Mountain Photos

Here are a few two photos from driving to and from Everett over the past month. The first is in the morning looking towards the Cascades. The second is coming home this morning from a quick two-hour sub job, again looking East.

The Heist (Introduction)

Waves crashed into the rocks hundreds of feet below the Bloomberg Mansion. Built in 1920 as a retreat for industrial tycoon Phillip Bloomberg, the mansion sits atop a bluff overlooking a rocky and rugged section of the Washington coastline. The exterior of the mansion shows considerable wear from the constant wind and rain over the past 90 years. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the majority of their winter expedition just miles south of the present day Bloomberg Mansion. They named the location "Fort Disappointment" for the relentless bad weather. After spending a winter at his estate in 1925 writing his memoir, Mr. Bloomberg vowed never to return in winter again.

Although the stone walls resemble the dreary November weather, tonight the inside is alive with action. Thomas Crow, a well-known art collector, is hosting a party to celebrate his 60th birthday. Without many close friends of his own due to his seedy art deals in the past, and feeling deserving of plenty of attention, he invited friends of friends, who were welcome to bring friends of their own.

With his extravagant art collection on display, Mr. Crow is reveling his role as host, telling stories of various art pieces and offering his impression of each piece. The wine is flowing and the host is blissfully unaware of the fact that his prized possession, a grandiose locket made for Catherine the Great, locked away in one of his many basement safes, is the only reason several of his guests are in attendance.

((Feel free to add your character and plot suggestions in the comments. I will post this week's comments as they come in. If you want me to NOT publish your comment, please let me know.))

MHG-RPG Round Two -- The Heist

Back in July of 2007, I attempted my first story with input from the peanut gallery (Jordan, Schaubs, and my friends William and Tyler). The story involved pirates, ninjas, and a monkey named Jim-Jam.

I'm in that same creative mood I was in over two years ago, and I would like to try a similar writing project. Basically, I will be the author of a story, and you should drop a comment if you want to help brainstorm ideas, or if you want to be a character in the story. This story is going to be another short one, with four or five chapters (posts) at most.

My role will be to write the story and include as much input as I can from the participants. I will post a new chapter each week.

As a participant, you are expected to read the story each week and then post a comment on the story about what you want your character to do next. Also, if you have any other suggestions regarding the story you can post those suggestions. All comments will be moderated, and I will not reveal the posted comments until the next chapter is out (to keep a surprise element to the story). Also, if you want your comments to be kept secret, just write DO NOT POST in your moderated comment and I won't post that comment publicly.

The first time I tried this, I would have a vague idea of where I thought the story might be going, but a comment would change that direction and provide a storyline I hadn't thought of. Some comments altered the story, while others I dismissed as too difficult to weave in. In the event that two or more characters suggest very different paths, I will likely choose one of the paths to keep the participants together.

The general plot idea for this next story will be a heist, but I haven't decided on a location just yet, or a main character. Thinking about it more, there are several ways to do a heist story--the one I am leaning towards is possibly having a cast of characters like the board game Clue, where any of the participants might be the thief, and you don't find out until the end of the story who done it.

If you are interested, leave a comment here letting me know either that you are just interested, or if you have any character, location, or plot ideas in mind. I hope to start the story by this weekend, and you can feel free to hop in whenever.

Skiing in November

I made it up to Stevens both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Saturday had a few inches of powder, and Sunday had almost a foot of the fluffy stuff. These conditions aren't far from normal in February, but to have a foot of fresh powder on top of a 48" base on November 21st is just unreal.

I was hoping to start the season more in shape this year, what with basketball, racquetball, and swimming nearly every day for the past three weeks. The "training" didn't help. The outsides of my thighs are killing me. Better than the insides of my thighs, I guess??

Teaching is Hard

I'm still substitute teaching, and I had a classroom of 30 students today where:

five students did no work and stared at their worksheets.
five students did no work and ran around the class horsing around with their friends.
five students tried to do the work and asked for help.
five students spent the whole period on the worksheet (target audience?).
five students finished the worksheet in ten minutes and got all the answers right.
five students finished the worksheet in ten minutes and got all the answers wrong.

If I was their teacher every day, I could put some plans in motion to get the students not doing the worksheets on track. I might call parents or have one-on-one conferences with the students to figure out why each student isn't trying, and try somehow to tailor a lesson to that student's strengths to get some involvement. I would be able to add extensions to the lessons that challenge the students who finish and get their answers right--and not make it seem like extra busy work or extra credit. I could also follow up with the students who zoom through the worksheet and get all the answers wrong--and know to check those students' work in the future before accepting it.

As a sub, I spend most of my time focused on the behavior of students. When a student asks a genuine question based on the lesson of the day, I enjoy giving them advice or pointing them in the right direction to find the answer on their own. When I stand up from helping that student, I find that a few of the behavior students have gotten up out of their seats and have started distracting other students again. I get them back in their seats and try to help them get started, when a few other students hop out of their seats. The combination of behavior police and helping students with their work makes it extremely difficult to notice the kids who need help but don't ask for it--whether they are kids who don't start writing, or kids with confidence, but not the correct answers.