a minority report

Lamp lighting

2012-01-06T13:24:00.001-07:00

The lights in my office at the college, like lights in work spaces all over the world, are fluorescent. When I moved in to this office more than seven years ago, the woman I shared the space with then proposed that we leave the fluorescent lights off and use warmer, less-flickery, incandescent lights (lamps of various kinds) instead. It seemed like a good idea, so we bought a couple of lamps, and brought some from home and made our space a little more livable.

I'm sharing the space with another person now, but I still can't bring myself to turn on the overhead lights. I like my lamps. They make the office a little like a cave to some people's view, but the lighting is much more restful and I can work here all day without getting that headache that seems to accompany time under the tubes.

1/30s, f/4.2, ISO 800, focal length 32

I got a couple of new lamps recently. The above is one of them, perched atop a stack of folders of student work and next to a pile of books I'm reviewing for course adoption. In this photograph I like the combination of light/dark, color progression, patterns, etc. I saw that stack of folders arranged like that as I was ending the semester last year and said to myself, "I've got to take a picture of that."

So I did.

A photo thingie again

2012-01-05T14:52:00.003-07:00

You won't remember this, probably, but a couple of years ago I started the new year with a quasi pledge to take and post new photographs from time to time-- a way to keep the blog alive and give myself a creative jolt.

You might remember more about the Dektol Jitters blog that I joined a year or so ago (it was in Feb '11 that we started it up, I believe). I've neglected that project to a certain extent too.

Here's my quasi pledge to carry the camera, and even occasionally use it.

I love the new year. New beginnings and all that. Doing the photo thingie again will be a good way to avoid the doldrums that "they" say afflict us this time of year.

That's the plan, anyway.

Here, then, is a photo I took a few days ago at a 50th wedding anniversary party that I was hired to photograph. I like the energy in this little guy.

The month's theme for Dektol Jitters is "motivation." What's more motivational than kinetic kids?

1/15s, f/5.6, ISO 6400, focal length 105mm

Something from last summer . . .

2012-01-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

The following is a post I wrote last summer but never published. I came across it today while cleaning up my blog a little. I'm not sure why I never quite finished it for posting. For what it's worth, here it is...

I have to admit, when we pulled up to Myrtle Point at West Magic, I was thinking "THIS is where the Fathers & Sons outing is going to be?" To my cynical eye, it didn't look promising. Flat, featureless. No trees, no appealing place to stake a tent. I halfway considered turning around and heading home. If not for two boys who wanted to come, I probably would have. The only attractive part of the vista was the lake, and we didn't come prepared to do anything in the water.

You see, I'm not much of a sportsman. I don't hunt. I don't hike (much). I don't camp but only three or four times a year. Most of all (as it applies to this story), I don't fish. One of the superdads there had several poles set up and had caught half a dozen fish by the time we arrived. His darling son was toddling around, happy as could be, enjoying time with his Dad.

Me? I was dreading putting up the tent and enduring wind-blown sand in my shorts for the second time in three weeks.

But, we do these activities because we appreciate the camaraderie with other men who are trying to do right by their sons. Parenting is the most important job in the world, we tell ourselves, so we spend a full day preparing for a half day camping so we can spend another full day cleaning up from the excursion. Yeah!

One of my boys commandeered my little waterproof digital camera and spent most of his time taking pictures of a dead rattlesnake he and the other boys had found. (When we arrived, we were told by no less than three people that they'd killed eight or ten rattlesnakes in the previous five days, so we'd better be on the lookout.) When he gave me back the camera, I couldn't quite bring myself to delete the pictures and the videos he'd shot, even though they are mostly blurry, mostly of tilted horizons, and mostly him trying out the underwater video feature (lots of beautiful shots of murky water and floating things). While videoing, he keeps up a running commentary on his view of the world that perhaps he'll like to hear some day.

My other son, age 5, was content to screech back and forth between the campfire (such as it was) and the water's edge--- daring himself to get a little wet and finding all sorts of interesting rocks and driftwood. We had to select just those eight or nine thousand pieces that he prized most highly to bring back with us, otherwise the level of the lake would have dropped precipitously for all the gravel we'd have hauled away.

Me? I ate a couple of cold hot dogs and drank a couple of Shastas while we waited our turn on the coals to cook our hobo dinners. To get out of the wind, I huddled behind a strange concrete bomb shelter of a picnic canopy with a couple of other dads who hadn't brought fishing gear and we watched our boys to keep them from wandering off into rattlesnake territory.

When the time came, we inflated the air mattress to fit under the shell in the back of our pickup (I lied earlier about the tent thing), and discovered that it was too wide to fit between the wheel wells. We plopped it in there anyway and spent the night sleeping on top of each other, feeling rather like the innards of a taco. At least we were warm.

I hope that these experiences are memories we give to our children. Spending two days preparing for and cleaning up from an uncomfortable half day is an example of staying at our parental posts. We are were we should be when we get out of our personal comfort zones to do for and be with our children.

A wise and eloquent leader once said that a committed disciple of Christ "sees prevention, especially through good families, as a superior life-style. Parents, therefore, should stay at their posts. If those at the front lines are persuaded to leave their posts to help the reserves build “promising” fall-back fortifications, such parents simply guarantee that both the front lines, and all other lines of defense, will be savagely overrun. Parents, like a symphony conductor, lead those who actually produce the music; we would be dismayed, however, if an anxious conductor deserted his podium in mid-passage to become a flutist."

That last part sounds just a tad preachy to me now, but I believe that parents do have a unique role that they (and society) often underestimate.
Anyway, there's a post for today--- something more than a post about what I had for lunch.

Test

2012-01-04T14:50:00.002-07:00

This is a test. If this had been an actual posting, you would have been instructed where to tune in your area for further instructions.

Last lazy day

2012-01-03T14:04:00.002-07:00

The kids are back in school today, so Keri and I are taking it REALLY easy. I have enough to do before classes start that I plan to go back to the college tomorrow, but today is a day for wearing PJs, reading the Steve Jobs biography (pretty engaging reading so far), watching old movies (does You've Got Mail count as old yet?), and making egg sandwiches (thank you David and Rachel for the amazing little device that makes 'em so nicely).

I've been reading some interesting things about goal setting recently. A maxim you've heard, not doubt, is, "If it isn't written down then it isn't a goal." Perhaps one of my next posts will be the writing down part of goal setting. I'm thinking of lots of the usual suspects (the ones having to do with weight and fitness, and the ones having to do with patience and fatherly kindness). What else might I be thinking of? What are you resolving to do more (or less) of this year? How do you stick with it?

The new internet service is shaping up nicely. I'm wondering, though... any Netflix users out there on the CableOne 50GB data plan? If you watch Netflix to your hearts' content, how much data do you use in a month? Just curious what my bill is going to be.

Kindles for Christmas

2012-01-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I got that Kindle I wrote about a few weeks ago. It was actually for our son for Christmas, but I justified opening it and "configuring" it for him because of Amazon's free app of the day. I was glad to be able to get a bunch of games and few other things on it for him in advance of Santa putting it under the tree. My friends laughed at me for how much time I spent "configuring" it.

Anyway... I also secretly got one for Keri. She played with our son's a few times and I could tell that she would like one, so I got one and secreted it at my office. Christmas secrets are fun.

Christmas morning... surprise, surprise... Keri got me one too. We both pulled out these "special" packages that weren't under the tree and handed them to each other. Fun! So now we have three Kindle Fires in the house. Fun, fun. All those apps and stuff now get used thrice. Fun, fun, fun!

Probably my favorite thing about the Fire is the Church's Gospel Library app (which is now available for the Fire natively--- no more need to sideload it). Scriptures, conferences, study manuals, lesson manuals, handbooks, etc. --- all in one place, cross-referenced and "clickable." With an LDS account, you can even sync your study notes and highlights with the online study notebook at lds.org. The ability to "play" with this app has lead me to spend more time in the scriptures and in conference addresses than I ever have. Hurray for technology, eh?

We also upgraded our internet from DSL to cable. All these wireless devices in the house competing for bandwidth, and the overall cost will be lower once we dropkick our land-line.

Starting the new year in a new ward

2012-01-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

No... we didn't move. The boundary moved. We are now in the Twin Falls 5th ward. I have mixed feelings about the venture, to be sure, but on the whole it will be a good thing. We hate, hate, hate leaving our many, many good friends in the 1st ward, but we look forward to making many new friends in the 5th ward.

Time to stretch a little, eh?

Happy New Year all, wherever you find yourself!

UPS put out my Fire.

2011-11-19T14:53:00.001-07:00

I was pretty excited to hear that Amazon was shipping my Kindle Fire a day earlier than expected. I had occasion to contact them recently about another order and the customer service was really good. The person on the other end of the chat was polite, helpful, and willing to actually do something about my concern. Way to go Amazon.

UPS, however, hasn't caught up with the customer service renaissance. I spent Wednesday, the expected delivery date, watching the delivery status and it always showed that the package had arrived in, but never left, Salt Lake City on the 15th.

Mid-afternoon I got a text from my friend Paul... "Kindle Fire in hand." I still didn't have mine.

Evening came. Still no change in the delivery status. The "expected delivery date" is still the 16th, so I assume that UPS simply hasn't scanned my package somehow. Surely it's in Twin Falls and making its way to me by 6PM, right?

No such luck.

Thursday morning I send a note to UPS asking what's up. I don't expect a speedy reply. I'd contacted them about a lost package a couple of years ago, and it was days before they replied. And when they did reply, it was to say, "We have no clue. Call Amazon [who happened to be the shipper in that case too]." Amazon initiated a trace (or whatever) and shipped me another item via Next Day Air. I never did hear what happened to the lost package.

I get an Amazon rep on the customer service chat and before long they agreed to give me a small promotional credit for my trouble.

Thursday evening. Still no reply from UPS (and no package).

Next time I check UPS's site, the delivery date has been updated to MONDAY, November 21. No other change than that on their site.

Amazon's tracking info, however, shows that my package (are you ready for this?) is in

Redmond, WA.

REDMOND.... you know, home of Microsoft, beautiful Washington city, 625 miles from Twin Falls!!!

Friday morning. Finally a reply from UPS. Here's a quote, "our tracking system does not indicate the reason for the delay. Our records show your shipment is currently in transit to its destination."

Talk about helpful information, right? I can see that it's "in transit." And the reason for the delay is obvious. My packing went to freaking Washington instead of Idaho. I write a frustrated note in reply. No immediate response (and no surprise there).

But wait, there's more.

