How I hate shopping

24. October 2010 · 6 comments · Categories: Uncategorized

Bleh.  I had to shop this weekend to buy something to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks.  I have things in my closet, but they are summer/spring clothes and just wouldn’t work for fall/winter.  Once again, I cringed over various bulges that have appeared on my body, but at least most fancy clothes do a good job of hiding those bulges.  I will admit that there was a dress I could not even begin to fit into.  I tried putting it over my head, stepping into it, etc.  Clearly, it was meant for someone without hips.  After trying on nearly every dress in the mall–excluding those $400 and up dresses, though boy, were some of those nice–I finally settled on one.  And then I had to find a top to go with some pants for the rehearsal dinner part of this affair.  It wasn’t so much a size issue this time as finding something that I liked.  Again, I tried nearly everything on before finding something.  I think I’m just not one of those people who looks good in almost anything, so I have to try on a lot, but it wears me out.

All of which reminds me of my weight post of a couple of weeks ago.  I was pretty surprised I made it through the walk, and I only really felt recovered at the end of last week, but I feel like I don’t give myself enough credit for my physical abilities.  Because I’m small, and experienced an injury in my early teens, I’ve just taken on the identity of being “no good at sports” and “not particularly athletic”.  Sometimes that’s true.  I tried to play Ultimate for a while and was so bad I didn’t last long–no throwing or catching ability.   Completing the walk reminded me that I’m not so weak after all, and that with a little more effort, I could do a lot for my overall health and strength and maybe even experience less cringing in dressing rooms.  So tomorrow, as you blog readers are my witness, I am contacting the fitness center coordinator and arranging a tour and making a plan to work out a few times a week.  And I think I’ll be walking that 60 miles again next year.  But maybe this time, I won’t be so sore afterward.

60 Miles, One Step at a Time

18. October 2010 · 5 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know this already, but I did it! I walked 60 miles, every last step of it.  It was quite an experience.  I wasn’t quite ready for it, physically or emotionally.  On opening morning, in the dark and the cold, I wandered around sort of dazed, not quite sure what was in store.  And then there was a flag where you could write the name of a loved one you had lost and the flag would be hoisted at the opening ceremony.  That was the first of many times I cried.  I cried off and on throughout the opening ceremony.  I cried when little kids lined the streets in front of their schools to high five us.  I cried when I found out a greying man was walking to honor his late wife.  I cried when I read the backs of people’s shirts with the names of people and the ages when they died: 35, 42, 50. I cried when I saw signs saying, “Thank you from a survivor.” in South Philly.

And I laughed a lot.  I joked about my aches and pains instead of moaning (well, maybe I moaned a little).  My teammates told funny stories about their kids and their husbands.  I laughed at guys in tutus and bras.  I laughed about making wrong turns and going down one-way streets at the crack of dawn.  I laughed at the Boobalicious Girls who appeared every couple of miles with music and signs and cheers.  I laughed at “Woo” and “High Five” and “Hooray” in their green shirts and black and green striped socks.  I laughed at bras tied onto motorcycles.

After the first day, I soaked in a tub,  had a beer, sent Mr. Geeky out for Ben Gay, rubbed almost my whole left leg down, took Advil and went to sleep.  I got up at 5 and creaked around the house, showered, put on clothes and started day two.  Eventually, the pain in my thigh went away, replaced by pain elsewhere, but I walked right through, slathering on various kinds of muscle cream all day.  After the second day, I picked up fried chicken from the market, where someone asked us if we were a walking team or something, told us to get some ice cream for the pain.  I soaked in a tub, drank a beer, took advil, passed out again.  The morning of the third day, I was excited, but in a fair amount of pain.  Slowly, one step at a time, I walked through it.  I stopped at the medical tent at the first pit stop and asked them what to do.  They gave me some freezy stuff, but told me I might need to just rest if it got worse.  While I was there, two people behind me were crying because they physically couldn’t continue.  That could be me, I knew.  At the next pit stop, one of my teammates rubbed my calf muscle, which had a huge knot it.  After that, I mostly felt okay.  Good thing, because I still had 9 miles to go.  It was a great 9 miles, walking through the city, taking a detour through Reading Terminal Market for some hot apple cider, seeing things I only ever drive past.

