Tie a Day 9/23/09

The tie I chose today is one of my favorites, but not because of the design. As a tie design it is a bit much for any combination of shirt and tie. Loud and proud, this tie screams, “Look at me!” It is one of my favorites because it is a Save the Children tie. As a professional I have devoted my life to helping children. It is easy to stay in our safe little world and think only about making our own lives better, but this tie reminds me that it is all about what you give in life. Not what you receive.

This tie was designed by Daniel, age 13, who really captured the feeling of “My Favorite Sports.” I can only guess at the date I received this tie as early 90’s.



This is tie number 9.

Tie a Day 9/22/09

I wore this NFC tie today to celebrate the first weekend that I was able to enjoy a win by the Redskins and my fantasy football team, the Dogman Funk All-Stars. Considering that the Redskins won with 3 field goals (score Wash 9- St. Louis 7) over a team they were supposed to handle easily, and that fantasy football is cruel game of high expectations and low achievement, I thought it would be wise to wear this celebratory tie this week. Neither team may win anything for the rest of the year. I am a fan and a realist.

While I am on the subject of the Redskins, I think it is important to say that I reserve the right to boo my team whenever I feel moved to do so. I have paid for that right. This “Dim Wit” doesn’t particularly care what anyone, even a large linebacker, has to say about how I express myself when my team can’t play its way out of a paper bag.

Back to the tie. I was trying to figure out how old this tie is and I know that the Panthers came

into the League in 1995. I also know that Tampa Bay switched uniforms in 1997. So, I must have received the tie in 1996.

Yes, my life is this fascinating. This is tie number 8.

Tie a Day 9/21/09

Today's tie is like something a Ninja might wear if he was trying to blend in with everyone else in a crowded office building while stalking his target. Urban, blue collar camouflage. It is not ugly, but not good looking. It is simply a tie.

Don't get me wrong, it is not that I don't like this tie, I do. We all need things that go with other stuff that we don't have to think about in a Garanimal kind of way. It makes Monday mornings much easier.

This is the 7th tie of the year.

A Tie a Day

As a teacher it is important that I look professional in my dealings with the public, but this term “professional” is open to interpretation. I have thoughts about what this means, the school board has a dress code, parents have feelings about proper dress, but above all, my principal has the most important say in this matter.

Personally, I am not sure why a tie is professional looking. I can say this because I have some ties that make me look like a clown, but they technically count as a tie. If wearing a ridiculous tie is the look for a male teacher, then I can always be safe and professional.

When I first became a kindergarten teacher I was told that a tie was not an option. I had a few ties then and when my father heard that I had to wear ties, he began giving me all the ties he no longer wanted. This was the early 90’s so I acquired some of his ties from the 80’s.

Since I was a kindergarten teacher, I began to get ties from my students as presents. Some were serious, but most were funny or holiday themed. And I wore them all.

This is the tie I wore today. Plain blue
it goes with almost anything. I like it
but I think the logo is presumptuous.

In the 90’s I rediscovered my love for football, and you guessed it, I started receiving football themed ties.

When I became a computer resource specialist, the technology themed ties became birthday and Christmas gifts. Then I had children of my own, and with them, ties with my kid’s pictures as the tie pattern.

At some point I forgot all about my manly attire and went to the opposite extreme and tried to never wear a tie. Perhaps it was an extended bout of rebelliousness, or even laziness. Maybe the extra few minutes it took to prepare for the day was taken up with my children’s needs in the morning grind. It could have been the perfect storm of all these things combined.

But somewhere deep inside, I missed them. The cartoon characters, the bazaar patterns that never go with anything, styles that were cool, and even the styles that were never cool. Ties are an expression of fun, just like themed boxers, except everyone gets to see them!

I used to joke that I could wear a different tie every day of school. I do have a lot of ties. I have so many that they are in different spots all over the closet. I can’t see them all at once.

Last week I began wearing ties again and I remembered my old boast. Today I decided I will do it. My math is very rough but I think I can. Today I counted over 100 ties and then got bored with the task. I had about 30 more to count. There are 183 days of school, but Fridays I don’t have to wear one. So that leaves about 145 days of ties…

Somehow, I am sure I will make it. Let the parade of ties begin!

The Tazmanian Devil Technology tie is an instant classic. The black background with the the spattering of brown makes the tie go woith just about any color combination. I wore this one yesterday. Everybody loves Taz!

Monday I pulled out the mouse and @ symbol tech tie. The pattern is nice and it does attract a bit of attention.

At some point last week I wore this tie. Not exciting. A conservitive choice for sure.

I don't remember which day I wore this tie. Another boring tie. I like it, but boring.

This is one of my all time favorite ties. It is a Jerry Garcia tie from the 90's. Bold and colorful it reminds me of the two times I got to see the Grateful Dead in concert. The funny thing is I think I gave this one to my Dad for Christmas one year and he promptly gave it back to me in one of his tie purgings that followed in early February.

The Wave Kid

A couple of weeks ago I took the family to Harbor Park for a Tides game. I am not a huge baseball fan but I have always loved going to a ballpark. All the food, the sounds of the game, and the thrill of foul balls flying your way have always made the experience fun for me. Sharing this with my family makes it even better.

