Spatter

List Of Fours

Who am I? There are so many ways to answer. Bonnie  defined herself in part by answering this list of fours. I decided it'd be fun to do the same:

Jobs I've Had

• Bank Teller - back in the 70s South...it was about the only position available for women there and then.  It was a step up in pay from grocery store cashier, but not by much.

• Door To Door Sales - selling photo processing and albums to people who couldn't afford them: couples getting married and/or expecting babies. The details of this job warrant their very own post, but trust me, it wasn't profitable!

• Work Measurement Analyst - my first "professional" job...I worked for the Hartford Insurance Group and flew around to regional offices developing and implementing work standards. That's nice talk for time management. I was one of the good ones though...I always allowed lots of times for incidental activities.

• Jailer - in the business it's referred to as "Correctional Officer". I spent 25 years in a variety of assignments and positions. That kept things interesting. I should have kept notes!

Books I'd Read Over And Over

• Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
• The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
• The Hobbit -J.R.R. Tolkien
• A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Places I've Lived

• Fort Lauderdale, FL - where I grew up and where I now live in winter/spring.
• Atlanta, GA - a "town" that holds some of my best memories. I lived there in the late 70s
• New Orleans, LA - a brief stay...that was enough. I can't say I ever got into it.
• Floyd, VA - my summer home these days...a piece of heaven.

Books I'd Recommend (just four??!!)

• Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• The Devil In The White City - Erik Larson
• 1776 - David McCullough'

Places I've Been

• Pike's Peak
• Grand Canyon
• Europe
• Cape Breton/Prince Edward Island

People Who E-Mail Me Regularly

• Friends
• Microsoft, Adobe, et al
• Various bloggers via feeds
• Various payees via e-bills

Of My Favorite Foods

• Pasta
• Chocolate Ice Cream...oh, heck...chocolate in any form!
• Rice
• Berries

Of My Favorite Drinks

• Iced tea
• Red wine
• Single malt scotch
• Coffee

Places I'd Rather Be Right Now

• On a photo expedition
• In a comfy place chatting with friends
• At the beach listening to the surf and watching the pelicans
• Sitting on the deck at Blackberry Ridge

Things That Are Very Special To Me (note it's not "beings")

• My health
• The land and sea
• Critters
• Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching

Things I'm Looking Forward To In 2008

• The end of the Bush administration...it can't come soon enough!
• My traveling to Utah's Grand Circle
• Visiting Chattanooga - I saw the choo-choo back in the 70s, but never explored the town.
• Spending time with friends near and far

Asking For Input

I've been using Firefox as my web browser for some years now. I left IE for Opera, mostly because of its tabbed browsing, but soon started using Firefox because more web sites worked with it.  And there I've stayed. By and by IE came to using tabs, but I never liked its interface  and I had heard Firefox was more secure.

Now, thanks to my new computer, I've been reintroduced to IE...version 7. I like it a lot better than its predecessor: they've improved the interface with a sleek look and a pleasing font; it's more secure (so they say), and it's got some nice features, including tabbed browsing.  It also behaves and interacts very nicely with MS Office.  Of course it does. 

So why all this discussion? Right now, linking to the internet from an Outlook email brings up a pop-up error message when opening up Firefox - my default browser.  I ultimately get to the site, but it's annoying to have to close this pop-up every time. I've researched forums and I've found it's happening to others.  Unfortunately, the solution offered didn't work for me. Can I live with it? Yes. But do I want to? I'm debating the matter.

I'm curious to know what browser you're using. I already know Leanne's feelings, but what about you?

And while I'm asking...I've been wondering about the font of my posts...Its size is larger than most blog fonts I see.  I think it's easier on the eyes, but sometimes I wonder if readers like it or if they think it "shouts" and would prefer it smaller. So I'm making this paragraph's font smaller for comparison. What do you think? 

I appreciate the input.

Earth Hour

Tonight from 8-9 p.m. local time, the lights will go out for Earth Hour. Little things can make a difference.  Please participate if you can.

I'm Listening

This video came to my attention at simplynutmeg.com.  After hearing this woman's litany of slander, I can't help but wonder if it might affect her decisions as she "serves" on the local Education Committee and the Human Services Committee.  Or how about when she CHAIRS the Social Services Committee? Gee, do ya think? Give a listen and draw your own conclusion. 

(Note to Spatter's email subscribers: I know that the formatting of emailed feeds sometimes gets ... well let's just say "not right". It's long been a frustration of mine. If the video clips here don't come through correctly, just click on the post heading and go to the actual website to see)

Thankfully this is getting plenty of play and attention.  Here are a couple of videos commenting on Ms. Kern's hateful, hurtful, and violence inciting/condoning words. The first is serious. The second will make you laugh.   

Flashback Friday - Nova High

In 1960 the Broward County Public Schools and Ford Foundation entered into a joint project that became known as the Nova Educational Experiment. The project's goal was to create a cluster of schools on one site that would span from elementary to university level education. They had just the place for it too: Forman Field. Forman Field was a vacated WWII naval aviation facility which was located in the then rural and mostly unpopulated areas of Broward County. Perfect. The first school opened was Nova High...my alma mater. 

It opened just as I was entering Junior High (as it was then called). Nova High was actually a six year Junior-Senior High School combination. I began attending in 7th grade and stayed there through graduation in 1970...just the fourth class to graduate at the school. If you didn't know my age before, now you do!

Nova was a special place indeed. 

Thanks to its connection with the Ford Foundation, it had an experimental approach to learning backed by lots of funding to do it. A student would be associated to a particular grade level, but s/he progressed academically at their own pace. In other words, an 8th grade student could be taking a 10th grade level science class, a 9th grade level math class, and an 8th grade level English class all at the same time. Nobody had to be bored waiting for the least able student to "get it". They just moved on.  I'm not involved with schools at all, so I don't know if this sort of thing is commonplace by now, but it was revolutionary then...and it worked.

Nova was also special for its social atmosphere. It was the first school in the area to integrate. Integrate racially...but too, geographically and economically. Since Nova didn't belong to one school district, kids came to it from all over the County, and as a result, I was exposed to and interacting with kids who were different than me on all of these demographics. Amazingly, for all this diversity, there wasn't much ostracizing that went on. Of course there were cliques...what group of teens didn't have them...but for the most part people got along and were friendly toward one another.  It didn't matter who you were or what your background was.

And finally, Nova was a special place for me personally. It provided the common space for me to meet two dear friends there who are still a big part of my life: Meg, whose family became my surrogate family...and Jana, who is a soul-mate and has been by my side now for close to forty years.

Attending Nova wasn't automatic.  You had to apply. There was a waiting list to get in and many kids waited years to be accepted, if they were accepted at all. My brother and I got in because our mother worked for the attorneys that helped with getting the school set up.  They liked Mom and moved us to the top part of the list. Contacts do make a difference. But of course, had Mom not had the resolve to get us in, none of that would have mattered.  Our going meant her paying tuition instead of paying nothing to attend a free public school. The tuition wasn't much, but any amount made a difference to a single mom on a budget.

I'm forever grateful for having had the opportunity to go there when I did. It made me into someone different than who I would have been had I gone to the neighborhood school. I learned so much on so many levels. Thanks mom!  You did so many things right and this was sure one of them. I wonder if I told you enough that I thought so.   

For others' Flashbacks, click here. .

Post Note
The original dream of having a cluster of schools on one site was achieved. The site and immediate surroundings now has two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, a community college, a university (Nova Southeastern) regional campuses of two other universities (Florida Atlantic and University of Florida), and a technical school. 

The Nova Educational Experiment ended in the 1970s and the Ford Foundation departed. At that time, total control of the Nova schools reverted to the Broward County Public School system. The extra funding stopped and entrance requirements were relaxed, but it maintained its dedication to progressive teaching techniques. Students still have to apply to attend and are selected at random each year. There's no waiting list anymore.  If you don't get in you have to reapply each year.

Life Goes On

What was is no more
Like a shadow passing by -
Life goes on.

Today I'm "Looking Into"

This Wednesday I'm making an exception to being wordless. Why?  Because today I'm thrilled to share that I'm a guest photographer at a photo blog called Looking Into. 

I stumbled on this blog through the Wordless Wednesdays meme and quickly became a fan of the photography I saw there...most of it taken by Jenn, who lives in the Netherlands, and Allison, who lives in the Boston area. 

While browsing I noticed some of the photos were taken by others.  Then I noticed that they welcomed guest photographers. I jumped at the opportunity and submitted a few of my photos for their consideration.  Much to my delight, they liked what they saw and offered to feature this one: 

(click photo for larger view)

Please click here and take a look at him in all his glory at their site.  Thanks Jenn & Allison!

Quotable Quotes

"Wisdom begins with wonder"

Socrates


Post Note
Thanks to Bonnie for bringing this quote to my attention!

Book Review - The Secret Scroll

If you're looking for a page turner, you need look no further. The Secret Scroll is definitely a quick and compelling read.   

Its story is a cross between The Da Vinci Code and The Adventures Of Indiana Jones. It begins on a remote road near Jerusalem, where archaeologist Josh Cohen is taking a sabbatical from his "day job". A vision of sorts soon draws him to a very specific cave where he unearths a...yes, you guessed it...scroll that appears to have been penned by Jesus of Nazareth. It's a tad far fetched, but not to the point where you can't buy into it. 

It doesn't take long for things to get moving from there, and before you know it, just about every character in the book is suspect of being the antagonist in the tug of war for possession of this potentially valuable document. There are definitely a lot of twists and turns and you're never more than a page or two away from action. The fast moving plot is mostly plausible. It has a few head scratching moments, but they're easy to get through.

Most of the book is dialog. There's very little character development or anything else that diverts the storyline from moving along. Cutler does interject a few history, theology, and civic lessons, but not to the point of breaking the story's rhythm. The information was no doubt put in to be useful to the reader. The commentary though, was a pretty blatant tactic to make sure the reader didn't miss the moral message he wanted to convey.  It's not the most artful literary style, but it works here.

I guess where the book started to lose me was in its closing chapters.  It started to feel forced...perhaps, a bit trite.  And I have to say I got a bit turned off by the final "lesson" we are left with. Unlike the rest of the book where Cutler espoused a message that can (and should) be universally embraced, this one takes on a more messianic tone which will no doubt leave some non Christian readers feeling uncomfortable.

All in all I enjoyed this book. It's nothing special though...if you never get to it, no great loss.

 

Rating Scale
5 Stars = Loved It /Raves
4 Stars = Very Good
3 Stars = OK - Enjoyed But Nothing Special
2 Stars = Struggled To Finish
1 Star =  Awful, Don't Bother

 

Happy Easter

Refresh Your Spirit!