Where are all the fat people?

I took the day off from work. It was going to be a sort of mental health day for me, and catching up on chores. That idea ended quickly when my husband called as he was on his way to work and said his sister had texted him that their dad's blood pressure was less than 60/40 and the machine couldn't even read it. This is one of the signs that death is near. <br /><br />My husband rushed home, we made a conference call to the hospice and his dad is doing "okay", and could hang on for days or weeks. He was asking for his Coke so they took that as a sign he's got a little life left in him. Plus he's still flirting with the young nurse, Ashley. She looks a lot like my mother-in-law did when she was young, absolutely gorgeous (they're divorced). Ashely calls my father-in-law her Romeo. He always wants a  hug and kiss from her. Guess he's not dead yet.<br /><br />The hospice urged us to make arrangements for cremation, which we were suppose to do Monday, but my husband is really having a hard time dealing with everything. I called a few cremation services in Denver and made the arrangements. My husband headed back to work at noon. <br /><br />I'm not close to my father-in-law, but watching my husband being torn apart over this is hard. In addition, he just started a new job two months ago so he can't really take time off and sit by his dad's bedside waiting for him to die. <br /><br />So I bet you're wondering about the title of this post, "Where are all the fat people?". Well, I just back from the gym. I realized today why I hate my gym so much. I am the fattest and oldest person there, by at least 80 pounds and at least 20+ years. Everyone is height, weight proportionate, muscled or toned and they all appear to be under 30. I can't figure our what happened to all the fat, out-of-shape people that went to my old Ballys before they closed. I miss them!<br /><br />My favorite thing at the gym, lifting free weights, isn't very fun anymore. First of all the free weight area is really tiny at L.A. Fitness compared to my old Ballys (it had three weight rooms). Then there are always young, twenty-something guys lifting extremely heavy free weights or cute young girls lifting five and ten-pound weights.<br /><br />I know I need to get over this, and I belong there as much as they do, but I feel awkward and out of place. I never felt like this at Ballys. It's not going to stop me, and I'll keep going. I really don't have any other choice. I'm not disciplined enough to work out on my own at home, and it's the only gym in the area. Guess I'll just have to deal with being the fattest and the oldest person at the gym. <br /><br /><br />

Where are all the fat people?

I took the day off from work. It was going to be a sort of mental health day for me, and catching up on chores. That idea ended quickly when...

Read more »

Book of the Moment: Five Borough Farm

Last night the <a href="http://www.designtrust.org/">Design Trust for Public Space</a> and project partner <a href="http://added-value.org/">Added Value</a> celebrated the launch of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JEA9X2?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B008JEA9X2&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Future of Urban Agriculture in New York City</a></i>. The book, which is accompanied by <a href="http://www.fiveboroughfarm.org/">a website</a>, surveys the more than 700 citywide farms and gardens that grow food; metrics are outlined toward gauging the success of urban agriculture; and the project is aimed at affecting policy, so that farms and gardens will be formally recognized and supported in the city. Much more will follow from the Design Trust and Added Value in the next year, but the book is a watershed in examining the benefits of urban agriculture. A review of the book on this blog is forthcoming.<br /><br /><img alt="5borough-farm.gif" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/5borough-farm.gif" title="Five Borough Farm" /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.fiveboroughfarm.org/about/">About the Project</a>:<br /><blockquote><b>Need for <i>Five Borough Farm</i></b><br /><br />Urban agriculture is booming in New York City, with more than 700 food-producing urban farms and gardens citywide. In all five boroughs, New Yorkers have turned vacant lots and rooftops, schoolyards and NYCHA gardens into places to grow food. But urban agriculture also encompasses a wide range of other activities: participants earn income at farmers markets, capture stormwater, compost food waste, gain leadership and job skills, learn about nutrition and the environment, and create safe, attractive public spaces. These activities contribute to many citywide health, social, economic, and ecological benefits, as well as to the goals of municipal agencies and elected officials.<br /><br />Yet while many government agencies are engaged in urban agriculture, there is no citywide policy or plan to coordinate actions across agencies, and few systematic efforts to track the full range of urban agricultural activities that take place at the city’s farms and gardens.<br /><br /><b>Project Origins</b><br /><br />In 2009, the Design Trust for Public Space issued an open call for projects to improve public space in New York City, receiving twenty submissions from organizations citywide. The nonprofit organization Added Value (with the assistance of the design firm thread collective) submitted a proposal to address urban agriculture. This proposal was one of two selected by an independent jury of architects, policy experts, open space advocates, and Design Trust board members for the Design Trust to take on as a project.<br /><br /><b>Project Goals</b><br /><br /><ol><li>Survey and document New York City's existing urban agricultural activity using photographs, maps, and infographics.</li><li>Establish a shared framework and tools to enable farmers and gardeners to track urban agricultural activity and evaluate their social, health, economic, and ecological benefits.</li><li>Develop policy recommendations that will help make urban agriculture a more permanent part of the city's landscape and governance.</li></ol></blockquote>

Book of the Moment: Five Borough Farm

Last night the Design Trust for Public Space and project partner Added Value celebrated the launch of Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Futur...