Friday, my package is making its way back toward Twin Falls. It goes from Redmond to Portland to Hermiston.... Sounds like progress, right? I checked the distance from Hermiston to Twin Falls (376 miles) and I calculate that my item might make it to Twin in time for a late delivery. It's a possibility, but I've lost hope by this point.

Still no reply to my second email to UPS.

Friday passes and I keep an ear cocked for a late drop off as the evening wears on. Nothing.

This morning I check to see if my package has at least arrived in Twin for a Monday delivery. (UPS delivers on Saturday, but I'm pretty cynical about it by now. They're not dropping by for a Saturday delivery, I'm sure.)

When I look at the current location of my package, I'm both amazed and not a bit surprised. Guess where it is...

It's back in Salt Lake City.

Here's the tracking info on my package thus far (newest information at the top, of course):

Date Time Location Event Details
November 19, 2011 03:56:00 AM Salt Lake City UT US Departure Scan
November 19, 2011 12:27:00 AM Salt Lake City UT US Arrival Scan
November 18, 2011 08:42:00 AM Hermiston OR US Departure Scan
November 18, 2011 07:47:00 AM Hermiston OR US Arrival Scan
November 18, 2011 03:57:00 AM Portland OR US Departure Scan
November 17, 2011 05:50:00 PM Portland OR US Arrival Scan
November 17, 2011 03:08:00 AM Redmond WA US Arrival Scan
November 15, 2011 11:05:00 PM Salt Lake City UT US Arrival Scan
November 15, 2011 12:49:00 PM Las Vegas NV US Departure Scan
November 15, 2011 12:48:00 PM Las Vegas NV US Arrival Scan
November 15, 2011 12:33:00 AM Phoenix AZ US Departure Scan
November 14, 2011 06:45:00 PM Phoenix AZ US Shipment received by carrier
November 14, 2011 07:58:18 PM US Shipment has left seller facility

It's mid-afternoon on Saturday. I still haven't heard back from UPS, and that's their MO-- don't talk to customers about their service (or lack thereof) and heaven forbid that they admit that they made a mistake.

Another part of UPS's initial reply to my query reads, "I sincerely hope that you will not let this unfortunate situation determine your choice for future shipping needs."

I wrote back, "I understand that UPS handles hundreds of thousands of packages daily, but rather that hiding behind a claim of ignorance as to why a package is not delivered when promised, why not be straight with customers and own up to the fact that a mistake was made? THAT, more than any half-baked, disingenuous apology, would help me "determine my choice for future shipping needs."

Any bets on whether I'll actually get my package on Monday?

I memorized a poem today

2011-11-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

My son has been working on memorizing a poem for his English class. This morning he told me that he's worried that he's not quite ready to recite it. Rather than let him stay home to work on it, we played a kind of game through the morning. I read and recited bits of the poem, and asked him to prompt me for the next parts as they came along. He was kind of an unwilling participant in the game (he really wanted to stay home and avoid the whole situation), but toward the end, I think he was getting it. Both the responsibility part and the poem.

Here (on my honor) is my "recitation" of the poem:

A narrow fellow in the grass

Occasionally rides.

You may have met him.. [...]

The grass divides as with a comb,

A spotted shaft is seen,

And then it closes at my feet

And opens further on.

He likes a bogey acre,

A floor too cool for corn. [my favorite line]

When a child, and barefoot,

I more than once at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whiplash

Unbraiding in the sun.

Then stooping to [...]

It wrinkles and is gone

Several of nature's people,

I have know, and they know me

I feel for them a transport

Of cordiality.

But never met this fellow

Accompanied or alone,

Without a tighter breathing,

And zero at the bone. [my second favorite line]

Okay. Now looking back at the text, I see several mistakes (in addition to the obvious lapses (which I indicated with ellipses)). So... maybe I didn't fully memorize a poem today,

but I hope my son did.

The Big Year

2011-10-31T07:59:00.001-06:00

I wish I had time to write an in-depth review, full of witty, insightful comments, but with the crush of papers to grade and power outages to recover from, it'll have to suffice that The Big Year is one of the sweetest, most enjoyable movies I've seen in a long, long while. It's worth every penny I overpaid to the crappy theater here (no sidebar note about that for now-- saving that rant for another day, I guess).

Take your favorite person and just watch this movie. There will only be about 6 of you in the theater, so don't be embarrassed to bust out laughing all by yourself a couple of times. You won't cry or anything, but you might just feel like the universe isn't all about mortgage bubbles and occupying enemy territory.

Nice work, Steve, Jack, Owen, et al.

Oct 2011 General Conference for Kindle

2011-10-11T09:22:00.003-06:00

As promised, here are the October 2011 General Conference addresses formatted for Kindle (all talks in one AZW file). Download this file and transfer to your Kindle's "documents" folder via USB.

For help transferring documents to your Kindle via USB.

I'm not a nook user, so I have no idea whether this file will work, but I converted the AZW file to EPUB (which I believe is the nook's native format). Some nook user (Thom?) try this and let me know (via comments on this page) if it works, please. Happy reading.

I am not an employee nor a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I created this file for my own use and for the use of a few friends who visit this blog. Nothing official is stated nor implied by my posting of this file. Concerned parties, including the Church, are invited to comment on this posting for a swift reply. Happy conference reading.

Conference for Kindle - Oct 2011

2011-10-03T08:08:00.003-06:00

The 181st Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concluded yesterday. The text of the conference is usually available on the Thursday afterwards. I'm planning to format the texts for Kindle again this conference, so watch this space for a note (and a link).

Speaking of conference, it was a thrilling one in a couple of respects. The announcement that the Provo Tabernacle will be restored as a temple was great news. The other temples to be built gave me a thrill as well-- particularly the ones in Africa (the second temple in South Africa, and the CONGO!!), and the one in Star Valley.

My parents both grew up in Star Valley and I've spent many happy summers and holidays there. I know many of the saints in the valley, and I have many family members who live there. I can imagine how thrilling it was for them to hear the news that their little piece of heaven with have a temple. My aunt posted a telling note on facebook. She wrote, "So amazed and humbled that Star Valley will have a temple. I can't stop crying." I've felt the same way. I still get emotional as I think about it now.

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-08T07:19:00.000-06:00

Here is our handsome youngest child. He's headed to Kindergarten for the first time today. He's excited and just a little nervous. Can you tell?

He's going to do wonderfully.

The adventure of a lifetime

2011-07-20T09:33:00.000-06:00

What kind of blog post can possibly live up to the title I've given this one? And yet it's true. The week I spent with my son on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River was one of the pinnacle experiences of my life. There are many kinds of pinnacle experiences--- some personal, some spiritual, some physical, and some having to do with relationships. Floating the Middle Fork was a peak physical experience.

Each of the five days we spent on the river was full of thrilling moments, contemplative time, and amazing vistas. I wish I could post pictures of the amazing things we saw and did. Sadly, my best camera is not exactly waterproof. Heck, it's not even water-resistant. I took my little waterproof (to 10 ft) point and shoot, but the pictures don't begin to do justice to the ride.

Still and all, you can see, for example, in this picture, that in one spot we got to sit to some hot springs with a breathtaking view of the river below. I don't image that there are many hot-tubs on the planet with a view like this one.

After getting drenched a few times by the fairly frigid river water, you can imagine how delightful it was to "shower" in this warm water. Wow!

The food was surprisingly good (and we didn't have to cook-- the river guides did all the cooking). The company was excellent (friends and acquaintances from church). The outdoor air was literally delicious.

By the end of the week I was looking forward to showering with soap (no soap in the river!!) and definitely ready to see my wife, but I was also a little sad to be leaving that amazing place. What a week!

River trip here we come

2011-07-10T17:41:00.001-06:00

Headed for 5 days on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Don't forget to go to Rocket Express Car Wash in Twin Falls on July 11th or 12th! Half the proceeds go to benefit the Snake River Council of the BSA!

The Sweetwater

2011-07-01T09:23:00.000-06:00

Sweetwater River, near Martin's Cove, Wyoming

As many of you will have seen from others of my postings here or elsewhere, our LDS stake took more than 250 youth to the high plains of Wyoming for a reenactment of part of the Mormon migration.

This is the Sweetwater River, which some of the Mormon pioneers had to cross in frigid, numbing conditions. It was a difficult crossing, to say the least, and was, in fact, too much for some of them.

The conditions under which we visited the place (Martin's Cove) were much more favorable, of course, but the stunning beauty of that wild landscape was still something to behold. I was touched deeply in more ways than one.

Whatcha doin'?

2011-06-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

Not much.

I'm home from Louisville. It was a good week of reading AP essays. Wednesday (day 5 of reading) was the hardest. Friday was the easiest--- we were done by 1:30 or so.

The time in Kentucky was good because I enjoyed spending time with my good friends Kelly & Andrew, and I made some new friends. I also got a few ideas about our department's OA (outcomes assessment).

The honorarium will help pay for summer vacation and school clothes.

Since coming home, I've done precious little. I re-read one of the novels by my favorite author and I've been enjoying the manuscript of a friend (fantasy novel). Keri's niece and nephew stopped by last night on their way to a fiddling competition in Weiser.

Keri and the kids got me a leaf blower for Father's Day and I must say that the sidewalks and walkways are much easier to clean that way. Nice!

Colton and I went to the library today. He got three train books, and I'm going to try out the new Brandon Mull novel.

What a nice summer day.

another Trek teaser photo

2011-06-16T20:53:00.000-06:00

If you went on trek, be sure to come to the post-trek fireside on Sunday, June 26th, 7pm, Twin Falls Stake Center.

Now wait...

2011-05-23T08:38:00.003-06:00

I posted a few days about about being "on vacation." It's true. I've submitted my grades and I'm officially "out of here."

And yet here I sit... in the office... ostensibly working (you notice, however, that I'm actually blogging... which isn't exactly the same thing as working).

This is shaping up to be one busy, busy summer, so I'm trying to stay ahead of the game a bit by doing some fall work now. I also have two small projects for publishers to finish-- a book review and some freelance editing.

Two friends have asked me to read manuscripts, a third friend suggested that I might be a viable replacement for her in writing a weekly (or bi-monthy) column for a web magazine she's leaving. I'll be going on the pioneer trek with the youth of our stake. I leave for Louisville, KY for AP reading the day I get back from Wyoming. We have a whitewater trip, Scout camp, Draney camp, and a million lawns to mow.

THIS is vacation?

Moving furniture and making dust

2011-05-21T17:55:00.000-06:00

There's nothing to post about this... It's just what I did today.

