Call Austin Powers, I think we've lost our mojo

The Finer Things Club didn't do so hot tonight at trivia. Oh yeah, we still came in third, but when you're as competitive as I am, third place doesn't cut it.

Must have been that fateful line from "Top Gun" oh so many years ago: "There's no points for second place."

We had a good mix of people - the usuals (sans Betsy), Amy and her friends from college, Amy's parents, and Mitzi's posse friend. Amy's dad came through with "Hogan's Heroes" as the answer to a Name the TV show sound clip.

Maybe deciding to give up "Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza" as our name was a rash decision. This was the first week I've been able to play during this 10-week session, and I'll miss the next two weeks (more journalism camps). I told the team I'll be available by text, if they need me...

For all the type nerds I've loved before...

Go check out this link.

It's "Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black."

Produced in the style of VH-1's "Behind the Music" it's a pretty funny look at a pretty cheesy typeface.

If you're unfamiliar with Cooper Black, picture late 70s, early 80s ringer t-shirts with iron-on letters. You'll recognize it the minute you see the clip.

Enjoy it - it's a couple minutes long. This post is dedicated to my darling husband, Adam, who graciously sat through "Helvetica: The Movie" last night.

Collaboration Nation

Whew. I just returned from a weekend of collaboration with fellow journalism teachers in Manhattan.

It was exhilarating and exhausting. The energy and excitement and organic ideas that spring up from the process really get me ready to go back to school and start working with this year's crop of J1 students.

The ride home is always the time I realize how tired I really am. When we're in the thick of planning, debate, setting up web tools, etc., I feel like I can power through. When it's all said and done, and I'm just a passenger in a car, the zzzz's start flying. It's like my brain needs a rest period or something.



We're trying to develop the first national PLC for journalism teachers. It's tough to be the only one in a building teaching a subject. You have no one to talk content with, no one to bounce ideas specifically related to a journalism class off of. We're going to see if we can make it work using the technology that's out there.

Our goal is to make sure students are actually learning what we want them to. Sometimes, teachers get caught up in thinking like this: "Well, I stood up there and 'taught' them, so of course they know the material."

That's not always the case.

I never thought I'd be excited about collecting data (because many times, the data we collect at school doesn't seem to inform my instruction enough, being the singleton teacher), but I think this is going to be really cool.

We've got a great group - a wealth of knowledge, experience and different teaching styles. It'll be interesting to see what develops.

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Of course, part of the exhausting part is that any time there's a meeting in Manhattan, we do tend to "collaborate" until late in the evening every once in a while.

Last night, we traded ideas on "low-light photography" techniques...

Photo by Mark.


Photo by Mark. (I thought this was pretty cool. Guy's got an eye!)



Photo by Jill. This would have been much cooler had she not been looking at me. This was shot from my hip, but with them damn autofocus pre-light on my digital Elph, she knew what I was up to. I was looking up the stairs at the time, away from her, but she figured it out, I guess. Oh well, I still like it.


Kind of funky experimental photo by Mark.


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And, I guess I must be doing something right because look what I found on the bathroom wall:


Ten bucks to the first reader who can comment and correctly identify in which establishment these photos were taken!

Okay, maybe not $10, but lots of blog love and fame...

Thank you, Phil Gramm

You have just proven to me that "some" people in government have NO IDEA what it's like for ordinary Americans in their daily lives.

I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine spending $50 last week to fill up my fuel-efficient Pontiac Vibe.

I'm pretty sure I haven't imagined the news stories about foreclosures being up by 50 percent.

I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine the layoff notices that some of my friends have just received.

Good luck digging out of this hole.

Plugged back in

if only for a few hours.

Adam picked me up from the airport and took me by the house to show me how much work he did while I was off molding young minds.

It. Looks. Awesome.

We're getting so close. Everything is painted. We just have to do window trim on a couple of places and a tiny bit of touch up work with the paint. All of the carpet has been removed, and the floor guy starts his magic on Monday.

The ol' place is starting to look inhabitable again.

I've been off at stop number two on the Summer 2008 Workshop World Tour - Dallas.

I leave in the morning to go to K-State for a three-day meeting. I've got to watch "My Boys" and hang out with Adam for at least a little bit of time this evening.

I do my fair share of workshops in the summer, but what I do is nothing compared to some on the circuit. I've grown out of the whole "wanting to be on the road constantly" phase of my life. I like to have some time at home.

Hence, not much blogging mojo tonight. Had I been able to write all week, I might have come up with some pretty good stories, but I'm too tired right now.

For that, I think I can thank the three-year-old who screamed the entire flight home from DFW today.

On this Independence Day, I DEMAND A RECOUNT!

Go see this slideshow to see the entries in the Dress A Dog contest. We didn't even get Honorable Mention!

I'll say it before you can - yes, I am a sore loser!

Some of them are pretty cute.

Think about these little darlings as you're chowing down later this afternoon.



Carmen says: Happy 4th!

Still chipping away

Today was another long working day at the casa. We're trying to get a bunch done since I'm leaving for yearbook camp on Sunday. If we can get the big jobs done while we're working together, then Adam can keep plugging away on the one-man jobs while I'm gone.

Just so you have an idea:

This is what we've demo-ed out of the house so far.

Here's another photo of the kitchen, without all the plastic, so you can get a better idea of what it will look like.


This will be our bedroom. The paint is definitely yellow, not green like it looks here. I guess I should have tried to tone this before I posted, but oh well. Ya wanna see the real thing, I suppose you'll have to visit.


Here's the little bedroom, so you can see what it looks like with the newly exposed hardwood floors.


Here's the green bedroom you've seen before, but now you can see the floor. We spent A LOT of time today prying tack strips up and pulling up the staples. In the photo, you can see what it looks like pre-staple removing.


Tomorrow we paint the living room. I'm hoping we can git 'er done early, because we'll be relaxing by the pool and grill in the late afternoon, before we head off to see fireworks.

I think the bathtub will be put in tomorrow, so I'll definitely have to put a photo of that up. That will make a big difference, I think. It will seem like everything is moving full steam ahead once we get the bathroom done and the floors done.

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Sidenote:
I'm thinking about going back to the black version of my blog. What do you think? I'm kind of over the white template.