Random Quote
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.
---- Isaac Asimov
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
Stick a Fork in me
I’m Done!
I have finished my last essay. All that needs to be done is some minor editing and then email it to the professor. I’ll do the editing later in the week so that I can get a fresh look at it and then email it probably on Friday afternoon.
Wow, that’s one big long chapter of my life that has come to a close. I really feel like a huge load has been lifted from my shoulders. The sense of freedom is exhilarating.
The future
What does the future hold? Well the immediate future involves three days of debilitating headaches. This due to lack of caffeine. Yes, I’m going to quit drinking coffee as a reward for finishing grad school. Strange but true. I’ve done it before and know that the headaches will be excruciating, but I’m tired of being artificially alive. No more coffee for the summer (at least for 3 weeks and then only periodically not every day)
Over the summer I’m going to be writing a teacher resource pack with a friend of mine. The plan is to write it up over the summer and get it printed at the university print shop. then we will test it out with our students over next semester and make any changes that need to be made before approaching publishers. If it gets published, great I get to make some extra money. If it doesn’t, that’s okay too as I will have an activity book that works perfectly for me. Many of the books that I have purchased only have 2-5 activities that I regularly use.
I’m also going to be expanding the amount of time and energy that I put into my moodle installation. I want to add more interactive content. I also want to add more optional supplemental activities that provide students opportunities for extra practice and/or credit. Currently most of what I have is simple discussion forums or handouts for students to download. All the activities are required and count for the homework grade. At this point it seems very simple to me and not nearly as exciting or useful as it could be for me students. Now that I have more time, I will remedy that.
This Blog
I’m sure you’ve noticed the three coming soon tabs at the top of the page. I’m also going to be working on that over the summer. One of those tabs is dependant on the forthcoming release of Expression Engine 1.3 and will have to wait until it finally arrives. The other two will be expansions of content and interactivity here. I’ll be adding a wiki and a teacher resource section with downloads and other goodies.
Now that I have the show/hide script working on the sidebar, I’ll be expanding my blogroll (language and other) since I am no longer constrained by physical space on the page.
The new look and goodies were supposed to roll out together, but unfortunately I had to move quicker on the host change than originally planned. Overall I’m very happy with the new host. I’ve noticed that my pages load about 5-6 times faster than before.
Don’t forget to update your blogrolls and RSS feeds to the new address.
errata
Over the summer I am additionally going to be preparing a presentation for the October National KOTESOL conference that I will be co-presenting with a friend living in Daejon. Details to come later.
Sometime in July I’ll be posting a multi-part review of the Macquarie distance Linguistics graduate program. In a notebook right now I have about 5 pages of notes, but I want to give myself some distance from the program before writing anything. I will be writing about the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of both Macquarie and being a distance student in general. Overall I will be giving a good recommendation but with reservations. Look for it.
I’m free, I’m free, I’m free
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Jun 5, 2005 at 08:39 PM
general_linguistic_study | Random_Ramblings | web_site |
강미 wrote 7 words on Sunday Jun 5, 2005 at 11:00 PM
Congratulations! Enjoy your time off…you’ve earned it.
Dan wrote 135 words on Monday Jun 6, 2005 at 07:50 AM
Well done on getting the job done.
Quit, quit, quit the coffee! The headaches go away. So will the feelings of not having enough energy. I finally quit coffee over the New Years break last year. I don’t know what your reasons were, but mine were kicking the coffee addiction, and health concerns in general. I feel great now, and when I do want a cup of coffee, which I have only when I eat out a place with good coffee, it tastes good with more of a punch. That’s another benefit to quitting. You don’t need it, and you can be much more choosy.
I do like hot beverages, so I drink a kind of tea, san nen bancha, that satisfies all my longings for hot drinks.
Let us know how it turns out.
Sean. wrote 79 words on Wednesday Jun 8, 2005 at 08:29 AM
Thanks guys.
The coffee headaches are much weaker than they have been in the past. I’m not quitting out of health concerns. It doesn’t matter what you eat/do some study somewhere will say that it is not healthy. I am quitting because I do not like being not in control of myself. That is pretty much the same reason I don’t drink alcohol.
Anyhow I’m enjoying the freedom of not having to study or write anything at this point.
Alistair wrote 48 words on Thursday Jun 9, 2005 at 05:34 AM
Good luck, though I could never, never give up cofee. If you want some outside Korea materials testing, I’d be more than happy to volunteer. Though if it’s material for large classes I’m out as none of mine have more than 8 students ( it’s the rule).
Alistair