Peggy's Blog

St. Patty's Day Luncheon with PawPaw

2011-03-18T10:14:00.001-04:00

Jt
Originally uploaded by paultwhyte

Pawpaw went to JT's school for the grandparents' luncheon.... I am so jealous - just look at what a handsome little man he is!

He was THRILLED to see Pawpaw - he has been out on the road for a long time and JT was really glad to see him.

According to Pawpaw, he was quite a little gentleman. :-)

iMarkers for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad on the iTunes App Store

2011-01-18T21:41:00.001-05:00

Historical iMarkers™ puts history in your pocket!

http://itunes.apple.com/my/app/imarkers/id404661088?mt=8

How to Get Free Books on Your iPad | How-To | The Mac Observer

2011-01-18T13:04:00.001-05:00

How to Get Free Books on Your iPad | How-To | The Mac Observer

tags: ipad books ebooks

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Mountain Music

2009-11-22T22:58:00.001-05:00

mountain_music
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Had a very nostalgic weekend of scanning photos from Mom's old album. Will have to get her to sit down with me so I can add notes etc. to the pics. This one for example, I have no idea who they are or where exactly the photo was taken.

The extended family has always had lots of musicians - some whose reputations are well know for hundreds of miles around home (in WV).

Will soon finish this album and be able to take it back to her and bring another one home to work on - she won't let me have more than one at a time, lol!

SCOCA's Curriculum Integration Blog

2009-10-22T13:54:00.003-04:00

Shewww.... no time to blog here anymore. But I've been very busy with the SCOCA Curriculum Integration Blog. Also had the flu... or something like it! Arrrgh...

Farmer Gwen

2009-08-10T20:33:00.002-04:00

Farmer Gwen
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Well, she turned 91 last week. She has given up any kind of garden, but still likes her potted plants on the porch.

I had taken her some crazy looking gourds last year at Halloween for a basket on the table. She saved them, cut them open and dried the seeds and planted a few in the flower containers on the porch this summer. They grew and grew and grew! They took over the glider, so now she is just letting them have the glider for the rest of the summer, lol. She had intended for them to climb the rot iron posts on the porch, but the gourds preferred the glider. She has harvested a couple already, and has a few more coming on.

She will always find a way to grow some kind of crop!

Barn Invasion

2009-08-10T20:26:00.001-04:00

IMG_0541
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

This is what happens to the barn if we don't get down there for a month in the summer to keep up with the mowing, weed eating and applying RoundUp....

We don't know what this vine is, but it has been impossible to kill it. It looks like a squash or melon vine, but it never blooms or produces any fruit. It was there when we bought the farm, and we just can't seem to stop it!

It is kinda pretty, but sure looks like we have neglected the place! Will get it carved back this weekend. :-)

Big shoes to fill

2009-08-01T22:49:00.002-04:00

Big shoe
Originally uploaded by KaiChanVong

I am taking Melissa Higgs-Horwell's position at SCOCA. As of Friday she has officially retired. I am thrilled to have this opportunity - but apprehensive at the same time because Melissa has been such a driving force in education in general and specifically with video conferencing in the South Region. She has been the heart and soul of IVC for the past 8+ years. She knows everyone, and people all over the state know and admire her.

They are indeed "Big shoes to fill," but I welcome the opportunity to give it my best shot. I hope people will understand that I can't be Melissa, but I will work very hard to keep the projects and initiatives she has developed growing and prospering. I'm sure she feels like she has left her "baby" in my care and I hope not to disappoint her. :-)

My hope is for Melissa to really enjoy life - she has earned it. I also hope that "enjoying life" will mean that she continues to contribute to the education world and that we will have the opportunity to work together again - soon! I miss her already.

Down the "Country Music Highway"

2009-06-08T20:46:00.021-04:00

I headed out on Friday to spend the weekend with my FEMA guy.... He was supposed to be in Louisville, so I was thinking shopping... But on Thursday, they sent him over to eastern Kentucky to Pikeville, so I headed down the Country Music Highway for the weekend. Shopping would not be the same in Pikeville, but it was a good weekend just the same.

On the way down, I passed through Ashland and Catlettsburg. The Marathon Refinery at Catlettsburg on the Ohio River is pretty impressive. My Mom and Dad were married in Catlettsburg in 1939. Then I passed the big AEP Power Plant (Kentucky Power) as I headed south along the Big Sandy River enroute to Pikeville. It's pretty incredible how much energy flows out of Appalachia via the electric and refineries and railways loaded with coal. You'd think that the local people would reap more rewards than they do for supplying so much of the energy used in the eastern US.

I passed through Prestonsburg, and saw the signs to the Jenny Wiley State Park, but didn't have time to stop there. Maybe next trip...

As I got into Pikeville, I was amazed by the Cut-Through. In the 1970's, the Army Core of Engineers re-routed the river, the railroad and the highway by cutting through the mountain. All the way down Route 23 (which is a nice 4 lane), there had been lots of cuts into the mountains, but this one at Pikeville was the most incredible.

I spent some time at the pool and soaked up some sun on Saturday. We had dinner at the Landmark Inn Saturday evening. Dinner was excellent and the atmosphere was a little 1950ish... Quite charming. We also had a couple of meals at El Azul Grande too, their food was great too. Maybe I am just tired of my own cooking at this point though. :-)

On Sunday, we went over the see The Breaks Interstate Park and did a little hiking... We hiked the Overlook Trail - it was too hot for a lot of strenuous up hill stuff! It was beautiful and we were lucky because there were still some rhododendron and mountain laurel in bloom.

On the way home, I noticed that KY's deer crossing signs looked like they had HUGE deer down there... LOL, when I checked on it when I got home, low and behold it was an ELK Crossing sign!

Summer Reading (er... make that "Listening")

2009-06-05T08:48:00.003-04:00

It seems to me that those "long, lazy days of summer" don't exist anymore... I can't remember a long, lazy summer day since I was about 7! The summers seem to be shorter and even our kids lead very busy lives.