We were having a great time eating funnel cake, hot dogs and peanuts, and cheering on the hometown team. Then sometime around the fourth inning a kid ran down the aisle beside our seats and encouraged everyone in the area to do “the wave.” Right away my kids are amped, and start the wave. The wave was weak and fizzled out a couple of sections away.

A minute later the kid makes another appearance. I turned to my wife and said, “Oh, here’s the wave kid again.” Now he had a name. He was about 14 years old, not a child, but not an adult. Tall and skinny, he was easy to see as he ran 5 sections away and gave our area the cue to begin.

I have to say that our seats this particular night were all the way down the 1st base line in the very last section before it becomes the outfield wall. To the wave kid, we had to be the beginning of the wave. The wave had to begin on the right and go left. He was focused on us for the next hour and a half. No kidding.

The wave kid was relentless. He told us to begin on the count of three and then he would run all the way behind home plate. In each section, he would run down the aisle and plead with all the people to join in the wave, and then tell them to wait for our section to begin. When it was time for us to do our job, he would be so far away we could barely see him give us the signal.

The wave would begin with good strength, because our section was spirited and we were eager to please the wave kid, but never did the momentum of the wave carry it all the way around the park. But the wave kid kept coming back.

At one point the wave kid recruited a helper, not as enthusiastic as he was, but she too was inspired. Together they attacked the crowd with renewed energy. Maybe the fans at the ball park could ignore one person, but never two!

I am embarrassed to admit I was getting annoyed because I wanted to watch the game. Adults do this without thinking. We get half way involved with something and then we decide that we are finished. Not the wave kid.

As other adults in the crowd tried to convince the wave kid to stop, he just became more insistent. He actually yelled at a large man who told him to sit down. Maybe this was not the best choice to convince someone to do what he wanted, but he was not letting anyone stop his wave.

This is when I began to see the beauty of what the wave kid was doing. Most people stop when threatened with a beating. Yes, the wave kid was going a bit overboard, but these small setbacks were not going to stop him. He made some poor choices, but his “all in” attitude was something special.

As far as I know, the wave kid never did see his dream come true that night. We left before the game was over because my wife and I did not want to get stuck in the parking lot. Getting home before the kids fall asleep in the car is important when you have to carry all three of them to bed.

I just couldn't forget the wave kid.

As part of our annual school system technology conference, I volunteered to present video awards to my peers in the Computer Resource program in Virginia Beach Schools. I wanted to do something different since I was allowed some creative control over the ceremony. Various sources such as Twitter, Good Morning America, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon had been talking about a new web site, the Universal Record Database. This site is devoted to allowing anyone to hold a world record with only 3 rules as a guideline; all records must be, a) quantifiable, b) breakable and c) legal.

Combining the inclusive idea of creating a world record with all of my peers, and the inspiration of one kid with a dream, the idea was born. A video recording of a portion of the video awards ceremony for a world record-

Most Computer Resource Specialists Doing The Wave For 30 Seconds

Right now the crew, of only four people, at URDB is completely overwhelmed with submissions and is having some problems. I think this indicates that they have a great idea! Unfortunately, this means that you probably can’t see the video on the URDB website- so I have embedded the video submission here-

I am sad that I could not include the wave kid in this event. I don’t know who he is, or how to track him down, but I would like to thank him. Not because he gave me an idea for a record, or time filler for a presentation, but because he gave me a reminder about life. When you find something good to believe in, never let it go.

Savannah’s Big Question

Amy and I decided to take the kids to Mount Trashmore for the 4th of July fireworks display on Saturday night. It was a great day, clear and cool for early July. We arrived early and parked far away for a quick exit from the area once the show was over, a la Clark Griswold.


We climbed to the top of the hill and the kids chased a finger rocket back and forth.

We had noticed earlier that Bob McDonnell was talking to people around the park. We just kept on walking. While we sat watching the kids play, Amy and I noticed that the “McDonnell Group” was moving around. We jokingly told Savannah that she needed to go ask Bob McDonnell how he was going to get teachers pay raises so we could go to Disney World again.

We snickered and remarked to each other how very humorous we are, but Bob and his entourage continued to move, and they headed in our direction. Before we knew it, he was right in front of us. I whipped out my cell phone and quickly captured the following video.



Surprisingly, Savannah did not freeze and forget her question. In case you missed what she said, it was, “How are you going to get teachers a raise?”

He had a good prepared answer for her, but what I thought was great is that he got down on one knee to speak to her. He made eye contact with her, not the adults, and tried to respectfully talk to her. I am sure that much of what he said went right over her head, but most adult questions have adult answers. In any case, it is rare to see adults act that way around children, usually they are polite but dismissive.

I understand that he is a politician and that his behavior was not completely exceptional in the way he spoke to Savannah, but as her father, I was impressed.

It was a great day at the park that ended with some fantastic fireworks. And now, thanks to Bob McDonnell, we have a nice family story to tell and retell for years.

