would rather go to the gym and watch the really cool instructors get intense with their Body Combat moves a few times a week. I will tell you today we went after real people which was real scarey, and I don't think the 6 plus foot guy I was throwing punches at was very intimidated...but I was. Needless to say...you do not want to be in the front row when you are learning something new.

See you at the gym!

Questions for the general good of the people...

People want to know...is the TV writer's strike over? Is tonight the last "new" episode of Gray's Anatomy?
Is all the hype about Santana for real or is it just an attempt by the Red Sox to manipulate the Yankees...?
Will the Pats really go the entire season undefeated?
How high will gas prices go this winter?
Where can you go to buy a Wii and WHY is it the thing this Christmas season?
Why does the coupon or the big sale arrive the day AFTER you make the big purchase?
What is better for you....physical activity or mental gymnastics?

PART II: WHERE ARE MY KEYS?

So once again the keys have disappeared into thin air. This is after I have attached them to this cute little jeweled froggie that is supposed to clip to the outside of my purse to prevent them from disappearing. The last thing I remember clearly is holding them in my hand while juggling my pocketbook, my banana, my water bottle and my granola, as I exited my vehicle (late again, I might add) and just before I slammed the truck door I LOCKED it. Like a good girl. I remember hustling to the front door, and as I entered I was greeted by someone who offered to carry my laptop...how nice! "Sorry, I have to go teach PE!" Okay, to the lab, the locked door,(which is never locked) I reach into my pocketbook and miraculously retrieve my badge and room key..voila! Unlock the door, lug everything in, dump it on the floor, the desk, whatever, and so my day begins.

Fast forward to 2:45....packing up to leave, grab my photocopies, my binder, throw everything into my laptop bag, shove whatever's left into my pocketbook, grab my vest and dash out the door. "Where are my keys?" Of course they are nowhere...not in my pocketbook, not in my laptop bag, not in my pockets....."Let's go back upstairs and check the lab!" Nowhere..not on my desk, not in my closet...vanished. Until tomorrow, when I am not quite so frazzled. The keys will appear when I least need them. The froggie is lying low until that time, and I have managed to maintain my reputation....once again, in spite of my efforts to appear organized and together.

What if....??

So what if all those things you wondered about you had the answers to? Life, perhaps, wouldn't be quite so interesting. It's about the quest.....the search for answers and in getting to a place you know. So what if you realized you really knew nothing at all of great importance? What if you stopped making an effort, at anything that was the least bit challenging..what do you think would happen? What if you really got to know people? What if you really knew them?
What if you really said what you were thinking...all the time..? What if you didn't have to work..how would you spend your time? What if you could make a wish and have it come true..what would you wish for?

What if.....it is impossible to know the answer to what if. Not impossible to know what is. But do we really know what is? Or do we think we know, but we really have no idea? How do you know you know? How do you know what you don't know? Some things you just know....inside. Perhaps it cannot be explained or defined, but to know something is to understand, implicitly, without words, without explanation. To know something deeply is to feel it and experience it with your whole body and mind. You just know.

It's all about the cliche's....

It's true what they say...life comes at you in cycles. And every so often it feels like you come to the end of a cycle and then what? All signs point you in the right direction, but can you see the signs? It's all about cliche's today...can you see the forest for the trees? Two roads diverged in the yellow wood....

So do you stay the course or take the road less traveled...Once, a few years ago I sat through Sunday Mass down in NJ and listened passionately to missionaries from Haiti. I want to go to Haiti, to teach children and adults how to read and write...the very basic elements of our American education we take totally for granted.

Last month at the National Middle School Association conference I listened passionately to a science teacher from Colorado who, through an interactive telecollaborative web project with his class, befriended a teacher from Botswana. The school ended up donating their outdated desktop computers to the Botswanan village school, which had no electricity, no Internet connection-no running water...no walls. The computers had to be set up in a public building in the village center .The two teachers and their students continue their relationship to this day..

So how do all the pieces of the puzzle fit together? They say patience is a virtue.....if only I could see. But there's a reason for everything and who knows what it is? So sit back, enjoy the ride, and see where the road takes you...

The Three Questions.....

I cannot take credit for these questions...I only know sometimes I need to be reminded of the answers.

http://www.yuni.com/library/docs/200.html

I have questions.....

So things I've noticed...I am a whole lot more coordinated when I get to use the right side of my body..but forget the left side- it's like an alien. I am utterly and completely uncoordinated. Just goes to show how your brain really does get used to things and needs to keep learning!

So there really is such a phenomenon as ADT...because I must have it. It's why sometimes no work gets done. It's like there's so much to do you get going in so many directions you cannot focus and you cannot finish a thing. Email, web pages, student accounts, IM, printer jams, log in problems, email, web pages, oops, did I just say that?

So when was the last time you laughed? I was actually asked that in an interview once....thank goodness for crazy friends who send wicked funny emails...

What was the name of the last book you read, that you didn't have to read for some course? Sorry, I cannot finish a book...ADT.

And then there's movies that I've never seen...a ton, I'm sure....and when I get the chance to see a really good movie that has been out forever, it is like some miracle that at the exact moment I step on the elliptical at the gym and plug in my headphones and turn on the TV....there' s Tom Cruise. What is that movie? I don't recognize it...because I've never seen it. And I feel somehow that I am getting something for nothing because I never had to pay for the movie. I am not a Tom Cruise fan....but I will watch it until I know what it is....The Last Samurai...I believe a man does what he can until his destiny is revealed....I stay on the elliptical and can't believe what I am seeing....

