It's Friday! Come On. Get Jiggy With It!

It's Friday!  You all ought to be dancing.  This little guy sure knows what to do, and he's only 16 months old.  Happy weekend everyone!

Fit for a King

Fit for a King

Like a royal robe trimmed in gold,

on display to those passing by,

shimmering clouds, 

in folds of purple silk, 

are draped across the sky.

As if laid out in anticipation 

of welcoming the King,

they billow in the breeze.
They rustle.  They whisper.  They sigh.
 If you listen very carefully,

you can hear their voices sing.

Back to School!

Today was my Leadership class again, and our theme this month was "Back to School."  After a quick stop at the Chamber of Commerce office, we started our day at the local middle school.  Each of us was assigned to two classrooms to observe.  I was assigned to observe two fifth grade math classes.


It was interesting to see some of the ways that going to school has changed since I went all those years ago, but there were two things that I observed that disturbed me somewhat.  In the first class the students spent most of their time working on practice questions for the Ohio standardized tests that are required of the students.  Funding for the schools is tied to how well the students do on these tests, so having them do well on them is a high priority.  I agree that it is good to want students to do well, but I think it is wrong that so much emphasis is placed on these tests.  It just seems like a backwards way to teach to me.


The other thing that I didn't care for was how much the teachers pushed using calculators on the students.  They said that the calculator was a tool to help them be more efficient and work faster.  They were working on percentages, decimals, and fractions.  These weren't overly difficult problems, but the students were still encouraged to use their calculators to find the answers instead of doing the division problems themselves.  Personally, I think it would be better to put a higher priority on using their  brains to figure those things out instead of punching the numbers into a calculator.  Maybe I'm too old-fashioned or just plain old, but I think it would be better to teach kids how to think for themselves than to teach them to rely on a machine to solve their problems.


Anyway, pardon me for going off on that little tangent.  I'll jump down from my soapbox now.  After our classroom visits, the superintendent of schools spoke to us about the school board, what they do, and what their job is.  Her speech was followed by a presentation from a mom who home schools her children.


We went to lunch after that and then went to our local community college for a tour there.  We had an extensive tour, but the part that I found most interesting was the new nurses' lab that they have.  They use animated mannequins in the nurse's training lab  that are really amazing.  These mannequins actually blink their eyes and move as if breathing, have pulses and heart beats and belly and lung noises.  They can be programmed to turn blue around their mouths if they aren't getting enough oxygen, and all sorts of other illnesses or injuries can be simulated with the mannequins.  This gives the nurses very life-like experience in their training where they can learn what to do and how to react in various situations and not worry about harming any patients if they make a mistake.


One of the mannequins they had was a pregnant woman who delivers a baby.  The baby is also an animated mannequin.  We were told that the pregnant "mom" mannequin even screams and moans during delivery and says things that a pregnant mom might say in the same situation.   They can simulate various kinds of births with the mannequin, too, including a normal birth, a breech birth, a Cesarean birth, one complicated by hemorrhaging, and so on.  It was quite amazing and very fascinating.  This modern technology comes with a hefty price, though.  We were told that they had paid $50,000 for each of the adult animated mannequins that we were shown as part of our tour.


If you are interested, you can see what these mannequins are like and how realistic they are (albeit in a rather creepy sort of way--hahaha!) in this video.  This video is not from the community college we visited today, but this illustrates very well what the mannequins are like that we saw.

Our last stop was at the four county vocational school where we also took a tour.  They offer 30 different areas of study at this school.  We toured the classrooms and labs for many of those areas some of which included cosmetology, auto repair, diesel engine repair, landscaping and flower arranging and design, computer graphics and design, carpentry, electrical trades, engineering, construction, interior design, welding and many others.  

One thing that is very interesting about this school is that every year the students build a house in our community.  The house owner pays for the materials and for the transportation expenses of the students, but the student labor is free to the homeowner.  The students use this experience as a major part of their education.  The students build the entire house including plumbing, wiring, cabinets, wallpapering and painting,  and even do the sewing of curtains, and so forth.

