Blogging 101

Every since I discovered blogging (has it really been more than 4 years!) I've been wanting to teach a blogging class. I dabbled with it last Spring - it turned out to be more of a dress rehearsal and I'm trying again this school year.

Still tweaking it - I'll get it right one of these days. It's a work in progress but it's a delightful work in progress. Roughly 20 kids and I spend 2 hours once a week learning, writing, getting frustrated, being perplexed and giggling. They are learning, I'm learning and the results are really quite amazing.

The Turmoil After the Storm

It's been 3 + weeks (is it only 3 weeks???) and Houston is trying to get back to normal. That's Houston, it will take Galveston years to get back to normal.

Almost everyone in Houston has power again and the traffic lights work. The streets are piled head high with stacks of branches, tree trunks and assorted destroyed flora. It's depressing to say the least.

The folks who have been hard hardest are as always, "the little people". I'm one of the lucky ones, I Iwas off work for 7 days but still collected a paycheck. Some businesses were closed for as long as 2 weeks and many of them couldn't or didn't pay their employees. People who make minimum wage, the day laborers who stand on the street corner and the bus boys in the kitchen couldn't work and didn't get paid. Those folks, who live pay check to pay check are really, really hurting.

Texas is offering up extra food stamps but the food stamp allowance is paltry at best and it doesn't go far.

One of the apartment complexes in my school's attendance zone had the roof ripped off. I took one of the students home last week and suddenly found myself in an alternate universe. The tenants don't have money to rent a motel room or to move. Furniture was piled up under the "covered parking" and ruined possessions were piled around in heaps and stacks. The place still doesn't have power and the roof was made of blue FEMA tarps. Pieces of the ex roof littered the court yard. The complex has an absentee owner who, as long as he gets his rent money does not appear to be in any hurry to get the repairs up and going. Texas Laws favor the landlord totally. Amazingly the tenants must pay their rent, even though their apartments are barely livable.

That just seems downright wrong. This is American isn't it?

Is There Something in the Water?

We’ve always had some students who were “different”. But there were just a few. The past couple of years it’s been an explosion. Where are they coming from? I don’t think it’s because of better diagnosis – the kids we’ve enrolled are not “slightly disturbed” – they are very, very disturbed.

We students who take serious anti psychotic drugs, students who have violent rages & students who are schizophrenic. We have more and more children who are autistic. Some are diagnosed and some aren’t , but after a number of years in the profession any seasoned teacher can spot the “look” across a crowded room.

Perhaps it’s because I’m at a low SES school but I still find it amazing that a child can reach age 5 or 6 without a parent realizing something isn’t “quite right”. Maybe they don’t note the milestones in the baby book as obsessively as a helicopter parent does or perhaps they are just in deep, deep denial .

Once the paperwork process starts some fight it tooth and nail and others ignore all communication from the school and don’t show up at the STAT and ARD meetings. Papers sent home get lost and are never signed – and without those signatures the schools hands are tied.

Then the parent and child up and moves and the process starts all over again. And again and again and again. It’s not uncommon for a child to reach the 5th grade without a diagnosis. And you can’t start treatment without a diagnosis. That results in 6th graders who can’t read above a first grade level and have no social skills what so ever.

Who gets blamed for that ? Why the schools of course.

No, it’s not the fault of the school. I really do think there is something in the water.

Ike Still (or Again)

School starts up next week and I've been working on an Ike FlipChart / Animoto. I know the kids will want to talk about their experiences so next week the library will be hurricane central. We'll pull out all our hurricane and weather disaster books and put them on display. The district has given us a work day to put things to right again and they kids will be back on Tuesday. I am quite sure there are many parents heaving great sighs of relief.

Signs of Normal Life

I finally got to mail packages today and I found an open Starbucks! Life is improving (even if we don’t have power).

My little local Heights PO has no power and they are selling stamps but only for cash. They aren’t accepting packages. So Lou and I went over to the River Oaks Post Office which has some power and they took them! They can’t take credit cards but they can transact business.

On the way home we found an open Starbucks. They only had hot coffee and drinks made with soy because there isn’t any fresh milk to be had – at least not in my part of town. A soy latte isn’t as good as a milk one, but hey I’ll take it.

