im weighing offer from apple

I'm weighing an offer from Apple

So it's a complicated situation but I want to keep everyone in the

loop. Bottom line is I've received an overture from the Mothership

with a mention of a Think Secret type settlement if I'll stop

impersonating Dear Leader on the Web. Nothing nailed down at this

point but frankly, honestly, I'm tempted to just take it. I've had a

wonderful time doing this blog and have made some great new friends

and I'd miss doing it. Also, in my case there are other parties

involved, most notably my sponsor, with whom I have a contract to keep

doing the blog. That's why I say it's a complicated situation.

Discussions will continue and I probably won't be able to disclose

what we're talking about. Until things get worked out I'll be posting

sporadically at best. To all of you who celebrate Christmas I wish you

a happy holiday. To everyone else, enjoy the time off. Spend time with

your loved ones. Turn off your computer. Remember what's important.

Little hint: It ain't this. Peace out to all, and to all a good night.

alls fair in love and russian computer

All's Fair in Love and Russian Computer Labs

That's right. Getting a computer in the lab is some tricky business.

You have go hunting, stalk your prey carefully, and pounce at the

first possible opportunity.

Okay, so last week was - interesting. The RSL intensive continued, so

I had Russian classes every day from 9:30 until 1:00. Then in the

afternoon and evenings, we had the academic class. Classes only meet

once a week in Russian - but they meet for a very long time. Each

class period is broken into two 1 hour and 30 minute sections with a

twenty minute break in between. So on Tuesday and Friday, I had RSL in

the morning and then other classes until 8 in the evening. It was fun,

let me tell you. And exhausting. And thus, you see, a lack of updates

regarding my life.

Incidently, Galya - my entirely awesome host grandmother - thought

that this schedule was ridiculous, unmanageable, and I thought for a

minute that she was going to call Bryan and inform him that she

thought just that. The word babushka doesn't work for Galya - all the

connotations are wrong. For one thing, she really isn't very old -

early sixties at the most. She reminds me a lot of how Anna was when I

was little. She's very active, independent, funny, and I would not

want to cross her. She doesn't know much English, but she doesn't mind

repeating herself and rephrasing things until I understand - or

resorting to gesturing.

I like my host family (even the psychotic dog is beginning to let me

befriend it), but its difficult readjusting to living in a family

situation. I'm too used to being on my own and taking care of myself.

I didn't manage to convince my host mom - who isn't a morning person -

that I could boil water to make myself coffee in the morning (all

coffee is instant coffee - it makes me sad) for about a week. She gave

in when I needed to leave quite early last Sunday morning for a group

excursion, but for the previous week, she'd get up, fix me some sort

of breakfast, and then go back to bed. My nine-year-old host sister

has started back to school now, so the past week she was up getting

Nastya off to school anyway. However, I'm allowed to do most of my own

laundry - my host mom takes care of the settings on the incredibly

complicated washing machine, but I get to sort, hang up, and put away

my own clothes.

I also have to remember to give my host mom an idea as to where I'm

going and when I'll be back, or else she'll get worried. Very

different from the past three years of dorm life. At the same time,

it's not like being at home - she doesn't care if I'm going to stay

out late (or all night) she just wants to know what my plans are. For

one thing, you really can't stay out late in Maury County - what's to

do? The times I've been out late were the result of going to visit

family or friends and talking until the wee hours of the morning.

Here, there's plenty of things to do, and after a certain point you

have to just spend the whole night out. The Metro stops running at

midnight, and the bridges to the islands from the mainland go up to

allow ships through around 1:30 or 2 and don't go back down until 5 am

or so, so if you go out, you'll probably wind up staying out if you

live on one of the islands. Thus, I got in at 6 am this morning after

going out with a group of girls from the program. Which wasn't a

problem for my host mom - since I had told her that I was going out.

(Actually, I think she was happy that I went out, I think she worries

that I study too much.) And, when all is said and down, walking from

the metro station to the apartment is probably safer at 6 am than it

2007_03_01_archive

Life-Long Computer Skills

In one of my favorite blogs to read "The Blue Skunk Blog" by Doug

Johnson he shares a list of life-long computer skills written by Jacob

Nielson. Here they are:

o Search strategies, like forming good queries and judging relevance

of results

o Weighing the credibility of online information

o Techniques for dealing with information overload

o Writing hyperlinked online text

o Computer presentation skills (nip bad PowerPoint habits in the bud!)

o Workplace ergonomics

o Debugging -- not the heavy-duty stuff, but the logical process of

tracking down errors

o Usability basics, for making informed decisions on a product's ease

of use

This makes SO MUCH sense to me. Rather than teaching how to do

PowerPoint it makes sense to focus on what is a good presentation!

