A Special Engagement

America has been duped!! Engagement rings date back hundreds of years, but DIAMOND engagement rings weren't poppin until an American advertising scheme was launched. Genius, actually....

"The diamond engagement ring did not become the standard it is considered today until after an extensive marketing campaign by De Beers in the middle of the 20th century, which came to include one of the most famous advertising slogans of the 20th century: 'A Diamond is Forever'.

In the early 20th century, the United States jewelery industry attempted to start a trend of male engagement rings, going so far as to create a supposed "historical precedent" dating back to medieval times. The attempt failed, although the industry applied lessons learned from this venture in its more successful bid to encourage the use of male wedding rings." (Wikipedia)

ALSO....

"A conventional buying price ranging from two to three months wages for a ring guideline originated from De Beers marketing materials in the early 20th century, in an effort to increase the sale of diamonds." (Wikipedia)

AND.....

"The double-ring ceremony, or use of wedding rings for both partners, is a relatively recent innovation. The American jewellery industry started a marketing campaign aimed at encouraging this practice in the late 19th century. Learning from marketing lessons of the 1920s, changing economic times, and the impact of World War II, led to a more successful marketing campaign, and by the late 1940s, double-ring ceremonies made up for 80% of all weddings, as opposed to 15% before the Great Depression." (Wikipedia)

Funny how we blindly follow tradition that isn't even tradition!! Americans are so easily brainwashed. Too funny.

Anywho.....my engagement-slash-wedding band below. :)

My Little Willie

If any of you know William (formerly known as Bill) and his signature note....you'll enjoy this:

It's the Small Things

At work today, I was able to witness something that the average person will never be able to see. I saw, laid out in front of me, a skeleton of a person who had lived 5200 years ago! A man who teaches anatomy at Berkeley was kind enough to share the story of the person laid out before us:

The skeleton was found beneath (or in, I'm not sure how all that works) the largest pyramid in Egypt. I guess the pharaohs in Egypt were intrigued by dwarfs, more commonly known as midgets, and they were collected and employed as money counters and such. Well this particular skeleton was one of the helpers in the kitchen of this huge pyramid. 

According to the guy at Berkeley there are two main kinds of dwarfism, and this specimen was representative of neither of those types. He pointed out so many different elements, like how all the joints and the skull were the size of a normal-sized human. The parts that were small were the length of the legs and arms. And the feet and hands were tiny!!! One thing that was extra crazy was that the bones were very light weight--hardly any bone density. He was saying the this was the only specimen like it in the world!

It's so important to recognize little moments like these and be proud to witness them. 

I'm telling you, it's the small things like this that make a difference (pardon the pun lol).

Oh my gosh!...I almost forget to mention the Neanderthal skeletons he was scanning not long ago from France. He said it was a whole family that had been EATEN....by other Neanderthals!!!

Apparently you can tell how a bone is broken by the way it fractures. That's one way they could tell they had been eaten. Also, he said it couldn't have been by an animal because the animal would have gnawed away at the bones, and they didn't see that in this case. Almost make you wanna be an architect, huh? :)

Scary....CLEARly

As most of you know, I travel at least twice a week to various cities in the US. The last time I was in San Francisco, a kiosk caught my attention so I grabbed a pamphlet. Apparently airports are adopting a new VIP-identification line, by a company called Clear. To any avid traveler this may seem appealing to not have to wait in line….Sorta like the club. We’re not going if we have to stand in line. Lol The catch? (There’s always a catch.) You must go through two main procedures: 

1.You have your fingerprints taken. No biggie. We all, or most of us, have to get our fingerprints taken at some point. 2. You must have your irises scanned. If you’ve seen Bourne Identity and/or that YouTube video featuring the family from Florida who had a travel identification chip implanted into their bodies then you’re more than likely having the same reaction I had. “Huh???”

