Hello Lincoln

The weather has allowed us the opportunity to spend the night in Lincoln, NE.  Hopes are that tomorrow will let us make our way home to North Platte.  Peace!

“Growing Up Online”

PBS Frontline special (Can be viewed online at the program web site):  “Growing Up Online.”

My sister-in-law lives in Minneapolis…

My sister-in-law lives in Minneapolis and my thoughts were with her yesterday as I heard the news of the bridge collapse. She is fine and was not near the scene, but my heart goes out to the many families and friends who have been touched by this event. The story will play out as to what things and events caused this to happen, and the events hit closer to home with the connected world we have today. As I follow the news, watch the Wikipedia page evolve, and view photos from the scene at Flickr I am there with these people in a way that stirs human emotions more than ever before. Bless those whose lives have been shaken by this tragedy, bless us all.

How we can help:
Twin Cities Red Cross
Salvation Army

Rest in Peace Grandma Blake

For 90 plus years a wonderful woman graced our planet earth. She was my grandmother, and I had the pleasure of knowing her for my 41 short years. Today she passed away, and I am amazed at the changes she has seen, endured, and welcomed in her lifetime. As a British citizen she lived through two world wars in her own backyard. She lived in a time where horse drawn carriages were the norm, to seeing men set foot on the moon. She worked as an office secretary and saw the changes in technology that enabled her to be more productive. She used a computer a few times in her life too!

The greatest thing she did was to be my grandmother. Her love was unconditional, and I was always a star in her eyes. I felt like I was the greatest person to ever live when I was around her, but I knew she was better than me. There are some people who are a part of your life that make all the difference in the world, and one of those people for me was my Grandma Blake. I will miss her more than anyone shall ever know. I carry a heavy heart today, but I also have great joy in knowing that I was lucky and blessed enough to have such a beautiful, wonderful, loving, kind, and generous woman such as Grandma Blake in my life. She will always be a great example to me as one who was willing to welcome change, showed bravery in times of crisis and adventure, and knew how to enjoy life and make others feel special.  I pray I can carry on some of her marvelous qualities and share them with those that I meet each day.  Phyllis Kinloch Reade Blake was one of the greatest women this world has ever known.  May she rest in peace until we meet again.

An Incredible Journey…

This is not a tech post, but I couldn’t resist sharing our great moving adventure!!! We set out on a beautiful June morning (see the snow picture) in Wyoming and drove for 300 miles in blizzard conditions. We made it 60 miles before we got our first flat tire on the auto transport in a town with no services, but luckily I stopped by an old college roommate’s parent’s home, and Bob got us lined up with the right person to get us on our way. We fought the weather until our tired souls decided to give up and hope for better weather the next day, and this proved to be the wise choice. We found ourselves under sunny skies as we rolled into Nebraska and eventually to our new home.

My mother and father-in-law were here to greet and help us unload the truck and to start getting settled in. We have had wonderful neighbors stop by and new friends from our church to bring food and greet us and to invite us to activities scheduled this week. We are slowly getting things put in their new places, but we are home again. I tackled some yard work before the awesome thunderstorms and rain halted my progress. I have lived in western Kansas, central Colorado, eastern Wyoming, eastern South Dakota, and now western Nebraska. I am always in awe of the storms here in the Midwest. The power and beauty of a Midwestern sky is unmatched by any other place I have lived or visited.

We couldn’t quite fit all of our belongings into the biggest moving truck we could find; so, it appears we will make another trip to get the rest in the next few weeks. Five children and two adults seem to acquire a lot of things over time, and believe me we tried to whittle things down before our great adventure began! It has been awhile since I could load and haul all of my earthly possessions in the back seat and trunk of a car!!! Those were the days, but it sure was a lonely trip! We will spend the next few days getting settled in some more. I don’t see myself posting a whole lot for now, but I thought I would check in for those that might be interested. Until later, peace!

Moving + Bill Gates & Steve Jobs Interview

I sit in a chair surrounded by boxes, and there is so much more to pack!!! We are in the thick of our move. What an exciting and exhausting time we are experiencing in our lives. I wish we had the technology to teleport everything in an instant (Star Trek where are you? “Beam me up!” In a few days we shall load our moving van and be on our way to new adventures. This may very well be my last post for awhile.

In the meantime, I am posting a highlight reel of the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs interview. I have only viewed parts of this and read a few bits and pieces from the D5 transcript, but it appears to be an entertaining and educational conversation.

Text and video coverage of the complete Steve Jobs and Bill Gates interview.

Remember Me

My friend Jeff at EduTechie.com posted this video at his site, and I would like to share it here too.  Each and EVERY morning my 4 year old daughter asks in our family prayer, “Please bless the troops.”  We remember at this house.  Bless all those who have served, who have family members who have served or are serving, and peace unto those and their families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom around the world.  Above all, bless those who conspire to harm one another that all our hearts will be softened and we may work toward and have peace.

The Last Day of School!!!

For us in this part of the country it is the last day of school.  I attended the yearbook dance at my middle school to say goodbye to my students and to exchange signatures in our yearbooks.  This is always a bittersweet time and especially so this year.  My family and I are moving in the next couple of weeks, and every event my children take part in is really for the last time here where we have spent the past 10 years (I grew up here and spent most of my 41 years!).  My heart aches for my sons and daughters at this time, but I know that we have great opportunities and adventures ahead.  My posts here will be hit and miss the next 2 or 3 weeks as we pack up and make our transition.  My new responsibilities as an educational technology director will begin in July.  I hope to share the exciting new activities and successes that will become part of my life.  For now, we will laugh and cry as a family as we try and help each other move on.  Until later:  peace!

