Kelly in Kansas

Where is the summer going?

Had a great time at the Collaborations conference in DC. The teachers were really fun and I've finally seen the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial up close. The September 11 exhibit at the Museum of American History was inspiring.

Still trying to get the grant done :{ - but it will get done.

Start a new class today on Kansas and Coal Mining. Should be fun. One of the really dynamic elementary teachers from the Project Mine group will be there. Going to introduce the topic and then show Matewan to give them a feel for the time period.

Talked to my DC friend yesterday who works at George Mason with the digital history group. She's checking out blogging and also thinking about using it in her classes. She's trying
Movable Type - I'm not that brave yet.

Getting back to the grant. . . .

From Scrappleface:

More Creative Decisions Expected from Supreme Court

(2003-06-24) -- After the Supreme Court's mixed decision yesterday on affirmative action in university admissions, legal scholars expect more innovative rulings on other issues later this week.

Yesterday, the justices ruled that the 14th amendment to the Constitution may be set aside in certain circumstances to ensure that underqualified minority students will enrich the intellectual atmosphere at universities.

Legal scholars expect the following decisions from the nation's court on Thursday:

Sodomy: Court will rule that homosexuals may do whatever they want, with whomever they wish in the privacy of their own homes, as long as they're not receiving Federal funding for those acts. If they do receive Federal funding for their homosexual behavior, they must ensure that their partners come from all racial minorities. Women must always be represented in proportion to their numbers in the general population. Lawrence v. Texas, 02-102.
Free speech: Justices will decide that corporations may lie in public relations campaigns because the nation has a compelling interest to maintain the viability of the PR industry. Nike v. Kasky, 02-575.
Death penalty: A Maryland inmate claims inexperienced lawyers mishandled his trial. Court will rule that a person sentenced to death due to botched legal work must be put to death by a rookie executioner. Wiggins v. Smith, 02-311.
Minority voting: In a 5-4 decision, justices will say that Congressional district boundaries may shift in realtime to assure that certain racial groups maintain their local majorities, even if all the members of such group move out of the district. Georgia v. Ashcroft, 02-182.

Where has the week gone? It's be a great week with Project Mine. I spent the last 3 afternoons with teachers at the Special Collections section of the PSU Library - I was surprised that even the elementary teachers really "dug" into it - except for the one that thought she snuck out early. I'm really tired but I'm also energized.

Now to finish the history grant . . .. .

Made the most of the garden produce: froze the broccoli (now I understand why blanching was necessary - all it takes it a little research), pickled the beets, and made some refrigerator pickles for the first time. The internet has made it so much easier to find a variety of recipes - they can just be harder to keep track of since they can be almost anyplace (and since I print off so many copies :} ).

Swam this evening but the damn heater is back on the fritz - I"m hoping it's because I'm low on propane? (I should get some tomorrow)

Had a great evening NOT working on school-related stuff.

Project Mine went great once again. Had a guy in talking about puppets. He is very talented and quite a character.

We're celebrating Father's Day at Shellie's in Carthage on Saturday.

The Year of the Blog: Weblogs in the Writing Classroom - an interesting year . .

This looks useful for all the extra time my PC brain has time for my iBook.


Deep Thinking About Weblogs: The pet rock of the 00s

Here's some more clearcut information on setting up a weblog on a class.
I'm still working on how to use it in my college classes.

Project Mine is going again today. Two of the teachers who taught local history are making presentations and doing a great job. Today the teachers will start preparing their lesson plans and getting ready for students to arrive next week. They have a much better historical content background this year. :}

I worked on making fresh pico de gallo last night: tomatoes, garlic, two kinds of peppers (jalapeno and hot yellow), cilantro, red and home-grown onions, a little sugar, and a little red wine vinegar and some lime juice.

A pretty powerful thunderstorm went through at about 3 am; it really scared Shadow. I don't think it was as much as the storm as the driveway announcer. I'll be at the farm every day but Saturday when we celebrate Father's Day through next Tuesday so I should get caught up out there. Also need to work on
my HM stuff.

Abby and I went to one of our local Mexican grocery stores and picked up some fresh tortillas, some type of peppers (the kind in the middle box - I don't remember the name :} ), some mole sauce, and then went to the "regular" grocery store for cilantro (we've only been able to get that in the last few years regularly) and tomatoes and a lone jalapeno. We had a great time experimenting without really following any recipies. Apparently mole sauce is pretty complicated . . . the Mexican woman at the store was very helpful.

This has been a great week so far. Project Mine is off to a great start - with all 48 teachers - quite a different and larger crowd than last year. Yesterday we went to Big Brutus and the rain held off as several men climbed to the top. Today we're going over the resources in Blackboard and then this afternoon we're touring an old miner's home that is now a bed and breakfast, going to a cemetery, and will go see the mural at the local library. I'm glad we're doing this in August instead of June - especially with the cooler weather we've been having.

Wil have to get back to regular blogging.

Class has been really busy but good. My emails worked! Just finished a sample chapter for a potential McGraw Hill project. Still trying to keep the obstructionist in the corner he seems so intent on protecting. Anxious for Project Mine to start next week.

Bought a t-shirt that says "I'm blogging this." Might wear it next week.

Grant writing going well but I need to get it done.

Went to cooking class on Wednesday at Shellie's:

Blueberry Muffins
Grilled Shrimp and Tropical Fruit Salad
Chocolate Ice Cream with Strawberry Sauce

plus some Chardonnay..............

Just finished another section of the Houghton Mifflin project. It's amazing how much more efficiently you can work when there aren't what seem like a million negative things pulling at you. I'm getting ready to figure up the weed trimmer again and see what progress I can make around the driveway before it's taken over. And I did get a .7 mile swim in this morning - the furthest so far. Should be ready to hit the week running. Anxious to see how many actually show up for the class tomorrow morning at 9. I've also had some time to work on the July class on local history - I should be ready for it when the time comes. Still not sure if the rain is coming - now the sun is out but clouds could reappear at any moment. I also fiddled around with Dreamweaver a bit on my personal home page but found that I don't have the right FTP program to change permissions from here. Although there is still plenty of work on the table, I feel free of some past shackles that I plan to keep in the past. :}