She is scheduled to arrive in a little less than a month.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Coming soon...
We had the 3D ultrasound a week ago, but I thought I'd give Rachel's 3rd birthday the attention it deserved before we started making her share her space.
She is scheduled to arrive in a little less than a month.
She is scheduled to arrive in a little less than a month.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Three years
Dear Rachel,
Last week, you turned three years old. It's summer now, and this summer will mark a lot of transitions for you.
We've been trying to spend a lot of time with you because we know that very soon, you'll stop being an only child. You are also done, for the most part, going to Miss Judy's. You'll go to see her a few times over the summer, but very soon, you're going to start going to preschool, at a "big girl" school.
The big thing that happened this month was your fall at Miss Judy's a few weeks ago. You are such a clumsy little girl. I always joke about how you have my coordination, which is to say that you have none, but this month, it really came back and bit you. You hit your head really hard on the floor when you fell, and the resulting bump looked like a silly putty egg coming out of your forehead. After the bump started to heal, the resulting bruise started draining into your eye sockets, and it looked like you had been in a prize fight. Everywhere we went, people stared at you, and it made your mother a little uneasy and a little defensive. I'm sure people thought the worst, but we know the truth. You're just a little klutz, and you've recovered just fine.
This probably doesn't mean anything to you, but you now have two highly educated parents. Mommy graduated with her Master's from A&M Kingsville earlier this month, and she is the first person in her family to earn an advanced degree. It's a pretty big accomplishment, and now both of your parents have Master's degrees, but we still can't decide what to have for dinner on any given night.
Momma also got a new truck this past month. We had to work quickly after the fire to find something that she liked and that she could afford. She decided on a Chevy Tahoe so that when Nana and Dodd come down again this winter, all of us can take a trip in one vehicle. You still ask about Mommy's Toyota, and tell us that it's in "Toyota heaven," but you've now memorized another car emblem. You know a bunch of them - Ford, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and now Chevy.
We had your third birthday party last weekend, and we made it a small affair. We have had a lot going on and didn't want to have to plan a huge party for you. I'm sure that makes us bad parents, but you didn't seem to mind. You had your Curious George cake with blue frosting (your specific request) and you were happy.
You have gotten really good at riding your tricycle. You used to be satisfied just riding around in the driveway, but last month, we started letting you ride on the sidewalk in front of our house, and down a few houses. In the past couple of weeks, that ride has gotten longer and longer, until we finally went all the way down the block, across the street, around the next block and back up our street. It's a pretty long way for you to ride, but you handle it like a champ. The only part you have trouble with is coming back up our street, since it's uphill. We usually walk a little way with me carrying the trike, for the most part, you ride on your own. It's a great way to tire you out before your bath in the evening.
We're looking forward to spending the next 6 weeks or so with you, and I'm really looking forward to taking you to the pool a few times this summer to give Mommy a break. We love you very much, and we're very excited for all of the changes coming your way in the next couple of months.
Love,
Daddy
Last week, you turned three years old. It's summer now, and this summer will mark a lot of transitions for you.
We've been trying to spend a lot of time with you because we know that very soon, you'll stop being an only child. You are also done, for the most part, going to Miss Judy's. You'll go to see her a few times over the summer, but very soon, you're going to start going to preschool, at a "big girl" school.
The big thing that happened this month was your fall at Miss Judy's a few weeks ago. You are such a clumsy little girl. I always joke about how you have my coordination, which is to say that you have none, but this month, it really came back and bit you. You hit your head really hard on the floor when you fell, and the resulting bump looked like a silly putty egg coming out of your forehead. After the bump started to heal, the resulting bruise started draining into your eye sockets, and it looked like you had been in a prize fight. Everywhere we went, people stared at you, and it made your mother a little uneasy and a little defensive. I'm sure people thought the worst, but we know the truth. You're just a little klutz, and you've recovered just fine.
This probably doesn't mean anything to you, but you now have two highly educated parents. Mommy graduated with her Master's from A&M Kingsville earlier this month, and she is the first person in her family to earn an advanced degree. It's a pretty big accomplishment, and now both of your parents have Master's degrees, but we still can't decide what to have for dinner on any given night.
