Category: Blog

I’m obviously behind in my reading.

My favorite saying is that programming is all about cutting and pasting and the good programmers know which code to paste.  I have my students copy the code out of our book, code I write, etc.  I honestly feel I would be dishonest if I didn’t since that’s the way I’ve always programmed.

Oh, sure, there are times I write original code — I’ve been doing a ton of that showing examples of Alice code to my middle school students, at the same time, I expect them to copy and use my ideas — and my co-teacher copies my code in front of them.

Quoted from http://blogs.msdn.com/alfredth/archive/2009/06/13/real-life-is-an-open-book-test.aspx:

Computer Science Teacher – Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson : Real Life Is An Open Book Test

I don’t remember when I first heard someone say “real life is an open book test” but it really stopped me on my feet one day. It also influenced me as a teacher.

I’m one of the lucky ones and I love Google Voice — you can pre-register for it.

I have all of our phones forwarded to this is we don’t answer.

Quoted from http://webworkerdaily.com/2009/06/19/google-voice-to-offer-phone-and-messaging-services/:

Google Voice to Offer Phone and Messaging Services

Google Voice wants to be your phone manager, SMS and voicemail provider. The service is rumored to be almost ready for public access.

One of my voice mails – send to my email address.:

hello my name is cynthia ble blah cross blue shield of texas in the blue care connection department i’m calling to speak with kathleen weaver please give me a call back at (866) 412-8795 extension 2886 bye my office social on monday through friday 8:30 AM to 5 o’clock P M thank you very much and have a great day
Play message

I keep having problems posting to the wrong blog, and I’m not sure if it is a:

• user interface problem — meaning I’m not interfacing with the program correctly
• default settings problem
• bug in Contribute

Since the district is providing CS4 and we’re teaching it in Web Mastering, I’m trying to use it rather than an easier to use interface.

So until I figure it out, I’ll have posts on the wrong web site for a few minutes to a few hours.

But at least right now, I’m posting to the right blog!  Oh coursae, it took me for every to figure out how to set up comments to default…

Quoted from http://commonsenseeducation.blogspot.com/:

Education For The Future

Between the Health , Freshman Speech , and Tech Apps classes there are approximately this many teachers involved based on this ratio.

I’m sorry, but since I teach CS, I’m only worried about the Tech Apps classes.

Talked to my speciialist boss and he wasn’t worried since we’re still required to teach the classes — but it is up to the teacher and the individual school to attract students.  It’s ALWAYS been that way.  I’ve always “competed” against BCIS and the other technology classes that count.  Some years I’ve done better than others — this wasn’t one of the good years, and I’m paying for it.

It would be nice if Rick would veto it.

I love the Gmail Java app — though I wish they would right it in Windows Mobile, but I won’t use it if I have to remember to click on "Java" and then select Gmail.   So I created a shortcut.

I used notepad to create a file called Gmail.lnk and then put the following command in it:

 45#"\Windows\jbed.exe" -run 6

You have to guess on the last number — 6 means it’s the 6th Java app installed.  I started at 0 and changed it by one until I got the app I wanted.

I knew to do this by looking at the Shortcuts under Games and Apps.

I’ve had Windows 7 on the Gym computer but yesterday decided to hook up a printer to it.  Nice HP All-In-One printer in an effort to get better at scanning stuff.

Well, the CD that came with didn’t know anything about Windows 7, and there were no drivers on the HP Website so I decided to restore my Vista backup for that computer — I was also frustrated because my Haugpage USB device didn’t work either.

Man, restoring is sweet.  Grab a flash drive, copy the drivers off the server, put in the PC Restore disk and about an hour later your machine is back.  This one was a bit more difficult because I’d been running Windows 7 for 2 months, lots of updates missing, but it’s back and working, plus the new printer/scanner works.

Happy camper!

There are two groups of people who are really irritating me right now — one of my fellow teachers in my school district and one is a set of people involved in computer science.

First set — teachers in my school district

I went to a make up meeting for district test writers on Friday.  I’d gone to the real meeting on Monday but was 2 hours late since I was teaching meeting school so I went to that meeting off the clock and the make up meeting on the clock.

I was really disappointed by my fellow teachers because one group was behind me talking so loud I couldn’t hear the speaker.  And then a few minutes later a cell phone rang, a teacher answered it and had a conversation.

<sigh>

Second set – computer science professions that use sexually explicit images in presentations

This has happened twice now, in recent months.  Once at a Ruby on Rails Conference – http://www.sarahmei.com/blog/?p=46 and even more recently at a Flashback conference – http://www.geekgirlsguide.com/blog/2009/06/11/98/prude_or_professional_by_courtney_remes

I asked my husband about it and he agreed it was wrong but didn’t know what he would do about it.  I think that is the problem, everyone agrees it’s wrong but they don’t know what to do.

<sigh>

I am loving TwInBox at http://www.techhit.com/TwInbox/twitter_plugin_outlook.html and didn’t realize just how addicted I was to it until last night when it stopped working.

If you like Outlook (which I live by), you’ll love it.  It allows you to do Twitter in your Outlook, and one think I like about it is that it works seamlessly with OneNote, I use it to save Tweets I want to do something with later.

They got an update out this morning that fixed their issue and I am going well — I’m sure that Twitter made some kind of change and broke it.

I remember why I hate new phones….

Getting them configured so they fit.

The Fuze is very different from the Tilt.  Not as many buttons, and has something called TouchFlo 3d. 

I love TodayAgenda – http://tiews.info/index.php?show=&lang=en It’s a plug that shows your Tasks and Appointments in a very organized way.  However, with TouchFlo 3D, it didn’t work.

However, there is something called Second Today http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=37867 that makes switching from Touch Flo 3d back and worth very easy.  Love it.

Also the slider is on the other side, and doesn’t Tilt. My previous HTC worked the same way, so it shouldn’t take long to get used to it.

I’ve got necessary accessories on the way, extra stylus, screen protectors, extra batteries and a cradle.  When I travel I always run out of juice!

Also finally have my Bluetooth stuff working with.

I didn’t mention that we didn’t have power when I got to the middle school this morning, we had a massive set of thunderstorms.  I volunteered to stay and help supervise – when I thought I just had 3 or 4 girls I was going to pull out my laptop and show them some stuff, but nine was just too many to try to do it without power.

I went down to the gym with the group.  Since we didn’t have power, I didn’t know if we would even have kids, or if we’d them send home, I left everything in the car, including my breakfast and diabetes stuff.  Not the brightest I’ve ever made but it gets worse.

One of the teachers I was with ran an errand and when she got back, I went out to the car to get my stuff.  I never do this, but I had my keys on the seat and I locked the car.  BRIGHT!

But at least I remembered I’ve been paying for ATT Roadside Assistance forever. 

I called, got the address to ATT and they were out there in 20 minutes.  Guy was in and out of my truck in less than 5 minutes (scary), and handed me my keys.  Cost me nothing, was a nice guy and it was quick.

I RECOMMEND HIGHLY!