Sunday, October 19, 2008

10/19/08 Maine Democrats are Very Creative

This quote is visual . . . you gotta see it. "Change starts with me
in Maine." Get it? ME = Maine? Change . . . looking in a new
direction? Oh there's so much more. Very clever, very clever.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

9/23/08 How you teach

I remembered something they have said at Harvard for a long time:

"How you teach is what you teach."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the same email from the same listserv as the other great quote
from today. Yet more resources to track down. But take in this simple
idea. It's not unlike "You are what you eat" which I've always
expanded to include "You are what you read," "You are what you watch
on TV or in the movies," "You are who you hang out with," etc. There
is a richness to this concept.

9/23/08 on the role of the teacher

Jim Ferrell said this: "Students learn more watching other people
learn, than from watching other people teach."

~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was quoted in an email conversation that was part of a listserv
I'm on. I can't wait to find out who Jim Ferrell is. :-)

Monday, September 22, 2008

9/22/08 today's Bible verse

"Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. "

Psalm 5:3, NLT

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe it's the translation I don't recognize but I swear I've never heard this verse before. Or as so often happens, I never heard this verse in a way that it spoke to me like this before. Thanks Air1 for sending this verse of the day on a day when it spoke to me like never before.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

more about stars

So as you spend these last days and nights with special people,
explain the concept and get them to buy into it. Or, it also works
when you're far away and you're on the phone at night with someone
you miss, tell them to go outside and you go outside too while you're
on the phone and you look at the same stars together. It's a cool
trick and it really works on helping you not feel so far away.

9/10/08 Friends are like stars . . .

Good friends are like stars . . . . you don't always see them, but you know they are always there.

no author attribution given

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was buried in one of those annoying emails that's been forwarded a million times and has too many cute quotes stuck on the bottom of it. But I read them anyway and sure enough, that's where I found this great quote. It also reminds me of this story:

My junior year in high school, a new girl (a sophomore) joined our Girl Scout troop. Her name was Leslie and she moved to Dallas from Philadelphia. She talked funny, dressed differently, and had a haircut like nobody in Texas. (How's that for a welcoming reception for the new girl?) Fortunately, in a good Girl Scout troop, those differences are not an issue. We quickly got to know her and love her. She was a hoot!! (Actually, she still is a hoot. We're still great friends.) Anyway, we had already planned a campout for that fall and since she was now in the troop, she went with us. The second night of the campout, after we had cooked dinner and sung a few songs around the campfire, we were just standing around looking over Lake Texoma at all the stars. It was gorgeous. (It always is. Camp Rocky Point was where I first fell in love with star gazing.) As we're standing there, Leslie starts to talk about how much she misses Philadelphia and her friends back there but that nights like this make it not so bad. She explained that she and her friends had made a pact before she left that whenever they missed each other, they would just look at the stars and feel close because they knew that they were looking at the same stars and somehow you didn't feel so far away if you could both be looking at the same thing at the same time. It was a really cool concept. She said it really worked for her. She never felt quite so far away when she did that.

Not too long after that, John Denver came out with a song that had the exact same concept. The song was Shanghai Breezes and he wrote it when he was in China and was missing his wife back in the states. "And the moon and the stars are the same ones you see, it's the same old sun up on the sky." I always thought he stole it from Leslie. :-)

When my goddaughter Lindsay was moving to New York, she was six. It was hard for her to leave all her friends and family in Dallas. We picked the North Star as "our star" that whenever one of us missed the other we would look at the North Star and know that the other one could see it at the same time and we wouldn't feel so far apart. I know it sounds weird, but it really works.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

8/29/08 Living life

Life's too short to keep your car mats clean.
~Theresa Overall

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodney and I drove together to Moose River Outpost for Labor Day weekend. I had just been in New York the week before and had told him that one of the things I treated myself to in New York was a "real" car wash where someone else vacuums for you with those powerful machines and had scrubbed all sorts of parts that I never get to when I clean my car. I even had my car mats cleaned. We drove to camp, unloaded our stuff into the cabin on the west side of the lake and then got back in the car to drive to the North Lodge--our central headquarters for the weekend of fun. We, of course, now have dirt on our shoes from the camp. Rodney tries to shake the dirt off his feet and then apologizes for getting my clean car mats dirty. I replied, "Life's too short to keep your car mats clean." I didn't realize how profound it was when I said it, but Rodney did. He said, "That should be on a bumper sticker!" And so I've put it in the next best place if you can't afford to have a bumper sticker made . . . here in my quotes blog.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

7/26/08 on growing old (or not)

I have no time to grow old. I am too busy for that.
-- George MacDonald

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Saw this in an email signature line of a friend (actually, it was the
signature line of a friend of his which I saw in the forwarded email
so I don't know the person who had this quote).

7/26/08 If you want to build a ship...

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I saw this on the signature line of a member of a listserv that I'm on. Who knew that a quote about ship building could really be about inspirational teaching. :-)

Friday, July 25, 2008

7/25/08 spotted on a Facebook bumper sticker


"Do what makes you happy, be with who makes you smile, laugh as much as you breathe, and love as long as you live."

