Category: Blog

Literally years ago, long before they sponsored Danika and long before any of the sexist ads, I set up some domains on GoDaddy.Com. Why?  Because the service I was using to host those domains recommended them.

I will give that GoDaddy.com is one of the cheapest domain hosting services around, but I do not like their ads.  I moved one of my original domains (kweaver.org), from them when I was setting up my Exchange mail.  I couldn’t wrap my head around the directions for setting up the exchange mail that way, and starting using Softcom for the hosting (same people who do my Exchange mail).

I started the move for the last three domains today, after a painless move of kweaver.us (the domain that would be least disturbed by problems.

My newest domain (dfwpets.net) are already hosted with Softcom. 

I had a device with a broken screen laying around and it was really bugging me.  The manufacture wouldn’t / couldn’t, wouldn’t repair it, and had actually referred me to this company.

Website is at http://www.rapidrepair.com/ 

While they are not very communications friendly

• no way to track orders on line
• take forever to communicate via email
• didn’t get emails telling me that I needed to pay for the order

they did get the item repaired and back to me quickly.

I shipped a week ago Monday, they got it on Friday morning, got it repaired sometime on Wednesday, and they got paid on Thursday and it arrived yesterday, early evening.

The item (an 32 gig HD Zune) does not look like it was repaired, and works nicely.  Very happy!

I believe I have to do an AP Workshop this summer.  There are two in Dallas, one coincides with Early Start, and there is no way I am giving up that program.

So, I am signing up for the SMU one — it will actually be at the instructor’s school.

Will also need to find a convenient place for Doggy Day Care since I’ll have my puppy then.  Would like to find a place close enough to visit at lunch, and I think I have.

Unfortunately I’ve had a student ruin this for me …  he refuses to read in my class, and since he is 504 and special ed, I have to accommodate him by reading the power points for him.  So I am a bit tired of doing screen casts.

However, Camtasia 7 absolutely rocks.  Everything works slightly better, and there are some lovely new features.

Screencasts are infinitely easier to do.  It makes doing them in segments very easy and fast.  I frequently switch from screen casting a Powerpoint to screen casting code.  When I do, and I ask the record to save and exit, it puts the new screen cast video into the open existing project (or if it is the first one, creates a new project.  Not only is the new video in the clip bin, but it is also added to the timeline.  Most of the time that is good, but a few times I’ve had my "cursor" in the middle, and the screen cast was placed there, instead of the end where I wanted it.

I do lots of things with Camtasia as a teacher.  Yesterday I had a student who had problems with an assignment and I just didn’t have the time, energy or brain power to solve it.  Had her email it to me, looked at it this morning, and made a screen cast for her showing how to fix it.  http://www.screencast.com/t/Mjg0OTczN

I have used it to record and display student work. 

I use it to accommodate special ed students (especially hard of hearing students). 

And of course, use it to record what I do in the classroom.  There are lots of those in my ScreenCast account.

It’s also fun to use to make movies with a video camera.  I have made a ton of dog training videoes.  http://www.screencast.com/t/MTJkNzJm

I am looking forward to playing with the new features of Camtasia.

Summer plans are finally coming into place.

First, Early Start — which will actually be last.  Last year was our first time to do Early Start, and it was one of those, we want to do it, but we don’t know if we will get the money — and then it came at the last minute.  Literally.

Early Start was great.  Two weeks in August, right before school starts, we brought in new 9th graders.  We had them in the four core curriculum courses, and with elective teachers.  If I remember right, we had 6 groups.  It gave the students an opportunity to comfortable in the building, meet some of the teachers in the building and see what we had to offer.

I am also hoping to do ACP’s.  Those are our district finals, and I’ve done them for several years.  That’s also a good gig, and I hope I get to work with the same person.

I am signed up for an Advanced Alice workshop in Chicago, and I am going to take a side trip on the way up to visit relatives.  That looks really good, and will give me some more Alice under my belt which I really like for summer camp.

I should do an AP workshop, and will probably stay at home, since I have to pay for the room if I go out of town.  Just have to decide which one. 

As a team this year, we rocked. I would have liked one more sub but that might not have helped.  We managed to get all but 18 students of somewhere around 300 students tested in Reading.  Testing was online and we used two labs and one Testing Server. 

