Why I Am

Trying to get the flash player working on my "fixed" laptop, and needed to watch some Youtube videos to make sure I did it right.

Proctoring then grading the U.S. History Regents exam today. I almost feel like a real teacher.

First morning I have woken up this week feeling like I actually slept.

Student Teaching

Half a week into sort of student teaching, I would have some observations, if I had done more than plan and hang out to this point.

Monday will be a completely different story as I pick of the reins and run with two sections of U.S. History.

As Sid the Sloth says, this is either going to be really good, or really bad.

Just watched the State of the Union Address with D, and I come away feeling both positive and negative about it.

I liked the tone at the end. We will see where this all goes.

Looking forward to the Super Bowl. K.C. was very fun, and the wedding was beautiful.

Drew-Bon 3

Last part of the wedding. I'll have more thoughts later.

Drew-Bon 2

Second part

I was at : 401-499 E 38 St, Kansas City, MO 64109,

Drew-Bon's wedding 1

Quick post

I was at : 401-499 E 38 St, Kansas City, MO 64109,

Flight to K.C.

I have only flown a few times, and I wasn't ever sure how I would feel about it, bring one who is not crazy about heights.

It is safe to say that I love the idea of being up in the air.

The view on our flight from Chicago to K.C. was amazing. We got above the cloud level, and the clouds from above looked like the ocean floor where the waves have left ripples in the sand.

So far, loving K.C. and the neighborhood the hotel is in.

I was at : 560 Westport Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111,

Obama Loves Me

For my final project in Education and Society, which I took with Tom Giblin, and loved, was to write a letter to a decision maker or law maker concerning issues in Education.

I choose to write to President Obama, highlighting some issues in Urban Education and ways that they could be addressed. (see below)

So this was back in May of last year and I had rarely if ever even thought about the letter since then.

That was until Friday when I went out to the mailbox after work and found a letter from the White House addressed to me.

Now I realize that it is not a personal letter from the President, but considering the sheer number of mailings the White House receives in a days time, I cannot believe someone took the time to read mine (the content of the reply says that someone at least glanced at what I wrote).

This was a very cool thing and something that will be making its way into my Professional Portfolio, definitely will make for a conversation starter in an interview.

Here is what I wrote to the President:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

Allow me please to congratulate you on your historic rise to the Presidency and your first one hundred days in office which has presented you with obstacles as large as any we have faced as a nation in our history. You have handled these challenges with the same cool, collected and controlled grace that you displayed during your unprecedented run for office and continue to make those of us who count ourselves as your supporters proud of our votes.

Among the many daunting challenges that we face, none in my opinion are more pressing than the crisis in education. As a future social studies teacher in the state of New York, I fear for the future of the system that I will devote my professional life to improving. Whether it is rural or suburban, urban or somewhere in between, the education system in this country is at a breaking point. We as a nation have pushed school districts and local governments to reach goals that are all but unobtainable, while holding a school’s continued existence as a carrot meant to motivate districts to improve while at the same time removing the resources necessary for that success to take place.

The purpose of this letter is not to decry No Child Left Behind. There are smart people in Washington in both Congress and your administration who are working to correct the wrongs of the past. A major overhaul of the education system in the country is needed and I trust that the right people are on the job. What is needed at this time is creativity and an open mind. There are a number of avenues that parents and educator can take to help mold young people into effective and productive citizens of the future. Charter schools, private schools, home schooling, public schools and virtual education all have a place in today’s educational landscape. The ultimate goal continues to be preparing our young people for lives after high school.

Creativity and outside of the box thinking have led to some exciting and effective ways to motivate young people, particularly in urban schools. In your home city, Chicago Public Schools has recently instituted a program called “The Paper Project” which is a green for grades program designed to motivate young people to achieve academically by providing financial incentives. I work in a similar incentive program in Rochester, New York. I am a Youth Advocate in the Hillside Work Scholarship Connection Program. In this program we use employment and college scholarships as external motivation for academic success.

Our program is designed to assist urban youth in their ultimate goal of graduating. In this endeavor we provide our students with 360° of support. There are many theories about why some students struggle while others succeed. Some of these theories have merit while others have displayed less efficacy. The fact is that urban youth, particularly in but not limited to Rochester are failing high school and dropping out at rates that cannot be sustained. By targeting youth who meet specific risk factors and supporting them socially, academically and in the realm of life and social skills we work to reverse the cycle of failure that is crippling our students. It has been proven that continued academic involvement is one of the most effective deterrents to the continued cycle of failure that many urban youth find themselves ensnared in.