Imagine a virtual world, a Second Life, where you can be whoever you want to be, go almost anywhere you want to go, and do things you have never done before, like take a ride inside a hurricane...meet people who are not who they appear to be, and perhaps never see them again...or meet up with them regularly on their island. Kinda like MySpace next generation. Why go out at night when you can be a couch potato in your jammies, while your SL avatar is rockin the night away with her girlfriends down at the club? You can enjoy a fantastic night on the town from the comfort of your own home where you are sitting all alone...

It's a question of power....

Electricity, battery power, borrowed power, perceived power, virtual power, powerful, powerless.....sometimes hidden beneathe the day's garbage a theme emerges, and clearly, the TOTD is POWER.

It all started on Black Friday with a trip to Staples to see if I could get ANY of the half dozen really, really fantastic bargains advertised. Now the reasonable side of my brain said, why bother? You know the deal...they let you in the store...there's nothing left on the shelf, so you buy something you don't really want, for way more money. The POWER of advertising. There was only one thng I really, really wanted..a Microsoft wireless optical keyboard AND mouse for 24.99!!!! So I thought, "Hmmm, I'll go home and get online and see if I can get it for the same price." Me and about a million other people! So, traffic jam....really bad....an hour later and many hits of the back button, refresh, start over, I finally am able to click te PLACE ORDER button....waiting, waiting, waiting......ERROR PROCESSING YOUR ORDER. YOUR ORDER CAN NOT BE COMPLETED AT THIS TIME. So try again.....waiting, waiting, waiting......WE'RE SORRY, THAT ITEM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!! So now, after spending an hour on my computer for what should've taken 5 minutes on any other day, I decide to send Staples an email....thinking, maybe I'll get a coupon, or something. Nope. I get an email telling me they're constantly working to improve their website so I should keep visiting it!!

So I hate to lose, but I let it go. Welcome to Cyber Monday. I check my email and lo and behold, an Order Confirmation from Staples.com!! YES!! The keyboard is on its way! So no need to do and Cyber Monday shopping. Life is good.

Tuesday. More POWER struggles. Do you have any batteries? Is there an extra power cord? Do you know where the power cord is? Who decides who gets to go to this conference? Who are these people accountable to? Who decides? Who's in charge?

I let the Vista laptop battery die following a presentation, and can't get out of POWER safe mode. I am surrounded by people who have the power to make decisions that will change peoples' lives. Everyone thinks they have the ultimate power. It's all a game of Chess....trying to figure out who will make the next move,and how you can prevent Checkmate. Yup, sometimes I feel like a pawn...and let other people think I am the pawn, but really I am the Queen.

So the game continues....for another day. And when I check my email? Staples .com Order Status.....We're sorry, but the item you ordered is no longer available and we could not find a suitable replacement. We have not charged your account. Who has the POWER now?

To Dust or Not to Dust..that is the question!

So have you ever used a sander? Well, what started out to be a simple day of cleaning bugs out of lights and sealing a wood frame on a new window, ended up being a dusty, dirty cloudy mess when the new electric sander came out of the box. What is it with guys and toys? There was no need for electric anything in this case. A small scrap of old sandpaper and a little elbow grease would've done the job nicely. Instead, what we got was a four hour sanding extravaganza....oh, and did I mention NOTHING was covered up...sofa, photos, lamps, dishes. "What? It's already dusty anyways...it's not like it's a lot worse than it already is."
"Do you see where that dust is going???" Dust on the counter, on the canisters, all over the sink. Dust on the pillows, the sofa, the rug,t he screens, the windows. Beautiful clean, smooth windowsills.....Ahhhhh..the price I pay for not dusting. A trip to the gym....a bottle of Reisling...and darkness settling over the living room. The dusting can wait... There's still another set of windows to do....let me know when you're done.

Wil you be my friend?

Okay, I admit it! My curiosity has gotten the better of me once again....spending time with my recently graduated daughter, home for Thanksgiving, has exposed me to some of her world. Facebook? My Space? It is all so complicated. Since when do you have to create a virtual environment in which to "hang out" with people who are your"friends?" And since when do you have to invite people to be your friends? It reminds me of the playground at school, maybe when I was 5 or 6 and there were groups of kids playing on the monkey bars and you would think to yourself...."I want to play with them!" And you could just run over and join them and see if they accepted you..but you knew you were in trouble if they ignored you and ran off to the next piece of playground equipment and left you hanging upside down by yourself.

So I was curious..and I checked it out, because I don't get it....so I may have clicked on things I didn' t mean to and now I must wait and see what happens...like the playground. Not that I am worried...really...but when you don't know what you're doing it can be a bit stressful.

I know my kids all have myspace pages and facebook pages, and it seems like it could be a lot of fun...if you are a fun, social kind of person who likes to "hang out" on occasion. It also seems like a TON of work. Why not just pick up the phone and call? Or send a text? Or meet for coffee at Starbucks? Seems kind of false and not very meaningful if you ask me, to invite people you haven't seen or heard from in 10 years to be your "friend."

I got an email from 2 of my kids inviting me to their Myspace pages...inviting me to be their "friend." Cool! Hey, don't forget to shut the lights off before you go to bed.... After visiting some of my "friends" none of whom were actually in the same room with me, and some of whom I am related to, I have determined it is a lot more fun to interact with real people-friends or not. Why do you need 84 friends? At least with real people you have a real face and a real space. And eye contact....if you want someone to be your friend, smile, be friendly, engage in conversation, be interested and make eye contact. There's a novel concept. It cracks me up to see my kids, who are in bedrooms next to each other, by the way, sending each other a message on Myspace. "Hey!" " What's up?" how many steps does it take to do that? Just knock on the wall.

