Your guide to the perilous waters of the internet

6-29-10

Guerilla camping in Yosemite. From the gate of yosemite it is 8 miles to the forest service road on the left with the broken blue-green gate. 2 more miles, or a total of 10 from the gate brings you to sweetwater campground on the right. If you come to a white highway bridge over the reservoir, you have gone too far as it is past Sweetwater. The gas station is between the forest service road and the entrance gate to yosemite.

These are the climbs we did in Yosemite more or less. It was a good time, though as usual there was some tension between me and James. He likes long routes, I like short crags. It's not a match made in heaven, but by golly we did a lot of climbing! lenas layback, harry daley, son of sam, tried apron jam,sunnyside jam crack. goodrich pinnacle 5 pitches xx, apron jam bailed (need two 4's) and a 5. Selaginella 4 pitches, munginella, committment same day. Central Pillar of Frenzy and Generator crack attempt. Sue had fun on Munginella and spent a day with Jim P. on the Grack, which she loved.

6-18-10

It's been a month since I got off facebook. I wake sometimes with an urge to see what is going on with my *friends*...meaning my virtual facebook friends. They were like a cloud of penpals from a strange nevernever land which could only be seen beyond a little glass screen. There were exciting pictures to look at, and stories to read about other peoples lives and adventures. It was so much more interesting than working...I'm talking about the unpaid work teachers do at home, and on their breaks.

Now, when I see my real friends at the gym, or at work, conversations are more interesting. It is the only communication I get, and I like it that way. I have more time for my family, and more time for work and play.

The quarter is over, and I just have my grading to do. I've got all the finals graded and I just have to crunch the numbers from the 11 weeks of spring quarter, convert that to a letter grade for about 85 students and I'm free. I'm looking forward to getting my new Tom Casper Valley Giant cam from the Brenda Express below Serenity. It took a month to make...hope the wait is worth it.

I had some great students this quarter. Dave, Darrin, Jeromy, Laurie, Peter, Kara, Ludwig,Christine R., Rachael S., Bryan G, so many great minds and hard workers. These people make teaching worth while. Even some of the late finishers like R. were fun to teach. R. came in on the last day when I was supposed to be in lab and figured out how to add the last few finishing touches to her website.

I wish I could have more time with some of these students. We spent too much time in web principles, and not enough time in Dreamweaver. I need to rethink the web principles class, and the Dreamweaver class both, to come up with something that ends up looking great for both classes, but doesn't prevent them from making something worth showing an employer who is not looking to hire a web designer. They need a portfolio site, but it doesn't have to be all CSS, it just has to be good.

If I made it all CSS, it has to be easy, and all CSS is not easy. Or, if it is, I haven't learned how to teach it so it is easy.

6-11-10

Looked at the RAV4, Sienna and Scion XB today. The XB costs as much as a very nice used car, around $16,500. It appears to be the new station wagon for poor people. I think we could put 10k down, by raiding both of our savings accounts, and pay the rest off in 8 months. I already save 600 a month, and every other month I can save 1000 if I am careful.

I am so glad I got off facebook. Today I was sitting in another teachers classroom. Whenever she wasn't teaching, she was surfing facebook. She is becoming a good teacher, I can't fault her there. She is very attentive to the students, walks around and asks how they are doing.

But whenever she wasn't needed by the students, she was surfing facebook. I kidded her once about it, she knows I quit. "Boy, you've got it bad don't you." "Oh, one of my friends is planning something and I have to help her." was her reply.

When the next teacher showed up, she gave her students directions on what was due, and promptly launched into facebook. Anytime my lectures slow down as I help students who have fallen behind, my faster students switch to facebook. And frequently the reason my students get lost during lectures, is because they got distracted by facebook.

When I woke up from my after dinner nap, my daughter was home, and she was on facebook. It seems that all these people are addicted to the virtual world of friends called facebook. All across America, people are staring at computer screens like this, living the facebook life.

Husbands and wifes stare not at each other, but at their laptops, living the facebook life. Instead of actually doing something, or creating something that improves their lives, or, god forbid, making some art or music, they stare at a little glass screen. I remember how fascinating it was. As an older guy, it was particularly fascinating looking at the pictures of my young climbing friends pages. Everyone was so young and healthy. It was almost like I could be younger too, simply by looking at their images. It was like being a fly on the wall.

Sue was the one that helped me get a grip on reality. She said I would rather look at facebook than talk to her. And it was true. Phil also helped me kick the habit. Phil is in his later twenties and training to be a mountaineer. We climb at the gym twice a week for the last couple months. He doesn't do facebook at all, nor does James K., Marty or Mark L. or Bruce D. So there were other people out there resisting the addiction.

 

6-1-10

Lisa, Sue and I rode the Burke-Gilman Trail yesterday. I knew I had a bent rear wheel but I didn't know it was rubbing on the break so bad it was making it very hard to pedal. I thought I was just weak. I couldn't figure out how all the fat people were passing me all day long. Finally on the way back I spun the wheel and saw that the break was hitting hard at the wobble point. I loosened the break and suddenly I could pedal freely again. So, 25 miles of resistance, and 5 of normal pedaling.

Lisa finished college 3 days ago and graduates this Saturday 6-12-2010 with a 4.0 GPA for all 4 years. There were many classes where she put up a huge fuss about how she wasn't going to pass, or was going to flunk this class, or that class...no one ever got higher than a C, she would have to repeat the quarter because she missed one day, etc. She can be quite the drama queen at home. I'm sure she is very professional at work, but here she lets's her hair down.

It is ironic that she got a 4.0 all the way through. She is an awesome student. And the hospital just told her yesterday that she is hired as an RN assuming she passes the NCEX nursing licensure exam in July. They said her reviews were so high as a nurse tech that she could skip the interview process, she was in as an RN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

click here to go to the previous month.