Exposing my Grand Niece to the keyboard early
The sooner they start, right? We'll have her clicking away in no time. She loved to hear the click, click of the keys. When my daughter was little I used to put my computer on a screen saver and unplug the keyboard. She would touch a button and the screen saver would change and I would say "Wow! Look what you did!" Not in an accusatory tone of voice, but more like a 'that is great!' tone. She would giggle and of course touch the keys again. Voila, another screen change. This kept her occupied (for a few moments, anyway) during some scary parts of movies that other members of the family were watching and I didn't want her to see.
Speaking of beauty pageants, my co-worker just didn't get "Little Miss Sunshine". I think you have to look behind the story to get it. The brother who didn't speak for months. I think the more sensitive and aware teenagers are developing into human beings who realize how inane the human race is and he probably had no words to express his overwhelming thoughts about this discovery. Then finding out that his one dream in life is unattainable put him so over the edge, his pain came pouring out in a verbose outcry. As if it had been bottled up inside of him.
The bewildered homosexual and suicidal Uncle who was so in tune with others and was just flabbergasted by his ignoramus brother-in-law. The Grandfather who believed in the little girl and meant to teach her to see beyond all the fluffy pomp and circumstance and to literally 'let her hair down.' The father who discovered that his personal support of his daughter's self confidence was far more important than her refraining from eating ice cream to keep her weight down. The absurdity of beauty pageants. Subjects of that nature.
I went to a friend's house last evening to help her set up her new Dell. It has Vista and it was my first exposure to the new operating system. It has little quirky changes, but I liked it. I found nothing objectionable with it. Everything I loaded and added had the correct drivers, it all worked and things went smoothly. I am a command prompt user (having worked with PC's before Windows 3.1 made GUI popular and favorable). I have a better feel for things from the command line. Maybe I should have taken the programming route. Still, it is not too late. Java here I come!
Er, anyway. The command prompt and Run option are in different places as is the 'Add or remove programs' function. But, once found I can reprogram myself to adjust. That is a given in technology. Change. It may be uncomfortable, but it is inevitable. The better you adjust, the better and smoother your life is going to be. Just substitute the word 'life' for 'technology' in the above remark. If you don't like change, you can choose to be miserable or choose to adapt.
This is also what I tell folks who question technology in Education. I have heard some cry "Teach them reading, writing and arithmetic! It was good enough for me when I was in school!" I tell them, "Technology (and the Internet) are here to stay. Like it or not. We can't go back. Let's just make the best of it and utilize it for what it was actually intended to do. Let us take the good aspects of it and educate our children." Of course, the naysayers will claim that there is nothing good about it.
The above photo is the same day that I gave all my old purses and pocket books to my Grand Niece to play with. But, (I am proud to instigate) once the keyboard was introduced - she forgot all about the pretty jewelry and pocket books. That's my kind of girl!
This little girl needs all the technical help she can get since her Mom and Grandmother (my sister) drag this poor little thing from one beauty pageant to another. She has had photo shoots in Chicago, Cincinnati and has another contest coming up in Canton. Although I do not agree with this type of activity, I will refrain any more comment. Their life, their business. (Personally, I believe it is all a money scam and I think my sister knows this in the back of her mind). She is twitterpated when it comes to her grand-daughter. As most grandparents are. I think it comes with the territory. Well, so much for my refrainment.
(On a side note, www.dictionary.com recognizes 'twitterpated' and 'refrainment' as words even if Blogger does not.
This little girl needs all the technical help she can get since her Mom and Grandmother (my sister) drag this poor little thing from one beauty pageant to another. She has had photo shoots in Chicago, Cincinnati and has another contest coming up in Canton. Although I do not agree with this type of activity, I will refrain any more comment. Their life, their business. (Personally, I believe it is all a money scam and I think my sister knows this in the back of her mind). She is twitterpated when it comes to her grand-daughter. As most grandparents are. I think it comes with the territory. Well, so much for my refrainment.
(On a side note, www.dictionary.com recognizes 'twitterpated' and 'refrainment' as words even if Blogger does not.
Speaking of beauty pageants, my co-worker just didn't get "Little Miss Sunshine". I think you have to look behind the story to get it. The brother who didn't speak for months. I think the more sensitive and aware teenagers are developing into human beings who realize how inane the human race is and he probably had no words to express his overwhelming thoughts about this discovery. Then finding out that his one dream in life is unattainable put him so over the edge, his pain came pouring out in a verbose outcry. As if it had been bottled up inside of him.
The bewildered homosexual and suicidal Uncle who was so in tune with others and was just flabbergasted by his ignoramus brother-in-law. The Grandfather who believed in the little girl and meant to teach her to see beyond all the fluffy pomp and circumstance and to literally 'let her hair down.' The father who discovered that his personal support of his daughter's self confidence was far more important than her refraining from eating ice cream to keep her weight down. The absurdity of beauty pageants. Subjects of that nature.
I went to a friend's house last evening to help her set up her new Dell. It has Vista and it was my first exposure to the new operating system. It has little quirky changes, but I liked it. I found nothing objectionable with it. Everything I loaded and added had the correct drivers, it all worked and things went smoothly. I am a command prompt user (having worked with PC's before Windows 3.1 made GUI popular and favorable). I have a better feel for things from the command line. Maybe I should have taken the programming route. Still, it is not too late. Java here I come!
Er, anyway. The command prompt and Run option are in different places as is the 'Add or remove programs' function. But, once found I can reprogram myself to adjust. That is a given in technology. Change. It may be uncomfortable, but it is inevitable. The better you adjust, the better and smoother your life is going to be. Just substitute the word 'life' for 'technology' in the above remark. If you don't like change, you can choose to be miserable or choose to adapt.
This is also what I tell folks who question technology in Education. I have heard some cry "Teach them reading, writing and arithmetic! It was good enough for me when I was in school!" I tell them, "Technology (and the Internet) are here to stay. Like it or not. We can't go back. Let's just make the best of it and utilize it for what it was actually intended to do. Let us take the good aspects of it and educate our children." Of course, the naysayers will claim that there is nothing good about it.
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