Momma also got a new truck this past month. We had to work quickly after the fire to find something that she liked and that she could afford. She decided on a Chevy Tahoe so that when Nana and Dodd come down again this winter, all of us can take a trip in one vehicle. You still ask about Mommy's Toyota, and tell us that it's in "Toyota heaven," but you've now memorized another car emblem. You know a bunch of them - Ford, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and now Chevy.
We had your third birthday party last weekend, and we made it a small affair. We have had a lot going on and didn't want to have to plan a huge party for you. I'm sure that makes us bad parents, but you didn't seem to mind. You had your Curious George cake with blue frosting (your specific request) and you were happy.
You have gotten really good at riding your tricycle. You used to be satisfied just riding around in the driveway, but last month, we started letting you ride on the sidewalk in front of our house, and down a few houses. In the past couple of weeks, that ride has gotten longer and longer, until we finally went all the way down the block, across the street, around the next block and back up our street. It's a pretty long way for you to ride, but you handle it like a champ. The only part you have trouble with is coming back up our street, since it's uphill. We usually walk a little way with me carrying the trike, for the most part, you ride on your own. It's a great way to tire you out before your bath in the evening.
We're looking forward to spending the next 6 weeks or so with you, and I'm really looking forward to taking you to the pool a few times this summer to give Mommy a break. We love you very much, and we're very excited for all of the changes coming your way in the next couple of months.
Love,
Daddy
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Happy Birthday, big girl!
It's been such a busy day, I am just now getting time to post this. Monthly newsletter coming soon!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I've got some great news...
...the bank (and insurance) finally came through...
...and I'm (Monica is) holding the keys to a brand new Chevrolet.
Apologies to Brad Paisley.
...and I'm (Monica is) holding the keys to a brand new Chevrolet.
Apologies to Brad Paisley.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Happy Birthday, sister!
I know it's a little late, but just wanted to wish my little sister a happy birthday!
Hope you had a good one!
Hope you had a good one!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Congratulations!
Monica did the final step in completing her Master's degree this weekend. She walked the stage in Kingsville.
Thanks to everyone who joined us, and a big thanks to Ed, Mandi (big Darby), and Darby for suggesting the wonderful steak house that we dined at after graduation.
Thanks to everyone who joined us, and a big thanks to Ed, Mandi (big Darby), and Darby for suggesting the wonderful steak house that we dined at after graduation.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Two years, eleven months
Dear Rachel,
This past weekend, you turned 35 months old. You're almost three, and you're turning into quite the little girly girl. You are starting to show signs of maturity, and we're very excited about the next few months of your life. Some big changes are in store for you, little one.
I feel bad because since Nana and Dodd left two months ago, we haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with teaching you new things, like your letters, or writing, or counting. It seems like we're so busy all the time, and while we do try to read with you, teaching you new things just hasn't been very high on the priority list, and I know it should be.
You're a very inquisitive little girl, though, so you do a lot of discovering on your own. The latest round of "a million questions" has involved songs you hear on the radio. The questions are always the same: "Daddy, what's the name of this song? Who sings (name of song we just told you)? Where is (name of singer or band)? What are they doing in (location we just made up)?" And your newest question added into this mix in the past week, "Is (name of band or singer) a him or a her?"
One of the things you came home doing this month was counting to 20. You still skip 16 and 17 most of the time, but with a little help, you can get to 20. You also recognize your numbers up to 12 because we've been trying to get you to tell time. Sort of. "When the big hand is on the 6, then it's time for us to go take a bath. When the big hand is on the 9, it's time for us to go see Miss Judy."
And speaking of Miss Judy, in a couple more weeks, you'll be done going to see her. We're going to let you go a few times over the summer, but starting in the fall, you're going to preschool! We're very excited to see how you do interacting with lots of kids your own age. For a long time, it's only been you and one other little boy at Judy's house, and he's a year younger than you. Now, you're going to start going to school like a big girl. We know you'll do well.