At the risk of sounding old skool, I think “Fine. New technology. New procedures.” Most of you already know I LOVE new technology. But hold on…scanning my irises?? No thank you. Besides…the ClearCard does not skip you through security. It simply gets you to security. Last I checked you get to skip to security when you make it to Elite WorldPerks status. Shoooot. I think I’ll wait. I’m almost there anyway. ;) WAY better than letting people have pictures of the inside of my eyeballs.

Aunt Dolly

SO.....my sisters and a couple friends came to visit this week, and we all went to see Dolly Parton in concert. Yes...the country singer. Yeah, she's the one with the boobs. Yep, blonde hair. And lovely enough, her new album is called "Backwoods Barbie". 

It's amazing how superficially silly she can appear, but Dolly is quite an inspiration. And she's so humble. AND she put on one of the best concerts I've seen in a long, long time. Played 10 instruments in 2 hours. 2 HOURS!!?? This woman is over 60 years old and putting on better shows than most artists in their 20s. 

Her numbers speak volumes for her work....check it out:

• Dolly had 26 #1 singles
  
• She's had 42 top-10 country albums. Let me say that again.....42 top-10 ALBUMS. What!?!
• Dolly has published almost 600 songs with BMI and has earned 37 BMI awards for her material.
• Rumor has it that she made $6 million off Whitney Houston's cover version of "I Will Always Love You", a song Dolly wrote in 1974 and has all the publishing rights to!
• Dolly's been in movies, on TV shows, and owns her own theme park DollyWood. 
• Inspiration Library is her international organization that gives books to children every month of their lives from the time they're born to the time they enter kindergarten.
• Dolly's estimated worth is between $300 million and $500 million.

So NEXT TIME I tell you I'm going to see Dolly Parton, please don't seem so alarmed lol.

 We love Dolly!!

wanna make LUV in the club....in the club.

Friends don't let friends go to the club....WITH ONLY THEIR UNderWEAR.

Dope Sick Love

You've heard about the reality television show on VH1 featuring the stories of drug addicts in relationships? Well, it shows the lengths to which these people go to get their next high and how they are willing to jeopardize their relationships with their loved one in order to be satiated in a physical sense. 

Now take out the drugs.

MY reality TV show is going to be about people who let LOVE ruin their lives. It will show the lengths to which people go to be and remain in love and how they are willing to jeopardize their own life and dreams and goals to be satiated in an emotional sense.

At what point did it become okay to do this?? There seems to be a rampant epidemic among women I know--and yes, men too--who have tunnel visioned their way into a relationship, often times a horrible one, and in the process completely left their person in the past. Unfortunately, women are typically the ones to experience this the most frequently and the hardest, lending themselves to lifestyles that cater to the life-living men they love.

I'm not judging.  Shoot. We've all been there before--at least once.

My answer? Love Rehab. 

Yes. 

"Suckin too hard on your lollipop...Love's gonna get you down."

~Mika

Stay tuned...

Frump

My internet video debut. Don't be jealous... lol

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1321252671/bctid1491726993

I'm Straight...

On a whim the other night....I decided to get a hair cut. For the past several years, I've been a spur-of-the-moment, find-a-hair-salon-with-an-opening,  "I-don't-care-do-whatever" type of lady. Sometimes I end up saying, "Shoot!!"(kinda like my last short haircut.....it was aaiiiight lol) But this time  I really like it! Well, I can't speak on the curly quite yet.... right now it's straight! And if you know me you know I don't do straight very often. Not too shabby, huh??? I just might invest in one those hot hair straightener tools that's sorta like a curling iron but not. hahahha AND I really enjoyed the salon....Mel at Evolution Experience off Lyndale hooked me up! You should definitely go.... they even have a couple of nice looking young men that work there (not that I'm looking....because I'm taken. Yessir!) Just FYI....  :) 

Oh Deer!