As I stated above, the purpose of this letter is not to place blame for where we find ourselves as a nation where it pertains to academics. Similarly, I do not write this to purport that Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is the answer for all of the obstacles that impede the progress of America’s youth academically. I write you to say simply that although there are many major issues that face this country, and none of those problems have simple solutions, creativity and a desire to do good are at the foundation of any answer to these problems. There are people working on these solutions today and we need your support and leadership to guide this ship out of the stormy waters we find ourselves in.

As a future teacher I have a vested interest in the success of the system we have to educate young people. At this time I am both hopeful and fearful for the future viability of our system. What we do know is that a top down approach will not work. We need a “student first” solution to the crisis we face. We are doing the nation a great disservice if we do not act now. There can be no more important task than improving the educational experience of America’s youth.

I greatly appreciate your time

Sincerely,

Avi yesterday.

God she looks so big.

I was going through some old pics and videos on my external hard drive (long story about what I did to break my laptop), and I can't believe how much she has grown in a year.

I always told myself that I wouldn't get misty about how fast she is growing, instead, just enjoy each phase.

But when I look back at the older pics and videos, wow.

I was at : 167 South Ave, Hilton, NY 14468,

Avi

This is a first try for this. Video taken right from my phone and uploaded straight to The Head.

Wish me luck here.

I was at : Rochester, NY 14616,




Adding...

Firstly, it worked, which is very cool. The weird thing is that when I attempted to upload videos from my phone directly to YouTube previously, my phone said that the video was too big. But when I went through the Blogger App on my phone and posted this, there was no problem, and it loaded the video first through YouTube, then to my Blog, all on its own. I didn't have to do a thing. I still don't know how to upload videos to YouTube from the phone, but it doesn't matter.

Secondly, this is a really cool feature and one that I will be using a lot more in the future.

Avatar

My thoughts on James Cameron's Avatar are fairly complicated. I typcially love going to movies. I love the experience, I love the popcorn. I love walking out talking about what we saw, what we thought, what we liked, what we loved, hated etc...

I don't even complain about the prices. I go to be entertained. Luckily for us (Danielle and myself) we were able to go see Avatar and eat popcorn and drink soda for free (thank you for your Christmas gifts).

So we went to see Avatar with an open mind and a full wallet.

I have taken enough film classes, thank you Dr. Daly, to know what I am watching and to look at film with a critical eye. I take the same approach to books and TV, and tend to annoy people who watch with me because I see beyond the story and ask too many questions for my own good.

I suspended my critical mind while enjoying Avatar. And that is exactly what I did. I enjoyed it. We did not see it in 3D, and there was a group of teenagers who talked through most of the film (which got us another set of free passes, that we promptly used to see Sherlock Holmes for free, and loved.)

I have read a lot of reviews that come down on both sides of the "What did you think of Avatar" argument. And I can see the truth in much of what is being said both in support, and against the film.

Did the story lack originality? Absolutely.

Did Cameron rip off most, if not all of what was in the film? No doubt about it

Did I still enjoy it and its message? Yes

That being said, I just read This... which states pretty clearly all of the films short-comings.

For more on the Roger Dean rip offs check out This...

And if you have seen the film, I think it is safe to say that you will be stunned by how much was lifted from other people's work.

Was it a Fern Gully Rip off? Yes

I watched some James Cameron's Aliens last night and was reminded that it is one of my favorite SyFy films, regardless of how much he lifted from other peoples work. The same can be said for Resident Evil which lifted so much from Aliens that it is borderline criminal. Take some time to check out Michelle Rodriguez' character and compare her to the character of Vazquez in Aliens. Actually I bet if you set the two films up on TVs next to each other and start them simulaneously, they even match up time-wise.

My point is, there is very little originality out there.

I can't find it now, but there is an old episode from Star Trek, where Kirk finds himself trapped in a world where he realizes that he can control his environment with his mind just in time to defeat his enemies, and the gun appears in his hand. (Once again, thank you Dr. Daly)

Watching it, I realized, even something that upon first look seems so original, such as The Matrix ripped off its most basic premise.