Something else new you started this month is delaying your crying fits when you get angry or upset. I got after you one day for doing something, and you turned on your heels, walked quickly to your room, sat down and started crying. I was shocked. We have been trying to get you to do that since you started your terrible twos, and you have always fought us on going to your room to cry. The fact that you just did it on your own makes me wonder what we did right. Of course, it doesn't happen that smoothly all the time, but at least you're starting to warm up to the idea of not throwing a kicking, screaming fit in the middle of the living room. I hope that going to your room to cry will be something you continue when the new baby comes along, because, I swear, if you wake that child up with one of your fits...
One of your favorite things to do this past month has been jumping. You jump everywhere - across cracks in the sidewalk, from the tile floor in the kitchen to the wood floor in the living room, up and down curbs, in and out of the garage, you name it. You love jumping. Sometimes you'll even jump instead of walking.
But, your absolute favorite thing this month has been to play on Mommy's computer. It started off with just wanted to watch videos of yourself, but now you've moved up to watching music videos on YouTube. Your favorites are Rhianna's "Umbrella," and Sarah Bareilles' "Love Song." You are starting to occupy Mommy's computer an awful lot, watching your videos and playing on the PBS Kids web site. You know how to fully navigate around the Curious George portion of the web site, and the other day, you somehow got yourself into the Sid the Science Kid part of the web site too. I guess it's a good thing Mommy is finished with grad school, so you can have her computer as much as you want now. Maybe you'll get your own little notebook soon. I said maybe...
Finally this month, we had a pretty big scare just in the past couple of days. Mommy's car caught on fire early Friday morning, and we had to wake you up and get you out of the house because we didn't know if our house was going to catch on fire. Luckily, someone was watching out for us, and the only damage was to the car and a few incidental things like bushes and flowers. Things that can easily be replaced. I don't remember ever having a visit from the fire department when I was a kid, and as an adult it was a pretty scary thing to have to deal with. You handled it like a champ, though. You didn't see any of the actual fire, since we took you out the back door and let you sit on the deck. Once the fire was out, I carried you up to the front of the house so you could see the fire truck and the firemen working on Mommy's car. After we got the "all clear," we put you back to bed, and you went right to sleep. I hope that we never have to deal with anything like that ever again in your lifetime.
As always, we love you very much, and we're looking forward to you turning three next month!
Love
Daddy
This past weekend, you turned 35 months old. You're almost three, and you're turning into quite the little girly girl. You are starting to show signs of maturity, and we're very excited about the next few months of your life. Some big changes are in store for you, little one.
I feel bad because since Nana and Dodd left two months ago, we haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with teaching you new things, like your letters, or writing, or counting. It seems like we're so busy all the time, and while we do try to read with you, teaching you new things just hasn't been very high on the priority list, and I know it should be.
You're a very inquisitive little girl, though, so you do a lot of discovering on your own. The latest round of "a million questions" has involved songs you hear on the radio. The questions are always the same: "Daddy, what's the name of this song? Who sings (name of song we just told you)? Where is (name of singer or band)? What are they doing in (location we just made up)?" And your newest question added into this mix in the past week, "Is (name of band or singer) a him or a her?"
One of the things you came home doing this month was counting to 20. You still skip 16 and 17 most of the time, but with a little help, you can get to 20. You also recognize your numbers up to 12 because we've been trying to get you to tell time. Sort of. "When the big hand is on the 6, then it's time for us to go take a bath. When the big hand is on the 9, it's time for us to go see Miss Judy."
And speaking of Miss Judy, in a couple more weeks, you'll be done going to see her. We're going to let you go a few times over the summer, but starting in the fall, you're going to preschool! We're very excited to see how you do interacting with lots of kids your own age. For a long time, it's only been you and one other little boy at Judy's house, and he's a year younger than you. Now, you're going to start going to school like a big girl. We know you'll do well.
Something else new you started this month is delaying your crying fits when you get angry or upset. I got after you one day for doing something, and you turned on your heels, walked quickly to your room, sat down and started crying. I was shocked. We have been trying to get you to do that since you started your terrible twos, and you have always fought us on going to your room to cry. The fact that you just did it on your own makes me wonder what we did right. Of course, it doesn't happen that smoothly all the time, but at least you're starting to warm up to the idea of not throwing a kicking, screaming fit in the middle of the living room. I hope that going to your room to cry will be something you continue when the new baby comes along, because, I swear, if you wake that child up with one of your fits...
