My Head is Going to Explode

It has been a VERY interesting couple of weeks!  Last week, I took a class for my Google Level I Certification. We covered: 

• Google Slides
• Google Chrome
• Google Web Store
• Gmail, Calendar, and Meets
• Google Groups
• Google Forms
• Google Sheets
• Google Docs
• Google Drive
• Google Classroom
• Google Sites and
• YouTube

This week, I took a class for my Google Level II Certification. We covered: 

• Screencasting
• Chrome Extensions
• Gmail Templates
• Creating, Sharing, and Embedding a Calendar
• Creating Appointment Slots
• Google Maps, Google Earth, and My Maps
• Google Sheets Functions
• Publishing and Protecting Sheets
• Creating a Sparkline
• Creating and Using Pivot Tables
• Creating Surveys and Quizzes
• Google Forms Digital Differentiation
• YouTube Studio, Playlists, and Channels
• Google Docs (more in-depth)
• Blogger

I had No Idea Google offered so much for educators! I have to sign up for the exams, each of which is three hours. Hopefully I can knock out the Level I exam this week and get the Level II exam done before school starts. 

Twins are a-Comin'!

One of my co-workers is having twin boys in October! A benefit of being laid up for a while... I've completed the first of two baby blankets. 

Foot Surgery

For the past few months, I've been struggling with a plantar fibroma on the bottom, arch area of my foot. I thought the analogy the doctor gave me was interesting: 

Think of the plantar tendon as a stalk of celery, branching out from the heel to the toes. For some reason, sometimes the tendon frays, like strands of celery do. (Why is not known.) When this happens, the strands bunch up into a knot. Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of that bunched up knot is to have it removed. 

So I did. I will be on crutches for two weeks until the first half of my stitches are removed, then taking it easy until the remaining stitches are removed at the three week mark. After that, it will be another four to six weeks for the inside of my foot to heal, so I will still have to be careful. 

July 10, 2020
Excision of plantar fibroma

Yep. Somebody Ticked Me Off.

I am not an angry person. I'm not even an angry blogger. I'm basically a happy, satisfied, optimistic person bumbling her way through this adventure we call life. 

But every once in a while something irritates me so much I just HAVE to say something, and since this is my blog to express my opinions, sit back and enjoy the ride or keep scrolling. If you're easily offended, I recommend the latter.

<Rant Mode On>

I am Sick And Tired of the Incessant Complaining. I am disgusted and horrified by some of the protests where people hold up signs like, "Sacrifice the weak - reopen". I am completely exasperated with all the excuses.

Yes, masks are uncomfortable. Yes, they can be an inconvenience. Yes, it's aggravating when your glasses steam up. Yes, they can be hot. Yes to all of these things...and whatever else you come up with to excuse yourself. 

But it's not about you. It's not about the government taking away your rights or turning this country into Nazi Germany. It's not about a descent into fascism or decimating the population to benefit the rich. It's not a hoax perpetrated by Democrats to get Republicans out of office. It's not about getting a vaccine so the government can 'chip and track' you. It's not about my alleged fear and your claim that my 'fear' is 'not your problem'. All of that is horse hockey.

It's about keeping your friends and family, the older ones among us, and anyone who may be medically unable to wear a mask, safe. It's about respect for other people. It's about being a caring, moral, ethical, loving person in society. 

And if you claim to be Christian, you should be thinking about the Golden Rule. You don't care enough about your family and your friends to wear a mask to protect them from a potentially fatal virus? Well, how about that...you know...love your neighbor as yourself thing? Don't be a hypocrite. 

Just. Wear. The. Mask.

<Rant Mode Off>

Thank you for listening. We now return you to somewhat normal programming. :)

Building a firepit

 

My neighbor stopped by to help my son build a firepit in our backyard. It was easy - and cheap! He watched a youtube video first. Check out how to build a fire pit on youtube: 

I Don't Understand Boys.

 

I'm not sure how he thinks...and sometimes it makes me laugh.  He put his clothes in the dryer. He then  dug up a post-it note, found a pen, wrote a "still wet" note, and stuck it on the dryer. 

Wouldn't it have been easier to start the dryer? 

My Irises Bloomed!

 

The School Building is Closing

 

We're going to be closed for at least two weeks because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Some of the teachers are saying we won't be back this year. 

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  In the meantime, we'll be teaching online from our basements, spare rooms, and wherever we can find a bit of quiet. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Steven is very good to me.  

An Epiphany Moment

Mom, he says, with a contemplative look in his eye.  I've had an epiphany.

Alarm bells start going off in the back of my brain.  I don't like surprises, and epiphanies definitely qualify as surprises. I just never know what he's going to say when he gets that...look.  I decide to tread gently, just in case I need to hide the knives, because I'll never forget his "epiphany" when he decided my chef's knife should be used for everything (resulting in stitches).

An epiphany?

Yes. I really am a geek.  I ... belong ... with the geeks.

