Lichtenstein

One of the high lights of this Atlanta trip occured yesterday.

As we were heading down Peachtree St on the way to the Atlanta Museum, I saw the Woodruff Arts center to my left. What I didn't expect to see was a Lictenstein sculpture in the courtyard.

"That's a Lichtenstein!" I said and nearly knocked Loe out of the seat next to me.

I couldn't believe my luck. I made a mental note of where it was located. Then when we finished our tours, I walked back with two teachers from Lake of the Woods to see it.

Since they were history teachers, they were a bit suspicious of the sculpture. But when we saw it, they couldn't help but agree that the trip was well worth it.

Summer Trip

I'm half way through the summer MNHS trip to the south. We landed in Washington DC, drove through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Baltimore, North Carolina, South Carolina, and now we're in Georgia.

It's been a loooong trip. Especially since I'm such a homebody.

Here's just a list of some of the places we've been --

Manasses and Bull Run battlefield in Virginia, Harper's Ferry in West Virginia, Antietam in Maryland, Gettysburg in Pennsylvania (an 8 hour tour led by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, and pre-eminent Civil War scholar, James McPherson), Colonial Williasmburg, Jamestown, and Berkeley Plantation in Virginia.

Then on the way to Charlestown, South Carolina, disaster struck. A hose broke lose and drained all the transmission fluid from the engine. This left us stranded along side the road in 110 degree heat - thankfully the bus still could run and keep the air conditioning running. We spent the better part of two hours waiting for the replacement bus.

When it finally arrived, we didn't think things could get worse. How wrong we were. For the replacement bus was about as bad as bad gets. It was smaller, with limited airconditioning, and the toilet had not been changed in what seemed (and smelled) like weeks.

One of our scholars got on board and promptly turned around when the smell hit him square in the face and marched off the bus.

When I asked him what was wrong, he simply stated, "the air conditioning is broken and the shitters full!"

Spoken like a true Minnesotan.

But we all hopped on and drove the rest of the way through Virginia and all of North Carolina before winding up in Charleston at close to three am.

Our hotel in Charleston made up for the horrific bus (which was finally sent back to the junk yard and a better replacement was found).

Dr. Clifford Kuehn joined us to help guide us through the rest of the trip. The next day we headed out to Fort Sumter. Then we toured the plantation called Drayton Hall. This was the hottest it has been on the trip. The heat index said it felt like 111 outside. We all literally had sweat pouring out of us, but our elderly tour guide didn't even break a sweat! Never am I going to complain about subzero temps again!

The next morning we left right away for Savannah, Georgia. Then we road four hours to Plains, GA and toured the boyhood home of Jimmy Carter (our plan to sit in on one of his Sunday School lessons fell through).

Today we toured Andersonville, the site of one of the most horrific prisoner of war camps from the Civil War. In fact, Andersonville houses a museum dedicated to all American POW's. After a bus tour of the grounds, we entered the museum for one of the most moving documentaries on POWs that I've seen.

We listened as POWs testified either through journal (for the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, of course) or through interviews (this included WWI and II vets as well as POWs from Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf) to the horrific conditions they were subjected to. But each also focused on how brotherhood and sisterhood, faith, and hope to see their families again, allowed them to survive countless days of horror.

I wiped the tears from my eyes on several occasions and I was not alone.

I couldn't help but think as I listened to these testimonies that anyone who condones torture of our current POWs to gain information is simply insane. And if they call themselves Christians, they are hypocrites.

All you had to do was listen to the vets on the tape (including Jon McCain) who testified to being tortured and giving false information.

It was the most moving moment of this trip.

After a great buffet lunch we visited FDR's "Little White House" in Warm Springs.


Then we spent a few more hours on the bus heading to Georgia. Our hotel here makes the incredible Omni Park Hotel in Boston from three years ago seem like a Best Western. Our room not only has two separate bedrooms, Jeff's has its own bathroom, but it also has a full kitchen, washer and dryer, extra bathroom, and living room. This hotel room is nicer than any apartment I've ever stayed in.

