Ebjournal Revisited.

Why won’t you load faster!?!?!?!?!

Tony| Category: General, Techie, not Geekie | 0 Comments

G4techTV.ca
Interesting article I came across. I’ll try it out and see if it works!

Update: Home page loads quickly… still seeing if there’s a difference…

Not that I had my doubts… (heh)

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine | 1 Comment

Wow.

Go Illini. That was ridiculous. So much drama, quite possibly the best game I have EVER seen. Nothing I can write here will do it justice. So glad I TiVo’d it, to watch on those sad, rainy days, and the happy, great days. If you turned it off early, I don’t blame you. If you stuck with it like our crowd did, you were crazy. Special props to the pro-orange crowd. Down 13 points, I hear cheers of “ILL- INI” loud and clear as the AZ player shot free throws. The crowd did NOT give up. It was great. In the overtime, the Illni looked like the team that got them there. Most impressive plays included Luther Head with the steal, gutting it out down the court, despite the pain, and finishing the layup to make it 90-84. The other great play was the defense of the inbound pass that Ingram tipped away, and it swung around to Deron Williams. Ingram was right there, on the other side! instantly, to set a beautiful screen for Deron to hit the three to tie it at the end of regulation. That’s enough analysis for now; suffice to say, next weekend’s plans may be changing. GO ILLINI!!!

We’re Orange and Blue…

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine, Unfortunately Serious | 0 Comments

Sorry Kenny what can I say, I like your ideers…

loy·al
adj.

1. Steadfast in allegiance to one’s homeland, government, or sovereign.
2. Faithful to a person, ideal, custom, cause, or duty.
3. Of, relating to, or marked by loyalty. See Synonyms at faithful.

loyalty

n 1: the quality of being loyal [ant: disloyalty] 2: feelings of allegiance 3: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action; “his long commitment to public service”; “they felt no loyalty to a losing team” [syn: commitment, allegiance, dedication]

Some of you, my faithful 7.4 readers, are guessing that I’m going to write about the Illini. You are partially correct.

I cheer for the Illini, no matter what. Be it football, basketball, tennis, hockey, or any other sport, I cheer hard for them. I even try to follow the Big 1T1en’s suggestion of being a good sport. I don’t get down on our teams, even if they’re struggling. I banter with my buddies about what the Illini need to do to get better. It’s because I’m loyal, almost to a fault. Sometimes it’s hard to be loyal, especially when they make lots of mistakes. Today, the Illini should win, but even if they don’t, I’ll still be loyal.

(end obligatory Sports Analogy)

Unfortunately, loyalty is a lot easier when it has to do with sports. Loyalty in friendships is a lot harder to deal with. The lines of loyalty are hard to break, they’re often misunderstood, and sometimes, they hurt more than they can help. I’ve tried to be loyal to several people in the last year, and it’s turned out that loyalty wasn’t returned. I consider myself an honest person. As a new husband, I have had to make adjustments to honesty, including be honest with myself, and with the lovely and engaging Mrs. K. I think (and I think she agrees) that I’ve been more honest. She has certainly been honest with me. As a friend, I’ve had to readjust and re-evaluate my perceptions on the loyalties of my friends. I try to look within to see what I feel like I need from them to have a properly loyal friendship. In the last year, loyalties have been divided, and no one seems to know where to stand or where to lay down. There are broken loyalties that will never be repaired (which is fine by me.) It’s hard to know what to do; trust me, I understand. What frustrates me is that no one seems to want to talk to me, or even acknowledge that things are different. If you want to be loyal, come talk to me. For those of you out there that have no idea what I’m talking about, good. For those of you who don’t what to do, come talk to me. I can’t fix things without knowing if they’re broken. I’m tired of the tiptoeing, and tired of not knowing what people really think. Sorry to get all rant-like, but loyalty and honesty have been kicking around in my head for awhile now. What do you think?