At the end, at the closing ceremony, when we all held our shoes up to honor the survivors, I wasn’t crying.  I felt a kind of resolve, and I felt like I needed to fight, to fight a disease that had taken away so many people, that had hurt these people I was raising a shoe to now.  It was an empowering feeling, very different from the one I had felt at the beginning, where I felt helpless and overwhelmed.  I hope all those 120,000 steps did something.  It felt like it did.

Worry about weight, again

12. October 2010 · 10 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Let’s move on to other important issues, shall we?  Like weight.  I am once again frustrated by my having a few extra pounds.  The sad thing is my frustration stems from pure vanity.  I no longer have my 20-year old metabolism and therefore, no longer have my 20-year old body.  I consoled myself by sitting down with a bag of Fritos and french onion dip.  Aside from that occasional treat, my eating habits are pretty good.  And I don’t think there’d be much to gain just from my cutting a few calories here and there.  Plus, I really like food, and having to count every bit of it depresses me.  But I’m not countering those extra calories with the extra exercise.

I’m just a few days away from the 60-mile walk, which for me was supposed to achieve two goals.  One, it was supposed to contribute to a cause and connect me with my late stepmother.  That goal was mostly achieved, except I do wish my stepmother could have made it to this day.  But two, I thought that having a higher goal like that would motivate me to do more exercise.  But no.  I’m not entirely sure how well prepared I am for the walk.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was walking 7-8 miles a couple of times a week.  But I only managed a 3 mile walk this weekend and I don’t think I’ll have time to walk much more than that before the walk.  I find walking to be pleasant enough–even the longish ones–but I am sooo aware that I’m doing it to “exercise” not because there’s scenery I want to see.  I’m looking forward to this walk being over because I won’t feel like I *have* to walk or feel guilty if I don’t manage to walk.  Which is just a sad sad thing.

Part of me wants to just chalk this up to being 40-something, eat at will, and be done with it.  Another part of me wants to not be squeezing into pants and feeling disgusted when I look in the mirror while trying on clothes.  And still another part worries that if I do eat at will, and don’t exercise, I’ll end up not 10-15 pounds more heavy than I would like, but more like 30 pounds more heavy.  And then, sigh.  I think I need to find a hobby that burns some calories but doesn’t feel like exercise.  And I can’t do it alone.  That’s one thing I’ve realized about walking.  I didn’t like doing it by myself.  I should have reached out to my teammates more and scheduled walking time.  I tried to get the family to join me, but not much luck there.  And of course, winter is upon us, so outdoor activities might be limited.  Suggestions appreciated.  Commiseration welcome.

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Thoughts on being online

11. October 2010 · 7 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Over the last year, I’ve noticed several blogs pass into oblivion, either with or without an announcement.  This week, Bitch, Ph.D. said goodbye.  Several of the blogs of people I’ve been reading for 5 or 6 years are either gone or on a very sporadic schedule.  Twitter and Facebook seem more popular, though I have no desire to spend much time there.  My WoW guild is having an existential crisis of sorts.  Several members have left, citing both a boredom with the way the game works now and an increase in the need to spend time with work or family.  I, too, have spent less time online than I once did.  At first I did so out of a feeling that I was spending too much time online and not giving enough attention to other things in my life.  But now, it’s because I literally don’t have time.

I have a couple of thoughts about what appears to me to be not a “death of blogs” or “death of the online world” moment, but certainly a moment of transition.  Some of the disappearance, especially of blogs is a factor of commercialization.  As corporations set up blogs or media outlets like the Huffington Post arise, the small-time blogger has a harder time keeping up.  It’s impossible to keep up volume-wise and there’s the inevitable loss of audience as a result.  There are exceptions, but I do think a lot of us liked blogging because it felt like a community.  We got comments.  We had conversations in the comment threads, between blogs, etc.  I see that happening much less now.  I used to comment a lot.  It’s much more rare now.

I also wonder if some of us who’ve been online a while are getting bored.  Honestly, I’ve been participating in online communities for twenty years.  Every four or five years, the world would shift and a new type of community would emerge.  Nothing new along those lines has really emerged for a while.  Yes, there’s Facebook (been there since 2004).  And there’s Twitter (been there since 2007).  Neither of those offer the in-depth reading I want, nor the community I’d like.