Maybe Facebook and Myspace have their purpose in the universe....seems like it should be called FacelessBook and Everyone's Space....so now I must ask permission and invite random people to be my friends. I think I'll make a list and send a card or a personal email. Or call. No invitation necessary. And if you're not sure whether you are really my friend, call me and I will invite you to my My space page or I guess I probably have a Facebook account now, too. Oops.

Giving Thanks

For family, friends and the simple things in life. For the ability to learn and change and grow as a person; and the ability to be inspired and be creative. For the ability to read and remember...For always wanting to know more, but realizing that there is no such thing as having all the answers....For peace....and being at peace...for realizing a lifetime is a very long time and you don't always get your rewards right away...maybe not even in this lifetime...for a new season of Project Runway! And Gray's Anatomy...for my Starbuck's connection...and my Olympia Sports connection. For hybrid golf clubs...for the view from my deck in October with Venus hanging just underneathe the crescent moon as the sun sets on the horizon...for the Internet (yes I am addicted), for discovering new oceans...But most of all for the ability to appreciate it all....in a moment of clarity.

So what is it about red vs blue??

Red on the left, blue on the right, right?

Evidently there is an everyday reason for red on the left (could that be hot?) and blue on the right (cold?) if you don’t get your plumbing mixed up….. but there’s a whole nother world of red vs. blue out there.

Who knew?

That for a three button mouse, the left mouse button is the “red” button,, and the right-mouse button is the blue button. The one in the middle is yellow, but you don’t really need to know that.

That Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles is a machinima comic science fiction series distributed primarily through the Internet and DVD by Rooster Teeth Productions (who has created videos, some under commission from Microsoft). The series chronicles two opposing teams of soldiers fighting a civil war in the middle of a desolate box canyon.

Oh, and you used to be able to order 3D anaglyph glasses with a red lense on the left and a blue lense on the right...the kind you need to wear when reading 3D comic books or watching a 3D movie. .but the company closed in 2004.

The real fun begins when you start linking red vs blue to the political parties…because the left wing has typically been considered Democrat politics, and the media has decided to color code the Democrat states red, while the states that are primariy Republican have been color coded blue- hence, the red on the left, blue on the right explanation. But this one is up for debate.....

So the next time someone randomly asks you when you think of red and blue or blue and red which one is on the left and which on is on the right..don’t think too long and hard about it. A quick trip to the bathroom and the faucet on the sink produced the likely answer, although Google has yet to give up the obvious answer. But I swear I have never noticed the thin red line on the left hot water facet, nor the thin blue line on the cold water faucet before this evening.

But if you want to take full advantage of how technology plays a role in all this red vs blue hot vs cold thing, then go to Equa System’s Light Delight http://www.equasystem.com/eng/index.htm to see how the color of your water varies according to its temperature..by using light.

Except in Africa, where blue means hot and red means cold…..

The Curiosity List

Okay, so I decided the things i am curious about need to be categorized. Does that sound weird? Because my brain is haivng a hard time keeping track of things. Maybe this is what happens as you get older..who knows? So here's what I have so far in no particular order:

1. People..I am curious about people; there are things I wonder about...


2. Learning...I wonder if it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks and how long that will take? Can we still learn what we wanted to learn when we were younger?


3. Places....So there are some places I just want to visit, see, explore. Some are close to home, others are not...


4. Sports..I wonder about a lot of things here..rules, players, venues, schedule, history, etc..
5. Technology...what's new, what' s happening, but most of all, how do you do that? And my favorite....whywon't this work?
6. Self....why, why, why...the list is long, but not impossible..first up: FOCUS

So these things I wonder about...and of course under each category there are specifics, but we're not going there today.

So how do you.....?

I want to know how to do it myself. I am impatient by nature, and I do not want to wait around for someone to fix things so that I can move on with my life. In the same respect, sometomes it takes me an incredible amount of time to try to figure it out by myself.

I used to be shy. I used to sit, quietly, trying not to bother anyone, hoping noone would notice me. But as I got older, I figured out that wasn't gonna get me very far. So now, I figure out what I want and I find a way to do it.

I have lots of questions....how do you do this? How do you do that? It takes patience and practice to learn something new and you need time to practice, practice practice. Sometimes we do not want to follow our own advice. Sometimes, we try to take on too many new things at once, then the practice time needs to be divided up into very small chunks. It's better to tackle a couple new tasks and learn to do them well.

And keep a notebook. Write everthing down. Categorize it and refer to it often. My notebook needs some new categories that are not work or technology related...things like recipes, quotes, practical advice, golf, shopping, and people, yes, people. Oh and websites, but that's why I have de.lic.ious.

Learning new things is good for the brain. I have a list of new things I want to learn and do. The problem is, many of the the things I need to learn in order to get stuff done are not on the list....and I didn't know what I didn't know....and that's a lot.

So every day begins with, how do you.....? What do you want to know how to do today?

Where Are All The People? And other questions.....

So upon returning from the Lone Star State I came up with a plan for all future travel. Take time to study maps, points of interest, and information in general, if you can. I did that, to a degree, but evidently I did not go to the right website. Last night, in an attempt to defend and further explain the deserted streets of downtown Texas I, once again, Googled Houston, Texas. Google Maps, and http://www.visithoustontexas.com. Bingo!It takes some digging around, but when you click on Special Offers and then click on the Houston Neighborhoods link...this is where all my questions (well not ALL my questions) were answered.

