The River Strikes Back....

So there has been some excitement along the Missouri River these past couple of days. Due to mass amounts of water coming in from snow melts and rain the Corp of Engineers has decided to release water from the dam allowing it to continue it's journey down the river and into...the towns below...great.
I know that people could be really upset with me saying this, but I find this all kind of exciting and adventurous. So far, I am not one of the people that have had to evacuate though, and am grateful for that. This might have a lot to do with the excitement of everything. For one, I have never had the opportunity to fill sandbags before, true it is probably an opportunity one doesn't want to have, but I found it to be quite interesting. After two and a half hours my body is protesting though. Such is life.
Though this is a rather inconvenient flood, and the timing of the publicizing has not been good at all there has been a lot to be thankful for. For one, though there wasn't a lot of warning there was still warning, plenty in fact that many people will be out of their homes and have their belongings with them. And they have their families. My mom pointed out that like the recent tornado's in the South, people know where their kids and loved ones are. There has also been some great community spirit. People are all pulling together and working hard to help one another out. It was cool to fill sandbags with people that I haven't ever met and help out those who are in the flood zone.
The water is supposed to get higher over the course of the next week. They will continue to release more water but hopefully there won't be too much damage, though we are prepared for the worse. The hardest part is the electricity will be shut off for safety and that will affect more people in a different way. They say that this could last a couple of months. This has turned the whole city upside down, but it will be interesting to see how it pulls through.

City Lights

This is just a poem I wrote for creative writing class.
It's called City Lights.

These noises never sleep
Standing here at my window I peep
Out into the city night
As city lights drown out the starlight
A glow sits over the night sky
And I hold back tears trying not to cry
I feel so far away from home
Here in a city huge, unknown
They say everyone grows up one day
And that I was never meant to stay
I long for adventure but sometimes
My dreams look to scary and my heart cries
"You cannot do this, you are too small
What made you think you were able at all
TO step out into the world and love
TO follow the Voice that called from above?"
In times like there I lose hope
I want to quit but I mustn't nope
I must look to Him who is my song
For I am weak yet He is strong
And under these lonely city lights
I say a prayer and turn off my light
And give my life once again
To He who is greater that lives within.

Wordle

What I learned Post

This is the final post for my class Instructional Technology. I have really like this class and have learned A LOT form it. I don't think there was anything that I had really done before. For one I got to use Macs. I always thought Macs were really confusing growing up using PC's, but this class changed my mind. Macs are what everyone says they are. I am a believer! And you can do so much with them! We created video's and pod casts and play with garage band. It was so much fun.

In this class we also all had to present on topics, though I do remember mine some the ones that stuck out the most were the discussions we had about cyber bullying and how people need to be careful, and teachers especially, of what they post online. These are issues that I hadn't really thought much about, but will have to face in the future regarding my teaching career. It was good to hear about these issues and know how to handle certain situations and such.

Another thing I learned in this class was about copyright stuff. Super important to know as a teacher what you can show in your classroom and cannot. We also did so many fun little projects like WordClouds and Voki's. We saw how to work with Prezi, Gloggster and Animoto. These I all things that I not only incorporate in to my future classrooms, but use right now as I'm learning to be a teacher. I can use these projects to see what works best and what I don't like to use.

Into the Future

Just yesterday I was introduced to "swipe texting" Yes, now with the motion of ONE finger you can send texts to anyone. You can check the news, your facebook, e-mail, twitter what every you do to connect with people, without your laptop or desktop, that's right you can do it from your phone. Bord sitting at the bus stop? Well just whip out your handheld device and play hundreds of games that will entertain you for hours. You can do a number of pointless yet, kind of cool and sometimes handy activities from you cell phone. Such as SkyMap, which tells you where stars, planets and constellations are located in the sky, even in the daytime.

Oh, and this is all with just a cell phone, not to mention the research and advanced technology in medicine and health, rockets and military uses.

Technology is always advancing and to be honest I'm not one who keeps up very well. But regardless if I'm ready or not, technology will always be moving forward. I really don't know what the future of technology is, but it appears that the possibilities are endless. I think that though technology is helpful and really fun we need to be careful not to get distracted by it and remember why we are here on earth. To worship our Creator, not what we created.