I can't find an author in my research and I can't read what's in the lower right corner of the bumper sticker. If you know more about this quote, please comment and let me know.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

7/1/08 at the petting zoo next to Crestholm Ice Cream and Farm Stand

About spitting: Well behaved llamas will not spit at well-behaved
humans. Spittting is rude, no matter who does it. Llamas only spit as
a last means of communication with their herdmates. By the way,
llamas rarely, if ever, bite or kick. Spitting usually of saliva or
some food, indicates a) their place at feeding time, b) their
displeasure with another llama's behavior, or c) their pregnancy
status (Yes I am, mister, so bug off). No llama was ever harmed by
spit -- just offended. Please DO NOT spit at, or harass, the llamas.
Spitting is rude. unless you are another llama with a specific
'message', your attempt to get these two ladies to spit is useless,
rude, and potentially harmful. Spitting spreads germs into their
living space. Pleas respect their health, home, and dignity. Well-
behaved llamas will not spit at well-behaved humans.

Ron Chapman rule

My favorite radio DJ back in Dallas was Ron Chapman. I listened to him for years . . . nay, decades! He was clever, humble, smart, fun, and very good with people. He was also a great observer of life. One of the things he often said was, "There's never a sign without a story." Think about it. People don't usually put up a sign unless something happened to motivate it. And there are some signs that really make you wonder what the story was.

Ron retired several years ago, but he came out of retirement to fill in for Paul Harvey recently. He's doing it pretty regularly according to my mom who's a pretty faithful Paul Harvey listener. I know he'll be good at it as soon as he stops imitating Paul Harvey and starts being himself, but it won't be the same as his morning DJ gig because he let listeners call in and they provided soooo much material. ;-) He knew how to work his audience and how to make his audience make his show work.

In honor of Ron, I'm creating a label in my posts called "Ron Chapman Rule" and that is a special category for unique signs that I find.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

6/28/08 Seen in a bookstore in Kennebunkport, ME

You are not alone . . . 1,000* unforgettable Senior Moments by Tom . . . uh . . . Friedman

*of which we could only remember 246

You gotta love the packaging: "Forget to pick up a copy today!"

"Amnesia Loves Company." . . . do you think that's a PR slogan or the name of the company? Either way, it's great!!


Thursday, May 15, 2008

5/14/08 On Second Life

In my "business" I keep hearing about Second Life and how many users there are in it and how amazing it is. Their slogan is, " Second Life is an online, 3D virtual world imagined and created by its Residents." But it just doesn't have any appeal to me. I know I should learn more about it and be open to its possibilities in education but I just don't have the energy or the interest.

There was a series of emails on the ACTEM listserv about Second Life. (ACTEM is the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine.) I wasn't paying too much attention to the postings but made myself at least look at each one. I'm so glad I did because I saw this from Crystal P. I have long admired Crystal as an amazing technology woman. I first met her at a conference in Maine in 2004. She's a leader in the field but also just a hoot. Here is her comment that I soooo relate to:

"I'm still trying to deal with my first life and haven't taken the time to come up with a second life."

Thursday, May 8, 2008

5/8/08 Summer

"I see summer as a practicum in retirement." ~ Rod Farmer, Department Chair, Secondary/Middle Education @ University of Maine Farmington.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It was the next to the last day of the semester and Rod and I were talking about what we were going to do this summer. I told him that after 3 weeks of travel, I was actually going to sit still and stay in Maine and just enjoy summer. His reply was the quote above.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

4/26/08 Yummy!

On the outside of Kilwin's Chocolate and Ice Cream. Soooo true.

http://www.kilwins.com/

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Rules

The fewer rules a coach makes, the fewer rules there are to break.
John Madden

...and the same is true for a classroom. Dr. Theresa
~~~~~~~~~~
Shared by Newcomb in EDU 101-002, spring 2008 as part of the 5 quotes assignment.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Statistics

"Statistics are like a lamppost for a drunk man--more for support than illumination."

Donald J. Dessart as quoted by Ashley Montgomery, former statistics student of Dr. Dessart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Dessart served on Ashley's dissertation committee and joked that the only numbers in her dissertation were the page numbers.

Friday, March 7, 2008

3/7/08 as seen in the Vegas airport

"A cookie a day keeps reality away." ~Mrs. Fields
Who knew you could find such wisdom at a fast food restaurant in the Las Vegas airport?!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

thoughts on the metric system

If God had intended us to use the Metric system we would have been born with 10 fingers and 10 toes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOL! I saw this in the signature line of a posting on a technical support bulletin board. Nothing else was bringing me much joy so I was doubly delighted to read this and have a very good laugh.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Murphy's Laws of Computing

Murphy's Laws Of Computing

1. When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.

2. When you get to the point where you really understand your computer, it's probably obsolete.

3. The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you least expect to find it.

4. When the going gets tough, upgrade.

5. For every action, there is an equal and opposite malfunction.

6. To err is human . . . to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human; it is downright natural.

7. He who laughs last probably made a back-up.

8. If at first you do not succeed, blame your computer.

9. A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked perfectly.

10. The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.

sent in an email from a friend...author unknown

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Dogs

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. ~Phil Pastoret

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is soooo true! That quote was on the bottom of an email that contained this dog story that is equally fun:

An old, tired-looking dog wandered into the yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home. He followed me into the house, down the hall, and fell asleep in a corner.

An hour la ter, he went to the door, and I let him out. The next day he was back, resumed his position in the hall, and slept for an hour. This continued for several weeks. Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: "Every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap."

The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a home with ten children -- he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"