Sorry for the lack of posting, this have picked up speed twelve fold.
The student Palms came in. Since I don't want my students to see them yet, I am charging and setting them up at home. My apartment has Palm boxes and chargers everywhere. It looks like there has been some kind of Palm invasion.
Testing begins next week, so only one more day left to review. The week has screamed by, not nearly enough time to cram everything in. I pray that my kids are on the top of their game next week. Can't wait for the tests to be over, my nerves really can't take much more of this.
I plan to introduce the Palms after testing, probably the last week of April. Be looking forward to stories of technology, kids and the hijinks that insue. Should be fun.
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Have you ever wondered how Fox News (in my opinion some of the worst war coverage from a news orginization) would have covered other major world events? (Some not for all readers.)
Well I am about to fall asleep while typing this, so before this poste beginskn to deagrade into soemthign that doesnt' meka cents.
Class dimissed!
Due to lack of interest and time, The Screening Room is no more. Please change blogrolls accordingly.
TSR, we barely knew you.
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Got a friend that needs some help. Let's see what my TechnoSuper Friends can do:
Chris I need you to do some research for me. I want to be able to use a palm or handheld device and use it to work with the internet through my phone anywhere I go. The Tungsten has blue tooth technology but I can't find a blue tooth phone that is a cingular service. Can you reasearch and see how I can do this without a laptop? I would owe you one penny.
If you got any suggestions please leave them in the comments.
And if you help out, you can have half a penny.
_____
BTW, someone must be reading my blog at school, someone with power, they turned the A/C on.
_____
Class dismissed!
I have just joined BlogShares (click picture above for link).
BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links.
Currently WIT's valuation is $348.97. The following graphic is a look at the valuation over the last 14 days:
Class Dismissed!
Introducing WIT's Blogger of the Month!
For the month of April, WIT's Blogger of the Month goes to...
bloggedy blog - Andrew Careaga
Andrew, a fellow Rolla blogger, moved me to the top of his extensive blogroll. That's cool! WIT never gets to be at the top! In addition to this kind action, Andrew's blog is a daily read with a mixture of fun, thoughtful, and interesting entries. He keeps me coming back for more!
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And WIT's 1,000th comment award goes to:
Pressed of Avioding Evil
Thanks Pressed, and all commentors for making WIT a great place to spend some of my spare time. Thanks and kudos to all of you!!!
Class dismissed!
I'm going to be busy with Parent/Teacher Confrences this week so blogging will be spotty at best. (Yes I will finish the Love and Logic series that I started just not sure when.)
Until the week's end, a comment discussion topic for those familiar with it...
What are your thoughts on the current praise and worship music. IreneQ has a good point about the song "I've Found Jesus."
Well, Night Guy really needs to go to bed so Morning Guy won't be cranky. (Seinfeld cracks me up.)
Next week is going to be a long one, and I doubt that I will have much of an opportunity to blog. I have Parent/Teacher Confrences this week which means some late nights at work.
I still need to finish my series on Love and Logic, I haven't forgetten, I just haven't gotten around to it. I was either working on grades, catching a tree, being lost in Central Missouri, or playing a game that I shouldn't be playing.
To keep you entertained, in the comments, share your thoughts on the current trends in Praise and Worship movement: good, bad, and the ugly. IreneQ has a good point about the theology behind the song, "I've found Jesus."
After reading this entry from a fellow teacher, I have decided to start slowly stripping my surname off this site.
It changes from day to day, but when searching for my surname on Google, the blog will often times be listed before my classroom website. That makes me a little uneasy.
On another note... 24 ended with quite a bang tonight.
Gee, I'm going to have to some up with another way to end my entries. Let's start a contest! Here are some guidelines:
1. Come up with a short quippy way to wrap up entries.
2. It should not have my surname
3. You need not submit crude or inappropriate suggestions!
4. Submit in the comments.
I have to blog something real quick so I can say that I have blogged a whole month. Sure it is the shortest month... but whaddya gonna do?