Evidently, if you're downtown during the week...which we were...the streets appear deserted! (Did I say that?) It is not a figment of my imagination..it's for real!! Everyone is UNDERGROUND! That's right, there's a 6.3 mile UNDERGROUND TUNNEL network connecting office buildings with all the sidewalk stuff you usually find in largewr cities such as New York and Boston. I wish I had known that! How bizarre, but how perfectly rational.

My friend compared Houston to Montreal ( the Galleria); little did we know how much like Montreal it really was.

On another note, there are a lot of Apple fans in Houston. HP's headquarters is also located in Houston. The Apple store did come through for us. Not so impressed with MacEdge in Portsmouth. I wonder what qualifications you need to become an authorized Apple reseller.?..obviously you do not need to be a rocket scientist...which, by the way, according to Iaonnis Maoulis, President of the Boston Museum of Science, there is no such thing as. If you design rockets, you are an aerospace engineer. Cool.

One last karmic thought... how random is it to call a 1-800 number to activate a credit card and to hear "You have reached Microsoft's Technical Blah, blah, blah " on the other end of the phone? Someone is definitely keeping track of things around here....

Missing Anything?

So for those of you who have had the pleasure of traveling with me, you know I have a hard time keeping track of my stuff. I make a list, I pack, I organize, and then, presto, it's gone! Subconsciously I am not aware of where I put stuff, because my head is off somewhere else. My brain just doesn't pay that much attention to what my body is doing.

So, they say things happen in three's, and it's true. Number one: I arrive at the hotel in Houston and go to get my camera. Which is not in my computer bag, nor is it in my back pack. Nope, it is in the seat back pocket of Continental Airlines 7flight 374 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. Or on its way to some exotic location....without me. Damn. No camera. That sucks. But I can deal, because for some reason unkown to me I have taken the SD card out of the camera and it is safe.

Number 2: Day 2 of the conference and I have spent time with Alan November, of November Learning, the President of the Boston Museum of Science, and this really cool science teacher from Colorado. I have handouts and have taken copious notes. I have tagged my pages and marked the sessions I want to attend. Somewhere between buying a T-shirt, getting my picture taken in an astronaut suit and visiting the Women's Room, I have managed to misplace my session book. Nowhere. I retrace my steps..."Did you happen to find a book laying around?" "Yes, is this it?" "Nope," Boy, a lot of misplaced session books....everyone I asked had a book someone had left behind, but none of them were mine. Damn. All those notes.

"You do know things happen in threes," my friend said over dinner. "Are you sure you haven't misplaced anything else?" "Nope, I don't think so....but I don't know." How would I know? If I knew I misplaced something, it wouldn't be misplaced, right? I started imagining I had lost my ipod..."Where is it?" I think I left it in the car. "Where's my thumb drive?" I must've left it in a pocket..."Have you seen my room key?" AHHHHH!!

Number 3: So we're in the airport at the gate and I am looking through my computer bag. No laptop power cord. "I'm sure you have it, don't worry," my friend says. "I don't remember packing it," I say. "It'll turn up," she says. "When you get home and unpack everything, I'm sure you'll find it." I don't feel sure.

Today I am home. I unpacked everything and put things away. I emptied the computer bag, the Hawaiin backpack on wheels, and the Samsonite. I no longer have to worry about the third missing item. Back in room 372AB at the George Brown Convention Hall in Houston, Texas, you will find my power cord. The session book? No clue, but someone got some good notes. And the Kodak? I'm still hoping to have my faith in humanity restored....in some airport, somewhere, someone has turned in a black camera case to Continental Airlines Customer Service, where the item has been logged into the computer system with the hundreds of other items that get left behind every day. Missing anything lately?

How Lucky Do You Feel?

So, it is Friday night and there have been some more interesting moments in Houston. The AC is fixed...that's great...and the cookies have changed to chocolate with pink m & m's...The highway navigational system is still a mystery, and it must be some sort of divine intervention that has us arriving exactly where we thought we wanted to be. Like last night we got caught on the wrong highway, headed in the wrong direction, and miraculously ended up at a fantastic Steakhouse called Saltgrass, where we were introduced to the local brew- Shiner Bock. It's cheap and delicious...kinda like Sam Adams. Which, when we asked our waiter if they had any local brews on tap he replied...I think we have Sam Adams!! And we were like, "That' s from Boston!" So Shiner it was. And from our booth in the corner, we had a delightful view of none other than Talbot's Outlet! Cool, huh?

After our meal, we felt revived. We just had to head back to the Galleria in Uptown to the Lucky Brand Store to shop for comfy jeans. Once again, it was the miracle navigator that led us to the Orange parking garage (free!) and brought us upstairs into the world of Jimmy Choo, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, and Caroline Herrera. Past the ice rink and the Christmas tree, past the Apple Store, and Dylan's Kandy Bar, to our favorite store in the world ...Lucky Jeans. There we were treated to exceptional service and a dozen pairs of jeans hand picked for us to try on.

However, our luck ran out...the store did not have the jeans we wanted in our size, so off we went, without any packages!! We somehow managed to find our way back to Bell Street. Thank goodness for the red glowing roof of the Toyota Center across from our hotel It is like a beacon in the night.

Today brought more excitement and adventure as we headed back to the convention center in search of inspiration. After a morning of sessions and 1 lost program book,(Where did I leave that?) we walked down the street to the local Houston Astros Sports Bar and Grill across the street from Minutemaid Park. It was a great break,in an interesting venue. I even scored an autographed Kevin Youkalis baseball!

