Starting Over

This has been the Years of Starting Over. Two Full Years of Starting Over, in fact.

A little proof? Or we could consider the following a simple inventory:

Two moves. First one from Chico to town. Second from rental to Banner where we will stay until Daniel graduates from NU.

Losses of relatives and love relationships, but incredible gains of friends, old friends, new friends, and Daniel's ultimate integration into Deer Creek society.

New Job, new level. Not so new any more, but what a perfect fit. I love the school and I love the staff. Most of all I love the kids, they are terribly smart and make our days fun, no lie. Can't wait to get back on Weds.

Finally presenting at conference in November. This is good! (I keep telling myself)

Having reread this blog, and thinking about its reason for being, I'm going to carry on with it, despite the fact that it may get a little saucy/sassy/opinionated at times. This is my personal blog and I want to keep writing it. My work blog is a little easier to find and probably (hopefully) a lot more interesting.

Testing the Vid thing

Dying to figure out how to embed video. Life is not worth living if I can't make this happen.

What a Summer

OK, OK, I'm not really qualified to call myself a blogger if I post twice a year, but I have some excellent excuses...

Yes, I have (so hard to confess) been working with dial-up for the past year and it has not been a pretty picture. I am not a dial-up kind of girl. I mean, I have high-speed at work, and had high-speed in my DSL-dialed neighborhood in Chico but kissed it all goodbye for the country life. A little too country.

So, moving back to town (if all goes according to plan) a week from Wednesday.

In the meantime, I have been missing my son, Daniel, as he frolics in MEXICO with my sister, my mother, and her husband Walter. Evidently he is having a great time while I pack up the house. Honestly, I'm happy for him all around, especially as we have all been struggling with breathing some fairly noxious smelling air these days.

So thanks for checking back in, I'm gearing up for a blog-stuffed school year, and lots of new books, of course. I'm going to combine the two in a few mini-review posts here, shortly.

Best Regards,
Jill

Finally, it's done

After quite a bit of hemming and hawing and second-guessing, I made what could be argued was the best decision of my life in moving our family back to Nevada County a little over a month ago.

You can't blame me for all of the deliberation: after all, Daniel and I had it pretty well made in Chico. But that was before I knew how well we would have it here. And my job is only one part of this scenario, just as it's only one part of my life. Anyone who knows me knows I love to work. I do. But I also love to eat and be merry with my family after school. I love to play yahtzee. And watch movies (when I can stay up that late). And read.

Shock and Awe

I'm as shocked as the next teacher that summer is quickly drawing to a close. Granted, the surprise factor should eventually diminish--this does happen every year, after all--but it never does cease to shock me into action. And thank goodness for that, because it's going to take a lot of action to get Daniel and I ready for the new school year.

There are only a million ways I need to catch up before August 14th, the first official day of school. Luckily, one of them is not in the home. I have no housework left to do. The garage is pristine, the yard impeccable. Not a weed in sight. And if you believe that, I've got some oceanfront property for you, yada, yada.

Daniel has been with his dad for a number of days now and this time away has felt so different. This summer as a whole has been completely different. I tentatively started work on my very own book rather than doing extra assignment for the district. I worked hard in my yard, but not the hardest. I inadvertently blew volleyball completely off for the summer and while this in itself is a little shocking, it doesn't actually upset me, which is (you guessed it) shocking.

Library News Can Sometimes Be Exhilarating

This morning Daniel and I read that the county library has just been allocated an additional 195,000 for 2008. This news makes me think that the universe sometimes makes a whole lot of sense. Because as the article suggests, there were approx. 100 Friends of the library in attendance, and as motley as we are, library supporters have one thing in common--they have a passion for their libraries. It seems that the Board took all things into consideration and made an excellent decision. How I love reporting this.

Kudos to Derek Wolfgram and the Friends of the Libraries for organizing such support, and kudos to the Board of Supervisors for doing the right thing. I can't describe how good it feels for having been a small part of this decision-making process. I figure it's a good idea to write the Board a thank you note, then we'll be off to the library.

In other news, Wimbledon is on rain delay. Big surprise.

Software and Implementation: Oh, My.

I love our age of hyper-technology, I really and truly do. I love talking with people about technology. I love looking closely at new technologies and wondering how quickly I might be able to use them if I had one in my possession.

I even love the problems that are an inherent part of getting from purchase to implementation and even better, actual use by mortals. I really do. I love troubleshooting. I love checking my email during the summer--several times a day. Sure. I do. I actually do.

Technology makes me feel connected and even enabled me to behave like a real citizen this past Tuesday. Technology allowed me to write a good-looking letter of support for the Butte Co. Library system. It enabled me to quickly learn the whereabouts of the Board of Supervisors meeting and the designated meeting time. I was even able to pull up a digital map and have some confidence about my destination. At the meeting, technology allowed the Chief Administative Assistant (is there an oxymoron in there, somewhere?) to make a glowing .ppt that really did look pretty darn good and digestable for just about anyone in attendance.

Note to self: technology is good.

But there is something else that we need to hold on to, here, and tightly, and that's common sense. Nothing in the techno realm resembles common sense, not even a little bit. Students are not famous for being great evaluators of web information, for one example, and many adults aren't all that much savvier.

And because so much technology is so new, you naturally have in any given microcosm a great disparity between the techno-philes and -phobes. And with developments at the speed of DSL the chasm grows in what can be for some a scary-fast way.

But the only response is to paddle as fast as we can and grab a little flotsam along the way, even if we don't nail the buoy on the first try.