So that leaves little time for summer reading. But if you want to try to work in some summer reading/listening for your children, check out the University of South Florida's Lit2Go section on iTunes U. You'll find lots of wonderful classics formatted in mp3's that you can download to an iPod to take along on the family vacation or that weekend outing to the country. The University of South Florida has more than 3000 podcasts organized by grade level, so you're sure to find appropriate reading/listening materials for your child.

You will need to have iTunes installed to use this link. While you're there, check out their TechEase section too if your summer plans include learning some new educational software this summer!

Lit2Go from the University of South Florida on iTunes U.

Shrooms! Woohoo :-)

2009-04-20T19:16:00.008-04:00

Shrooms
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

First weekend out to the cabin for the spring and it was fabulous! The weather was warm and sunny and we had a great time.

We went hunting for 'shrooms - they are not actually mushrooms at all, but morels. We found about 60 on Friday, another 60 or so on Saturday and Bill found more than 30 on Sunday after we left.

We set up an assembly line on the porch on Saturday evening and cooked them, mmm, mmm. We actually had to use farm eggs (no regular white eggs at the local grocery) - I'm not a big fan of brown farm eggs, but...

We just rolled them in eggs beaten up with a little milk and then in flour and popped them into an electric skillet with some cooking oil. (I know, not very healthy, but they're 'shrooms!)

This is the batter recipe that I usually use for onion rings and mushrooms - it's even UNHEALTHIER! But it is sooooo good!

Batter for Shrooms

1 c. sifted all purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg yolk
2/3 c. milk
1 tbs. salad oil
1 egg white

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat egg yolk slightly in bowl, then stir in milk and salad oil. Add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.
Beat egg white until soft peaks form. Fold into batter.
Dip shrooms into batter. Let excess drip into bowl. Drop into hot oil or shortening. Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

For some more information on hunting spring mushrooms, check here.

Are Textbooks Becoming Obsolete?

2009-03-23T13:16:00.003-04:00

I remember when I was a classroom teacher (quite a long time ago, I haven’t taught in the K-12 setting since 1998), having new textbooks and being excited that they came with some electronic resources. I remember having a difficult time organizing other resources that I liked to use in my classroom. I started with jotting notes to myself in the margins of the teachers’ manual, but then I developed an extensive file of lesson plans (it takes years to really put that together) with all the resources and where to find them included. There were books, videos and filmstrips in our school library, there were things on instructional television that I could have our media specialist record for me, and then there were some very good 16MM films that I could order by mail from the Media Centers. It was always difficult to time the arrival of the films because you had to order at least two weeks ahead of time and then you could keep them only for a couple of days. Sometimes I would have to adjust my lessons and it would throw the timing for these resources off and I would have to send them back without using them. The public library was also a good source for materials, but it was a 30 minute drive there after school to get the materials and then another trip to return them. All of this coordination of resources was a daunting task... And even with great lesson plans, each year I need to adjust my lessons based on how my students were doing, so it was always changing. And that was long before all the great internet resources and things like TeacherTube!

There were times when the textbook simply did not match my “Course of Study,” which is what we went by back then because there were no Academic Content Standards yet.

When I first learned about wikis, my first thought was “Wow - this is the exactly what I needed all those years ago for organizing my resources!” And after using them for a few years now, I am starting to think that perhaps a wiki would make a fabulous replacement for the textbook. I think you could use the the outline provided by the Academic Content Standards and put together the best possible resources for teaching them. You would have so much more than “text on the page” for differentiating instruction. You could have sections for student contributions and your classroom would become more dynamic with projects. A classroom wiki combined with a good collection of reference books in the back of the room seems to me like it would be a perfect setup.

I realize that this would take time, so maybe a teacher would just begin using the wiki in conjunction with their textbook as supplemental material. I really think that after a couple of years, it would be a much better resource than the textbook.

I think students might agree....

What do you think? I found this article interesting.

The eTech State Technology Conference

2009-02-07T19:51:00.004-05:00

Another great conference from eTech... As always, too busy with presentations and the booth to attend very many sessions, but the ones I got to go to were great.

We also helped out in the Ohio on iTunes U area that eTech had set up for the launch of the new Ohio sections in iTunes U. The site launched on January 27, timed for conference, and they have been uploading content pretty steadily since the launch. I'm very excited about these new resources for Ohio teachers. I hope that it continues to grow, especially with submissions from K-12 schools. This may just prove to be the ultimate resource for our teachers.

My presentation (which eTech recorded for inclusion in the Ohio on iTunes U site) was at 8:00 am on Monday morning - I know, horrible time slot. I didn't expect to have a full session since lots of people drive in for the day and lots of others were still checking in and getting their conference materials. However, I had more than 120 in my session! The room was set up for 160, so you couldn't really say it was a full session, but I thought it was a fabulous turnout for that time slot! I hope I made it worth the effort of getting up and moving so early on a Monday morning! If you wanted to see my session and didn't make it, eTech will be posting them on iTunes U in late March or early April. I will update with a link as soon as it is available.

My resource page for this presentation can be found here.

Happy birthday to Joanie...

2009-01-13T17:51:00.002-05:00

Today is her birthday - that's us there a few years ago (in 1957 to be exact). She is one of my 3 older sisters, but the one closest to me in age. And at the rate she's going, she will soon be younger than me!

She's also my BFF. Don't know what I (or the rest of our family) would do without her. Happy Birthday Joanie, I love ya.

Google Earth Plugin now available for Mac users!

2008-12-05T09:48:00.005-05:00

The Google Earth Plugin is now available for the Mac! It supports Safari and Firefox 3 browsers....

More information here...

And here is Lovely Lake Alma via the Google Earth Plugin - if you don't have it, get it now! Then you can visit some more great places at EarthSwoop.

Powered by Google Earth Hacks | Map Details | Create your own!

December is a busy month...

2008-11-30T15:46:00.004-05:00

I finally did get the tree up, so I am felling a little more like it might be the holidays. Last week, it seemed like I had so much to do for work that it made sense just to skip the holidays all together. But I put in an extra couple of days over the weekend to get where I need to be for upcoming workshops, so I am feeling a little better - I may actually survive.

