Blah Tuesday

I had a good weekend. It sort of felt a little unproductive. I got my PL letter, and then was sort of lazy for the rest of the weekend. I was visiting family/had family visiting a lot. I visited my uncle, aunt, cousin, and grandma in CT on sunday. It was fun, we had a good BBQ. My cousin Isabel is adorable. She toddled around with Mark and I, playing on the slide and just being cute. I love small children. My uncle and his girlfriend visited on monday. They are always fun and entertaining to be around. We had grilled pizza, which was good as usual. I did some hw in the evening, and then went to bed.

Today at school was intersting. We watched part of a Green Day concert for about 15 minutes in English. blah blah blah day. MYS physics field test blah french movie blah follies blah. People did like my posters that I made for the follies though, that made me happy :) . Had art awards after school (me? art?) and went home. Procrastinated, talked to people online for a while, did a couple of supreme court cases for geller, and now here I am, blogging. And now, I am heading off to bed.

Until Later...

Happiness then mixed feelings

Today I went into town for lunch. Headed to through the spring (thing/fling?) and went to thomas'. Bought lunch there, and walked back to the car. I realized as I was walking, looking down at my hand wrapped around a brown paper bag, that I could have been carrying a bottle of liquer or beer or something. The thought made me chuckle and then I headed home. My mail comes around 2-ish, so I had some time to kill before I found out if I made it into PL. I watched some Black. White. for my english research project. People were kind enough to distract me online (big shout out to Becca for that one) while I waited for the mail to come. The mail came, and I found out that I was accepted as a Peer Leader for next year. Yay!! It brought mixed feelings though after it set in, because there are so many deserving people who did not get accepted for whatever reason. I feel bad for my friends, and happy for me at the same time. It sounds a little selfish, but I guess that's part of any competative process. I think being a Peer Leader is going to be such a fun, enriching, and rewarding experience, with lots of hard work. I look forward to next year.

Until Later...

Video Capture Cards + Character

Yesterday I crashed (with invitation) the faculty meeting in the auditorium about the smartboards. There was a demonstration, during which someone asked a question about using them with VCRs. The response from the SmartBoard rep was yes, with a video capture card. Now let me be frank here, VIDEO CAPTURE CARDS?!?!?! My computer at home doesn't have one of those! No way in hell would we buy video capture cards so that the smartboard could work with VCRs. That sales pitch was weak in my opinion.

Today at lunch I sent our director of technology a email asking the terms of the Spano grant, to see if we could "stretch the money in other ways in the classroom." Her response was implying that I had suggested getting more than the planned 20-24 smartboards. She explained that the consensus was that we should "start with a limited number rather than a large amount." She mentioned 100 being too many to manage. I was infruriated after reading this, because NOWHERE in my email did I mention MORE SMARTBOARDS, NOWHERE! Not only that, she didnt explain the terms of the grant, my original question. It is so frustrating when someone doesn't actually read an email. After cooling down, I sent an email back kindly reasking the question, and suggesting that if we bought less smartboards, we could "use the remaining money to pursue our strategic plan's goals." I dont really see smartboards fitting into our strategic plan. There's more I'd like to vent about, but it's not the time or place.

NHS inductions were tonight. They were awkward at first, but after the formalaties, it was all good. The most embarassing part was when you were being inducted, you went up in front of everyone, and people talked about you, your character, acomplishments etc. It was flattering to hear my things though. I had a feeling that Kate Berner would induct me, and she did! Kate and Hilarie bought me flowers after telling a story about how the flower order got messed up from Crazy for You, and I never got a set. Kate mentioned me needing 11 fingers again, haha, that's my running tech joke. It was a good time, and now I am going to bed.

Until Later...

Lazy Sunday + Saturday Recap

When I woke up this morning, I knew it would be a lazy sunday. I have been procrastinating as much as possible much to my dismay. What is really on my mind though is the play. Doing sound for plays is so much fun. I think theater in general is special too. Last night's play went well, and was well received. Afterwards, was the cast party which was fun. During the day, Ben Weiner and I had made tin cutouts of Kate and Terg's names which we metal taped onto the front of a light. When you turn the light on, their names were illuminated from behind. It looked cool, and they both were impressed and so was the cast. :) Yay showing off handy work! What makes me sad to think about though, is the fact that Crazy for You was the last play that I got to work with Kate and Tergis for. They are both amazing people, fun to be around, friendly, and knowledgeable. It will be weird being the only sound guy with no one around to set a level that I see to push me to do better. I have always looked up to him, and in his absence I will need to push myself. It will also be nice to not be in his shadow as much. I appreciate the arrangement we had for this show, I think it worked out nicely.

