Blue Fractal

This is a slightly changed version of the image. Can you see the difference?

new fractal

Etching and The Beginning of the School Year

The year has begun. I have a new co-teacher, a student teacher, and much new curriculum. Thus, I have been pretty absent from this blog. I thought I'd share a project I just finished with my class. We did some glass etching which will lead to both a unit on soil, air, and water quality and to a unit on algebra. Here is a picture of the student teacher's water bottle that she etched.

One Heck of a Morning

This morning started early with the new bed delivery. Yes, they said 7:00 to 11:00, and guess which end of that bracket they arrived. At least this time it fit up the stairs. The guys who delivered were nicer than the last set. Then, I called a guy who I was going to buy a drafting table from off of Craig's List. I set up a time to meet him at his storage locker and went about trying to print directions. I knew I had to put new toner in the machine, and it took a while to figure that one out as I had never done it before. The printer refused to print. New toner was not the only problem. Now, after noon has passed, I have finally troubleshot that issue, but at the time, it ate up my time until I just wrote down the directions knowing I would be a bit late after stopping at a bank to get some cash. Ooops, the ATM spat my card out informing me that it was expired. Sure enough, I hadn't gotten around to sending in my new address, and the replacement card had been sent to the old apartment. Things like that do not get forwarded. Now I was really late, so I called up, apologized and rerouted my trip to pass by home to pick up the change of address form that Reena and I had filled out and to swing by a bank to turn it in and get cash. Fortified with cash, I set off. Yup, I don't know good routes yet in the Boston metro area, and I was stuck in traffic quite a few times. I finally got there an hour and a half late, although I had kept the seller appraised of my lateness. It worked out for him in the end as he had some shopping to do in the area. I like the table (it is still in my car right now), and stopping for my new glasses and eggs on the way home put me back after midday. That was a 9:30-12:00 trip just for a table! Much has been accomplished, but I feel that it was reactive instead of proactive.

Here's hoping the rest of the day is of a different nature.

Intentional??

Here is an alcohol ad next to a "Live outside the bottle" ad.

Old Friends and Boxes

I am just arrived back home from my Midwestern road trip in which I caught up with several friends I was planning to see and a few that were pleasant surprises.

After packing all of Tuesday (including the entire night), I headed from Cambridge around 12:30 in the afternoon toward Bloomington, Indianan. It was wonderful. After a night on the road, I pulled into Bloomington in the early evening, set up my tent, joined the community for dinner, and then danced until 1:00 A.M. It was during the evening that I reconnected with Rose who used to live in Bloomington. What a sweet surprise.

A day of hunting fossils and food with some naps thrown in for good measure followed, and Saturday night was another dance. I danced late and stayed up later talking with friends. 3:00 A.M. finally saw the curtain close for me, and Sunday morning was the time to drive up to Chicago. There, I got a chance to catch up with Sarah who I have know almost all my life. Monday afternoon, I picked up Jay from the airport, and we took the train to Wrigley for a Cards/Cubs game. Cards won!

We left at the rain delay and headed to St. Louis. I stayed at my folks house in the blazing St. Louis summer heat. Downstairs is air conditioned. Upstairs reminds me of what it was like growing up in St. Louis without air conditioning. My folks and I finally sat down to look at wedding pics over a year later. All good things happen in time. That evening, Jay and I went to a Cards/Marlins game and another Cards win.

The next day, Jay and I explored the world of adwords, Google's search ads. I even went as far as to set up an account. If you read this, don't search my artwork and click through. It'll cost me each time. So far, quite a few people have clicked through to see my site. What fun.

Jay headed back to San Fran, and my dad and I went to the ballgame. Yup three games in three days, and each one was a win for the cards.

I left early the next morning to drive back to the East Coast. Thursday got me as far as Syracuse, and then Friday I pulled in to Cape Cod to catch up with Robin, a very close friend in college who I had not seen in a long time. It was a wonderful day of walking, talking and seeing the cape for the first time.

The next morning it was back to the new house and setting up wireless. Next project is setting up my desktop so I can download pictures to illustrate this story.

Sunrise in New Hampshire

I awoke after having a hard time sleeping this morning. I caught a glimpse of sunrise about to happen, so I got my camera and gorillapod and went out to catch the event. This is from Wendy's family's cabin in New Hampshire. It is on a lake. This morning, well after sunrise, we went to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair. Beautiful craft items. I especially was into the wood, quilts, and stained glass this year.

And the Packing Begins!

Friday comes and it is a day of rest. Nope. The rush has begun.
My to do list:

• Packing
• Design next year's curriculum
• Finish up BWP things (extract stuff from e-anthology, write response paper)
• Prepare for road trip
• Work with my new teaching parnter
• Look at the two pages of to do list that I created at the beginning of the summer and have not reviewed since.