We're not moving or anything, but we are rearranging and trying to fit our family more comfortably into the space we have.

There's more to do, but we got off to a good start today.

My feet hurt.

Get your geek on...

2011-05-20T14:24:00.000-06:00

(I posted the following on another blog a couple of years ago, but it seems to me that the concept is even more relevant now than it was then. Consider the following...)

I was a geek before. I didn’t exactly embrace my geekiness when I was in high school, but now that I’m all grown up (ha!), I don’t mind going by that moniker. My colleague, Ken Bingham, asked me once if I “had my geek on.” I knew exactly what he meant, and I laughed about that phrase for days.

I’m more of a geek than ever, I guess. I now have a goodreads account, a facebook account, a LinkedIn account, and of course this trusty blog. I even have more than one blog (as you regulars may recall), though the others are woefully neglected at the moment. (Not that this one is so up-to-date and spiffy.) I have a personal web page for a number of years.

I wrote an assignment for my 101 students once that went something like this:

“One of the ways we exist in the modern world is through the Internet. You’ll know what we mean by 'exist via the Internet' when you consider how many times you are asked to enter your personal information when you visit web sites. For example, you may have an eBay account which includes a feedback rating. You may also (or instead) have an Amazon account which includes records of the purchases you've made on that site. You may even have a personal profile on MySpace.com or another networking or dating site. (This assignment was written before facebook was the phenomenon that it is now.)

"Consider, too, that your personal information is stored in many other places. The driver’s license you have in your wallet represents a kind of authentication that you are you. To obtain a driver’s license, you have to provide some proof of your birth, your name, your residence, and so forth. Your credit card represents information about your account with a specific bank, but it also represents (albeit obliquely) your credit worthiness and your ability to repay. You might have a blood bank card in your wallet which represents the dates and times you’ve donated blood. You might have a library card which represents a record of all the books you’ve checked out at the library which issued the card. As you can see, there are many ways that you are represented throughout this menagerie we call modern life.

“Imagine, now, that 1,000 years have passed and it is the year 3011. Scientists and researchers discover a cache of old Internet servers from which information can be retrieved. They discover information about YOU, and once they have your name and date of birth, they discover that you are found in many places in the Internet. Future archeologists will be very interested to know what life was like in good, old 2011.

“What kind of pictures do these various online identities paint of you? What might those future archeologists conclude about your life and the way you lived?

“Another way to think about these concerns is to consider how many of these “markers” (or bits of electronic identity) are solely yours, and how many of them could just as easily belong to anyone from this century. Which parts of an eBay profile, for example, are uniquely and specifically yours, and which are universal characteristics of those living in what has recently been called the early nuclear age?”

So… what do you think? What is your web presence? What will your digital traces say about you?

The baby store

2011-05-11T08:49:00.001-06:00

I think many parents live in just a little bit of dread about conversations like this one. It started out innocently enough (and it really didn't go too far into the dreaded territory), but I was sweating a bit before it was over.

We were sitting at dinner night before last when Colton (who will be 5 on Thursday next), out of the blue, said something like, "You haven't gotten any babies since you got me."

"Right," I said. "You're our last one."

"You got me at the baby store, didn't you?"

"Um......"

"Yeah. You got me at the baby store, and you haven't gotten any more babies since then."

"Ahh....."

"When are you going to get some more babies at the baby store?"

By this time a couple of older brothers were piping up to say things about "tummies" and "mommies" and so forth.

I had regained my composure just a little, so I asked Colton where the baby store was. He replied, sort of haltingly, "Right... across...(uh) ... town." Then he smiled as if that settled it.

Pretty soon, however, he caught on to the tummy thing and started asking who came out of which tummy. "Which one came out of your tummy, Dad?" "What about Cameron's tummy, Dad?" Who's tummy did you come out of Dad?"

This went on for a few minutes with brothers trying to explain (happily, nothing too far out there though, as I said) and Colton enjoying all the attention. I think he asked about every person he could think of. "What about Clara?" (his little girl friend (don't call her his "girlfriend" though, although they do say they will marry someday)), "What about Grandma?" "What about my teacher?"

I was just relieved that he didn't ask about how babies get in there.

Bamboo Pen & Touch

2011-04-25T16:21:00.001-06:00

I'm pretty sure that both of you (my loyal readers) know that I do a little photography on the side from time to time. That endeavor is WAY on the side much of the time because of my commitments at CSI and elsewhere, but I do get a job doing family portraits or the like once in awhile.

Sometimes, in the course of proving up the proofs to the customer's satisfaction, I have need of a more precise method of massaging pixels than a mouse can provide. To that end, I have, so far, purchased two Bamboo pads. These little goodies include a drawing surface and a stylus much like those used by the pixel wizards at Pixar or Dreamworks. They (the pads) are pretty darn useful when trying to erase an errant power pole or seagull or smirking kid from the background of an otherwise good photograph.

The first one I bought lasted a good long time, but the stylus succumbed to a short drop onto a hard surface. Turns out there's a tiny, little circuit board and some kind of ceramic sensor inside that pen-like device and sudden shocks are a pretty big "no no." Who knew? Not me.

So, the next time I needed to quaff Aunt Marge's hair just so, I zipped down to Best Buy and hunted up a replacement. The first pad I bought was stylus and/or mouse driven only (and the mouse that came with it was a joke). This new one, though is the Bamboo Pen & Touch. It doesn't work as seamlessly as the multi-touch on an iPhone, but the ability to zoom and pan and so forth with a finger is pretty slick. Further, the stylus is even more sensitive and useful than the first one I had.

Since the pad is a pixel-by-pixel representation of whatever screen real estate you are using, it does take a little getting used it. You can't slide, then pick up, then slide again like you can with a mouse. On the other hand, though, you know pretty much where your cursor is going to end up when you place the stylus on the pad. If you have a big monitor and a smallish pad (the Pen & Touch is on the small side), you'll be working in a smaller area on the pad than you might expect. That didn't turn out to be much of an obstacle, however. I got used to it quickly.

The stylus has quite a number of levels of pressure sensitivity so you can be quite precise in adding or subtracting or moving pixels. Even without zooming in, I can usually erase ersatz objects right up to the edge of the subject with some precision. Zoomed in, the level of control is even finer.

Neither of these goodies cost more than a C note, happily, so that puts them in reach of even fairly casual pixel pushers.

A little pre-lunch teaser

2011-04-20T10:32:00.000-06:00

It's about 10:30am as I write this. I was posting a picture on the collaborative photo blog that a few of us are doing and I came across this picture from our Disneyland trip. This is the jambalay that Josh and I ordered at House of Blues on our last day at Disneyland. I suspect Josh was a little disappointed. He wasn't sure what he was getting, I think. I, however, loved it. Our combined leftovers were a couple of a days of delicious lunch.

So, if you haven't had lunch yet... eat your heart out over this.

April Conference 2011

2011-04-09T11:16:00.003-06:00

Okay, Kindle user friends... here's April 2011 conference for your favorite reading device. Enjoy.

(Or, if the above link doesn't work, try this one: http://bit.ly/eQHb8N )

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-30T14:55:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful spring break. We enjoyed every part of it, from the brief visit to the beach on Monday to the fireworks and last few rides on Space Mountain on Friday. The week was just what a break should be--restful, fun, and excellent family time.

Now back to work, right?

:)

Next phase

2011-03-11T08:12:00.001-07:00

So.. I cut short my note yesterday about butterflies and teaching because I had to go teach.

In fact, I spent the whole day in one-on-one conferences with students about their essays. That kind of interaction is one of the most meaningful kinds of teaching (I believe), but it also takes the most out of a body. I was exhausted by the end of the day.

It was a happy, satisfied kind of exhaustion for the most part however. In such conferences you can see that most students are trying pretty hard to meet the instructor halfway and make the work count for something.

Very, very few students are in English 102 because they love writing or because they want to be there, so their good humor and good efforts mean more, I think. For most students, that class is a hoop, a gate, a game-- instituted by the college--that they must play if they want access to the other parts of the college experience (and the grades, jobs, and money that are assumed to come with those things).

So when students play the game well--as if it really matters (and of course I believe that it does), I commend them for it. Yesterdays conferences seemed to go in that direction anyway. Most of the students were serious and concerned about what the rubric says, how the reviewers evaluated their papers, and what to do next.

All in all, it was a pretty satisfying day.

I still wonder, though, about this change I feel in myself about the whole teaching endeavor. I'm really not trying to talk myself out of my job or anything here. Don't misunderstand. In fact, I want to do my job better. I want to either recapture the fire in the belly that I've felt for teaching for more than 10 years now, OR I want to understand what other kinds of passion will substitute for that fire.

It might be the case, for example, that fire in the belly (whatever that means) isn't the mode that's "right" for me or for my teaching right now. I'm okay with that. I'm fine with the idea that it's time to reconceive the way I look at and carry out this grand experiment called pedagogy. In fact, I welcome the chance to see the whole endeavor with fresh eyes and fresh motivation.

I'm reading Malcolm Gladwells What the Dog Saw. The title essay of that collection is about Cesar Millan, a "dog whisperer." Part of Gladwell's claim about Millan is that he has "presence" that commands the attention and respect of the canine troublemakers that he specializes in helping. The way he stands, the way he moves, the way he uses his eyes, his hands, his head, all make a difference in how the dogs respect and attend to him.

This semester I've noticed that some students don't seem to have much compunction about talking over me and blathering on about whatever even while I'm trying to get class started and "tell them what's on the quiz." Part of that attitude might be a consequence of "their generation" (a post for another day (and an attitude that I try not to adopt, btw)), but I was thinking about whether or not my current lack of "butterflies" or "fire in the belly" contributes to a lack of "presence" in the classroom. Can they tell that I'm less "there" than normal and do they therefore take advantage of me in subtle, unconscious, unintentional ways? I wonder.

In any case, my attention is so very, very divided these days that I'm not sure where to start in reassessing or reconfirming what it is I believe about teaching writing and literature. I'm glad to say, however, that even that prospect-- of working out who and what I am as a teacher and scholar-- is part of the delight of the job I have.

I hardly dare tempt fate (and I may soon regret saying so)-- but I say "Bring it on."

Butterflies

2011-03-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

The first day I ever taught a college course, I put a piece of strong mint gum in my mouth just as I was walking into the classroom. I didn't want to "breath 'em all to death" the first time I met them, right? Well... the gum was too strong, I was nervous, I swallowed funny, and I ended up choking and coughing all the way through that first class. Not exactly an auspicious start.

