Teaching old dogs to like new tricks

Ok.... I have to admit. I am very slow to warm up to new technology. I wait until something has been around a few years before I reluctantly join the throng. For example: When CD's first came on the scene. My brother came home after listening to a new tech thing called a Compact Disc on a friend's new stereo system. He raved on and on about how clear the sound was. He could even hear the singer take a breath. How cool is that? He showed me what they look like. My thought was, "It'll never last. I like my tapes." HA!

When the internet fist came on the scene... I thought it was a waste of time. Granted... there wasn't much to do at first. All you could do was write TONS of text. Computers that could display pictures hadn't been invented yet. My friend got me into something called "Telnetting". I did it at the local college where I was going at the time and everything was ok. Then I went out of state to a large university. I continued to stay in contact with my friends in our little telnet world. During one of my sessions one of the watch dogs from campus came barging into the room and demanded to know who was wasting computer lab time telnetting... claimed it was against the rules and proceeded to stare at everyone's screens. I was the "evil one" and he didn't see it for some reason. Needless to say, he scared me to death and I never joined my friends back home in our little self made haven again.

Jump about 5 years later and my 16 year old sister-in-law was living with us. She had homework to do and needed to access the internet to do so. At this point the only stories I had heard about the internet were all about viruses. I was terrified to venture into that unknown realm. The only virus I knew about were the kind that made you have a fever, major body aches and you just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until further notice. I heard all about how the internet viruses took over your computer, hackers stole everything on your computer and left you with nothing but a burning blank harddrive. I couldn't see any use for the internet.

So.... About 2 years ago I was introduced to a thing called Facebook. I had already seen something called "Myspace". I thought it was ugly and very hard to read. It listed TONS of nonsense personal information that I didn't want to know about others and I didn't want others to know about me. I never signed up. So a friend is showing me his facebook "wall". Don't know why they call it a wall but there it is. I thought it was a jumbled mess and I didn't know how he could tell who was saying what. Why would anyone want to have that much information coming at them all day.

So... now I have my own Facebook account. I was a little shy to let anyone know I was there at first. I did not put my maiden name on because "that was then and this is now". I hooked up with a bunch of my current local friends and family. I started to get into the whole facebook family thing. One day I wondered what would happen if I put in my maiden name. I was immediately found by a few people from church when I was a kid (granted I had just seen several of them a few months earlier at my dad's funeral. I was fresh in their minds and easy to find). Then I added my high school and -BAM! A few more long lost friends added to my current world. It's strange to combine my life "back then" to my life today. It's really neat to see how my old friends are doing. I get to see who they settled down with and how cute their kids are. It's also fun to see how their personalities panned out as an adult and what type of job they have chosen.

Thanks to Facebook I have been able to hook up with people I have been eager to see how they're doing but did not know how to contact them. I already have plans to make cookies with a former roommate and meet a sister-like friend at a favorite book author's latest book release in a few months. I can't wait!!!

I'm a stay at home mom. I help out my husband with his job where and when I can. I recently gained some basic skills in roto and keying with Primatte on a very labor intensive film FX project. I live in the dungeon of the Tardis. I don't get out and meet very many people. My world consists mainly of people at church, my kid's school teachers, the moms in my daughter's neighborhood preschool group and the bill collectors who seem to like calling us when they want something. Because of Facebook I now have some friends from when I was a teenager, when I was single and in college and a few others I have met along the way.

My world has been opened up because of technology that I was reluctant to grab onto at first introduction. I can't live without my internet now. The medical research my husband and I have been able to do alone make it worth every penny. I love to price shop online before I go out and buy something. Saving me traveling time and money. I print out my coupons, read product reviews (to avoid lemons) and catch up on the lives of family and friends... all while wearing my pj's if I want. I now use the internet to slowly earn a little extra cash (watching ads etc..) so I can afford a few extra's that I would otherwise not be able to ever purchase (Wii).

I don't know if I will ever change. I think I will always drag my feet. I am usually glad I did make the change after it's done. I'm both scared and excited to see what's around the next corner.

For those of you who missed it.....

This . . . .

http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/2010/05/contest-entrants.html



Turned into this . . . .

http://teachinfourth.blogspot.com/2010/10/autumn-shoot-3-and-feature.html



Interested in seeing some more of the picts... click on the link above. You can also check out (the photographer) Jason's awesome photo website here: http://www.alongthebackroads.com/

This is funny - freaky

I've known girls in the past who fit this profile. Most of them were from when I was in the dorms. Freshmen..... Uber-Eager.

LOL - Enjoy!!

My heart aches

I co-teach a neighborhood preschool twice a week on rotating months. It's a small fun group of kids. I have noticed some pretty major improvements in several of the kids already. Not only are the kids learning their alphabets (reading and writing) but they are learning quite a bit about being social. Taking turns and realizing that the world simply does NOT revolve around them are some of the biggest things I've noticed they need to learn and have improved the most on. It's so much fun to see them succeed.

At the same time... they can also be the most frustrating. They each have their whiny days. Days they just don't want to follow the rules anymore. Today was my daughter's turn to hang on to my leg and be very independent from what everyone else is doing.

My teaching partner (Lori) mentioned how she doesn't know how regular school teachers "do it". Half the kids followed the directions and are done and ready to move on to the next thing while the rest of the class is either just slower than the rest or didn't hear the instructions and need some extra help. This makes our co-teaching situation really nice. She takes on the kids who are ready to move on and I stay behind and help the stragglers. Everyone gets what they need and the day moves quite smoothly.

Today we also noticed something interesting. Something that made my heart both happy and ache at the same time. One of the little girls in the group has a father who is in the military. He's gone a LOT for extended periods of time. Normally she is very quiet. Doesn't talk up very often. She tends to just simply move with the flow of children without standing out at all. I thought some of her shyness was due to a language barrier. Her family speaks another language at home most of the time. She frequently misses class time because she just didn't want to go that day. Her daddy was able to come home this week. She has become a TOTALLY different little girl. She is happy, singing, talking, interacting with everyone. She looked so bubbly and involved with life. Not shy at all. Her daddy brought her to school this morning and she was BEAMING. On a few occasions today I was a bit annoyed with how loud the group had become and I looked up to see who was the loudest to try to get some control on the volume.... I was surprised to find it was this little girl's singing that was the center of the voices.

I've always known that families of military people suffered from the extended periods of separation. I have never seen such a young child up close who is having to cope with life without a parent. I've known a lot of people who grew up with a military parent. They were all teenagers or older before I met them. My dad was in the military but he was stationed at the local AFB. He lived at home and drove to work. He was never stationed elsewhere.

I wish there was something I could do to help her be this same bubbly and happy little girl when her daddy is away. I know she feels more safe and complete when their family is whole. My heart aches for these little children who have to grow up in an imperfect world. I can now better understand the sacrifice that the military men and women make when they offer their lives in service for their country. Thank You to those serving as well as to their spouses and children. What an incredibly HUGE sacrifice you ALL make.

Sorry

I know I've been off the board for quite a while. Sometimes I get so wrapped up into my Facebook account that I forget about this one. We've been swamped being a family lately. My husband and I burned the midnight oil many nights making the twins their Halloween costumes. Then again the next week when they had big school projects due. They both decided to do 3D sculptures and we had to help (make them strong enough to not collapse etc..).

I'm about to go make some more bread. More because I have to and less because I want to. When finances get tight I make everything from scratch. I LOVE eating REAL food - not some store bought reheat or fast food. Home made food just tastes better. BUT - I do get tired of cooking EVERYTHING all the time. I would love a break. We also have family food issues (things that can't be eaten etc..). I have to be picky about what we eat / where we eat (when we can go out).

Well.. I'm off to do life some more. The bread doesn't assemble itself.