Ben from Idaho

I'd like to give a little respect to my friend Ben, who I have known since high school, and only by some random chance ran into this year in Boise. Luckily there is evidence that people from Idaho really do occasionally escape for awhile and learn about other cultures and peoples. Ben is a wonderful example of this. Please stop in and say hello on his blog sometime... weblog.bmgeisler.com Here is his bio:

I am currently a foreign scholar studying at Sichuan University, PRC. I enjoy travel, adventure, wine, reading, brazilian jiu jitsu, woodworking, bowyery, the smell of pavement when it rains, writing, languages, enlightened discourse, horses, plotting and subterfuge, winter, boxing, blacksmithing, avante garde jazz, coffee, working with my hands, and most likely, you.

29 days without meat

Well, so far so good. I haven't eaten meat in 29 days. I don't really notice, except when I'm at a barbecue and there is tritip steak.... or ribs... Mmmm... ribs... Okay, I notice, but it's not that difficult.

So I'm still learning how to develop a meat-free diet. I think it will be a positive change though. The most interesting thing is the way perceptions have changed about vegetarians. I remember in college, just 6 years ago, my roommate always being questioned about being vegetarian, as if she was an alien. Now, I've not had anyone really argue with it. In fact, more often people are congratulating me, and giving signs of respect. That has surprised me.

School started for me. So far I'm learning a little more than I expected to. I really like my law classes the best. I have 2 of them, and 1 more next semester. This semester my two law classes are about ethics and about special education. It is interesting to study what federal laws say and what my state law says.

I also have a diversity class, a standards class, and a finance class. I think that the finance class COULD be really interesting but so far is a lot of reading. We will see though. I at least see value in all of these classes, which is different from the majority of undergrad courses. Yay!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

Wow, this is scary to me. I won't say any more than that because I don't want to risk being perceived as commiting an act that undermines the efforts towards political reform in Iraq, and then having my assets seized.

Here is an excerpt, taken from this site. Bush Executive Order of July 17th 2007

(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:
(A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or
(B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;
(ii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, such an act or acts of violence or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
(iii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.

So late so late

I worked 12 hours today... at work. Then as I was leaving I decided to not bring my computer home and work anymore. I thought about going to bed at ten, but Eric wasnt getting off of work until 11 (which means 12 by the time he really gets home), so I wanted to wait because I hadnt seen him.

He came home.. we talked about health insurance... vision insurance... life insurance... All sorts of fun things!! He fell asleep as I was completing his health questionairre for work online.

Then I stayed awake and "caught up" on how my friends are doing... myspace, photos, blogs. Thought about emailing some and decided incoherent 3 am emails are unnecessary.

I ordered my textbooks. Lots o' textbooks. Back in the swing of things, ordering textbooks.

I have four more days. 4 days until...

intellectual stimulation
overworked
emotional exhaustion
eager learning
lots o' reading
online classes
Holy crap! 15 credits!
What am I doing?
more loans
something to do at night
less time at work
Woo hoo! Less time at work!


.... on a side note, I am on some rocking cool ed committees for the state. I'm not supposed to say anything "publically" without going through the PR people at el departamento de educacion. But, if you are interested in how the tides are turning in education in my little ol' state, please shoot me a line. I can email all I want. :-)

Sleepy time!

Ok, I'm blogging again!

Well, I haven't blogged for quite awhile. I think it comes down to not really thinking that I had anything interesting going on. But then, I was thinking, does anyone REALLY have anything interesting? And I decided that for the most part, no, most blogs don't. But we love reading people's journals and knowing their personal details. :-)

So my latest life change is that I have stopped eating meat. Today is day 10. So far, so good. I really think that I am eating much healthier. Not necessarily because I am not eating meat, but because I am more conscious about what I am eating. I feel good about this in general. I spent two years without a car, for the environmental good I believed I was doing. I don't know how long I will go without meat, but I know for now I am going without. Kudos to me!

I start classes next week. I am going back to school full time to get my administrator's license. I'm currently finishing up Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, which is making me feel like I am joining the dark side of the education world. Other than that, I am excited and nervous to be going back to school. 5 class, 4 of which are online. Wish me luck!

Erik Halpin

Hi everyone! I just want to say that my cousin, Erik Halpin, or Erik Blake Halpin, is here with me and I am so happy!!

Where I'm at...

Well, I was inspired by Arzhang's post that was inspired by Mike's post...

