Category: Weekly Review (Page 2 of 7)

Application Update

I use MacUpdater to keep my applications up to date. This is a great service that will, sadly, be coming to end at the end of this month. Thus, I figure it’s a good time to really go through all my applications. The idea is to make sure that each application is up to date. During this process, I either confirm that the application is up to date, update or delete each application.

I’ve found Latest which performs a similar function. It is open source.

Latest is a free and open source app for macOS that checks if all your apps are up to date. Get a quick overview of which apps changed and what changed and update them right away. Latest currently supports apps downloaded from the Mac App Store and apps that use Sparkle for updates, which covers most of the apps on the market.

It doesn’t look quite a full featured as MacUpdater, but I’m giving it a go.

Bronco

Time for the Bronco oil change and tire rotation. While rotating the tires, a nail was discovered in one of the tires. The nail is right along the edge of the tire, thus can’t be patched. Because of the wear on the tire, if the tire can’t be patched and has to be replaced, it means replacing all four tires. Fortunately, upon pulling the nail, it hadn’t breached the tire.

Curiosity Course

I signed up for the Now I Know Curiosity Course. Mostly, just to support Now I Know. If your aren’t subscribed, Now I Know is a great little newsletter. There is one interesting story per day (Monday through Friday).

America’s Declining Test Scores

Michael Pershan has An interesting write up on test scores – I Don’t Know What to Think About America’s Declining Test Scores and Neither Should You. Pershan points out the incongruity of the standard tests – some up, some down. Everybody talks about the effect of the pandemic on academic achievement, without the follow up of how important teachers are.

I honestly think that this is a huge issue right now. Apparently, not being school has a detrimental effect on students. We haven’t taken this opportunity to understand just hwo important teachers are. Nor have we taken the opportunity to celebrate what a difference teachers make. Rather, we just kind of skip through that part.

Back to Pershan. He makes some points about how the weakest students are impacted the most. He makes a few references to “No Child Left Behind”. He even brings in Social Studies and civics.

Pershan also brings up declining scores for adults. Literacy and numeracy declines were even seen in the 55-65 year old age group.

Maybe it’s the phones? Or maybe not. Maybe it’s just an America thing?

Head over and give it a read.

The past couple of weeks have been spent dealing with the passing of my mother-in-law. I’m aware of the classic mother-in-law jokes, but we actually had a positive relationship.

Things went much faster than anticipated. I had originally flown out to Michigan with the idea of staying four days. I had figured that we’d get some things arranged (my wife had flown out a couple of days earlier), and then I’d fly back. Quite frankly, I figured her passing was coming, but that we probably had a month or so. However, I ended up staying for almost two weeks. (Special thanks to my Superintendent for his support.) While I was able to do a good bit of my job while away, I focused on the really crucial things, as my mindspace wasn’t really conducive to working full days.

I also have a couple of observations. My kids drove out. Since I thought that I’d be flying back, I hadn’t brought a suit. It quickly became clear that things might not go as expected, so I asked the kids to bring my suit. So, I went out to grab the suit from the kids’ car and put it in mine. Upon approaching the car, I noticed that the right rear tire looked “odd”. Upon further examination, it was low. Upon closer examination, there was a large screw in the tire. Great. I look at my watch. 16:30 (4:30 p.m.) on a Friday. I quickly look up tire stores around me. (I want to note that 40 years ago, this wouldn’t have been possible, so, yeah, technology.) Anyway, I see a couple of shops close, but then I think that I’ll check to see if a Belle Tire is close. Thankfully, there was. I head off to Belle Tire. The counter tech (who turns out to be the Store Manager) reassures me that they can get it taken care of right away.

I did notice that when he asked for my phone number, I hesitated at the area code. See, in Maine, there is only one area code (207), so I’m in the habit of saying “area code”, then waiting as they delete out the 207. However, I was in Michigan, where they have lots of area codes, and don’t assume one. It was then that I realized that I didn’t really have a sense of place. I had been in hospitals and the hospice center and had really lost where in the world I was. If anyone had asked me to go to spot in Maine, I would’ve thought that we could just head there. Same with Michigan (though that would work).

My mother-in-law passed away. There is tons of work to do. Clearing out a lifetime of stuff, even if it has been sorted down a few times by moving from a house to an apartment to another apartment, can take a while. Doing this while not living in the same spot can be that much more overwhelming.

I’m so extremely proud of my wife. She managed to take care of so many things while dealing with her own grief. I’m so glad that I found her.

There are still some things to do. However, the things that are left can mostly be accomplished from anywhere.

This is a reminder for me to better prepare for my own end of life. I want to make things as easy as possible for my wife and kids.

Post Update: Idea Board (Padlet Alternative)

I’ve updated the last Weekly Review to include the examples of Idea Board. I’ve also added it to one of my Moodle sites so that I can start playing around with ideas.

Josh Ritter

I Believe in You, My Honeydew is now available. My copy arrived last night. I listened to it on the way into work this morning. Solid album.

I strongly encourage supporting local artists. There are tons of really great artists out there. Go see a show. Buy an album if you can.

novelWriter

I’m checking out novelWriter. It seems to be similar to Scrivner, but open-source.

There is nothing wrong with supporting good, commercial software. I have purchased Scrivner, though I don’t use it much. It was worth the price.

I also believe in open-source software. This may work out well for you.

iOS 26, Mac OS 26

I’ve updated to the newest OS for all of my devices. I have to say that much of the interface looks a bit “fuzzy” to me. That is, the icons and text are just not a clear and crisp as they use to be.

I do kind of like the visual structures (rounded rectangles), but the clarity thing is bothersome.