Tomorrow brings a tour of several places in Atlanta.

Though this has been the trip of a lifetime, I'm missing my family something awful. I am blessed with a great wife and family. Not being with them is hard. But we are on the home stretch of our tour and by the end of the week I'll be back home!

Big Trip

I'm just about off on my huge MNHS trip. This one will actually dwarf our Boston trip three years ago. I never thought that would be possible.

Tomorrow night we'll be in Maryland. Then we'll take a bus down to Gettysburg. Then we'll head to Williamsburgh. Then it's off to Charleston, SC. After that, we head to Savannah, GA. Then it's off to Atlanta for a couple days. Wheeew. I'm tired just from reading the itinerary.

Thankfully, we've got Skype up and running so I can stay in touch with my family. I'll be homesick by about noon tomorrow!

But it's once in a life time chance for a free trip such as this. Plus, I get three grad credits! Hopefully, I'll be able to post some pics.

Bill Gates on innovating to zero

Here is the big guy himself on his take on how innovate to zero.

An interesting take on our fossil fuel dependency

I'm not a fan of Jon Stewart, though he is (intentionally) funnier than Glenn Beck, smarter than Rush, and far less annoying than Bill O'Reilly.



Kind of funny, isn't it? And terribly sad too.

I don't know if America is just lazy. Really addicted to foreign oil? Maybe spoiled by the big money kick backs from BP and EXXON and the like.

But as Friedman has called for all along, we need a green revolution and not just lip service. People have to get hurt in a revolution. Look at it how it is now, who is getting hurt by the spill? Who is still part of the party (and enjoying a yacht race while his company's leak spews tons of oil into the ocean every day)?

Hosed Down

The last time Casey was up, he helped us with the yard work. He couldn't help taking the hose out after Kenzie either.

She loved every second of it.

Mowing the Lawn

Mom now has a helper when mowing the lawn.

The Park and Freezies.

Kenzers wanted to go for a ride, so we drove around the county. She dozed off west of Terrebonne. So we drove back through RLF over to Huot and she finally woke up as we were just north of Gentilly. Over by Huot we actually saw a patch of sun sneak through the clouds and bathe us for about a minute.

By the time we got back home, had some lunch, and a shower, the sun was really out and most of the clouds were long gone.

"Park!" was Kenzie's rallying cry, so I loaded her up and went down to Riverside Park.

We played there some before going to the park at St. Joe's. When Kenz tired of that, we finally came back home for some Freezies.

As far as Kenzer's world goes the park and Freezies make for a pretty fine way to spend an afternoon.

RockBand with the Fam

Casey and KoKo combined their RockBand games for one super group, featuring much of our family. Kristie and Kenzie sang back up. Casey sang lead. Eddie and Austin provided guitars. KoKo was on the drums. At various times Amber and Brian added their talents at guitar too. I taped and Gail took some pictures.

Austin

One of the best things about Brian and Eddie coming up to work on our house is that Brian brought his son, Austin.

It's always fun to have a kid around the place (I shouldn't say kid as Austin is going into 9th grade).

But what we never expected was the relationship that would form between Kenzie and Austin. Those two hit it off wonderfully.

Last night, for example, Kenzie was restless, climbing all over me and then flopping onto the floor and crying. She was in the that too tired to sit still stage yet too antsy to sit still stage.

But then Austin came down from upstairs. Kenzie stood right up and declared, "Austin!" and bolted right for her.

He picked her up, carried her over to the couch, and by the time the news was done, Kenzie was sound asleep in his lap!

On one of the first nights Austin was here, we ordered food from Joe DiMaggio's. Kenzie and I were sharing chicken strips and fries. She was growing restless and wanted to run around, so I set her on the floor and began cleaning up.

When Kristie and I returned to the dining room, what did we see? Kenzie perched in Austin's lap chomping on his french fries!