What would you add or subtract from this list?

I want to add asking good questions and using the power of the

computer to find the answers.

Janice

Labels: change, johnson, technology

posted by janice at 7:26 AM 0 comments links to this post

Computers in Classrooms (observations of a sub)

I haven't written for a while about my observations of how computers

are used as I go through many schools as a substitute. That is mainly

because it is basically all the same. So far I have seen three levels

of use:

1. The computers are off most of the time. I suppose they are

occasionally used as a reward.

2. The computers are used as a center. In the best cases the

computers are set up with a certain website and the students have

instructions for what to do. (Starfall and FunBrain are common

sites). It is hard to tell when I am subbing what is really

expected and done on a normal day.

3. In one third grade classroom the computers were not all set up in

one corner or along one wall. They were placed in different

"reading nooks" around the room and it was clear that they were

used for writing because of typed pages and other things showing

around the classroom.

I have also observed how hard it is to use them well. There is so much

going on in a classroom and so much that a teacher needs to be

thinking about. Adding to that whether students are using the

computers well can be overload. We really need to help teachers to use

these powerful tools in ways that promote learning. The center

approach is a step in the right direction. At least they are being

used and everyone gets a chance. But have you ever sat next to a kid

doing one of those games and observed what they are really learning?

In so many of them they have a choice to rack up points somehow and

they figure out how to do it without reading or doing any math. They

are developing some skills, but different ones than most teachers

think they are developing.

Right now I am thinking that if I was in the classroom very early in

the year.... maybe in the first week of school, I would sign up for a

simple online project that would motivate the kids and help them to

learn about using the computer. It might be something that we mostly

do with the whole class like an email project that we send letters as

a class. Then as the year went on I would look for ways to use the

computer for projects that support the curriculum. If a classroom has

5 computers some sharing will have to happen. It might be a centers

approach... or maybe like the Inspired Classrooms approach. But it is

all SOOOOO far from what is happening in most classrooms that I just

that is what computer said

That is what the computer said

On the way to school today I had a near death experience. I was

waiting at a stoplight. As soon as the light turned green I promptly

stepped on the gas. I was running late for my 8am class. Suddenly, a

large yellow school bus roared through the intersection from the

street to my right. It nearly scrapped my front bumper. Obviously, the

school bus ran a red light since I had a green light. I don't need any

direct evidence. It is proof by common sense. Everybody knows that is

the way a stoplight works. My reasoning may seem silly, but we have

learned to trust computers, almost to the point that we don't think

for ourselves.

The other day while surfing the net I came across an interesting

story: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3772215. Basically, a man

at an Indian casino wins $1.6 million from a slot machine. The problem

is that the slot machines are supposedly programmed with a maximum

payout of $2,500. The casino has a sign near the slot machine

advertising this maximum payout. The casino management then tells the

man he really didn't win, there was a mistake.

I am pretty sure this guy won't get $1.6 million dollars. He was in a

tribal casino on sovereign tribal land and thus subject to their laws.

Ethically, I am not sure. I am the type of person that will own up to

a mistake. If I accidentally give someone an incorrect price, I will

apology to all my viewers computer

THE_URL:http://mydailymemories-divineblaze.blogspot.com/2007/11/apology-to-all-my-viewers-computer.html

THE_TITLE:Blogger: 404 Error - Page not found.

Blogger

Push-Button Publishing

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The requested URL was not found on this server. Please visit the

Blogger homepage or the Blogger Knowledge Base for further assistance.

smart computer rental internet and

Smart Computer Rental Internet and Course

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2005_10_01_archive

A new email:

"Hello,

I will be celebrating a 25 years anniversary alone I am sure.This Tue

the 25th of Oct is our big 25 years.

But,I don't know who I will be celebrating with...I or my husband..I

is his characters name on-line.

Lets just say that he took me out to buy a Diamond Ring tonight and I

ask him on the way home if it was to keep me away from him for the

weekend and he said,yes!..I said ok I can do that. He even took off

Mon and Tue,and any other time he would be excited to go to the

coast..He said No i don't want to go...

He can't sleep anymore all night long. He has been going to bed about

1 hour later or even 1 1/2 hour later,on a work night!..He gets up

around 4.00 as he says he can't sleep because he is dreaming of

work...NOT,He can't wait to get up to play this EverQuest game.