One of your favorite things to do this past month has been jumping. You jump everywhere - across cracks in the sidewalk, from the tile floor in the kitchen to the wood floor in the living room, up and down curbs, in and out of the garage, you name it. You love jumping. Sometimes you'll even jump instead of walking.
But, your absolute favorite thing this month has been to play on Mommy's computer. It started off with just wanted to watch videos of yourself, but now you've moved up to watching music videos on YouTube. Your favorites are Rhianna's "Umbrella," and Sarah Bareilles' "Love Song." You are starting to occupy Mommy's computer an awful lot, watching your videos and playing on the PBS Kids web site. You know how to fully navigate around the Curious George portion of the web site, and the other day, you somehow got yourself into the Sid the Science Kid part of the web site too. I guess it's a good thing Mommy is finished with grad school, so you can have her computer as much as you want now. Maybe you'll get your own little notebook soon. I said maybe...
Finally this month, we had a pretty big scare just in the past couple of days. Mommy's car caught on fire early Friday morning, and we had to wake you up and get you out of the house because we didn't know if our house was going to catch on fire. Luckily, someone was watching out for us, and the only damage was to the car and a few incidental things like bushes and flowers. Things that can easily be replaced. I don't remember ever having a visit from the fire department when I was a kid, and as an adult it was a pretty scary thing to have to deal with. You handled it like a champ, though. You didn't see any of the actual fire, since we took you out the back door and let you sit on the deck. Once the fire was out, I carried you up to the front of the house so you could see the fire truck and the firemen working on Mommy's car. After we got the "all clear," we put you back to bed, and you went right to sleep. I hope that we never have to deal with anything like that ever again in your lifetime.
As always, we love you very much, and we're looking forward to you turning three next month!
Love
Daddy
Seisenta
It sounds so much nicer in Spanish, doesn't it?
Today, my mother turns 60. And just as she always tells me, "I'm not old enough to have a son that's ____ (whatever age I happen to be at the time)," today, I'm thinking, I'm not old enough to have a mom that's 60!
Since my sister already beat me to saying all of the lovely, sentimental things, I'll just say this:
I couldn't have asked for a better mom, a better Nana for our daughter (soon to be daughters), or a better family to have been a part of.
We love you, and miss you down here deep in the heart of Texas.
Today, my mother turns 60. And just as she always tells me, "I'm not old enough to have a son that's ____ (whatever age I happen to be at the time)," today, I'm thinking, I'm not old enough to have a mom that's 60!
Since my sister already beat me to saying all of the lovely, sentimental things, I'll just say this:
I couldn't have asked for a better mom, a better Nana for our daughter (soon to be daughters), or a better family to have been a part of.
We love you, and miss you down here deep in the heart of Texas.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day!
Here's wishing a very happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there, but especially to my two favorite moms.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Like a good neighbor...or not.
Maybe State Farm should be paying attention to Twitter.
Just in case you're keeping track, the car caught fire 12:30ish Friday morning. Monica was on the phone with State Farm by 1:15, who told her that they couldn't give her a claim number at that time because their computers go down at midnight. Really?! Because accidents stop after midnight?
Gets a claim number by 9 AM, talks to "total loss" at 10 AM (Friday still), which means that the department dealing with this burned out hunk of metal that's still sitting on our driveway has had well over 24 hours to get it removed.
If, by chance, this car had caught fire on the highway, it would have been removed within the hour. Since it's sitting in our driveway, they take their sweet time.
The company who is supposed to tow it called yesterday from a Dallas area code which makes me wonder...isn't there anyone in San Antonio that can tow this car? And the lady tells me that they will "be there by 5, and if not today (Friday) then tomorrow."
It's currently 9 PM Saturday and the car is still sitting on our driveway, and I don't think they're coming to pick it up today. And I'm betting money they won't come get it tomorrow, either. Happy Mother's Day!
