tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19591036596891417252012-02-11T22:04:02.129-06:00A blog that celebrates creativity in work and teachingKRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-56996180813590805682012-02-11T21:47:00.001-06:002012-02-11T21:47:42.398-06:00

I made a error on the cider post - the allspice should have been reduced to 1/2 teaspoon.  I have corrected this in the orginal post but if you downloaded this before 2/11/2012 you will want to change your copy.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-43127180727623824022012-02-10T12:02:00.000-06:002012-02-10T18:50:40.141-06:00

My uncle Jack M. Koonce died last week.  I understand that in his last few years, he had suffered from Alzheimer’s.  I had not seen him in over a decade since he and my aunt were no longer married, and so we had lost touch.  Like all of us, he was a complex individual and his life left behind a mixture of achievements and failures but in our relationship, he was always a kind soul. Since he had

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-20027510128257819032012-01-29T23:00:00.001-06:002012-02-11T21:42:56.017-06:00

A few years ago, we visited Williamsburg at Christmas and I fell in love with the spiced cider that seemed to be served at every restaurant. There is nothing better than a mug of hot spiced cider and a homemade cookie on a cool night. The only pity is that Mississippi winters are very short so we only have a week or two before it is too warm for hot drinks but I wanted to post this for those of

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-51067592752638518892012-01-09T10:56:00.002-06:002012-01-09T11:04:32.677-06:00

Received this story from a coworker and thought that this was interesting. William Carey began as a women's college and this ring dates back to that era.   Follow the link to read about this ring. Diver finds woman’s 1923 class ring, tracks down her grandson

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-13173114457051473502011-10-06T23:41:00.001-05:002011-10-07T08:49:56.794-05:00

This evening was the opening reception for the William Carey 250th Art Exhibit. I had intended to make more than one piece but I just did not have the time. I did finish a silver piece that represents a flower called “Breath of Heaven” that was discovered by William Carey. This was finished a few weeks ago for the exhibit, and since this was something of an experiment for me, I decided to write

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-88643404167982624242011-08-16T00:30:00.000-05:002011-08-16T00:30:05.285-05:00

This is the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Carey. In honor of this event, William Carey University is organizing an art exhibit showcasing 250 works celebrating the life of the great missionary. This is pretty tall order since our university is not a very large one and 250 works of art is a large collection of work. So this is an opportunity for you. If you ever wanted to participate

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-78350361616236980412011-07-22T19:15:00.001-05:002011-07-22T19:16:10.170-05:00

This is a popular story that has been around the Internet for a while.  I learned today that it is true that silver is reflective when it is ready to pour.  At the reflective stage,  the impurities have been isolated by charcoal and the silver is at the correct temperature to pour.   Although I do not know if the following story is true, it is possible.  It is the end of the term for my

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-2127563035705283402011-07-09T17:11:00.009-05:002011-07-09T17:32:35.684-05:00

One of the most wonderful changes in the information age has been the explosion of color that is now free for use in the design of instructional materials.  Unfortunately, this has left behind an overlooked group, color blind and low vision computer users. This problem hit home for me a few years ago when I was teaching an undergraduate computer application class, and noticed that one student

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-69945171025008387442011-06-17T00:08:00.024-05:002011-06-17T00:34:12.938-05:00

My feet were so hot. . . I had to keep sliding my toes in and out of my shoes. I could not believe how hot my shoes were. I know that black absorbs heat but this was unreal. Even when I touched my shoe with my hand, it was hot to the touch.Jon and I were at a ship commissioning for the Navy. We were very excited to be there, not many people have the opportunity, and we love patriotic events.  We

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-5716462497072987602011-02-19T20:58:00.003-06:002011-02-19T21:03:00.882-06:00

I took a break from getting ready for next term to catch some beads at our town's first carnival parade of the season. The weather was perfect and we had the good fortune to stand next to some first time parade goers. We really enjoyed the excitement of the children at the parade. There were many, many throws and a good variety of groups represented. It was a grand afternoon. Two families were

