Tech Tuesday: Flashcard Machine

Here's a great online tool I found -- especially for the end of the year as finals are approaching.

Flashcard Machine

This is great for students, teachers, or really anyone who wants to create nice and easy flashcards. It's free to sign-up and use.

• You can create all kinds of flashcard sets.
• You can study multiple sets at a time. For example, if you'd created a set for each chapter or unit, then you could combine them to study for a comprehensive final.
• You can collaborate with others in creating and/or studying your sets.
• You can include images and audio.
• Sets can be printed for offline studying.
• You can search the public flashcard database for interesting topics to expand your knowledge base.
• There's even an ipod app.

Let me know what you think about this site. Would you ever use it or suggest it to a student or teacher you know?

Flashback Friday: 1996 - Memorial Day

We were so suprised to see snow still on the ground in the middle of May! We had to play!

Memorial Day weekend, 1996

I went up north to Duluth (and beyond) with some friends for the weekend. It was so much fun. We got lost a few times. Angie got to drive her dad's brand new car. We visited Gooseberry Falls and the Splitrock Lighthouse (which apparently turns 100 this year, or so I read on a bus billboard recently). We laughed. a. lot.

Click here to see a few more pictures from this weekend. Mostly, the pix are of waterfalls. Waterfalls are probably one of my favorite things to see in nature.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Movie Review: The Blind Side

Last night, Jeff and I finally got to watch The Blind Side.

Here's the trailer, if you haven't seen it (or just want to see it again):


I really wanted to see this movie, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

I did expect a few more tears. I choked up at a couple of lines but no tears actually fell. I think I nearly cried more watching the trailer months ago.

I enjoyed the Christian attitude that so many of the characters displayed in the film -- especially during the rare contrast of less-than-Christian attitudes of a few of the other characters. This film is a good reminder that we can all do a little better when it comes to how we treat others. Do we show are true Christian colors, or do we shy away from helping others knowing we may be ridiculed for our behavior or put in danger?

My only small complaint about the movie probably wouldn't much matter to most people out there, but I thought it was a little too-footbally in a couple of spots. I'm not a football fan (or any sport for that matter). Since I don't know the sport or the rules or really anything about it, there were a couple of scenes (one of which was the opening scene) where I totally got lost. I know that was a major part of the story, but...

At any rate, I would definitely recommend this movie.

Have you seen it? If so, how did it rate in your book?

Book Review: Haunted Ground by Erin Hart

I recently read Haunted Ground by Erin Hart for my book club.

I had a little difficult getting into this book. The beginning scenes (chapters?) in the Irish bog were too technical for me. I was getting lost in the graphic description and wasn't sure where the novel was leading.

As I read further, the story did begin to captivate me; however, there was a bit of a language/swearing problem with a few of the characters. That alone would prevent me from recommending this book - especially to any of my LDS friends. Certainly, I would not have read this for a church book club. :-)

The story line in the book was rather redeeming. It begins with the discovery of a body in a bog. I found it interesting (as did many of the women at this book club) how well bogs preserve items that are discarded within them. It must be wonderfully fascinating from an archaelogical perspective. It can give an actual glimpse into events that happened centuries in the past. I may need to investigate this further.

From this discovery, several storylines are interwoven together. The red-haired girl from the bog. The archaelogists who are called to investigate. The family of bog farmers who made the discovery. The neighbor, whose wife and child mysteriously disappeared three years prior. The dectective who has been investigating the disappearance. Hart takes us on a journey that eventually connects all of the characters and storylines together. It was quite satisfying to get to the end and have it all come together nicely.

At book club today, we briefly touched on the symbolism of the crows that reappeared in the book. Very briefly. The conversation quickly turned more to a discussion on crows themselves - not their portrayal in the book.

One topic that I really did like that was broached was the theme of survival. This book, ultimately was the story of survival. The red-haired girl survived hundreds of years in the bog. There were many references to traditional music in the novel. This was something that had survived into modern times. All of the characters were surviving - some better than others.

When the discussion leader asked us which was our favorite character, a silence fell over the room. No one spoke up. One person finally mentioned how she wanted Nora to be her favorite character, but there were times that she really didn't like her. I agreed. She could be ill-tempered, and quick to pass judgment. A couple other ladies agreed. We discussed a few of the other characters and their complexity. Hart really did a good job developing complex characters. We also felt that it was easier to point out characters that we didn't like. Mainly Lucy Osborne and Brendan McGann. One suggestion was that perhaps this was because they weren't as complex as some of the other characters. We did discuss Hugh Osborne in some detail. We all really enjoyed his character. He seemed to be such a great guy - even though the entire town has judged him harshly. He was always kind and well composed, but not in an off-putting way.