Mr. Wright, out!
I have been looking at some of these desktop applications that can post directly to your blog. I never saw the need in having one since I can just go to the website and make entries from there. But I finally decided to look around at what these desktop application have to offer. I downloaded w.bloggar to play around with. I must say, I am very impressed with this little application. Works like a charm. It even adds some features that you don't get by posting on movabletype web interface like spell check (yeah!), easier linking (Whoo hoo!), and a couple other things. This is actually my first post with w.bloggar. Right now I think that I will be keeping this little app on my computer.
Mr. Wright, out!
Nominated in the Most Inspirational/Encouraging Blog Catagory: Posts Bible quotes, lessons, ideas and stories. Personal and motivational.
The only sad part is that the other nominies include:
-Andrew Careaga. Bloggedy Blog. (Totally off topic, I was reading the Rolla Daily News on my shortened planning period and an article mentioned Andrew, and I was like, I know that guy, well... I don't know him, but I do! Unfortunately there was no one around to celebrate with.)
-Susan L. Prince. Sisters' Weblog.
-Craig Tanner. Avoiding Evil. (Whoever, that guy is...)
Actually, I am surprised I wasn't nominated in the same catagory as the Dullest Blog in the World.
Mr. Wright, out!
I would like to announce a new member to the Gone Ape Network: Citizen of the State. Le Renard Subtil, contributer to Avoiding Evil, is going out on his own. Now this is brand new, so he may not have actually posted anything on the blog, just Pressed's opening comments.
Drop by and welcome him to the blogosphere and the Network.
Mr. Wright, out!
Poll:
Is the new larger font size better than the old one? Pressed need not vote.
Vote in the comments.
I have a review of Star Trek Nemesis up over at The Screening Room.
A review for Two Towers coming soon. Pressed, Michael, and I went to St. Louis to see the movie along with a couple of other things to do, like going to Sam's to make some returns, and picking a digtal camera for Michael's trip to India. We got there a little after 5:00, sold out. We finally found a theater that had seats at 11:00 pm which would mean a very late night (and a very long two days for Michael). Plus, we didn't accomplish anything else, except for eating.
Speaking of Michael's digital camera, I would like to set up a photo gallery for him over at Time to Believe so he can display some of his pitures some of his trip. I don't think I want to use Movable Type. Does anyone have any suggestions for some free photo galleries that I can get running for him? Suggestions would be appriciated.
Mr. Wright, out!
Where has everyone gone? Not been much happening in the blogosphere.
Is that a echo I hear?
Mr. Wright, out!
I helped President Bush write a new speech and you can too. Here is mine:
We are in conflict. Ladies and gentleman, innocent lives must never be destroyed by the law of morality without Saddam Hussein. Above all, there can be no decietful dictators suffering comprehensive, persistant poverty. We have accomplished much, America stands on the principles that we created.
I expect the Bush administration to be calling me any time now to try and hire me.
Mr. Wright, out!
After visiting joy unspeakable and seeing a new addition to that site, I decided that I needed one to. After spending the better part of a day and using the tutorial (written by Dean) mentioned by Cheryl, I think I have figured it out.
So now I would like to unveil a new addition to What in Tarnation?!?!?... My aggregator. That name is confusing, so I will call it Elsewhere in the Blogosphere.
What is it? It is a list of some of my favorite blogs (from my blogroll) and the description of the five most recent entries from that blog. If a blog doesn't show up in the RSS Feed but does in my blogroll, that just means that (a) that blog doesn't have a syndication feature, or (b) the syndication feature for that blog is not being read correctly for some reason. I think it is pretty cool!
Some other addtions to WIT?!?!? includes the Verse of the Day and the related entries now found at the end of each entry on the front page. Neat-o!
Well at least I hope neat-o! Tell me what you think of these new features.