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-83637095997710942862011-02-08T12:46:00.010-06:002011-02-09T22:32:01.069-06:00

I am presenting a session today at MECA - Mississippi Educational Computing Association. For those of you who would like a copy of the presentation, I have posted it here. The original presentation had animated images but since this post was converted to a PDF file those images are now static. This presentation was intended for beginning computer users. Using SmartArt, Charts, and Shapes in

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-48536608903892383622011-01-17T14:11:00.001-06:002011-01-27T06:03:49.918-06:00

Living so close to the ocean allows for random meetings with wildlife. We live literally next door to a national park and so we entertain uninvited visitors ranging from raccoons, bunnies, foxes and turtles. One of the most interesting groups are the seagulls. Every time the weather looks to turn stormy,  seagulls move into the parking lots. You can see a group beginning to gather in this photo.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-25647021751249850572010-12-22T22:05:00.002-06:002010-12-23T00:17:47.284-06:00

I have not fully made the transition to the digital age; I still send Christmas letters. When I was working through the cards this year, I realized that my address book is hopelessly out of date. This post is for those of you that somehow have drifted out of my life due to my neglect in keeping up with the most important part of life, the people that enrich it. If you are one of the lost threads

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-77679023992773665282010-12-18T11:31:00.002-06:002010-12-18T18:41:36.833-06:00

I am so impressed this.  An engineer named Marc built a working automatic door like the ones in Star Trek complete with swooshing sound.  I love it! Now if he could just work out that replicator thing. You can view a view of the door at this link. Star Trek Door There is an extended video of the door with more details at Star Trek Door Extended Version You can also read about this project

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-89467511351773907122010-11-30T13:54:00.000-06:002010-11-30T13:54:45.981-06:00

Passed a lot of automobile accidents on my way home from Thanksgiving.  It made me think about personal preparedness. One of the things we should all have is a medical emergency card.  There is a free site that produces a completed (ICE -in case of emergency) information card that proves invaluable in providing treatment when you are unable to speak for yourself. It is provided by a company

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-14706392470428173532010-11-18T09:52:00.001-06:002010-11-18T10:00:57.484-06:00

I recently finished teaching a course that included information on developing effective safety lessons for the use of power tools. While collecting materials for that class, I can across an excellent site that contains high quality free safety videos for working with power tools.  The Power Tool Institute  is an organization that works to to building global understanding of power tools and for

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-59235381027693834492010-10-01T22:49:00.000-05:002010-10-01T22:49:29.881-05:00

I teach a course on the history of work, and since I am ever vigilant to prevent the nap monster from invading my class, I am always looking for interesting and related material. The Wedgwood pottery works was noteworthy in the history of manufacturing because Josiah Wedgwood organized his workers so that they specialized in particular skills. This greatly increased the quality of his products.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-14200846677316690952010-07-05T22:51:00.001-05:002010-07-05T22:53:23.904-05:00

One the architectural features I really love are arched doorways. As I was working on some home improvement projects that are already in progress this weekend, I started day dreaming about possible future projects. I found this great video on making a square doorway in an arched doorway using a kit. The kits in the video are located at curvemakers. There are lots of great choices but I

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-57210944349264809132010-07-05T22:17:00.002-05:002010-07-07T14:03:04.992-05:00

I have accepted a new position at William Carey University and I am very excited about the move. I am the new Associate Professor and Chair of the Career and Technical Education Department at William Carey and I am working to launch two programs in August. There will be an undergraduate and graduate degree and this will be the only program in this field in the southern part of Mississippi. It is

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-56034362030403181112010-06-14T20:23:00.001-05:002010-06-14T20:26:05.558-05:00

One of the reasons that the internet is so amazing is the quantity of information that is available for free for you to use in your lessons. This wealth of information makes it hard to locate what you need. Learning to use search terms effectively is the first step (see Tips to Effective Internet Searching). It is also helpful to consider how the information might be organized. This can help you

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-30215936424550709152010-06-13T22:20:00.000-05:002010-06-13T22:20:27.838-05:00

