spelling lesson

One of my students pointed out that the Lewiston hockey team spells their name Maineiacs. Perhaps my blog name is misspelled. I wonder if there is a "right" spelling.

short musing.

Sitting in Charlotte: February 1, 2007

Well, the Charlotte airport has free Internet service! How nice is that? Unfortunately, I have over 2 hours to experience this because my flight is over 2 hours late. The 2 previous postings I wrote while on the airplane. You can send an email to a special address and it automatically gets posted. how cool is that? I had the same feature on my dissertation blog and loved it. I found it in the settings of this blog service and knew exactly what it was. I thought I had lost the email address, but I found it and was able to successfully post via email. Ain't technology grand? :-)

L.L. Bean: February 1, 2007

My flight to Dallas isn't until nearly 2:00, but I left Farmington early so I could have some shopping time in Portland. I wanted to go to LL Bean. Of course, with their store in Freeport being open 24 hours a day/ 365 days a year (they say that there are no locks on the doors, but I forgot to look), I could've gone late Sunday night when I get back. But I decided to go during the day when I could see it. I drove through Freeport on my way to Farmington back on January 8, but didn't see the store. I had no trouble finding it though, today.

Jodi lives near Portland, and she left her ski pants at the house when she was in town for the ski patrol article, so Melanie gave them to me to give to her if it was convenient. So I got to town and I called Jodi from the LL Bean parking lot. She couldn't believe that she hadn't missed her ski pants and she was thrilled with the timing because she was going somewhere this weekend and probably would've needed 'em. She was lying in bed reading a good book when I called so she got up and was going to meet me in town. Good timing! I went on in to LL Bean (she has worked there off an on for a long time, so she didn't need to go in the store). I got some "mocs" and a shirt on sale (and a new pair of smartwool socks not on sale) and had a chance to look around the store. My original plan was to get the snow mocs and leave them in the trunk, but the weather is so bad in Dallas (Brenda wrote that it snowed twice yesterday) that I shoved them in my suitcase and will break them in in Texas. I was in my car getting ready to call Jodi when she called to say that she was on Main Street. We talked on the phone until she pulled into the parking lot and could see me. We actually had time to grab a bite to eat. We ended up at a local place that's famous for its chowder....Morrison's I think was the name. I got corn chowder which was delicious. We yacked a lot and then I had to scoot. I got to the airport without any problems and was checking my bags in 40 minutes before the flight. They have the 30 minute rule, so I had 10 minutes to spare. It was very stress free. I kind of like flying out of Portland. It's a nice size airport and never very crowded. Plus I REALLY like the airport gift shop after I found the perfect thank you gifts for my committee in less than 20 minutes when I was there in December. ;-)

getting out 10 minutes early: January 31, 2007

Well I did it again. I got to the end of what I needed to cover and either the content or the presentation of the content was such that it just didn't go as well as I had hoped. There were 10 minutes left and I just said, "Y'all can go." But then one of the students said, "But you never let your classes out early." How did he know that? Well, it turns out, he read my blog! I was taken aback while simultaneously being flattered. But there was a good informal discussion afterwards and I figured out that one thing was, now that the class is 2 hours and 10 minutes, I should've given them a 10-minute break in the middle. But I'm so used to teaching for 5 straight hours, I didn't think about it. Last week, I had two one-hour-long classes with a natural 10 minute break but this week, one group is out in the classrooms and I have the other group for the full time period. Wait! That means, I didn't let them out early, I just gave them their 10 minute break at the end of class! . Too bad I didn't think of that quick comeback in class. ;-) So I gave the illusion of letting them out 10 minutes early. That's the ultimate classroom management trick! I wonder if it's still considered a magic trick if the "magician" isn't aware that s/he is doing it at the time.

But they're a good group of students and a lot of fun. They just keep me on my toes for making sure my class is really engaging. Fortunately, I have fabulously engaging content: technology (fun stuff) and classroom management (they know how critical this is).