Click to view the Slide Show!

According to the BBC

Pirates have kidnapped a Western family from a yacht off Yemen and taken them to the breakaway republic of Somaliland.

You can read all about it here.

For those of you who care, I have posted a digital photostory, from Chicago, using Microsoft Photostory 3.  It is a free download from Microsoft.  Let me know if it works. 

Music Credit: Dermit 7, Snowflake

Licenced Under a Creative Commons Licence 

We got there on Tuesday afternoon and toured the Art Institute of Chicago. I have to admit, it was one of the things that I considered skipping to catch up on sleep but boy am I glad that I didn’t. It was really cool to see some of the paintings that I’ve only seen in books. I was pretty ticked that I left my camera at the hotel because the pics that I got were on my blackberry. The first painting that I saw was Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte by Seuratt. It was unbelievable how BIG this painting is in real life! I’d say that it stood at least 15 feet tall. Maybe even 20 feet! Another painting that I really enjoyed was American Gothic by Wood. You see this done in parody everywhere and to see it in real life, up close and personal was real neat! Later that evening we went down to the Ford Oriental Theater and went back stage for Behind the Emerald Curtain and later to see the Musical, Wicked. Again, this was so cool! Without spoiling anything, the musical is based on the book, Wicked, and goes behind the scenes and takes a closer look at the characters, Elphaba (the wicked witch) & Galinda (the good witch) from the Wizard of Oz. If you are ever in Chicago, I highly recommend it, it is well worth the time and money! After the show, we walked around for what seemed like forever looking for Pizza Uno. Let me tell you, after eating there, I’d have walked twice as far to get it. It was amazing! Sandy ordered 5 pizzas and the waitress said, “mam, that will be way too much, you’ll never be able to eat all that pizza.” Well several of the boys took that as a personal slam against their manhood and said, “we’ll eat all of it, in fact, order six pizzas!” Well, we did and took four of them out in to go boxes! No lie. The homeless of Chicago really appreciated us that night! The picture of this pie really doesn’t do it justice. That pan is around 2.5-3 inches thick. Pizza Uno piles the cheese, toppings, and sauce on thick, and I mean thick! I ate all that I could (2 pieces) and was stuffed. Talk about feeding starving people, this pizza could feed a family of 6 easily.

Wednesday was not my favorite day. We spent most of the day shopping and walking and vice versa. We visited the Magnificent Mile and the Navy Pier. I wasn’t very impressed, but Jenny would have loved it! I did get a pretty cool picture of the replica ferris wheel from the World Fair Expo with the sky line in the back. That night we went to Medieval Times dinner theater which was fun. The kids really enjoyed it.

Thursday was a fun day. We got to spend several hours in the Field Museum. It was really a good experience. One thing that I did notice at the museum was that there was a heavy emphasis on evolutionary thought. I mean, if that floats your boat then that’s fine, but I assumed that the people at the museum would be free thinkers and not just go with the norm. I was wrong. And we also got to see the Cubs extend their win streak to 6. Of all the things that we did, I think that I enjoyed the seeing the Cubs play at Wrigley was the best! The first picture is where our original seats were. The next two pictures were taken from our new and improved seats that we got after everyone else left…thanks to yours truly!

One last thing…We did not have to take out a paper map one time during this trip! I downloaded Google Maps for my Blackberry and it worked wonderfully! I mean, All I had to do was search for the place that we were going and it gave me turn by turn directions and a map to go along with it. This was a life saver…especially during rush hour on Wednesday, but that is another post for another day!

I think that this blog was a HUGE success this year.  Science naturally lent itself to blogging.  I am currently researching ways that I can incorporate blogging in the math classroom.  I will still post study guides and things like that but what are some other ways that I can make this a useful tool for both parents and students?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Yes, that is radiator fluid on the bumper…

• Student Blogging
• Blogging assignments (to be done at school or home)
• More interactivity

I will continue to post for the remainder of the school year and through the summer of things that I find interesting so stay tuned.

In other news, my father, a principal at a Jr. High in Clay County, Florida, was nominated for the principal of the year award! Way to go dad!

Testing Tips:
-Get plenty of sleep; 8+ hours would be best.
-Eat a good breakfast.
-Use your breaks to stretch & get your blood flowing
-STAY POSITIVE

Technology is amazing! I am writing this post from my Blackberry 8310 complete with Blackberry data package. Folks, this is so much more than a phone. Here is a list of features that I have utilized so far…
-Google maps allows you to get directions on the go and has a built-in GPS. It also has a search feature that allows you to search businesses and local restaurants.
-Mobile Web allows you to surf actual websites on the go and send/receive email.
-Note Pad allows me to jot down important reminders and take notes in meetings (yes, I actually used this feature the other day).
-The Calendar is much more functional than carrying around my old pocket calendar.

As you can see you can use this device to do so much more than simply txt/call your friends!

Is it just me or could this piece of technology be used (in the proper manner) in the classroom?

Your thoughts/comments, Please.

Despite some major damage on the White River Flood Plain, there are still some beautiful sights to see in Northern Arkansas!  The following pictures were taken in Blanchard Springs Caverns, part of the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests.  

I have found, quite possibly, one of the most useful text messaging features. It is called Google Mobile SMS. It will help you with local information, weather, glossary terms, sports scores, movies, directions, Q&A, and more! All you do is send your request to 466453 (GOOGLE). The best part is, it is free to use but I RECOMMEND AN UNLIMITED TEXT PLAN! I have been playing with it all day. It is soooooooooo cool! This supports my theory that Google will take over the world! This makes them one step closer to world domination!