There are many sites that offer help on lesson planning . I have selected three sitese on this topic that you might find particularly useful. 1. Adprima has a wealth of information about writing effective lessons. There are many useful ideas here but the listing of common mistakes is particularly helpful in reviewing your own work. Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-83554078790139968592010-06-13T21:47:00.002-05:002010-06-13T21:50:17.467-05:00

I am beginning my last few weeks of work at the University of Southern Mississippi and I will closing down the related web site that I used for the IT 365 class that I taught at USM. As promised, I will gradually move the links that people found useful to this site so that those of you who use those links will still have access to them. Look for these links and related blog posts under the

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-11350292362618565652010-04-19T11:19:00.000-05:002010-04-19T11:19:17.084-05:00

So far April has been one of those overscheduled months that I call a “running on Jell-O” experience. This means that you are running as fast as you can but the ground seems to be sliding back on you. So like most people in such a pattern I was beginning to feel a little like a child on Saturday morning when all of their cartoons have been cancelled for a political debate. In short, unloved and

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-1809866600036965052010-02-22T16:30:00.003-06:002010-02-25T19:38:20.800-06:00

One the reasons, I started this site was to celebrate excellence in workmanship.  I recently stumbled across a blog by Mary Corbet while looking for information on cloth of gold. She is a master of embroidery. She creates by hand ecclesiastical embroidery that is simply exquisite. She has posted an example piece in six entries,  the first image shows the layout of the planned piece.  It is a

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-82964143196113164622010-02-19T18:34:00.003-06:002010-02-25T21:20:28.739-06:00

I recently spoke a conference on ways to increase your productivity on your computer. Although I touched on several topics, several people have contacted me regarding the section on organizing e-mail and computer files. For that reason, I am posting a heavily edited version of that presentation on this site. I needed to remove the screen shots in the presentation due to copyright concerns but I

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-28349606238135218152010-02-18T16:52:00.001-06:002010-02-25T21:53:05.600-06:00

I did not think it was possible but we had a snow day last week in Mississippi. Snow was even expected on the coast but we missed it. I understand that it did snow for about five minutes but I must have blinked and missed it. Four inches fell about an hour and half north of Ocean Springs in Hattiesburg and it did get cold enough that all the palm trees are now brown. I really felt sorry for all

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-20129990306688881702010-02-01T11:29:00.005-06:002010-02-25T21:25:51.683-06:00

Last week, it was determined that the problem with our car was not fixable. Since this was a new car, we were able to trade it in at a good price on a replacement. The cause of the problem was never determined. The mystery problem was that the car would race unexpectedly even when the car was in neutral and there was no application of the gas pedal. Applying the brakes was not effective and the

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-75065255827410619972010-01-19T13:14:00.001-06:002010-02-25T21:22:11.877-06:00

One of our cars is very new and has now been at the dealer for repairs for nearly three weeks. Everyone agrees that there is a problem but they cannot find the source of the problem. When we bought the car last spring the salesman proudly explained how new cars are now have systems as complex as the systems in fighter plans of a few decades ago. This was not comforting to me. I do not have

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-80820465057214124122009-12-15T05:42:00.001-06:002010-02-25T21:35:13.699-06:00

Time to dust off the cobwebs and post a new entry. We are at the end of the dead rush to Christmas break, all my grades are in and I have to brag about some the wonderful work that my students created this term. My computers in education class was a great group and their ends of term collections were wonderful. We worked with teaching through narrative and in the integration of animation in to

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-12888117360694525642009-11-09T00:00:00.002-06:002010-02-25T21:51:28.703-06:00

Dutch Fishing Boats in a Storm: 1801 by Turner Ida will be my first hurricane since Katrina and I would be less than honest if the prospect of this surprise storm did not make me a little uneasy. I have been through many hurricanes but Katrina was a life changing event so even the prospect of a baby (category 1) storm tends to catch my attention when it shows up on radar heading for our home.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-76925582185898466052009-10-20T11:00:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:27:53.600-06:00