Naturally, my main iMac decided to go into convulsions. It seems that when I update the iMac, I need to unplug the external drives that are attached. Of course, I forget this until there is an issue. While simply unplugging the drives usually returns the update process activity, this time I had to invoke the DFU process. This means dragging another Mac to put next to the iMac, connecting them up with a USB-C cord and following very specific instructions.

Fortunately, all is well. Middle School Matters was recorded and published on time.

Our Past, Their Future

It’s long been a question to be answered in my educational career,

Are we preparing kids for our past or their future?

That question has been persistent for me.

This has come up again as the discussion around phones and screens is one of the hot topics. It’s something that I’ll be continuing to think about and discuss.

“Padlet” in Moodle (H5P)

Oliver Tacke has created a wonderful resource in H5P that mirrors some of the functionality of Padlet. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet, but it looks interesting.

Here is a basic example:

The second example shows the different types of boards.

Joplin

I accidentally double-clicked on a note in Joplin. To my surprise, the note opened in an additional, separate window. This is awesome!

The latest update (or maybe before that and I missed it) includes Markdown row highlighting. Joplin keeps being a really, really good choice for me.

Power of First Impressions & Tech

We know the power of first impressions. I was thinking of first impressions in troubleshooting. Sometimes, people get frustrated about Technology not working. (I get that, I get frustrated too.) However, the blame is frequently passed along that the thing (could be a site, hardware, etc) isn’t working (e.g., I need a new computer because this one won’t…) and the thing is the problem. Then it turns out that the user hasn’t restarted the computer in months. A restart fixes the thing. However, that first impression sticks.

COVID

Maine is currently requiring a prescription to receive the COVID vaccine, unless you are over 65 or have certain health conditions. Maine law requires a vaccine to be on recommended list from the CDC. I feel for the doctors and pharmacists who are now being put into a very uncomfortable position.

So, I checked the State of Maine’s website on Covid Response. Apparently, I’m not allowed to view it.

Trip

I’m planning on taking a trip to Ireland and Scotland next year. I can either spend lots of time trying to figure out how to get around, where to stay, etc. OR I can book a tour.

So, I’m currently looking at CIE tours. The reviews seem good. Does anyone have experience with CIE tours? Do you know of another option that you would recommend?

Good googly, moogly, I need to rename this thing. This is only post 14, while my weekly photo challenge is 45 images.

Last Week

Last week was a tough week. The election did not go the way that I thought (hoped and prayed) it would. The next four years will be tough.

I won’t spend much time on this, but we did reach out to many people who will be even more intimately impacted than us.

Vacuum Cleaner

The brush for our vacuum cleaner broke. No problem in this day and age of the internet and everything being available, right? Wrong. Much searching led to, well, nothing. The part simply isn’t available. I did find a phone number to actually call Kenmore, wait, did I just say a phone number? Yes, yes I did. No online opportunities here. I made the phone call, waited on hold, then got to talk to someone. They don’t have them, but may be ordering soon. So, I have an order placed and will hope for the best.

BlueSky

Apparently, “everyone” is leaving Twitter, er X, for BlueSky. I’ve had an account on BlueSky, but I don’t really post there much. The thoughtful Cory Doctorow recently posted about not investing in other platforms that lock you in. I don’t want to invest in another platform as well. Seriously, go read the write-up by Cory Doctorow, lots and lots of good stuff in the write-up. I don’t want to have to move stuff. I want control over my data and what is happening with it. Thus, I’m trying to follow POSSE.

POSSE is Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere. Thus, I write here and then push those posts to Mastodon. Well, now I’m going to add BlueSky to that push. I’ve installed a plugin to make that happen, so we’ll see how much troubleshooting I have to do with that.

Oh, and I officially completely deleted my Twitter account. I had been holding off to retain my user name.

Podcast

There was no podcast last week. There won’t be one this week either.

Winter Prep

I’ve done a good bit of prep for winter. I’ve put away the table and chairs that were on the deck. The boat has been nestled away.

Stained Glass Frame

My wife has created some beautiful stained glass work. I’ve framed the latest one in an oak frame. I learned a bit about the framing process and hope to apply the knowledge in the future.

Weekend

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This was a wonderful weekend. We went to see The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Portland Opera House. The original 1920’s version was accompanied by the Kotzschmar Organ. It was a fantastic experience to see the movie as it was originally intended, with an organ (or orchestra) providing the soundscape for the movie.

Tammy Faye

We also headed off to see Tammy Faye. This was Rm’s Birthday Surprise. We had a fantastic dinner and enjoyed the show.

I do note that “dressing up” doesn’t seem to be a thing for Broadway shows. I still like to dress up a bit and enjoy the show, but I was definitely in the minority.

Class

The class that I’m taking is getting close to the end. I’m taking a class on Teaching the Exceptional Student for my recertification. The class is a remote class delivered through Moodle. I’ve completed most of the requirements, with a couple of weeks to go.

52Frames

My streak on 52Frames has continued. I’ve now posted 43 pictures. Most of these are cross-posted here as well.

Quote and Song of the Day

Driving in to work, I had the idea of reaching out to a couple of friends that I don’t see very often. The idea was to share a song of the day, something that I’m listening to that they may not be aware of. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that maybe they wouldn’t want to be bothered or interested. Then I thought, but, ah, if they were willing to get it… So, I’m starting a Quote and Song of the Day project for my blog.

…And, after about a week, it is on hiatus. It seems that I’ve got a bit too much going on right now.

Movie Pre-roll AD

I was tasked with creating an Advertisement that would run in local movie theaters. This allowed me to refresh and expand on my Davinci Resolve skills.

Presidential Race

All I can say about the Presidential race is that I can’t belief that it is a race at all. This should be so simply obvious.