No luck scoring a massage, facial or pedicure appointment at the Hilton, however, so back to the conference we walked, for the remainder of the afternoon. Tonight we get ready for the main event. Our handouts are being copied and will be waiting for us at Kinkos. Our room is equipped with a sound system and a screen. All systems are a go. Just sitting around trying to decide where to try our luck tonight....

Ahh, Houston, We Have a Question.....

SO here we are, sitting in our hotel room, looking up random shit.Today was our first full day in the Lone Star State, as we await the National Middle School Annual Conference.and we managed to avoid trouble. I don't really know how....but we did. We managed to make our way to Galviston, which is an island, and back again, and got curious about a whole bunch of things which we are finding the answers to right now. Like, "Why is Texas called the Lone Star State? It's not as bad as Missouri, which is the "Show Me State." We are wondering if it has anything to do with the single star on the Texas flag. According to the boy Scouts..that's exactly why Texas is called the Lone Star State.

So another question we had was who plays at Reliant Stadium now that the Houston Astros play at Minutemaid Park? We were all around Reliant Stadium- home of the Houston Astrodome-way cool. Even cooler is Rice Village on the campus of Rice University. We spent some time on retail therapy this afternoon, hangin' out at Lot # 8, the boutique made famous by Project Runway winner Chloe.

And since we are right across the parking lot from the Toyota Center, we were wondering what was happenin there last night? Well, sure enough it was the Houston Rockets vs the San Antonio Spurs. Lots of Toyota stuff around here. Lots of One Way streets, too. Oh, oh. How many times can you go the wrong way down a one way street in an afternoon? Too many. Too confusing. Is this one way? Is it two way? Whcih way can you go? AHHHHHHH!

So on the way back to the mainland from Galveston we were hoping to head out to Houston Space Center, but we somehow missed the exit. Next thing you know we see a massive Mercedes car dealership with the name "Alex Rodriguez" on the side of the building. Large, really large. "Hey! I just asked my husband who A Rod used to paly for and he said he thought it was Texas. Do you think?......Nah......That is just way too coincidental." Sure enough, A Rod himself owns that baby. We're going back there to take a few pictures, for sure. Maybe I'll wear my Dustin Pedroia World Series T Shirt.

So we still have a few questuons to answer...and lots more exploring to do. Today was about getting online, setting up the projector, syncing my ipod on the macbook, setting up messenger on the macbook, converting the wmv file to quicktime, and shopping. And lots of shopping.

After a day and a half in Houston, the room AC is crap, the bed's ok, the cookies are good, the pool overlooks the parking lot and the freeway, the closest restaurant is Chinese or Vietnamese, and we have finally managed to learn our way around the block. Tomorrow morning we check in and check out our room to see if we have audio..then it's off to the office Store. Still to come..the Boot Store. We are, after all, in Texas.

Call it Fate...call it Karma

Things happen for a reason...it's just hard to know what that reason is sometimes. It all depends on your karmic history. Prarabda Karma....destiny or manifest free will. Some things are destiny..and no matter what we do we cannot change what is destined to happen. To change is to get rid of the past karma that has predetermined habits. Unless those patterns are changed, we will continue to repeat the same actions again and again. More yoga. And be careful about your current actions..because they will determine the karma for your future lives.. Our future karma is created by the people we associate with...which in turn guide our actions.

So everything happens for a reason...but we can only see into our own backyard. Yesterday....one coincidence(?) after another....and it might seem like nothing, but it began with a simple choice. And all the pieces fell together like pieces of a puzzle that some divine being was trying to guide into place.

More choices will have to be made. Listen to your inner voice and be at peace with your decisions, knowing that some decisions have already been made for you.

Call it fate......it is Karma.

It's Never as SImple as it Seems.....

So my civic duty has ended...for now. The jury has spoken and it was not the "fun" experience everyone told me to have. You cannot predict these things in life, but you learn you can deal with them. Simple assault is not really simple. Reaching a verdict in 5 minutes does not mean it was easy. And it definitely was not fun. The entire process was interesting and unique, unlike anything I've ever experienced. It is not entirely unlike TV.

So the unanimous verdict-guilty. Reached in about 5 minutes. We waited for another 5 minutes before we called the bailiff, cuz it seemed like we reached it too quickly. The bailiff escorted us back into the courtroom where the Jury Foreman was asked the question,"What say the Jury? Does the Jury find the defendent guilty or not guilty?"
"Guilty, your honor." Done. We had to go back to our room for about 20 minutes, then the judge came to see us. "What took you so long?" He laughed. The verdict was obvious to him. "Don't you want to know what he got?" Well sure...."Well, the maximum is 12 months... so what do you think I gave him?"
"12 months?"
"Yes, 12 months. He has prior assaults......" Geeze. We did the right thing. And we knew it right away. What a creep.

Three more days to Houston. Did I mention I'm not sure WIndows VIsta Moviemaker makes the grade? There are less options manipulating the audio level between clips and audio clips...and after working about 2 hours the other night, my video stopped working altogether. Nothing, nadda, a black screen. Hope it comes back.

Oh and evidently, Keynote acts a lot like Powerpoint when it comes to saving files and saving a presentation, only more so. Powerpoint can usually find your files if they are saved locally on the machine in their own folder. With Keynote, however, you need to actually save your image folder in the presentation folder in order for Keynote to find them! A couple hours of useless searching of discussion groups and voila.....let's try this and se if it works...it does!!