I always dread putting up the tree (a lot of work), but once I get going on it, it always puts me in a better mood. I love my tree - it is a wonder of snow and ice. It has "Edelweiss" (actually just some artificial white flowers that look like Edelweiss), glass icicles, and lots and lots of glass and crystal ornaments that make it look like it is covered with ice and snow. I have so many beautiful glass ornaments - all of them clear glass, or a few that have some white or gold accents. It has taken years of collecting to amass them. I remember having to wait a few years for after Christmas sales to get enough to actually put up the themed tree. But since then, the collection has REALLY grown. I've never seen another tree anywhere with so many unique ornaments.

So, now that I'm in the Christmas spirit, wonder when I will find time to shop? How about you - is your holiday season off to a good start?

Birthday Roses....

2008-11-19T00:01:00.001-05:00

Birthday Roses....
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Flowers delivered this evening for "Nana," - so nice.... They are beautiful.

It's Back! - Nikon Coolpix 5700

2008-11-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

Nueva Cámara - Nikon Coolpix 5700
Originally uploaded by Jorge Louzao Penalva

Well I promised to let you know what happened with the Nikon Coolpix... It arrived back today from the shop - all sparkly clean and working like a champ!

I had an issue a few years ago with my Canon digital camcorder and it cost me a fortune to get it repaired (and I'm sure it was a defect in the camera itself). This issue with a Nikon camera will make me really consider another Nikon when I purchase again. No hassles - just fixed it and sent it back to me....

-- Very satisfied Nikon customer.

King of the Hill (or MOUNTAIN) and the little Prince

2008-10-23T00:30:00.004-04:00

Harmon's Northfork Cottages '08
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

These two hikers are top notch - 10 miles of mountain terrain last Saturday! We started out on a shortened version of our yearly hike (toddler and all - didn't want to push too hard), but we kind of miscalculated the distance... We hiked ALL DAY - up hill, down hill, over rocks and boulders....

What an adventure. And poor John packed the grandbaby the whole way! And the grandbaby was such a trooper. True outdoorsmen...

Nana held up well too, till the very end - when my brakes gave out on the downhill. But I really didn't suffer any consequences from the fall - my knees just got a bit wobbly. I have had a bit of a consequence this week though - didn't know I had all those muscles in my calves....

I wouldn't have missed it - the views from the top were breathtaking. And what a wonderful way to spend time with family.

Nikon Coolpix 5700

2008-10-11T17:17:00.002-04:00

Nueva Cámara - Nikon Coolpix 5700
Originally uploaded by Jorge Louzao Penalva

I haven't used my Nikon Coolpix 5700 in quite a while - I have a little Canon PowerShot that is so handy that I usually use it, or just snap pics with my iPhone. But fall is here and I want to get some shots with my Nikon, so I got it out and charged the battery and grrrrrrr.... It will not focus - really strange stuff and the picture looks just like it does in the viewfinder.

I was sooooo disappointed, but then I did some research, and it appears that it is a known issue with the Coolpix 5700 and Nikon has issued an advisory here. All I have to do is ship it to them and they will fix it.

I plan to ship it out on Monday - I'll keep ya posted as to how it goes...

Large Hadron Collider

2008-09-10T17:53:00.003-04:00

Originally uploaded by Arsmor

If you read the book by Dan Brown, Angels and Demons, you too probably headed to Google to try to sort fact from fiction.... I was amazed by the stuff I read about CERN and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Well they successfully tested the first beam of protons today, and the world did not end (and I didn't find anything that said they had created "anti-matter" that could destroy the world).

This machine is indeed a wonder of scientific engineering. If you want to see a model of it (the biggest machine in the world), have a look at Joey Wade's 3D diagram and models showing the LHC floating above its actual location so you can see how it looks in Google Earth. Get the Google Earth 3D model here (KMZ file).

So how does this solar panel thing work?

2008-09-08T15:05:00.009-04:00

solar panel
Originally uploaded by absentmindedprof

I'm sure that the science behind the solar panel is over my head, but still I was curious.

I've been listening to/watching podcasts for my "Using Podcasts to Differentiate Instruction" workshop in Chillicothe this week. I happened upon this podcast, in the iTunes U section from the University of California Televison (UCTV), called "The Power of the Sun: The Science of the Silicon Solar Cell." If you have iTunes installed, here is the link. If you don't have iTunes, you can check out their web site.

Granted, it is some real chemistry and other sciences, but this podcast - if you stick with it - makes it very understandable. Just one example of the vast amount of content out there for our schools that is totally free and right on target for K-12 education. UCTV alone has more than 300 video podcasts, and they are just one of the Universities in iTunes U.

If you have a great podcast to share, post the iTunes link in the comments. (In iTunes, right click on the podcast and choose "Copy iTunes Store URL".)

My latest project...

2008-08-05T13:59:00.003-04:00

This is my latest project - redesigning the ohioedtechs.org site. I LOVE creating a new web site, especially if I have control over the design (to a large degree anyways). I can't take all the credit for the design. I started with a purchased template from Open Source Web Design and just tweaked colors and images.

At any rate, that will let you know what I've been up to - now I have to get down to business with ITSCO's web site. Lots of updates for new and exciting workshops and other PD coming this fall! (I've taken up exclamation points again, but will try very hard not to be a GA.)

Gwen is Ninety

2008-08-05T13:23:00.003-04:00

This is Gwen. She's my mother and she will be 90 on Wednesday.

She is the most incredible lady I know. She still lives at home in the house I grew up in (in WV - at least 3 hours from any of her children). She still drives - it's 13 miles (of curvy, hilly WV roads) to the nearest town - and she goes to town 2-3 times a week. She is very active at the Senior Center, walking on the tread mill, playing "set back," and generally socializing with friends. She still cleans (obsessively) and does yard work and cooks (for herself and for my uncle who lives across the road). Up until this summer, she also did all the yard trimming with a push mower. She decided that this summer, she just wasn't going to do that any longer. She has had a hip replacement, but it really has not slowed her down any... She refuses to "dress like an old lady" - she is always very modern.

