Why I do what I do

So, here I am at home being jealous of all the people who went to NECC '09 in DC. I really enjoyed the two times I went to NECC (San Diego '06 and Atlanta '07). I had a wonderful time networking with people [no idea where most of the business cards are] and learning much from lots of sessions [don't know where the handouts are or even remember how to find them... wait...yes I do!]
Anyway, I was reading my Google Reader, the best link I have to the real [virtual] world and I came across a link to an Elluminate session.
Sweet! I can still be a part of NECC and still be apart from the physical action!
I logged in and listened to Shelly Blake-Plock talk about how he uses "Twitter as an Assessment Tool".
Crazy, huh?!
Thoroughly enjoyed it. I learned a few strategies on how to use Twitterfall, Twitter Search, and #hashtags [a Common Craft video about Twitter where hashtags are mentioned] work for me personally and professionally and for my students.
Cutting to the chase now.
I asked three questions. Don't remember what they were, but another participant [brueckj23] was asking some serious questions.
Who is this person and how can I network with him/her?
I copied the name into Google and up popped a link to Brueck Educational Innovations by Jeremy Brueck. I had to research more.
Saw this post and had to investigate.
WOW!
Can I say that again?
WOW!
He has a readable, followable, understandable, usable, and accessible wiki for using wikis, blogs, and Voicethread in the classroom.
I am considered by some in my district to be ahead of the game by using podcasting in my classroom, but I knew I could do more. And now I can!
As I listened to the UStream that he made during his presentation to Lorain City Schools PK-K teachers, I was hooked like a mosquito to a blue bug zapper! Harry, stop looking at it! I can't. Ittt isss soooo pretttyyy!
ZZZIIZZZ!!!
I could not stop looking at the resources that he created and thinking about how I could use the ideas in my classroom.
This has really energized me for the next 3 weeks before I report for Teacher In-service.
BTW, I'm now following him in Twitter and subscribed to his blog's RSS feed for my Reader!
Remember the first post of the summer? Yeah, not much has been done. Too lazy, but that is okay.
hmmmm....Maybe I WILL take my laptop to the beach and continue putting my lessons together.
Did you go to the links above? Good! If not, stop reading this, go and be enlightened, or re-enlightened, as I have been.

Great work Jeremy! Keep it up and I (we) will keep watching and learning with you.

Title/Linux report

I'm thinking about changing the title. Not sure what it might be or why I'd even change it, but I'm thinking about it. I'm even thinking about creating a poll to see what "jives" with me and you. Let me think about it.

No more news about my Linux project(s). Just reading SUSE Linux 10 for Dummies I got while at the library. Reading things I know and things I didn't know about Linux. Will have to make that a post when the boy is asleep. He is whining to get down and play.
Check back soon!

Hiding the.. It isn't there!

Well, for those of you who have a blogger blog know exactly what I'm talking about when I mention it.
The Navigation Bar at the top of the majority of blogs.
What good is it? Why is it there? Why does it need to be there?
Some say, it is there because it helps people browse blogs and find ideas, interesting tidbits, new people and blogs to follow. I say...(Self Edit) hmmmm... it is rubbish!
I don't need it there because I don't want you to go away to a RANDOM blog and get off track of what you are supposed to be doing. How nice of me? Well, thank you. I do what I reasonably can to help all my friends and family.
So some of you are wondering, "How did he get rid of that bar?" (Those of you who are not, may skip to the end.)
After I initially created the blog I wondered how to get rid of it. I knew I wanted my elementary students to use this as a resource... I'm wandering again...Here is the awesome site that I used to edit the code of the Blogger Widget Template I have. Hiding Top Navigation Bar in Blogger(Blogspot). It says it is written by a 15 year old Technoholic. Would not be surprised. I read through the section "Hiding ‘navigation bar’ in Blogger Widget template: and found the right spot to put the code. Then the 15-minute search began. Let me cut to the chase. The spot I needed to put the new code was near the end. I entered the code and BLAMMO! (too cartoonish?)
(END)
I have my new and improved blog template. Neat with no distractions other than what I give you!
Now off... wait... the boy needs tending to. Too bad I can't go into his code and take out the whining and fussy tags...

Indiscernible mumbling.

Oh! You're still reading! Ummm...Enjoy the new look and try tweaking your blog code, if you so desire. As always, let me know how I can help.

Now, where is that noise coming from....

Linux!

Well, here is the first of many posts about my excursion with Linux. Today, I tried to install openSUSE 10.3 onto an old computer in my office (Gateway tower). No luck. The CD was bad. Tried it on another computer to make sure. Yep, it was the CD.
So, I decided to install openSUSE 11 onto it. NO VA! What is wrong with this computer? No idea, but I think the CD drive is bad, so I'll change it out tomorrow and try it again. Or could it be that it does not have the RAM or processor speed to run 10.3? What ever it is I will find out, because it now bugs me.
Instead, I installed openSUSE 11 on another faster, more modern computer (Compaq Presario 6000). Just waiting now for the results on this install. I put Mandriva on it. That distro did not work for me. It was a wreck from the start. No sound drive, could not find the right one on line, complex display, and counter-intuitive menus. I had to get rid of it.

Earlier in the year, I had a laptop hard drive crash and burn. So, after reinstalling WinXP (yuck), updating it (again), I installed open SUSE 11 after reading through reviews of Linux distros that work fairly well and users reviewed. Can I say simply awesome?! I love it (so far)! It works better than WinXP does. One noticeable difference is that the fan runs constantly when I'm logged into XP. The fan runs at least half the time when I'm in Linux! I will stop here with the review, because I need to work on more tweaks and dig around in Linux before I can say much more.

Off to more tinkering in Linux.
BTW, I found a Twitter widget, so I can tweet while I tink.

Summer time

Now that I'm out for the summer, what will I do? I have several things in mind:
1) Do nothing but play with my son
2) Increase my PLN and learn more tools for next year
3) Listen and/or watch podcast/vodcasts all day
4) Fix and or trash the computer carcases that I have under my office desks
5) Find several children to tutor
6) Clean the house and xeriscape the yard
7) hmmm (I know I had another one)

Well, I guess I will do a mixture of all 7 (6). I will try to keep you posted on what I find, do, or learned. But right now, the best way is to follow me on Twitter. I have it on my phone and will keep you informed that way.
I remember now:
7) Find at least 100 Geocaches before school begins in August. I have a good start because I found 5 in two days!

Keep coming back or at least subscribe to the RSS!

First Podcast created by Students

Here is the first one of its kind. Listen to it and let me know how you like it.

I will refrain from repeating the OCD voices in my head, so please listen and write a comment.

Remember this is the first one and I (we) have many wrinkles to iron out.

Subscribe Free
Add to my Page

Twitter/Google

Have you checked out Twitter lately? I have been using it and making comments in a lot of different conversations. Some of my followers include people from Canada, Germany, England, Australia and the United States. This thing is great! I even have a new friend Jen Deyenberg. She even has her own news story. We have shared geocaching ideas and she has some great ideas. I'll share them if you'd like. Just leave a comment mentioning the geocaching lessons.
One more thing have you checked out my Google Reader shared items, yet? If not, here is a link.

I don't have them divided into categories, but I will either figure it out or have someone tell me how to!
That's all for today. Got to go to bed and sleep.

Twitter Again

Well, it has been three days since I've signed upon Twitter. I have to say that I find myself looking for tweets of followers. I want to know what is going on with others, while making them aware of what I'm doing. How could this be transferred into the classroom and still be effective? I'm still looking and waiting for ideas, lessons and strategies.
Thanks for your help in this matter.