Races For All Paces

by recesstec Blog workshops

Races For All Paces

The Recess TEC team took the morning off from presenting today and instead entered in the Races For All Paces, a family style fun run and walk.   Mom and Ashton, along with my niece Taylor registered for the 1 mile walk while Mike and I ran the 5K.  It was one of the windiest races I have run since my HS track days.  It was a great feeling of accomplishment to run and finish within the top 20-25 runners (official results haven’t been posted yet), but at the same time made me realize that I need to spend a little more time running in between school and working on the computer in the evenings.  Wow, am I out of shape!  Mike was already ahead of me by the first mile marker, but not by much.  Near the middle of my third mile, he was done….and so was I, but not literally.  I did make it though…without passing out at the finish line, thankfully.  We actually got finished quickly enough to be able to get back over to the 1 mile course and walk with Ashton, Taylor, and Mom.  Mike ended up getting Ashton to run for the majority of it while Mom, Taylor and I enjoyed the walk on a beautiful yet windy morning.  While we really love spending Saturdays in computer labs across central IL, working with educators (and sometimes up north…ok…once), this was also a great way to spend a Saturday morning.  Plus we got to introduce Taylor to our favorite Charleston area restaurant, “What’s Cookin’?”  Yum strawberry bread!

Strawberry Bread

 

The Princess

by recesstec SMARTBoard workshops

whatscookingToday Recess Tec traveled to Charleston, Illinois to present a workshop on SMARTBoard Notebook 10 to a great group of teachers. We have done many of these sessions, and although we cover the same basic information, each session is different given the difference in teachers, their personalities, and the subjects and grade levels they teach.

This group provided a very pleasant morning. The lab at Jefferson School was clean, bright, and there were no “equipment malfunctions”. The participants had many questions, but “got it” quickly. The room was often very quiet as they worked and concentrated. This is one of the many things we enjoy very much about our training sessions… to see the different ways teachers use the SMARTBoard, and the lessons they begin to build or download.

Our session closed and Shannon, Ashton and I rewarded ourselves with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants…

“What’s Cookin’“

Yum…

First HouseBoth the school and the restaurant are within blocks of my first “home” as a young married bride. My husband was attending Eastern Illinois University on the G.I. Scholarship,
and I was working at Eastern’s Booth House in the Office of Nonacademic Personnel.

I remember when we first moved into the house. It was old then, and divided into three rental apartments for students.

I drove by to see if it was still there. It was. And one of the apartments was for rent… and except for the addition of some vinyl siding, had changed very little.

I remember how excited I was to have a little place to “fix up”…
(And it required MUCH of that!) and how I looked forward to getting a phone hooked up, and to be able to call home from work.The Princess

One evening I arrived home and discovered that the telephone man had been there, and he hooked up “our phone”. My first disappointment… It was NOT the phone of my dreams. “Heavy” was not what I had dreamed of.

Black did not fit in with the pastel blue walls, and although pastel blue walls were important, color coordination was the dream.

It had a cloth covered cord… that did not stretch when you pulled on it. A “stretchie” cord was part of the dream.

And the dial. Sigh… It didn’t light up.

It wasn’t a “princess”.

Even back then, technology was important.