Overall attending the book club was a good experience, for the most part. For me, I felt there was a lot more discussion of things unrelated to the book. The last 15 minutes or so the discussion moved more to the history of Ireland and the Reformation. I could see where the tangent tied to the book, but I didn't have the knowledge necessary to contribute to the discussion. This happened with a few other topics as well.

There is a reader's guide found on the author's website, but we didn't really go through any of the questions together. I think I may have enjoyed the book discussion better if we had focused on some of those questions. I've found that I'm not that critical of a book reader and take most of what I read at face value rather than delving into some deeper meaning. I think having some questions to frame my reading would be helpful. I'm definitely going to look for book discussion questions for the next book. I think it will help me become a better reader...perhaps?

Being Sick...

I hate being sick. Of course, I don't know anyone who actually enjoys it.

Thankfully, I don't really get sick that often. At least not debilitating. Mostly headaches and fits of the blahs.

This bout of the cold started last Wednesday as a simple sore throat. That sore throat got worse and worse until Monday it had progressed to a full on cold. Since then, I've gone through nearly an entire box of Puffs. On my own. It's incredibly gross! I'll spare you all the disgusting details.

Really, I wanted to share the other reasons why I hate being sick...

All my progress towards a healthier lifestyle? OUT THE WINDOW!

• Not one day since last Wednesday have I consumed more than 3-4 glasses of water. The 3+ weeks prior I was averaging 9 glasses per day.
• I haven't been able to go to the gym or pool or long walks with Sallie.
• I spend most of my day napping, which means I haven't been eating very often. It's hard to eat while you're asleep.
• When I eat, it's all junk! I've had more sweets and crappy food in the past week than in the previous month.

All medicine that claims relief tastes awful!

One good thing from it all? Lots and lots of snuggle time with my girl!

What do you HATE  about being sick? Are there any benefits? Do you have a surefire cure to the common cold?

What do you think?

Here is a video about what students say about technology in their classrooms:


Students Sound Off on School Tech Use from Education Week on Vimeo.

What do you think? Should schools adopt more technology into their classrooms? Should students be able to access the Internet outside of the library? Should they have access to web-based email programs (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc) at school?

How is technology used in your children's classrooms? Is it embraced by the students and teachers? Is the available technology being used? For example, a few of the students in this video stated that there were Smartboards in a few of the classrooms, but the teachers rarely used them.

I look forward to embracing technology when I become a teacher. I feel that students will learn more when they are engaged, and using technology can be that tool to help grab their interest.
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Film: Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Today, there was a showing of the film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, at the Luann Dummer Center for Women at the University of St Thomas.

I had no idea what the film was about, but I thought I would expand my horizons by attending.

I am so glad that I went! This film was incredible. It documents the women's peace movement in Liberia. Women from all over that country were tired of the running and the fear and the atrocities that had been plaguing their country during the long civil war.

Thousands of women spoke up. These were ordinary women - mothers, grandmothers, aunts, daughters. They were Christian. They were Muslim. They fasted. They prayed. They made a difference.

Below is a trailer of the movie:



There were two things that really struck me about these unique women.

They were women of extreme faith. It didn't matter if they were Christian or Muslim. They united. They recognized that bullets don't discriminate; bullets don't know if you're Christian or Muslim. They looked to the Bible and the story of Esther for their inspiration. At one point, they were all gathering at the fish markets to protest. This was at the beginning of their movement. One of the women was told she shouldn't go because those who went would just be killed.  Her response? "If I should get killed, remember I was fighting for peace." That is faith.

They were women of extreme forgiveness. After the peace talks ended, these women still did not back down. They recognized their need to continue pushing for peace in Liberia. It was extremely difficult, but they showed forgiveness to the excombatants. They knew they needed to accept these fighters and not hold the past against them. They knew that Liberia would not be able to move forward without forgiveness. I cannot even imagine having to forgive those who wreaked such havoc on so many innocent, so many loved ones.

One of the women, near the end of the film, stated that if it weren't for different women from different walks of life banding together, that peace in Liberia probably would not have happened. How incredible was it, in a country so torn, that the women could come together. They could get to know one another and build on each other's experiences to make a strong stand for peace.

Did You Know?

I love these videos. I'm not sure in which education course I was shown the first one, but I remember it was quite powerful.


I'm currently taking a technology integration course at the University of St Thomas. My professor sent us a link to an updated version of this video. The questions near the end of the video really resonated with me. Is education where it needs to be to prepare our children for the 21st century workplace?



A few days later, my professor sent out another link to an even more updated version. I recognize there are a lot of redundancies in these videos, but there are enough changes to really make you realize just how quickly technology is changing.