My freind and I have been co-writing engineering graphic workbooks for about ten years. In the beginning, we were both teaching graphics so this was a natural extension of our work. In later years, I have moved away from that field but I still enjoy working with this subject even through the time I have to devote to it is much more limited. I was first exposed to drafting as a student in high

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-63166113198887985412009-10-15T17:10:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:27:10.340-06:00

As many of you may know, my department at the university is slated to be closed this year. I am an Associate Professor of Technical and Occupational Education at The University of Southern Mississippi. This means that my colleagues and I will very likely lose our jobs. Since two of us are tenured faculty members and one of us is a tenured track faculty member, this has been reported a good bit in

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-71170635848991146132009-09-29T23:52:00.005-05:002010-02-25T21:51:53.358-06:00

I am in one of those periods of time when I cannot sleep again. There is just too much going on at work and I am behind on a project so instead of sleeping I end up staring at this little screen. So I looked up some articles on this topic and to my surprise, exercise actually keeps people awake if they exercise too close to bedtime. Now since exercise is a rare and novel event in my life, I am

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-91708161905923954022009-09-22T21:02:00.007-05:002010-02-25T21:42:08.801-06:00

Every now and then you read something that is simply beautiful and you wish you could write something half so memorable. Today is the day to honor the memory of St. Thomas of Villanova who was the Archbishop of Valencia in the 1500's and a noted educator of his time. Although he was remarkable in many ways, it is his writing that stays with me. This is how he described the love of God. "

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-3360929547611904722009-09-20T22:19:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:52:12.035-06:00

A grotesque in masonry is a stone sculpture that acts like a gutter to direct water away form a roof. (A gargoyle serves a similar purpose but the water exits out the mouth of the carving; the water runs over the top of a grotesque). In the great age of cathedral building, these often depicted demons or other representations of evil as well as mythical or fanciful figures. In the National

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-26361632411160985562009-09-15T11:05:00.002-05:002010-02-25T21:23:36.508-06:00

I was in the library last week looking for an old textbook on metal working. I had forgotten how to calculate something and to my surprise, the information I needed was no longer in my current books. All of the newer books have wonderful sections on why something should be done or the theory behind an idea or practice but specific directions on how to do something is slowly vanishing. I

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-59649540904994820342009-09-10T22:27:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:52:29.585-06:00

Woke up with muscles so stiff that I could only move like the Tin Man. Since this had gotten progressively more painful over the last two days and I had a fever, I decided to go to the doctor. This was quite a learning experience. We have not been in the area long enough to have a family doctor so I went to an after hours clinic. While I was waiting, several persons were denied treatment because

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-59304696697552348952009-09-09T00:12:00.014-05:002010-02-25T21:47:12.261-06:00

When you are a pug, one of the big problems in your life is what to do with your tongue when you nap. Here are some of Kao's attempts at a solution. Hold it with your paw. Fold it in half. Rest it on your pillow. I am sure that he will work on this again tomorrow.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-25948081396742258192009-09-04T11:06:00.006-05:002010-02-25T21:28:39.823-06:00

Last week senior faculty in the department of economics at my university offered to retire to save their department and the jobs of their younger colleagues. Although I admire the nobility of the gesture, this idea makes me uncomfortable. It can easily become an expectation. Although at present, such a movement would benefit me (in my profession, I am still considered young), I worry about what

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-23652516298919223842009-09-02T16:48:00.004-05:002010-02-25T21:29:01.605-06:00

Last spring, I achieved the famous goal of every academic. After years of work I was awarded tenure. This is considered to be the ultimate gold star. I have worked in industry and in higher education and the hours in the university world are very long, much more so than industry jobs. The public does not see this since so much of the work takes place in locations outside the office. One year I

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-53376288168819451682009-08-26T09:50:00.007-05:002010-02-25T21:29:33.717-06:00

This is a very interesting white paper on the status of higher education. It highlights some issues that have long been lurking in the background. The core of the idea is that there is some content that is really worth knowing and that letting students determine what they want to learn is not always in their best interest. I thought this was a good addition to the previous posts on how we

