I still eat!

I figured I should stop whining about how I don’t blog and actually take the time from whining to actually blog something.  CONCEPT.

Last weekend Nick and I enjoyed the delights of Denver and visited Linger with some friends for Restaurant Week.  This is a fabulous event where you can sample some incredible meals at some of the most fantastic restaurants in Denver more a very reasonable cost.

My main dish was this pork ramen.  It was delectable, saucy, and fresh as can be.  The churros for dessert were also a treat!  And at Linger you can’t miss the duck-fat popcorn.

Denver Restaurant Week usually runs late February through early March, and though the weather is cold, the dishes are hot!

I admit it…

I've been a miserable blogger.  So what do I do?  Start another blog!

Actually, it's for a reason.  I've been diagnosed with labyrinthitis, an inner ear infection that causes hearing loss and debilitating vertigo.  I've been missing work frequently and am preparing to take a leave of absence in order to address the symptoms, hopefully start therapy, and get a good foothold in managing the disease.  Like a lot of chronic illnesses, labyrinthitis is never really cured, but can be managed successfully.

If you're at all interested in following this completely different aspect of my existence, please join me over at Icarus Falling.  Thanks.

Sandy Hook Elementary School

There is so little to say right now other than how horrified and hurting we all are.  As a teacher, I want to remind everyone that those staff that were involved… I can guarantee you they did everything possible to take care of their students, their children.  They may not be our children by birth, but we love them as much, if somewhat differently.

Please love a teacher today.  Events like these hurt us in such a personal way.  If you are a parent and you remove your child from school today, please give their teacher a hug.  They’ll need it.

Please remember, love, support, and pray for the children, families, staff, and community of Newtown, CT.

The wedding crafts!

It’s been nearly five months that Nick and I have been married, and it’s been just lovely!  We had a marvelous summer, really enjoyed seeing our family and spending lots of time relaxing.

While looking through photos today, I realized that there was so much DIY at the wedding, and I would love to share them!  Please enjoy!

Our programs, created with just Microsoft Word!  I went with a ‘hotdog’ fold rather than a ‘hamburger’ fold for a different approach.	Our beautiful baby’s breath bouquets, lovingly made by my mother.  I was banned from working on these after messing up the first one.  =p
The men of the wedding party wore navy calla lilies wrapped in printed paper and copper wire.	The collection of vases, bottles, and votive holders that made up many of our table-toppers.  The large vases are actually just PVC pipe mod-podged with paper!
I’m particularly proud of our little Han and Leia cake toppers, painted by me!	Our welcome table with more accessories, our custom pencils, and our sign-in book from Shutterfly.
My handmade earrings, showing the touch of teal throughout the wedding.	Our own special Reistling, bottled by my parents especially for the event!  I made the label.

A friend in need…

If you were around the anime con scene in the 90s and 00s, you probably met Kevin Lillard.  He probably took your picture, if you were a cosplayer.  If you had a website back then, you probably watched A Fan’s View like a hawk for days after a convention.  Kevin was a fixture in the community for years.  He is a genuinely wonderful person and a joy to be around.  Nothing buoyed my spirit at a con more than seeing Kevin walking toward me in full photographers regalia.

Kevin was a newspaper writer and photographer as well, in his daily life.  As newspapers have begun to fail, he was one of the many journalists who were laid off.  And it’s taken its toll.

“When you live in your car in an abandoned parking lot along a major interstate highway, you see interesting traffic from time to time. Around 8 a.m., eastbound sirens announced the approach of police traffic,led by a plain white box van with a large door on the left side, followed closely by an armed personnel carrier. It took a moment before I recognized the two vehicles, which I had seen on the streets during my now-ended career a s a reporter for the Indianapolis Star. I saw those same two vehicles downtown a couple of years ago when covering a so-called bomb threat involving a man who had left a backpack next to what was then the police department's downtown district headquarters. The white box van carries the police department's tactical robot so the small convoy must have been headed to a SWAT call out.

I'm in he same position of life as the street person whose backpack led to that fuss of years ago. Out of work and out of money, I've been living in my car for the last month, spending days at a nearby library, sending out mostly ignored online job applications. Already there's no money to buy food and the last things to eat were some peanuts from a vending machine at the Anderson newspaper where I had my last job interview. I spent my last change to make a 50-cent call at a pay phone hoping to speak to a recruiter and reached only voice mail. The car where I've been living started running out of fuel on the way to the library and I barely got there. With no money there will be no fuel and no way to go from place to place. Even if there is another job offer there will be no way to get there,with no money and no fuel. Unless there's some sort of miracle,this is the end of any hopes I had. All of the prayers have been answered with messages of failure. This is where we have learned what God really wants.”

This heart wrenching post came from Kevin’s Facebook today and sparked a movement to help save one of our dearest friends in the cosplay community.  If you have anything to spare, please give Kevin a hand by donating via PayPal, courtesy of ACP or sharing any resources for support you may have in the Indiana area by filling out this GoogleDocs form, courtesy of Soni.

Our community is amazing!

Cosplay on Facebook!

I have finally joined the rest of the planet in the 21st century and created a Facebook page for costuming.  I would be delighted to link up with other cosplay pages on FB, so come on over!  See you there!

Made just for me.

I am a week and a day (officially… of course I was back and forth and into this and that all summer) into my new position as technology teacher for the elementary grades at my school, and I’m finding more and more that it is clearly my place in the universe.

I am incredibly lucky to take two of my deepest passions – technology and education – and blend them into a learning experience that is so essential, so needed in our schools today.  As I’ve told colleagues and even some of my older students, use of computer technology and the Internet has moved so fast in the last 15 or so years that it’s nearly impossible to understand the consequences of it.  It was my generation that developed the Internet as we know it, all the promise and pitfalls, the miracles and bullying, the beautiful and horrifying edges of all of it.  We ran headfirst into the technology without thinking what we were creating; the Internet was – is – my generation’s atomic bomb.

I have been charging my oldest students with using what we’ve created for good, demanding that they learn how to use it well, with grace, for proactive means.  Even the littlest I am pointing in the direction of positivity and understanding: first and foremost, listen.

It’s a transformation for me, too.  In my new position, much of the staff has come to rely on my technology literacy for their everyday uses; even the administration has given me responsibilities that I’m suited for and challenged by.  That’s given me the opportunity to take charge, use my areas of competence, to help others, smooth paths, and open doors.  I feel proud of what I do for students and colleagues alike.

My principal sent me an email last week after seeking my advice on a particularly pesky problem, saying that my new position seemed made just for me.  I can’t help but agree.