Ahh, another proud mom moment. I do love that boy.

He's dreaming about math!

I tap on his door gently to wake him up at around 10:30 a.m. He told me he does not want to sleep all day; he's got homework to do before he goes to work at 4. 

Hey, kiddo, it's time to wake up. 

He yawns, stretches, and then gets this wild-eyed, panicked look...

IT'S COMING ALONG SOON! IT'S COMING ALONG SOON!

Ummm...it's coming along soon?

YES! IT'S COMING ALONG SOON!

What's coming along soon?

2√2y!  (Pronounced, "2 root 2 y")

Errrr... 2√2y is coming along soon?

YES! IT'S COMING! ALONG! SOON! 

There is another long pause, and then he looks at me angrily...

You have NO idea what I'm talking about, DO you?!

Sweetie, do YOU know what you're talking about? 

There is another pause, and then the confusion clears...

Oh.My.God. It's that DAMN MATH PROBLEM I've been working on all night!!!

I couldn't help myself. I just burst out laughing. 

HE'S DREAMING ABOUT MATH! 

I couldn't be more proud.

Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...

Yes, part of it is camera angle. He is getting big, though. He's a little over a year old and weighs about 12 pounds. And I swear he's still growing.

Surprise!

School has started again and I am not teaching what I thought I was teaching ... I will still be teaching HTML and CSS using the code.org curriculum, and I will still be teaching Introduction to Computer Science in JavaScript using the codehs.com curriculum. I will be writing the Introduction to Business course and teaching that. AP CSP however? The school decided over the summer not to offer it, so the 30 hours I spent at Buff State in a professional development course and the 60 hours I spent online in a second professional development course were a waste of time.  Heavy sigh. 

Well, at least I was prepared. If I am going to teach it next year, I will have to take the PDs again, because the College Board is changing the exam and/or the requirements for 2020-21. In the meantime, I am LOVING teaching Business!

It's been a while...

Teaching has been so rewarding, but so very challenging. I started in 2016 teaching middle school math. That summer, I taught 7th and 8th grade math in summer school. In 2017, I started teaching HTML and CSS from code.org as well as Intro to Computer Science from codehs.com. I had never had any computer courses before and had no idea how to code, so the entire year, I was one or two lessons ahead of the students. 

In 2018, I taught these two courses as well as Desktop Publishing and AP CS A. AP CS A was a disaster...I thought I was supposed to be teaching Computer Science Principles, but I spent the year being one step ahead of the kids in Java. 

This year, I am teaching the original two courses (HTML/CSS and Intro to Computer Science) as well as AP Computer Science Principles and Introduction to Business. I am really looking forward to this year! 

In the meantime, for the first time since I graduated from high school, I took the summer off. My son and I have seen baseball games and thrown catch in the yard, gone to movies, seen the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and just relaxed in general. 

It's time for me to get serious again though... school starts in four weeks, and I have the remainder of a 60 hour PD course to get through! 

Priorities

Found his glasses...

We don't know why, but Ernie likes to put his toys in his water bowl. Guess where I found Ian's glasses?

Am I in the way?

Somebody likes to sleep on my shoulder.

Ernie the Kitty

Ernie the Kitty

We got a kitten!

I really hadn't planned on getting a kitten...I wanted an older cat that has less energy. :D  This one picked me, though.

We went to the SPCA and there he was, this little brown tabby, shaking and trying to hide in a corner. I sat down on the floor, putting my hand on the floor beside me, and I sat very still.  He came out, sniffed my  hand, and ran back to his corner.

The volunteer told us that was the most interaction she'd seen from him since he'd been there. Ian and I looked at each other and said, "He needs us."

He came from a hoarding situation. He was so thin you could feel almost count his ribs, and he was so flea-bitten it was heart-breaking. We will feed him and love him and he will be safe and happy.

His name is Ernie.

He's grown up too fast.

Ian and I went to the DMV today and got his learner's permit. I have so many mixed feelings about it...

Where did the time go? Wasn't it just last week he was 3# 9oz and struggling to breathe? Or yesterday that he broke his elbow playing touch football? All of a sudden, he's driving and graduating from high school.

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing.

Washed Away

One of my family's legends is that my great-grandfather was a rooftop survivor of one of the great floods in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure of the year or the town (it depends on who is telling the story).  I picked up this nook book through Barnes & Noble to start my flood history education.

I'm having trouble putting this book down.  It is told chronologically and separated into sub-chapters by town. It details the lives of the people who both survived and succumbed to the great flood waters at that time. It is interesting, and more often than not, heartbreaking.

I cannot imagine the fear those people must have experienced seeing the waters rise within hours of surviving a tornado outbreak.

I found this map of the area affected by the tornadoes and floods in 1913:

Credit to: http://brisray.com/flood/flood1.htm

(This website, http://brisray.com/, has a well-organized library of pictures/postcards of the flood areas at the time.)

I'm halfway through the book, and I recommend it.