Let me just say this: State Farm, you've really FUBARed this one.
Just in case you're keeping track, the car caught fire 12:30ish Friday morning. Monica was on the phone with State Farm by 1:15, who told her that they couldn't give her a claim number at that time because their computers go down at midnight. Really?! Because accidents stop after midnight?
Gets a claim number by 9 AM, talks to "total loss" at 10 AM (Friday still), which means that the department dealing with this burned out hunk of metal that's still sitting on our driveway has had well over 24 hours to get it removed.
If, by chance, this car had caught fire on the highway, it would have been removed within the hour. Since it's sitting in our driveway, they take their sweet time.
The company who is supposed to tow it called yesterday from a Dallas area code which makes me wonder...isn't there anyone in San Antonio that can tow this car? And the lady tells me that they will "be there by 5, and if not today (Friday) then tomorrow."
It's currently 9 PM Saturday and the car is still sitting on our driveway, and I don't think they're coming to pick it up today. And I'm betting money they won't come get it tomorrow, either. Happy Mother's Day!
Let me just say this: State Farm, you've really FUBARed this one.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Burn, baby, burn
I wrote this as an email to some family members and people I work with early this morning
So yes, I'm up at 2 AM. The fire department left our house about 45 minutes ago, and we're just letting everything settle in.
Monica's car caught on fire around 12:30 this morning.
It was parked in front of the garage, and miraculously, the house was not damaged. In fact, our garbage can was sitting less than 5 feet from the car, and it was only a little melted on one side. You can see in the pictures just how close it was to the house.
It was a total fluke...Monica wasn't feeling well, and was in bed at 7. I felt her get out of bed just after midnight, then felt her return a short while later. I heard her say something about "what's that noise?" and felt her get out of bed again, then seconds later, heard her yelling for me. I got up, and all I could see was orange outside of our dining room window. "My car in on fire!" she said. I remember looking out the window, then running to the front door. I felt it, it wasn't hot, so I opened it. The heat was intense. No way was I getting out the front. But it looked like nothing else was burning.
My car was sitting nearby, so I grabbed my keys and ran around the side of the house to move it out of the way while Monica called 911. I came back in and told her to get Rachel and get out of the house. I was worried with as high as the flames were, that it would catch the front of the house on fire.
While she got Rachel out, I grabbed the garden hose and started spraying the front of the house while trying to hide behind the corner in case anything exploded.
Luckily, we live less than a mile from the fire station, and they were at our house within minutes of Monica calling.
Her car had been sitting in the driveway for over 6 hours, but the fire department said that it looked mechanical...they did not suspect arson. We're still a little bit in shock, and just grateful at all of the random events (Monica waking up, hearing the noise) that allowed us to call the fire department quickly, have no damage to our house, and have everyone in our family safe this morning.
So yes, I'm up at 2 AM. The fire department left our house about 45 minutes ago, and we're just letting everything settle in.
Monica's car caught on fire around 12:30 this morning.
It was parked in front of the garage, and miraculously, the house was not damaged. In fact, our garbage can was sitting less than 5 feet from the car, and it was only a little melted on one side. You can see in the pictures just how close it was to the house.
It was a total fluke...Monica wasn't feeling well, and was in bed at 7. I felt her get out of bed just after midnight, then felt her return a short while later. I heard her say something about "what's that noise?" and felt her get out of bed again, then seconds later, heard her yelling for me. I got up, and all I could see was orange outside of our dining room window. "My car in on fire!" she said. I remember looking out the window, then running to the front door. I felt it, it wasn't hot, so I opened it. The heat was intense. No way was I getting out the front. But it looked like nothing else was burning.
My car was sitting nearby, so I grabbed my keys and ran around the side of the house to move it out of the way while Monica called 911. I came back in and told her to get Rachel and get out of the house. I was worried with as high as the flames were, that it would catch the front of the house on fire.
While she got Rachel out, I grabbed the garden hose and started spraying the front of the house while trying to hide behind the corner in case anything exploded.
Luckily, we live less than a mile from the fire station, and they were at our house within minutes of Monica calling.