Kate Berner, where to start... She is funny, compassionate, a great stage manager, and just a great person overall. I feel like we could have been better friends if the stars had been aligned differently. I gave her her own maglight set last night at the cast party, because she had borrowed mine. I somehow have gotten into buying the stage crew maglights because they all borrow mine. Ben Anderson used to borrow mine, and I bought him a set for his birthday. Then Kate started to borrow mine, and I bought her a set. That looks wierd after I typed it, but w/e.

I am confidant that the tech next year will be fine. I am just sad that two great members of the theater tech family will be moving on. I wish both of them luck in any future endeavors, and hope that our paths cross in the future and beyond.

Ben Weiner, Ben Anderson, and I have been the tech trio that has worked together on the middle school shows. I at least, still think of us as the middle school tech crew to some extent, and for us to be the head guys running tech for the district next year will take some getting used to. It will be a fun year though...

So, mixed feelings about this show: great people leaving, but it was an amazing experience. In general, the current seniors are a really spectacular grade, and they will be sorely missed next year. And at the same time, I'm gonna be a senior! w00t!

I probably should start my homework now, lol.

Until Later...

Ahh yes...

Well, what can I say. Validation, gratification and pure euphoria highness. Tonight was opening night of the HS play Crazy for You. Despite the few challenges presented, the show was amazing. There are no words to describe the pure elation that I felt after the finale. It is that moment of relief and utter happiness that is worth all of the long hours in the school. There is such a feeling of accomplishment and such that just makes me feel really alive. The best part is, I get to do it again!

Until later...

What a trip!

It's Wednesday, and play-wise, we should be on track, feeling ready to perform for the seniors citizens tomorrow. HOWEVER, we are not. We have not done a final tech run-through, or even a run through with the orchestra of the second act. We are really behind schedule if you can't tell. And while I feel like Terg and I are for the most part ready for the show, the majority of everyone else isn't. This week has been REALLY long, and rather surreal. During the week before the show (known as Hell Week,) the play basically takes over your life, and you are often seen leaving the school at obscenely late hours. Anyone that has seen me this week before school or after school can see that my mind is for the most part, elsewhere.

What hit me last night was that this is Tergis and Kate's last show! They are both amazing people, both in the theater and out, as well as being very knowledgeable and helpful, not to mention comedic in their own right. The play is my Friday and Saturday, so more interesting stuff to come I'm sure...

Until later..

It's that time again...

It's that time of the year again when I find myself living in the school: Play season. The play's tend to do that to people. I teched after school Friday, came back for the film festival which I thought was good. This morning at 9:30 I again found myself in school. I left school around 6 tonight. Thank god we have off tomorrow (or I guess today.) Monday however is going to be madness. I hope I will be able to get all of my homework done during the week. I'll do my best, and that'll have to do. I am tired, and I get to sleep late tomorrow. I'm off to bed...

Until Later...

It matters.

I went to the Scarsdale Public Schools today in the morning to look at their technology, specifically their Smart Boards. Never mind the Smart Boards, their middle schoolers are PODCASTING!

Don't ever give up. When the glass looks half empty, it isn't. It's actually a little more than half full. When you are stuck working on something, find the motivation and finish it. Without motivation and drive to do better, you will only be a shadow of yourself. Be ambitious, have goals. Achieve them. Be happy in your occupation. Have a great family. It all matters, be motivated.

QVC & HSN

Has anyone every watched QVC or HSN try and sell a computer. I love when they pitch it as: its so powerful, look at all of these videos we are playing at the same time! And they proudly show like 9 videos going onscreen at the same time. I always think to myself: wow, I watch 9 videos at the same time often! That MUST be a powerful computer! Now seriously people, I only can watch 1 video at a time, so show me the computer doing something that I will do, like encoding a video to a DVD or something. The hosts are also always hilarious to watch. Its even better when you can catch them slipping up or blatantly lying/making things up to sell the computer. Ah, sell me a computer QVC, I dare you...

