Tenured teachers losing jobs!

What do you do when you lose you job? It sounds perverse. You go to college to earn a Bachelor's Degree. You then pay fee after fee to The State to become licensed. Then you enter a very competitive job market. Then you go back to school for an advanced degree to make you a more efficacious educator to be able to keep the job you worked so hard to get in the first place.

You work hard, do what everyone tells you you're supposed to do and then receive tenure. You think you've arrived, right? Wrong.

The economy finally lets go and funding suffers. Next thing you know, your school district sits down with you and tells you how sorry they are but they can no longer pay you.



What do you do next? I found myself asking this question not too long ago. Fortunately for me, I try to never rely on one source of income. I've had businesses and sold them at a profit, I invest wisely (Will Rogers always said "Invest in Real Estate- they're not making it anymore") and I'm a saver.

Unemployment doesn't last forever and I like putting money into my bank account, so I decided to expand on some of my online ventures and invest a few dollars in my own ideas as well. I'm actually writing a series of Lenses on Squidoo.com which will focus on ways that someone with little to no knowledge of the internet can use to make a bit more income. I even focus on a method of making money online that is revolutionary in it's implementation and elegant in it's simplicity.

You may be wondering (if you're still reading, lol) what any of this has to do with teaching. Well, although anyone could technically pick my methods up and get good at them in time, I feel that the skills learned and encouraged in teacher preparation programs are a big help. I'm uniquely qualified to judge this notion, as I've done both successfully.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

A Surround Sound system is a must for the Home Theater buff!

I know there's no help for me. I like to have nice things and that's all there is to it. I have a great television, so I naturally wanted to have a great surround sound system.



Why spend a lot of money on a surround sound system? Well, if it's worth it to you go ahead but what I did was picked a middle of the road model that had a good, solid reputation and all the features I wanted. I believe mine cost around 200-250 dollar and is a Sony.

The only bad part about it is the wired speakers- my house is carpeted and I'm not scared to get my hands dirty so I just ran the wires under the carpeting. Surround sound systems typically have a few modes that can be chosen to emulate different "optimal" settings for movie, concerts (like if you're watching music videos), etcetera.

I prefer to sit in my usual spot and adjust the levels myself because I'm really picky about these things. I chose to mount my speakers directly on the walls (with the subwoofer mounted low on the entertainment system to make the floor shake) at the recommended height for a truly immersive experience.

I love movies like you wouldn't believe. Some of the best presents I've received were from my grandmother, who understood my love of cinema, and made sure to get me gift certificates for the local movie theater. Fast forward fifteen years or so and not only is my grandmother gone but so is that desire to go to the movies on a regular basis.

Movie theaters are usually packed full of rude people who don't know not to talk during the movies. As if that weren't reason enough to stay home, the theaters around here are dirty and far from state of the art. Add to that the fact that my tv and surround sound system absolutely blow the movie theater's equipment out of the water. If Hollywood would let me stream the newest blockbusters directly into my house, I probably wouldn't go to the movies much at all.

Black and Decker Power Scissors Rock!

I found a neat little item at Wal Mart not too long ago called the Black and Decker Power Scissors. They're inexpensive and make for outstanding stocking gifts. I bought several extra pair for family members.



If you've ever been annoyed with those "clamshell" plastic packages (the kind that envelops the product and is heat sealed), this tool is for you. The idea, obviously, is to act as a theft deterrant by making the package hard to open and then stuff the item in your pocket. How about those packages that have the plastic ziplock baggie style way of sealing them? I always cut too deep or not deep enough when I use my scissors. They just sort of go right through the packaging like a knife through butter.

I've used these for so many different things I can't possibly recall to blog here today. But some of the uses are mail, packaging, plants and cutting out corrugated cardboard for various automotive projects to be used as templates. Is this really something blog worthy? I think so, because they are inexpensive and come in sooo handy. If you don't believe me, buy a set- you won't be disappointed.

Most-Wanted-Comic-Books

I'm a geek. I wear it proudly and consider it part of who I am. Comic books in general and superhero books in particular have been with us in the form we currently recognize them (underwear on the outside, heroic bent on the inside) since about 1938 with the introduction of Superman in Action Comics number one. Comics have evolved due to influence from the economy and the rantings of the book Seduction of the Innocent.

You could quite easily build a business around comic books if you had enough knowledge of the industry. Books can be rare and valuable and in many cases not too rare and still worth a bit of money due to the author or artist signing the book (I've had Spiderman's creator sign multiple original copies of Amazing Spiderman one and let me tell you, that adds significant value!).

You could get into the world of comic book based niches such as action figures, statues and other high end collectibles

Another great way to make money with comic books is to buy and sell original art. I have a few pieces of original art, but it isn't a focus for my collection. Again, signatures (particularly if they can be verified with a picture of the creator signing) add value but you don't have to go for something incredibly expensive if you just want to be in the hobby for pleasure instead of business. I have a relatively low value piece which was published in the late 80's or early 90's. It's a page of a Spiderman comic that was actually used to produce the issue that month. Very cool, but I was also able to get the artist to sign it to me when I had worked the deal out with him (in this case, unless I'm going to sell it to someone named Jim I stand a lower chance on making a profit from this piece- but that isn't why I bought it).