As usual, I learned a great deal from my class today.  I'm exhausted tonight because it was a full and busy day, but the experience was a worthwhile one.

And the Scores are Good! With Smiles All Around!

Although this has been a very mild winter, we have had several snowfalls.  None of them have been very big, and none of them have left enough snow behind to cause major problems.  I think we have had to get the snow blower out to clear the driveway only once so far this winter season.  Also, none of the snows have stayed long on the ground, melting again in a day or so after falling.  These pictures are from several days ago, although we had fresh snow again last night, and it is snowing again now as I write this.

The snow in these pictures was the wet, heavy type that leaves everything looking like it is covered in powdered sugar icing.

The picture below I took this morning looking out from the front window of our van.  I liked how the frozen crystals on the windshield were sparkling in the sun.  We were on our way to a high school in another town to listen to my son perform at the solo and ensemble contest being held there when I took this picture.

He has been practicing and practicing, and today all that work paid off for him.  He participated in the contest in three areas.  He performed a solo on his upright bass, played with his string quintet, and played with his high school chamber orchestra in the contest.

The contests are scored on a scale from one to five with a score of one being the highest score.  For his solo and for both of his performances in the ensembles with others, he received a score of one.  He was elated that it went so well.  Cameras and recording equipment weren't permitted during the contests, so I was unable to make a video of any of his performances.  

This picture is of my husband, my son and his girlfriend, and me after the contest was over today.

The weather man is predicting a  big drop in the temperature here tonight accompanied by black ice forming on the roads along with more snow fall.  I hope it doesn't get too bad.  Tomorrow my son will be playing in his high school orchestra winter concert in the afternoon, and I'd rather not have to fight the weather just to get there.

If you're in need of some new warm clothes for this winter and you're on a budget, these Macys Coupons will help you save  money toward those necessary purchases.

An Evening of Music

We went to another concert in our local Community Concert Association series last night.  The performer was the very talented guitarist Edgar Cruz. Although he is the son of a Mariachi guitarist with his roots in Latin music, he also plays classical, rock, jazz, romantic ballads, big band songs, and original compositions.

On the right in the photo below is the program from the concert.  On the left is a music CD we bought at the concert.  He has numerous CDs available, and it was difficult deciding which one to buy.

The concert was fantastic and Cruz was very entertaining.  His music was beautiful and varied.  He had something in his repertoire for everyone.   He also told interesting and funny stories.  

His father was a professional mariachi guitarist, and he chose to follow in his footsteps musically.  When he told his father that he wanted to do this, his father said, "Do you know the difference between a big old plate of fajitas and a professional guitarist?"  

When Cruz said, "No."  

His father said, "A big old plate of fajitas can feed a family of four."

One of the songs that he performed was called Sadie Suite.  It was a very pretty song that he wrote for his daughter.  You can listen to it in this video if you like.  I really enjoyed it.

He told this story about his daughter from when she was quite young.  

He said that their family cat died. 

His daughter asked her mother, "Why did our cat die?"

Cruz's wife said, "Maybe God wanted to have another cat in heaven."

Their daughter then said, "What's God going to do with a dead cat?!"

Although most people play guitar with a pick, Edgar told the audience that he plays with his fingers.  Once a month he gets acrylic nails applied so that he can use the nails as picks to play the guitar.  That way he can play with all five of his fingers instead of just with one pick.  Believe me, he was using all of his fingers to play last night.  His music was amazing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the concert from beginning to end.  My favorite part of the concert was when he played a medley of classical songs.  I didn't take my camera to the concert, but here is the classical medley that he performed in a video from Youtube.  The songs in the medley are listed below the video.

1. Greensleeves

2. Fur Elise

3. Moonlight Sonata

4. Ode to Joy

5. Canon in D

6. Jesu, Ode to a Man's Desiring

7. Carol of the Bells

8. Hall of the Mountain King

9. William Tell Overture