We also saw that Hickory Hollow, one of our favorite barbecue places had set up a tent in their parking lot and was selling barbecue. You don’t need electricity to make good Texas barbecue! They had a line of happy looking customers.

Once I got home I took some ice, coke and water over to the Heights PO because the folks there looked they needed a random act of kindness. I also told them River Oaks was open so they could direct their customers. They were so thrilled that the normally grumpy supervisor gave me a spontaneous hug

Lou, who has electricity is going to do a load of my laundry in return for the use of my internet.

My new scanner still hasn’t arrived, but that’s OK, there won’t be any garage sales this weekend anyway

Life Goes On.

_._,__

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

We replaced these .........

With this .

.

........\/

Guess which one is the most beautiful?
If you gussed #2 you are correct.

#2 is the generator!

Report From Hurricane Central

To add insult to injury Mother Nature sent us a thunderstorm that would have been noteworthy under normal circumstances.

Interstate 10 is once again masquerading as the Grand Canal and our street (we live 10 blocks from 1-10) flooded. That’s only happened once before – during Allison. No water in the houses. We are on pier & beam and 5 feet above grade so should we have water in the house we'd expect to see Noah and his ark sailing down the street.
Picture compliments of KHOU TV

I am blowing kisses at My Beloved for getting us the honking big generator. Being married to someone who is a commercial construction manager is frequently a blessing.  Especially in the aftermath of a hurricane.

Yikes! Ike"

All is OK at our house, other than no power – it went out at 3:45am. My Beloved, who believes in being more prepared than an entire troop of Boy Scouts, installed a honking big generator some months ago. Said honking big generator kicked in so we have some power .

We have fridge, microwave, ceiling fans and upstairs A/C. We also have the TV & the satellite dish – My Beloved does have her priorities! In fact, she Tivoed this morning’s golf tournaments and she’s watching them.

She forgot to include the internet but I took care of that problem. I have my priorities too!
I snaked an extension cord and have the router plugged back in so we have DSL. Some of the plugs in the house work and some don’t – it depends if they on the same circuit as the appliances that are working.

We have a gas stove and water heater so we can cook and clean. Actually we can’t clean to much because there is almost no water pressure. It comes out of the faucet in a tiny trickle. One of the city water plants has no power.


Ike was a BIG STORM. It came right up I-45 from Galveston and it’s an unwelcome guest who refuses to leave. It’s now 3pm and the skies are still filled with dark clouds. Our guest has been with us for more than 24 hours – that’s unheard of.

The storm started getting bad about 4pm and conditions got really dicey round midnight. The rain was horizontal and the wind blew it in under the doors. Our house shook when an especially fierce blast came round – gusts were up to 90 mph. . I was asleep and work up from dream where I was all alone on a raft in the ocean. We could see the transformers popping – they lit up the sky with an eerie glow..

No flooding in my neighborhood but the Bayous are out of their banks and I-10 looks like the Grand Canal. So we can’t go anywhere (not that we would).

Downtown looks like a war zone – we have many tall buildings with all glass facades and once a couple break the pieces start flying around like bullets and take out many more. The same thing happened during Hurricane Alicia 25 years prior. And of course, out of the open windows fly computers, papers and office supplies. 

Interstate 45 into Galveston Island is blocked by numerous yachts that broke loose from their moorings.  It is a surreal sight. 

The upcoming week should be, to say the least interesting

Once Again Trying to Reason

Squalls out on the gulf stream
Big storm's comin' soon
Well the wind is blowin' harder now
Fifty knots or thereabouts
There's white caps on the ocean
And I'm watchin' for waterspouts
It's time to close the shutters
It's time to go inside
From "Trying to Reason with the Hurricane Season" c1974 by Jimmy Buffett

Folks were amazingly friendly as everyone scurried about getting ready for Hurricane Ike.
The clerks are the snarly Kroger smiled & customers were polite and patient. The gas stations ran out of gas on Thursday but the tanker trucks made it into town overnight. The early birds were able to fill up their tanks and again folks were cordial and cheerful while waiting in line.