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-76356885621333078452009-08-25T23:31:00.007-05:002010-02-25T21:35:34.795-06:00

I was standing in line at an office supply store and looked down into a display filled with that faultless symbol of childhood, crayons. There they were all lined up in their neat little rows like little solders just waiting for orders from commanding little fingers. Perfect points and neat wrappers. Bright happy colors just waiting to work outside the lines. I just had to hold a box to

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-12800614664412438372009-08-07T23:54:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:49:27.283-06:00

Ran across a nice little article: The Dirty Dozen Dangerous Online Job Search Assumptions Good information that would be easy to forget in the depression of a long job hunt. With so many people looking for work, I thought it might be worth posting.

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-47628222081723806152009-08-05T23:35:00.005-05:002010-02-25T21:42:28.713-06:00

I try to spend a few minutes each day reading in the morning before I start my day and at night before I go to bed. Some of these readings are just for enjoyment and others are part of a daily devotional practice. One of my favorite devotional readings is a work called Butler’s Lives of the Saints. This is a collection of daily readings for each day that offers short biographies of historical and

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-74042315035595092482009-08-05T22:16:00.004-05:002010-02-25T21:38:52.087-06:00

I had the awkward experience of meeting someone whose house we had seriously considered purchasing but in the end we did not make an offer on that property. Of course they wanted to know why we had not selected their home. No one is going to answer this question because there is no clear answer. Nothing is more personal that selecting your home. A strength to one buyer may be a weakness in the

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-31816081496715116152009-08-05T22:08:00.003-05:002010-02-25T19:39:46.464-06:00

Excellence in design is a rare quality. Jon sent me a link to a video about this amazing expanding table design and I had to look up the source. Such a wonderful design deserved to be recognized. The original idea is quite old but this current incarnation is both functional and beautiful. Check out the videos at http://www.dbfletcher.com/capstan/ The type of item you want just because it is so

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-60320618473840637042009-07-14T15:20:00.000-05:002009-07-14T15:21:08.781-05:00

Have to change my email address since we are moving and Comcast is evil. The new address is Karen.Juneau@gmail.comThanks,Karen Juneau

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-90217872461800418342009-07-13T08:15:00.005-05:002010-02-25T21:55:52.786-06:00

All packed and ready to go. . . Just need to clean house for the last time . . .

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-7367735156670733852009-06-28T22:15:00.004-05:002010-02-25T21:38:22.464-06:00

Now that we are looking to buy a house, something that really surprises me is how many people do not clean their home before they put it on the market. I have stepped over laundry in the middle of the room, been unable to see what color the countertops were through the clutter and been knocked over by the smell of kitchen garbage. I understand that keeping a clean house is hard since we are all

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-21612760361327115562009-06-24T09:18:00.006-05:002010-02-25T21:39:39.213-06:00

I do not believe that selling my home makes me an expert but since I have received a lot of questions about what we did to sell our home so quickly for our asking price, the next few posts will list what worked for us. 1. The single most important thing we did was use an interior designer to select paint colors for our home. This is something that we learned a long time ago. Interior designers

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-44261411612267189162009-06-20T22:18:00.005-05:002010-02-25T21:56:27.099-06:00

Ok, minor panic. As you may already know I am to relocate to the coast campus for fall so my husband and I spent every spare moment last spring getting our home ready to sell. It has been on the market for three weeks and yesterday we received multiple offers, two of which were for our asking price. We accepted one but we now have to be out of our home before July 15. We began looking for a home

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-76531495388946518982009-06-08T00:34:00.010-05:002010-02-25T21:41:42.744-06:00

We have had a lot of people view our house this week so maybe the real estate market is looking up. We hope so. Several people have mentioned the urban legend about St. Joseph helping to sell houses so I found the following link interesting. http://www.snopes.com/luck/stjoseph.asp St. Joseph is the patron saint of homes and carpenters so I can understand how this legend got started. I really

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-31420494536122662392009-06-02T16:43:00.006-05:002010-02-25T21:44:46.692-06:00