Video of the One Laptop Per Child XO in Brazil

The One Laptop Per Child XO in use:

“ESA presents the sharpest ever satellite map of Earth”

The European Space Agency has issued its GlobCover website.  The ESA news release in part states:

“The most detailed portraits ever of the Earth’s land surface have been created with ESA’s Envisat environmental satellite. The portraits are the first products produced as part of the ESA-initiated GlobCover project and are available online.

Bimonthly global composites for May to June 2005 and March to April 2006 can be accessed through a newly developed map server tool on ESA’s GlobCover website. On 19 June, additional bimonthly global composites will be made available as well as the first part of a global land cover map over Eurasia.”

Gone Fishin’

I took my four youngest children fishing today.  We watched a water snake catch a small bullhead minnow and begin the dinner process.  Enjoy the video:

“Sorting out information technology users”

The PEW Internet & American Life Project released results on technology use. Part of their press release reads as follows:

“Fully 85% of American adults use the internet or cell phones – and most use both. Many also have broadband connections, digital cameras and video game systems. Yet the proportion of adults who exploit the connectivity, the capacity for self expression, and the interactivity of modern information technology is a modest 8%.

Fully half of adults have a more distant or non-existent relationship to modern information technology. Some of this diffidence is driven by people’s concerns about information overload; some is related to people’s sense that their gadgets have more capacity than users can master; some is connected to people’s sense that things like blogging and creating home-brew videos for YouTube is not for them; and some is rooted in people’s inability to afford or their unwillingness to buy the gear that would bring them into the digital age.

These findings come from the Pew Internet Project’s typology of information and communication technology (ICT) users. The typology categorizes Americans based on the amount of ICTs they possess, how they use them, and their attitudes about the role of ICTs are in their lives. Ten separate groups emerge in the typology.”

To me the interesting part of the study shows: “Some 49% of all Americans have relatively few technology assets.”

Click the following link to access the full report and questionnaire.

Are we preparing our students to use tools like this!?!

The Microsoft Center for Information Work presented the following desk at the Convergence 2007 (March) conference. This is an example of what we are preparing our students to use in the near future. How do we prepare students for innovations that are not yet developed or created!?! That is exactly what we as educators have to do in today’s world. A challenge indeed!

“Eisenhower students take first place in competition”

In an article from the North Platte Telegraph the following great news is shared:

“For the second year in a row, the fifth-graders from Eisenhower Elementary School were state champions and among the top 10 in the nation in the 2007 Spring News Bowl National Contest.”

Congratulations to these students and their teachers from the North Platte Public School District in Nebraska!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

15 years ago today my oldest child was born. It is hard to believe that she is “halfway to 30″ as she pointed out last night!!! Hannah has never known a time without a computer in her home. Her life began with an IBM PS/1 machine that she used to play several Disney games and eventually moved on to Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. Later she had access to a Macintosh Performa passed down from her aunt. This introduced CD-ROMs to her life and many great learning programs like Oregon Trail, several Jump Start discs, and Kid Pix. The internet and a PowerBook G3 Lombard, PowerBook G4 Titanium, an old PowerMac 5500, a beige Power Macintosh G3, an iMac Summer 2001, and our new Mac Pro have all been at Hannah’s disposal at various times over the past 15 years. Her iPod Mini has experienced heavy use for the past couple of years, and her digital life is second nature. I don’t think she gives a thought to the amazing power she has access to each and every day.

I was born in 1965 on a ranch. A transistor radio was high tech for me in my early years. I did not have a color television until after I graduated from high school in 1984. Growing up I had access to 2 television channels. I got a cassette tape recorder/player in junior high, and a portable cassette tape player in high school (I couldn’t afford a Walkman). However, I did start using computers (Apple IIe) in high school. My children ask what I did without all the technology we have today. Remember, I was born on a ranch!

I worked! We had a dairy until I was in 8th grade. I helped milk the cows. On the ranch I farmed the ground, planted crops, sprayed weeds, fixed fence, doctored and herded cattle, rode horses, fixed fence, irrigated, baled hay, stacked hay, fixed fence, was in 4-H, FFA, fixed fence, trapped muskrat, mink, and beaver, fixed fence, hunted, fished, fixed fence, and did I mention fixed fence!!! I would never trade this experience for anything, and I sometimes feel sorry for my children who will not get an opportunity to learn the values and benefits of the ranching life I grew up with.

Nevertheless, I am amazed at the access to information that my children have today. They are much smarter than I ever could have imagined to be at their ages. Smart kids need smart toys, and the digital age supports the two!!! Hannah will venture on in this digital age probably looking back at my life as something from ancient history. She will adjust and change with new technologies without a thought or concern. It is natural to her, just like it was natural for me to work on a ranch from daylight to dusk (and in the middle of the night when the cattle or horses got out, fixed fence, or when we were in the middle of calving season). These are the lives Hannah and I know/knew. Time marches on, and we continue to travel into the future together.

Hannah has had to fix fence. You didn’t think I would let her get away without that experience did you!?! Happy birthday Hannah, I love you!!!