Adventures

Waaaaay behind

So, today is November 3, which means i should have roughly 5000 words done by the time i go to bed. Right now i have a whopping 1150. I comfort myself with the thought that i will have the fourth week of November off completely...

Insanity

Well, it's November, and that means it is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This year i have decided to participate in the madness, so i will be writing a 50,000 word novel between now and November 30. I already have 202 words done!

I'm also dragging four PSCS students along with me in this adventure (insert maniacal laugh here), so i will have someone to answer to at the end.

Wish me luck, and try to make me feel guilty if you don't think i'm working hard enough (i'll give word count updates here as the month progresses).

Georgia floods

Some of you are aware of the severe flooding that happened in the Atlanta area last week; the floods wiped out homes, schools, businesses, and farms. Judith, a woman i know, and her partner Joe run an organic farm in Douglasville named Love Is Love Farm. More than three quarters of their arable land is now ruined by sand and clay. Here's a video of Judith talking to local news about her farm:

Judith let me know that there are a number of ways people can help both Love Is Love Farm and other organic farms in the area. Go to slowfoodatlanta.org to find out about the Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund, or, if you are in the Atlanta area, check out these fundraisers:

Oct 4th Field of Greens will contribute funds

Oct 11th Woodfire Grill is preparing a dinner

Oct 17th The Peachtree Road Farmers Market is having a bbq plate/fall festival

As Judith says in the video, small organic farming is about creating a healthy, local, sustainable community, and this community needs help right now.

Hello again

I'm gearing up for the start of my paying job with TechStart. Last week i headed down to Burien, near the airport, to get my ID badge renewed and ended up on a one hour and 45 minute bus ride back. For some reason it didn't seem to take that long to get there. At least i don't have to go that far on a daily basis.

My boss has put together a recruiting video that makes TechStart look so cool i want to take the class! Here it is, and if you look carefully, you'll see Sofia being a ball girl during the basketbot event at the robotics championship last June.

Fast times

Good grief i have been busy lately! I was looking forward to some down time after moving last month, but my volunteer job at Puget Sound Community School has started up this past week. I have only myself to blame for my workload, of course. I didn't have to agree to teach three classes, but i'm a bit of a sucker. So, i'm teaching French twice a week from the Foreign Service Institute's (US diplomat school) curriculum, plus a weekly class on Flannery O'Connor's short stories from the collection Everything That Rises Must Converge, and a course in preparation for and participating in NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, this November.

All of this is fun, but i'm not sure how grouchy i'm going to be once my paying job with TechStart begins again next month. I'll be teaching robotics again, but not until the spring quarter. Fall and winter will be taken up with Scratch and Alice, neither of which i have used before. Should be interesting, especially during November when i'm supposed to be churning out a 50,000 word novel. Wish me luck!

P.S., Some people have been asking me about Puget Sound Community School and how it works. Here's a YouTube video of the scheduling process to give you an idea: