Six Things About Me You May / May Not Know

1. I drove an ice cream truck one summer. My parents had a friend who was always coming up with one scheme or another that was going to be his ticket to fame and fortune. One summer, he decided that an ice cream truck was what my small southern town needed. The truck was big enough that I could pick up friends and let them ride around with me. That was a great summer!
2. I am an avid Apple guy. My first computer (which I got none-of-your-darn-business years ago) was an Apple IIe, and it lasted me for years. At some point, I bought into the lies of the evil empire (Microsoft) and started using Windows machines. I have seen the error of my ways. For the past year, I have been using a MacBook that I purchased through the school, and I will be buying my dream iMac later this week. I can’t imagine life without my iPod, and I can’t wait for my contract to expire with Alltel so that I can buy my iPhone.
3. I am inked up. I have two tattoos, and I am already planning my next one. (Really, I have three, but two of them are combined into one.) My plan is to have a complete sleeve on one leg, that way I can cover it up and look all professional.
4. I suffer with OCD about crap that really doesn’t matter. I can’t handle it if I notice that my fingernails are in need of trimming. It doesn’t matter if I am running late for work, I will stop at a gas station and buy fingernail clippers even though I am pretty sure that I have two pair in my top desk drawer. Also, if I am putting ice in glasses for a larger gathering (my extended family, for instance), I have to make certain that each glass has the same number of ice cubes. Crushed ice is a great thing because I don’t have to worry about the number of cubes.
5. I am a voracious reader. I have hundreds upon hundreds of books in my classroom, and more at home. I read almost every night before going to sleep. I don’t care if I am already up too late… I must read to turn off my brain. If I am in a particularly busy season of life (for example, drowning in grad school), I still read, I just pick a book I have already read. This way, I have no problem putting it down to go to sleep. In other words, I not only read, I re-read.
6. I am messy. Way messy. I am glancing over at my side of the bed as I write this, and I see the following:
   On my nightstand -
   three books
   one CD
   one DVD
   a bottle of generic Benadryl
   a package of Nutter Butter cookies
   an empty Diet Pepsi can
   a large Cherry slush from Sonic
   my cell phone
   a Leatherman tool
   a PedEgg
   two small boxes of CDs with Mac software
   On the floor-
   two three pairs of shoes
   five pillows
   two pairs of dirty socks, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of pajama pants
   three books
   last week’s Entertainment Weekly
   my backpack  

   For the record, I will totally step around and over all of this stuff until Miranda gets pissed enough that she makes me clean it. (She really wishes I was OCD about cleaning up some of it!) My desk at work looks just the way you imagine it.

I have been challenged by this man and his words. The fact is, all of us will one day die… but some of us never truly begin to live. To quote Thoreau,

“…I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Pausch had the privilege of knowing that the end was near. My father-in-law did as well. (He was diagnosed with cancer and lived eleven months before dying. He was only expected to make it for six.) Some of us will get a diagnosis, but for others, death will come quickly without warning and without asking for our permission.

Because of this, I encourage you… don’t leave anything unsaid. Don’t leave anything undone.

I would write more, but I am going to hug my kids.

P.S. - I have excerpts from the video over there to the right. Check it out if you haven’t already seen it.

What about you? What are you craving today? Leave comment love and share it with us all!

So, I signed up and began to tweet myself. (Wow… that sounds almost naughty. It’s not. A “tweet” is a message on Twitter, and it can be used as both a noun and a verb.) I discovered some friends on there to follow, and I even had a few choose to follow me. I figured out how to integrate it with my Facebook account, and I discovered that I could tweet with my cell phone by sending a text message. (Wow… again that sounds naughty. I know I have been teaching ninth grade for a long time… maybe I am just stuck there developmentally?)

And now I love it. I don’t have a huge following or anything, and I am not following some vast number of people. I just think that the concept is great, and it allows for great communication among a group of people in a quick time. I felt that way even before I found this article on CNN.com that tells about an American student in Egypt who was arrested as he was taking pictures at a demonstration. As he and his translator were being taken to jail, he was able to shoot a one word message on Twitter: ARRESTED. Within seconds, his network of friends and supporters were working to get him released. Before he had even arrived at the jail, his friends in the States and in Egypt were working for his release.

Wow.

I have been wondering about the implications for the classroom. I truly believe this has the potential to be a useful tool. After all, most of my students and many of their parents use both the web and text messaging. Right now, I am planning to set up a separate Twitter account for academic use. At the beginning of the semester, I will give the students a handout showing them how to sign up for an account and how to follow me. I will also send a handout home to the parents explaining the same. I will then use Twitter to update parents and students alike about assignments, projects, and the like.

Just last month, I did some research about various parental notification systems. There are some incredible ones out there, and most of them aren’t cheap. Some are web-based; others use auto-dialers. Some brag that they offer dozens of languages so that messages make it home in a form that the parents can understand. The goal of all of these systems is improved communication between schools and parents. After all, we all know that informed, involved parents can vastly improve their child’s chances of academic success. 

For the record, my goal as a teacher is not merely to improve the communication between parents and the school, but also between parents and their children. Who knows? Maybe my shooting out a tweet that reads, “Great job, 3rd block! You did great today!” will spark some conversations around dinner tables.

To be completely honest, I found the article referenced on the blog of Susan Brooks-Young, a leader in the educational technology realms. Thanks for pointing me toward it, Susan!

Honestly, I have two reasons. First, I want to be able to help my brother get his site up and running before he heads to India at the end of the week. We are still having issues over on his site, but I think I have them figured out. For those of you who are interested, go ahead and add Matt to your feed. I am excited about what he is going to be producing over there.

I am also doing all of this because I think that a new design might get me excited about writing on here again. I need the outlet, but I have been so swamped with grad school, writing for pleasure has been a luxury that I simply could not afford. I now realize I can’t afford not to write, so maybe the fresh coat of paint I am applying will help motivate me!

So, here is what I have working on here so far:

• The video section to the right works. One is displayed, but if you click on the bar beneath, you will see others as they are loaded.
• The archives page is now functioning.
• The feeds through feedburner are active.
• I am going with the two featured posts at the top of the page for now with other stuff (like Twitter updates) down below.

So, what more is lacking?

• A cool logo at the top. (Anyone want to make me a cool DeeperWater.com gif file with a transparent background?)
• A couple of banners that I will add to point in different directions.
• A reason for the two flickr feeds. (If I know the reason, I can get rid of one!)

Keep checking in!

At any rate, Matt and I are both looking to be more faithful in our blogging. This includes writing as well as video blogging!

Stay tuned!