"I got fench fies, Mommy!" she said gleefully from his lap.

A few nights ago we were watching a movie and Kenzie tackled Austin. As he fell down with her, he said, "I'm like one of her toys now!"

Grandpa Tex Would be Proud

Just look at how low Kenzie's pants are riding! Just like Grandpa Tex!

Rained Out, Part 3

Though we all woke to dreary conditions, none of us were really that disappointed. Brian had a severe back ache from all of the work he did shingling the garage yesterday. Eddie's back flared up after working on the garage too, though this was a lingering condition from when he wiped out water skiing barefoot. I have a nasty sliver in my left pinky and some near blisters on my right hand.

Since blogging, reading, writing, playing with Kenzie, or napping is what I usually consider work in the summer, I was rather pleased to see the rain this morning.

However, with a little bit of recovery time (that blister is starting to work itself out now) we should be able to tackle the porch tomorrow and then on to the main roof by the end of the week!

Could it Really Happen?

A Rose Bowl featuring Nebraska vs. Colorado?

A fiftten ago that was unthinkable as these two bitter rivals shared the same conference (the Big 8). Then in 1996 they both joined the north half of the newly formed Big 12(which combined the Big 8 with members of the SWC).

Now I just read that Nebraska is joining the Big 10 and Colorado is heading west as part of the Pac-10.

Nebraska stands a far better shot at reaching the Rose Bowl first since they were a questionable call regarding the final seconds of the Big 12 championship against Texas away from playing in a BCS bowl.

Colorado - really since Rick Neuheisal replaced Bill McCartney in 1995 - has had one good run (2001 when they climbed to as high as #2 in the polls) have fallen on hard times. I blame the Boulder atmosphere - rich, preppy kids flocking to the campus to party and ski. Look at Cu's roster and you'll find a fraction of the tough yet talented kids that McCartney brought in from Texas and California (remember Eric Bienemy? Kanavis McGhee? Deoin Figures? Alfred Williams? Kordell Stewart? Michael Westrbook? Eric Pritchard? Darain Hagan? Now those were football players. For the past 15 years we've been stuck with preps who are more concerned with skiing (Jeremy Bloom) or partying and looking good than really knocking heads together on the football field). But there are plenty of teams like that in the Pac-10 too, so maybe the Buffs will fit in better out west.

Still, how much fun would it be to see these two old rivals (one Big Red Backer had a bumper sticker - when CU's former quarterback Sal Anese died from cancer - that read "Sal is Dead; Go Big Red." Now, that is a hatred!) square off in the Rose Bowl?

Work

Kristie's brothers, Brian and Eddie, are up from Denver to do some work for the first part of the summer. That means shingling our house and garage, putting in a shower downstairs, new front steps, and a few other minor jobs here and there.

This is when being an English teachers is pretty much irrelevant, for Brian and Eddie call out measurements like, "7 and 3/8ths" as easily as I call out sentence fragments or the need for dialogue in an essay.

Nevertheless, I'm getting an education.

Now if this were a PC, maybe . . .

this sign would be correct.

Restoring

Please, please, please! Thank the good lord for Apple's Time Machine. This should restore my computer back to the exact way it was on May 28th prior to the hard drive crash.

An Excellent Multi-Genre Research Paper

Grandpas Problem (Final Copy)

Before.




After.

This year my room is getting painted so I had to take EVERYTHING off the walls. For many this is not a problem. But when I have about five years of my life accumulated on the walls, well then it gets difficult. In fact, I have so much stuff up on the walls, that I decided to take a picture so I can figure out where to put it all back up!

Now, if I can just get them to paint the walls in orange and black. And maybe stripes! Then I might not want to put any of my stuff back up.

Wish me Luck

This morning I picked up my repaired Mac Book at Insight Technologies. Apple covered everything for my new hard drive. Now if I can successfully reinstall the software and get all my info back!

Wish me luck!