And she is still the boss. She is in charge of her own life and thinks she is still in charge of her kids as well (woe is the one who tries to tell her she's not!). We wanted to have a birthday event for her, but she said definitely "not," so I guess we will save that party for the 100th.

She makes me proud and I love her...

Adobe's "Acrobat.com"

2008-07-29T11:37:00.002-04:00

We've been using Google Docs (free) for quite some time now and it's been very good for us as an agency - easy to share files and collaborate. But it is certainly not very "pretty." We also use WebEx (not free) for online meetings/trainings. We've been happy with WebEx, although there is a set up that teachers have to be able to do on their desktop computer - but it's pretty simple.

Today I had a look at Adobe's new Acrobat.com site (still in beta, but free for now). It lacks the spreadsheet feature that we use a lot in Google Docs, but the word processing feature (dubbed "Buzzword") is gorgeous! The whole system allows you to share docs, collaborate, video conference and share your desktop very similar to WebEx, but you are connected to your documents at the same time. The whole thing is done in Flash, so it is wonderfully elegant and seems much peppier than Google Docs. One caveat though, you HAVE to be online, no offline option yet.

I'm excited about this new beta.... Not because it will replace what we currently use (for the moment at least), but because it will force the online developlers to take a hard look at creating a better end-user experience. I doubt it will be free for long, but it appears to be a game changer....

You can log in with your existing Adobe username and password - I was up and running in seconds. Did I say the user interface is elegant? More of what we Mac users have come to expect...

Google SketchUp Teacher's Guide

2008-07-17T11:35:00.004-04:00

Have you downloaded and played with Google SketchUp? It's pretty awesome, even for adults. And it's free. If you put it in the hands of your students, they will learn a lot of math, science, geometry, etc. - plus you would be meeting Technology Standard 6: Design of the Ohio Academic Content Standards. Here is the standard:

And I found the PERFECT teacher resource for how to implement this cool tool in the classroom... Check out this "Google SketchUp Teacher Guide" - it is awesome. There are great instructions and lessons/projects for every grade level.

PBWiki Summer Camp

2008-07-17T10:50:00.005-04:00

If you need a space online to share classroom materials with students and parents, there is no better way to do that than with a "wiki." A wiki (Hawaiin for "quick") is an easy to use web space - and you have options for making it public or private for your students.

We use PBwiki at ITSCO, and we have teachers sign up for an account and free wiki in our Web 2.0 classes. (See an example here. Click on "Sidebar" on the right column to see all the pages.) PBwiki is one of the best choices for educators - they seem to know what teachers want.... :-)

Right now, they are having a free online Summer Camp. Here's the info from their site:

Join us for PBwiki Summer Camp!

We know that a lot of educators have heard about wikis but just aren’t sure how to use them in the classroom. In PBwiki Summer Camp you will learn the best way to structure your classroom site, engage your students with audio and video and connect with experienced wiki mentors.

At the end of the summer, Campers who have followed the program receive a free platinum wiki for the school year, as well as some fun swag along the way."

Did you catch that "free platinum wiki" for the school year? What a great way to get ready for fall! Give it a try, you can't lose - it's all free! (I know, got the GA Factor going with this post - too many exclamation points...)

Desmond Dekker

2008-07-11T00:43:00.003-04:00

We watched "Fool's Gold" last weekend, and there was a song that I really loved in the movie... (Of course I also really love Matthew McConaughey too...) The song was "You Can Get It If You Really Want." So I headed on over to iTunes to buy it and saw that it was by Desmond Dekker - I already have "The Israelites." Thought maybe someone else saw the movie and liked the music too...

"Paint" application for the Mac

2008-07-10T23:37:00.003-04:00

Sometimes when we do a workshop, we refer folks to "Paint," (Accessories, Paint) on the Windows platform. I found a little program that works almost exactly the same on the Mac - it's called "Paintbrush." Sometimes you just need a simple little drawing program....

Find it here.

Oh, and if you want to grab an application's icon and blow it up (like the one here), Bittbox has the "how-to."

I like her...

2008-07-10T21:47:00.002-04:00

Of course I "love" her - she's my daughter, but I really LIKE her too. She is so creative and has such a weird sense of humor, that she is really fun to be around. I'm not saying she's "perfect," (she can be a WHOLE lot like her Dad sometimes), but dang it, I really do like her.

She just wrote another article for Crafty Places. She's a darn good writer and a pretty good photographer too. Makes me proud. Also makes me realize that she is sooooo much better at taking pictures that I am - waaaaaa.... I'll just have to enjoy her talent and scrap her pics!

Wordle Word Cloud

2008-07-10T00:22:00.004-04:00

This is fun - and it would be great for digital scrapbooking! You can use your blog (which is what I did), your Del.icio.us tags, or just paste in some text.

One of the participants in my online class had put their word cloud on their wiki - thanks Jan!

Make your own at http://wordle.net.

An acre of green...

2008-06-27T21:54:00.004-04:00

We have 4 city lots to mow and this kind of weather makes it really hard to get the grass cut, so this week I had to flex some work hours to get it done... I love to mow (usually, but the air was like soup today). It's such a nice break from working on the computer. I've spent a LOT of time on the computer this week working on a project that is really fun. I tend to be more productive when I can work long periods of time without interruption and this week has been perfect for that (although, the project did not demand staying up till 2:00 a.m. - that's just my creative time). When I get the project done, I'll post a link.

Tonight my lawn is lovely and I took a picture, because we will probably have another storm overnight and it will be covered with leaf litter again....