Lots of questions answered this week....but the week's not really over yet, is it? And I still have a new Dell computer in the box. Think I'm gonna go by a connector to suck the data off my old hard drive onto my new Dell. Maybe not today, though. Today is Multimedia Moviemaking Day.

3 days to Houston.

Countdown to Houston...5 more days

Isn't everything bigger in Texas? So we're off to Houston to the National Middle School Association Annual Conference where we will present "Lights, Camera, Action!" to Middle School teachers on Saturday. Of course in order to present a workshop on "How to use Moviemaker" we had to get new toys!! Hence the new Vista install, and the new Macbook. We're hoping to buy a new projector, too. So....the conference in Connecticut was the warm up act.... We now have our act together, and the Keynote presentation is smashing!! No wonder Macs are so popular!! I am trying really hard not to run to the store to buy my Macbook Pro until I, at the very least, open up the brand new Dell that is sitting on my office floor. Yes, I got it aweek ago and it is still in the boxes:(

So while we've been slaving at night to get the documentation and notes finished, I came across some fantastic websites that actually answered the questions in my Presentation From Hell post. The best sight for Moviemaker users is: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net website. Pretty much it is everything you ever wanted to know about Windows Moviemaker, both the XP version and the Vista version. There are forums for EVERYTHING including posts by users named Rehan and Swami who are constantly creating new Moviemaker transitions and effects to download.

One very cool website I found filled with tons of links and ideas as well as downloads is: http://movies.blainesville.com/ Who knew you could do all this cool stuff with moviemaker...a free program?

Another avid moviemaker is Papajohn who you can find hangin' out at http://www.papjohn.org


Well, the answer to the movie that plays audio but no video, is codecs. Codec is short for compression/decompression. I found the answer to my question and a ton of useful information on the MSDN website, (Microsft Developer Network) including the Microsoft Photoblog http://blogs.msdn.com/pix/archive/2007/03/21/movie-maker-vista-file-format-support.aspx

One thing I learned is that just because the format is supported, doesn't mean the codec is installed on the machine There are hundreds of codecs. One of the most popular video formats is AVI..but AVI is not a codec , but a container for a wide range of video codecs! It's all a bit confusing. If you go to Microsoft's Windows Media Player faq page http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/codec.mspx you can get an explanation that maybe you can understand.

So that's all for now....I need to go make a movie, and hope that all my codecs are installed. I wish I had this information a year ago! If i had known everyone else was as confused as I was, and that there really is no magic answer, I would have felt a lot better.

The questions just never go away, do they.?..They kind of multiply and take on a life of their own. Some questions are easy and the answers are simple. Sometimes you think you have the right question, but as you look for the answer your question reinvents itself. And sometimes you discover questions you never knew you had.....put it on the clipboard...it will never really go away.

New England Fan-tasies

So enough about technology.Who has time to get those questions answered with so many New England teams dominating the October weekend? There were a few sports related questions that came up this weekend, however, so it's all good. And, thanks to technology, we not only found the answers to our quetsions...we found an example!!
So, believe it or not, the first question that came up while watching The New England Patriots and Tom Brady on Saturday was, "How many forward passes can a team make?" Thank goodness I happen to live with a real football official! How lucky is that? ANd the answer to my question was, "As long as the pass is a lateral pass, (meaning not forward...side to side or behind the passer)then you can make as many passes as you want....so anyone who watched ESPN or any other news station including utube SUnday morning knows where I'm going..right?

How about that Trinity University College team making 15 lateral passes to win the game with 11 seconds on the clock. Who knew? In case you missed it, here's a link to the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eeEy060qrA
See for yourself!!

And then there was the Coors Field Humidore question...why are the baseballs kept in a humidore? Isn't that something for cigars? And what differnece does it make? Judging by how many hits the Red Sox got at Coors Field the last 2 days, I really don't think the humidore made that much of a difference.

And who is the tallest Red Sox player? I think it's Mike Timlin, but maybe it's Papelbon...Papelbon definitely has some added hair height. Maybe Timlin just looks taller because of his knickers and knee socks. But at 6'5" it's Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling who are the biggest boys on the team....

Anyways, the Patriots crushed the Redskins...and what about Randy Moss? Maybe he was just looking for the perfect quarterback. Will anyone even give the Patriots competition this year?? That's the big question.

So thank goodness for a laptop and the internet when those sports questions come up. Because goodness knows some questions just need to be answered.

Part 2: Maybe we can get a connector from the Apple guys

So where was I? On our way to Connecticut in the Tacoma with maybe 4 hours sleep. The keynote presentation is working great! The Dell notebook has a not so cool version on powerpoint just in case.... I am driving.

Not even 10 minutes into our jaunt I get something in my eye and we need to pull off the highway because I literally cannot open my eye and it's getting worse by the second. Bad karma....So after dowsing my eye with bottled water and wiping the streaky makeup off, we're off.

Great commute! Good karma...we get to the Convention Center in just about 2 and a half hours and pull into the parking garage. It is nearly 10:00. Almost 4 hours after registration. First level Full. Up to the second level. Full. How do you get to the third level? Is there a third level? Round and round we go. "Haven't we been down this section already?" Back down to the first level....to the Parking Garage Office. "You need to go all the way up to the roof." Great. Round and round we go.....Bad karma. Up to the roof, where twenty minutes after we arrived, we park and lug our shit to the elevator.

To the registration desk.....to our room....we have a mic and a sound system. Good karma!! Let's go hang out and relax in the Presenter's Lounge. How do we get there? No signs....up the escalator...down the escalator....back up the escalator...Let's ask this guy!! Back down the escalator..around the corner...there it is. Through the Boardroom Door. Not a lounge. A Boardroom, with a table and chairs and drinks. Is that chocolate on your pants? Bad karma....

