Daily Photo (A Little Perspective)

View of beams to be used in constructing our new building!

At the beginning of the week, John and I decided to run out to the construction site to snap a few photos of the progress.  This photo was taken on Wednesday (01/06/10).  It seems that by taking pictures on the first day, our boss decided it would be good to keep taking pictures.  It's a combination of job security and creating more work for ourselves all in one fell swoop.  Yay us.

Daily Photo (View from Space(bar))

View from Space(bar)

I was reading different articles online and checking out some space-related educational links that were being shared through my Professional Learning Network when an idea struck me!  I got out the Canon EOS Rebel we have at the office and snapped a picture from space!  Okay, from the spacebar!  Sometimes, I crack myself up.  And in most cases, I'm the only one I am cracking up.

Dinosaurs and Rockets - and a cool T-Shirt!

 As some of you know, I was asked to help write the theme song for this really cool science show called "Dinosaurs and Rockets."  Well, it turns out they also have very cool (and VERY limited) first-run T-shirts for sale on their web site:

 

You'll see the shirt features a "pocket" for your science because Joel and Howie give students "science for their pockets" in the way of podcasts the students can listen to/watch on their media players!  In fact, that is their tag line: Dinosaurs and Rockets, Putting science in your pockets!

 

Pictured above is Kimberly W who teaches in El Paso, TX, showing off the back of the shirt.  She got one for free by having Joel and Howie do a live, interactive session with her classroom!!  How cool is that!?

Want one of these great shirts?  It's easy!  Go here for more info: http://dinosaursandrockets.com/

Daily Photo (My Desk at Work)

One corner of my desk at work

The mundane, the banal, the not-so-extraordinary shot above came from an inspirational spark as I tried to figure out just what to do for today's photo.  Upon closer examination, however, it reveals more about me than I realized.  Though what one would do with such information eludes me.

First of all, let's talk composition.  As things move from left to right (that is also the direction in which my computer rests), things more packed in, more compressed, leaving less and less "white space."  Also notice the amount of yellow in the photo.  In the scheme of office-based photography, I'd venture to say it's a lot of yellow.  Sure, one is a Wendy's cup, but still, one cannot deny the placement of the cup was not as random as perhaps even I had first thought.  Move from yellows to a splash of blue on the water bottle (unopened, by the way) to the red and white of the Christmas candies (which I won at the company party before the break).  A touch of chrome on the thermos-thingy behind the box, and of course the big brown box in front.  Yes, that is the same box shown in my post from yesterday describing the first day back after break.  The viewer's eye is drawn across the photo from left to right (if you notice space first) or right-to-left (if you notice the clutter first and move toward open spaces).

Next, let's talk objects: 

• 
  
  A drink cup - probably ubiquitous in office environments - with the straw pointed in my general direction even though I would certainly pick up the cup in order to take a drink. 
  
• 
  
  The highlighter with built-in sticky-note things.  That would suggest I was organized and interested in details.  Perhaps.  Or maybe my daughter played with it before the break and I forgot to put it away.  Whatever. 
  
• 
  
  The Legos - colorful and arranged in some kind of random shape - suggests playfulness within constraints.  That one I would say is dead on. 
  
  
  
• 
  
  The Hand Sanitizer?  Like most things on my desk - unopened!
  
• 
  
  The unopened water bottle?  Yeah, I can't even explain that one.  I am not a big fan of water.  Water tates like... well, nothing.  And that is my problem with it.  If I remember, I'll grab one of the add-in flavor packets from home and turn it into something not quite unlike Kool-Aid.
  
• 
  
  The holiday mints?  As I mentioned above, I won those at the company party and just opened them on Monday.  So far, John is the only person that I know of to actually have taken a few.  Now, if those were chocolate, we'd have a whole different picture.
  
• 
  
  The chrome thermos-thingy?  You can't see it in the photo, but it has an Intel logo on the side.  It was a prize I received at a conference one year.  Before the conference, I was sent ONE white tube sock.  in order to claim my prize, I had to take that sock and match it to another sock at the conference.  I did, and the cool thermos was my prize.  Like the bottle of water, the thermos has not been opened that I can recall.  It looks cool. 'Nuff said.
  
• 
  
  The box contains two of the five iPod Touches it is supposed to have in it.  Evidently during shipping and handling, someone decided to open the box (breaking the factory seal), help themselves to a few Touches, then reseal the box with way more tape than Apple uses.  Apple is getting us the replacement units and they are dealing with the handlers.
  
• 
  
  That thing behind the thermos?  That is a Dacal CD holder.  It's USB-powered and comes with a database.  You look up the DVD you want, click the number, and the unit spins around to spit out that DVD.  Fun, right?
  

Back to Work, People!

Welcome to the first Monday at work of 2010. For many in the state of Arkansas, the winter break was extended by a snowfall that shut down many school and business north of the Little Rock area. For those of us living below the Saline County line, however, it was time to brave the cold, dodge snowflakes, and get to work.

I started the day at the office by setting up my boss's new computer, which came with Windows 7 Professional installed. She is the first at our place to have Windows 7 as a primary OS, so it will be interesting to see how things go. Having played with it a little and getting her set up, I have to say, I am ready for the change. Win7 has some neat features like Live Preview (which shows you live screenshots of running programs, like an installation running behind other windows for example). The system also automatically detected and installed her printer which blew me away compared to the nightmare that was Vista.

Once that was out of the way, I began revamping the co-op's web site (http://etsp.k12.ar.us). It still has work to be done, but it is getting more color, actual photos, and will eventually be more user-friendly (er, I hope anyway). We are also changing our corporate logo and the samples I've seen (being done in-house by Gina, one of our Teach Center workers) are lookin' good. I can't wait for us to choose one and move forward into the next phase of what SWAEC will bring to the schools of Southwest Arkansas!

Speaking of the site and photos, John and I grabbed the camera and jetted over to the site of the new building to take a couple shots and see how things were progressing. I have to say, seeing a slab there suddenly makes the project appear to be much further shead than when it was just piles of dirt with pipes sticking up!

Before Christmas Break, we had ordered 120 iPod Touch units as part of the TIE program we host. Well, due to a mix-up in processing, we had 100 shipped instead of 120. One of the conditions of placing the order was that the units could not be received during the holiday break. The day after we placed the order, I got an email listing 20 boxes heading our way for delivery on December 23. Umm, you see a problem here? Well, I was able to get those diverted and delayed until after January 4. Rather, it turns out, they were scheduled for redelivery *on* January 4th and they came in today! Normally, that is great news. Unfortunately, it seems someone put their hand in our candy jar:

This box only had TWO units in it, even though there are FIVE serial number on the box. You may also notice that the factory seal appears to be broken and then resealed. That was some serious eagle-eyeing by John on that one! I had overlooked that little piece of info. I took pictures of the box (luckily I had opened the box from the bottom by mistake!) and sent them to our contact at Apple. We'll see where things go from there!

Seriously, is it quitting time yet?