Nana Mouskouri

2008-06-26T22:05:00.004-04:00

No one has ever heard of her, but I LOVE her music, no matter what language... I also admire that she has done so many songs in so many languages... (Thanks Miss Nybakken at OU) There are 6 songs in the mix below - some in French, some in Greek, etc. Have a listen, you might find you like her too. :-)

Walking with friends

2008-06-25T23:50:00.003-04:00

Dragonfly with lying of the sun
Originally uploaded by le_faju

It’s amazing where your thoughts will take you when you have time to go for a walk alone (with some good music of course). It’s the only time I can really let my thoughts wander and the sights and sounds along the trail inspire thoughts and memories of very special times and people…

Sometimes it’s a bunny sitting along the path that reminds me of that little grandbaby and how cute he is and how thrilled he is at the mere sight of a little bunny or a bird in the yard – young mind just learning to appreciate his world.

Other times it is a beautiful butterfly that brings me thoughts of my Dad and how much I still miss him – but I know he’s never far away and that little butterfly was just sent to remind me…

This evening though, a dragonfly followed a long way on the path swooping from side to side, sometimes flying ahead, other times coming up from behind. So tonight I walked with thoughts of Stace and how proud I am of her…

(No sign of Hans and Frans though (lol), but I got to spend a little time with L. after the walk. It was a good evening…)

Grandparents

2008-06-20T15:10:00.001-04:00

Neighbors & Grandparents
Originally uploaded by dericafox

Boy has our little germ bucket of a grandbaby had me down with what Amy calls "kid krud." We haven't been around little ones for a long time, so I guess our immune systems (mine anyways) just can't handle all the new germs! I have had the "kid krud" for about 3 weeks now.

I got some antibiotics yesterday, so maybe things will clear up.

Meanwhile, we plan to wear masks next time we see our boy Elroy....

Mahna Mahna

2008-06-19T22:35:00.001-04:00

Nana and Grandpa got to keep little Elroy last week and this was the favorite entertainment - even on the iPhone!

Google Earth at OU Lancaster

2008-06-18T23:47:00.001-04:00

OU Lancaster
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

What a great day today was... The Heart of Ohio Tech Prep folks (Marcia Key) invited me to do some training on "Explore (and SHARE) Your World with Google Earth." All together we had about 60 wonderfully dedicated teachers from all over the region, and we split them into smaller groups of 15 for hands-on training in the computer lab at OU Lancaster.

We learned a lot about using Google Earth and Picasa in the classroom in many subject areas. I hope (since it's summer and all) that they have some time now to download and leisurely play with the software at home. That way they can get comfortable enough to turn their students loose with a real-world project in the fall.

It was great fun.... Thanks for inviting me :-)

View from our window

2008-06-08T23:02:00.001-04:00

View from our window
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Last week was a very difficult week with the loss of my husband's father. However, in the middle of the week, I had been invited to Put-in-Bay by one of our schools to do a presentation on a boat. It ended up being just what the doctor ordered for me and my husband - a nice little get away with some time to think and reflect. The last time my husband had been to PIB was on a camping trip with his Dad when he was just a boy...

It was cold and rainy, and on the way over, (we caught the 8:30 pm ferry), we were the only ones on the ferry. When we got to our room, we were delighted to find it had a balcony that looked out over the pool with Lake Erie just beyond. We slept with the glass sliding door open and listened to the waves and enjoyed the fresh breeze all night.

The next morning, we had breakfast at 7 with the crew from New Boston and boarded the boat at 8 am. It was quite cool from the rain and very foggy. We all ended up with soaked behinds from the seats - who knew rain gear would have been in order? The presentation was a flop... Turns out, my power converter (plugged into the boat's cigarette lighter) didn't have enough juice to run the projector... UGH! I did the presentation just the same though - albeit I'm sure it was somewhat lacking...

The boat ride lasted till 1:00 in the afternoon and we got the grand tour of the islands and a picnic lunch. All in all, it was quite enjoyable.

This opportunity gave me the incentive to learn to use PowerPoint on my iPhone, so in actuality, I learned a lot. Not all was lost with the presentation, and I did enjoy hangin' out with the folks from New Boston. :-)

Lost Patriarch

2008-06-01T15:49:00.000-04:00

JT gets a ride

2008-05-31T00:15:00.001-04:00

JT gets a ride
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

This is one cute, happy little boy. What a joy he is... We spent Memorial Day weekend with him - his Nana sure did love spending quality time with him.

Tag Galaxy

2008-05-31T00:07:00.004-04:00

Tag Galaxy
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

This is so cool.... This is a screen capture from Tag Galaxy. The tag I entered was "West Virginia." It pulls all the Flickr photos with that tag into the galaxy. Go try it out yourself with your own tags.

What's missing from this photo?

2008-05-07T00:53:00.007-04:00

Waiting for our group
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Today we had our follow up session for our School 2.0 Project (School 2.0 Wiki).

This project started out small, with Melissa Higgs-Horwell (from SCOCA), Paul Carpenter (from the Ross Pike ESD) and I doing some real quick training sessions for OACHE and the regional State Support Team staff members. When we all got together to talk about how the internet is changing and how we should be helping our schools stay on top of these innovations, ideas started to take shape.

Over the summer (2007), we started feverishly planning some training that could span the upcoming school year (2007-2008). HSTW (High Schools That Work) came on board during the summer, and the plans took off. We had a total of 3 full day training sessions and put together a framework for implementing a project at each school. We hand picked the schools based on the greatest need – the SST helped us in that process.

Our first session was in September, with another one in October and a repeat session in December for other schools from HSTW. For most of the winter, we didn’t hear much from our participants. Then today, we had the final session. It was an informal sharing/presentation by each school – the teachers telling us about the successes they had with the new technologies this year, and also about the road blocks and hazards they encountered.

In this rural, mostly low-income area of Ohio, we often lack the basic needs for integrating technology. We heard about schools that only have 1 computer lab (and not all of the computers are operational – and few are up-to-date enough to run programs like Google Earth), teachers who have only dial-up at home (and students who don’t even have computers at home) because it is rare to find broadband in this region, and major issues with educational sites that are blocked at school. Several schools mentioned that they ran into the brick wall of filtering when trying to do social bookmarking with del.icio.us. All blogs and wiki sites were blocked.

You would think all this would put a damper on their enthusiasm for bringing these 21st century skills to their students. You would think that it would be easier to just give up. You would think….

