"When you know, you know! You know?"

or an alternative title to this post could be "And she said yes!"

 

After  my morning coffee MacPro asked me to find an activity to occupy my time with inside the house and informed me that I shouldn't go outside or on the porch.  Although the directions were odd, I found something to watch on Netflix in bed.  After about an hour, through the sounds of cardboard and the smell of paint and came and asked me to go on for a canoe ride.  I thought it was an odd time of day for a boat ride, but am always up for an adventure.  Upon arriving on the dock I found that he turned the canoe into a gondola!

He instructed me to relax and that he was going to paddle.  Once getting situated in the boat, he started to paddle and sing "O sole mio" (he looked up all of the words on wikipedia).  All good Gondolieres sing!  He paddled us around, we watched a loon family, and then he asked the big question!  I said yes (of course!), and the rest is history!  Well actually, then we went to play mini golf and eat ice cream.  

It was a memorable day, and the whole thing makes for a great story! 

(FYI: No official plans as of yet.  Maybe something small on the dock)

MacPro and his homemade gondola

MacPro singing O sole mio

SJ in the gondola

The view from the boat, perfect day on the lake

Loon

SJ and the new ring!

Mission accomplished!

Skyping with MacPro's Mom and Sister

What day is complete without a little mini golf?

And ice cream!

Enjoy ~SJ

Cool Cat Tech Tips!

This is a cross post from my Educational Technology University blog.  These tips are so great I needed to share twice!

Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis just posted the most insightful list of twelve healthy online habits.  If you are a fellow Walden student you might recognize Vicki from a few mentions in weekly vodcasts from EDUC 8847: Instructional Design & Multimedia.

Here are her 12 tips:
1) Share
2) Respond
3) Comment
4) Link Generously
5) Read (or Listen) Prolifically
6) Distribute Yourself
7) Beware of Flattery
8) Live Life Online AND Off-Line
9) Latch Key Your Legacy
10) Laugh (a lot)
11) Take Every Presentation Seriously
12) Expect Criticism  

Please click through and read her detailed explanation for each of these twelve tips!

Enjoy ~SJ

Friday Fill-In

And...here we go!

1. This is what life does. It lets you have fun.

2. Stop and appreciate the moment.

3. Upon reflection I think that the loons on the pond are trying to tell me something.

4. I haven't gone camping for quite a long time.

5. Later, you wake up and sip coffee with MacPro on the porch.

6. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a walk around the pond, tomorrow my plans include measuring and planning a new project and Sunday, I want to spend countless hours at Lowes shopping for the new project!

Enjoy ~SJ

The Shamrockettes Swim

Last summer my amazing (and crazy) cousins started a little tradition of swimming the length of the Pond. We estimate it to be somewhere around 2 miles from Honey Run Beach to The Outlet. The Swim is a whole weekend of events. Friday night they arrive, we have a carbohydrate loading dinner, make mixed cd's for the boat, and visualize a successful swim. Saturday we try to get out and swimming before noon. And on Sunday we have brunch with our mothers and Grandmother.

Mi Prima brought along her new guy and his canoe, so we could have two boats in the water. The two boats made it safer for the swimmers since we could protect them from other boats better. The second boat even allowed me to swim a portion of the pond. MacPro has came along in one of the boats and was in charge of snacks and photos. He peeled bananas and passed them down to the swimmers along with their water bottle.

And their off!

MacPro and SJ

Mrs. Incredible in the groove!

Look Ma - No Hands!

Mi Prima's Guy, great addition!

SJ giving Mi Prima a little advice "There's plenty of time"

I'd like to add, she didn't hold onto the boat once!

SJ joining the swim

Mi Prima in the groove

The Shamrockettes at the end!

With good tunes and plenty of bananas the cousins made did the swim in under two hours, shaving over 20 minutes off their time from last year!

Enjoy ~SJ

Yeah, I'm That Good!

This past year I successfully learned how to solve a Rubik's Cube.  It ended up being a unit that I taught to my 8th graders.  Today I decided to put my skills to the test and do it on video.

Enjoy ~SJ

Friday Fill-In

And...here we go!

1. Layers of clothes were not necessary this week in the Maine heatwave.

2. A new camera and time to sit and do homework brought insight.

3. I'd be willing to bet this could be the best summer ever!

4. The wild turkey in the backyard scares the dog.

5. I'm fond of popsicles and movies in bed

6. I''m having too much fun!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to barbecued vegetables , tomorrow my plans include breakfast at the Front Porch and Sunday, I want to relax!

Enjoy ~SJ

Your Next Read

Over the last few days I have been trying to get caught up on my Google Reader blog reading.  Getting behind your Google Reader reading is like getting behind in reading Time.... they just keep coming!

I have come across so many fablous new tools and tips and here is one that I have to share with you.  It is called Your Next Read, and it basically recommends books to you.  You simply type in the title of a book that you enjoyed and it will recommend others to you.  Not only does it includ a picture of the book, but it also has reviews and summiries of it.  AND (you better be sitting down for this one) it includes a link to Amazon WITH the price!  Now if it could only tell me if it was available at one of my local libraries I would be all set.

I also have to give a little plug to two of my other favorite book websites, Paper Back Swap and Good Reads.  Paper Back Swap allows you to post your unwanted books that you are willing to mail away to people for free.  The catch is that for every book that you give away you get a credit to get your own book.  It is basically a giant network of people who want to share books.  Good Reads is a social networking website that allows you to connect with your friends.  You can see what books they have read, want to read, and are reading.  Until I found Your Next Read I used Good Reads to find lists of books that I wanted to read. 

How do you find your next book to read?

Enjoy ~SJ

In this critical time

Indexed has been a favorite blog of mine to read for awhile now.  I think it is because they play to my inner scientist/mathematician.  Here is a timely one that I just had to share. 

Enjoy ~SJ

Expanding

It's summer so that means time to relax and get some projects done.  There is no summer school for SJ this summer (beyond excited, you can understand if you have ever had the pleasures of summer school).  The summer so far has been living up to expectations.  My online classes are going wonderfully, learning lots of wonderful new stuff, "meeting" new people, and create wonderful new products.  I have a new blog dedicated to talking about the world of educational technology.  It even has its own domain (huge thank you to MacPro!), you can find it at http://edtechu.org/  I have been working on creating a website all about me (professionally) in hopes of spreading my word and name.  Did a photo shoot last week (again, huge thank you MacPro!) for the pic of me on the new website.  Done tons of reading both professionally and personally, bought a new camera, and have even enjoyed my dock! Overall I would give summer '10 an A+ so far!

Enjoy ~SJ