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Rock Ruminations

"The Rock" - Newfoundland's nickname, attributed to the granite and rocky landcapes which wrap around coastlines of the province. It is an affectionate term towards Newfoundland, and highlights the significance of environment. Ruminations - the act of pondering; meditation.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Statistics for April

Well, last tie I did this - back at the end of February - I remarked that "I actually have a readerhip." I guess I did my best to remove that from the equation.

March wasn't a bad month, I made ten entries (although only one in the last two weeks of the month). But April appears to have been the killer, with only four entires (and three of those in the past eight days. So, I had a period of five weeks with only two entries. And I wonder where my readerhip went.

Anyway, this past month there were 25 unique visitors to this blog - 18 first timers and 7 repeat offender (Lisa - yopu appear to have some friends joining you!).

My peak days were 23 April and 25 April, but there were also seventeen of the last thirty day that no one visited (can you blame they with that little content). Anyway, given the spike in the dates, one would guess that they came to see the entries on San Francisco and Lord Stanley's Cup. Although my Statcounter tells me my most popular page has been Are You A Mink?.

Oh well, these 25 people came from the United States, Canada, Spain, France, Brazil, Barbados, and Norway.

Until next month...

Tags: blog, blogging, blogs

Friday, April 28, 2006

Now That's Something

Okay, I flew back to Newfoundland on Thursday (yesterday actually). It was a pond jumper flight - Atlanta to Toronto, then Toronto to Halifax, and finally Halifax to St. John's. I got up at 2:45am and didn't arrive until 8:00pm.

Sunrise from an Airplane
Originally uploaded by mkb_nf.

Anyway, on my 6:00am flight from Atlanta to Toronto I saw what I think is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen. While I slept for most of the flight, about half way through I opened up my window shade and looked out the window, only to see the sun start to rise over the tops of the clouds we were flying over.

Now I'll be honest, when I packed Wednesday night I decided not to pack my still or digital camera - as I didn't think I'd be needed them. Lisa will bring those up when she comes up in two weeks time. I found this picture at the Letters of Marque, but the shot would have kind of looked like this.


Clouds from an Airplane
Originally uploaded by mkb_nf.

With the exception that it would have been on top of a layer of clouds that looked like this (and this one I found at the 4th Grade Cloud Gallery 2005 from Mrs. Brezna's class at St. James Catholic School in Falls Church, Virginia).

It made quite the impression on me and I regretted not having a camera then, even more than I did when Lisa and I forgot to bring them to San Francisco (see San Francisco).

Anyway, I am back in Newfoundland now as I get ready to spend a month in an small all grade school doing observations for my dissertation data collection. So between actual data collection updates at Breaking into the Academy, along with pictures and other random thoughts that I have about being home (and being able to watch hockey regularly) again that I post here, stayed tuned for more...

Tags: clouds, sunrise, Flickr

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

San Francisco


Me at the Japanese Tea Garden
Originally uploaded by mkb_nf.

Okay, so here is the much promised and long awaited entry on our trip to San Francisco. I actually had to go to San Francisco for the annual AERA conference. As Lisa had never been to California and San Francisco had been described to us as one of the more romantic cities in the United States, we arranged it so that she came with me.

It was a nice trip. We arrived a two and a half days before the conference started and then stayed until the final day of the conference - so all and all, we got to spend a day over a week there. Which was nice, as Lisa hadn't been able to travel to many conferences with me my first two years down here, but this past year she went to AECT in Orlando with me and now AERA in San Francisco.

It would appear that our initial planning wasn't what it should have been though, as we travelled to California without packing our film camera, our digital still camera, or our digital video camera. We did eventually get them, three days into our trip (thanks to my friend and colleague Peter who swung by our apartment, picked them up, and brought them to San Francisco with him). So for the first three days we relied upon disposable cameras. Unfortunately our packing to return to Athens was as careful as our packing to come to California, as we packed one of the disposal cameras in our luggage (as opposed to our carry-ons) and it got largely expose and ruined by the x-ray machines.