Houston can be downright civilized when it has to be.
Photo by NOOA

Wikis R Us

I've been experimenting with Wikis. I've finally decided that I like the Peanut Butter Wiki better than Wet Paint. It has a more professional appearance. PBwiki is also having a contest. Competitive creature that I am - I love contests! Especially when the prize is a $250 Wiki bells and whistles package! Click on the link to find out more! http://pbwiki.com/?refwiki=housmanlibrary

I don't have a Library Web Page, which in this day in age is like having a library without any books. It's one of those annoying guilty nags - "all good librarians have a web page, why don't you , since you don't you are a librarian who is lacking". Now with PBWiki I'm slowly creating it.

Web pages I've discovered are like blogs, you have to start out very simple and grow it as you

Third Day of School

We:
Checked out 516 books
I taught 7 classes with full a full blown ActivBoard Lessons
We had 4 classes in for Accelerated Reader
The Language Arts Specialist brought in 1 class of 5th graders & introduced blogging on the mobile laptops – we assisted.

I have:
2 hurting feet
2 aching knees
1 lost voice

3 days down, 186 left to go.

AR & Animoto

I think I've discovered a monster!
Animotos are fun! And easy!
This one is getting attached to a flipchart I'm creating for my ActivBoard.

Animoto

We're supposed to write 4 blog posts about our Wednesday in-service experience. Here's my 4th. As usual, I don't think I followed the instructions exactly, but that is par for the course.

Either way, once I got home my Animoto behaved :

Sadie, Sadie, Married Lady

And we have one in the family.

My Katherine married her Jason on August 9th. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful son-in-law. The wedding evening was an utter delight from beginning to end.

We're waiting with baited breath for the pictures. The photographer uploaded this slide show just to tease us.

WMV or bust

Photostory is fun, Audacity is fun.
Uploading them to one's blog isn't. Especially when one hasn't saved one's file as a wmv. Learning by doing R us. Stay tuned to find my photostory (as a wmv file) on my blog.
Don't hold your breath!
And remember it's wmv or bust!

The Mysterious Video

We've been charged to write 4 blog posts documenting today's adventures. It's now 9:30pm and I've l fixed dinner, tended to the kitties, listed 10 books, packed up 6 orders and deltt with my e-mails. One of our tasks was to send a video through Zamzar .

I put it through at work, it took forever to send it back to me and of course I couldn't get it to upload. So I'm doing it now, only for the life of me I can't remember the subject nor, why I choose it. Guess I'll let it be a surprise!

Oh yes, it's The Lilly's Plastic Purse video. Just a typical day in library land.

Round & Round & Round It Spins

My district has decided that we are leaping (unwillingly in the case of some) in the digital age. A bond program passed and beaucop bucks are to be allocated to the latest and greatest of the whizz bang gizmo's.

Shortly after the voters blessed this new initiative one approached our superintendent. Why, wondered the voter was his child having to do posters with crayons, glue and scissors? So the edict went out - "Do.Technology.Now. Or Else.

Our ever visionary Library Director greeted this news with a fist pump and an enthuastatic "Yes". This has been his mantra for the past couple years. We've educating the digital generation with pencils and paper and sending them into a workplace bristling with electronic toys.

We began with Library2Play, which morphed into Library2Play for the summer (and the first district inservice that one could do in one's jammies) which morphed into today's in-service more or less entitled "you better be able to do these or else".

So all the librarians gathered together to learn to "do these or else".

We had great fun, but once again the pipeline to Cyberspace had some contruction bottlenecks and roadblocks. . Many of us spent the bulk of our time watching assorted circles spin round and round and round as vain attempts were made to upload or download assorted pictures, videos and other bells and whistles.

We're supposed to post our results to our blog. Here's mine:

The Hurricane that Wasn't

All of a sudden a tropic storm blew up in the Gulf and headed straight toward Texas – Galveston to be exact.

The local news media began to froth at the mouth with excitement. It’s been a quarter of a century since a Hurricane of note hit Houston - Alicia came calling in 1983. Every newscaster knows Dan Rather got his big break in 1961, when he covered Hurricane Carla. It’s their dream to emulate him, but so far he’s the only one the winds have blown on to Super Stardom. Hurricane Rita didn’t count, while it did do major damage in East Texas, all it caused in Houston was massive traffic jams.