Thank goodness for the Tide Stainstick!! Let's go online....no IP....more bad karma. This is why you need to bring a digital camera with you EVERYWHERE you go.

Okay, so let's go to the Exhibition Hall. Apple's here, maybe they can answer our Keynote questions!! Right. No answers there, sorry..Too big a room, not enough people. We were the only ones wandering aimlessly looking for cool stuff. Vendors huddled over their laptops ignoring us...bad karma.

Killing time....let's go get set up. Into the Big room with the Big screen ,the podium, the sound system, the projector with the cable for a pc...not a mac. Crap. Let's call Tech Support. Maybe the Apple guys have a cable! We are, after all, at a tech conference....

So my colleague leaves, and I get my not so cool powerpoint set up, and once I figure out which outlet to plug the speakers into I have Outback Popstar wafting through the room out into the hallway. 10 minutes to show time.....5 minutes to go.....and suddenly this really nice guy comes up to me and says he' s going to get me connected to the internet. "But I don't need the Internet for my presentation, " I say. But I think it must be like when you call for an ambulance and they have to take you to the hospital anyways, cause he insited on helping me set up my wireless connection. Then he whipped out his directions to get my colleague's macbook set up too!!
"Click Keynote" he says....nope, that's not it..." Click File" Nope that's not it....1:00 now, no Marcy. People are wandering in , grabbing handouts, grabbing seats, "Got it!" It' s the Apple. Great. No Marcy. Where the heck is she? What time is it? Almost 1:10...

"Okay, let's get started!" The presentation from hell begins....

Well...the Apple guys...nowhere, pretty useless...the CWD Guy enthusiastically offered a cabel from his car, only to return without it, sorry. No cool Keynote. Only Powerpoint. Not bad, somewhat entertaining. We definitely needed some retail therapy after that one. You know the Master Card commercial? Stopping at the mall to buy comfortable clothes and shoes to change into .....and changing in the truck in the parking lot...priceless.

Have I got questions!!

Alright...so the last two and a half days have been a lesson in perserverence, exhaustion, problem solving and patience. Some questions have been answered...some problems have been solved, and some questions are being put on the clipboard for now.

It all began with Jury Duty again on Monday. So what happens if you actually get to go into the courtroom to be a part of the selection process? All rise please, for the Judge. The Judge explains the case and reads a list of questions, to which you must ask yourself....is my answer "yes" to any of these? If your answer is yes, and they pull your name out of the little wooden box, then you must say "Yes" when the Judge asks if there is any reason why you cannot be on the jury. Nine names selected....safe so far...then they pulled my name. "Yes" I said. "Please approach the bench," the judge said. "Judge, I am to present at a technology conference in Connecticut tomorrow...AND I know one of the lawyers."

"You're excused." As I nervously walked toward the back of the courtroom to escape, I really wasn't thinking about much except, "Phew..that was close."

The court clerk blocking the door simply stood there and waited for me to get right up close to him before he said,"You have to stay."

"Right, oops, sorry.." as I scurried back to my seat.

I was in such a hurry to get the heck out of there, I was halfway home before I realized I had left my new book, The PHOTOCOACH, back in the Jury Assembly Room. GRRRRR!!! All the way back to the courthouse, back through the metal detector with my shoes in my hand because they set off the detector every time. Up the stairs, with the guard who unlocks the door because everyone has gone to lunch, into the room where my book is right where I left it. Phew again.

So night time arrives, and my colleague and I prepare to finalize our presentation for the CECA/CEMA Conference at the Hartford Convention Center the next day. We were using a powerpoint presentation we had done once before, with revisions, however.I had my snazzy new operating system, and she had her slick new macbook. And the macbook was running xp as well. So 4 operating systems. 2 Notebooks. 2 presentation softwares.

Let the fun and games begin. Inserting movie and audio files into powerpoint is no small feat on a day when you are rested and ready to go. It is a challenge when you have put in a 10 hour day, and you still have a few hours to go. Let's remember the trick about powerpoint-all the files associated with the project have to be saved in the same location as the powerpoint in order to play properly.

Question # 1: Why doesn't my movie play? It was playing the last time I opened the presentation.
Question # 2: Why is there audio but no video when I click my movie?
Question # 3: Why is there no audio on this podcast?
Question # 4: Should I convert the file from wmf back to quicktime...back to wmf?
Question # 5: Should I convert the video to avi?mp4?mov?
Question # 6: How can I get this to advance to the next slide? The movie keeps playing over, and over when I click it.."
Question # 7: Can you import avi files into powerpoint?
Question# 8: Can you import mov files into keynote?

Some of the random answers we came up with:
Let's make a movie of the podcast and trick powerpoint into thinking it's a movie.
Let's use moviemaker to make a movie of the slide show and then import it into 1 slide.
I know..let's not save the project and just leave the macbook plugged in and the project open until we present...

10 pm..still not working...11pm...still not working. I am knapping on the couch at this point. "Why don't you just stay here tonight?" Did I mention registration for the conference began at 6:30 am??? The next morning. In Hartford. Three hours away.

SO now it's midnight. We don't really know if the project is saved...because the macbook needed to be shut down. The notebook with vista, meanwhile, had a close second to the cool keynote presentation, but not as slick. But it was saved, and would work in the event of a macbook disaster.

"I'm going home for a few hours sleep," my colleague said. "I'll be back at 5am to take a shower and get ready." Did I mention she had no hot water at her house?

