Thanks Nat!!

It's really great. I like it a lot. Besides surfing the internet from a thing that I hold in my hand, (and listening to music at school, working out, etc.) I have discovered two really awesome and free uses for the iPod Touch.

One is called Remote. It's a free download from the App Store on the Touch, and it's basic function is to remotely connect to iTunes libraries. Once on the library, it can play any song on that library, but over that libraries "default" speakers. Which is awesome for us, because with our Apple Airport, we can play either one of our libraries over our shared speakers without yanking the plug. So, I can use my iPod to change the song that's playing on my laptop through my wireless speakers, from the other room, or on the porch, or from the courtyard for that matter.

The second cool use is a small app called Mocha VNC Lite (this means its the free version). VNC, or Virtual Network Computing, is basically logging onto my laptop via the iPod and showing everything that's on the monitor on my MacBook on my iPod. This can be useful for looking at files or anything else you'd like to access on the home computer. My iPod only stores 8 GB, while my laptop has 120 GB, so there's plenty on the laptop that I can't put directly on the iPod: with VNC I can have access to the information as long as the laptop is on (I can awake it from sleep mode with a VNC request, which is awesome).

Another useful reason for the VNC is that it can be a remote for everything else that Remote doesn't do. So if I'm sitting away from the machine itself watching a DVD and I want to skip ahead, I can use the iPod as a surrogate for my finger on the mousepad and click on the Forward button. Similarly, if I'm showing a slideshow presentation, I could use the iPod to remotely control what my laptop shows.

I'm still on the lookout for kickass iPod Touch applications that interact in awesome ways with the internet and my laptop. These are two that I've discovered really quickly. I feel like there must be a way to cheaply use this with VoIP services (Voice over IP, or making voice calls over an internet connection) but so far I'm seeing microphones that cost $60, so I don't think the touch will be replacing my phone anytime soon. But if I come across anything awesome, rest assured you'll know about it!

A handheld, cordless vacuum that is. $35 at Sears. The Shark, baby. (Mine's green).

Look out, small pieces of food and stray hairs. There's a new sheriff in town!

Also, an apology for the lack of recipe directions last time. I'll do better next time.

The first two are from this year, my students.

I wrested control of the camera from Miss Bee one day last week and took the following photos of my students. To introduce:

Been a hot minute since we had a good food post here, so I'll go two for one. First up was Miss Bee's contribution to Friday morning staff breakfast on the first week of school. She made whole wheat flour blueberry biscotti. I made some organic Ethiopian coffee to go along - the full 12-cupper!

The biscuits turned out really amazing.


Next was another Miss Bee creation: Belgian endives with quinoa, helped out by lots of spinach and Cheddar cheese. Lots of photos.

First the endives were sauteed a bit to soften them up.


Then the whole mess was baked for a while.


I'm not sure that any of these photos make the food look as delicious as it tasted. So you'll have to take my word.

Here's the best part:

I think the following rules will cover most cases:

i.	Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
ii.	Never use a long word where a short one will do.
iii.	If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
iv.	Never use the passive where you can use the active.
v.	Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
vi.	Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable.

From "Politics and the English Language". I encourage everyone who writes words for others to read to peruse this short essay. Here's one link: "Orwell's Politics and the English Language".

In an effort to clear the Inbox on my desktop along with a desire to prove that we do in fact leave the house, here are a few pictures of us hanging out in public places.

At Papago Brewing Company:


With our recently departed-to-grad school in Colorado friend Alex:

Back to Papago, where we mingle with other patrons, brawnily belt out drinking songs, get into the occasional dust-up, and of course do the crossword puzzle.


This was at Rosie McGaffrey's Irish Pub, where the sign above the door said "Best Fish n' Chips in Phoenix". I had to know, so I got them. It's not true.

Beautiful photo, I'm aware.

Classroom pictures to come. I never remember to take any.