The 2008 version is Hurricane Edouard, actually it had only a brief life as a Hurricane and spent most its time as a mere Tropical Storm. Last night it was heading for Houston, then as is the nature of these storms it shifted to the east, coming ashore in a not very populated area. It’s been a dry summer so the rain that always accompanies these storms was quickly absorbed.

That left the TV stations, all of whom opted for 24/7 local weather programming with a great deal of air time to fill and very little to say – or show. We were treated to shots of some puddles, a few downed tree limbs, one or two battered boats and a hurricane party or two.

On the air they of course, had to spout platitudes about how Houston and Galveston were spared the brunt of the storm, how lucky we were to remain unscathed and what a blessing it was that the rain was steady but not torrential.

You could tell by looking at their faces that inside they were thinking:

“Damm…we were all ready to throw a party and guest of honor neglected to appear”.

How I got to Here

One of my book sellers list has a thread going about how we got to where we are....it's made for some interesting posts.

Once upon a time, when I was about 10 I found my first Betsy Tacy book in the library.

I read it, fell in love with the series and told myself that when I was all grown up and had a real job I would buy a set for my very own. By the time I grew up the books were out of print and I started collecting them at Friends of the Library sales and thrift stores. I started buying duplicate copies because I just couldn’t bear to see them consigned to the land fill. I just “knew” that someday I’d find a home for all of them where they would be loved.

Fast forward to about 1990 – e-mail and the Internet & E-bay are bubbling up in the public consciousness. . I found that I “wasn’t the only one” and joined the Betsy-Tacy Listsev. The books were still out of print and those of us who had extras sold them to others on list – not for profit, it was done in friendship. Some other woman on the list were selling on e-bay and it sounded like an interesting way to get rid of all SOME OF THE BOOKS IN MY HOUSE. So, in 2000 I started selling too- my girls were going to college and I needed more $$$ than I could earn on my day job.

E-bay lead to half.com which lead to Amazon. Somehow along the way I found Craig’s BookThink forum and through it I found my bookselling lists. Along the way I acquired ScoutPal, a scanner, a postage printer, a second computer, The Art of Books and the third bedroom now holds my inventory of 700+ books. I'm the owner of a small internet business.

And it’s all because I checked out Betsy & Tacy when I was 10 (or maybe 9!).

It’s so interesting how just one little event can have such an impact on our lives.

The Haves and the Have Nots

Houston’s one and only Nordstrom is in the Galleria, which is Houston’s version of Rodeo Drive. Tisn’t a place I frequent on a regular basis.

My wedding outfit adventures have resulted in unprecedented number of trips there this summer. Yesterday I decided I’d take advantage of their A/C and do my 30 minutes of walking. Off I went and wandered into the wardrobe department for either Sex in the City or The Devil Wears Prada.

Versace, Coach, Cartier, Jimmy Cho, Burberry, Fendi - a veritable smorgasbord of high end designer stores where everything, even a pair of socks costs at least two figures.

The people were as interesting as the stores. Slim, exotic, women in impossibly high heels, many from Mexico – which didn’t surprise me since I knew the Galleria is a destination place for wealthy Latinos. I was amazed at the number of devote Muslim woman who were carrying arm loads of shopping bags from all the best stores. Some stunning fashion is hidden under those veils and robes.

The Galleria also bears some resemblance to the Transatlantic Ocean Liners of Old – the higher you go, the nicer the stores. The higher you go the better dressed (and thinner) the shoppers. The upper level stores have access to the skylights and natural light. The ceilings are high and skating rink gives the place a feeling of openness.

Feeling thirsty I headed for the food court – which had a great deal in common with steerage. Not only is it located in the bowels of the Galleria – below ground, it’s also surrounded the low rent store district. There I found Radio Shack, Foot Locker and all the “ordinary” mall stores. There I also found the “ordinary” people. The polyester, the mullets, the frizzy perms, the blue eye shadow, the baseball caps, the evidence that obesity is rampant in America.

The haves and the have nots – all within the confines of one mall.