Her car had been sitting in the driveway for over 6 hours, but the fire department said that it looked mechanical...they did not suspect arson. We're still a little bit in shock, and just grateful at all of the random events (Monica waking up, hearing the noise) that allowed us to call the fire department quickly, have no damage to our house, and have everyone in our family safe this morning.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
It's been a little busy around here
In case you've been living under a rock for the past week, the H1N1 (swine flu) virus has taken over our area. The school district I work for was the first in the state, and the country, to shut down because of the virus.
You would think I'd be relaxing poolside with a cold one in my hand, but you'd be thinking wrong.
Being part of the tech staff means that you get to help in spreading the word when there's an emergency. I have become, in this past week, part of the PR team for our district.
Now understand, I'm not complaining one bit. I'm actually enjoying the challenge this change in routine has brought on. I'm able to use my understanding of the tools out there to help our district spread the word about anything and everything related to this closure.
It started on Sunday, when I got a call from my boss. "The Superintendent wants to do a podcast," he said, "and was wondering if you could come up and help her do it."
I had heard Saturday that we'd be closing one high school, but on Sunday, it all changed when the Department of State Health Services shut down our entire district. Word needed to get out quickly, and in as many ways as possible. We'd updated the web site, and put out an auto-call, but there were more ways to get the message out, so I opened up my arsenal and started asking permission.
The two things that we've done this week, based on my suggestion, was to start a Twitter account for the district, and to live stream the Superintendent's daily press briefings on UStream. Sunday and early Monday, I was tweeting district updates on my own twitter account and on Facebook, but it got to be a bit much, and I didn't want "official" word coming from me. I wanted it to be something that people could look at and say, "Yes, this belongs to the district." So up went the district's twitter account. In just over 48 hours, we've gained almost 100 followers, including several of the local news outlets and reporters. Several of the names I recognized as district teachers (and I was surprised by how many of them are on twitter), and several more are students - it's easy to tell the students by their user names or profiles.
The UStream of the press briefing got its first trial today. While the audio was off a bit, I think if the Superintendent just speaks up a little it will be fine. Unfortunately, UStream is having recording issues, so there was no way for us to have it available for playback. We embedded the stream on the district home page for the duration of the press briefing, and I also put the URL for the UStream page on Twitter. At one point, we had about 20 people watching, which was way more than I expected. Only one question came in via Twitter, although I expect more tomorrow.
Every evening, I get the audio for the podcast from the Superintendent, edit for about 20-30 minutes and post it to the district home page, as well as her podcast page. If she sends me the transcript of the podcast, I post that to her blog page as well.
Luckily, our web site has been holding up incredibly well under the strain. Before this week, our normal, weekday average was 2500 hits per day, and that's with students in the district opening the web page any time they open a browser.
On Saturday, we had almost 4000 hits. Sunday, we broke 10,000. We had another 10,000 Monday, and dipped to 7300 yesterday, but as of this posting, we're at 11,500 and will probably hit 12,000 before midnight this evening.
Our district has gotten national attention because of this outbreak, and I hope that the information we're putting out has been able to keep people informed. We're doing as much as we can, as best as we can. Our Superintendent has been doing an outstanding job, and has been interviewed by major news outlets all over the country, from the Wall Street Journal to NPR. And every night, before she goes home for the day, she sits down and records audio for me to edit for the podcast. With everything else on her plate, I'm proud of her for sticking with it.
Hopefully, when all of this is over with, we'll continue to put our information out there using Web 2.0 tools. Hopefully, this this a turning point for our district in information distribution!
You would think I'd be relaxing poolside with a cold one in my hand, but you'd be thinking wrong.
Being part of the tech staff means that you get to help in spreading the word when there's an emergency. I have become, in this past week, part of the PR team for our district.
Now understand, I'm not complaining one bit. I'm actually enjoying the challenge this change in routine has brought on. I'm able to use my understanding of the tools out there to help our district spread the word about anything and everything related to this closure.
It started on Sunday, when I got a call from my boss. "The Superintendent wants to do a podcast," he said, "and was wondering if you could come up and help her do it."
