2.What color is your favorite hoodie?
Grey, not really into hoodies.

3.Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
Yes, many times.

4.Do you plan outfits?
Absolutely. In the vain of Steve Ellis, orange shirt Wednesday baby!

5.How are you feeling RIGHT now?
Fine, a little irresponsible for doing this instead of working.

6.Whats the closest thing to you that’s red?
Isaac’s Elmo Chair

7.Do you say aim or a-i-m?
a-i-m

8.Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
Was telling another teacher at my school who is having a baby in March about how awesome Word World is.

9.Did you meet anybody new today?
No.

10.What are you craving right now?
Glass of cold water.

11.Do you floss?
Not really, I wish I did.

12.What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
Dolls

13.When was the last time you talked on aim?
Before I started using Facebook so probably like 2007

14.Are you emotional?
A twitch, mostly for happy moments in movies. Sometimes sad.

15.Would you dance to the taco song?
The what?

16.Have you ever counted to 1,000?
I don’t think so. I have probably counted to 10 100 times in my life though, so that should count.

17.Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
Soft ice cream bite, hard ice cream lick or use a plastic spoon.

18.Do you like your hair?
Pretty much. Especially after it is cut for about 2.5 weeks. Then it is too long.

19.Do you like yourself?
Yes

20.Have you ever met a celebrity?
I met Harry Volkman the other night.

21.Do you like cottage cheese?
Yes

22.What are you listening to right now?
The Big Bang Theory

23.How many countries have you visited?
3

24.Were your parents strict?
Strict enough, not really, but I was a good kid so they didn’t need to be.

25.Would you go sky diving?
Yes, I might wait until Isaac is older, like out of college, just in case.

26.Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
I would eat with any President, how awesome would that be?

27.Would you throw potatoes at him?
No

28.Is there anything sparkly in the room you’re in?
Just my wife’s eyes.

29.Have you ever been in a castle?
Just in Zelda

30.Do you rent movies often?
Blockbuster online

31.Who sits in behind you in your math class?
Not in math, but I would sit in the back row.

32.Have you made a prank phone call?
Yes, we used to call one Pizza Hut and then three way another one and they people would talk to each other and be really confused.

33.Do you own a gun?
No

34.Can you count backwards from 74?
Probably

35.Who are you going to be with tonight?
Wife

36.Brown or white eggs?
White

37.Do you own something from Hot Topic?
No

38.Ever been on a train?
Yes

39.Ever been in love?
Yes

40.Do you have a cell-phone?
Blackberry Storm

41.Are you too forgiving?
Sometimes, but can you really be too forgiving?

42.Do you use chap stick?
No

43.What is your best friend doing tomorrow?
Probably going to work in Chicago

44.Can you use chop sticks?
I can do anything. I never have, but I am confident that I can.

45.Ever have cream puffs?
Yes

46.Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
Yes, I thought it was very good.

47.What was the last question you asked?
Do you want me to plug it in this side.

48.What was the last CD you bought?
Taylor Swift, Fearless

49.Boys or girls?
Either way

50.Is your hair curly?
No

51.Last time you cried?
IDK

52.Ever walked into a wall?
Yes. I was leading the way through a mirror maze and walked right into the wall.

53.Do looks matter?
I would like to think the answer is no, but I am sure they matter on some level.

54.Have you ever bought anything from Pac Sun?
No

55.Have you ever slapped someone?
No

57.Favorite color?
Blue

58.Are you sarcastic?
Yes

59.The last person you held hands with?
Gina

60.Do you sleep with the TV on?
No

61.Where was your default picture taken at?
IDK

62.Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people?
It seems likely, but I like most people.

63.Do you like your life right now?
Yes, a little hectic, but good.

64.How often do you talk on the phone?
Very little. Text and Facebook a fair amount.

65.What is your favorite animal?
Tiger

66.What was the most recent thing you bought?
Steak and Potatoes and Jewel

67.Do you have good vision?
With my glasses, 20/20, I foget what my presciption, but pretty good up close. I can type without glasses.

68.Can you hula hoop?
Not really. On Wii Fit I do okay, but real life doesn’t go as well.

69.Could you ever forgive a cheater?
Forgive yes, trust again, that would be tough. (I presume this means a lover. I could forgive a student cheating and give them another chance without prejudice.)

70.Do you have a job?
Yes, I teach children and hopefully make a difference.

71.Can you handle the truth?
Yes, the truth is always best.

72.What are you wearing?
A brown T-Shirt with an Eagle on it and my khaki shorts.

What I find most compelling about Twitter is its real time nature. As news or events happen you can find out instantly. This might be as mundane as your friend going to the grocery store or as big as a plane crashing into the Hudson river.

Twitter broke the story first and this is becoming a big use of the social networking program.

Twitter first off the mark with Hudson plane crash coverage – Editors Weblog via kwout

Twitter has been rapidly expanding in size over the past several months. This article from mashable on September 16th, 2008:

Twitter is Growing Like Crazy: Up 422% in 12 Months via kwout

And this article from mashable on March 16th, 2009:

Twitter Now Growing at a Staggering 1,382 Percent via kwout

both indicate that Twitter is growing at a huge rate. (If you follow the link above back to mashable they have a list of the all the traffic for social networking sites.)

