Missing in Action

…or rather, INaction. 

I used to blog incessantly, about every little thing, no matter how trivial.  I was constantly amazed that anyone at all visited my blog but somehow over the years I attracted a following of people who, for whatever reason, found my relatively mundane life interesting.

Then I joined Facebook and I slowly stared posting trivialities about my mundane life there instead of on my blog.

Oddly enough, I constantly ask myself now whether a topic is blog worthy – which I never used to do.  And 99% of the time I answer myself with a resounding NO.  So I Facebook said topic instead which, truth be told, simply bores a different audience!

Regardless of whether my loyal readers miss me, I miss blogging!  So I’m making an effort to come back.  Brace yourself more of the truly mundane!

So where have I been, you ask? 

Mostly hanging out here in the Land of Limbo. 

Although my company Sandcastle Educational Consulting is still alive and well (though a bit dormant at the moment), I am looking for full-time work as an Educational Media Specialist (“I create experiences that engage and inspire youth and families”) with my eye and heart focused on one position in particular with Microsoft’s Kinect for Kids.  Just how perfect would THAT be?!

I’ve interviewed twice and now it’s pretty much a waiting game while that team re-structures and figures out what their needs are and where (if anywhere) I’d best fit.  My fingers have been crossed for so long that I have a feeling they’re stuck this way forever – which is fine, because hope and optimism never hurt anyone.

And if that position doesn’t pan out, I’ll do my own re-assessing.  Unfortunately, Sandcastle doesn’t offer great benefits that allow us to save for retirement, which is really where we need to focus now that we’re ONE TUITION PAYMENT AWAY (!!!) from being done with paying for kids’ college – something we’ve done for the past ten years solid!

So instead of waiting until everything is resolved and all nice and pretty, as I’ve been doing thus far, I guess I’ll blog all the ups and downs and ins and outs of my life – just as I did for five years until I… didn’t.

And hey, guess what?  I’m solidly on the road to getting back in shape and finding a new healthy me – or, as I indicate on the masthead of my blog at My Fitness Pal, “steadfastly clawing my way back from the depths of LETTING MYSELF GO.”  This journey is a tough one and has been where I’ve focused the majority of my energy lately.  After almost 30 years of focusing on everyone else’s health and needs, I am finally, finally focusing on my own.  It actually is beginning to feel good and I am actually beginning to look forward to the endorphin rush that I get each day when I work out at the gym. 

I know – that looks funny to me too!  Me?  Working out daily at a gym?  Yup!  I lift weights (a full circuit!), sweat on the elliptical, and swim.  Something every single day.  Me!  Can you believe it?  And for two months now I’ve tracked every single morsel that’s gone into my mouth – which is so easy using the My Fitness Pal app’s bar code scanner!

So ten pounds down, forty to go.  Ugh – that just looks so daunting!  But I’m taking it one pound, one centimeter , one lap, and one carrot at a time, allowing myself a full year to accomplish my goal.  If nothing else, I should feel better this year (my third!) at the Danskin Triathlon… where I plan to actually jog, rather than walk for the first time since breaking my ankle three years ago.

So yeah, that’s where I’ve been.  I promise not to stay away for so long again… as long as you promise that you won’t mind if I go back to posting the mundane. 

Teaching cursive: Antiquated or still appropriate?

(I am my own guest blogger today!  I posted this entry on my professional blog and decided to cross-post occasionally.  If you’re an educator, a media producer, or just interested in educational media, I’d love to have you follow my blog at Sandcastle Educational Consulting.  And you can sign up to be my best friend right here.) 

When I was in elementary school, third grade ushered in two significant events. One was that recesses would now be spent in the Big Girls’ or the Big Boys’ yard instead of the Little Kids yard. (Just when we started to be interested in each other, they separated us!) The other was that we’d be learning cursive. This was a significant milestone, as it indicated that we were almost adults (in my mind) and that we would soon be placing our pen on the paper at the beginning of the light blue line and pick it up only at the end of words or lines, as opposed to at the end of each letter. Something about that said mature, sophisticated, and almost ready for the career world. Clearly, I was in too much of a hurry.

When my kids were in third grade around the mid-90’s, they learned keyboarding. By the end of the year they were doing what I still haven’t learned to do: type quickly without looking at the keyboard. These days they are all lightning fast keyboarders, as are all their friends. And it’s no wonder, since the vast majority of their communication is done via a keyboard – on their laptops and on their phones.

The discussion about learning cursive came up at the dinner table a few days ago. We were all marveling about their 86-year-old Nana’s impeccable, flowing penmanship. When she was in elementary school in the 30’s, penmanship was a major curriculum area and students practiced cursive for an hour a day, writing flawless sentences, comprised of flawless, perfectly formed letters.

Nana is very proud of her perfect handwriting – as she should be. We all marvel over the art that graces the front of the envelopes and the cards she faithfully sends each grandchild on their birthdays.

But Peter, 24, suggests that cursive might as well be considered an art form of yesterday: “I don’t think one language should have multiple letter sets!” he insisted. Not one to sugar coat anything, he continued. “I just find cursive obnoxious. I have a hard time reading it and it’s antiquated and unneeded. We might as well start using well and quills again!” His siblings fully agreed and their father and I admitted that we hadn’t written in cursive in many, many years -- though we. like their grandmother, learned it in school and were “forced to” practice cursive. (My husband’s words; personally, I enjoyed handwriting lessons…)

I was surprised to read the comments following this article, entitled “In the Digital Are, Is Teaching Cursive Relevant?” on the PBS website. I would have thought that readers would be in Peter’s camp, but no! Quite a few readers believe that cursive is still relevant and should still be taught in elementary school.

What do you think? Is teaching cursive in elementary school antiquated or still appropriate?

Tales (OK, mostly photos) from Toronto

I’m on my first business trip for my new company, Sandcastle Educational Consulting.  The days are filled with creativity and hard work and I’m absolutely loving the people and the companies I’m working with. 

Toronto is a beautiful city filled with really friendly people.  I spent a few hours this evening walking around and just enjoying the buzz of the city.  (Can I count that as a workout?  The Danskin tri is this Sunday… Arrrggghh!)

I think these are the North cascade mountains.  But then, what do I know?

Canada, eh?

The first thing that struck me about Toronto is how many people are walking around downtown!  Throngs.

This is a “warm mushroom salad.” It was positively delicious!

Juxtaposition.

This sculpture is at the Toronto Blue Jay’s stadium.  I love the whimsy.

The Toronto tower is HUGE!  It must be 5 times the height of Seattle’s Space Needle!  Wait – lemme do some research on the fly here…

So “5 times” was off, but I still swear it’s at least 3 times the height of the Space Needle!

High rise condo are everywhere!

I love this building.  I did a double take.  Twice.

You can rent a bike in downtown Toronto and just ride it around…

…for a day or two!

Peter, I’d love to bring this home for you to put in your new apartment, but… see comment about throngs of people.

This part of downtown reminds me of Pioneer Square in Seattle.

That’s my hotel.  If you count upwards 17 stories, this is what you see:

I’d have to swim about 100 laps in this pool to do the distance of the tri that I should be training for this week.  Instead I just took a few pictures and visualized the swimming part.  Sigh.