What is the point of all of this? I guess my point is that although I know Avatar was ripped off from so man places I cannot even begin to name them, I still enjoyed it.

I don't look for every movie I watch, or book I read to change the way that I view the world around me. I think I have a pretty good view of the world as is. I read books (Currently Mistborn which is one of my favorites and needs to be checked out, and may be coming to a theater near you, or so says Drew)or watch movies, I read them, or watch them, to be entertained. I read them or watch them to have my imagination ignited. Avatar did this.

2-Week Notice

So I am done with Hillside until the middle of May as of next Wednesday. As I sit here on the couch (in my PJs, fulfilling every sterotype of Bloggers save the fact that I am at my house, not my mom's basement)it is 7:38 and I should have left the house 8 minutes ago to get to work at 8.

I haven't finished my coffee yet.

Definately on two-week notice time.

Student teaching starts the Monday we get back from Kansas City, and it would be fair to say that I am mildly panicking.

Paris Hilton has paid more dues than Lane Kiffin.

Laughed out loud reading this...

If you, like me, thought Pete Carroll leaving in the fashion that he did, and what it will mean for the program he left behind was low class.

Wait until you hear what Lane effing Kiffin has done to Tennessee

Once again, man am I glad I cheer for This Guy...


Adding...

You know how I feel about ESPN. Surprisingly, they have come down pretty hard on this. You can read Pat Forde linked above as well as This, This and This

Good for you, ESPN for not pulling any punches on this one. I read that the scene in the UT locker room when Kiffin announced to his former players that he was leaving for greener pastures was borderline violent. So UT players have been arrested for armed robbery this year, they have acted like idiots under Kiffin, and when they have the chance to actually exhibit violent behavior in a way that I would condone, cooler heads prevailed. I would have loved it if Lane had to show up for his USC press conference with a black eye from one of his players.

Face it Lane, you had it coming.

Adding More...

If the above interestes you at all...check This out

Adding More, More...

My student teaching hand book tells me to review my personal website and edit the content to make it professional. Most of the content on here is nothing I wouldn't say at work or to co-workers. And NONE of it is any worse than what is uttered by my students on a daily basis. That being said, I was mostly kidding when I said the students would have been justified in punching Lane Kiffin in the face.

I will try to be more conscious of this going forward. I would hate to stop writing here completely for the duration of my student teaching, and if I am hired to teach in the future. And I don't want to go back and edit what I have said in the past.

This is going to require some deep thinking on my part.

The Decembrists

"O Valencia"

I have had this song stuck in my head the last few days. Including all night last night when I had what Danielle can confirm as one of the weirdest dreams of my life.

Not Lily Allen

I always assumed this was Lily Allen, it's not. It's "Foundations" by Kate Nash. Which means I am offically a fan of two English female singers.



This actually IS Lily Allen, "The Fear"

Labeling, Done

So I am done. I have labeled all 616 (and counting) posts that I have made in the last three years.

Clearly, I have talked about politics way too much. I blame the election.

Going forward, I think it is safe to say that politics will have a much more equal distribution with sports, family, movies, music, books, technology, my phone etc, etc...

I am excited about the changes to The Head and how I can incorporate what I do on a day to day basis with this space.

As I am typing this, ESPN Sports Center is on in the background and I am forced to listen to Mark McGuire tell, and retell what he did and did not do, and why he is the victim, and how hard this has all been for him.

Pardon me Mark, if I don't shed any tears for you. Your neck looks like that of a rooster.

You were a marginal player with a ton of "natural" power. Prove to me that you were not on something when you were hitting bombs in college...

Your career was defined by what outside substances did for your ability to hit for power and keep your breaking down body on the field.

Nothing you, or Tony La Russa says is going to get me to feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for you.

I hate what this has all done to my sport. Thank god no one in the NFL or College Football takes anything illegal...

Avi

I have realized as I have been labeling these old posts that there is not a whole lot I have said about Aviendha.
I need to fix that. Hopefully, now that I am doing a lot more of this from my phone, which doubles as my camera and video camera, a lot more of Aviendha related stuff will creep into this space.

The political discourse has slowed to a crawl, partly because I now count myself among the disillusioned masses. And partly because I have other things on my mind.

