Category Archives: conversations

April 20, 2010 · 9:23 pm

Education and Technology – Indulge me please

140 characters conference update.

I have quite a few observations about today that I want to share but I am spent so I will post them tomorrow. Tonight I want to focus on just a couple of things.

Some of the smartest, most passionate people in the industry were in this auditorium.

I was humbled, awestruck and inspired.

And retweeted often (the highest form of twitter praise). I even made it onto bigapplechannel.com‘s trending topic top tweets. I am (almost) famous(ish) in a not so famous but it was flattering sort of way. And this was one my more sincere tweets so that’s nice.

But what I want to talk about here  was one man who rocked the room. He got a standing O! (not that O, you filthy minds, ovation but now that you mention it…)

Chris Lehmann. Click that link and you can view an extended version of the passionate speech he gave today. He is the Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philly. He simply blew the room right out of the water. The crowd was awestruck by his energy. It was so exciting to hear an educator this committed to embracing the technology that drives our kids. Here are but a few of the pearls that dropped out of his mouth today:

Tell a better story in school. Technology must be like oxygen: ubiquitous, invisible and everywhere.

Kids are using devices & technology in not great ways because the adults that are supposed to teach and monitor it are afraid of it.

Let’s never forget how important teachers are. its about the community. with technology we can blow out the doors.

We need to bottle @chrislehmann and distribute him to every HS in America. Kids need to learn how to think and he gets how to help them. He loves his job. He loves kids. He loves education and he was one of the most inspiring speakers I have heard in a long time.

Yeh, today was amazing!

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April 17, 2010 · 9:47 pm

Warning: Florida can cause manopause in teenage boys

Me: Danny, what’s wrong.

Danny: First it is so hot in this house, then it’s freezing. Then it’s hot again. I feel like a menopausal woman!

I love that boy!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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March 26, 2010 · 10:34 pm

Why My Mom is Like an iPad

Florida Day 2

My Brother: So, are you going to get the iPad?

Me: Nope, not the first generation. It doesn’t have a camera, doesn’t support Flash and has no memory.

My Mom: Jeez, that sounds like me.

Can’t make this stuff up.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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March 3, 2010 · 10:06 pm

To the woman in the nail salon

Ok, I admit it. Towards the end of the day on a work day I skipped out for a manicure.  I had a tragically low broken nail that needed to be attended to. It was more necessary maintenance than pleasure. If you are a guy you think… “women!” If you are a woman you think, “damn, I hate when that happens.”

Here’s the thing. I don’t really have the kind of job that translates well into public places. These 50-year-old eyes are getting too old to view artwork on a blackberry and I am stuck zooming all over the place trying to make an intelligent comment when people send me stuff. (there that iphone envy goes rearing its ugly head again) Add that to the fact that I collaborate with a team and need to chat it up in the thick of a project. Oh and to top it all off we are always working on impossible deadlines.

So… I admit it. I was the women on the phone at the nail salon. Well, actually, not the only one as the woman across from me got a call and she was a realtor who was at the last stages of a deal where the parties were only $20,000 apart and she had to give the old, “I am in a meeting I will get back to you as soon as I am in the office” routine.

Back to my call. There was no option not to take it. Decisions had to made, time is money, yadayadayada. So woman number 3 sitting at the nail dryer, let me refer to her as THE MOST ANNOYING PERSON ON THIS EARTH. She tells me when I end the call, “you know, you don’t always have to take the call. things can wait. sometimes it is beneficial to keep them waiting.”

THEM? Sweetheart, who are your THEM? In this market, no one waits in my book.

And seriously, you were giving me your opinion because? Oh right, because you ARE THE MOST ANNOYING PERSON ON THIS EARTH!

You see, right here is why I have a blog. The beauty of this here little slice of the interwebs is that when I am on my last friggin’ nerve, I have a perfect place to vent.

And the best part about it is that THE MOST ANNOYING PERSON ON THIS EARTH has no business being here.

Ahhh, now I feel better.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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March 2, 2010 · 11:21 pm

Orange you cranky?

Ok, shoot me. I just had a long day and as a matter of fact I am damn cranky.

And this had to be the funniest instant message solicitation I have gotten in a long time.

Maybe I should have accepted it.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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February 11, 2010 · 9:29 pm

Dr. Hey-Nanny-Nanny

File this under I am pretty sure my son will need therapy after being parented by the likes of us.

Dinner conversation:

Gary: Danny if I was an oby/gyn I would let you come in the delivery room.

Danny: Oh greeeeaaaat. (lots of eye rolling)

Me: That’s lovely. Would the tagline on your business card be ‘Hey Nanny Nanny is my bi-nuss’?

Gary: No, but Hey Nanny Nanny would definitely be my license plate.

(Judy, just a quick question, does anyone in your practice refer to it as the Hey Nanny Nanny? And if yes, do they have it on their license plate?)

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 13, 2010 · 9:33 pm

Driver’s License Update

Ok, so I admit it. I went and tried a second time to secure an acceptable driver’s license photo. And no it did not work out well…

AGAIN!

For those who have not read the beginning of this saga you can read about it here.