But,that is not the worst of it.His brother lives with us and has been

out of town on a work assignment. My husband sits there and plays 2

computers all at the same time. He plays his brothers character at the

same time,2 different computers.

He works,comes home and sits on his computer until bedtime. He

sleeps,wakes up,and plays his game. He plays from Fri evening about

5:00pm until 2:00 am, Sat morning. Then he is up on Sat morning about

5:30 and that is him sleeping in...

He then plays for 19 hours straight. Then he is up again at 5:30

am..and all the way until about 11:00 pm. Then the week starts all

over again.Yikes...I never thoughthe could be the one to become

addicted to anything...

The house has suffered,I mow the lawn!!Like one lady said,he is

nothing but a paycheck to me.But,I think he just doesn't understand

how it feels to me. He does not miss me that is apparent to me.

If it is not this game then it would be the TV.His 1st love was the TV

for the 1st 20 plus years of our marriage,now it is just the computer.

He talks to his game buddies more than to me ever.He has said to them

2 times as much as he has ever said to me..

I think there is a problem...I don't care if you put this

on-line..Maybe this is what it will take in order for him to see he

has a REAL PROBLEM.. Don't get me wrong,I know here he is and what he

is doing? But,does he know where I am and what I am doing? Does he

care?"

posted by J at 8:06 PM | 2 Comments Links to this post

This email arrived a while ago, but I felt somewhat uncomfortable

putting it up right then and there because it seemed so (too) raw...

"I am sitting here with tears running down my face. I have just

printed the basic papers required to file for divorce.

Divorce, my 2nd. First from an abusive raging alcoholic. 2nd? From a

once incredibly sweet, kind loving devoted husband who now spends

every waking minute playing EQ. I try to think back on when it all

went wrong... 2 years ago? 3 years ago? Probably even before that when

he was playing other games where they had weekends away for their

Quake tournaments. I thought he was young (he is younger than me) and

he would grow out of it. And in time it seemed he had. Until we moved

back to the States.... He picked up EQ again and so my story of sorrow

picks up here.

I had threatened divorce multiple times this year. He said he would

change. Said he would delete the game. Said he would cut back. Said he

would pay the bills on time. Understood that as my health problems

mounted and my health diminished that my ability to contribute to our

family income also greatly diminished. Knew I counted on him more and

more for support.

I feel trapped. I don't have a job, I don't have an income. We have

become seriously in debt. He still buys additional software packs -

"but they don't cost that much!" $29.95 here....again there. Pays our

bills constantly late - NOT because we didn't have the money, but

because he didn't bother to open up the bills until we get collection

notice calls and letters and I start nagging.

One of my extreme low points? 3 or so months ago, I coyly asked him if

he would join me in the bedroom as I was feeling romantic and hoped to

make love. His response? "Sorry, I can't right now". I asked why...he

said, "I have made arrangements to meet up with others on here"

referring I guess to his guild members.

Turned down for sex to play a computer game with strangers. What does

one tell themself - it's my fault? I've gained weight....my health is

bad, I don't contribute enough. It's so easy to blame myself. Even my

mother quickly jumps on the band wagon. You mustn't interest him

anymore. Why is he so bored with you?

..... I'm so depressed and disgusted and angry and sad and humiliated,

frustrated and bordering on hopeless. Where did our dreams go? Our

future, our mutual goals and hopes? He has no friends. He forgot his

mother's birthday.... He has become detached and cold. And I feel

numb.

Last night, angry beyond belief because I found out that he had just

paid our car insurance and it was due to lapse (the kicker - our car

is at the body shop due to his car accident a week ago) I got onto his

computer and deleted EQ. He had again promised me for days that he was

going to delete it. Refocus on our marriage, refocus on himself. Yet

there was the game still running nonstop on his computer.

And yet, tonight at 2am I find him playing EQ. He had of course

reinstalled it. Told me that sometimes he needs to have downtime and

will be playing the game. I said, well then I guess I will proceed

with filing for divorce. He just grunted and kept playing. Now I am

only worth grunt responses.

And so here I sit. A prior alcohol and drug abuse counselor, knowing

that you can't make threats you don't intend to keep. You can't pour

out the alcohol just like you can't erase the computer game.

Tears stream down my face. I don't know where I will go. How I will

take care of myself. What I will do next. I honestly don't even know

if I care anymore.