On another note, this is a fake QVC Dell clip. It is pretty funny anyway.


Until Later!

What a long week! (Part 2/Deux)

I feel like I have filled out soooo many scantron forms and multiple choice bubbles that my head wants to explode. My AP US History went ok I guess. The multiple choice was probably a 3 or 4 hopefully. My last essay was pretty bad though. I chose to write about the 50's and the influence of Intellectuals and Youth during the period. I ended up talking about the 60's youth countercyclical for youth, and Transcendentalism for intellectuals. They are both obviously wrong, but I'm at a point where I don't really care. I had two SAT 2s this morning: Math 2(c?) and American History. I think I did ok on the math, and decently on the US History. What was pretty funny during the American History SAT 2 was that there was a political cartoon that was on the AP. The corresponding question was worded better on the SAT 2s though. I went from there to set building for the HS show, Crazy For You. I did that until I got tired, went home, and chilled for a bit, then went to see The Sentinel. God, can you say Jack Bauer in a different agency? Kiefer Sutherland typecast much?

I must say, there have been many good news stories coming out of http://www.theguest.be/ recently. Kevin has a great blog, which has brought his readers screaming kids on Christmas, the are you generic? campaign, and the mesmerizing LED Throwies. I really want to do the LED Throwie thing sometime. We need a bunch of people to pool some money, and but everything, assemble them, and make Hastings more colorful at night. It would be an amazing sight to see the HS covered in little LED magnet/lights. I think it would be really awesome. Hmm, I'll think about it...

Until Later...

What a long week! (Part 1/Un)

This week was possibly one of the longest I remember. Sunday afternoon, I rediscovered the National Geographic Channel and The Science Channel. SOOOOO bad for my procrastination. I watched the science behind Hollywood movies. There was stuff on many national disaster movies (a perfect storm, day after tomorrow, etc.) I do like science, and watched too much of those kinds of shows when I should have been studying for APs. I'll get to that in a bit.

I have through the week been getting a constant reminder of NYS Senator Andy Spano's $100,000 grant. Part of which will be for SmartBoards. It's actually really cool technology, but knowing Hastings technology implementation and BOCES, there are going to be so many hurdles to jump over. The speculative number that Dr. Guiney initially proposed was 23 boards! Um, last time I checked, where were SmartBoards in the Strategic Plan? I'll tell you where: NOWHERE I think this money would be much better spent equipping each classroom with a projector and a DVD/VHS player or something that everyone could use, and be useful towards the 1 to 1 goal we have in the District. I have spoken to many people about this, and many agree that so many should not be purchased. Maybe have them installed in 2 or 3 model classrooms per school to spur interest, but that's it. I have heard all this year about the budget crunch, and how we haven't been able to do this and that technology wise, and now we have these funds, and I don't want to see them squandered on such a thing where there is an immense potential to have an implementation screw up. Ugh, time to go study more for the SAT IIs. I'll have to talk about the rest of the week tomorrow.

Until Later...

Lets Play "what should I be doing instead of blogging"

Well, I should be prepping for my Math IIC SATII, studying for my AP American History Exam on Friday, and working diligently on my French final expose. Oh, and studying for the regular SATs, of which I need to raise my score a shitload.

This morning I had my first AP, Computer Science A. You may say, oh well, you're geeky, it shouldn't have been that hard right? Wrong, they are nit-picky questions. What really killed me though was the time. I hadn't anticipated it taking as long as it did per question, but w/e. It's done, and I hope I did well. It was weird, afterward there was some testing hangover or something. I appeared to be distant and thinking in terms of for loops and if statements for the majority of the afternoon. Physics was ok, and then I had AP US, and took a the multiple choice part of practice AP. I was AP-ed out by the end of the day. I had tennis lessons after school, and was walking by this kid, he decided to swing his racket around, and he proceeded to wack me in the face with his racket. There was some blood on my upper lip, but nothing too major. It was an honest mistake, and I guess I wasn't looking where I was walking. No biggie. That's life.

There's more I have to say about important things, but they'll have to wait.

Until Later...