Mr. Wright, out!
After much pestering, I have reorganized Avoiding Evil. Tell me what you think of it.
It seems that my entry, Harry Potter is Evil, has gained some attention from folks who do not ordinarily read my blog. I think that people may be finding this entry through a Google search (I haven't checked my logs lately.) It seemed that some people weren't reading what I actually wrote in the entry and were simply reacting to the sarcastic title of the post. The most recent comment did not see things my way, and I was planning on writing a scathing response to that comment here. I was going to do that. That is until I read The Sakamuyo Log just before posting, taking the wind out of my sails.
So I have nothing to write about...
Well... Let me encourage Christians to present themselves, online and off, in a way that doesn't seem half thought out and unintelligent. That doesn't mean to compromise one's beliefs, just when you present them do it a way that won't reflect poorly on those beliefs.
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Now try Sloganizing your name!!!!!
-Here are some of my favorites for Mr. Wright (with my thoughts):
-This Is Not Your Father's Mr. Wright. (Dang right!)
-Behold the Power of Mr. Wright. (This is going to be the motto for my classroom!)
-Only The Crumbliest Flakiest Mr. Wright. (I'm neither thank you vurrrry much.)
-It's Mr. Wright Time. (I've actually said this in class. Sometime I start talking about myself in the third person just to throw the kids off. They're like: "What?")
-The Best Part of Waking Up is Mr. Wright in Your Cup. (After I have had a shower.)
-Grab Life by the Mr. Wright. (I'd rather you not.)
-A Smooth-Running Mr. Wright is a Relaxing Experience. (Hence the reason for the shower.)
-The Right Mr. Wright at the Right Time. (I just like all the (W)rights in this one.)
Leave some of your slogans in the comments!
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The phrase "What in tarnation?!?!?" is gaining popularity around the world. Last night Michael and I were watching one of my favorite shows, Iron Chef, last night on the Food Network. Iron Chef was filmed in Japan and the shows in America use English subtitles. In the commentary one of the guys said "What in tarnation?!?!?" I jumped up and yelled and screamed and did a little dance. Now I wonder if the Food Network took a little liberty in the translation or if there is a similiar saying in Japanese? I thought it was cool. If you ever catch the King Crab (those things are HUGE!) Battle listen carefully for it.
Mr. Wright, out!
Well Buffy, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been deemed Theologian of the Year. Read the article here. I don't think they saw all of last season. Link from Chi Alpha @ Stanford.
By the way, this season has rocked so far!!!!!
Umm... did anyone notice that David Heddle used the name of this site in a blogs4God post I think I should get a link out of it.
Mr. Wright, out!
I've played around with the look of The Screening Room. Tell me what you think in the comments.
I have a new review up as well.
You want to write a review for The Screening Room? You can! Just e-mail your review to wit@goneapeweb.com. Or if you would like to become a regular contributor let me know.
Thanks!!!!
Mr. Wright, out!
I have posted a review of the GameCube video game, Super Mario Sunshine. You can find it at The Screening Room.
I had my own spider encounter today. I got home from school today at about 7:30 because the school had a Practical Parent Partnership (PPP) get together (ther is one every quarter). I was going to check my mail, walking along the front of my apartment building when sliding down in front of my face, about eye level was a spider about the size of an elephant's eye. My foreward momentum carried me into the spider. The thing was in my eye. Well, I am not proud of this fact, but I'm not afraid to admit it, I screamed like a girl and did a little "Get This Dang Spider Out of My Eye" Dance. I don't know what happened to the spider, and that has me concerned. I know it didn't go down in my clothes, cause I ran into the apartment and quickly took them off to check. Bah. Evil spider.
New review up at The Screening Room. Take a look and leave your thoughts. While you are there, sign-up to recieve notification when The Screening Room is updated.
Mr. Wright, out!
First the 100th entry and now this...