The first day of the first class I taught in my doctoral program (that first class I mentioned above was in my master's program), I leaned against the edge of the table at the front of the room to introduce myself. The thing was, the table top was not attached to the table legs and I very nearly fell to the floor in front of that first group of students at ISU. Not a great start either.

The truth is, I've always felt a certain amount of fear about going into the classroom--- particularly the first day. No... it's not fear exactly... It's more like nerves... like stage fright. Going in to the classroom has, from the very beginning, given me a big case of butterflies in the stomach. Every class, every time.

Well... not every time... anymore.

Not long after I came to CSI I started saying something blithe and sophisticated like "the day those butterflies go away is the day I stop teaching." You see, I was of the opinion that the butterflies meant that I still respected the responsibility and the weight of teaching. I was taking it seriously if my body was responding with a certain amount of trepidation. If I felt fear or stage fright or whatever, it meant that the process was still "honest" and "real."

Something has changed recently. The butterflies are mostly gone.

Last semester, fall semester 2010, was a pretty good semester. I had lively, interactive, respectful students who actively engaged in the process of getting their own educations. The material I was teaching was mature, well-thought-out, and students responded well to it. Lectures, class discussions, small group activities, etc. were obviously worth the students' time. They stepped up and did their part very, very well. Note every student in every class every day, of course, but with a high degree of regularity and a high level of engagement.

I still felt the butterflies last semester. This semester is ... different; and I'm worried that the thing that's different is me.

In Act 2 Scene 2 of Hamlet, Hamlet is trying to explain to his "friends" Rosencranz and Guildenstern what he's been going through since his father death. He says, "I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth." I wouldn't exactly say I've lost all my mirth, but I certainly not "feeling it" like I have in the past. I feel like I've lost something, and "wherefore I know not."

Part of the deal, I'm sure, is that spring semester students are a different breed of cat that fall semester students. In the fall, particularly here at a CC, fall students are afraid of their own shadows. They're more malleable and "teachable." By the time they get to the spring semester, however, they're world-wise and savvy. They don't need classes or professors anymore. They know what's what. It's always harder to get a class to "gel" in the spring than it is in the fall. None of my usual tricks are working this term, though.

But, blah, blah, blah. Here I blather on while I need to be finishing my prep for class.

More on this another day, perhaps.

(BTW, don't send the intervention teams yet. I'm not quite ready to slit my wrists or anything. Just musing, I guess.)

March's theme - Basic Needs

2011-03-08T14:26:00.003-07:00

I was shoveling the walk a few days ago and saw this brilliant blue sky. It's been so overcast so much lately that this glimpse of sky was an especially beautiful thing.

Of course the basic need portrayed here is having a safe, warm place to blog... I mean sleep.

Imaginary neighborhood

2011-03-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

So... February is over now, but before it ended I did post one more item to the photo blog for the "neighborhood" theme.

This one is about the neighborhoods I carry around in my brain– Brontë, Dickens, London,Card, Stegner, Wells (Dan, not Herbert George). Ah, the life of the mind.

week 2.714

2011-02-12T10:21:00.003-07:00

I'm feeling like an overachiever. Here's my third picture of the month (second this week).

I dare ya'

2011-02-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

to try to watch TV like this.

Week 2 of the photo project

2011-02-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

You'll recall that the monthly theme is "neighborhoods." I guess I'm stuck on campus too much, because this week's photo is also at CSI.

1/125s
f/5.6
ISO: 200
a little contrast & color bump in PS

See what others are posting in this small but highly creative community of picture makers.

My "neighborhood"

2011-02-04T18:30:00.005-07:00

And we're off and running...

The photo project I told you about the other day is going. I posted my first picture today:

As I left the office yesterday, I decided I would try to take a suitable picture for the project by the time I got to my truck (not so very far away). This was the result. My colleague and friend was walking her dog, Scout (as she often does on campus), and she agreed to have me take her picture for the project.

So... here's week 1*.

I usually go to the gym on MWF, but today I took my camera and wandered around campus. I used to be quite self-conscious about taking pictures on campus, but I guess I'm getting immune to what people think as I get older.

Anyway, I probably already have next week's picture, but I'll wait until then to post something.

*Technical stuff (for the two of you who care ;-) ):

1/3200 sec
f/4.5
ISO/200
some awesome PhotoShop actions (that do cool stuff that I don't yet know how to do well on my own)

(This scene was strongly backlit, so I brightened it quite a bit, then popped up the colors a bit. I also cropped it quite a bit. (And I overused the word "bit" quite a bit in this bit of my post.))

A photo project

2011-01-31T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last year I posted a few pictures in January and February in response to the idea of a 365 project. You may recall that a 365 project is the effort to take & post a new picture every day for an entire year... 365 new pictures. There are many fun blogs out there showcasing the results of such undertakings. I've had fun following one or two of them.

Now... there is no way that I have time to do an entire 365 right now... I couldn't even do a 265 or a 165. But... how about a 48?

I got this note from a friend today:

Taking photographs is fun. Sharing them is even better. Sticking with one theme a month, upload one photograph a week that somehow represents that theme.

One theme a month.

One photograph a week.

12 x4 = 48 photographs.

You in?

If so, click on February’s Assignment and start shooting and posting!

Clicking "February's Assignment" gets you this:

The assignment for February is neighborhoods. Deadline? Post one photograph each week of February by Sunday, there are four during the month: February 6, 13, 20, 27. You may choose to include commentary on your photo.

An idea to consider is what makes your neighborhood unique or ubiquitous. Your neighborhood is familiar, home…how can you represent it to others? Consider also using different types of cameras, SLR, DSLR, phone camera, point and shoot, and alternative process.

Think.

Shoot.

Share.

I'm game (I think). I'm going to give it a go. Watch for a picture here about neighborhoods by the end of the week.

It's a good thing...

2011-01-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

... that I didn't do anything so foolish as to make a New Year's resolution to blog more.

What a relief.

Breakfast with Santa

2010-12-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

My employer, the College of Southern Idaho, hosts a "Breakfast with Santa" every year. More accurately, the Program Board of the Student Senate of the college sponsors the breakfast with Santa. In other words, the students of CSI make a special day for the children of our community. It's a fun activity that our kids have come to love. We've taken our kiddies every year since we've lived in Twin Falls.

This year we took just Cate and Cole (the older boys being much too mature for such a thing). As you can see, they are of an age to really enjoy activities like this. It was fun to see them have such fun.

Look at the form

2010-12-16T12:47:00.001-07:00

Check out the elegance and the grace...

Josh would not be happy to see that I'm posting pictures of his school's winter program, but he did so well that I can't resist sharing. He won't see it, probably, anyway, as the only thing he does online is play StarCraft II.

It was a very nice program. Xavier Charter School did very well. See other pics online.

Here comes Santa Claus

2010-12-13T15:54:00.001-07:00

Who knew that Santa Claus lane was only accessible via helicopter...

This picture is of our kids at the Magic Valley Airport watching Santa and his trusted elf walk across the tarmac after disembarking from a helicopter. It was quite exciting for the little ones. Can't you tell how excited Colton (on the right) is?

Animals of YouTube sing "Deck the Halls"

2010-12-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

My neurotic dog would fit in with this crowd quite nicely.

Cute Cate Curl

2010-12-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

I was helping Caitlin wash her hands this evening and I saw this little curl. Totally unplanned, but completely cute. Happily, she let me take a picture or two.

Toothless

2010-11-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well... not exactly toothLESS, but certainly lacking in the dental department for awhile. You can't see them, but those two front teeth are finally starting to peek through the gums.

illuminati

2010-11-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

Keri and I took the family to Rexburg on the 7th to help celebrate the birth of her nephew's newest child. It was a fun day with family, and I ate WAY too much food at the luncheon. That's another story, though.

On the way home from Rexburg, we saw Old Glory streaming in the wind in Rigby, with the setting sunlight gleaming from behind. Old Glory - streaming and gleaming.

I cropped this version to 16:10 which is just right (or pretty close) for you folks who have widescreen monitors. Feel free to use this as your wallpaper for a few days, if you like.

If you are wondering about my title, let's just say that the power behind the throne should always be the people-- the voice and will of the people who care deeply about doing what they believe is right. Thanks, Mom, for helping me understand what this beautiful flag stands for.

And a belated thank you to the women and men who have served, and fought, and died to keep us free.

"Lilly! Back!"

2010-11-06T17:55:00.002-06:00

"Lilly! Back!"

That's what Caitlin said when she got home from school and saw this little cutie. Her name (we finally concluded, after much agonizing and discussion) is actually "Sammie," but to Catie, she's her long lost dog returned.

About 6 weeks ago, Cate started including our little dog, Lilly, (the one who was killed in January) in her recitations of who is in our family. It's been kind of touching and sad. Cate just simply insists that Lilly is still part of our family (and I guess she is, if you believe in resurrection for animals). We've been planning to get a new dog since Lilly died, but waiting until we could dog-proof our very porous fence (which still hasn't happend, but will have to soon, of course).

Yesterday, I was in a meeting in Boise and I got a text from Keri asking if she could buy this dog. A neighbor was selling the pups from a litter born in August, and this was the last little girl doggie. Part of Keri's text read, "Pllllleeeeeaaaaasssseee!!!!!" How could I resist?

Sammie's had her dewclaws removed, her first shots, and she's mostly house trained. Seems like a pretty good deal.

So, Catie and I both came home to a new little dog at our house. We've all been missing Lilly (and we still do), but this is one cute dog, and we are having some fun getting to know her.

A couple more

2010-10-31T19:10:00.000-06:00

These two pictures were supposed to have been uploaded with the ones yesterday. I don't know what happened.

Anyway, I wanted to have each of the kids represented.

See, Clint... semi-monthly. :)

Halloween haunting

2010-10-30T21:02:00.000-06:00

Technically speaking, tomorrow is Halloween, of course. Our ward (and the adjacent 7th ward) had a "trunk or treat" tonight, however, so we did our sucrose reveling a day early. The kids had some fun dressing up and overdosing on processed sugar. I had some fun taking pictures of them after we got home.

And I posted my semi-monthly blog entry.

LDS General Conference on Kindle

2010-10-07T21:08:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure I've done it all properly -- in terms of making a really workable Kindle document (it seems to work okay so far) -- but I've gathered up all the sessions of the recent General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (including the General Relief Society Meeting) into one file and made it available for Kindle users.

Of course, the copyright still belongs to the Church, so if I should not make this available to others, I hope someone will let me know (please use the comments section - it's monitored) and I'll take down the link.