But that is what is missing from this picture - the teachers. I took this picture this morning before any of them arrived. They are the key. They make the effort and sacrifice to make sure our students aren’t left behind. They go the extra mile to make things happen for kids. They genuinely care about education and our children.

I was so impressed with what our teachers accomplished this year in spite of all the obstacles, and they are still so hopeful and enthusiastic. Southern Ohio has the one essential ingredient that gives our area a bright future – wonderful teachers.

I can’t begin to recount all the projects, but there were web sites, podcasts, BlackBoard online classes, Google Earth and SketchUp activities, wikis and blogs. I wish you could have heard the presentations today – one story about a foreign language class brought tears to my eyes.

I was so proud to have been among them today.

Babbel - social language learning

2008-05-02T20:05:00.004-04:00

Babbel is a cool site for learning (and practicing) French, Spanish, Italian and German and it has several Web 2.0 social features. Users can contribute photos (upload or from Flickr) and also have a say in how well the pictures used (or supplied by other users) fit the intended vocabulary.

There is also a messaging system where you can make friends who speak the target language so you'll have a real person to practice with.

Firefox troubles = Piclens.... Aarrrgh.

2008-05-02T19:52:00.002-04:00

It was really such a cool add-on for Firefox and seemed to work soooo well - what a cool way to view Flickr photos, etc. However, soon after installing Piclens, I started having major issues with Firefox. At first it wasn't apparent, Firefox just seemed slow. And then when I would visit a site that was graphics/flash intense, Firefox would completely hang up and my whole system would slow down forcing me to restart. Then, I figured out that the culprit was Piclens...

I uninstalled Piclens and now I really am back to normal with Firefox. I'll give them a while to perfect it and maybe I'll have a look at it again one day.

WorldCat - Citations made easy

2008-04-21T23:53:00.002-04:00

WorldCat -great (and easy) way to create your next bibliography or do a citation.....

Mother's Day Scrapbook

2008-04-20T21:17:00.002-04:00

LO: I
Originally uploaded by brungrrl

Wow - look what Stace made for me for Mother's Day... It is fabulous. Where does she find the time (or the inspiration) for the wonderful projects she makes...? I LOVE this - it got top spot on the mantle over the fireplace.

We had a great weekend, lots of time with "our boy Elroy." He's crawling now and oh, so cute. Also got to spend some quality time with Stace - I cherish those times. We did some digital scrappin' - she posted the results on her blog. I (as usual) didn't even get a page started - can't seem to get going. I think I am not that thrilled with my photography skills, or maybe I just get lost playing with all the cool stuff you can do with Photoshop.

Gasp. Oh no.

2008-04-08T19:01:00.005-04:00

Magic Donkey
Originally uploaded by jaxxon

(You may note that I didn’t use any exclamation points in the title of this post.)

One of the responses to our workshop evaluations that I've always been most proud of is “Peggy’s enthusiasm is infectious.” That’s my goal, to get other teachers excited about using technology in the classroom.

When I first started this blog, my ONE reader, “Brungrrl,” offered (lovingly) some constructive criticism. She said that I use too many exclamation points. When I thought about it, of course she's right. She’s quite an accomplished writer herself – I say that with pride – and she is known to be brutally honest. My writing skills are so rusty though that I need all the help I can get. I also noted that I use too many ellipses (that’s the dot dot dot thing).

Using the exclamation points was, I suppose, an effort to convey the enthusiasm I feel for the new technologies that I'm discovering every day. I can’t promise not to overuse exclamation points in the future, but I’m working on my addiction.

Using the ellipse is a totally different problem. I think it is because I’m lazy. I have a lot more thoughts and information running around in my head, but rather than type it in, I just use the ellipse and assume that my readers (if I have any) have the same thoughts running around in their heads. It saves me the time and effort of typing. I will try to work on this problem as well. I remember when we lived in Vinton county, the local newspaper had a reporter who used ellipses after every sentence. I always wanted to print and cut out a bunch of punctuation and send it to her, but I was nice instead.

The point of this post is some basic self-reflection that was triggered by John Rappold’s blog post yesterday - the section on "The GA Factor." OMG – I’m afraid that I’m a “glad ass” now. Paranoia has set in. Maybe I need to get a grip on my ”infectious enthusiasm” – what do you think? And don’t tell me that I just “need to get a life.” I love the geeky life I have.

(Whew. That was difficult. Not one exclamation point.)

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-04-04T12:24:00.002-04:00

Scrappin' stuff
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Create this cool effect easily using a tutorial from Digital Scrapbook Place and some great freebies from Shabby Princess. It's easy to design fabulous looking scrapbook pages (even if you don't have any artistic skills like me!), when you find great free stuff like this!

Firefox slowdown

2008-03-31T10:32:00.006-04:00

Firefox had been giving me fits because all of a sudden, it was VERY slow. I thought I would just switch to Flock, but I really missed Firefox so I researched the issue. It appears that if you have been using Firefox for a long time, it gets all clogged up and needs to be cleared out to get you back to peak performance. If you have a slow browser, just go to Tools on the menu and choose "Clear private data." You will be given a choice of what to clear so you can keep passwords, etc.

My Firefox is now "hoppin'" again!

Little Sir Cantstopdrooling

2008-03-31T00:08:00.003-04:00

Shopper
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Spent Saturday with my favorite little red haired boy...

Not crawling yet, but he learned to get up off his tummy (after ALMOST crawling!) to a sitting position again. Oh the contortions it takes! Can't imagine being flexible enough to go from face down on the floor to a perfect spiit to sitting upright. Of course he needs a little leverage since all his ambulation ends up going in reverse. He just backs into a piece of furniture and then he can get up. Too funny.

Still fighting the naps during the day - he's a little tired in this photo. I need to spend more time with him - I am missing so much!

John's Ed Tech Podcast

2008-03-28T00:15:00.004-04:00

I participated (via Skype) in John Rappold's bi-weekly Ed Tech Podcast this week. It was a great panel (Ryan Collins from Kenton City Schools, John Rappold from SCOCA, and Alvin Trusty from the University of Findlay) and we covered a lot of topics that will interest educators that are using multimedia on the web and in the classroom.

Sheesh - my home phone just KEPT ringing! I had been in FLA for several days and the fam was trying to catch up with me... I'm sure John had to do some creative editing.

2008-03-26T13:45:00.003-04:00

Stace told me about a new add-on for Firefox called PicLens - really a cool way to look at photos on the web. If you use Flickr (or any photo site on the web), you'll love it!

Try it out with one of the collections from the Library of Congress on Flickr...

Florida for Easter

2008-03-20T20:30:00.003-04:00

flauntR_img_20_2_2008_20_26_48
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

I'm off to Florida for Easter - need some sunshine and warm weather!

I found this very cool online image editor - might be fun for scrapbooking or for teachers who don't have access to Photoshop or Elements... It's called flauntR (http://www.flauntr.com).

Found it via flex.org. A lot of stuff to explore!

The Colonial in Jackson

2008-03-19T13:14:00.002-04:00

We had dinner last weekend at the Colonial Restaurant in Jackson. Always great food, not crowded and a wonderful atmosphere. The special on the weekend is usually prime rib - but I had a filet, either is really good.

If you're looking for a unique place for dinner in Southern Ohio soon, try this place. You'll love it....

My favorite little leprechaun

2008-03-18T13:42:00.001-04:00

JT as a leprechaun
Originally uploaded by brungrrl

What a cutie! Sure would like to have seen him on St. Patty's Day, but pics like this are the next best thing.

Lunch with Penelope Planer

2008-03-18T12:25:00.003-04:00

Had lunch today in Second Life with Penelope Planer - had not been in Second Life for quite a while and when PP invited me to join her (she was doing a presentation with a Second Life demo - wanted to test out the voice feature), I was thrilled! It was fun. We went to Ohio University's VITAL Lab and looked at the eTech Poster Session and then headed next door to Big A's Burger Shop to see the nutrition game for middle schoolers. Fun stuff....

Need to meet her for lunch more often - maybe I could get my diet under control!

Peepers!

2008-03-13T18:11:00.001-04:00

Peepers!
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

That's right - I heard peepers for the first time this evening. They were in the swampy area between the railroad tracks and the bike path. No, I did not get to take a walk this evening. I was picking up sticks in the yard and could hear them from here. But at least I heard them, the pleasant little harbingers of spring!

And I found the first dandelion. I know - a month from now I will hate them for marring my green carpet of grass, but today it was a joy to see this bright yellow little face peeking up...

I can't wait for warm weather and flowers and the smell of newly cut grass.

Family survives snow storm...

2008-03-12T18:46:00.002-04:00

blizzard of '08
Originally uploaded by brungrrl

It was a FABULOUS weekend - we were on the road all weekend! Went to Wooster on Friday evening (in the snow), up near Cleveland on Saturday (in the snow), and then back to Akron on Saturday evening (in the snow)! It was wild - thank goodness I had a 4 wheel drive and a great chauffeur, lol!

And the rest of the family survived quite well in Columbus with 20+ inches of snow.

the grandbaby

2008-03-05T00:19:00.002-05:00

3/52
Originally uploaded by brungrrl

Oooooh, such a sweetie...

Nana is missin' this little guy, will need a baby "fix" soon. Too much work and too little time to spend with the important people in my life.

Spring peeking out

2008-03-02T20:06:00.001-05:00

Spring peeking out
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Almost 70 degrees today! I had spring fever really bad. Lots of folks out on the bike path. I spent a good portion of the day working in the yard and flower beds. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.

Kuler from Adobe

2008-02-28T12:08:00.001-05:00

Lithoglyph » Mondrianum Annotated

Lynaya shared "Kuler" with us, and this "Mondrianum" on a Mac.... Yum. Wish I had time to play with this!

Snowy evening

2008-02-21T17:34:00.001-05:00

Snowy evening
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

It started snowing around 3:30 today and it's almost dusk as the travelers make their way home. The sounds are very quiet and muffled with the new snow - most driving slowly and carefully as the snow plow has not yet run. Dinner waiting at home I'm sure...

Diigo for Social Bookmarking

2008-02-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a neat blog post about Diigo:

Archive the Web with Diigo at LifeClever ;-) Tips for Design and Life

This is the ultimate social bookmarking tool - the group sharing is a collaboration tool that will help your circle of friends or colleagues tame the web. And you can add and share notes, etc. While del.icio.us is great, it really can't compare to Diigo, and with Diigo, you can bookmark to del.icio.us at the same time! (Under "Options," choose the tab for "Bookmark and Highlight." Check del.icio.us in the "Add elsewhere" section.)

New socks

2008-02-14T20:29:00.001-05:00

New socks
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

They arrived in the mail from my sister... She knits them by hand with the coolest yarns (mostly wool) - and these are sparkly (package addressed to "Sparkles" - inside joke). They have a glittery thread running through them.

I love socks, especially wool ones. Keep your feet warm and everything else will take care of itself.

Build a Better Balloon

2008-02-13T17:36:00.001-05:00

Now you can make your balloons (that open when you click on a placemark in Google Earth) look VERY professional with templates supplied by Google. Check it out here - along with tutorials on how to do it!

Icy road at Hocking Hills

2008-02-12T14:01:00.001-05:00

Icy road at Hocking Hills
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Whew! Had an appointment in Lancaster, made it as far as Logan and found out the appointment was cancelled. The roads were slip-reeee! I didn't have to do the driving though, so it was kind of enjoyable for me. We took the long way home, through Hocking Hills - gorgeous.

Would have been nice to have hiked down into Cedar Falls, but weren't dressed for hiking...

Handeke's Cuisine

2008-02-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

Went to dinner with Paul, Melissa and Doug at Handeke's Cuisine tonight - wow. Fabulous food, great wine and atmosphere and good people....

My session

2008-02-05T13:16:00.001-05:00

My session
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

These are the folks at my session today. Blogging "live" from the Conference - how cool is that? ;-)

Lots of purple t-shirts in the crowd - all said "Smart Teacher" on the back - lol! Smart Technologies sure put together a huge marketing campaign for this conference. Several teachers won smart boards for their classrooms by wearing those bright purple shirts today.

Dinner presentation

2008-02-04T21:20:00.001-05:00

Dinner presentation
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Thanks to SmartEd (http://www.teachsmart.org) for a great dinner, entertainment and more networking with other conference attendees. Dinner was great - and so was the company!

Conference goers

2008-02-04T21:14:00.001-05:00

Conference goers
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

End of the day - still networking with friends and colleagues. Can't be without a laptop and wi-fi access - gotta keep up with email...

More about the Conference

2008-02-02T17:04:00.000-05:00

I will be presenting "Explore (and SHARE!)Your World with Google Earth" again this year at the eTech State Conference. I've held several workshops on this topic - always a crowd pleaser for teachers, whether they teach geography or not. GE is not just about geography.

Conference Handouts

2008-02-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

Handouts for my "Photo Blogging: Energize Your Classroom" session at the eTech Conference next week. Folks will get a bookmark with a link to my resources for this session.

eTech Conference

2008-02-02T15:50:00.000-05:00

Preparing for the conference next week. "Photo Blogging: Energize Your Classroom!" I can think of sooooooo many ways to use this if I were still in the foregn language classroom. Others have some good ideas as well: http://classroomblogging.wordpress.com/

New paint!

2008-01-29T14:42:00.001-05:00

New paint!
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

We have been updating one room at a time and we are all the way out to the dining room... We still have the kitchen and living room to go, but we have made a lot of progress! When we get a room done, it does make all the mess and mayhem seem worthwhile!

We also updated the lighting in the kitchen and dining room. I like it!

Babysitting...

2008-01-20T14:15:00.001-05:00

Babysitting...
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Whew! It has been a looooonnnng time since we had little ones! We kept the grandbaby for the long holiday weekend - 3 days! It wasn't too hard though since there are two of us and he is such a good baby.

I snapped this photo with my iPhone and emailed it to my Flickr account from my phone and blogged it from there - total "life mashup!"

Topo Gigio

2008-01-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

Well, unless you were waiting for that 'ultra thin' notebook and movies for your iPod or Apple TV, there was nothing announced at Macworld that is too exciting... How do you follow the iPhone with all the hype that surrounded that announcement anyway? They would have had to have discovered life on Mars to have beat that! I am downloading the new software for the iPhone that was announced during the keynote - some cool stuff for Maps. I'll let you know how it is...

Got one of those emails this week that jogs the memories of the "over 40" crowd... They mentioned "Topo Gigio" from the Ed Sullivan show. Had not thought about little Topo in years!

Steve Jobs on stage today...

2008-01-15T09:55:00.001-05:00

My new iPhone
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

I am so thrilled with my new iPhone! How cool to always have the internet with you and it is much easier to see the screen without my glasses than my old phone was...

Steve Jobs is delivering the keynote at MacWorld today - I can't wait to see what's new from Apple.

Antioxidants

2008-01-10T19:42:00.001-05:00

Tea Corner...
Originally uploaded by Colors of My Dreams

We were having a cup of tea (kinda new for us - we usually have coffee) after dinner tonight and my husband was reading the label on the tea container and said it was a good source of antioxidants... He said "what are antioxidants anyway?" and to his surprise, I informed him about free radicals and oxidation and damage to cells in the body, etc - you get the picture. (I love having Wikipedia, I'm always looking up something!)

He looked at me as if I had two heads - as if to say, "How the heck did you know that?" - priceless! I usually let him believe that he is a lot smarter than me! Tee-hee :-)

Best Coffee according to Consumer Reports

2008-01-07T17:46:00.001-05:00

Best Coffee according to Consumer Reports
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

McDonald's is taking on Starbucks... Today, someone asked me for permission to use this photo in a news article at NowPublic (crowd powered media) in the "Money and Stuff" section - cool! Here's the article. My photo is one of the thumbnails and you have to click to "see more" or choose the slide show, but what the heck!

This photo is one in a series that I took to use in my Google Earth presentation at the eTech Conference last year. I got a shot of all the McDonalds between home and the conference and created a KMZ file. Geeky, I know.

Palms and Blue Skies

2008-01-06T23:02:00.001-05:00

IMG_1297.JPG
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Wow - it's 11 pm and still 58 degrees outside, downright balmy! It is supposed to be in the 60's tomorrow! I keep expecting to hear the peepers any time now, but I realize it is only an illusion - January is just getting underway and we still have a lot of winter left!

At any rate, the Caribbean still on my mind (at least their weather!).

House hunting today.... No luck. It would be so nice to just happen upon the perfect house, or at least the perfect spot to build one.

Live 1977

2008-01-05T11:25:00.001-05:00

Live 1977
Originally uploaded by http://www.equalityandjustice.fr

Jim Cramer (CNBC's Mad Money) was back fresh from the Caribbean this week and wearing dread locks and a Bob Marley T-shirt.... (I know - I DO watch that show once in a while!) Got me to thinking about Bob Marley and his music...

My favorites are "One Love" and "Buffalo Soldiers." How sad to have lost a legend at such a young age....

Snowy day....

2008-01-03T15:16:00.001-05:00

Snowy day....
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

Brrrrr..... January it is! This kitty came to visit a couple of winters ago - he's very shy.

Next week is supposed to be warmer - maybe even in the 60's! I'll be thinking spring. I walked to the bank today on my lunch break. It was nice to be outside, but my Under Armour sure felt nice.

Heard on the news that the new President of France may be engaged to Carla Bruni - I have one of her albums. Cool. Article...

snow.....

2008-01-02T17:11:00.001-05:00

snow.....
Originally uploaded by pwhyte

January is off to cold and snowy start! I love the snow - if it's going to be winter, we might as well have snow!

Today I have been working on editing my eTech Podcasting online class - almost finished. I am anxious to get started on materials for my conference presentation about Photoblogging.