I had heard Saturday that we'd be closing one high school, but on Sunday, it all changed when the Department of State Health Services shut down our entire district. Word needed to get out quickly, and in as many ways as possible. We'd updated the web site, and put out an auto-call, but there were more ways to get the message out, so I opened up my arsenal and started asking permission.
The two things that we've done this week, based on my suggestion, was to start a Twitter account for the district, and to live stream the Superintendent's daily press briefings on UStream. Sunday and early Monday, I was tweeting district updates on my own twitter account and on Facebook, but it got to be a bit much, and I didn't want "official" word coming from me. I wanted it to be something that people could look at and say, "Yes, this belongs to the district." So up went the district's twitter account. In just over 48 hours, we've gained almost 100 followers, including several of the local news outlets and reporters. Several of the names I recognized as district teachers (and I was surprised by how many of them are on twitter), and several more are students - it's easy to tell the students by their user names or profiles.
The UStream of the press briefing got its first trial today. While the audio was off a bit, I think if the Superintendent just speaks up a little it will be fine. Unfortunately, UStream is having recording issues, so there was no way for us to have it available for playback. We embedded the stream on the district home page for the duration of the press briefing, and I also put the URL for the UStream page on Twitter. At one point, we had about 20 people watching, which was way more than I expected. Only one question came in via Twitter, although I expect more tomorrow.
Every evening, I get the audio for the podcast from the Superintendent, edit for about 20-30 minutes and post it to the district home page, as well as her podcast page. If she sends me the transcript of the podcast, I post that to her blog page as well.
Luckily, our web site has been holding up incredibly well under the strain. Before this week, our normal, weekday average was 2500 hits per day, and that's with students in the district opening the web page any time they open a browser.
On Saturday, we had almost 4000 hits. Sunday, we broke 10,000. We had another 10,000 Monday, and dipped to 7300 yesterday, but as of this posting, we're at 11,500 and will probably hit 12,000 before midnight this evening.
Our district has gotten national attention because of this outbreak, and I hope that the information we're putting out has been able to keep people informed. We're doing as much as we can, as best as we can. Our Superintendent has been doing an outstanding job, and has been interviewed by major news outlets all over the country, from the Wall Street Journal to NPR. And every night, before she goes home for the day, she sits down and records audio for me to edit for the podcast. With everything else on her plate, I'm proud of her for sticking with it.
Hopefully, when all of this is over with, we'll continue to put our information out there using Web 2.0 tools. Hopefully, this this a turning point for our district in information distribution!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
A little break
So, in case you haven't heard, there has been a little outbreak of swine flu here in Texas. The two confirmed cases were both at one of the high schools in the district where I work.
Since nobody knows exactly how far this is going to go, the Texas Department of State Health has decided to close down our district for the week. Which means, I get a little unplanned vacation.
Maybe I'll get some things done around the house.
Since nobody knows exactly how far this is going to go, the Texas Department of State Health has decided to close down our district for the week. Which means, I get a little unplanned vacation.
Maybe I'll get some things done around the house.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Two years, ten months
Dear Rachel,
This week, you turned 34 months old. This past month could be described as the "Month of a Million Questions." You've hit that questioning phase in your life, where you want to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how of everything. "Daddy, where are we going? Are we going to turn left? Is Mama's school that way? What's it doing there? Why is it just sitting there?" The only time we got a reprieve from the questioning the entire month was when you were sick.
You got really sick for the first time in your life this month. We've had little bouts of diarrhea, a little food poisoning, but nothing like this. You were out for the count for almost a week. I couldn't believe that this vibrant, talkative little girl had turned into this quiet, tired little thing that could barely sit up to watch TV. You ate almost nothing for three days. The first day, you couldn't even hold down water, but you got really good at throwing up in the toilet and waste basket. We were very worried about you. Luckily, after 4 days, you finally were able to hold some food down. Now, a week later, your appetite is voracious, like you're trying to make up for lost time. I don't know if that has anything to do with you being sick, or if you're just going through another growth spurt (and God help us if that's the case!)