In the meantime, Kindle users, this may prove useful. Let me know what you think (also via the comments section). How would you do it differently? How can I make it better?

My review of my Kindle is still coming--- I promise.

Just a note . . .

2010-09-26T21:38:00.000-06:00

. . . to say that my wife's Spanish omelets are a darn good way to end the day. A little Tabasco jalapeno sauce and an ice-cold glass of milk. Perfection.

Do you name your possessions?

2010-09-24T08:22:00.001-06:00

When I was in the Dominican Republic for my church many moons ago, I had a companion who cleverly named some of his more treasured possessions. For example, as I recall, his bicycle was Teancum, and his briefcase was Gus.

The love affair that some Kindle owners are apparently having with their new reading buddies has inspired them to name their precious possessions. I'm thinking of doing the same.

Let's make it a poll... What name do you think is appropriate for Clark's Kindle?

(I can't wait to see what y'all say.)

I'm on facebook

2010-09-17T22:01:00.000-06:00

Okay. Of course I'm on facebook. I have been for quite some time.

Tonight, however, I made a facebook page for Clark Draney Photography, which is me too.

"Like" me and I'll include a DVD of your portrait session at no charge.

I've been kindled.

2010-09-17T15:17:00.001-06:00

I think most serious readers were intrigued and a little excited by the appearance of Amazon's Kindle a couple of years ago. I know I was. The whole concept just seems right for folks who like to read. Lots of books at one's fingertips all the time. "Want that new bestseller but don't have the time or inclination to head for the mall? Why not download it instead and start reading RIGHT NOW?" Variable font sizes, built-in dictionary, no monthly bills for the connectivity etc. etc. etc.

Let's not forget the geek factor. The Kindle is a gadget and a pretty cool one at that. E-readers have been around awhile, but Kindle pulls together the best features (it seems to me) and has the influence of Amazon there to get titles into the device. Clickity, clickity, click.

But let's talk price. What did they cost when they first appeared? $300 smackers, or something? Too dang rich for my blood. And you still have to buy the books. With books available for just a single click, I'd probably be buying left and right and racking up a huge ole bill in no time. Yikes.

After a few days of drooling and dreaming, I decided it was not time for me to kindle.

So, a couple of weeks before my birthday (which is August 24th, for those of you keeping track), Keri asked me what I wanted. I hopped on Amazon and updated my wish list. I put a few books, a couple of DVDs, and some other reasonably priced things on there. And, just for fun, I added the new Kindle. Just as a joke, you know?

Of course, you know where this is going.

Afternoon of my birthday: Keri hands me a package and a stack of cards. The package was a book from my list (the very useable and useful Speaker's Guide to 40 Years of General Conference). The cards were fun and touching cards from the kids, a sweet note from Keri that reminded me of the many, many reasons I married her, and one more surprise-- a note that read "These items are back-ordered and will be delivered when available." On the card were images of a Kindle and a black leather Kindle cover. Wow! What fun!

The Kindle and cover were back-ordered because the newest Kindle, the third edition*, was just released and was in heavy demand, so I had to wait. The order page indicated that orders from the date Keri bought it were shipping around Sept 10th. I haunted the Kindle forums** on Amazon for several days until, miracle of miracles, my Kindle was delivered earlier than expected on Sept 8th. Hurray!

So... does the Kindle live up to its hype? That'll be the subject of another day's post.

...
*Don't call the newest Kindle the K3, though. The official term is Kindle (Latest Generation). I wonder though,...what happens when a newer generation comes out next year? Will that be the Latestest Generation?

**The main forum I paid attention to was the one that indicated when people in my shipping wave were getting their notifications and their actual shipments. A fun forum that continues to amuse is one about the extracurricular activities of electronic devices.
...
(BTW,The price is much closer to "right" now. Just $189 for the whole shootin' match (the one with 3G and wi-fi), and only $139 for the wi-fi only version. WAY reasonable.)

Despicable Me

2010-09-10T09:21:00.002-06:00

Despicable Clark. That's right.

Okay. That's too strong. Of course it is. I posted that little note about feeling selfish, etc. Several of you true-blue friends chimed in to say encouraging things. Thanks. It meant a lot. Really.

I still think there's an element of truth in what I wrote though. I don't mean to get all philosophical on all-y'all or anything, but I think most of what most of people do boils down to a kind of self-interest. Call it enlightened self-interest (as Voltaire and others did), but it's still quite a bit about "what in it for me?" Right?

Maybe.

Here's an example. I'm contemplating taking on some different responsibilities in my department. The person who holds the position now believes that the holder of the position should teach only comp. I love teaching comp, but I don't want to let go of my lit teaching. Rather than thinking of the ways in which teaching only comp would be good for the department and for students, or thinking about how teaching comp and lit together while holding the above-named position makes sense for the department or for students, I'm thinking only of my selfish desire to continue to teach lit. See? It's all about me.

Or, here's another...

Let's say that the person who cleans my office is something of a jabbermouth--- loves to hang out in my office and chat while I'm trying to work. Let's say, also, that I find out that this person lives alone and his/her only companion, a faithful dog, has just died. Out of a sense of ... what? ... duty? I decide to spend a little more time each day talking to this person. Am I doing that because he/she needs the chance to talk? Or am I doing it so the person will continue to do a bang-up job on cleaning up my work space? Or to keep him/her from taking my Hot Tamales? Or ... What is my motive?

One more,

Do I serve in my church calling (or my community volunteer position) because I have a genuine desire to be of help to and to make the lives of others better, or am I doing the things I do in that setting because I want people to like me or to say nice things about me or so I can put those things on my next rank advancement application (which means more $$ if I succeed in advancing in rank, and everything is about money, right?)? What is my motive?

I know, of course, that our motives are marvelously mixed. We do things for all kinds of crazy (and sane) reasons. I guess I'm just trying to examine what I do and why, and trying to think more about how what I do creates happiness or sadness, offers opportunities or shuts them down, for the important people in my life.

So I'm selfish, but I'm trying to be enlightened. Does that fly?

See what happens?

2010-09-06T21:56:00.001-06:00

When classes begin, I drop off the face of the blogging planet.

And now that classes are also beginning for 4 of our 5 children, I'll be even more of a blog basket case. Ah so.

I've decided, by the by, that I am one of the most selfish people I know. I've been analyzing my behavior of late, and I've come to the uncomfortable realization that almost everything I do is for me-- in one way or another. It kinda makes me sick to realize it, but I think it's more than a little true.

The funny thing is, that's not the way I want to be. Being all wrapped up in myself makes a pretty small package. Really.

Sad, too.

So. What am I going to do about it?

I don't know yet. But I do know that I'm going to give it some serious thought and make a plan.

More on this before long, I hope.

And so it starts (again)

2010-08-23T07:06:00.000-06:00

Here we go again, folks. Classes begin today. Are you ready? I'm not.

Well... I am, sort of. When Colton (our youngest) came in at 4:14 needing some attention, I felt that old familiar feeling in my gut-- that nervousness that indicates I'd better step up and get to work. Now what I mean is that if I go in to something feeling calm and comfortable, I usually make a wreck out of it. Too much confidence means I don't pay the price to be ready, to teach well. A little twinge in the stomach, however, indicates that I need to sit down, study it out, and do my best. That approach much more often leads to a successful outcome.

So, after I took care of Colton and got back into bed, I lay there for a few minutes thinking about what I need to do today-- what needs to be done to be ready for class at 10AM. After about 3.5 minutes of that, I just went ahead and got up.

It's been a good morning. I've gotten a lot done already and I'm eager for the rest of the "to do" list.

How's your day so far?

To tell or not to tell

2010-08-20T10:42:00.000-06:00

When I was in graduate school I learned that keeping 50% of students in an online class is a success story. The attrition or drop-out rate for online classes has always been much, much higher than for f2f (face to face) classes. Keep half and you're doing great. I learned that concept as a maxim, but my experience has borne it out. Students taking classes from afar (often) or taking online versions of classes for convenience sake (or laziness, sometimes, I think) just don't finish as often as students who have to come to class and face the music a couple or three times a week.

In fact, sometimes students enroll in an online course and never do a single thing in the course. They don't enroll in the Blackboard site (online course management site), they don't submit assignments, they don't respond to email, and they don't drop the class by the drop deadline. They're like ghosts-- present in name only. Of course students who behave thus (a lack of behavior, really) have to receive a failing grade even though they could have avoided such simply by dropping the course by the 12th week.

Then there are those who complete a few assignments, but quite doing so at week 4 or 6 or 9. A few even do all the work, but fail to turn in the course portfolio or the final paper or fail to take the final exam-- thus disqualifying themselves for a "completion" or a "pass." As much as I encourage and empower (I really don't like that word-- too ambiguous) and cajole, students just don't finish-- some of them anyway. What's up with that?

I've thought some this summer about what to say (write) to students who will be in my online classes. I always send a cheery, informative, and encouraging (though realistic) email message which spells out what they'll need to do to be successful in the course. I've wondered if I should tell students that half of the class will likely disappear or stop participating before the end of the term. Would that help them see how seriously they should take the course requirements? Would it strengthen their resolve to step up and do they work? Or would it give them an easy out?

"Dr. Draney said half of us wouldn't finish. I guess I'm in that half."

What do you think? Have you taken an online class? How did it go? What motivated you to do well? What kinds of communications about expectations did you get from your instructor(s)?

From the archive (again)

2010-08-18T21:13:00.000-06:00

In-service week started on Monday, which means that classes start next Monday. I came down with something mean yesterday about mid-day, and I spent about 16 hours in bed with a scalding fever. I'm feeling a bit better tonight, but needless to say, I haven't been up to blogging much. I searched through the archive briefly and found this pic. I was in Boston last year for a publisher's junket and had an afternoon to wander downtown Boston. This picture was taken in a cemetary where all kinds of colonial folks are buried.

Maybe I blogged about all this last year. My fever isn't quite gone and I'm too tired to check.

Here's to a good night's rest and a fresh new day tomorrow.

Lucious Lawn

2010-08-13T12:05:00.001-06:00

I was outside yesterday mowing and trimming and etc. when this fellow walks by. "Are you the new owner then?" he says. "Um, no," I say, "We've lived here for six years." (It was six years exactly on Tuesday, in fact.) "Oh," he says, "Well... you've certainly improved the yard recently. I assumed it was because you had just moved in." "Um, thanks," I say. (I haven't changed anything except the watering scheme. I guess green grass really makes a difference.)