Virtual G.N.O

Tonight, I'm very excited about my Friday night home alone. I've got TV shows to watch, blogs to write, cleaning to do, and digital scrapbooking to create. Oh, and some homework to do as well.

It's gonna be a busy night. :-)



This week's party question: Did you go to dances while you were in Middle School and/or middle school age?

I went to a few school dances that I can remember. They were disastrous! I was very shy and uncomfortable. Definitely was a wallflower.

What about you? Were you a Dancing Queen? Or a Wall Flower? Or something in between?

Pop on over to Ann Again ... and again... to join in the fun.

Happy Valentine's weekend.

Oops!

Tonight I stopped at two stores on my way home. The first stop didn't have what I wanted, so I hustled on to my next stop.

I had quite a scare while driving through one parking lot. I was on the road that runs through the lot, and a van came speeding up toward me. It did not appear to be slowing at all, let alone stopping. I thought for sure I was going to get hit.

I thought, "Come on, white van! Get a clue. It's nighttime. You need to have your lights on!"

And on I went.

As I was crawling through the parking lot of my actual intended store, there was a cop walking out of the store. He motioned to me to turn on my lights. Wait, what? My lights are totally on.

I looked down to my dash, and lo, and behold, my little indictor light was, in fact, not illuminating.

OOPS!!

Flashback Friday: Brr...It's COLD

What's a girl to do on a COLD Friday night at the end of January?

Flashback to a cold, winter night in 1987, of course.

Warming ourselves by the fire.

Hmmm...that doesn't seem to be working...

How about a little wrestling? That's should definitely warm us up.

Now what???

Ok. We look ridiculous!! What were we thinking? Blue thermal top TUCKED into thermal bottoms? Printed socks in the ugliest slippers ever? Red puffy gloves really top it off!

BUT every time I look at these pictures, I LAUGH! Seriously. I've got to publish this post, so I can stop the laughter.

Virtual G.N.O.

I've been a terrible blogger in 2010. In fact, this is my first post of the new year.

I stumbled upon Ann's blog,
 .

This week, I'm totally game!

Her game this week is to discover your inner librarian.

My Librarian's Alter Ego name is: Bubbles Featherbottom

My husband is out at his bi-weekly gaming session, so I'm home all alone. I thought I'd spend the evening...

...Doing some blogging...

...Ripping some music from my old CDs...

...Sorting/organizing my photos from our recent trip to the Caribbean...

Don't forget to visit Ann's blog to join in on the fun!

Here's to the weekend! Whoo hoo!!

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

But I just can't help it!

It's no secret that both Jeff and I LOVE waterfalls, as described here and here.

For me, it's almost even stronger than love. Is that possible? Is anything stronger than love? It is what binds us, after all.

For me, it's almost like a drug. If I'm out for a walk or in a park, and I hear the sound of rushing water, I can't help but go. chase. that. waterfall!! I keep listening and walking...and listening and walking...until I finally find it!

This past summer, I even convinced Jeff to make a pitstop on our road trip to check out the waterfalls in Sioux Falls, SD. You can read about that here.

A few weeks back, I took Sallie for a walk. I heard the unmistakably, wonderful sound of a waterfall, but I couldn't find it. anywhere.

Today, we went out again but this time hiked even closer to the river.

There it was again. An ever-so-slight, but deliciously exhilarating, sound of rushing water. It didn't take me too long to gasp at the beauty as I turned my head.

There it was!! Complete with icicles. Wow.

Now I didn't happen to have my camera with me - just my phone.

If you look real close, in the back center, you can see two streams of water going over the small cliff.

The camera on my phone doesn't have a zoom, so I knew that I needed to get closer.

Down we hiked. Sallie and I.

Closer. But still not good enough to satisfy my need.

Down. Down. Down.

Finally I could get a shot from the front.

This shot was difficult to get because Sallie, does not get my fascination with waterfalls. She was trying her darnedest to get back up the hill. Guess it reminds her too much of getting a bath. Something she does. not. enjoy.

Back at the top of the hill, I tried to capture one last shot of some icicles. Gorgeous!

I realize they are a little difficult to discern (darn no-zooming-camera-phone), but trust me. They are there. Kind of dead center, hanging from the blob of greenery.

We ♥ Tooshies

This is my 1st ever time entering an I ♥ Faces photography challenge. I've seen some friends enter on their blogs in the past but never attempted one myself.

This week's themes, We ♥ Tooshies, was really intriguing to me. I, immediately, thought of this great picture I have of me walking with one of my cousin's daughters. It's SO cute. However, it was taken before digital photography became so prevalent, so it's an actual photo, and not easily uploaded into blogger (as I'd need to find it and then upload it).

