Pack advance to conference finals

It was an inauspicious start for the Packers when running back Ryan Grant fumbled two of the first three times he touched the ball. Fortunately it was early enough in the game that the Packers were able to overcome the early 14-point deficit. Largely relying on Grant, who finished with 201 yards, the Packers tied the game up by the end of the first quarter and went off to an 11-point halftime lead. The second half was just about dominating the Seabags. The Packers didn't punt until there were eight minutes remaining and the competitive portion of the game was over. Further, Seattle didn't even accumulate 200 total offensive yards until garbage time. It was a thoroughly dominating performance and a heckuva party at Lambeau with 70,000-plus close friends. We had 85-y-o fedora-wearing Dick sitting next to us with a flask that he generously shared with us. There were also the girls from Chetek sitting behind us, who were celebrating a girls' night-out without their husbands. (Side note: How did the ladies get the tickets and the men were completely shut out of the deal?) After prodding from my rather drunk friend, the lady with the pink Packers hat allowed our friend Dick to "honk her horns" after every touchdown. I'm guessing that Dick was appreciative, although I missed the photo of him, er, appreciating the gesture. The link to the photo gallery is at the bottom.

The after-game party at Kroll's and in Appleton was more than adequate, and the 3 a.m. visit to George Webb's was necessary, but the four hours of sleep and physical degeneration that I suffered through will take several days to work out of my system. The drive home to Minneapolis sucked and the hours of grading essays that I put off is a penance for the bachanalian hedonism that occurred over the course of the trip. So, with that, I'll run and get back to grading papers. Yeah me.

Packers v. Seahawks

The joys and tribulations of online learning

When I was going to school (both high school and college), there was pretty much a similar path that people studying journalism would continue upon. If they wanted to become writers, they took their lumps (both physically, metaphorically and financially) by working for a low-level newspaper and eventually working their way up. My classmates who were more interested in making some financial hay went the route of advertising or public relations. That pretty much covered all of our career options. Towards the end of my run at the University of Minnesota, a strange but still novel idea of the Internet began to emerge. It was ugly and not a whole lot more useful than spending several hours in the basement of the Wilson Library, but the Gopher browser was at least a start.

It was a long road for me from journalist and editor, to teacher and eventually to ‘online educator’ but the last part is still being written. A couple years ago my interest in what could be accomplished teaching in an online environment got the best of me and I began working with the directors at Minnesota Online High School. Slowly, at first, I began to see the possibilities and the challenges of teaching with this medium. The advantages include not having to deal with classroom disruptions and endless staff meetings. It also forces you to think about how to leverage technology to instruct and reach kids the same way that you would if you were in front of them. The negatives include missing out on the relationships that inevitably build with your in-class students. Not that you can’t develop on-line relationships, but it’s just different.

I’m finishing up my second year as an online instructor and don’t feel as though I’ve hit my stride yet. I’ve got a lot of material to cover still and I want to keep honing the craft. I’ve appreciated the opportunity that MNOHS has given me to learn on the fly. Like I said before, this chapter of my life is still being written.

Family Christmas photos

Christmas

Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and that they were able to kick back and relax a little during the couple of days. Unbeknown to my children, I went through a 'white-knuckler' from our drive from Minnesota to Milwaukee. I was considering donating some money to the state of Minnesota so that they can plant some trees alongside the highway. The lack of any trees -- or any wind-blocking aids -- resulted in a virtual snowstorm on the highway. The visibility had to be less than 100 feet for much of the trip. Oh well. We got there safe and sound after about 8.5 hours of driving (it normally would be about 5). The family was well and fine. My cousin Jeff brought a keg of home brew that he warned me about -- 9% alcohol -- which led to some interesting family low-lights that I won't get into.

Christmas Awards:
Most appreciated present overall: Nicolas' bubble hockey game, which he played with nonstop for the entire day of Christmas.
Best present for Dad: Tickets to GB v. Seattle playoff game.

Into The Wild

Leslie and I went to see Sean Penn's adaptation of Jon Krakauer's 1996 book on the life and death of Chris McCandless. The book was pretty moving to me when I first read it and my subsequent readings of the book ranged from pissed off to intrigued to purely academic in terms of the author's writing style. It wasn't until I watched Penn's movie that I was able to see some of the humanity that McCandless was obviously blessed with in spades. The first time I read the book I just thought of how selfish the young man (who was only a year older than me) was in terms of his family and especially his younger sister who was very important to him. When I started teaching high school English, I saw the book as a companion to a non-fiction unit (Krakauer almost writes in a first-person account as he gets so involved in McCandless' life), or piggy-backed with a unit on the Transcendentalists (Thoreau, et al). Penn's movie was about the most moving movie that I've seen in several years and I appreciate his efforts. Regardless of what you think of his politics, it's obvious that he's one of the most talented people going in Hollywood. The film is beautiful and Eddie Vedder's soundtrack adds a lot to the emotional appeal of the film. Looking at the character from this perspective I see him as more of a Holden Caufield-like personality -- an idealist who just is sick of dealing with the 'phonies' that he's surrounded by. Unfortunately for McCandless, he wasn't able to bear witness to a second act that Salinger allowed Caufield.