This picture is a little bit deceiving because there's actually a fair amount of weeds you can't see from this angle. It is true, however, that our lawn has never been this green this late in the season. I have finally figured out a fairly good watering scheme (involving timers and hoses and the like-- because we still don't have an in-ground system).

Don't look too closely though. No flowers this year.

Catie's cute cake

2010-08-12T10:09:00.002-06:00

This lucious bit of patry looks store-bought, doesn't it? It's actually much, much better than store-bought. It was made, by hand (and with loads of love), by our talented and generous friend Michelle Arrington. Very cool, huh!

It tasted just as good as it looks. Lucious!

This birthday girl is happy

2010-08-11T07:13:00.001-06:00

Of course, Catie is happy a lot of the time. Happy is her default setting. She was pretty pleased by her little birthday presents, though, and she showed it.

Snake River Council Cabaret - The Osmonds

2010-08-10T14:21:00.001-06:00

More pictures. Click the thumbnail above.

Scout Cabaret

2010-08-09T08:52:00.001-06:00

Here are a few pictures of the Snake River Council's annual Cabaret on Saturday. This year the Osmond Brothers performed. It was quite a night. Lots of memories and fun. And a few dollars to support boy scouting in the Magic Valley.

Sudden summer shower

2010-08-05T17:49:00.000-06:00

If you were in or near Twin Falls today, you saw (felt, heard, had to clean up after) this heavy downpour. What a refreshing change of pace in the (near) middle of the day. The kids had fun watching from the safety of the indoors.

The storm cooled things off for a while, but then it got a bit muggy as the sun reemerged and the temp went back up. It was nice while it lasted.

I think I can turn my sprinklers off for tomorrow. What do you think?

Happy Birthday, Caitlin

2010-08-04T08:10:00.001-06:00

August 4th. Caitlin's birthday. Six years ago today we were living in Pocatello, but were within days of moving to Twin Falls. I'd gotten the job at CSI and we were excited to be moving into our own home. We also knew that Cate was coming and that she had Down Syndrome. It was, to say the least, an exciting and tumultuous time. Caitlin was born on the 4th, we moved on the 10th and she got out of the hospital on the 11th. Keri went back to Pocatello, spent that last night in the hospital with Cate, and then brought her home to our house here. And our lives changed forever, as they say.

There are many challenges living with a child with a disability. I can tell you unequivocally, however, that the blessings outweigh the minor troubles. When Cate looks at you like she's doing in this picture, it can make your whole terrible, no-good, nasty day change.

We don't know what the future holds, but Cate is making continual and excellent progress in physical therapy and in her speech. She's not in her peer group as far as developmental things are concerned, but she's doing just fine. And we see the sky as the limit to what she can do. She's a blessing and a delight.

How lucky we are!

Get busy on those merit badges

2010-08-03T14:26:00.002-06:00

I missed scout camp this year. Our family schedule worked out differently, and I didn't get to go. I did get a glimpse of it in this video though. It was made by my friends, the Carters. Enjoy (and get busy on that Family Life merit badge)!

Camp Bradley Merit Badge Video (Old Spice spoof)

Shadow leadership

2010-08-02T21:47:00.002-06:00

What you see in this picture is a scout leader anonymously (I intentionally chose the shot with his face hidden) helping boys learn how to handle the Unites States flag. What you don't see here is the 4 minutes prior to the picture as he let them make a few mistakes and try on their own to manage the flag ceremony. It was clear that they'd had training and some practice, but in the pressure of the moment and with parents watching, the training was momentarily forgotten. So... the leader stepped up and whispered a few well-chosen reminders in the boy's ear.

These youngsters won't be able to do a flag ceremony completely on their own after just this one experience, but after 5 or 6 more such experiences, they will. And they won't soon forget such experiences if they are allowed to do them mostly on their own most of the time. They will own both the mistakes and the successes and will be better men for them.

That's how to lead boys and young men.

Draney Camp 2010

2010-08-01T23:06:00.002-06:00

Righteous traditions build strong families. Our family assembles yearly for Draney Camp. We camp & cook, laugh & learn, paintball & pow-wow for three days in the splendid Utah wilderness. We teach our children to look to God and see themselves as the eternal, celestial beings that they are. It's a good thing. Below is a sampling of our camp.

Whiterocks Canyon - Uintah Mountains - near Neola, Utah.

Big brother loves little sister.

Glow-stick fun

Camp dirt is clean dirt, right?

More pics of Draney Camp 2010 are available:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cdraney/DraneyCamp2010#

Catie cargo

2010-07-27T12:49:00.000-06:00

Keri called me into the bedroom yesterday. "Where's Catie?" she said?

We were packing for Keri to go to girls camp and for the rest of us to go to Draney Camp '10. Catie decided to stow away with Mom, I guess. She was folded neatly into this none-too-large gym bag.

Speaking of girls camp, Keri left this morning. In fact, she should be arriving at camp before too long here (it's about 12:45PM as I write this). I hope she has some real fun-- relaxing, invigorating, rejuvenating-- all the things I've enjoyed about scout camp. She'll be home on Friday afternoon.

We, on the other hand, will be home on Saturday night. It's just me and 5 kids--- affectionately known as "the hoard." We're finishing up a few chores today, and then we'll pack up and head for Utah tomorrow. Tomorrow night is a reunion of folks from the SLICC (Salt Lake Institute Concern Choir). That's where Keri and I met-- that and Dr. Ragsdale's inorganic chemistry class.

After the reunion it's on to Neola. Then Thursday morning, not too long after the sun lifts its corpuscular head above the Uintahs, we'll be on our way to Whiterocks Canyon and some relaxation and welting. We're hoping for less rain than the forecast officially calls for.

The Twin Falls Draneys are responsible for dinner on Thursday night. I have my plans. I hope they turn out. We did a test run on Sunday. The kitchen version was pretty darn good. Hopefully the camp stove version will be as good.

Speaking of camping food, what is your favorite, easy, inexpensive camp dessert (besides S'mores)? Any good ideas?

sans scout camp

2010-07-26T18:04:00.001-06:00

For the first time in 4 years, I'm not at Scout Camp this week. (sniff) Please join me in a moment of silence. It just seems appropriate. This fellow might be there, however, enjoying his second camp meal by now.

On the other hand, we are in the midst of mad preparations for Draney Camp, which is a week earlier this year. We'll be there on Thursday. Here's hoping for good weather and plenty of paintballs. Hopefully Uncle Kyle will bring his hammock again. It's always a hit.

Military protocols

2010-07-25T21:50:00.004-06:00

As you head south from Denver (or north from Pueblo), you pass through the lush country around Colorado Springs. To the west of the freeway are rolling hills and a beautiful pine forest. If you are paying attention, you'll see an iconic building that represents one of the United States' military academies (universities)-- the Air Force Academy. It's nestled back against the mountains amid other buildings that you would expect to see on a university campus-- dorms, classroom buildings, etc. It's the Cadet Chapel, built in 1963 and used daily on campus.

We caught a glimpse of the campus and this unique building as we made our way to Philment. As we headed home, we ran into heavy traffic at Colorado Springs. Deciding that our time would be just as well spent checking out the Academy as sitting on the freeway with the engine idling, we pulled off and made our way the 5 or so miles to the campus. Because the Academy is a military installation, our vehicle was inspected as we entered. The guard saw nothing to be concerned about, apparently, but she did ask "What's all that under the tarp on the trailer?" I replied, "Sleeping bags, camp chairs, suitcases, etc." I guess our pedestrian appearance and our slightly haggard look must have confirmed that we had just spent a week out of doors, so my answer satisfied her and she waved us through. The Draney family is no threat to national security apparently.

From the archive

2010-07-24T06:57:00.000-06:00

One of the benefits of having most of the summer off is that I have large swaths of time with the kids. Catie and I have been spending some quality time together in the early mornings. She gets up not long after the sun comes up, and I'm often up at that hour for personal time, so we've had some good talks and play. We have our breakfast together, and she tells me which "foofie" (movie) she wants to watch. We read a book together and then she settles in with Monsters, Inc. or something while I study. It's good, quality time.

I found this picture from several years ago of her tiny little feet. I usually don't like flash pictures; I prefer natural ambient lighting for most scenes. In this shot, however, I like the interplay between the flash-illuminated foreground and the light coming through the blinds. Even the reflection in the upper left adds a bit of intrigue, I think.

Even though this picture was actually taken in late fall, for me it represents the summer mornings with my beautiful daughter. (And no, I'm not wrapped around her little finger-- not in the least.)

Happy Saturday, everyone. May you have some sweet summer mornings with your loved ones soon.

My first photography love

2010-07-23T06:18:00.004-06:00

Photography as a passion was, for me, first a chemical thing. I started out in 7th or 8th grade with a shiny new Canon AE-1 Program (it belonged to the school) and as many rolls of Tri-X Pan film as I could shoot, develop, and print. I had developer and fixer in my blood for a time, I suspect. It was powerful stuff. (I wonder if I smelled bad. Maybe that's why my social life stunk (accidental pun-- sorry).) Loads of fun, too. Of course, black and white was the only real option for most of us. One school in our district had a color darkroom, but I was never very impressed by the color prints they made. Leave the color to the professional labs. B&W was not only fun, but doable--- really doable.

The advent of digital cameras changed things for most of us, of course. No longer do we need to own darkroom equipment and chemicals (not to mention a DARK room). A few clicks of the mouse, and our pics can be B&W. (I have a friend who not only still does darkroom/chemical B&W work, but also uses a pinhole camera for some of her best work. She did buy a digital camera recently, but she's a hands-on, darkroom junkie at heart, I think.) All of the pics from today's post were shot digitally and then converted. There are many, many ways to convert digital pics from color to B&W. These are all pretty straightforward, however. I own some Photoshop actions that convert them in fun, funky ways, but these are mostly straight conversions.

I post these today as a homage to what I see (and I think I always have seen) as the "coolness" factor of "seeing" in B&W. A "good" B&W shot, for me, has good contrast, a wide range of tones, even gradations (where called for), and a certain sharpness. I don't know what you will think of these, but they represent a range of things that I find both interesting and fun.

What makes a photograph work for you? What appeals to you? What draws you in? How does B&W figure in to the mix?

Scout-O-Rama 2010

2010-07-22T20:02:00.001-06:00

This post is WAY out of date from one point of view. The Scout-O-Rama took place in late April. From another point of view, however, it is still very timely. The 100th year of scouting in the US is still underway and a friend of mine recently suggested that I get these photographs "out there" for more people to see. I post these for any scout to use for any bona-fide scouting purpose. Follow the link to see more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cdraney/ScoutORama2010Helicopter#

The occasion, as I already noted, was the 100th year Scout-O-Rama in Twin Falls. It was a great success. Lots of folks attended, some good money was raised for Scouting, and Paul Tikalsky, Snake River Council Executive, got all wet.

