I have recently discovered you can order online. Now I have to figure out how bad I want it. The cost is almost double what it is if I buy in store where I can get it. Of course, I guess when you factor in the transportation costs shipping it isn’t so bad!

Gotta love technology and the webernets!

On that note…Put this tidbit in the “if it isn’t effective get rid of it” column.

I get the whole pre-k advancement scenario, but there are other avenues for obtain pre-k education so if the district is short on cash here is a good place to cut. But what about low income families who can’t afford to pay for pre-k? If they are not available to instruct their pre-k child at home then they must be working, which means they can receive subsidized child care. This child care likely provides pre-k instruction. If it does not, find one that does there are plenty out there. I’m not trying to be harsh, but according to the article there is not evidence of real gain. There is great benefit to pre-k. No doubt! Children are socialized and some get a head start in their academic pursuits. However, this district hosted program is not more effective than external public school pre-k programs. Let’s face it $21 million can save a lot of jobs in areas where there are clear gains. This includes decreasing class size at the elementary levels and maintaining the assistants. It will also help local pre-k daycare providers and create jobs for the community. Either way taxpayers are footing the bill. It just seems that there is more benefit at the private level than the public.

I am thankful for another day off tomorrow. I have three tests to write and that many sets to grade, but at least I can do it after a late sleep and while wearing my jammies.

Currently, I’m staying up late working with my new toy. My BB Curve was giving us all fits. Picky me wanted it to actually send and receive calls. I know, I need to lower my expectations. Recently I upgraded to a BB Storm 2. I’m hoping for good things. I’m not a huge touch screen fan, but so far this is not so bad. As soon as I get it set up like I want things will be OK. Until them, the update/waiting game is a little frustrating.

Hope all is well in your cyberworld and reality…I plan to blog hop tomorrow.

Don’t forget to thank a vet!

Tchaik is my new cache buddy, but I have a new cache toy too. Meet Ferdinand, Ferdi for short.

This is the Magellan Explorist GC, a handheld GPS designed with geocaching in mind. One of my first finds with Ferdi was not the easiest. In fact, I have made two other attempts. It wasn’t until I was more attentive to my surroundings that I figured out one of these is not like the others. I knew the hider liked to be creative with his cache containers and they usually blend, but wow. Someone who doesn’t know this would have a real hard time finding the cache…in fact, finding the location required first solving a riddle in order to determine the real coordinates of the cache.

Which one of these is not like the others?

Techno geek that I am, I’m playing with a few things lately. First, I installed a wordpress mobile edition plugin that I think I’m going to like, and I would like to encourage my blog friends who can to install it on their sites too. It allows people who read your blog on a pda/mobile device to actually see your content without frustration. It seems to work great when I view with Mobile IE, but I’m not happy with it on Opera Mobile. I’m a little shocked that I prefer Mobile IE over a different browser. On that note, I am playing with Opera as a web browser and really like it. I can make it function like Firefox, with my beloved button bar, but the widgets are terrible. Mozilla add-ons are so much better. I’m not sure I will be making the switch on my personal computer, but certainly on my work computer where I have to use Opera for other things.

Several months ago I read about Photoscape on Nicole’s blog. I like that there is so much you can do to play with your photos, but I am still learning how to actually use it. There are several options that I just don’t know what they do. It isn’t difficult to use, it is just my lack of photo knowledge that gets in the way. I’m used to Picasa (which I still love for quick fix color fun) where you just click and it does something for you, or you can customize on your own. I must say though, not having a great camera (Kodak z612) I like the ability to enhance your images using Photoscape. Don’t get me wrong, my camera is perfectly adequate for point and click, document the moment, photography. It just isn’t capable of much more, and to be honest neither am I.

I did capture a disturbing glamour shot of Tiki finishing her peanut butter. I was laughing too much to capture her face prior to cleaning. She had it all over her doggy lips and teeth. It was like a toddler eating spaghetti.

Not to be outdone, Alli posed for her moment in the flash.

Our hobbies, or other interest, not so similar. I like to be outside, go hiking, and explore new trails. Jem is over all of that and gets very little enjoyment out of it. I like to sit down and finish a book in one sitting. Jem likes to read, but he doesn’t read feverishly until the end. Jem likes NASCAR. I have no desire to sit through a race, much less a weekend racing marathon. The place we differ the most? Technology. I am a gadget geek. I love technology. A new phone, new computer, new software…I’m all about it. It fascinates me to be able to create something with new software for my blog, or to find a new plug-in or computer tool. It’s fun for me. I love to learn all the ins and outs, short-cuts, and extensions. Jem wants to be able to the basics and leave it at that.

We have common ground, and we often find it. The tech thing for him is like the NASCAR thing for me. We don’t understand the others fascination with the hobby. It doesn’t matter as long as we appreciate the fact that we are different.

Now…I have a book that is waiting to be finished.

Inspiration for this post:

. . . a new phone gadget that I probably don’t need but think is totally cool.

*update*
New Plugin! Postie

Blog updates was one thing I wanted to use Twitter for. However, when I enabled the tool that would do a blog post the Twitter plugin went a little schitz. WP has an email-post function, but it required manual action to get the post to show. Not interested in that. If I wanted to manually update after an email post then I would just manually post! After periodic searches and a solid hour of wasted time (it took me that long to give in and read the instructions) I installed, activated, and configured Postie. I like it. Perfect for techno geeks like me! If you choose to play with Postie I recommend that you read the instructions FIRST. That whole part about creating two new folders in your WP directory…yeah, he meant that. It has to be done or the plugin won’t work. Simple to install (if you follow directions) and simple to use. Make sure the email addy you use is secure. Kind of an important point if you don’t want some twit posting to your blog for kicks and giggles.