So at 5:30 am I awoke to dim headlights in my driveway." Did you sleep in my driveway?" I asked. "No, but I really wanted to stay up all night and come back into your house and finish the presentation. But I was afraid I would scare you."

When the macbook booted up and the keynote presentation opened...it all came together and worked like a charm....EXCELLENT! "Let's bring both, just in case...... by 7am we were on our way to Connecticut to present at their regional technology conference armed with our 2 laptops, 2 presentations, 4 operating systems and a couple of portable speakers...just in case.

Tomorrow....stay tuned to more blogging about the Presentation From Hell.

Weird Things a Happenin'

So a few weeks ago I had a friend partition my hard drive and load Windows Vista. What fun! It was like having a new computer, but I still had my old XP inside my notebook. I got my updates loaded, reinstalled several programs, and transferred my Outlook files, and was ready to go.

I use an extended desktop with my notebook, my notebook being my primary display on the left, with my moniter on the right. So there I was typing away..trying to keep up with email, web pages, and Im'ing my people. My typing, I must confess, is pretty awful, but it is legible. However, as I looked at my moniter, I couldn't believe my eyes! I can only describe what was flying off my fingers onto the screen as utter gibberish. As I was typing, my curser would move to random locations on the screen so that words became muddled with letters, and sentences became nonsensical.

AHHHH! I thought it was me. I thought it was my keyboard. I thought it was my mouse. My friend insisted it was me. "You must bve doing it. You must be hitting your touch pad while you type. mybe it's the heat from your hand..."????
"Really?" That's weird...it ONLY happens in Vista, not in XP." So I tried typing REALLY slowly.....I tried typing REALLY carefully...delete, backspace, delete. Crap.

SO after a few days of frustration and gibberish, I decided to do a little investigating. I can't be the only one who is experienceing this problem! Can I?
Sure enough, I entered the electronic world of Vista discussion boards and random postings of weird Vista happenings. I was not alone. Someone even went so far as to post a video of their whacky keyboard on utube. Lots of whacky and weird keyboard happenings with Vista, it seems.

Well, it took some digging, but I discovered an updated touch pad driver would solve the problem. To the Dell website...to the driver update...voila. No more weirdness.......for at least a day. Stay tuned for more Vista weirdness.....

Techno-difficulties

So every day there are these annoying little technological discrepancies that slow me down. One really big annoyance was my Geneva Logic classroom management software program, Vision ,which in theory, should make my job easier. The program is designed to allow a computer lab teacher to monitor students from one station, or to demonstrate a lesson or prevent web surfing. Since upgrading to version 6.1 last Fall this program has not performed the way it should, and so I ask why?

"It must be something you're doing. Change your settings. You just need to play around with it,blah,blah,blah."

Why can't I connect to my students' computers? Why can't I see what's on their screen? Why can't I take control of their screens What am I doing wrong?

"I'm sorrry boys and girls," I would say,"this program is supposed to enable me to demonstrate this concept."

And as precious minutes tick by, I click, and click, and give up, exasperated once again.

Until this summer when I attended the National Education and Computing Conference and I ran into the Geneva Logic guys and I told them about their crappy product thatI used to love. "We've fixed that!" They excalimed. "You need to run the upgrade and you'll be happy."
"Are you sure?" I asked, "because right now I'm ready to throw my computer out the window!"
"Yes, " they promised."We know that version was full of bugs. We got rid of the team that developed that version and we completely scrapped it and started over."
So
And so today was the day I got to see the new and improved version of Geneva Logic's Vision program, finally, and my question was answered. I can now connect and disconnect and monitor and control with confidence. It wasn't me after all!

This question took a very long time to answer, and required perserverence. So if you know you have a good product but it just ain't happening for you....try, try again. And if you're lucky, you'll run into someone who has the inside scoop. Thanks Geneva Logic guys.

Today I got my questions answered.

So today I reported for Jury Duty. I had a lot of questions; fortunately most of them got answered. When I arrived at the courthouse I was greeted by a metal detector and of course the alarm went off. The old guy with the wand scanned my shoes and I was good to go. Looking around, I was obviously late, as noone else seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. So I got the letter out of my pocketbook that said to report to the court officer upstairs.

Once upstairs, I was directed into the Jurors Assmembly Room, where over a hundred potential jurors were sitting, standing, leaning, reading, and yawning. I looked around and spotted a chair between two people, and had a seat. Shortly we were ushered into the courtroom where the Clerk o fthe Court spoke to us, followed by the Judge. For 90 minutes we were given a lesson on the county court system. Let me say, it is better than it used to be, I guess, but it is still pretty archaic.

The Judge who spoke to us does not believe in cell phones or the Internet. So much for those of us with a short attention span. I started to get antsy after about an hour, and I don't really remember much that was said after that. The judge explained the difference between the courts, the cases, and what our responsibilities would be. He also said we could not take notes. "It's not rocket science, people. Most cases are only 2-3 days long. You just need to pay attention." Great.

So we were finally given the Jurors' Oath and ushered back into the Assembly room where the Clerk of the Court asked anyone that had questions to remain behind. That's me! I had a question! I wasn't going to ask, but since they made it so easy, I decided to stay. We were asked to get into a line, and one at a time we had to walk up to the Clerk and ask our question or state our problem.

When it was my turn, I approached the Clerk and asked if it would be possible for me to attend a conference I am supposed to be presenting at next week. Not a problem! If I am selected, all I need to do is let them know I cannot be there that day. Question answered.

Lots of my questions and concerns were answered today and I learned a lot. But the day is not yet over.....