Argh!!!!!!!!!

This is how I'm feeling this morning!!!

Why, you ask?  My laptop has given up the ghost!!!!!!!  I turned it on and it won't work!!!  I've tried safe mode but nope it just goes right back to the same darn screen.  I am totally frustrated.  Now I have to go buy a new laptop.  Oh, I know what you are thinking...so what's the problem!!!  Geez, a new laptop...what are you complaining about???

It's not that I'm complaining/whining...I just have things on my laptop I need.  So I called Bubba, the tech magician and computer whiz, and he is going to see if he can get all my important stuff off the crashed laptop.  Thank goodness for him!!!!!!!

Anyway....I'm off to research laptops.  Hopefully, I'll be the proud owner of a new laptop by tomorrow!!!!!!! (Oh, I'll also get a boat load of thumbdrives to backup all my stuff!!)

Look What I Found!!!

This week I shared some information with a few of my teacher buddies about companies currently having sweepstake entries for schools.  That got me thinking....wonder if there are any other education sweepstakes or grants out there right now??  So I did a little research and found a few companies currently accepting entries or grant proposals!!!  With funding for education always on the "chopping block", I've found it never hurts to enter or apply for any of these.  Donors Choose is a perfect example and my teacher buddies have all been extremely successful with their proposals!!  Hope some of you decide to check these sites out...let me know how it goes!!!

Discovery Education Technology:  http://www.sweepstakeslovers.com/sweepstakes/?p=cdwg.discoveryeducation.com/wawl/

Target Grant/Reading:  http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031821#

Target Grant/Arts& Culture:  http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819

Verizon Education/Literacy:  http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml

Bright Ideas:  http://www.ncbrightideas.com/Home.aspx

Digital Wish (similar to Donors Choose but Technology Oriented):  http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/grant_awards

Special Needs Teachers:  http://www.mossfoundation.org/mossfoundation.org/paged708.html?id=3

While searching for grant and sweepstakes opportunities, I also found a few sites offering free lesson plans.  Perhaps you will find some resources on these sites for use with your students or fellow teachers!!

Verizon Site for Free Lesson Plans:  http://www.thinkfinity.org/

Technology Blog with Free Resources for Teachers:  http://www.freetech4teachers.com

2M2H

The other day my husband shared a frustration with me about some posts he'd been reading.  He's a recumbent trike rider and I introduced him to a recumbent bike discussion board so he could communicate with other riders, ask questions related to his trike, etc!  Let me tell you he was more than interested...mark one up for me!!!

Anyway, we were having dinner with our daughters when he announced "I have a hard time understanding some of the posts."  After further discussion, we realized he was talking about all the abbreviations used by the post writers.  This was the source of his frustration...not being able to interpret the abbreviations so he could fully understand the content!!!  In other words...2M2H ( too much to handle)! 

In this day of texting, tweeting, IM, email, posts and chats, there is an abundance of "shorthand" used to deliver written messages to others.  With more than 82 million people texting these days, it's no wonder there are so many abbreviations!  Texting abbreviations take less character space and allow one to communicate lots of information quickly.  So I've found a site that will help him interpret all the abbreviations in an attempt to alleviate some of his frustration! 

As for me, I still like to write without lots of texting abbreviations....in my opinion it's important to use complete words when writing our communication to others.  Now that doesn't mean I don't occasionally use the abbreviations nor does it mean I think it's wrong for people to use them.  It just means I don't want to spend all my time looking at a chart or memorizing lots of shortcuts!!  However; my husband will be happy to finally know what they are talking about!!

B4N (Bye For Now)  :)