It’s been a busy week!

First I got sick, then I went to the ASTE Conference and learned tons of cool stuff.  Then I got home and had to work on grades.   The big theme of ASTE, for me was Web 2.0.  And I really want to get the book with that name written by by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum (pictured at right during her keynote address).  The new ‘tool’ I want to get is a Motion Computing LE1700.  I may wind up getting the LE1600 first, as it can be purchased at a fairly good price in comparison.  I could always use the older model to loan out to students so that they could create lessons, I suppose.  My favorite speaker for the week was Angus King, former Governor of Maine who is well known in educational technology circles as having succeeded in getting the 1-1 laptop-student ratio program going in the 7th & 8th grades in Maine.

The tough part of leaving is not being with the family and then having to catch up on everything: visiting, spending time with the boys, projects around the house, catching up with the spousal unit.  Shoveling snow and grading papers, of course go without saying during the school year.

On the bright side, I did get to spend a bit of time with Jack & Jennifer’s family in Anchorage.  I’ve been having some pain in my knee so I decided to get some new footwear to use on my trek to and from school.  I opted for a pair of Vasque hiking boots that came highly recommended by my brother Jack that have Vibram soles.  I really like the added ankle support of a well made boot. As you can tell by the smile on John Caleb’s face, he loves the new water proof boots as well.