The Hunt

My first NECC was a wonderful experience. I did not show up with an agenda to fill, but I did have the seemingly manageable goal of meeting some people I follow on Twitter. The social service Twitter has become the backbone of my personal learning network and I feel very close to many of the people I follow, both personally and professionally.

Just because I feel close to a person doesn’t mean this feeling is shared, and of course there is always that fine line that separates a loose association with another person from being labeled a stalker. As difficult as this balance is to strike, I was determined to meet these people that I have come to admire. Having provided me with valuable resources and a never ending supply of great ideas, I wanted to introduce myself and try to express my appreciation for their willingness to share their lives, in 140 characters or less, with little old me.

Early on Sunday, I spotted Liz B. Davis as she was hurrying down the hall to something important. This is not surprising as NECC is filled with many important meetings, sessions, and opportunities for food. I resisted the urge to chase after her, and felt ridiculous standing there with absolutely no plan in mind.

I have been accused of being a face poser, or someone who has a Twitter picture that doesn’t look like them in real life. The picture that I use (top left corner of this page) does look like me if I have facial hair, wear stupid 3D glasses, and take my own picture with camera while making a silly face. I chose this picture because it does best represent the silliness that is within me. The problem is that I look more like the picture below. So tracking down my Twitter friends is difficult because from their perspective, some strange guy is trying to get their attention…

Having this first “attempt” at meeting a Twitter friend go so poorly, I thought that maybe I should just be more bold and step up the plate and get it done. What did I have to lose?

My next attempt at meeting someone from my list happened on the vendor floor. I saw Angela Maiers not 15 feet away from me, walking away. I shouted her name out, and she stopped and turned to me. Only then did I realize my mistake. Ms. Maiers is a very attractive woman, and I locked up like a deer in headlights. I think I may have mumbled my name and that I followed her on Twitter, I don’t really remember, but I am sure that my conversation skills deteriorated rapidly from there. She was polite and skillfully broke off contact with me, and I knew I had ruined a chance to just be a respectable adult.

Up to this point, my lack of social skills had turned my, “Twitter Hunt” into,” Twitter Crash and Burn.” As a teenager I learned that having a wingman could always help me to bridge the social gaps that I alone could not fill. The problem at NECC was not that I didn’t have friends to pick up my slack and help me to reach my goal, it was more that with a variety of interests and opportunities we did not stick together during the day.

Fred Delventhal is actually someone who I knew from my experiences in Second Life (SL) as Riptide Furse. My first meeting at NECC with Fred was brief, but I was able to follow it up later at a Tweet Up. This seemed more appropriate to me as we both had a beer and was similar to a time we had in SL drinking virtual beer and falling over on the floor. Good times!

Having met Scott Merrick in SL as well, I was delighted that he said that he was giving out free hugs at NECC on his Oh! Virtual Learning blog. This was the friendly, warm opening I was looking for! No pressure for the socially inept such as me. Now all I had to do was track him down and I could cross him off my list. Luckily for me, he was not hard to find. All I had to do was visit the Second Life Playground for a few minutes and I got my hug!

The one person that I most wanted to meet was Kevin Jarrett. After first reading his blog a couple of years ago, I realized how little I had achieved in a similar position in my own school. My friends who have heard me speak of him have even accused me of having a bromance, or man crush, on Mr. Jarrett. While this term offends me, it is probably an accurate portrayal.

At an ISTE meeting in SL in my early days in-world, I was waiting for a speaker to begin and Kevin was handling the security- making sure everyone had their microphones off. My mic was stuck in the on position somehow (these things happen in SL), and I may have yelled at my kids or something, saying, “Stop it! Get out of the kitchen!” or something similar. I was very upset when Kevin instant messaged me asking me to turn my mic off or he would be forced to boot me off the island. The last thing I wanted was to have him kick me off ISTE Island!

I spotted Kevin early on Monday at the Blogger’s Café. He was talking to some people and I just didn’t want to interrupt. Plus, considering how my earlier attempts at Twitter friend contacts had failed, I was feeling even more self-conscious. I ended up walking away.

Monday night I was surprised to get a Direct Message (DM) from KJarrett saying he was looking for me! Yes, it was kind of thrilling. I couldn’t imagine that he would even know me. Now it was on!

Wednesday morning I was collecting my things to make a quick departure from the D.C. area when who should I see coming up the opposite escalator from me? Yes, I would be just feet away from Kevin Jarrett in the middle of the two escalators’ path. Feeling emboldened by his DM, I shouted down the escalator to him, exchanged a few words, and briefly shook hands with Mr. Jarrett. Awesome! I was able to leave the conference happy.

There were quite a number of people that I did not get a chance to see in person, or attempt to meet. Cathy Nelson was someone I really wanted to meet. She was very nice to me once, and I just wanted to thank her in person for her kindness. But, it was not to be…

If I were to rate my Twitter friend hunting skills, I would have to say C or C-. As badly as I mishandled some encounters, and couldn’t locate some of the people on my “who I want to meet list,” I did have a couple of successes. Perhaps in the future I will perfect my social skills, or just pay a silver tongued wingman to hang out with me the whole time I am at a big time educational technology conference.