Blog

  • Magic Wands?

    @weemooseus asked for a magic wand tonight.

    Most people at my school think I have one.  I don't, but here's why.

    9 out of 10 computer problems are solved by a reboot.  Shut the computer down, wait long enough for all capicitors to drain and turn it back one.  Actually that works 99 times out of 100 if you are running @faronics Deep Freeze.

    9 out of 10 printer problems are solved by shutting down the printer, rebooting the computer, and trying again.

    Most network problems are solved in similar ways.

    The funnest part, is that most of the time, by the time I lock up my toys, get someone to watch my room, and go where the network is working, it's reset itself.  Of not, the reboot will solve the problem.

    A lady got really upset today because I wouldn't go down to her room and bring my wand.  But it takes 10 minutes to leave the room, and I had kids to deal with.

  • Fun Day

    First, I'll confess, I "abhor" snow.  As another teacher put it for me.  We've had snow three times too many in Dallas this year.  So I wasn't a happy camper when I got up.  Plus my knee was aching.

    Kids were very wound up, can't blame them, pointed them in the right direction and as long as they weren't driving each other nuts was cool with it.

    We had several short blackouts through out the day and around noon I saw the principal running around the building making sure we had portable lights in appropriate places.  Suggested my small emergency flashlights and even sent him a link, I have several and I need to put mine back in my classroom.

    Fire alarms went off after lunch, and the kids can't understand why I want let them wander the halls while that is going on ….

    We got everyone fed and got through most of the day, and the power finally did go out sometime around 3:00 pm.  Considering some of our neighbor schools were with out power from our first blackout we were doing good.

    Sadly we had to cancel the pep rally and since I didn't have a class, I took over the upstairs hall and sent everyone down that came up and kept everyone upstairs in their classrooms.  And even took one girl to the restroom for  break.

    Now I wish that our other teachers understood that the reason that we're supposed to lock down during a power failure is to protect safety of students.

    And I wish other people who didn't have classes took equal responsibility.

    Hopefully the local news won't find this but if they do — don't bother principals when they already have their hands full.

  • Only one bad class right now

    It’s the last period of the day.

    So here’s how my day goes:

    • 1st Period – CS
      • Super kids.  Quit a few come early.  A couple of them have families with chronic time problems.  They come in, sit down, participate in demonstrations and most get their work done.  Those who don’t do it quietly.
    • 2nd Period – Math Study Skills
      • Do Texas Web Tutor – small class – quiet but does do some off task talking and surfing.  Everyone gets something done.
    • 3rd Period – PAWS (Study Hall)
      • Seniors – have figured out the rules in days, quiet roar, hey, they have figured out how to come to school every day and get things done.  Most are passing, most of their classes.  No one “failing”.
    • 4rd Period – Tech Support
    • 5th Period – Lunch
    • 6th Period – PreAP – Doing XNA
      • Awesome
    • 7th Period – Math Study Skills
      • Finally got them to understand the rules, oddly losing a couple of kids who weren’t discipline problems nor regular attendees helped.  They were kids not passing the TAKS who just did and are now in Reconnect trying to get credits.  One has come back for help but during PAWS, not this class.
    • 8th Period – Math Study Skills
      • Driving me nuts!
      • MP3 player stolen in this class the day before Winter Break
      • Have had to start sending people out and rearranging students.
      • Called 6 parents during class yesterday.
      • One kid had his phone out, was ignoring me, I took it put it in desk drawer and it disappeared later in the class period.

    I haven’t had a class so radically bad in years and so dramatically different.  Starting Monday, I’m going to ask a different administrator a day to attend.

    ARGH!

  • Loving Typepad

    I love Typepad.  I was a Movable Type user for years, had it installed on my own server, and while I liked it, it was a pain in the rear.


    I would get writers block every time I had to update it.


    I even tried WordPress when Movable Type went to a pay model.


    By I LOVE Typepad.  So much I am a Typepad affliate and will get a referral fee for anyone who signs up.   They also pay for Movable type


    Here’s why I love it:

    • I don’t have to do with upgrading the system.  They change something, they do and I don’t have to.  Yeah, I can write code and do maintance but when it comes to blogging I don’t want to.
    • I can post any way I want.  I can go to their web interface, use my phone, use Windows Live Writer or Adobe Contribute.  Or even Snag It.  I can even post by sending an email, and can respond to comments that way too.
    • If I have a question, they answer it.
    • I can use my own domain.

    Create Your Blog Today TypePad

  • Campus Tech Rant – Why do I have to repeat myself!

    Typical dialogue:

    Do you think that the district will come out and do ….

    I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

    Do you think that the district wil come out and do ….

    I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

    Do you think that the district wil come out and do ….

    I'll be happy to put in a ticket and see.

    At this point, I walk out of the room and think you are an idiot.

    What is the point of the exercise, do you think I'm going to change my answer?  That's all I can do.  Put in a ticket and see what happens.  I also think they want me to stop and write everything down but it's YOUR lab and you get to manage it.

    Oh, and this one is retiring in a few months and some days I think she already has.

  • zune premium car kit

    I am always looking for the perfect way to listen to my electronic devices in my car. headphones arent safe even my bluetooth. i have gone throigh 5 or 6 and so far was not successful until this one. and yes each one was better than the last.

    I know the ultimate solution is to trade up to a new car but I'm not ready yet.   Would like to replace this Escape with an Escape Hyprid with Sync, but that isn't for a while yet, if at all.

    Anyway, this Zune Premium Car Kit found a good frequency quickly, and manages to overpower the station as I drive around town.  Something that has been difficult for any other FM car transmitter.

    It's worth the price, especially if you can get it at discount like Amazon like I did.

  • Visual Basic + Twitter is almost as easy #52WoC

    My first mistake was to write the problem in Visual Studio 2003 .Net since that's what I teach with.

    When I opened it in Visual Studio 2008, it works out of the box.

    Here's the form:

    1-22-2010 12-47-57 PM
    So the code is just as easy as the C# code:

    1-22-2010 12-49-59 PM
     

  • C# + Twitter is incredibly easy

    I just found the 52 weeks Coding Challenge by Dream in Code and decided to take some time I am supervising my students to try coing a Twitter program.

    So I've created a little C# program that sends a direct message.

    1-21-2010 2-11-00 PM

    I got the actual code from http://www.dreamincode.net/code/snippet4094.htm

     and the idea from http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic150412.htm

    The implementation code is incredibly simple:

    sendDirectMessage(

    "kathweaver", "password", txtTo.Text, txtMessage.Text);

    I've got my twitter username, twitter password hard coded and am sending the text from a textbox for the recipent and the message.

  • Why I love @SnagIt – Easy blog posting

    Make a movie, but basically, if you want to blog about something on your computer screen, it's super simple.  Especially if you use Typepad.  There is an output accessory,which you install into SnagIt — go to the Output Accessory Manager and install it.

    Once you install it, you click on the Send Tag, Pick Typepad, and it has an input window for the blog — better yet, watch how I just did it.

     

     

    However, Camtasia is a bit more awkward, as I have to upload the movie to Screen cast, and then link to it while I am actually logged into Typepad.  I think as I have a tweet out about it.

  • Sample SnagIt

    Here is my sample.