All in all, a good time was had by all.

Raptor report

2010-07-21T16:42:00.002-06:00

1/250sec, f/5.0, ISO: 200, 250mm

Next weekend is Draney Camp. One of the things we always do is have an afternoon of paintball-- the weekend welting. Jacob got a paintball marker for his birthday this year and he's been dying to try it out, so we drove over to the other side of the canyon to some public land that people use for this type of thing. We wandered around a bit looking for a good spot away from other people. When we came to a halt in a little swale, we looked out the window and saw this beautiful bird perched on a rock. I just had time to get the telephoto lens on the camera before it took off and flew away. I was able to get 8 or 10 shots, including the above. Anybody know precisely what kind of bird this is?

We then proceeded to the purpose of our trip-- shooting up the landscape with paintballs (not to worry-- they're biodegradable). Jacob came away even more excited for next week. It'll be fun.

Patriot dream

2010-07-20T22:02:00.005-06:00

One of the avowed missions of the Boys Scouts is to help boys and young men learn character traits such as loyalty and patriotism. To begin to learn these, they should also understand their relationship to their country. Proper reverence for the symbols of our country is key. One of the elements of Philmont was the daily flag ceremony. I'm hoping even our youngest began to get a sense of what the flags we fly mean. I recall watching my mother's reaction to the flying of Old Glory and the playing of the national anthem. I'm sure that it was in observing her love for God and country that I begin to learn and feel my own love for them.

Lost and found

2010-07-19T23:49:00.001-06:00

#1 When we put our house on the market a while ago (I'm not going to say how long ago, but suffice it to say that we caused the housing crash by trying to sell our house), we packed up a bunch of stuff and stuck it in the shed so as to make the house look roomier. One of the things we packed up was the majority of our DVD collection. A while back, I dug most of them out (we ARE a movie-watching family, after all), but I didn't find the box with the M*A*S*H DVDs (and a few other movies). I looked a long time for them, but never did run on to them. I started to think that I had left the shed unlocked one night and someone had snagged them. I was kinda sad about it, but life moves on-- you know.

#2 In February 2009 I went to Seattle for some training for the accreditation report I was to help write for the college. When I got back, I couldn't find my driver's license. I searched my luggage carefully, called the airline, called the hotel, checked the car-- everyting. No luck. Eventually I ponied up the $30 (or whatever) to get a duplicate license.

#3 Last summer, after we got back from Draney Camp, I remember using my Leatherman for some yardwork and little jobs around the house. I put it down in a strange spot, I thought, and I didn't see it again. It seemed to vanish, and no one had a clue about where it went.

#4 Keri and I got iPhones in February. One of the cool things about the earbuds that come with the iPhone is that they come with a combination microphone/remote. (If you're rockin' out to Flock of Seagulls or Planet P and your agent calls you about that spot in a Tide commercial, you won't have to unplug.) Within a week of getting our new phones, my microphone/remote earbuds went AWOL. Now, the story about earbuds in our house is that everyone wants some and no one keeps track of their own, so mine go missing quite often. This time, however, even monetary bribes didn't bring my "special" buds to the surface. Keri very kindly offered to let me use hers-- pretty much on a permanent basis (she's that way about everything-- selfless and considerate).

Since you noted the title of this post, you have no doubt figured out by now where I'm going with all this. It strains credibility, but all four of these items turned up in our house today within a couple of hours. All four! What are the odds?

Mentally, I'm still doing a little dance of joy. The universe is a little tidier tonight with these small mysteries solved. Pretty cool thing, eh?

High-flying adored

2010-07-19T06:57:00.001-06:00

1/200 sec, f/14, ISO 200, 25mm

I'm not quite done posting pics from Philmont, but I thought the new week could use a high-flying start. All our kiddos, but especially the little ones, thought the swingset repairs at Grandma's to be the absolute bees knees (Thanks again, Uncle Kyle). If they could have, they'd have spent every moment with me doing "underdoggies" and pushing them "higher, please, just a little higher."

High on a mountaintop

2010-07-18T18:36:00.002-06:00

1/30 sec, f/3.8, ISO 280, 24mm

Keri and I hoped for a beautiful sunrise at the end of this early (EARLY) morning hike. The clouds precluded that, but it was a wonderful hike nonetheless. It's called Lover's Leap, and behind us there, the cliff drops off some 200 feet (or more). Keri loves me, to be sure, but she's really holding on to me in well-disguised terror.

We started this hike in the pitch black at 4:30AM. We were on the mountaintop (or at least to Lover's Leap-- the mountain goes much higher) by about 5:10. We hoped the sun would break through, but it never quite did. It was not a difficult hike-- just hard enough to make it feel like a bit of an accomplishment.

This was Thursday, July 8th, the last full day of Philmont.

World's Tallest Clown

2010-07-17T07:01:00.006-06:00

1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 200, 18mm (cropped to about 35mm)

This amazing performer made a surprise appearance at the Philmont Western/Patriotic Days Family Parade. He was a big hit.

Some new friends from Philmont loaned us this costume. They suggested that Catie be the "head" of this clown, but she wasn't in the mood when the time came. Cole was happy to fill in. The fellow who originally wore the costume with one (or perhaps many) of his grandchildren was probably 6-8 inches taller than me. Those pant legs are folded up some 15-18 inches underneath.

Truthfully, we got lots of fun reactions to this costume. EVERYONE wanted to take pictures. Happily, my mug was hidden from view (though I could see out well enough not to fall on someone or take a step into the pond).

Camp Face

2010-07-16T13:23:00.001-06:00

1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200, 105mm

Sometimes great pictures just happen. Cam smiled, I raised the camera and shot. No playing with lighting, no coaxing a smile, no editing, no post production... nothing. Just the sweet smile of a creative, kind, courageous boy. A camping face.

This was the second-to-last day of Philmont. Cam had made some friends who really understood him. He had been able to roam around to his heart's content, and he had done some hard things (a couple of longish (for him) hikes). He has every reason to look content. It was a good, good camp.

The game room... aka "the garage"

2010-07-15T12:41:00.003-06:00

1/30 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200, 35mm

While at Philmont, we lived in the "South Tent City." In the midst of that city is a building with four overhead doors (two each on opposite sides). It's the supply room and gathering place for the residents. It was a darn fun place to play Connect Four, chess, checkers, Phase 10, and various other games. There was nearly always hot cocoa and hot cider (the nights do get a bit chilly), and someone looking for a game. Our boys spent a good deal of time there. I got my behind kicked a few times at chess. I should have paid attention when Dad tried to teach me some strategies.

Phase Three

2010-07-14T07:11:00.003-06:00

1/80 sec, f/5.3, ISO 200, 62mm

The third thing we did on our 15-day vacation was spend 5 1/2 days at the Philmont Scout Ranch. The ranch is the largest youth ranch in the world--- some 137,000 + acres. It was a gift from Waite Phillips, an businessman and philanthropist who, along with his wife, determined, after they became wealthy, to give away half of their income every year. The Phillips' gifts to the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), including the ranch land and a commercial building in Oklahoma (the income from which got the ranch off the ground as a scouting destination), made it possible for some 900,000 scouts (and counting) to enjoy high adventure and challenge themselves in the great New Mexico outdoors.

We were at Philmont for the annual LDS conference. The LDS Church has had a long and useful relationship with the BSA. The Church was BSA's first chartered partner in 1913, just 3 years after scouting was organized in the United States. The Church partners with the BSA to build boys and instill values and character. The purposes of scouting align very well with the purposes of the Church's "Young Men's" organization. The training we received at Philmont will hopefully help strengthen the Church's efforts to raise strong, value-driven youth in Twin Falls, and make the local council stronger as well. It was a wonderful week of scouting and church training.

Above is our family flag--made especially for the Philmont conference. Any guesses as to its significance?

Phase Two - Part Two

2010-07-11T07:53:00.003-06:00

1/200 sec, f/16, ISO 200, 35mm

L to R: Jacob, Joshua, Caitlin, Bob, Keri, Colton, Cameron. Dad, of course, is behind the camera.

Here's the crew on the day we visited the downtown Denver aquarium. I was a little leery of spending $15 a head to get in, but it turned out to be a very enjoyable experience. Lots of different kinds of exhibits, the kids really enjoyed themselves, and we were indoors--- out of the sun. This, of course, is still Phase Two of the trip. Phase Three soon.

We're in Denver again, at the moment. We're going to Dad's ward for church this morning (take a look at the Gospel Doctrine lessons this fine fellow prepares ahead of time for his ward) and then we'll hit the trail for Neola.

USA... USA... USA

2010-07-10T09:17:00.004-06:00

1/30 sec, f/3.5, ISO 2500, 18mm

Yesterday's picture was of Phase One of our vacation-- my mom's place in Utah. We tested out the swings and hiked around the place. Josh and I took a nice walk up to the old house (an abandoned cabin circa... I dunno... 1930) and took a bunch of pictures.

Phase Two was one to Denver (Lakewood, really) to spend a day plus with Keri's Dad. We went to the aquarium downtown and then Jake, Keri, and I went to a Rockies game. Because it was 4th of July weekend, they had fireworks. Our view was a little obstructed, but it was an awesome show nonetheless. At the end, the crowd began to chant "USA... USA... USA..." BTW, the Rockies beat San Francisco.

More soon about Phase Three.

High Summer

2010-07-09T23:39:00.003-06:00

1/800 sec, f/3.5, ISO 800, 18mm

We've just ended a week at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico. (This picture isn't from there. More on the scout ranch in another post.) This picture is of Josh and Cam at my mom's place in Neola, Utah. My excellent brother, Kyle, repaired the swing set and all our kids had a grand time testing it out.

We've had a wonderful family vacation (and we're not done yet). I've taken almost 800 pictures. I'll post a few of the better ones over the next week or so. We've spent some restful, enriching, and much-needed family time together.

So... welcome me back to the land of blogging. ;-)

Louisville weather

2010-06-15T18:50:00.000-06:00

After I finished reading for the day (a personal best of 15.5 folders today-- 25 essays each), I walked over to a store that someone said had cheap t-shirts (it was a lie-- no t-shirts). On the way back, the sky was starting to look ominous. When I got back to the hotel room, this is the view I found.

There have been tornado warnings on TV this afternoon/evening, I guess. Is this what a tornado sky looks like?