I really liked what we did this morning.  I pulled all the missing kids schedules and we sent subs to get the kids.  We put them on a computer and tested them as soon as we found them, so we were able to return the labs to regular use by 6th period.

I didn’t take a break, as there is really no place I can go to get peace and quiet other than my own lab.  If I go to the teacher’s lounge I end up working, which wears me out.

We had minor glitches with the Install software, major problems in the Business lab, and one computer was acting up in mine.  Not sure what was up with it.

We have TAKS testing — old style — and then Online Benchmark testing in May.  I’ve got two kids studying for the AP Computer Science test — they freaked out earlier this week, but I think my stress was rubbing off on them.

It will be nice to see my own kids again.  I haven’t seen most of them for three days.

They just came out with Zune HD software 4.5 – loving it.

Had to resync everything but can smart DJ on the Zune itself now.  There is a lot more information on the Zune, and suspect most of it is accessed via the internet.

By the way, I really want to get a Zune HD 64 gig, but have decided to do the next best thing.  Since I am fairly certain only the glass is broke, I sent the vandalized one off to a third party repair facility, and figure I’ll keep my videos on it, probably pictures too, and use the red one for music.

It’s not going to be cheap to fix, but I think worth it.

You don’t have to buy a Kindle to read Amazon Kindle Books.  I love them.  Now, I don’t go around being green.  If I am environmentally friendly, it is because it makes sense from an economic sense, and reading Kindle books is cheaper.

First, most of the time, the book itself is cheaper.

And you don’t have to buy the Kindle.  I already have a Netbook (okay, I have two), and I have an air card, though that isn’t necessary, you can download the books when you are at home.

Not having the books fill the shelves is great.  Being able to make the type size any size I want is even better.

Even better, is not having books that end up in the landfill.

Right now, I am completely pissed off at several programmers:

First, the yahoos that wrote Adobe Soundbooth.  If I open a file as an MP3, save it as a WAV file, and save it, I expect it to be in the same directory I retrieved it from.  Not the directory I saved something the last time I used Soundbooth.  Just saying…..

Second, I swear to god that the Java people update their software just so they put a new freaking ad in their installer.  And PLEASE do not set the button automatically to check.  I have to uncheck the check on 33 freaking machines.  And had to do another 30 some machines in the business lab.

Third, the authors of TestNav written by the Pearson Learning people.  The freaking client installer reboots computers, and doesn’t tell you it didn’t finish.  And not every computer.  My lab is pristine – I use Deep Freeze, and am careful about keeping a frozen.  Something like 6 out of the 28 did this.  This is NOT fun.  Business lab was even worse.

Finally, the authors of ICQ.  One of my face book friends invited, and they not only changed my Home Page, but my default search engine AND my blank tab in Windows Explorer.  It’s gone and won’t be back.

Well, not completely, but I have identified the problem.  She has been driving me absolutely buggy for months.

She screams at me constantly and doesn’t do what I tell her too.  Yesterday I figured out why.

She came into the room late, and I said “Tardy Center”.  Didn’t blink, didn’t move, “Tardy Center”. No blink, no move, “Tardy Center”.  Then she even said, what did you say?

When she came back, I wanted to tell her what I told the other kids.  I called her name.  I did it again.  I walked towards her, saying her name.

Then it dawned on me. 

SHE DIDN’T HEAR ME, and I have been mad at her for the same reason my mother gets mad at me.  SHE DIDN’T HEAR ME.

I wrote her a pass to the nurse with a note to sign her up to evaluate her hearing.  I haven’t done that before, in 17 years of teaching I haven’t noticed that a kid was not hearing me.  She thought I was being funny.  Okay, I’ve been known to send a kid to the library and back to give us both space.  BUT SHE DIDN’T HEAR ME.

And yes, she flunked the hearing test.  They were able to determine she had a problem and found her a way to fix it in less than 45 minutes.  Finally flunking is a GOOD thing.

This is a perfectly brilliant child, and there are 8 other teachers that she doesn’t hear.  Why did it take me so long and why didn’t the other teachers notice? 

Why didn’t her mom notice – who did say, no wonder you don’t do well at school, you can’t hear your teachers.

Score one for Weaver, but why did it take us so long to notice?

By the way, I had something similar happen to me involving needing glasses and the 2nd grade.