RickScheibner.net

I don’t know how long this feature has been available, but those nutty folks at Google have gone and done it again.  I just found out tonight that you can upload your photos, pinpoint exactly where they were taken in Google Maps, and then view them together.  Here are some photos I’ve tagged:

• Pictures at Hat Rock, Oregon last July
• Track meet on my son’s 16th birthday
• My youngest son winning the county spelling contest last year, and then
• Where he competed at the state level
• Father’s day, 2006
• Where my dad caught a coho salmon on the Columbia River, December of 2006

For the full effect, select on the “Satellite” view, and then scroll in as far as possible to see the precise location they were taken. 

I had a lot of fun just finding these.  This really adds a twist to the old photo album concept, doesn’t it?

I’m traveling across the state to see Oldest Son compete in a track meet tomorrow. He’s 16 tomorrow, and I thought it would be cool to be down there for that. I’m leaving tonight after school to be with my wife who is in the area right now. Just a quick list of things to get ready:

• Oil change, check
• Fill-up ($77 worth–yes, I have to take the pick-up), check
• 512M iPod Shuffle filled with the latest podcasts from:
• Car Talk, check
• NPR News Summary, check
• NPR Story of the Day, check
• Practical Principals, check
• Most recent free Starbucks download, check
• Random selections from my music catalog to fill up the remaining space, check
• CD case, just in case the above isn’t enough, check
• Gum, check
• Car wash, but the neighborhood drive-through is down, so no check
• Overnight bag, check
• Digital camera fully charged with plenty of room on the disk for photos and vids of the meet, check
• Fully loaded Starbucks card that I received from an anonymous person this morning, check
• Fully charged laptop (I hope Ronald McDonald House has wi-fi), check
• Map to where I’m going, check
• Cell phone so my Twitter peeps can call me, check

Looks like I’m good to go. I’m using the Modify Timestamp feature in ScribeFire, and I’m setting it to auto-publish at 5pm PST. Let me know how it works.

(Cross-posted at LeaderTalk.org)

Our fourth- and fifth-grade choir is made up of some select students who have demonstrated musical aptitude and an ability to perform in a large group setting.  Today, they performed at our town’s MLK celebration event.  They did their usual fabulous job, but what struck me especially today was the amazing diversity in the backgrounds and lives of these kids.  In addition to their diverse racial makeuip , I counted:

• A boy with a learning disability
• A girl who has experienced homelessness
• A barrel racer
• A recent immigrant
• A national wrestling champion
• A boy with AD/HD
• A couple of TAG kids
• A girl whose mother regularly uses methamphetamines

And yet, despite these differences, they performed with an impressive unity of sound.  These kids are just good together.  It wasn’t their backgrounds that brought them together, but their collective commitment to a single purpose. 

In the classroom, we celebrate these kids’ successes and put an arm around them when they’re down.  We don’t expect less from a student because of their background.  Sometimes we need to work harder to help them get reach their educational potential, but we never let them get away with giving less than their best.  I’m reminded that, on this MLK day, we expect excellence from all of our kids.

I’ve seen some grown-ups not cover this song as well as these middle schoolers are.  Good stuff here.

 HT:  Stephen Rahn