So long story short; you can collect comics for fun or for profit and either will serve you well.

ipod-Touch-3G-Review

I never knew that portable media could be so easy. I'm from the era of the original Sony Walkman and anyone that had one can tell you it was anything but convenient. Big and bulky, not to mention a little on the heavy side for an accessory you carry around a lot. I'd also tried some of the first smaller MP3 players to listen to notes when in college and those weren't very convenient either.



But this post is about the ipod touch 3G, so let's get on with the story! 3G refers to the third generation of the ipod Touch. The original ipod Touch was revolutionary in and of itself and paved the way for many look alikes (hey, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!). You can get an ipod Touch 3G in different configurations such as memory capacities of eight to thirty two gigabytes of storage space for music, movies, television shows (my wife uses hers whenever she has downtime to watch episodes of shows she likes) and a slew of other fun things.

What's really neat to me is you can tilt it to manipulate your character while playing games. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for applications from Apple as well as custom applications from private coders. My only complaint is that the screen shows a lot of fingerprints. But hey, what can you expect when it's call the ipod Touch? I'm happy to wipe the screen in the name of convenience and utility.

Samsung-LED-HDTV

In the spirit of being a modern woman (as well as being a really cool chick!), my wife, after receiving her engagement ring, decided to buy me a nice present to celebrate as well.  Enter the Samsung LED HDTV; a 52 inch picture that will absolutely blow your mind when you see it.



This television utilizes LED backlighting much like the ipod Touch 3G and similar to the lights used on pre lit LED Christmas trees.  My wife knows how to pick 'em (not me, the tv), as evidenced by the shockingly realistic picture this unit puts out.  We're big movie buffs and have a really nice surround sound and with this television it's downright sad to see the picture and hear the sound in movie theaters.  If I could stream brand new movies to my tv, I would do it in a heartbeat.  Everything looks good on this tv- from a show on HGTV to the Iron Man movie DVD.

It's nice to look at too- very sleek and modern looking, with a thickness of only 1.2 inches.  One of the best things is our energy bill has gone down a noticeable bit since using LED's in so many areas of our house.  My next mission: hook the internet up to the tv (it has a port on the back just for that) and surf on my couch on a 52 inch monitor!

How to Become or Meet a Modern Gentleman.

I've had an idea for a while now to try and weed out all the bad things that come with a dating site.  I built a site that is designed to help men become more well mannered with the input of both men and women.



The main idea is that people should be acting better toward one another.  How many times have you seen a child who swears in public and backtalks their parents relentlessly.  I've seen this many times and when you see the parents you can immediately tell where their child got such a foul attitude.

What does this have to do with being a gentleman?  In short, have some manners and class and you will stand out from the rest.  These are the values you could pass on to your progeny instead of just acting crass or rude.  Out of the mouths of babes come the words we never should have saved. 

Well, on my site you can participate in a discussion about the qualities of a gentleman.  This is where the fun part comes in, because you get to be part of a like minded community.  If you're a man and you decide to take on the values of my site, you will stand out from the rest to women.  If you're a woman looking for a man who is a cut above the rest, you have the opportunity to filter out some of the men you meet on other dating sites.  And everyone gets to chime in on what they think a Modern Gentleman should be and how he should act.

Moderators are now being sought for duties on the site and once things are up and running will be sharing in all profits.  If you're an exceptional person (man or woman), why not stop by and contribute something to the Modern Gentleman Online community?  Hope to see you there!

Christmas 2009- the LED Christmas tree story.

     My wife and I had kicked around the idea of getting a new Christmas tree for a while now.  She happens to have a rather severe allergy to natural Christmas trees and the one we had in the basement was somewhat worse for wear.  So off to Google we went to search for a new tree.

     We wound up settling on one from Sears that has a rotating base and a programmable box to do different light shows with the LED's.  I happen to have quite an affinity for Light Emitting Diodes and their implementation on a Christmas tree is only one of the newer and more ingenious uses for them. 

     The tree was very easy to set up- basically, it's in three pieces and you just put them together and plug the tree in.  You do have to fluff the branches out a bit as with just about any artificial tree, but the lights are already fitted to the tree and all you really need to do next is put ornaments on your new tree.  The quietness of the tree's motor (which is in the base of the tree and serves to rotate the tree) is amazing and the patterns, speed of lights as well as the speed of the tree's rotation all are customizable.

     I give this tree 5 out of 5 stars, as it was reasonably priced, was easy to set up and looks great.  Heck, we got the tree in mid-November and decided that it was almost time to put it up and we wanted to see it in action, so we put it up and left it up.  We will be putting it back in the box after the holiday within a reasonable time frame, however ;)