Read more »

Encouragement to Keep Moving

On my Facebook page, we've been talking about the stages of grief as our <br /><br /><center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/115916382183421477315/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPCp6bK0YDF6gE#5769086120504457218"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TnxplzMihzW2K1j1aXiyfKB3a_fXmBdWYqZJTe079zahyphenhyphenz41FNtpun3qcSk5zjWCTmBQyk81vfaDmBkLgIMFNSeUp5Cc9vqx0YNGnRQzpGvokU1cTBpeNoUSxCP7GtjHDjgZcN8fzvzY/s288/0.jpg" style="margin:5px" width="281"></a></center><br />summers come to a close in the northern hemisphere. Words like "death of a dream" and "mourning" have been used. Many of us are excited and "those" dreams have started again for me.<br /><br />I have recurring dreams that happen before school starts, I knew they would start soon and indeed last night they began again. I'm in college and attending a class that I skipped the last time, just to find out we have a major test that I didn't study for. I have the complete and utter feeling that I have monumental task ahead that I am not prepared for.<br /><br />It doesn't matter how much I study or how much I plan or how much I do anything -- I never FEEL ready. Ever. This is year 11 for me of teaching and I don't feel ready even now.<br /><br />It is a great profession where you can completely start over every year. And yet, it is hard because we start over -- I don't want it said of me "She was a great teacher." I want to BE a great teacher. That is an active word that means I am doing it right now.<br /><br />Prepare. Plan. Pray. But, most of all, come to school with your good attitude intact. "I" am at the middle of my own attitude. Attitude is not a secret weapon because everyone knows what kind you have. Everyone. <br /><br />Attitude, content knowledge, and teaching know-how make you an unstoppable force in the classroom as you motivate and encourage students to learn. Educate yourself to stay relevant (and employable) because your academic institution may become obsolete, but you won't.<br /><br />Move ahead into the school year. As much as I need my summers (to heal, more than anything), the greatest moments of my teaching career are not during the summertime but during the studenttime. ;-)<br /><br />Students rock and I want to as well. Get ready, kiddos, here comes Mrs. Vicki and I'm ready to roll! I love you and I'm Back!<br /><br /> (School starts August 8).<br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br />

Encouragement to Keep Moving

On my Facebook page, we've been talking about the stages of grief as our summers come to a close in the northern hemisphere. Words like ...

Read more »

Microsoft webinar tonight 25th July at 6.30 pm: LEAP21 series -Assessing 'Knowledge Building'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This evening 25th July (and for another three Wednesdays after that) Microsoft Partners in Learning, Johannesburg is running a LEAP21 series of webinars on assessing 21st Century skills, from 6 - 6:30 pm using their Lync webinar software. This webinar series will focus on innovative teaching and learning approaches and how the LEAP21 material supports this. It will be of special interest to teachers who wish to enter innovative projects for the Partners in Learning Forum in 2013. The webinar on the 18th was about ASSESSING COLLABORATION.  The webinar tonight on the 25th July at 6:30pm will be about assessing <b>KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING</b>. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Previous blogpost about these webinars </span></b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I wrote a previous blogpost about these webinars a week ago when announcing the first one on Collaboration on 17 July 2012 </span><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/join-microsoft-partners-in-learning.html">http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/join-microsoft-partners-in-learning.html</a></div><br /><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How to join the webinar</b></span> <br /> </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Join ALL these online meetings at this web address </span><a href="https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-angels/Q6Z25RJQ"><span style="font-size: small;">https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-angels/Q6Z25RJQ.</span></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"></span>  <br /><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>More about tonight’s webinar on 'knowledge-building'</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Big idea: Knowledge building happens when students do more than reproduce what they have learned: they go beyond knowledge reproduction to generate ideas and understandings that are new to them. Activities that require knowledge building ask students to interpret, analyse, synthesize, or evaluate information or ideas. </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What you need to do to prepare for tonight</b></span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Think about this question: Are students required to build knowledge? Is that knowledge interdisciplinary?</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">2. Make sure your system can manage the Lync by reading/downloading the following information </span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.box.com/s/79ddc1b92bdfd9fd6279"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.box.com/s/79ddc1b92bdfd9fd6279</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3. Take a look at the lesson plan worksheet</span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.box.com/s/a742f6c34f7accc536c0"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.box.com/s/a742f6c34f7accc536c0</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Please join us at 6pm if you are free. Presenter is Megan Rademeyer.</span> </div><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div>

Microsoft Microsoft webinar tonight 25th July at 6.30 pm: LEAP21 series -Assessing 'Knowledge Building'

This evening 25th July (and for another three Wednesdays after that) Microsoft Partners in Learning, Johannesburg is running a LEAP21 series...

Read more »