A "cool" badge at blogs4God! And in the top 10 average scores. But if Gann's experience is the norm someone will come around and give me a one.
Thanks, and keep commenting.
Mr. Wright, out.
BTW, I didn't use the silly screen print function to get that picture.
Both WIT?!?!? and Avoiding Evil have been spotlighted on blogs4God.
Me for the History of this site. Read b4G's comments here. Is she being sarcastic? Is this a backhanded compliment? Tell me what you think. I didn't even use the print screen function!
Avoiding Evil was mentioned for his discussion on evangelism.
Thanks blogs4God. I think...
Mr. Wright, out!
I have added some new toys to the ole blog. They both can be found in the right sidebar. First up is the 5 most recent comments made here at WIT?!?!? Cheryl from Joy Unspeakable helped me out with the code. Thanks Cheryl!
The second new gadet is actually a game! Name that Blog give you the opening line of an entry from a blog. It gives you 4 blogs to choose from, pick the one that you think is correct. This is a good way to learn about some new blogs but it is also a good way to get WIT?!?!?s name out there a little bit. So see if you can guess correctly and visit some new blogs while you are at it.
Mr. Wright, out!
One of my new buddies over at Mere Maddness, Ganns, had some very nice things about the Gone Ape Network. That started me thinking about the history of What in Tarnation?!?!? (You have permission to leave class to visit Mere Madness after this lesson. Don't let the eyes scare you away!)
It all started about 5 or 6 years ago when I decided to make a little webpage with all of my favorite links. I used Claris HomePage and created a page that was kept locally on my beloved PowerBook 1400. The page had the unweildy name: Christopher's On-Ramp to the Superinformation Hightway, I thought it was funny. The page was green and yellow. The only copy of this page is still on the PowerBook that hasn't been turned on in awhile. I hated making this page and decided that I would leave the web page creating to someone else and I would stick to just surfing the Internet.
The next page was created while I was at school at SBU. I took an educational technology class in which the basic HTML tags were covered and I began to understand the limitation of HTML. So I tried again with the newly renamed Christopher's Start-Up Page. The page retained its green and yellow color scheme and was coded in everybody's favorite text program NotePad. I hosted it on a free Tripod account.
I found coding by hand to be tedious but it gave me a good foundational knowledge of how HTML works. My third redesign was done in a program called Trellix. I kept the name Christopher's Start-Up Page, changed the colors to teal (close to green) and peach. I made my own graphics by playing around in Adobe Photoshop.
The fourth incarnation of my personal webpage added some of my education projects from SBU including three thematic units. The name changed to CSW's LaserSite. The color scheme included mostly yellow, white, and red. The site was moved off of Tripod and got rid of the popup ads that plague all Tripod sites.
After quickly getting tired of the bold design of CSW's LaserSite I decided to redesign the site with a green (again!) and blue color scheme. I also decided to change the name to What in Tarnation?!?!? in honor of one of my students my first year of teaching. (Read the full story here.)
The biggest addition was of course this blog. I decided to try the blog after watching the ScreenSavers on TechTV. Leo Laporte, one of my favorite "geeks," commented that he just started using Movable Type, switching over from Blogger and he loved it. I decided to give it a whirl. Too bad I didn't realize what all went into installing the program on the server. I had no experience with such things, but after following all of the directions I was able to get everything working. I shared it with my friends and they liked the idea and now we have many fine blogs like Avoiding Evil, Time to Believe, Future Hope, The Screening Room, and Out of My Mind. WIT also got it's own domain name, http://www.whatintarnation.net.
So what does the future hold? Well, I will tell you that Pressed and I are currently working on two new blogs, one for Mr. Huitt and one that will be different than what we have done before. I don't want to give too much away, but I think it will be fun. As far as WIT?!?!? I haven't gotten tired of this design, as a matter of fact, I kinda like it, but I'm sure that the look will change in the future.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions for the future of What in Tarnation?!?!? Leave them when you comment.