Lisa at the Japanese Tea Garden
Originally uploaded by mkb_nf.

Minus our camera problems (which as you can see were largely self-inflicted), it was a great trip. Even though there was a great deal of rain before and after our trip, as you can see from this picture it was pretty good while we were there. We did get some rain, but only for one day where is really limited us - the remainder of the time you only had to go inside for a bit and wait it out.

We rented a car and went to the Napa Valley for the day, driving over the Golden Gate bridge (which were inclued in the pictures that we lost). This was one of the highlights of the trip for Lisa (see Napa baby!!), and I'd have to agree-minus the drive back home in which we got caught in traffic on the I-80 as we tried to get to and then over the Bay Bridge. The wine tastings were quite nice, as both of us are trying to learn this new hobby and figure out what everyone is talking about when they actually are tasting these finer wines. Being able to try some vintages that were exclusive to the individual wineries and only available on the premises was kind of cool as well.

Now, I was in California at a conference and I did actually attend some of it - I promise (see the following entries: Discussing AERA, To Conference Or Not To Conference, How Do We Evaluate Virtual School Teachers?, Social Presence in Virtual Schooling, Rural Ed SIG Business Meeting, and Final Thoughts on AERA). So I didn't just do the tourist stuff - although I will be honest and say that it was what I will remember the most about the trip.


Sea Lions
Originally uploaded by mkb_nf.

I have to be honest though and say one of the coolest things that I saw while we were in San Francisco was the sea lions at Pier 39. They were so playful (well the ones that didn't appear to be asleep) and vocal. I could have literally spent hours watching them.

I forgot to mention, the pictures above are of the two of us in the Japanese Tea Garden, located near the center of Golden Gate Park, in the western portion of San Francisco. It took us a twenty to twenty-five minutes bus ride and then a half hour walk to get there, but I do think it was worth it. Plus it was easier on Lisa and getting to the piers (as there were very few hills in the western part of San Francisco - at least in the park anyway).
Tags: AERA 2006, San Francisco, California, Flickr

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Lord Stanley's Cup

Okay, I know the next entry in this blog should have been about my recent trip to San Francisco and pictures are coming, I promise. In the meantime, another topic I am behind on is my Stanley Cup playoff predictions.

I have to be honest and say that living here in Georgia, I am missing my hockey. This year we got a game or two a week on the Outdoor Life Network (and ironically the one game a year that is actually played outdoors was not one of them) and then Turner South plays some Thrasher games (usually once a week or so).

But now, between NBC and OLN I have hockey overload. Four games in the past two days. It is the season.

Anyway, inspired by Michael Bérubé's "Web" "Log" entry on Cup crazy, part one and with the advantage of all of the first games being played, let me wade into this for a minute (although I won't be as detailed as the entry referenced, largely because I haven't had enough hockey available to me this year to have such insight as Michael Bérubé provides).

In the West:

(1) Detroit v. (8) Edmonton - Detroit in 6
(2) Dallas v. (7) Colorado - Colorado in 6
(3) Calgary v. (6) Anaheim - Calgary in 5
(4) Nashville v. (5) San Jose - Nashville in 7

In the East:

(1) Ottawa v. (8) Tampa Bay - Ottawa in 5
(2) Carolina v. (7) Montreal - Montreal in 6
(3) New Jersey v. (6) New York - New Jersey in 5
(4) Buffalo v. (5) Philadelphia - Philadelphia in 7

I'll have more to say about the playoffs as they continue - particularly with more access down here and spending 27 April to 29 May in Canada. Until then, we'll see how these picks do.

Tags: , ,

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

My Blog Owns Me

I got this from Playing School, Irreverently in her entry about a fifth. eh. ok. And since I have more than one blog and all of them factored into the responses for this quiz, I figured it should be posted to all of them.


25 %

My weblog owns 25 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?