KidzLog

Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Techie, not Geekie | 0 Comments

As a follow-up to my article about blogging in the classroom, I foundKidzLog is one of the types of blog software out there for students to use in the classroom. I don’t know how much I’m going to get this off the ground this year, but I would definitely like to get it rolling for next year. The interface seems prettys straightforward, and it’s getting good reviews. Educational site license for $9.00 for one computer. I think I can swing that.

Stinky Bracket! Stinky Bracket!

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine | 0 Comments

Well, I’m done. Two of my regions are destroyed. Now I have stinky brackets. I hope the rest of you are having better brackets than me.

In good news, go Illini! I don’t want to play SIU or OK ST, or ‘Zona.

Go Illini Go!/Vegas, how we miss ye…

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine | 1 Comment

WithJosh’s posting about March Madness, my excitement and nostalgia levels are both running high. I fondly recall our journey to the mecca of glitz and glamour that ten friends took two years ago. I also remember the heartbreak of watching the Illini lose. Times have changed; the Stylin’ Illini are better, and I am stronger. But, I miss Las Vegas. Best of luck to Josh, Kenny and Linnemeyer as they cheer on the Fighting Illini live in person. Marc, Rich, Johanson, and I will be at BW3’s hooting an hollering. Now all we need is a Trombone Willie and a Deli, and we’re set. (and an Eric too.) Fun times ahead– Marc’s birthday/St.Patty’s day/drink-a-thon (Diet Pepsi is a drink) is Saturday. Expect phone calls, Kenny and Josh… I will want to hear details.

Final tally: 34 brackets turned into me for my tournament pool. Good times!

Press-it: ESPN.com: Page 2 : Fountain of youth in Illinois

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine | 1 Comment

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Fountain of youth in Illinois Great article about a favorite columnist of mine. Follow all week! I wonder if he remembers his Mug Club number.

What Goes Up…

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine, School Daze | 1 Comment

From the annals of Do as I Say, Don’t Do as I Do…

As I was walking back to my classroom after using the copier, I had to use my keys to open the pass-through doors in the LMC. (They’re locked after 4 so that the afterschool kids can’t go wandering) So as I’m walking through the library, I start tossing said keys in the air, and catching them. (Baseball is right around the corner…) Well, after the third toss I looked up and watched the keys disappear neatly into the overhead fluorescent lighting. I heard a clink and then another clink as they fell into the casing. All I could do is laugh at the fact that my only way home was now stuck about 12 feet in the air. I promptly turn around, and go to look for the night custodian, who naturally, is in the principal’s office, with the principal. I sheepishly explain my dilemma, and traipse through the afterschool care program (and the Girl Scout meeting) with the fifteen-foot ladder, and take it down to the library. I climb up the ladder, and see my keys about two feet inside the light fixture. I get a wire hanger, and on the first try, retrieve my keys. I know that by tomorrow morning, the teasing will merciless from the rest of the faculty. I’m still chuckling.

In other school-related news, the faculty is excited about the NCAA tournament brackets they found in their mailboxes this morning.

The Mail, the Mail’s Here!

Tony| Category: General, School Daze, Techie, not Geekie, Music and Movies | 6 Comments

Another round of mailbag responses…

Dear Tony,
What’s news on the school front? Do you like your job? How are the kids? Please give us all the nitty-gritties.

Hot for Teacher.

Dear Hot,
Thanks for the interest! Now that conferences, progress reports, and tutoring for the ISAT are over, I’ve been able to focus on what they’re paying me for; TEACHING. Everyday, I am impressed by the students and their ability to learn. We are working on word choice, and the students are picking up on adjectives and adverbs. The most impressive display of talent takes place in math. It is amazing to me that when students are presented with a consistent math program that focuses on flexible thinking rather than crystallized facts and rote procedures. These students know way more about math than I ever I did at the age of seven, and I thought I was fairly intelligent. It’s fun to teach these kids because they work hard, even if they don’t get it the first, second, or twentieth time. Yes, day to day frustrations build, but in the end, the kids are making progress and learning. I think some of them might even like it in the classroom! Tomorrow, we’re going on a field trip to the local city Museum. Good times ahead; hope I get to keep this job. (More on *that* after April 5th)

~Mr. K

Dear Tony,
You have a category for music and movies, yet you don’t ever post about it. Why is that?

