A Post of Many Colors

It's been a hectic couple of weeks, which is why I haven't blogged much. Thanks to all who wished me well on my birthday and last week when I was sick. I'd like to make this post one big update. So without further adieu...

1. Movie Assessment
I was very lucky to have worked with Jenn on this project. She is great at trouble-shooting and figuring out how to fix minor problems. Except for when it's 10p.m. the night before the movie is due and her computer kept freezing. : ) I feel as though we worked very well together. We both came up with some ideas for the movie and then decided that Alex's PEZ collection would be the easiest and most interesting topic. We shared the filming aspects as well as the creative consulting. We had so much footage it really is too bad we couldn't have made the movie longer. Well I guess we could have because others did. Maybe A PEZ-U-Mentary Part II is in our future. If there were any real problems at all they would have been with the actual editing of the footage. But we really didn't have that much trouble. We didn't figure out how to stretch the clips to edit them until about an hour before we were done. That would have helped in the earlier editing process. Windows MovieMaker has a very easy to understand tutorial. The set up is similar to Garage Band which helped us as well. I think the movie had a good story, we introduced Alex and his collection and then explained the history and future of PEZ. Again if this had been let's say the final movie project for this or any other class we could've utilized more of our footage.

2. http://indorgs.virginia.edu/mess/wp-content/05ipod_blk_front.jpgThis is my new toy. Except mine didn't come with Bono. Alex got it for me for my birthday. It's all things fabulous and I can't believe I didn't have one before now. I traveled home to Long Island this past weekend and when I got home I showed my iPod to my Dad. He watched a few minutes of the Family Guy movie. As he was watching he said, "I want one!" Now my Dad has always been pretty good with figuring out new technologies. Or at least he knew how to use/work the old standards. He was always the one I called when I was having a problem setting my VCR to tape a show. But now forget about it. He and my Mom were arguing about the computer all morning before we left. Neither of them know how to use my Mom's digital camera. And for some reason their cable provider doesn't have a DVR service. But yet my Dad wants an iPod. The video ones are like personal TV's and he is all about watching TV. At any one time all the TV's in the house could be on and he's not watching any of them. But I digress...

3. On turning 25...
Karen had asked me to blog about what it felt like to turn 25. I had actually been thinking about it before she asked. Well now that I've had some time to process it this is how I feel: like I'm finally an adult. I feel like being 25 is a BIG deal. Well it's a quarter of a century. But also when I think about being younger and hearing that certain people I knew or celebrities were 25 it sounded like an adult age. This is a very big year for me as well; I'm student teaching in the spring and getting married in July. After this summer I'm really going to be an adult with (hopefully) a real job. A real job teaching real students real fun, exciting, and enlightening things. I've been waiting to have a real job for a long time. No more working weekends! But there's also all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult with a real job. But I've wanted the grown up life for a long time. I can't wait to buy a house, decorate, garden, entertain, raise children, and grow old with Alex in it. I think the scary part is that everything I've always wanted is actually here. It's staring me in the face and I'm hesitant to stare back but I'm doing it. It is definitely time for a new chapter in my life to start. If I ever write a book about my life this would be Part III or something. Part I would be growing up, Part II would be the adolescent years. And ok maybe Part III would be college. So Part IV of my life, here I come!

4. Final Project
As far as I know Ray and I are meeting with Jed this Wednesday. I don't know who's paying the bill. Lloyd did tell us that there isn't any money for this type of thing. Go figure. Ray and I talked about asking our employers to sponsor the blog. Or if not, maybe one of the businesses downtown would be willing to do that. Tom from Mando Books might be interested epsecially because his new bar is opening up soon. I still need to sit downtown somewhere and write. Hopefully I'll get inspired from something going on down there...

5. Will Richardson's Visit
I'm very excited that Will is going to be in Cortland tomorrow. Thanks to Natalie for hosting the breakfast. It will be nice to talk with him on a small scale. Maybe I'll ask him some questions about using web tools when student teaching. If he's encountered any student teachers and their problems/concerns with wanting to use technology in the classroom. I'm also going to bring my digital camera so we can take some pictures of his presentation in the library. I might write an article and submit it to the Dragon Chronicle. It's an important topic and our paper could use some articles with substance. Also it's about time grad students get some publicity! Would anyone like to help me with this? It's not that it's a big task it just might be easier with two brains working on it.