Wiki vs Blog

Some of you may be wondering why I am using a blog instead of a Wiki for this type of information. Well, the blog and wiki have a lot in common when it comes to posting ideas and information for the world or personal friends to view. In this case, a blog is a easier way for me to have one main idea or topic in a text/image format and I don't have to use and HTML to do it. It is also easy for people to post their comments on my information without messing up the original post.

The wiki format is more like a web page and can be expanded to have many ideas and media that people can visit. The problem with the wiki is that when readers want to comment, they end up changing or adding to the web pages, which isn't something that I am looking for. This would be better for a group or organization to use for keeping things current. You might want to look to this as something that would work really well for families to keep up on what everybody is doing and not require a lot of technological knowledge to do it.

If I were going to apply either of these to education it wouldn't be too hard to find a lot of uses. I would use a Wiki to have a classroom page and allow students to post work and assignments for their parents to see, as well as document their progress. They could put up work examples, pictures and even videos of their classroom assignments. If they wanted to use a blog, then I would have them use that as personal sites to show their own work and personal research on their own ideas. Then other students could see what their peers are up to. This would be a great learning opportunity as well as a good way for teachers to keep on student work.

Summer Time Fun

It has been a wild semester here at Lawrence and I am in the middle of summer school at the moment. Lori is teaching summer school at Woodlawn Elementary and enjoying that. Can't beat a 4 day work week and afternoons off. Hmmm, maybe I am in the wrong line of work. ;)

So far we have married off Eric and Jessi down in Jamaica at the Sandals Resort in Montego Bay, who are now living down in Houston as of this month. Quite an exciting trip with the whole Vahling family attending and going to a foreign country. I had a good time, but really didn't get to spend enough time down there to see any of the country, so don't ask how it was. The resort was really nice and the beaches were very good for lounging, but other than a few Jamaican Smiles (adult beverage) and a tasty dinner or two, I can't comment on anything else.

After that we have made a couple trips out West, picked up our niece Alyson for a week and had a lot of fun with her. It is a real change in pace having a 6 year old around the house, but we got to go to the lake, the pool and even BBQ with the neighbors. I think she had a good time, but was ready to go home and see her little brother.

Lori headed home for a week to help with harvest in July and I started my second class at KU for this summer. Taking a Regression Analysis class and a Educational Media Development course, so I don't have a lot of extra time. Monday and Wednesday I am at work by 7am until class at 1pm which lasts until my next class in Kansas City at the Edwards campus. Here I crunch statistics until 7pm and usually get home around 7:30-8pm. Whew, but it only lasts 3 wks at that pace, so I think I can make it.

In the Ed Media class (C&T870) we are making a lot of online media. Here is a sample of what I have been doing in the class.

Later this month Lori and I will be going out to see our grandpa in Glenwood Springs for a week. He had a house on the Colorado river and a great view of the canyon. It is a really nice area and somewhere that I wouldn't mind spending more than a few days.

We have been out there 3 or 4 years in a row and really look forward to our time playing around the mountains and soaking in the hot springs pool they have in town. The water there is great and really revitalizes you after a hard day of climbing the mountain trails or exploring all the shops in town. If you get bored with all the awesome scenery and rivers, then they also have several caverns to explore as well as a gondola that takes you up to them and a miniature theme park.

You can take the train from Denver out to Glenwood if you want, but you can also fly into Grand Junction. It is an hour west and a car can be rented to head back into town.

There is a lot to do there for sure and if you are a fisherman, it is as close to paradise as you can get. Three of Colorado's top trout rivers flow through this area with many more great ones within an hour of Glenwood Springs. Check out my youtube video I made about fly fishing to see what it is all about.

Busy as a Bee

Wow, it has been along time since I posted anything on the blog. Lori and I have been busy w/ work and school, but doing very well. Wigit is now a year old and we have my parents & granddad in town to help celebrate. Should be a good time and give us an excuse to fire up the BBQ grill.

This week has been a long one and I am ready to relax and maybe do a bit of fishing. Trout season opens up and I would like to head over to Henry's Lake by Clinton Reservoir. They stock about 725 trout every 15 days for about a month and a half. I blame it all on my recent trip to the White River down in Arkansas this month. Had a great time down at the Southern Council Conclave and got in a bunch of fishing and guy time. Nothing like wearing waders, smoking cigars and sipping bourbon by the fire at night.

Halloween and our anniversary are comin up again and I can hardly wait to see all the trick-o-treaters this year. Try to hit a few parties and maybe make a run over to KC to check out one of the haunted houses. Should be a good month and just that much closer to the end of the school year. Not that it is bad, but always like to be going forward rather than backwards.

