Almost Lost

Sometimes I feel as if I am swirling faster and faster and getting close to a mean vortex of watery cyberspace. I'm rather comfortable with this blog, but facebook and the construction of my website sometimes leave me feeling as if I'm floating aimlessly on a tiny raft in the middle of the Willamette River during this Spring Chinook season. Fairly regularly, I bump into a boat on the hog line and the crew gives me a push in the right direction. But occasionally I have to paddle anxiously to get out of the way of a seal lion determined to steal a salmon. Will I ever make it to the place where I can successfully spawn a spot in the complex social network?
I can't locate my domain name since I let it expire. I know it's out there; Cyberspace lets me know. But I can't have it back until I contact so and so with this and that number and piece of information. So that push to the raft gets me nowhere. I can't navigate around my website without Kelly and Sarah's help so I'll just paddle around until they wash up. Facebook does not offer the island of contacts that I looked forward to. Everyone assumes that I know how to use it with ease and precision. To borrow another metaphor, it would be like taking a typing class in the 50's or 60's without really knowing what a typewriter is. People just assume that I know things that I don't know and they tell me every time that " It's easy. You just. . .". Right. Now pardon me while I try to build a better raft out of the jetsam and flotsam all around me.

Mother's Day

I always enjoyed planning a Mother's Day event for my mother. She, like every other living mother, loved whatever it was we came up with. The colorfully decorated paper plate with fake flowers stuck into it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw. That cake I made with the too thin ugly pink frosting was the best she ever ate. And, oh, how she loved it when my sister and I took her out for a special meal. The Silver Falls Conference Center was the best place of all. Never mind that my sister and I thought we were in heaven just to be at that park.
My own kids really outdo themselves. This year we, meaning just Brian and Amy and myself, went to the Cornelius Pass Road House where we had the crunchiest, tastiest, freshest tater tots on the planet. We drank the mildest yet most flavorful beer in Oregon. And Brian picked up the tab for all of us because he was honoring not only me, but Amy's role as a mother as well.
I saw people purchasing roses and store bought cakes at the grocery store who were obviously just that moment on their way to their mothers' houses. They were signing cards on each other's backs. They were hauling out body fragrances done up in clear wrap festooned with gaudy ribbons. The deli was doing brisk business packing up meals to take to Mom and the sushi bar was crammed with folks buying little clam shells full of fishy things for all the moms waiting for something exotic. Birdhouses, blueberry beer, plants and flowers, all manner and shape of chocolate, Jergen's Lotion, bestselling paperbacks-all going to Mom's to join the school projects already there. And guess what? Every single one of those hastily purchased items was the best thing your mom ever saw, smelled, tasted, felt, heard or experienced. It will only be outdone by next year's gift.

Sneak Preview

Here it is-the first version of the new book! You are among the privileged few who get the first peek. We are so pleased and excited!

What Next?

Yesterday after the mid-term I was aware in my peripheral vision that students were making an extra long stop in front of the board where I had written the homework assignment. They had stopped to take a picture of it with their camera phones! And I'd say that more than half of a class of 27 students used the same process to "record" the assignment. New one on me. . .and, yes, I have staged a mini-comeback in my teaching career.

With A Little Help From My Friend Kelly

Please check out the update on my website. It's definitely evolving with Kelly's help. It's also definitely a work in progress that won't really be totally ready for the world for a while yet. I am really beginning to enjoy this cyberworld setting. (I think.)

Check It Out

I sort of learned how to set up a link. I'll try to work with it to make it more visually friendly. Click on it and take a peek at the draft of my website which is in its infant stage. There's a lot I don't know and some things I don't want to know. I'm working on that link thing and I need to figure out how to rearrange the homepage so that I get some text on the right hand side. Give me some help if you feel like it. I'd love that.

HELP!

The computer is trumping my life again as I try to build a new website. That's why I've been absent so long. I am cheap and don't want to put out the money so I'm going at it on my own and so far it's only cost me $100.00. This doesn't exactly match up with my goal of getting set up for free but I don't know what else to do. I can't even recount the story and sequence of what I've done in spite of the fact that I took fairly careful notes. So I'll spare you the gory details and just say that the bare bones are ready. I will spend as much time as I'm willing and able to give to getting things all packaged in an attractive way and editing everything that needs edited. Well, I have to go to my website work now. I hope to have more and maybe good news about it soon.