I know, give it up bee-otch. Maybe you really are that ugly. Maybe you do have the neck the size of a linebacker. But seriously, I really don’t look that bad in person.

Jana came home from school and decided that she, too, was not happy with her photo. (starting to see a pattern here?). The Monday between Christmas and New Year’s we lost our minds and were unconscious enough to not realize the entire universe was off that week and at least three-quarters of that said universe thought DMV biz was a good idea. So off we went to have the pictures taken and then sit on the bench watching the numbers roll by on the monitors for somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour and forty-five minutes. I know, what a lovely bonding afternoon for the reunited college girl and her mom. Hey, it was a great place to people watch.

Finally we get called up. She pays her 17 some odd dollars and then I go to my window.

Clerk: Can I have your old license please?

Me: Look at that picture! Isn’t it awful?

Clerk: Really, do you think anyone looks at these?

Me: C’mon, admit it is awful

Clerk: Does it REALLY matter?

Me: Ok, I am vain. There I admitted it.

Clerk: Thanks, that’s all I wanted from you.

I swear, that was the conversation. Then she proceeds to tell me that I do not have to pay because you have 6 months to keep retaking your photo for free.

Me: For real?!!

Clerk: Now, ma’am, please do not become a serial DMV photo taker.

Regarding the photo at the top of this post:

I was playing around with the Mac’s photobooth features and decided that posterized would be the preferable filter for me to use on all official documents. What do you think? Kind of babe-ish in this shot, right? In a maybe a you swallowed a lava lamp sort of way, but I kind of like it.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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January 7, 2010 · 8:55 pm

When Twitter is Down

So it happened tonight. To the dismay of those of us who use it as drug of choice/best time suck of all time the world’s most sophisticated social media types, twitter was so down that we were not even getting that cute little fail whale graphic. How did I find out? On Facebook, of course. The other place where online junkies get their fix favorite network of choice.

My guess was that since the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on right now all the geekiest of geeks most sophisticated technology types were jamming twitter and causing it to sporadically fail.

I did a quick Google search to find out what was up and came across my new favorite site. It is called whentwitterisdown.com and every time you refresh the screen you get a new message. It is kind of like web 2.0s version of the magic 8 ball with an attitude.

Here are some of my faves:

I love the last one. And for the record, I don’t have a cat!

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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December 25, 2009 · 12:45 pm

Confirmed Sibling

I received this message on facebook this morning. I have to say I am quite relieved. I guess our contract was almost up and I can be a bit of a pain in the ass, so the confirmation is comforting. Hey, Kei, is this like renewing your vows when you are married. Every 50 years you confirm your siblingship?

All kidding aside, I am thrilled and honored to have my big bro ‘confirm me as his Sister’. Without him my life would be much different. Short of turning this into an USTTCT (unscheduled time to cry tuesday) let’s just say there is no one out there like my big brother. And if you think I am out of my mind, I am mild compared to him.

Now, if there are any other family members out there that feel the need to confirm our relationship, bring it on.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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December 24, 2009 · 11:37 am

From a Jew on Christmas

Ho. Ho. Ho. Or for you kvetchy jews out there like the lady on the deli line in the market yesterday: Oy. Oy. Oy.

Forget religion for a moment and let’s talk about the holiday season and what it does to people. To that crazy lady:

What the hell were you thinking yelling at that little old lady behind you?

Granted she might have been crowding you a bit, or perhaps she might have been a little cranky, but your outburst was embarrassing to me, I would hope it was to you afterwards. And then it spawned another little scuffle at the head of the line. Sorry, call me old-fashioned, but no matter how old I get I am still from the school of respect your elders, no matter how much they may annoy you.

PEOPLE, what is up? It is the holiday, you are in an upscale market in a beautiful suburb and you can afford to shop here and hopefully your ‘stress’ is probably just how you will get all that food on the table hot. So catch a grip, chill out and grab a little holiday spirit and perhaps a drink or two to calm that mood and try to enjoy! And act civil to one another, for G-d sake!

Ok, so perhaps she had more stress than the hot food thing. And maybe everyone is a little edgier trying to make believe life is all warm and fuzzy in these not so warm and fuzzy times. But this woman? Yikes, what an outburst. Kind of like that Network, “I’m as mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore!” kind of thing.

My reaction? I turned to the woman behind me and promised not to fight with her. I told her I would never use that tone with anyone I was not married to. It gave her a good laugh and we of saner (and I use that term loosely) temperaments went on our merry shopping way hoping to learn from this lesson that we should do unto others and all that crap.

I can only top this with the facebook post from my friend Amy S yesterday:

Person ahead of me with a “Choose Civility” bumper sticker on the car just cut someone off and ran a red light.

Yeh, there are all sorts of hypocrites out there.

So to all my friends who are not hypocrites but instead wonderful people who appreciate all they have and would never yell at little old ladies (unless perhaps they gave birth to them), here is wishing you a Merry Christmas if this is your holiday. And if not, I hope you are as lucky as we are to share the holiday with friends.

Haven’t had enough of me yet? You can also read me at 50-Something Moms Blog. For photo enthusiasts, visit Leaving the zip code, photos from outside the comfort zone.

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