I also think the online world is being used for other things.  Gaming thrives, but older games like WoW are losing their appeal, especially for those who’ve been playing for a while.  All of my guildmates agree that it wouldn’t be fun for us without the community aspects of the game, but increasing games are not meant to build community.  We’re still waiting to see if the expansion brings that concept back, but even I feel kind of blah about it.  Video has exploded, bringing our tv mentalities to the web.  So we pull up video on Hulu and watch for a 1/2 hour or hour and then we feel like we’re done.  And then there’s our phones and other devices, like the iPad and the Kindle, which offer other kinds of activities, most of which are disconnected.

I realize there are some people out there just now discovering all the wonders of the Internet, but for me, it’s starting to lose its luster.  And that’s left me with a bit of gap, entertainment wise.  My family asked me why I wasn’t raiding last night.  And I said, essentially, “Meh.”  I told Geeky Girl I needed a new hobby.  She asked me what I liked to do, and it was hard to come up with anything.  When I was kid, my hobby was writing, thus the appeal of blogging.  As I got older, I picked up needlepoint, but that takes more time than I have and I’m not that interested in the results.  I’ve never been much of a gardener.  Most plants that come into my house don’t leave alive.  I have no artistic talent for painting or pottery or even jewelry making.  I’m interested in politics, but not enough to go out and volunteer a lot.  And even though I have some time for myself, between work and managing kids and the house, I’m not looking to fill a huge amount of time.

Don’t worry, I’m not shutting down Geeky Mom any time soon, but I am doing some thinking about my life online.  I think it’s fair to say that the Internet will always be a part of my life, but what I choose to do on it (with it?) may be transitioning, as, I think it is for many people.

Technology, Computer Science, More thoughts

06. October 2010 · 3 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

There are quite a few conversations among computer science teachers and professors happening right now about the state of computer science in high schools.  I just finished a draft of my own syllabus for Intro to CS and in doing so, I spent a lot of time looking at other people’s syllabi, asking current teachers what they taught and why, and reading up on issues regarding teaching CS in high school. So this issue is in the forefront of my mind.  Not being in this role for very long, my thoughts about what to teach, whether to require CS in high school, among other things are not fully formed.  I wrote a little about this a while back, and I still hold that there’s a difference between being tech/computer savvy and being a computer scientist, I’m not entirely sure that we should privilege one over the other at the high school level.

So, let me present some other people’s thoughts before I present my own.  First, Douglas Rushkoff has a book out, called Program, or Be Programmed and wrote a brief piece for the Huffington Post about how he thinks programming should be required.  I’m in the middle of reading the, and so far, it has very little to do with programming and more to do with a more general understanding of how technology works.  For example, he talks about how Facebook is not really interested in helping you build a community of friends, but in using your information and your connections to make money.  Most of the changes they’ve made to the site over the last few months have been designed specifically to facilitate their ability to make money.

Alfred Thompson responded to Rushkoff’s ideas in this post, which has some really interesting comments, with some people who think it’s silly to suggest that we should teach programming in high school, some who think we should stick to teaching applications like Excel, and some who think we should definitely teach programming to every student.

And then, today, the CSTA issued a report, which I have only skimmed I admit, called Running on Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age.  It’s main argument is that the skills kids need to succeed in the 21st century are CS skills and those skills are not being taught in many schools and only required in 8 states.  So, we need to work toward requiring schools to teach those skills.  Now, the CSTA curriculum for CS, which I’ve spent a lot of time with isn’t just programming.  There are lots of other computer skills in there like web design, binary, ascii code, ethics, networking, etc., so unlike Rushkoff, they’re not necessarily advocating every learn to program in high school.

Okay, so here’s my thinking.  I think everyone should know the difference between an operating system, an application, and a web browser.  I think everyone should know several different operating systems, not inside out, but at least know that there are different ones, that there are similarities between them, etc.  I think everyone should understand file structures.  Where does that file go when I save it?  I think everyone should be able to type in a web address and know what a url is.  So many hours of people’s lives are wasted searching for Google on Bing or vice versa.  I think people should know how to find out how to use applications.  Note, I did not say people should know how to use Word or Excel.  Applications change.  You should be able to feel your way around, use the help feature, or use a search engine to figure it out.