I'm in Atlanta now - for the NCTM conference. Before today was the research Pre-session. I like attending things like this because they take me out of my own little bubble. They make me reconnect with the ideas and passions that inspired me to teach in the first place.

I say that literally and figuratively. Within 15 minutes of being here, a man came and sat down next to me. I thought a moment, and then did a double take. It was my mentor teacher from my first year of teaching!!! He observed me every other day in the Bronx High School. Then, today, I sat down in a seat for the Key Note speaker, picked up the materials on my seat, and saw the face of one of my professors staring back at me from the front of a brochure. It brought back a flood of memories from CCNY and my master's program. And to think - I still have 3 more days here!!

My big decision this week was that I applied to a master's program. My goal in life is going to be to collect degrees, I think. Ok, not really. But, I applied to a non-thesis program in order to get my administrator's license. It's not that I don't enjoy my work, but there isn't much room to move from here, except to other online schools and positions. Having an administrator's license would just give me a few more options (some of which would include having summers off again!).

So, there is what is going on in my life. Oh, and if you haven't read "The World is Flat" you HAVE to read it. Seriously.

Where I'm at...

Well, I was inspired by Arzhang's post that was inspired by Mike's post...

I'm in Atlanta now - for the NCTM conference. Before today was the research Pre-session. I like attending things like this because they take me out of my own little bubble. They make me reconnect with the ideas and passions that inspired me to teach in the first place.

I say that literally and figuratively. Within 15 minutes of being here, a man came and sat down next to me. I thought a moment, and then did a double take. It was my mentor teacher from my first year of teaching!!! He observed me every other day in the Bronx High School. Then, today, I sat down in a seat for the Key Note speaker, picked up the materials on my seat, and saw the face of one of my professors staring back at me from the front of a brochure. It brought back a flood of memories from CCNY and my master's program. And to think - I still have 3 more days here!!

My big decision this week was that I applied to a master's program. My goal in life is going to be to collect degrees, I think. Ok, not really. But, I applied to a non-thesis program in order to get my administrator's license. It's not that I don't enjoy my work, but there isn't much room to move from here, except to other online schools and positions. Having an administrator's license would just give me a few more options (some of which would include having summers off again!).

So, there is what is going on in my life. Oh, and if you haven't read "The World is Flat" you HAVE to read it. Seriously.

Too Dependent on my computer

I had a "I'm too dependent on technology" realization this week. When I started this job, my office-mates told me we use MSN for inter-office chatting. So I started using that and gmail messenger mostly. I didn't even have aol messenger on my work computer, so I forgot it existed.

Here I am now, a little more than 6 months later, and you would think forgetting about aol or AIM would be no big deal. EXCEPT for this - I had about a handful of my "best" friends that I only talked to on AIM for the previous 5 years or so. We never called or emailed because we were always online. The sad and almost sick thing is that in a way, I forgot communication with those people existed also.

So, I was missing one of those friends, who actually works about 2 minutes from my house. This was the thought process that went on in my head....
"Hmm... I wonder how he is doing. I haven't talked to him since... hmm... well, I guess since the beginning of fall semester....
I should call him...
I can't believe I haven't called him sooner. He hasn't seen my house yet.
I'd feel weird calling him.
I would? Why?
Hmmm....
.....
I don't know, we just don't call each other.
Maybe I should email.
Do I even have his email address?
...
I wonder where his Mom lives.
I don't even remember where he lives...
How do I get in touch with him?
Hmm.... how did I in college?
Oh my gosh!!!!! Messenger!!!
I completely forgot about AIM! Is that program still around? It must be! Is anyone still using it?
Whoa!!! How did I totally forget that?!!"

So I immediately installed it. Within less than a week I have reconnected with about 5 of my closest friends. As Im telling Eric about some of these people, saying how great they are and that I miss them, I feel like a complete jerk that without messenger its like the friendship ceased to exist.

I dont even have a paper address book anymore. If some of you all out there switched logins or email addresses, I would lose all contact.

How scary is that??!!!!! I'm not talking about someone you did a science lab with one day, but people that I spent hours upon hours with during college - who know my family and my past.

Shoot - I'm talking about people who know my maiden name!

And to think - my friendship with them is semi-dependent now on a computer program?!

It is one thing to stop seeing each other daily, because you finish school. Then, of course, people move away, to other locations. But at some point, I didnt just move to NY or idaho or whatever, I moved to AIM and lived within it. People visited me there, called on me there, without necessarily even knowing my current address or phone.

Can you tell? This freaked me out...