Aviendha (whose name, if you don't know comes from "Wheel of Time" series...pick it up!) Has blossomed into a beautiful, funny, laughing, joking, playing, joy to around. This is not to say she hasn't always been, but I will always remember the year 2-3 as the year my kid became a kid.

Point of all this being, expect to see a bit more about her going on here, which may help if you are her only paternal uncle, and you and your wife live halfway across the country, but you still want to know what she is up to.


I was at : 628-658 Moul Rd, Hilton, NY 14468,

Best. Christmas. Ever.

By far the best holiday ever.

I was at : 628-658 Moul Rd, Hilton, NY 14468,

College Football Playoff

So I meant to write about this last week when I saw it, but it slipped my mind.

I think if you are reading this you know how I feel about the BCS and the B.S. that it is.

So I stumbled across this article, written by Bill Hancock who is the executive director the the BCS.

He starts his Opus by stating that: "Perhaps the best reason for supporting the BCS can be summed up in three words: every game counts."

It is at this point that I have to decide, do I label this post under "Comedy" as well as "College Football"

The best part of the article is the comments at the end (one thing I love about HuffPost). One commenter wins the prize for best comment when they said "In what week of the regular season playoff was Boise St. eliminated, Mr. Hancock?"

Then I stumbled across this... which states about as clearly as anything I have read, how a playoff would work, and why it is necessary.

Until that day, we will have to continue to watch the games that are played, at least until Colt McCoy is hurt and I fall asleep...wait, what? You mean Texas got it within 3 points in the second half? Damn you old age...

OTA

So, I am continuing to love my phone. I actually have found fewer and fewer reasons to use my computer. I bought a Netbook in the fall, and have since re gifted it to Danni as she is starting school in a few weeks and will get a lot more use out of it than I was.

The phone is basically everything I hoped it would be (I do wish the battery lasted a bit longer, but I don't mind plugging it in on my way to and from work, I even got a dashboard thing for it, which is awesome when using it for turn by turn instructions or listening to music while driving)

The one downside to the phone is that it is running Android 1.5 and not 2.0 or 2.1 that the better known Motorola Droid is running.

I have been told by the numerous Android websites that I follow, that the Droid Eris, which I own, will be getting an update to 2.0 or 2.1 on or around January 22nd.

So, this morning I wake up an Over the Air (or OTA) update waiting for me on my phone. I knew ahead of time that it was not the much anticipated 2.0, but just a bug-fixing update.

Verizon and HTC are able to push these updates out over their networks, which leads my mind, which lives in a constant state of panic about the inevitable Robot Rebellion to ask, what is stopping them from sending out an OTA signal telling my phone to kill me? Maybe they can get Sarah Marshall to star in that film...

But seriously, don't trust technology...

Labeling

I am in the (loooong) process of labeling all of my old posts so that they can be filtered through with ease.

First off, it is taking forever. I have to click on each old post and decide which category I would put it in. There are over 600 old posts to look through.

Secondly, I am finding it interesting to see which topics I have spent the most time typing about for the last three years. I am going to vote for "Politics", the '08 Election is going to put it over the top.

Busy day.

I'll Go See It

And yes for you UFC fans out there, that is Quenton "Rampage" Jackson playing the role of Sgt. Bosco 'B.A.' Baracus...Looks like a lot of fun.

I will say that I think it says a lot about the state of Hollywood that they continue to remake old movies/shows, and as it has been stated ad nausem, the highest grossing film currently, Avatar "Borrowed" most of it's material from other sources.

Pete Carroll

So, I have never been a huge fan of Pete Carroll. First there was this then there was this, neither of which were a huge deal.

That being said, now there is this...

I agree completely with this post. As soon as I heard that Carroll was leaving USC for the Sea Hawks I knew something was up. I have no doubt that this was the reason for his hasty departure.

It's times like these that I am thrilled I cheer for Joe

There are so many problems with the current system in college football, I don't even know where to begin to fix them.

Blog Updates

So, if you are here you will notice a few small (and some large) changes to The Head.

Out is the orange layout. I loved it in the fall, but it felt like it needed a fresh coat of paint.