Maybe I'll sleep in the tub.

What's Louisville famous for, anyway?

2010-06-14T20:43:00.000-06:00

Lot's of things, it turns out. Colonel Sanders, the Derby (cleverest t-shirt so far: "Talk Derby to Me"), Mohammed Ali...

And this bat. THE bat that Babe Ruth used to hit 60 home runs in a single season. See the notches? I got to see it up close and personal!

And how's the AP reading going, you ask? I've read more than 500 essays. Actually, closer to 700... so far. My eyes and my brain are bleeding.

G'night all.

Land of the Kentucky Derby

2010-06-10T20:24:00.000-06:00

There's a clever connection between the name (and/or reputation) of the city I'm writing from and what I'm doing here (reading AP exams), but I'm much too tired after a day of travel (that began WAY too early) to think of it. My luggage hasn't arrived yet, so I face the prospect of attending the first day of reading in the same clothes I traveled in. (sigh) Not my idea of fun.

Louisville is a pretty city, though... what I've seen of it so far. The landscape we flew over as we came in to land was lush and green and tree-filled.

Last year I didn't take my nice camera to Daytona Beach and I kind of regretted it. If I can carve out some time to do so, I hope to take (and post) some pics of this fair city.

More soon, I hope.

Life of Pi

2010-06-05T13:59:00.001-06:00

I was in Costco yesterday getting milk, break, and eggs. And believe it or not, I really did buy just those three items. I passed through the media aisle, of course, to look at DVDs and Blu-ray movies, etc. They had a sale on Blu-ray discs. Regular price $12 and a $4 instant "rebate"-- not a bad deal for a Blu-ray movie. They didn't have any titles that I really wanted, however, so I passed on through and came on home. Keri would say that is amazing.

One of the titles they had on sale was The Sixth Sense. I had just started teaching college when that movie came out. I mentioned that I hadn't seen it yet to one of my classes, and of course they screeched, "No way! You HAVE to see it. It's SOOOO freaky!" So I saw it, and was pretty freaked out by it ... for awhile.

The thing is, that's a movie you can only see once, really (thus even a low price on a Blu-ray didn't tempt me all that much). Any subsequent viewings are going to be quite a different experience because you know the ending.

Life of Pi is like that. Once you get to the end and have to deal with the questions that Martel raises, both the implied and the explicit, you can't read the rest of the book through any other lens--not easily. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. I make a good part of my living encouraging people to deal with uncertainty, mixed messages, and different codes of interpretation in texts. But lots of the expectations set up by the first two parts of the book... let's call them "ocean" and "pre-ocean"... are only partly, or perhaps poorly, dealt with in the third part..."post-ocean." If you are the type that is okay with ambiguity and working out your own ideas about what things "mean," then Life of Pi is likely to be an acceptable read for you. If you take Martel at his word and assume that the meaning he most heavily hints at in the ending is the meaning of the book, then you'll probably be okay with it too.

If, however, you want all the loose threads from parts one and two to weave together in a satisfying and useful way, then Life of Pi might not be worth your time. And, by the way, by "satisfying" and "useful" I don't mean facile or simple or dogmatic. I just mean that the parts should line up in some way that makes sense to the reader and gives him/her something to chew on. For me, after spending all that time afloat and at sea (feeling like all the metaphors and narrative fun really were going to be useful and satisfying), the third part was mostly gristle and grit. It just didn't work. Piscine Molitor Patel never really got home, if you ask me.

So... do you read it or not? (or did you already?) What do you think?

Environmental impact

2010-06-02T23:35:00.000-06:00

Joshua's sixth grade class went to the Hagerman fish hatchery a couple of weeks ago. The state department of something or other provided fishing poles. Once the guides said that the best fishing was from the bridge area, the above was the result. It was pretty good fishing there, too. Something like half the kids caught fish in that spot. Josh, unfortunately, did not.

A friend from the college has a private fish hatchery and invited us to fish there. We may go in the next week or so. Fewer poles, more fish for the boys, hopefully.

I'm not really a fisherman, but I'm willing to go. The truck I bought recently has a bumper sticker on it... "Work is for people who don't know how to fish." I've been thinking of changing it. What would you change that last word to? "Work is for people who don't know how to _________."

The tall, gangly things..

2010-06-01T10:19:00.001-06:00

What did you call this game? You know... the one where you try to drag your opponent off their grip with your legs? Jacob (L) and Josh were playing this game for a second yesterday, but it didn't last long because they are both tall enough that they basically drag the ground anyway. The more amazing thing is that they actually allowed me to take a picture. Their usual tactic is to dodge out of the frame and run away.

Here's a picture of all five of our brood. L to R: Cate, Jake, Cole, Josh, and Cam.

Our Memorial Day was EXTREMELY relaxed. I don't think the house even stirred until around 9:30AM. We wandered over to the store around 1PM, then prepared a leisurely lunch (very late lunch) around 4PM. We ate on the deck (no need for shade--the cool cloud cover was sweet), and then drifted over to Thomsen Park around 5:30. After a couple of hours of hanging out and tossing a baseball around, we met up with the Arringtons who shared their FHE treat with us (delicious S'mores bars). Finally, after shooing Cameron out of the creek, we came home for a water fight and root beer floats. Sounds like a pretty nice day to me.

Bonus points if you know the movie my title comes from.

In their honor...

2010-05-31T10:37:00.000-06:00

In honor of the women and men who gave their service and their lives so that we can live according to the dictates of our own consciences.

Taken June 14, 2004 at the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Hope your Memorial Day is peaceful and restful.

"Graduation"

2010-05-29T22:40:00.000-06:00

I don't know why society has somehow decided that every achievement of any size or shape has to be celebrated as if it were the discovery of the Salk vaccine. It is a celebration that these beautiful kids have completed their first year of formal education, but let's not call it a graduation, please. They have 12 years to go, for crying out loud. They're the class of 2022!

Anyway, diatribe about celebrating mediocrity aside, it does kind of melt your heart when your daughter lights up like this when she sees her parents! THAT is worth celebrating.

Finally flowers

2010-05-28T22:28:00.000-06:00

This lilac bush has been in our yard since we moved in nearly six years ago. It was ugly looking and overgrown, so I hacked it back practically to ground level. Because I have the opposite of a green thumb, what I didn't know was that at the particular time of year I was pruning it, I was cutting off the flowers. This year is the first time we've had blossoms of any number on this particular bush. (Sigh)

I can't concentrate

2010-05-27T10:01:00.000-06:00

Actually, my problem is more than I'm bouncing around from one book to the next without finishing anything. I guess I'm looking for that captivating read that sucks me right in and holds on until the end. You know the kind.

Actually, I started The Beekeeper's Apprentice last night and it's looking promising.

I promised to read Life of Pi, and Interred with Their Bones. They're still on the docket, but pushed back a bit, I guess.

And of course there are the several recommendations from my friends. I'll stop by the library a bit later to get those too.

Ah, summer (though you wouldn't know it from Idaho's weather these days).

I did it...

2010-05-18T12:45:00.003-06:00

... I turned in grades today. That means that I'm free... free as a bird*... for the summer. Bring it on, baby!

*AKA, The honeydew bird-- lots of "other" stuff to do. But no "school" stuff, per se.

An April Fool

2010-05-14T08:08:00.000-06:00

Why blog anyway? Why do I feel a little guilty when I don't blog? It's really Mark Brown's fault. He started his smart, funny, interesting blog a couple of years ago, and I found myself thinking (as I so often do), "I want to be like Mark." So I made a blog.

Then I didn't even really post anything in my blog for something like a year. I put up a picture of my cutie pie, Catie Pie, but that was it.

Then, as I approached summer a couple of years ago, without the prospect of teaching (which I'd done EVERY summer for like 5 or 6 years), I found myself wanted to wax poetrical or whatever every so often. It was a way to start my day, to mouth off, to make hay, to say hey, to make a little scene on the side of the information superhighway (or whatever we're calling it lately). AND, a couple of people I really like started reading and posting responses. Not a bad way to spent a part of the day.

Trouble is, of course, that teaching 5 or 6 classes REALLY gets in the way of regular blogging. For me anyway. (One Pat Murphy, and one Mark Brown seem to do okay at doing that, though.) So I just do my best-ish, and move ahead. Onward and upward, as best we can, right?

Anyway, I didn't post a single thingle in April. Hence the title of this re-entry into regular blogging. I missed a WHOLE month. Sheesh.

Good thing Pat Murphy did better. Head over there and read about the life of an academic in upstate NY.

More soon.

Summer Reading List

2010-05-12T18:34:00.000-06:00

Is it premature to start compiling my summer reading list? Classes are done, finals are almost over, graduation is in a couple of days. I'd say it's time.

I'm reading The Alchemist for our he-man, shoot-em-up, macho gun club, I mean book club. Life of Pi and Interred with Their Bones are in the docket (actually, I've started both of these, but they're on hold because of grading and the gun... uh, book club book).

What else should I read next week after I turn in grades?

This boy needs shoes...

2010-05-05T15:10:00.004-06:00

So we're in the mall a couple of days ago, shopping for shoes for two of our boys. FinishLine is having a promotion called Resneakerize. Send in a picture of your skanky shoes and maybe you'll win a giftcard. So I snap a pic of Cameron's shoes and fire it off to them via email.

Fast forward to today. I get this note in my inbox:

On 5/1/10 you sent Finish Line a photo of your old shoes in hopes of getting resneakerized. Well, we chose you as the winner! You will receive a $100 Finish Line giftcard that you can use instore or online.

Congrats and thanks for participating in our Shoe Shots Promotion!

How cool is that?

Bunny Love

2010-03-26T13:02:00.002-06:00

The last time we went to Build-a-Bear in California, Catie and Cole did not get to go, so we made a point of stopping by the mall. Cate really likes her "babbit," can you tell?

1/20s, f/2.8, ISO: 75, 3.9mm (iPhone)

More Spring Break and other spring pictures to come, I promise.

Helping each other...

2010-02-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

I posted a text-only note to my facebook status about 10 days ago about Colton helping Caitlin climb up the play place. Here, finally, is the picture I meant to post with it. It is also, coincidentally, the last picture I took with my Blackberry Pearl before Keri and I got our iPhones. Ah, the passing of an era...

(The Pearl doesn't provide exposure information)

The original post read:

"Cate couldn't climb the play place, so Cole kindly and gently helped her do it the first time. Now they're both climbing and sliding over and over. And laughing and laughing." (originally posted 2/12/10, ~6PM)