KU has been good this year and really enjoying my doctorate classes. Really learning a lot and feel like I am more comfortable in the program. Have to be careful or I might turn into an academic. ;) Well, back to work.

Ice Storm

Well, the big ice storm of this week has come and gone and we made out pretty well. Most of the schools in the area were closed yesterday, but luckily the temperatures never quite dipped low enough to make thing ice over as bad as thought. We had about an inch + of rain over the last couple of days, but only the trees got a little covering of ice. The roads were fine, but the sidewalks could be a little treacherous if you didn't watch where you were going.

Kind of a nice day around work and home though. Nobody out running around the streets and about half the people showed up to work, so like a day off. Lori spent the day at home since Woodlawn was closed and got some of her little projects wrapped up that she wanted to. Just a good day for all of us. I am also sure Wigit enjoyed not being in her kennel all morning too and kept Lori entertained between Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Pride & Prejudice. ;)

End of the Semester

As I finish up my last papers and finals this week, I can hardly believe that I am at the end of the semester already. Seems like we just moved to Lawrence and started school, but I guess time flies when your having fun. It has been a good semester and both Lori and I are pretty comfortable in Lawrence now.

Last weekend we braved the freezing rain and got out of town for awhile to have some down time. It wasn't much of a trip, but we ran over to KC to have lunch at the Bangkok Pavilion on Metcalf and 97th St. It is a great Thai place that has a special lunch buffet on the weekends and a lot of different things that you don't find in your normal oriental restaurant. Be sure to ask the hostess what some of the things are and how to prepare them if you aren't familiar with Thai cuisine. I had too.

We then ran over to the Oak Park Mall to do a little Christmas shopping and take in the crowds. The are cheap entertainment if your in to people watching. Lori and I had a good time looking around, but didn't end up buying much. Picked up one gift card at Dillards and a Mexican Train domino set for my parents. Also ran into Luke and Amanda Seifer, who were next door neighbors back in Hays, but now living in KC while Luke goes to school.

Weather got bad enough we gave up on going up to Cabelas and motored on home for an evening of relaxing and catching up on some movies we had been wanting to see. Lori and I are terrible with keeping up on our movies. Seems we go in spurts and will watch 10 of them in a couple weeks and then none for a couple months. I am sure we will get in a few more with the bad weather we are supposed to have to night. Ice storm is moving in and we will probably move some firewood inside, just in case the power goes out again.

Wigit is Here

Well, here is Wigit, our little 7wk 2lb female Shih Tzu. She is a fun little dog that always keeps things exciting. So far the potty training is going pretty good and she is getting used to Lori and I, some times she likes us a little too much and doesn't want to sleep in her kennel.

So far she is a great puppy and sets between my feet while I am writting papers for class in the office. Pretty cute and some how knows just to entertain herself when I am at the computer. Easiest puppy sitting job I have ever had. She isn't as easily entertained when I am cooking though and usually goes to the front room to play with her stuffed pink wiener dog. I don't think it is going to last more than a month though, gets pretty roughed over after 15 minutes of what I call the death thrash. ;)

All I want for Thanksgiving is a Puppy!

Well, this weekend Lori and I are off on our whirlwind tour of Kansas and plan to make stops at both the Vahling Ranch and Casa del Kollman. Should be a lot of fun for sure and excited to check out Mike's new Traeger grill. He hasn't smoked anything before, so see what kind of mess we can make while teaching him.

We are planning on heading back to Lawrence on Saturday morning, but will stop off in Hays to pick up our new Shih Tzu puppy "Widget". Right now she is about 6 wks old, so not very big, but seems to be pretty lively and looks like a miniature St. Bernard. We don't have pictures yet, but this is what she look like. http://www.freereports.net/funny/wacky.jpg

After the stop in Hace America, we are off to KC for the KU/MU football game. It is supposed to be one of the games of the year and some how we got lucky enough to sign up for tickets at the beginning of the year. They say we are setting on about $350 worth of tickets right now if we sold them. People are crazy to pay that much....

Be back that night and probably sleep like the dead on Sunday. Well, until I have to do homework. ;)

Halloween Time

For the first time in my life I can truly say I had trick o treaters. Oh sure, we had the 2 or 3 neighbor kids stop by when we were in Hays, but never anything that I couldn't handle with $2 worth of candy on the way out of Dillons. Yep, over 50 of those little buggers crossed the street for candy. Thank goodness or I would be on a sugar high for a week!