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Okay, I’m guilty of the no natural lighting in sight, but that DOES cause major glare.  Other than that, I keep the lab as minimial as possible.  I’ve been in some computer labs that had so much on the walls, i couldn’t concentrate, so I probably go to far the other way.

Quoted from http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/12/18/computer-sciences-to-abandon-nerd-image-and-talk-to-girls/:

Computer Sciences to Abandon Nerd Image and Talk to Girls – The Blogs at HowStuffWorks

nary a gleam of natural lighting in sight.

I do have my dog posters, a few mascot stuffed animals, and some other personalized things that aren’t geeky – in fact, I have a calendar on order that has my own dog’s pictures on it, so my lab probably is not very geek.

Well, except for the few old laptops I use as digital photo frames…..

Haven't gotten a shipping notice yet.  But the website shows the order is completed.

I really miss my Zune HD, and even my chiropractor noticed it was missing.  When I told what happened about it, a lady in the office went on about how students don't respect property any more, and I told her I didn't think that was true.

I know that the young man who took my Zune has some serious issues.  He spends more time in ISS than outside of it.  However, I don't know any of the details and frankly don't care to.

However, there were two young men in the class who cared enough to tell me what happened.  That rocks.  They reallly surprised me because they have not participated in the class and when pressed, shut down. 

And in 17 years of teaching, I've only had personal items taken twice — when I was teaching math in the portable, and now.  The portable kids had a lot of issues too.

Husband got me exactly what I wanted for my birthday.  Kodak, Easy Share Camera.  I've had 4 of these now, in their various forms, and I have always love them.  They are easy, light, sturdy, and they have really hit the mark this time.

It comes with a USB cable, an adapter for the USB to the wall, a camera strap and a CD rom.  Makes it super easy to travel with, very light, and about the size of my phone and MP3 player, but slightly different form factor.  Photos come out great.  I took a few last night:

http://www.kweaver.org/photos/dec_18_new_camera/

My @Zune HD was stolen yesterday.  Laying on my desk, with my phone and two hard drives.  Got called out and left all that, but didn't miss it until I was packing up.

LOOKED everywhere.

The office manager nephew's in that class, so I asked that he come see me about it and help me get it back.  We'd come up with a reasonable reward — I've give up my old Zune, as I didn't want to give money and I don't usually NEED two Zunes.  Sometimes I do, but it's a geek thing.

Unfortunately that didn't work out, he'd already vandalized it.  I'm quite upset, and will post pictures later.  I've ordered a new one, as the front, back and electronics have been damaged.  If not reimbursed for the new one, I will prosecute.  The office already has the paperwork.

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Correction: Kathy tells she's been programming since 1974, which is a couple of yearsa before I have

It'll be interesting to see what she gets her Chumby to do!

Kathy doesn't quite get Chumby, but she isn't as techie as I am — for a teacher type she is really techie, but there are things I get she doesn't, and that's okay.  However, she does get the vanilla, get out of the box features.

The cool parts about Chumby, and especially Chumby 1, is hacking. My Chumby1 thinks one of my Windows Share is it's USB drive … see the Chumby Forums for that.

Quoted from http://kathyschrock.net/blog/2009/12/chumby-is-your-friend.html:

Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch: Chumby is your friend!

Chumby is your friend!

Have I said how much I like Typepad.  I LOVE Typepad.

I've been blogging for a long time.  Since February 2003.  That's like 100 years in blog years. 

I started out with Movable Type, that I set up on my own site.  Pages of instructions, pain in the butt.  When they moved to a pay model, I tried WordPress for a few weeks, HATED it, went back to Movable Type.

However, I got sick of having to reinstall updates every few months, and would get major writer's block, every time my control page said i needed to update, and I needed lots of quiet time to do it in.  That's hard to get when you're a teacher and have two dogs at home.

It finally took last year, but I jumped to Typepad.  It's been SO easy since then, I tweak things from to time, they add features, and all is good.  The good thing — I only have to blog and don't have to worry about the hosting.

Love it.

Again.

I usually end up dropping these things.

http://www.kweaver.org/adventures_in_training_th/

I've made two videos that should be helpful for XNA development:

The first shows how to deploy with an XBox: 

http://kweaver.us/xboxDeploy/XboxDeploy.html

Used my favorite application — Camtasia and had a camera on a tripod pointing to the TV.

http://kweaver.us/XNA_Zune/XNA_Zune.html

The Zune video was done with a web cam. 

Both are picture in picture.

Quoted from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/LeaderTalk/2009/12/learning_by_accident_or_design.html:

Learning by Accident or Design – Should Computer Tech Classes Be Required in High School? – LeaderTalk – Education Week

One argument for the elimination of the requirement is that today’s students are so immersed in technology – starting in kindergarten – that by the time they take a basic computer class in high school the content is already mastered.

As I snort ….

I have three classes of students who, for the most part, can’t sign up for an email account, send an email, and read them.

Not entirely sure why, but they are remedial math and science students — were they pulled out of the tech classes for tutorials?  Are they just really bad students in every classroom (true in many of these cases), or just take pride in not being good at computers –some, certainly.

Each student should be pushed to take a tech class that is equal to their academic achievements, whether it’s a business class, computer science, webmastering or tech apps. All of our students can use the extra skill set.

I tend to build a lot more flash movies and do more web develoment when there is a Chumby in the office.

Out of sight, out of mind. 

My favorite channel is my go to bed channel, which right now features Macy and a clock:

I have also been making flash movies of my photos from agility trials.

Not sure that will show up well, since the widgets are private, but we'll see.

I've also got my Chumby fooled into thinking my Windows Home Server is a usb drive, so it will play music off the server, that's working quite nicely and better than Squeezebox.  I just have to put the right music on the Windows Home Server share.

And really loving the Windows Home Server (HP brand), but that's for another blog post.