Perspective

Recent events in my life and in the roles I fulfill in my life as a community member, as a church member, as a family member, and other roles, have reminded me that I need to practice more trying to see situations from a perspective other than my own. I try to do this always but sometimes will get caught up in emotions and forget. I also wish others would try ti do the same more often.
Art students learn perspective early in their studies. They are taught to sketch, paint, or draw the same object free m many different angles, in different lighting,  with different backgrounds. This allows them to completely 'see' the object of their art. Sculptors must have this ability it they would never be able ti complete a work.
It's been my experience lately that many people don't try to change their perspective enough. Many people who should know better se things one way and one way only. Instead of trying to understand why people do what they do, or think what they think, or don't participate in something, they just complain. They try to persuade others to their own point of view without ever trying to see any other view themselves. Or worse, they try to make people feel guilty for not having the same opinions they have.
I'm guilty of this sometimes too. Bit I'm working on it. Most of the time I can at least empathize with others whether I agree or not. And most of the time I think everyone's intentions are good.

Unconventional

I'm at my 6th TCEA Convention this week. It's always nice to gather with several thousand other edugeeks and make fun of all the technological ineptitude in the teaching world.

Here are some things that I already knew, but needed to be reminded:
1. Change happens slowly in the education world but not in the technology world. By the time you convince teachers to use a new technology, it's no longer a new technology and it has lost it's relevance to the students.
2. The teacher, not the technology,needs to be the focus of change.
3. Most predictions of what a new technology will be like in the future are wrong. In the late 1980's AT&T determined that in order to supply all demands for all cellular phones for all time, they would need to produce 900,000 phones. They were off.

I'm done learning for the day and my feet hurt. I think I'll go soak in the hot tub. I'm glad Uncommon Wife reminded me to bring a pair of shorts.

Game 3

We lost both games one and two. Last game is against the host team. I think we've done okay for a 'B' team in a tournament of schools with no 'B' teams.

It's also cool that our boys pray before the game. They're learning good thing besides just basketball.

It's Been Such A Long Time

Something changed with our web filtering service at school so that I can barely read blogs anymore, much less post to one. So I haven't posted anything for a while. I'm at a Junior High basketball tournament all day today and more than slightly bores between games. Blog surfing on my smartphone led me to try the Blogger app, and here I am posting again.

Going back and reading after a five month gap reveals how quickly life can change. Uncommon Son #1 is engaged with a wedding date set for June 15. Uncommon Son #2 got some less than stellar liver biopsy results and is off all medication and trying to eat better and exercise more. Uncommon Son #3 is in the "please apply to our college" zone. Some days all if our snail mail is addressed to him. Uncommon Son #4 is starting to better master the concept of school, just in time to enter High School next year.

We lost Game 1 by one point. Maybe more blogging after Game 2.

Move-in Day

We moved uncommon son #2 into his dorm room today. I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

I thought it would be no big deal since I did this five years ago with uncommon son #1. It's a different school, which is farther from home. The drive to Lubbock makes the drive to Abilene seem like a short commute. He has some health concerns that I wish he didn't have to worry about while he's being all collegiate. He wants to have a degree that requires 7 years of college. All that adds up to more apprehension than I was expecting.

He's also got a definite plan and is where he wants to be. He seems pretty well adjusted to the idea of us leaving him tomorrow. His roommate has been a friend of his since birth. (That may or may not be a good thing. I hope the friendship survives such close quarters.) His adviser at college followed the exact same degree plan as he is pursuing. But there's still a small tugging at my heart.

I guess it doesn't matter how many times you take your kids to college. Their still your kids and it's still a big change.

RAIN

This looks like it's going to be a good soaking rain. I knew it would get here, I just didn't know when.

The sentence in the middle comes to mind when drought turns to rain, but the whole paragraph is so good I that I had to include it all:

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

Dropping the Dish

I'm seriously thinking about stopping my satellite service. I've been a fan of Dish Network since digital satellite television supplied through the 18" dish antenna first became available (wow I'm old).

Uncommon son #1 recently moved into his own rent house and I helped him connect a television antenna. He didn't want to spend money on satellite or cable television that he would rarely be home to watch. He is a school teacher and a coach. I was amazed by the number of channels available for free. Somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty.

With two uncommon sons still at home, and one starting college, the chances of my sitting around watching the tube (wow I'm old again) for hours in the evening or on the weekend are pretty small. Truthfully, paying nearly $100 for television service for the last three to four years has been a bit of a waste. We dropped our subscription by one level about a year ago and I haven't even missed the channels we dropped. I noticed for about the first two months that some of my 'regular' shows were missing, but quickly adjusted.

I like to watch the news. I don't care much for sports except for playoffs, which are almost always on the free network channels. And more shows are available on Netflix or similar Internet subscription services every month. I think I would rather have $100 in my piggy bank each month than keep paying for 100 channels I don't watch.