Instead, I sifted through my folders upon folders of digital photographs, and found this one.

This is my 13-year-old niece’s first soccer game. ever.

She was awesome, of course.

I love how this photo captures the motion of her run.

Pop on over to I ♥ Faces to find some other fun tooshies.

A New Start

One of the things that I've really enjoyed about being a student again was the flexibility that I have with my sleep. I don't have to set an alarm! I can get up whenever I wake up! I can stay up late and sleep in late!

This past weekend, I came to an epiphany that maybe this isn't the best thing in the world.

I have way too much studying and other things to do in a day that I rarely accomplish all of my goals. This does not lead to positive feelings of self-worth.

So...

This week, I decide to try out something new. My dog, Sallie, generally wakes me up several times throughout the night. I can't give in to her all the time, so I choose to ignore her until after 6am - breakfast time. I used to barely open my eyes, turn on as few lights as possible, quickly put her food in her dish, and crawl back into bed. This week, I decided I'd try staying up after I feed her. Today's my first day; I stayed up WAY too late Sunday night in order to start this new habit Monday morning. :-)

Right now, my eyes are feeling quite heavy, but I'm hopeful of my day. After doing a little blogging, I plan to get my exercising out of the way before Jeff wakes up. That should wake me up and give me the boost to do what I need to do today, right?!

Settling In...

We've moved into our new apartment, and it's slowly becoming our new home. I'll probably post more pictures later as our decorating progresses, but this one showcases my favorite new toy! I've wanted a piano for a very long time. Regular pianos are such a pain to move (and we move a lot), but I've really been enjoying this keyboard. It has weighted keys like a regular piano, plus I can plug in headphones, so my practicing doesn't bother anyone else in our building.

This isn't a very artistic photo, but it does provide a little glimpse into our new home...music and books. :-)

Walking Log

I don't have any stats for this post, but I certainly did A LOT of walking yesterday.

It was my dad's birthday, and we decided to take our annual pilgrimage to the Great MN Get Together. We are all day fair-goers. We arrived at the fair around 7am and left around 10pm.

It was non-stop walking all. day. long.

There were a few pauses here and there as we ate, decided what to do/where to go next, and there was quite a bit of standing.

What there wasn't much of was sitting.

It was still great fun! I LOVE the fair!!

Walking Log

Ok. So, I haven't been very good about updating my walking log.

Truth be told, I haven't been very going about walking either.

The week after my last walking log entry, my family took a trip to a lake up near Ely, MN. It was great fun! I went canoeing, and hiking, and swimming! There were also quite a few moments of relaxation enjoing the beauty of the outdoors.

Here's a few stats:

August 10th (my 32nd birthday)
I was hoping to go for a hike on my birthday, but the sky looked a little ominous. Jeff and I took out a canoe instead. The battery in my Garmin died a little less than half way, but here is what the canoe trip was like before that.

Canoe Time: 1:10:30
Canoe Distance: 3.06mi
Avg Pace: 23:01/mi
Calories: 416

Well, actually Jeff did most of the work; I'm not the greatest canoeist.

August 11
This was the first hike of the trip. I was accompanied by my sister and 3 nieces. We hiked the Bass Lake trail to the Dry Falls. It was very hilly! A great workout! It was quite a busy trail, and when we got to the end, there were quite a few people playing in the falls and swimming in the lake. Not quite what I was hoping for at the end of our hike. It was still great fun to spend time outside with the girls.

Run Time: 1:27:12
Run Distance: 3.01mi
Avg Pace: 43.26/mi
Calories: 139

August 13
This was the second hike of our trip. It was the same people with the addition of my dad. This time we hiked the trip to Big Moose Lake. It was so much fun! The trail was riddled with wild blueberry plants. There was no one else on the trail, and the lake at the end was absolutely gorgeous! So clear and still. We paused for a while at the lake--eating some snacks and dipping our feet in the lake. It was wonderful.

Run Time: 2:23:15
Run Distance: 4.40mi
Avg Pace: 32:32/mi
Calories: 628

Join me!

Dear Friends: I've started the Drop a Jeans Size challenge on FitnessMagazine.com. Please join me so we can be workout buddies and cheer each other on.

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/app/ycdi/?esrc=emycdifriend

P.S. Once you join the Drop a Jeans Size challenge, don't forget to add me as a buddy so we can keep track of each other's progress!

Walking Log: Day 9

Oops! Day 9 was back on July 23. I can't remember that long ago, so I can't tell you anything about my walk.

However, I can share my stats. Thank goodness my Garmin has good history record-keeping abilities.

Today's Stats (from 7/23):
Run Time: 35:45
Run Distance: 2.11mi
Avg Pace: 16:55/mi
Calories: 202