But those are not really computer science skills; however, I think it’s hard to go to the CS skills if you don’t have at least this groundwork laid.  I articulate them because I’ve spent a lot of time helping 6-8 graders and teachers alike figure out some of these things.  When someone opens up Word to find their Google Doc, something is wrong.

On the other hand, I’ve figured out a lot of what I know about using computers and doing some pretty darn complicated stuff with them without having any formal training in CS.  But why did I learn those things? Why did I figure out HTML, CSS, Flash, & PHP? Why do I know what a C: drive is, what DOS is, and how to FTP?  In part, because I was curious and I just wanted to know.  But also because the computer, back when I first started using one, was a clunky thing, and didn’t hide everything.  No, I couldn’t open up the uncompiled code, but I could see the computer’s structure by listing directories. Often to run a program, you had to type a complicated series of backslashes and directory names.  Back when I started working on the web, you could easily see the HTML and eventually, the CSS.  And back when I got email, there was no “You’ve Got Mail” sound or envelope icon to double-click.  You had to log in to a server, know the server’s name, i.e. lblanken@dev.iu.edu.  So, computers were more transparent and I wanted to learn more about how they worked because I could see some of that just in my basic interactions with the machine.

That interest did not translate into my learning programming at first.  I was quite content just knowing my way around a computer and its (already made for me) programs.  It got me good-paying work along the way and got me into the growing field of educational technology.  I’m leary of applying my own experience to the present day.  For one, today’s technology environment is very different from the late 80s one I grew up in. Knowing how to use a word processor or basic database program does not garner the amazement it did in 1989.  Had I been in the right place at the right time, I might have ended up at Microsoft or Google, but we didn’t have CS courses in college, much less high school.  Today, it’s still true that a student with the right CS skills could end up at a start-up (or starting their own) or at Google or Microsoft or any other company that needs programming/HCI/data analysis (almost all).  But it’s more likely now.  It’s more likely that a student will have access to a computer very early.  I didn’t even see one until I was 12 and then there were only three in our whole school.  There were none in our high school.  In college, we had VAX machines.  I took a CS class on PCs my junior year and the next year, we finally got a mac lab.  So younger students are exposed to the equipment, but what they see is a slick operating system that looks more like a tv than a computer (and sometimes it is).  How many will want to dig around on their own?  And how much more do they need to know to be able to do so?  Computers are more complicated than they were.  And the Internet has exploded and we have tiny little devices that are tiny little computers.

So I say it’s not an either/or kind of question.  Yes, we should teach people how to use their computers and the applications on them, but I believe in doing so at an abstract level as much as possible.  And yes, I think we should teach programming.  Will everyone become a programmer? No, but if we give them the opportunity, we might end up with more of them, and more women and more minorities in IT and CS fields as a result.  If we wait till college, we’ve already lost a lot of people.

I have more specifics to say about the CSTA and other curricula, but I’ll leave that for another day.

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Random thoughts on teaching

06. October 2010 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized
  • You have to say things at least three times, even when everyone is listening.
  • A lot of times, people don’t follow instructions.
  • Sometimes, your instructions are wrong.
  • Sometimes students don’t remember things from one class period to the next, especially when there’s a week between each one.
  • I’m still waiting for the supposed digital natives.
  • Students make me laugh.
  • This teaching thing is hard.  As one of my friends said, the thing about teaching middle and high school is that you’re always on, from 8 a.m. to 3:30.  It’s very different from the teach one course, wait many hours (or even days!) and teach another.
  • Because of this “always on” thing, it’s hard to find time to reflect on what’s going well and what needs improvement.  But I’m trying.
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Back on track?

03. October 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags:

I wrote my home front post because I was feeling motivated to get back on track and get the house back in order and still be able to do everything else on my list.  Well, that didn’t quite happen.  The rest of the week saw some late nights working, utter exhaustion, etc.  So today, I started picking up the pieces.  I got the laundry back on track, did some straightening, and even got the fall/winter clothes out.  Mr. Geeky is out grocery shopping for the whole week even as I write this.  Even with a plan of action, it can be very difficult to keep up with housework.  Almost every week so far, I’ve had additional things to do in the late afternoon/evening, and this coming week is no exception.  So, once again, I’m going to try to stick to the plan, but I’m fully expecting to slip a little.  At least there is a plan.

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