New Release!

Ahh! Blind Pilot just released an EP on iTunes! I was thinking to myself the other day, "Self, we need to find some more Blind Pilot. Too bad I don't think they have any new stuff." Self, you were wrong! And it is so good.

Most of the tracks are just live versions of songs from their first album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, but they're fantastic. They have more of a folky feel to them. Which I love. Folk music is magic. And there are two new songs that are also awesome. It's only available on iTunes so I can only give you this link that gives the little crappy snippets of the tracks, but click here for them. Check out the new versions of 3 Rounds and a Sound and One Red Thread, so far they're my favorites. Tell me what you think.

Recipes Please

If anyone has an amazing recipe that they would like a baker of cookies to try out would you mind getting it to me? For the most part the cookies will be chocolate chip because I love my recipe for those. But I think I'd like a little variety--as I'm sure everyone else would as well. Post them as a comment or get them to me however you'd like! Thanks! And Merry Christmas!

Babies and Food Babies- Or Neither

I can be completely rational and realize that I am a ridiculously small person with zero room to whine about weight. However, I am fairly positive that if it were possible for me to gain weight I have done so and done it well. I told my nephew that my stomach was so big because there was a baby inside of it. And he believed me. For those who are thinking, "Is there a baby inside of it?" The answer is no. Don't be ridiculous. And it's not just a "food baby" either. It's been like this for days. The holidays are making me sloppy. If the ground wasn't covered in snow and I had an ounce of desire to run in the freakin' freezing cold then I would go run this off. But I can't...won't... whichever. Thank you Christmas for making me feel disgusting.

PS No, I haven't even started baking all of those cookies yet. I can't wait to see what that does to me.

Cookie Monster's Best Friend

The goal? 20,000 cookies in a year. I'm going to bake them, not eat them. I want to be known as the Cookie Lady. Yes, I'm serious.

A Cookie Haiku
Cookies seem to be
The gooey, warm, and chewy
Way to find smiles.

And I would add: "Especially my own!" But that would make it a Haiku no longer.

Giving Up Candy and Crap

So I vowed to give up candy and soda for the sake of my teeth. Soda's kind of easy-peezy for me; I don't drink much of it anyway. But candy is different. My job, strangely enough, provides me with more than ample opportunity to ruin my teeth with chewy candy goodness. You know what though? I don't even like it. I'm just bored. Maybe the real solution is to find a new job.

But my resolve quickly failed when a friend gave me German chocolate. And I mean legitimate German chocolate, she lived there for a year and a half. How could I not eat that? So my question is this: Is it legitimate to give up certain types of candy or does that just sound like I'm cutting corners so I can still have what I want? Curse that friend and her German chocolate. But bless her at the same time.

Musically Speaking, I Might Not Be a Nice Person

I'm a music elitist, I'll just get it out there. Elitist, if we dumb it down, just means snob. Ok I'm a snob. I like bands with names that have to do with scared bunnies, horses coming together to make music, some kind of weird bear sea creatures, and pilots who can't see. And I like those who name themselves with the French way of saying "good winter" or with strange unpronounceable Persian names.* You don't know what I'm talking about? It's okay, I really don't expect everybody to listen to the same music I do. Freedom to listen to your own music is just one of the many freedoms we enjoy in these United States. Our forefathers fought hard for that one, far be it for me to withhold it from anyone.

 

But I really do like popular bands too. It's taken me years to admit this and be comfortable with it. But seriously, I love Coldplay. I love them so much that I paid (what to me was) an obscene amount of money for my tickets to their concert here in Utah last November. And I'm not comfortable enough with myself to go to a concert by myself so of course I bought two. Ouch. This is where a significant other would come in handy. . . I'm doing my best folks. Ok and Iron & Wine seems to be becoming significantly more popular so it's with a little chagrin that I claim them as another favorite. But Sam Beam is soooooo good. Emphasis on the "soooooo." And then there's Radiohead too. Geez, when they're on they are spot on. I can replay the crap out of Thom Yorke's voice.

(I'm strangely attracted to this scrawny white dude)

Usually when I like a band I find all of the b sides and ep's. You should see my Iron & Wine collection. Sam Beam is a strange dude but he makes some sweet music.


I might as well mention as well that I'm a huge hypocrite as far as music is concerned. I deleted all sorts of artists and songs from my computer that I considered to be "racy" for one reason or another. A lot of it was some awesomely classic nineties hip hop that just got a little too graphic for me. I still think I made a very adult decision even though I sometimes miss Talib Kweli. It was just time to let go. And yet I keep bands that say the "F" word repeatedly throughout their albums. I justify: "They're more subtly embedded in the song" or "He needed to say that to get his point across." Ridiculous. I am a huge hypocrite. The fact that I'm writing this is acknowledgment of my shortcoming which means that I'll have to fix it, right? Not anytime soon folks. I'm a cold hard sinner I guess. I just can't do it. I am emotionally connected to that music. It stays.

So anyway guys, listen to what you want. I admit that I like stuff that might be deemed embarrassing like Third Eye Blind, Phil Collins (Yeah, I will play "Groovy Kind of Love" at my wedding. Get over it.), or Elton John. I am slightly eclectic. However, I still maintain the opinion that my music is better than yours. But that's why I listen to it, isn't it? Of course I think it's better. I highly encourage a little exploration into some different music. Enrich your life by turning off the latest unoriginal pop darling or the trite country idol (I'm refraining from mentioning names, I try not to give offense when I blog) and tune into the poetic rustlings of a band called Bon Iver or the genuine melodies of Blind Pilot. They're worth your time. Just listen.

 

*Bands mentioned roundabout-ly or straightforward-ly in this post (and other favorites not mentioned):

• Frightened Rabbit (explicit lyrics occasionally... sorry)
• Band of Horses
• Seabear (don't knock the name til you've tried 'em)
• Blind Pilot 
• Bon Iver
• Sufjan Stevens (weird name, sometimes weird music, but he makes up for it by writing songs you just can't live without)
  
• Coldplay
• Iron & Wine (subtly embedded "f" words occasionally...)
• Radiohead (yeah, a bit of swearing)
• Andrew Bird (check out "Section 8 City." Oh my gosh.)
• Ryan Adams (no, I didn't mean to write Bryan Adams)
  

Favorite Lessons Learned

I'm so stubborn and prideful that I just hate to admit this... But I like to blog. It's true. It kills me to write that down but I think that this very blog was the most fruitful part of this semester. It's fun even though it takes me ages to put up a post. And I don't mean time between posts. I mean I sit here editing posts for hours until I feel as if I'm wasting time in a major way. But I'm doing my assignment, right? Right. Sort of.

I will even go so far as to say that I will probably use my blog to post assignments for students. I like the idea of having a syballus in hand but I don't think it would hurt anything to have an electronic copy for students to access when they need. Some of the technologies we studied I know for sure that I won't use--and no guys, it's not just because I couldn't figure them out. I learned about recording myself on a PowerPoint presentation (I think that was another class) and I just can't figure out how it's good teaching to record yourself and force your students to listen to it. So that probably won't be happening. I would love for my students to make videos and give presentations but I don't feel as if voice recording is necessary or helpful to their active learning. I'd rather have them actually interact with their presentations and thus be actively engaging their classmates.

My other favorites were GoodReads (not shocking since I already love that site) and BeFunky.com (which I used for my final project). I had so much fun on that site and I got multiple comments from other people saying they thought it was awesome so I think it'd be easy to get my students to be excited about it.

(Those are the skinny legs belonging to myself and my two younger siblings)

I'm addicted to this website now. It's a little embarrassing. I should be studying and instead I'm playing with an online version of Photoshop. But it's for my blog, right? So I'm legitimately doing my homework. Yeah, ok, my time management skills need a little revamping.

 

(This effect is called "impressionist")

The point is (because I realize that I have successfully managed, yet again, to stray from it) that I learned some things about technology despite my disinclination to do so. And I'm actually excited about implementing some of these ideas in a classroom... in another five years when I graduate...

Teaching Creativity with Technology

I finally paid attention to those ads on the side of Facebook. You know, all those ones that are telling you to cartoon yourself? I actually found a site that is a little bit cooler than that even. BeFunky.com lets you creatively customize photos of yourself through colors and photo effects. Your options go way beyond cartoons. I'm going to have my students get a little creative online and have fun expressing themselves through this website.
To view a complete lesson plan on using BeFunky.com click here.
And here's my sample of how I used the website: