iPod morning commute music: N/A...I was exhausted, so I slept all the way in.
Two days ago, I spent quite a bit of time writing a blog, only to be unable to post it. Finally, the damn thing timed out, and I couldn't recover it. So this will be a short post.
The textbook I chose to use this year came with free software that was to enable me to create online activities for the students to use. Cool, I thought. Unfortunately, the program is so limited (it's a 'Light' version of the full program they want me to buy) that I can't really utilize it, which has me pretty ticked off. I'm in the middle of trying to solve the problem, dealing with both the software company and the publisher (who's sales rep wasn't aware of the severe limitations of the program). We'll see what happens.
On Sunday, my friend John popped over from Kobe on his motorcycle, and hour and a half journey on a cold and, around my house, rainy day. Being British, the first thing he asked for was tea. We had a good, but short, visit. I first met John at the 2005 JALT Conference, where they were selling some mean Margarettas. He, Brendon (who first turned me onto this blog site) and I drank our fair share between presentations. This year, met up again at JALT, and had a particularly good time at a publishers' dinner.
My son just wrote to let me know that Thanksgiving is a paid holiday for him (the grocery store he's working in is close that day). Lucky kid.
Let's see if this posts.
OK, it didn't. Let's try again.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Post Election Euphoria
iPod morning commute music: Creedence Clearwater Revival, various albums, songs shuffled
The is, in my opinion, no band that was more American than CCR. John Fogerty wrote songs that were snapshots of my country in the late '60s, early '70s (and still does today, as a solo artist). In the song, Green River, he sings (forgive me if I don't get everything right here), "Old Cody Jr. took me over, said, 'You're gonna find the world is smoulderin', and if you get lost, come on home to Green River.'"
America just came home. Having taken back both Houses of Congress in 2006, we now need to prepare to take back the Presidency in 2008. The world is smouldering, and we need to put out the fires.
The change has begun.
The is, in my opinion, no band that was more American than CCR. John Fogerty wrote songs that were snapshots of my country in the late '60s, early '70s (and still does today, as a solo artist). In the song, Green River, he sings (forgive me if I don't get everything right here), "Old Cody Jr. took me over, said, 'You're gonna find the world is smoulderin', and if you get lost, come on home to Green River.'"
America just came home. Having taken back both Houses of Congress in 2006, we now need to prepare to take back the Presidency in 2008. The world is smouldering, and we need to put out the fires.
The change has begun.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Infrequent Blogger
iPod morning commute music: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk [expanded edition] (1979/2004)
After listening to Lindsey Buckingham's latest (Under the Skin), I decided I need to go back to Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and have another listen. Like everyone else in America, I owned Rumors, but for some reason I never bought Tusk. Maybe it was the hype (the first $1,000,000 album), the length (2 record set), or the title cut which, for some reason I can no longer remember, I didn't like. Regardless, this is a great CD. Remastered, it also has the album version of Stevie Nicks' song Sara (I according to allmusic.com, the original CD had the shortened single version in order to squeeze everything onto 1 CD). The 2nd CD is mostly outakes, demos, etc., but there's enough interesting stuff to keep someone like me listening.
Sorry I haven't been blogging. It's just been a busy time. The same excuses I've used in the past entries still hold true. Fortunately, the elections are upon us tomorrow, so I will take a break from Democrats Abroad Japan for a couple of months as I prepare for final exams and work on the first draft of the second TOEIC book, which we need to complete by Christmas.
This weekend, I gave a talk at the Japan Association of Language Teachers' (JALT) conference in Kitakyushu. It was the first time for me to present at an international conference. My collegue, Keiji, and I talked about what the Osaka Private Schools English Teaching Association is doing to affect change from the prefectural level. It went well, but unfortunately we were given a horrible presentation time (lunchtime, on the last day), and it was poorly attended. I think we'll try to come back next year and give a presentation on the same basic theme, and hope for more people.
Big news: I'll be returning to Seattle by myself to spend Christmas with my son, my parents, and the rest of my US based family. Unfortunately, Kaoru and Alisa can't make it. I'll be arriving in Seattle on Dec. 21st, and will return to Japan on Jan. 4th. If any of my friends are able to drop by Vashon for a visit, let me know, but the main point is to visit my family, so I doubt I'll be getting out of the Seattle area this trip.
After listening to Lindsey Buckingham's latest (Under the Skin), I decided I need to go back to Fleetwood Mac's Tusk and have another listen. Like everyone else in America, I owned Rumors, but for some reason I never bought Tusk. Maybe it was the hype (the first $1,000,000 album), the length (2 record set), or the title cut which, for some reason I can no longer remember, I didn't like. Regardless, this is a great CD. Remastered, it also has the album version of Stevie Nicks' song Sara (I according to allmusic.com, the original CD had the shortened single version in order to squeeze everything onto 1 CD). The 2nd CD is mostly outakes, demos, etc., but there's enough interesting stuff to keep someone like me listening.
Sorry I haven't been blogging. It's just been a busy time. The same excuses I've used in the past entries still hold true. Fortunately, the elections are upon us tomorrow, so I will take a break from Democrats Abroad Japan for a couple of months as I prepare for final exams and work on the first draft of the second TOEIC book, which we need to complete by Christmas.
This weekend, I gave a talk at the Japan Association of Language Teachers' (JALT) conference in Kitakyushu. It was the first time for me to present at an international conference. My collegue, Keiji, and I talked about what the Osaka Private Schools English Teaching Association is doing to affect change from the prefectural level. It went well, but unfortunately we were given a horrible presentation time (lunchtime, on the last day), and it was poorly attended. I think we'll try to come back next year and give a presentation on the same basic theme, and hope for more people.
Big news: I'll be returning to Seattle by myself to spend Christmas with my son, my parents, and the rest of my US based family. Unfortunately, Kaoru and Alisa can't make it. I'll be arriving in Seattle on Dec. 21st, and will return to Japan on Jan. 4th. If any of my friends are able to drop by Vashon for a visit, let me know, but the main point is to visit my family, so I doubt I'll be getting out of the Seattle area this trip.
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