Attentive to Detail

Dear Attentive,
In theory, communism would work. Also in theory, I would like to take some time to review music and movies and tell the world (read: 10 people) about the talkies and the LP’s. So here’s a short summary of what I’ve been listening to and watching recently:

TV: All the usuals, except we’ve added Medium to the Monday night TiVo queue, and took away CSI:Miami. Also swapped out: Las Vegas for 24. After watching three season of the show in about two weeks, it’s been hard to wait week after week. Also, please start watching Lost It’s a very interesting show that fills the void left by Angel and BTVS. It also makes it easy to abandon Smallville Finally, we’ve started watching Deadwood on DVD. Dark westerns are great. So, we’re addicted to it.

Movies: The lovely and engaging Mrs. K and I watched Napoleon Dynamite last weekend. I’m not sure how strong the plot was, but it was very, very funny, full of memorable one-liners. Hitch was funny, too. Also, we’ve purchased the Blockbuster Movie Pass. Sorry, Kenny, Netflix doesn’t make much sense when we walk to Blockbuster.

Music: Beyond the Green Day and Cake albums which I purchased about a month ago, I’ve uploaded about forty albums to my laptop. (Thanks Rich) Among the gems: Talking Heads, C.C.R., and the Beastie Boys. Good times.

~Thumbs Up Tony

Dear Tony,
When are you going to contribute to WIT?

Your Admin

Dearest Admin,
Hopefully soon. I think it’s a great idea, and I would like to pursue it. SOON.

~Tony

That’s all for now… next up, Illini basketball, and the discussion of prospects in the term coined in 1939 as “March Madness.”

Well, it IS a wide-screen

Tony| Category: General, Techie, not Geekie | 2 Comments

Random comments from a second grade teacher is back, after a hellish hiatus known as February. Lowlights for February included:
Progress Reports (aka “Report Card Narrative Purgatory”)
Applying to grad school (got in, btw)
Applying to financial aid for said grad school (no word, yet)
Parent-Teacher Conferences (I LOVE the 14 1/2 work days, don’t you?)

But, with my thoughts turning to spring, spring training, and spring break, there were highlights in February:
Valentine’s Day weekend (Le Titi de Paris c’est manifique!, and Lewis Black was amusing)
Decorating the apt. more (new throw pillows, [just for you, Eric,] and some hangings for the bedroom)
AND THE BEST PART OF ALL…

The NEW laptop.
Yes, folks, I’ve leapt forward from 1997 to a modern marvel of technology. For those of you taking notes at home, I’ve got a Dell with a Pentium M 715,(1.5 GHZ) 60 GB/7200 rpm, 512 MB RAM, 24x CD-burning MACHINE. And yes, it’s the 15.4 widescreen.
Thanks to Mom and J generous b-day gift (Best Buy card) I bought a wireless router so that everything would be ready to go once the notebook arrived. It came yesterday. My eyes hurt from so much staring in joy.
{By the way, thank you SO SO MUCH to the lovely and engaging Mrs. K for this gift. It was a wonderful surprise. And thanks to Rich for helping her find the right laptop for me}

Now if only I weren’t a monkey trying to type Shakespeare, I would take this puppy for a ride. After reading Kenny’s post aboutwhat to install on a new machine I got the wireless up and running, and started downloading things, in this order:
1)AIM (so I could ask others what to download)
2)Firefox, 2a)Windows Updates
3)Spybot
4)Ad-aware
5)iTunes (transferred my music over from the old machine, too)

Now, faithful readers, since I’ve joined you in the 22nd century, what else do I need to download?
I’m fired up, it’s March, and I’m uber-connected.

Go Illini.