Mr. Wright, out!
UPDATE: Wow you can tell that I was up late writing this one. I have corrected several silly errors. Sorry. The people responsible for the errors have been sacked.
We have a new blog joining our community. Out of My Mind is the personal blog of Stuart Dace. Go have a look.
Mr. Wright, out!
UPDATE: Okay you are right Pressed, I was in a hurry (look at the time stamp, I should have been gone by that time!), the link was my fault and has been corrected, but the image was weird and I can't explain what happened with that but it too has been corrected.
I have added some new features to the blog.
. I will add more blogs as I find them.Mr. Wright, out!
Newsweek has a new article about blogging and where to find the interesting blogs.
Read it here: Living In the Blogosphere
Mr. Wright, out!
Well as you can see the blog is a mess and a bit different. I was adding some more links to the template when bam! the blog went all weird on me. The style sheet was not working. So I went back to MovableType to get the default style sheet and changed the style a bit. I did not have time to get everything back in order so that is why things look a little odd. I'm not sold on this style so things could be changing even more. So please excuse he mess.
Well I officially go back to work tomorrow. I say officially becuase I have been there for the last three weeks. Tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday will be teacher meetings and Thursday is the first day of school with the kids and I must say that I am nervous. Changing grades has made this feel like my first year of teaching again! I suppose that the nervous feeling never goes away. Cursive scares me, and so does the MAP test.
Mr. Wright, out!
Keith's Blog had an interesting link about an air conditionning service.
I'm sorry.
Mr. Wright, out!
I am considering a change in the Links page. This change will allow people to easily add their own links and it will become more of a directory, like yahoo, but without having to pay anything. This will even allow people to rate how well they liked a site and make reviews. It will certainly be more interactive and it will actually be easier for me to maintain.
Sounds good doesn't it? Now if I could just get it to work! Installation was a breeze, alot easier than say... MovableType. Everything seemed to be working okay. Then when I went to add a link it didn't appear in the directory. The directory even said it was there but the link was not listed. Anywhere! I added another one (this site) and it worked just fine. Tried again, no beans. Tried two more times and nothing. I have a question in at the support page for this program, we will see if anyone will help me out. If not I will see if I can find a similiar product.
Until then, if you would like to see what the new, more useful, link page would look like you can veiw it here.
Mr. Wright, out!
Update: Well I give up with the Linker program and I am now trying a different program called phplinker. Take a look at both and tell me which one you like best. Here is the other option.
I am almost finished redesigning my class website. It has a different look to the old one, It is also a little less cluttered. Something that I am proud of on this website in particular are the drop down menus used for navigation. This was a feature that I wanted to use for What in Tarnation but I just left it out after getting frustrated. I even designed the logo at the top to utilize this feature but just had to go with links. Well after some research and reading, I finally learned one way to do it. I like it.
Tell me what you think about the redesign.
Mr. Wright, out!
Well I guess I had nothing better to do today than just blog to my little heart's content. 5 entries and I got the webring up and going. Now I just need to get my class website prepped for the new school year. Soon. Monday evening perhaps.
Mr. Wright, out!
I also have posted the first entry on the Screening Room. A review of Signs.
Mr. Wright, out.
Hey gang! I'm starting a webring for Christian blogs. An online community for Christians to share what is going on in their lives and things happening in their church.
The webring is called The Fellowship
Go to the Fellowship homepage to find out how to add your blog to the webring.
But Mr. Wright! I don't have a blog. Well, on the Fellowship homepage you will find links to help you start your own weblog. These options don't require any HTML knowledge and even better, they are totally free!
So what are you waiting for? Join the Fellowship!
Mr. Wright, out!
I have added an option to rate this blog with blog4god. You can do that in the lower right-hand of this page.
Tell me how you rated this blog in the comments and any suggestions on how to improve it. I love adding new features!