If you look to your immediate left and scroll down a bit, you will see I added a "Followers" widget, which shows who is following the blog. If you come here often, or even every once in a while and have a google account (I don't know if you even have to have a google account, I think Yahoo works as well) set up a profile and Follow so I know who is out there. I think it will help with the community feel of the blog.


The whole purpose of this space, at its inception and as it continues today, is to give me a place to empty my head of all the thoughts that are floating in there, freeing me up to be a bit more sane on a day to day basis (I picture some like a digital version of Dumbledore and his Pensive)

And I continue to be pleased with how it has worked for the space it has created in my head.

It is definately more fun when we get some back and forth going. I love hearing what people feel about what I am writing. In an effort to please the masses...I added a One Click option at the bottom of each post so I know what people are thinking.

I also took Danielle's advice and added Labels to each post. Now on the Left Sidebar you will see a list of labels that will help with sorting through what ever the hell I am typing about. I am in the process of going through my posts and labeling all 604 of them. (Check out D's blog, she is mucho excited)

Student Teaching starts in a few weeks, and as always, the unknown is causing slight to major anxiety. I don't know how the new schedule will effect (you know, I never know whether to type 'effect' or 'affect', I just guess) on my ability to spill my brain's contents here.

From Phone

Trying out a few Blogger apps from my phone. So far, I would be lying if o said I loved any of them.

I was pumping gas this morning with Avi in the car on my way to mom and dad's and a thought occurred to me... We live in a world where we replace anything that is broken or worn out. If my jacket wears a hole through the elbow, I just replace it. How, in this world, do we ever learn to value anything? It is moments like this one this morning that I realize that the hard part of parenting is not changing a two year old at 7 am because her Nana gave her too much to drink at night and she soaked through her PJs. The hard part of parenting is figuring out how to teach a child the value of things in a world that tells her everything can be replaced.


There is my deep thought for Monday.

Playoffs and Stuff...

College Football needs a playoff and everyone knows it.

I have boiled the arguments down to this point. BCS defenders, those who cling to an antiquated bowl system state that if a playoff were put into place that it would diminish the importance of the most exciting regular season in sports.

In response to that line of thinking I say only this:

The current system, while creating an "exciting" regular season (a point I would and have argued) creates a meaningless post-season for anyone who is not SELECTED (these teams are picked based on money, make no mistake about it) to play in the National Championship game.

If you were not a fan of TCU or Boise State, or Iowa or Georgia Tech, or Penn State or LSU, none of these games MEANT ANYTHING. They may have been fun to watch, if you are simply a football fan, but there was literally nothing on the line aside from a corporate sponsored glass statue and a MEGA BONUS for both teams athletic departments.

The post season in college football is meaningless, regardless of how "exciting" the regular season is.

I am a change guy. I think, like the Baboon in the Lion King, that change is good, but it isn't easy.

In a universe where I was god, there would be a massive realignment of conferences, schedules, rankings and the post season.

The symmetry of the NFL is one of it's best characteristics. 32 teams, 2 conferences, 8 divisions.

Break up the conferences and realign them so they are balanced. Each conference (Big East, ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and two smaller conferences such as Mountain West or MAC) consists of 12 teams, two divisions, with a championship game in November. 8 automatic bids into a playoff, allow for some at-large bids for surprise teams. That we are arguing over who the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th best teams in the country are, not 1 or 2.

Force teams to play better competition out of conference. Penn State has no business playing Temple, Akron, Coastal Carolina ect. Or at least no more than one of these types of teams.

This system is so broken that the fixes would have to be monumental to fix what is wrong.

And with that being said, enough of the "Big Ten sux" talk.

Ohio State over Oregon
Penn State over LSU
Iowa over Georgia Tech
Wisconsin over Miami
Northwestern ALMOST beat Auburn


That means wins (and almost wins) over very good teams from the Pac-10, SEC, and ACC.

Has the Big Ten gotten embarrassed in recent years? (and yes, that includes Penn State getting stomped in last year's Rose Bowl)...Absolutely.

Are we as a conference as bad as the national media would make us out to be? No nearly.

Keep in mind this was a down year for Ohio State, whose defense was almost completely rebuilt this year, as well as Penn State who had five new starters on the O-line, and Michigan who is still getting used to Rich-Rod's system.

Very exciting stuff for Big Ten football fans...now if only we can add that 12th team, and a championship game...