So, Twitter has doubled in usage between January and February, I wonder what prompted that? My contention is that the Hudson River incident really put Twitter into the spotlight. It had already been growing leading up to September 08 but the January 15th crash clearly had a huge impact on the site’s popularity.

Whoa, Twitter Mania via kwout

I don’t think anyone knows exactly where Twitter will go yet and if it will ever be able to achieve full market penetration. One problem currently, is that Twitter is not catching on with the youth.

Nielsen: Twitter’s growing really, really, really, really fast | The Social – CNET News via kwout

It seems that most teens/millenials don’t have a need for Twitter as they have other sites already at their disposal.

The Online Watering Hole – Advertising Age – GenNext via kwout

But the addition of celebrities and politicians, like Shaq, Taylor Swift, and Barak Obama, may be drawing this group in. Additionally many radio shows are incorporating Twitter as a way for listeners to interact with the show and win contests.

Another problem for the site is that recently this huge influx of users seems to have overwhelmed their servers. The site has had several service issues lately that are hopefully going to be resolved soon.

In the end, I like Twitter. I like to be on the front line of technology, so I will keep using it. For me I know it has made it easier to promote my blog via Twitter and via my Facebook profile. I am excited to see where the service goes and what it can do for me and the world.

I will go one step further and say a lot of the adult users of Twitter are people who don’t have Facebook pages and if they did they would probably use Twitter a lot less. Also, I think teens don’t use Twitter as much because cell phones are treated like a cancer in high schools. If we tried to embrace this technology rather than shun it, we might fine that we can make good things happen.

That begs the question, why do I use Twitter.

I started using Twitter just because I wanted to see what it was all about. I think social networking it great, I recently read a nice blog post about how it can build good community efforts, and I think social networking on-line has improved my off-line relationship. Specifically with my students and in other areas of my life too.

I started using Twitter at about the same time I started using Facebook mobile to read status updates and to update my own. (I love status updates because I love to know what people are doing, I don’t know why, I just like the information of what is happening — It can lead to good conversations later on.) So, at the time I started using Twitter I didn’t really see the need.

Then I discovered that I could link Twitter and Facebook. Not only did this give me a good use of Twitter, but it also allowed to me save a text message because Facebook sends you an annoying verification text when you update your status. Once I made that transition I started to use Twitter a little more, but didn’t see the greater purpose.

I went to the Illinois Computer Educators conference recently and everyone there was Twitter this and Twitter that and one of hot applications there was Tweetdeck. I downloaded this and my whole vision of Twitter changed. Now I could have several different Twitter searches open at once and also see the hot or trending topics at a given moment in time. This allowed to truly get a feel for the pulse of the Internet.

Now, I have started to use the Selective Twitter Status on Facebook so I can post tweets that aren’t always status updates. This means I can interact in Twitter a lot more frequently and I can use it post links to interesting articles to my Twitter followers (who mostly my Facebook friends too, but not all) without having them in my status updates. This is really going to enhance my use of both tools.

I don’t know exactly where this whole social networking world is headed, but I am excited!

The lesson here is kind of about being careful on-lin, but of course the lesson should really be don’t beat people and frame them you arrest them.

http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/03/officers-online-comments-used-against-him-in-court.ars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

When I watch a video like this (I have seen similar one before) I feel extremely overwhelmed. The amount of knowledge and information out there is so huge. I find myself constantly saying that the combined knowledge of the world is at our fingertips and we just need to start taking advantage of it. Look at the growth of Facebook, and that was primarily with college students. Also, Facebook was free and televisions weren’t but those number are still huge.Now, I wonder if Twitter is going to beat that to be biggest fastest.

That there are more texts sent each day then people in the world, Holy Cow! Adults often just mock the younger generation and their texting, but to ignore the phenomenon is just ignorant. The Technology Tailor on WGN Radio, Alex Goldstein (or something like that) constantly mocksFacebook and Twitter and says he has no need for them, but it is getting to a point where you don’t have a choice. The world is communicating in these ways, and people who shun the technological change will be like people who rejected TV for radio until that battle was over.

I love knowledge and information, but I think we need to figure out how to handle all of it and what exactly it is that we need to teach kids. The fact that a weeks worth of newspaper is equivalent to a lifetime of knowledge for a previous generation (I don’t remember which century) is staggering. And schools now are trying to teach all of it to kids by the time they are 18. Information that used to be taught to seniors is now taught to freshmen and they are often not ready to hear it and don’t retain it.

Fundamentally I often think we need to take a step back and evaluate what we are teaching and train students to be learners independent of what they learn. I have often thought to myself that my true goal is to make myself obsolete. I have not accomplished this yet, but it would be a glorious day if we could equip all students with the skills to fight for those jobs that aren’t even thought of yet.

That in and of itself is a powerful idea and I am going to mention that the reason they have to learn whatever area of physics  hasn’t been invented yet so they better pay attention.