Eric and I went out for dinner last night...wanted to check out a restaurant we haven't yet gone to. Lo and behold! We stumbled upon the Red Stag Supper Club in Minneapolis. One of those places that makes you wanna go hmmm....It had the feel of a midwestern Legion or VFW with brick red interior and random looking tables all over. We ordered tempura broccoli (yum!!), a petit teres, and deer stroganoff. Yes....we had Bambi for dinner--yikes!! And boy-oh-boy!....the chocolate brownie at dessert was mmm mmmm good.  Overall the food was decent, but we agree it was our mousey little bartender and his wooden nickels that bumped our experience up to 8 points out of 10. 

Air Bags Save Lives

As you all know, I got that new MacBook Air (wuhhooo!!). Yes I love it....and I'm the type of person who would like to whip it in my purse and be gone. I've been learning though that if you take care of your stuff, it lasts a lot longer!! lol So I'm looking for a little bag for the MBA....this is what I've found so far at etsy.com, two of my faves

Backstretch....

I'm building a webpage!!! I am an English teacher, so would never be expected to do something like this, but I'm really getting the hang of it. AND it's kind of fun. (Don't tell anyone...)

So now how do I incorporate this into my classroom or school structure? Haven't QUITE figured that part out. I feel like I have become a resource for my students who are figuring out how to present projects. About 3-4 months ago, a student came to me and told me he wanted to rebuild the school's website because it's boring. I got the deer-in-the-headlights look and referred him to the tech-guy. At least now, I can guide students in using Dreamweaver! A beautiful thing.

I'm not sure what else I can do with this knowledge. This summer during staff development, though, I will be able to apply this knowlege to my coursework during the curriculum development section.

Like Dana states in her blob, I really enjoyed and connected with the article "Constructivism in the Classroom: If I Teach This Way, Am I Doing My Job?" by Debra Sprague & Christopher Dede. My school's philosophy is based in Constructivism and is project based in a small community, so everything the article said made sense to me.

Out of the Blocks...

This week has been some review for me. I have worked a little with Inspiration and PowerPoint but never too extensively. The idea I like about PowerPoint is that it doesn't necessarily have to be used as a presentation tool, rather it can be used as a sort of WebQuest. I teach a class called 'Literature and Social Movements' and ended up doing my PowerPoint assignment on the charter school movement. It worked out perfectly because I want to show how the students enrolled at my school are part of the movement naturally, but I find it a little difficult to make it exciting in the classroom. So I decided that would be a perfect opportunity to include some technology!

Actually....I learned how to possibly incorporate blogging into my classroom. I've always thought it to be very important that students utilize the web somehow in discussion because my students seem to be reluctant to journal. Ever since watching a presentation at Avalon School on Japanese fashion and the young lady told how she learned a lot from using discussion boards, I've been wanting to do something like this in my classroom or with students who may be working on a project. I think I will require blog entries next year, and also responses to other student's blogs in the class. To spice things up a little (and since my classes tend to be pretty small), I might allow the students to respond to blogs that they might find on the internet that pertains to classroom material. Always an option...

The readings were rather insightful, I enjoyed "Computer Delusions" because it gave an interesting perspective on the effectiveness of using technology in the classroom to help students engage in meaningful learning. While I wonder how the heck I would be teaching in a completely different manner in which I was taught, I always just thought that given the state of technology use throughout society today, it seems ludicrous that it NOT be used in an educational format. And I completely agree with the "PowerPoint is Evil" article! My goodness, I am sick of seeing the typical student PowerPoint presentations. They seem so predictable. I feel now I have another way to show students PowerPoint, and this way I will be able to potentially use their work to show future students.

I was looking at Robyn's blog, and I see that she really likes the idea of using Inspiration IN her classroom. Like Robyn was observing with some of the other blogs, I would be unable to use programs in my classroom due to a lack of equipment in the classroom. We have computer access almost EVERYWHERE else in the building, so that's something I would have to work around.

Stay away....

.....I've been doing entirely too much the past week--travel, work, school, work, work. I'm getting sick. Boohoo. My roommate is on her way to the grocery store to get me orange juice because I can feel my lymph nodes growing. Gross, I know. So like I said...stay away. Any suggestions on saving my health, let me know. Until then, peace. 1