procrastinators everywhere – get freedom

for mac users, there is no more important app for the sake of productivity than freedom. if you are a chronic procrastinator who spends way too much time reading blogs, checking your fantasy football team, surfing facebook, or catching up on the news while you should be doing some actual work, please do yourself a favor. download freedom. it will increase your productivity 10 fold (it definitely has for me). guaranteed.

here’s how it works. you tell freedom how long you need to work for (up to 8 hours). then, like magic, freedom disables your internet for that period of time. you’ll be banned from the world wide web. try as you may, you won’t be able to get online until the duration of your work period is over. so instead of wasting time reading twitter feeds, you’ll be left alone with your stack of work. and then, you’ll actually spend time going through the work. it’s a miracle!

come experience freedom from the tyranny of your own lazy butt =).

what am i saying?

my life is my message

[mohandas gandhi]

how he loves

the other day carrie and i were out and about running some errands and listening to the radio in the car. normally, we have it tuned to either 1) sports radio or 2) one of the local top 40 stations. but on this particular day nothing good was on, so we resorted to listening to the much-maligned spirit 105.3, seattle’s christians radio station. whenever i talk about this radio station with anyone, we invariably make fun of it for one reason or another. we are usually perplexed by how half the callers into the station speak with a southern drawl. i don’t have a problem with the music or the dj’s on spirit; i just can’t support any station that gives james dobson regular airtime. but we decided to give them a listen anyway.

then we heard this song. it’s called how he loves, and  it’s a good one. give it a listen. then check out the original by john mark mcmillan, it’s even better.

rethinking the charter school…

an interesting read from a cool education blog — here’s stanford’s credo report on the impact of charter schools on students (compared with traditional public schools). among the findings: there is a 2:1 ratio of bad charter schools to “good” charter schools.

some highlights:

The results suggest that new charter school students have an initial loss of learning in reading from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools, and receive no impact in math. In subsequent years, charter school students have no significant impact in reading from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools and an initial gain in math (p. 4).

The results show that in the District, Blacks enrolled in charter schools do about the same in reading and math compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools (p. 5).

Hispanics enrolled in charter schools also do about the same in reading and math compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools (p. 5).

As shown in the figure above, students in poverty enrolled in charter schools receive no significant benefit in reading or math compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools (p. 6).

Special Education students in charter schools in the District receive no significant benefit from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools in either reading or math (p. 7).

English Language Learner students in charter schools in the District receive no significant benefit from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools in reading or math (p. 8).

Retained students in charter schools in the District receive no significant benefit from charter school attendance compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools in reading or math (p. 9).

For students in the District, figures 8.a and 8.b show that charter schools are not creating significantly different results for students compared to their virtual peers from traditional public schools in either math or reading (p. 11).

holy moly, she can sing…

I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me. 
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green. 

I had a dream 
That I could fly from the highest swing. 
I had a dream. 

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I’m supposed to be. 
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep. 

I had a dream 
That I could fly from the highest tree. 
I had a dream. 

Now I’m old and feeling grey. I don’t know what’s left to say about this life I’m willing to leave. 
I lived it full and I lived it well, there’s many tales I’ve lived to tell. I’m ready now, I’m ready now, I’m ready now to fly from the highest wing. 

 I had a dream 

[priscilla ahn - dream]

don miller @ the dnc

don miller gives the benediction at the dnc – very cool.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

ah, just like old times

i almost feel a lil guilty.  

my first year of grad school concluded a month ago, and now i spend my days biking, playing tennis, watching movies, bummin’ around, reading, and wedding planning. seattle summers are always really nice, and i’m very fortunate to have the time to mostly do whatever i please.  this of course won’t last forever, so for now i’ll block from memory the master’s qualifying exam and research project waiting in the wings, and focus all my energy on being a hedonist.

bye seattle supersonics =\

i am gonna miss the sonics. they were a big part of my childhood – i loved “working” on my math homework while watching the sonics game on tv, and i loved waking up in the morning to read the game’s box score in the seattle times. despite a 41 year legacy, greed and inept leadership from the city had the final say. 

oh, howard schultz. we bought your $4 latte’s, and in return you sold a seattle icon away. disgusting.  

kemp’s 10 greatest dunks — what a showman. #1 will definitely be one of my enduring memories.

gary payton + shawn kemp = great memories.

ray allen’s 3-point barrage. this is just absolutely ridiculous — especially that last shot.  

patriotism

at the annual “state of the city” address in denver, rene marie was hired to sing the national anthem. but instead, she shocked her audience and sang “lift every voice and sing” (black national anthem) to the tune of the star spangled banner. 

i was perusing some user comments on abcnews’ article about the story, and the vast majority of the readers were, at the very least, offended by the performance. most agreed that it was disrespectful. others unfortunately thought it was a foretaste of things to come should america elect its first black president. predictably, some bad apples took their comments too far and called for marie to “go back to africa.” some bad apples are just insanely ignorant…

personally, i’m still forming an opinion, but to be honest, i respect her boldness and courage. i don’t know her motivation for doing this, but i know singing the black national anthem to the tune of the star spangled banner in front of city politicians is one helluva gutsy political statement. my question is: was that patriotic? — dissent is the highest form of patriotism, after all. gonna need to chew on that for awhile.

from postsecret

i saw this postcard from postsecret.  my first thought when i saw it: i wish my high school students would take this to heart.  then i thought — actually, it’d be great if everyone did.  

there’s a woman in one of my classes that some of my peers don’t take kindly to. unfortunately, i haven’t been warm to her, either. then one day after class, we walked out of class together, and we chatted for a lil while as we went to our cars. she shared with me some of her story. pretty intense. i was quickly reminded that everyone, no matter how unpleasant they are to be around, has a story. and like everyone else, she is fighting a hard battle. it’s amazing how harsh people can be to one another, but i think everything changes when we see the other’s perspective.