So, you may be asking yourself, “Why would I want a Facebook badge?” Well…

I think the point of the Facebook badge is that you can post it on your blog or website so that people know you have a Facebook account and they can friend you. It is neat, because the badge automatically updates. So, I was able to define which fields should be in the bagde (like my profile pic) and that picture will automatically update on my bage. Pretty sweet!

This Tweet got a lot of comment on Facebook, so I wanted to clarify why I despise Toad so much. You see, for years Toad has taunted me by placing my princess in another castle. I busted my butt to get through goombas, beatles, and other varieties of baddies all to find out it was a farce. Also, other times he has just been whiny. “Find the princess, she is lost” or “You need more star power to open this door,” give me a break!

So, that is why I despise Toad. The only expception is when Gina plays Mario Kart using Toad. Then I don’t have a strong hated towards him.

1. I love teaching. However, it is way more work than I ever imagined it would be and I have a tremendous amount more respect for the good teachers I have had.
2. I love being a parent, but it is way more work that I ever imagined it would be (people always tell you it will be hard, and I beleived them, but you don’t know until you are there yourself.) I have a tremendous amount more respect for my parents now that I have a son.
3. I love Star Wars. I don’t know why. I know it (probably) isn’t real but the pageantry and the grandeur and the philosophy of it all is just so mesmerizing. It truly is an Oprah.
4. I have ADD and probably have my whole life. I was not officially diagnosed until I was 23, and knowing that I have it makes it easier as a teacher to deal with students who also have ADD (even if they don’t know they have it.) I also take drugs for ADD and, at least for me, they work.
5. I do not currently have a job next year and this weighs on me more than I let on or want to think about.
6. All I really want out of life is to do something that matters. I don’t know what that will be and I don’t know if I will know what it is (it may already have happened) but I will keep working at it until I die.
7. My son is named for Sir Isaac Newton (perhaps the single most important person of the millennium) and I think this is awesome and I don’t know if Gina will ever truly appreciate how much I appreciate and love her for allowing that.
8. When I was in 5th (possibly 6th) grade I wore a sweater to school that apparently didn’t match the rest of my clothes and the other kids called me “Color Blind Pe-Pe,” and now my wife has to approve all of my outfits for matching before I wear them to school so that the kids don’t make fun of me.
9. I have won one popularity contest in my life. I did a poor job fulfilling the office I was elected to.
10. I have a hard time sitting still and relaxing. Even now I am watching Ghost Whisperer, but I feel the need to be typing this at the same time. I think my life would be better if I was better at focusing on one thing at a time.
11. I am not sure if I believe in paranormal activity. I don’t like to discount any possibilities in life, but I also believe that everything in this world has a physical explanation and I don’t know that psychic visions or magic have a real explanation.
12. I don’t mind driving in the snow, but I get very nervous when I can’t see the lines on the road and I don’t know where the lanes are.
13. When the baby cries I do not freak out, and I think this is a good thing,
14. When I am bored or nervous I bite my nails. When my nails are gone I start biting the skin on the tips of my fingers. While I know this may be a little gross, it is what I do.
15. I am often amazed at the fact that the world can be described mathematically and that we didn’t realize this until the 1600′s. The more I learn about science the more beautiful it is and the way it all weaves together is amazing.
16. In that same light, I am amazed at the development of human thought. From the time Aristotle said objects fall down because that is there natural state (great reasoning) in around 400 BC until Galileo and Newton show up in the 1600′s, no one ever thinks to perform and experiment. All of a sudden Newton comes along and says, “Oh, well, we should probably actually test these theories we have.” Mind blowing!
17. I find wearing a sweatshirt and stocking cap indoors very comforting, even when it is a little too warm.
18. I worked at a Boy Scout camp every summer from the time I was 14 until I was 23.  After that I worked at football camp in the summer. All in all, I haven’t had a summer vacation in 15 years, and I have no idea what people do with all of the free time.
19. I am currently actively watching the following non-syndicated shows: 24, The Big Bang Theory (newest addition and awesome), American Idol, House, Lost, Ghost Whisperer, Numbers, CSI: NY, CSI, Scrubs, Fringe. I watch too much TV.
20. I live one block from the high school I graduated from. This was not the plan, but I think it is cool.
21. I have two general ways I dress: I wear dress pants and a polo or shirt & tie to work, and I wear wind pants with a T-Shirt the rest of time. I very rarely wear anything else. It’s all or nothing.
22. I have only had three hairstyles I can remember. The one I have now, a bowl cut, and a normal part to the side hair cut.
23. My favorite things to do on Facebook are to read people’s status updates and see what they are up to and wishing people happy birthday on their birthday. Although I recently heard someone on the radio that they think people wishing other people a happy birthday on Facebook could be a bad thing because it removes the intimacy from birthdays. I disagree. I think Facebook actually helps make social relationships better.
24. I have owned one car in my life (a 2002 Toyta Echo. I love this car because it has a lot of head room and because it makes great 3-point turnarounds and U-Turns.
25. I hate needles and shots. I don’t mind blood or other medical operations, but if I see a needle or even think about getting a shot, I get very sick and uncomfortable.