2014
- Used clips I found at the Hardware store to keep the tarp in place instead of stapling it to the boards
- Left extra tarp on the small boards' side because as last year I was cutting it really close after the water pulled the tarp to the deep end
- WordPress.com and WordPress.org - via Wordpress.com
- "The $64,000 Question: WordPress.com or WordPress.org" via The Daily Post
- "WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: A Definitive Guide For 2014" by Raelene Wilson
Hanging out with their little sister this morning.
Quote of the Week - 11.21.2014
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life's about creating yourself." - George Bernard Shaw
This photo was taken on my first trip to the Boundary waters in October 2008.
'One Man's Loss' by Philip Sansom
ONE MAN'S LOSS from Phil Sansom on Vimeo.
via 'One Man's Loss' by Philip SansomI know last week I posted a different short film by Philip Sansom but when I stumbled on this one I figured it too was good enough to share.
Technology and Games to promote learning for all Students
I can’t believe I missed the video below as it practically happened in my own backyard. However, you have to watch this video of 5th grader Cordell Steiner giving a TEDx presentation at the University of St. Thomas about the benefits of video games in the classroom to further students learning. First of all, how impressive that he stood up in front of the audience and gave such a presentation.
You can tell that Cordell is very enthusiastic about education through failure as it is just as instructive as classroom success. He makes some really good points in the video and it is refreshing hearing a kids perspective on how video games (or Apps) can really help every student learn to their full potential.
I think with technology changing it is only right that education and how students are taught will change as well. My son started kindergarten this year and everyone in the school has iPads. I have been fortunate to help out in the classroom on a couple of occasions and watch how the kids use the iPads first hand. Most of the Educational Applications they use could probably be considered games as they try to encourage students by keeping a tally of right and wrong answers. Also, from what I could tell most of the Apps would change automatically change the difficulty as the child answered more and more correct. There were other Apps that allowed the teacher to set a baseline of what level the student was at and she could track their progress of how they are doing by easy to view reports on her computer. They don’t use iPads as the only way to learn as the teacher still does instruction as we all remember. I would estimate that they only use the iPads at most an hour a day (over the course of a week).
As a parent and technology enthusiast I actually like that they are using technology to assist and educate my child. I know for a fact that by allowing him to have some time to learn at his own pace using the educational Apps has only furthered his interest in learning by continuing to keep him challenged.
What are your thoughts about the use of video games or apps in education?
Fun time at the Wild game tonight and glad they grabbed the win.
Quote of the Week - 11.14.2014
“Just chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on.” - A. Wise Person
Hat tip: Paul DeBettignies' Instagram picture (@mnheadhunter).
I saw this quote earlier in the week but seems applicable now as well on a cold Friday morning.
This is a very long overdue post about a book I read titled “Sleep your way to the Top (and other myths about business success)” by Jane Miller. I was actually lucky enough to get a copy from FG Press not long after I had written about the number of books I had been listening to so far in 2014.
Honestly, when I got the email with instructions on where to get the book I had no idea what the book was about. Since I was lucky enough to get a copy of the book, I decided to take the challenge of reading it. It was defiantly worth my time and I would encourage anyone and everyone to read this book. It is packed with great life lessons/thoughts based on the situations, successes, and mistakes that Jane made.
“No decision is a bad decision… if you learn from it.” - Jane Miller
It touches on various topics like resume writing, interviewing, being a team player, and when is the right time to leave a company. At the end of each chapter, there are questions to ask yourself, that I believe are designed to make you more aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Also, depending on where you are in your career you can use some of the questions/situations she poses to help you try to figure out what your dream job is and how that may or may not relate to your current job/role.
I wish I could have read this book when I was in college getting ready to graduate as there are some really good life lessons that everyone goes through in the world of business. The best part is that all of those tips and lessons are embedded in a funny and captivating story.
“Let me tell you something. You stupid little runt. I own you. You’re my bitch. So don’t walk around here thinking you have free will, because you don’t. I could crush you anytime I want. So settle in, ‘cause you are here for the long haul.” - Dave Harkien, Horrible Bosses (film)
Finishing this book was really easy, the only painful part was my lack of sleep since I couldn’t put the book down as I always wanted to finish another chapter before shutting my eyes.
