Last Day of Summer...

The Summer winds are winding down. I once again become a teacher on Monday. Having time off in the Summer is with out a doubt the best reason to be a teacher. This Summer, my kids were the magical ages of 7 and 5. I had a blast being home with them: watching them grow and having the energy to play hard each day.

Now it is back to reality. The funny thing is, that just like my students, I will have a hard time getting to slep the night before. I always worry about first impressions, and how to set the tone for the year. You want to be liked...but you also don't want to be walked all over. It is a very fine line that I believe is set in the first 30 seconds of class. I am going to continue to try and blog my teaching life this year. Stay tuned to hear my stupid adventures....

Yard Sale

We are having our first yard sale this week. It is amazing how much junk we as human beings store and save, but never use. It is even stranger to me that there are yard sale groupies that go to these things. Looking at my driveway and garage, I can't believe anyone would want this stuff. Well, that is except my old Dreamcast and games.... I would want to buy them....maybe I will keep some of this stuff....

Tween Music

We just finished watching the super hyped High School Musical. Disney has been runing adds with the August 17th date all summer. I feel like our whole summer has been directed towards that date. Much like the "are we there yet question," I can't tell you how many times my kids have asked me when HSM2 is going to be on.

The real sad part is that I like the music. I like Hannah Montana. Drake and Josh...that theme song is catchy. I like that my kids at 5 and 7 already have strong musical tastes. It took me till the 5th grade till I bought my first music, the 45" of Queen's "Another One bites the dust," with the B-side, "Don't Try Suicide." I burned that record out.

It is catchy and fun. It is all that play in the car, and I even had some songs on the ipod last time I cut the grass.

Tween music may just keep the record industry afloat for a few more years. That is till all of their parents catch onto this whole download internet thingy....

iLife 08

iLife has become my bread and butter at work. When I first saw imovie and idvd 8 years ago at Macworld in NYC, I instantly knew that it could be an incredible tool for education, and pushed me into my current role of AV guy at Shepherd Hill HS.

Ilife inspired me to develop a whole course around it. I managed to build a studio, and began a morning TV show. I owe this all to the power and simplicity of iLife.

Each year, I look forward to iLife, and what new magic it will bring to my instruction. When Apple introduced the latest iLife, I watch with Christmas morning excitment that only Apple can bring.

So what do I think of an app that I base so much around? Mixed bag...

iMovie: Apple needed to bring this app back to the masses and let Final Cut be what it is: THE movie making app for pros. While the new scrub changes will let you make very simple movies, it has lost all of the digital efffect plug-ins. While this dumbing down is sure to please simple movie making mom and dads, it will force me to stick with the old version at school for now. We can't afford Final Cut on 20 computers- not to mention our old g4's would choke on it....
My advce- keep the old imovie around. Sure it crashes from time to time, but it does so much more, for so much less money. In education, that counts.

iPhoto: Love it. I am baffled as to why Apple did not move their cover flow tech into this. It seems made for it. I love the new .mac photo publishing. It almost justifies the $100 a year that I have been paying for the service. Check it-
http://gallery.mac.com/seancusick

iWeb: I just started playing with the old version to make this web page. I wish that it had more power- but I guess if you want a simple page it is ok. I wish that the newer version let you put twitter, blogger, .mac slideshows in a bit easier. Pasting code is so 1990's. I would say that it is a slight improvment over the last version, but nothing to really see here...move along....

Garage Band: This is my secret love. Late at night when all the girls are asleep, I jam with this and make really bad 80's pop tunes. The new version adds "magic Garage Band" which lets you make music in a much more simple way. If this brings more into the fold of home music, all good. I just wish that I had this back when I was in HS.

IDVD: New themes, but that is about all that I have found.

I would say this is still worth the 80 bucks. With all the extra time that Apple took (skipping 07, and moving into 08) I just expected more, not less.

Best Game Ever?

I somehow got Bioshock a few days early. ;-) I you have a 360, buy this game. If not, it is worth buying a 360 JUST for this game. The game looks like a next gen, next gen game.

Besides the tech side, the storyline is way cool. It keeps you interested, and feels fresh and new. How many games have you played under water, based in a story that is part Orwell, and part Blade Runner?

I would like to make a predicion: This game will sell a bizillion copies. I am going to be up very late the next few days....

Summer Winds....

I am a teacher, so I have the Summer off.  Well, I have the Summer to watch my kids full time....  Most summers, I feel free of work after about 2 weeks.  This year, I did not relax enough to catch my breath until the very end of July.   It was a hard year.   I hate the fact that I am already seeing those back to school ads.  It feels worse than being a kid.  I need to try to enjoy every last free minute- it is so easy to wish the days away....

I love the summer- now with kids, I find myself living through their eyes.  That feeling of, "there is nothing to do," or "I'm bored."  It is a challenge to keep them busy and not spend money.  

I re-did my web page this morning with a simple simpson theme.  I kinda like it.  If you are wondering how I made us into the cartoon family, goto www.simpsonizeme.com - It is a great way to make a new icon of yourself in this digital age.