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Friday, February 24, 2006

Fuel for change, finally at hand

I drink strong black tea all day long. My new office is far far from the kitchen, at the distant end of a room lovingly referred to as the bowling alley. Problem.

After several weeks of tea-less hell, I remembered my English grandmother's solution: the electric teakettle. Walgreens across the street was out (and icky), thrift stores turned up nothing, and there was little chance of getting me out of the city and into a department store.

Ebay to the rescue. In a fit of tea-needing, I bid on four lovelies and (oops) won them all. This one leaked, which broke my heart a little because I loved the tattoo-like bird design AND whistling bird lid. This chrome deco one is filled with vinegar, working off years of mineral build up. This one remains untested, because the fourth, my Whistle While You Wait kettle is so very dreamy. I am dizzy with mid-century ceramic bliss. It boils, it whistles, it's ever so speedy.

Vintage electric teakettles=highly recommended. And likely also dangerous, with hit and miss vintage wiring. Yay. Posted by Picasa

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Emergencies

I recently joined the emergency tutor list at 826 Valencia. They needed people they can call when tutors flake, I suppose. Or get sick...it is the month of fever. I also requested that they allow me to add them to my I-Have-An-Emergency-Need-to-Tutor list...now I can tutor after school whenever I really really need to help a kid with their homework or I'll d.i.e.

Yay!

Yesterday afternoon I helped out a fourth grader. On an emergency basis, apparently. The emergency had several components: fractions, a biography of Abe Lincoln, and a worksheet about tricky words (some homonyms, some just dead fake). All emergencies were successfully diffused, and then I got a little help from my tutoree looking for ideas for a crazy costume.

All is well in the world.

Good things coming

I'm excited this week about the CUE Conference coming up in Palm Springs. I've been working with Computer Using Educators since fall, helping with member and corporate relations. It's a California-wide professional membership org for K-20 educators...educators that are gung-ho for technology. At the annual conference, topics range from video editing to podcasting to free classroom resources. A ton of planning and work goes into it, and back at CUE headquarters (hidden within WestEd's Oakland offices) Marisol and Danielle are moving so quickly at the office that they may burst into flames any time now.


Lots of new exhibitors this year, and warm welcomes to many who are returning. I can't wait to meet them all, after months of phone and email conversations. It has been refreshing to interact with so many businesspeople who 'get' CUE.

Even more exciting, member registrations have flooded in and we're expecting more registrations on-site. Check out where people are coming from on this nifty map. I've been smitten with the whole CUE org for months now and I'm excited to learn more about what members want, because they're doing great work and I want to help!

Upcoming.org listing

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