So if you are looking for a good book to read I would definitely encourage you to find this book and while you are at it check out Jane Miller’s website to read other things she has written.
Getting cold out, time to flood the rink. In the appropriate attire of course @uspondhockey
The Season is upon us...
The weather is finally turning cold in Minnesota and that means that people are starting to think of the one sport everyone in Minnesota seems to play… HOCKEY!
For some background, I grew up in Iowa never playing or really watching hockey. Once I moved to Minnesota after college I started watching Hockey and have even taken up skating. It really must be something in the air or water here as my kids talk about hockey all the time and it seems to be on their mind all the time (Not that I am complaining). For that reason, when I had the opportunity to acquire some boards last year to set up my rink in the backyard I took advantage of it. Some of my friends outside the state of Minnesota are shocked that we actually flooded the backyard to create a rink to skate on. Honestly, it does sound a little strange but the whole family had a blast skating and playing hockey on it last year. The best part was you didn’t have to get in the car, or walk down the street to enjoy it.
Since the weather has been turning colder and there was snow in the forecast, I spent some of the weekend setting the rink up to ensure I was ready for the season. I was lucky that some family was in town to do some of the heavy lifting/swinging to get everything setup in really good time. Here is how it looked as of Sunday night with the Boards up, and the tarp clipped down.
*Backyard Hockey Rink*
There were two things I did differently from last year:
Below are some pictures of my helpers assisting in the setup, as you can see they had a great time helping set the boards out.
The rink is up and tarp is down. Now we wait…
It is almost that time of year. Had some little helpers help set out the boards today.
'The Black Hole' by Philip Sansom and Olly Williams
via ‘The Black Hole’ by Philip Sansom & Olly Williams.
Pretty funny video short I ran across the other day.
WordPress.com or WordPress.org and why?
I have never really thought it mattered to me as I have had a blog for a couple years but have never really consistently published stuff. So I used the cheaper alternative of using WordPress.org (or a self-hosted site) because I have had the server and storage space for some other projects I work on. It works well for me and I appreciate being able to have full control of the site and can make any changes as necessary.
However, after publishing my first assignment for Blogging101, I realized that there are a few differences between the two depending on what you are looking for. Specifically for this course, I realized that my posts might not get as much attention as others since they don’t show up in the WordPress.com Reader under the Blogging101 tag and there is not an easy Follow button at the top of my site. Thinking about that a little more I realized that by having my own Self-hosted site I really would miss out on the community part of my WordPress experience.
I decided to do some more digging on finding the differences and see if there was anything out there that could help bridge the gap but I couldn’t find anything. In my searching thought I found a couple of useful articles:
With that information, I was left to ponder the question that I had never really thought about before. Which platform is better for me now? Ultimately, I decided to buy a new domain name called StillThinking.me, which will be the blog I use going forward for the time being. Don’t get me wrong, I will miss having more control over my site by using plugins and other customization. The nice thing is that no matter which you choose WordPress.com or WordPress.org you can easily import/export to either if you change your mind down the road.
So what platform are you using? Have you ever moved from one platform to the other? What do you feel is the pros/cons of each?
Starting from the Beginning..
In a hope to continue to jump-start my writing on this blog I decided to sign up for a Blogging 101 course through The Daily Post. I have blogged off and on for many years now but only seriously thought about putting my blog together about 3 years ago (that wasn’t for family travel/photo purposes).
For some quick details about myself check out my about page.
Now on to the more meaningful question about why I am blogging, what will I be blogging about. The first question is an easy one about why/what I am blogging about since I changed how I would be using this site a couple of months back and wrote about it. The short answer is I am blogging as a way to share interesting stories and thoughts. The topics will probably be a range of things that I find interesting and will probably be clearer as I post more often so stay tuned.
Little Girl was super excited to have a friend at gymnastics today
Kids being busy
Big Sister reading books to Little Sister before bed tonight
Enjoying the nice weather today
Little Girl helping me feed Baby Girl this morning