Our home is finally finished and so I have placed a slide show of it here to showcase our hard work. Katrina is really finally over and now it is time to move on. I hope someone loves it and it becomes as nice a home for them as it was for us. It is ironic that you never really fix up a place until you are interested in moving on. Next time I hope to break this pattern but I better not make any

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-4205552782678640232009-06-01T22:35:00.006-05:002010-02-25T21:43:35.634-06:00

We have been spending every spare moment for months working on our house. I did not know that it was possible to be sore in every muscle in your body at once. I am walking with the grace of C3PO and I lost feeling in my finger tips weeks ago. Everything has been painted, repaired replaced, polished and organized. My kitchen is a masterpiece of organization; everything is grouped by function. It

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-79518637010724684362009-05-31T23:27:00.005-05:002010-02-25T21:54:11.606-06:00

It happenned again. My husband and I went out for dinner at moderate restaurant and the waiter decided to pull up a chair and sit down with us while he took our order. What is up with this? My first job was as a waitress in family restaurant. It is a hard job, you stand all day, your feet hurt and the pay is not very good. People often blame you for problems that are not in your control, like a

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-67900952936631473732009-05-21T12:32:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:30:57.322-06:00

Just finished reading "Why Don't Student's Like School?" that I mentioned in a previous post and thought it was a good general summary of cognitive science in a very readable format. This is no small trick and I really appreciate how the author included only concepts that could be useful to teachers. I may use this in one of my classes an an optional read. It might be a good change of pace from

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-85935914841867018842009-05-15T22:22:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:37:02.255-06:00

Most people when you tell them you work in education assume that they know exactly what that is all about since everyone went to school and so everyone is an expert on what teachers do. I am now in the middle of the famous “break”; you know the one that all professors enjoy where we lounge at home in our spacious private libraries, drink fine wines and sample French cheese with our colleagues

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-39584694765395021812009-05-08T09:37:00.004-05:002010-02-25T21:31:40.561-06:00

Just read a review of really interesting new book titled "Why Don't Student's Like School? in the Wall Street Journal. (You can read the review at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124079001063757515.html ) It takes on a lot of sacred cows in education like teaching "critical thinking" and "learning styles". Sound like a great read and one of those books that needed to be written. Time to check it

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-43475796747613815642009-04-29T10:29:00.004-05:002010-02-25T21:44:02.992-06:00

My room is now covered in neat stacks of end of term exams, papers and portfolios waiting for my review. I used to dread this end of the term flood but I have changed my opinion on this. It is really pretty exiciting. Those stacks contain the sum of what my students have learned this term. Each paper is a snapshot of where someone is in their life. Some are wonderful, some middling and some

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-12116231598355744882009-04-28T16:30:00.003-05:002010-02-25T21:46:16.736-06:00

I was talking to my mom today about the cool roof idea and mentioned that I never see a white roof. She knew the reason for this right away. Light roofs show mildew and pine tree tassels make yellow/brown stains that are very hard to remove when they sit too long on most materials. So a white roof would look terrible in just a short time. Dark colors hide this problem. So now you know two things

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-35488890061031200742009-04-26T22:40:00.006-05:002010-02-25T21:45:50.632-06:00

Worked on the house again this weekend. Every muscle is sore and of course I am sunburned since I was working on the roof painting cupolas. The roof just holds the heat and it gets pretty hot on a dark roof even in the late spring. This made me wonder why we have black roofs in the first place. Dark colors hold heat and yet even though I live in the Deep South, all the roofs are dark to imitate

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959103659689141725.post-79870597650104625032009-04-25T13:30:00.008-05:002010-02-25T21:32:44.793-06:00

It is the end of another term and as I think back over the many students that I have encountered in past dozen or so years, I am surprised at how little students have changed. We may have computers, cell phones, and Twitter but every spring even my most dedicated students begin to stare out the virtual window. They are wandering in Facebook, checking e-mail and reading movie reviews. This really

KRJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02049058121858592588noreply@blogger.com2