Yup, there are some heavy hitters on this list. I have started packing in a very random and non-effective way, but it is the only way I have been able to tackle this daunting task. I am sure I will give happier news midweek next week.

new fractal after re rendering

This fractal took a bit of doing. After rendering fractals and finding they were too small for the poster size at Cafepress, I decided to up the resolution, and it took two days to render the image. Unfortunately, in those two days something happened, so the image was useless. I rerendered it, and it worked. This is a very low res version of that image that will be put on my cafepress store.

Shakespeare

Last night I went to see the Shakespeare on the Common--an entertaining version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Standout performances by Bottom and Helena carried the show. Puck was passable, and the techno colors and music added a fun twist.

I remember going to one St. Louis Shakespeare Festival performance. I don't remember which. I loved the pre-performance entertainment.

It is amazing how well the material still plays.

Pottermania

It is great. People lining up for a book. I went to the local independent bookstore where my wife and I had a pre-ordered book waiting, and the large crowd at midnight was a sight to behold. Evidently Harvard Square was full of people in full regalia. We went to the supermarket to wait for the crowd to die down, and returned in time to waltz in and get a book with no line. Outside, I ran into two former students and one returning student. It was one of those pleasant surprises that makes an event extra special. It turned out to be the student's birthday. Wonder what she got?


Edit:
and now at 12:22, about 24 hours since we bought it, I finished the last Harry Potter.

In the midst of writing

The Boston Writing Project is great, and it is kicking my rump! I usually take a few weeks of down time in the summer, but this summer promises to not allow that. Ah well, at least I am writing again. I am starting the true revision of Bones. I will start up the emails again when I have enough to start sending out.

Red Eye!

We took the red-eye from Seattle that got in this morning. I, in fact, do have red eyes from not much sleep and a long drive previous to catching the plane. We drove from Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula to the airport via my sister's house.

Back home now. More to come in some form, but here are a few pics to keep you happy! I discovered that I love starfish.

turning point

Yesterday was a turning point.

My 6th graders graduated and students are off for the summer. This means I can work on curriculum for next year. This past academic year is, except for writing student reports, behind me. I am losing a wonderful teaching partner and hopefully gaining a new one. I am leaving a more familiar curriculum and going to one in which I have more passion. I am possibly leaving the model of co-teaching and moving to team teaching.

My scores for the last two tests I took for Massachusetts licensure arrived, and I passed. I am on my way to being certified in Mass, and I will have a student teacher next year (for the first time).

This summer, I am engaging in some powerful professional development, something that has been absent in my life for three years.

Reena and I are closing on the 20th.

So much change, and most of it is positive. Of course it means leaving some really good things, but they all have had impact on my life and will remain with me in one form or another. Nothing ever is left completely behind.

Who knows what other transitions this summer holds? Life continues to be fluid.

fireflies and black & white

I thought this experiment with black and white looked like a swarm of fireflies. I am going to post the full resolution image. Click on it to get all the texture and pattern in this fractal.

picture removed

renewed faith in people

There are instances that renew my faith in people, and on the way back from picking up lunch, one such event occurred. There was a table set up in front of a house near mine, and two girls were sitting with the eager energy of young sales people. Another youngster, a boy, was playing various tunes on his oboe. I crossed the street to see what they were selling and found that they were trying to raise money for Rosie's Place. The kids had made bracelets and oragami and were selling off some of their toys to do this fund raising. Not needing any more things around the house, I just made a donation and walked away feeling better about life.

see the details

Here is a new fractal that I have reduced much less than others that I have posted. The grain in the background and feathery details are still barely visible at this resolution; however, they are much reduced. The full scale image has far greater detail. Click on the image to see it larger.

New York and Back, and good news

Yep, back from the experience of taking 11 sixth graders to New York City. Good times, though stressful. Of note were a very enjoyable tour of the Museum of the Moving Image and a fairly rowdy Yankees/Sox game that we left early as the crowd was getting too obnoxious for 6th graders to be around.

On my return, I was able to access the first of three score reports (it came in two sections) for the MTEL

001 Communication and Literacy Skills: Reading Subtest

Status: Met the Qualifying Score
Minimum Qualifying Score: 240


001 Communication and Literacy Skills: Writing Subtest

Status: Met the Qualifying Score
Minimum Qualifying Score: 240

Yup, I passed the first section. I have to wait until June to find out about the rest.

Cookie reviews to come

On the verge of a cookie fest, I present you with this new fractal.
And the winner is: everybody who baked, ate, and enjoyed the cookies!
Molly's toasted peanut and chocolate oatmeal cookies took top rating, but all of them were good, and a good time was had by all. The cookie picture is missing all the wonderful contributions from the friends. You can see some of them in the foreground in the people picture.

spidey really big

Yep, Spidey 3 at the Imax last night. Decent movie, huge, lots of fun. Fun to see Topher Grace as a bad-ass.