Anniversary

Yesterday was our three year anniversary. I bought Kristie a card (you don't know how daunting that is for an English major because every Hallmark card is a perfect exercise in flowery prose, cliches, or just tired sentiment), but I found a good one. I didn't get time to write in it, choosing to let my subconscious come up with something good during the evening.

When Kristie was relaxing, I decided to take Kenzie for a spin around town in Casey's pickup (she loves not having to ride in the back seat like in our Highlander). So Kenzer's and I hit the road. First, though, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up her new favorite treat, Reeses Peices.

Then we hit the road. We drove around town and finally wound our way through my favorite spot in RLF, Sportsman's Park. My favorite spot actually is "The Point" where the Red Lake River and the Clearwater River meet. It's located at the end of the park.

Kenzers and I watched the river for a bit and then pulled out of the park.

I couldn't help but think - as we drove in Casey's Silverado - about my father and all the trips we took in his old, battered Silverado.

Then I thought about how I was so happy to have a beautiful wife, great step-kids, and our daughter (who was gobbling up the Reeses and bellowing her new favorite phrase, "Rock and Roooooolllll") and a realization hit me that I knew was perfect for the card: this must have been how Dad felt his entire adult life.

At that moment, I think I felt genuine happiness.

The god of Technology

Neil Postman makes several key points about the dangers of overemphasis on what he calls "The god of technology." By 'god' Postman means a narrative that embodies the beliefs, traits, and narratives that tend to elevate something to the status of a god.

Technology, he posits, or at least proponents for technology posit, that technology can solve anything, especially in schools.

Failing reading scores? More computers and reading programs. Students lacking engagement? More keynotes and podcasts. Teachers failing in innovate? Get them more computers, iPods, cellphones and so on.

One of his chief concerns is that while students are isolated on the internet or computers, they are not interacting and exchanging ideas.

That is not necessarily the case. I'd worry more about the quality of ideas being shared more than anything else.

While some of his claims are interesting and even valid, I think a website like Remmi's here puts the lie to much of Postman's concerns.

Now, Remmi is not your average student. But given the proper resources, what could our kids achieve?

And finally, I have to say putting together an interactive, interdisciplinary web site like this would be a thousand times better (and more engaging for all) than sitting in a classroom listening to a lecture or watching a film.

And there is no way putting a website like this together is anything like working in isolation. Just look at all the real world skills one would need just to pull off the little cooking video Remmi has on there (letter writing - to enable her to meet with the people she interviews; group work - to line up people to help film her; revision - to get all the takes right and to line up a coherent show; speech skills - obvious . . . the list could go on).

Back to the Stone Age

My BlackBerry has been out for the past couple weeks now. I thought that was a big transition.

But late Saturday night I was about to upload some pictures of Casey hosing Kenzie down with a garden hose when I noticed that it was taking an unusually long time to upload the pics.

I carried my MacBook to the kitchen to plug it in. I noticed a strange clicking sound coming from the lower right corner. I restarted it and saw a very ominious screen containing a folder with a question mark on it. The picture flashed at me over and over.

Not good.

I did a little research on the internet via our desktop computer. The news was not good: most likely a fried hard drive.

Thankfully, last summer I invested in Leopard which allowed me to use Time Machine to back up my computer. At the same time I invested in a one terabyte Western Digital external hard drive, which now contains everything I used to have on my MacBook's defunct hard drive.

All those pictures, videos, keynotes, thousands of dollars of music, and all of my lesson plans and assignments!

I figured I was screwed, so I went to the apple store and had a brand new MacBook Pro all lined up to order when Kristie said, "Just call Apple and see if there is anything that can be done for you hard drive."

So I did.

Good thing too.

The apple tech support guy not only waived the $50 tech support charge but he also informed me that apple had an extended warranty on those hard drive - even though my pricey apple care protection plan had expired in January - and it was all covered. I just have to take it to GF and have the folks at Insight Technologies replace it.

Whew.

But let me tell you, it was strange having neither my MacBook nor my BlackBerry for a couple of days.