Also, tell me if you would like to see more entries on the front page or the same number that there are now. Currently, the front page of the blog displays the last 10 entries.
Mr. Wright, out!
Update: Anna brings up a very good point in the Comments: is 10 high or low? blogs4god does not clearly state which is which and that is why I resisted saying earlier. After looking at some other sites, I believe that 10 is the highest rating, 0 the lowest.
SBU has redesigned their website and it is about time. The previous design was way too simple and at time hard to navigate. But the new design, in my opinion, is wonderful, just the right mixture of pizzazz and usefullness. Kudos!
Visit the SBU Site.
Mr. Wright, out!
Well I'm sitting here at 12:36 in the morning (WAY past my bedtime!) and I'm waiting for the fireworks TO STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEOPLE, THE FOURTH IS OVER GIVE IT A REST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So in the mean time I am watching Star Trek: First Contact (looking forward to Start Trek: Nemesis) and surfing other blogs and I found this site that made me go "Mmmm:"
WAIT!!! Listen to that.... Quiet!!! Maybe they ran out of fireworks! Quick! To bed before they find some more!
Mr. Wright, out (like a light hopefully!)!
...we have upgraded to Movable Type 2.21 from MT 2.11. Ah now, doesn't that feel better?
Mr. Wright, out!
Hey kids! I have found yet another way to be notified when I update the ole blog, and it is really nifty!
It requires Windows (MSN) Messenger. Once you have your account set up follow these simple directions:
While you are at it, why don't you add these fine blogs:
http://www.avoidingevil.com/blog/
http://www.timetobelieve.net/blog/
Remember, when you are adding addresses, type add in front of the addresses.
Tell me if it works!!!!
Mr. Wright, out!
Some further notes on the bugs between Internet Explorer 6 and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, which this blog uses) as reported at the close of the entry Your Sub for the Day... can be found here.
Well that was boring wasn't it? Sorry.
Mr. Wright, out!
Craig and I are beginning the process of working on a new site. This site will be called The Screening Room. The site will discuss recent movies, TV, and other popular entertainment, and then look at that from a Christian worldview. I'm not sure how long it will be before we have it up. When commenting, tell me if you would be interested in such a site. More details to come.
I have recently added a new feature to Blogging With Mr. Wright. When you view an individual entry by clicking on the time of an entry, you will now have the option of e-mail that entry to someone you know. I hope you find this new feature useful.
Mr. Wright, out!
Not that anyone is interested, but, I have just finished upgrading Moveable Type which is the software that runs this blog. It seems that everything is working properly. If you see any problems please let me know.
Mr. Wright, out!
I have asked my good friend Anna Emily to share some of her wonderful stories here to the class. So she will occasionally be subbing here for me. I'm sure you will enjoy her stories as much as I do! If you would like to read one now check out the comments in Day In the Sun.
Another issue with the website, if you have had trouble loading the whole blog page you are not alone. This is a known bug with CSS and IE6. "The scrolling browser bug". No fix as of yet. Just resize this window if it seems to abruptly end at the bottom of the sidebar. If you are not using IE6 you should have no problems.
Mr. Wright, out!
I found this cool program that makes flash .swf files and I downloaded the demo and made the new intro for the website. Tell me what you think in the comment section. Cool? Time waster? Bandwidth waster? I do need to put a skip intro link. (This is on loop. The one at the front of the website is not.)
Tell me what you think!
Mr. Wright, out!
It is finished. Or at least almost. I have been working on a total redesign of CSW's LaserSite, including a new name, What in Tarnation?!? I have had the idea for awhile now. I played around with several ideas, color schemes, and possible new additions, one of which is this blog. Overall, I think it is quite an improvement. I got tired of yellow anyway. The site has been done without frames and fewer pictures. Hopefully it is more efficient. Please leave comments in the blog and drop me a line in the Guestbook about your thoughts on the site.
Hopefully I will have the rest of the About this Site page finished soon.