You decided this month that we should call the baby "Mater" after Tow Mater from Cars, but you also understand that we're going to name your baby sister something different when she comes out. You're still sort of hot and cold about the whole baby thing, but you did decide that she could have your room, and you'd take "Nana and Dod's woom!" I think it's going to be very interesting to see how you react to having a baby in the house.
You are struggling with growing up a bit. At one moment, you are a very stubbornly independent little girl. Two seconds later, you're wanting us to pick you up, or help you put on your shoes, or brush your teeth for you. Again, it will be interesting to see what happens with this behavior when the new baby arrives.
We've been practicing with you writing you letters, and you do OK with a few of them, but you already know how to find all of them on a keyboard. You spend a lot of time "typing yike Nana" on Mama's computer, and you really love to make smiley faces. Mama's word processor will change :) into a smiley face. Sometimes I wonder if you'll learn to touch type before you can write.
You have really gotten into watching videos of yourself this past month. You will ask us all the time if you can watch the one with Mommy eating "bef-kest," which is the video of your first week in the world, of which 1/2 second is your Mommy eating breakfast, but that's how you identify it. Any video of yourself is accompanied by the barrage of questions (see the first paragraph).
We've been skyping with your grandparents a couple of times each week, so you get to see them and talk to them, which is really cool for all of us. You like to have them hide from you (leave the view of the camera) and you always want to see Rhett and his medicine. I have no idea why. I'm glad that your grandparents have a computer that can handle the video now!
As always, we can't wait to see what the next month will bring (hopefully less of the terrible twos!). We love you very much.
Love,
Daddy
This week, you turned 34 months old. This past month could be described as the "Month of a Million Questions." You've hit that questioning phase in your life, where you want to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how of everything. "Daddy, where are we going? Are we going to turn left? Is Mama's school that way? What's it doing there? Why is it just sitting there?" The only time we got a reprieve from the questioning the entire month was when you were sick.
You got really sick for the first time in your life this month. We've had little bouts of diarrhea, a little food poisoning, but nothing like this. You were out for the count for almost a week. I couldn't believe that this vibrant, talkative little girl had turned into this quiet, tired little thing that could barely sit up to watch TV. You ate almost nothing for three days. The first day, you couldn't even hold down water, but you got really good at throwing up in the toilet and waste basket. We were very worried about you. Luckily, after 4 days, you finally were able to hold some food down. Now, a week later, your appetite is voracious, like you're trying to make up for lost time. I don't know if that has anything to do with you being sick, or if you're just going through another growth spurt (and God help us if that's the case!)
You decided this month that we should call the baby "Mater" after Tow Mater from Cars, but you also understand that we're going to name your baby sister something different when she comes out. You're still sort of hot and cold about the whole baby thing, but you did decide that she could have your room, and you'd take "Nana and Dod's woom!" I think it's going to be very interesting to see how you react to having a baby in the house.
You are struggling with growing up a bit. At one moment, you are a very stubbornly independent little girl. Two seconds later, you're wanting us to pick you up, or help you put on your shoes, or brush your teeth for you. Again, it will be interesting to see what happens with this behavior when the new baby arrives.
We've been practicing with you writing you letters, and you do OK with a few of them, but you already know how to find all of them on a keyboard. You spend a lot of time "typing yike Nana" on Mama's computer, and you really love to make smiley faces. Mama's word processor will change :) into a smiley face. Sometimes I wonder if you'll learn to touch type before you can write.
You have really gotten into watching videos of yourself this past month. You will ask us all the time if you can watch the one with Mommy eating "bef-kest," which is the video of your first week in the world, of which 1/2 second is your Mommy eating breakfast, but that's how you identify it. Any video of yourself is accompanied by the barrage of questions (see the first paragraph).
We've been skyping with your grandparents a couple of times each week, so you get to see them and talk to them, which is really cool for all of us. You like to have them hide from you (leave the view of the camera) and you always want to see Rhett and his medicine. I have no idea why. I'm glad that your grandparents have a computer that can handle the video now!
As always, we can't wait to see what the next month will bring (hopefully less of the terrible twos!). We love you very much.
Love,
Daddy
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