Category Archives: Blog

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Just Waiting…

Well, Tuesday, March 15 is almost over… And I was sure our little girl would show up today. Oh well.  Momma and the little one are doing great. Kayce’s just working and waiting, as am I. She can’t stay in there forever, right? We have the room prepared, as much as we can. Babies ‘R Us wouldn’t cooperate with the chair I wanted (ordered it, and promptly received an email saying my order was cancelled due to the item being unavailable!), but everything else is ready to go.  I wasn’t sure if we would make it or not.  My (awesome) mom is sewing up the valances and bumper pad, etc…  So, we are ready (as we can be) for our little girl to make her appearance. I’ve my camera batteries charged, memory card cleared off, and my phone prepped as a wifi hotspot, if the hospital’s wifi gives out… Oh, and Kayce’s got her bag packed and stuff.  I guess that’s important, too.

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I cannot tell a lie…

We finally got our wall decal that Kayce ordered… from Israel! It’s really great. But, I cannot tell a lie… This cherry blossom tree was tough to put up. If Joe and Donna hadn’t been here, Kayce and I would’ve had really tough time with it. It’s up and we had enough extra flowers to float them around the corner to the changing table. The picture was taken with a panoramic photo app on my phone.

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360 Degree Snow Photo & WebCam

Click For Full Image

I used an app I discovered through James Van Dyke to take this 360 degree photo of the snow at our house today. The app is called Pano, in case your wondering. This was taken with my iPhone4. I almost froze my hands off taking it! Thanks to the iPhone’s capacitive touch screen, which needs bare skin for it to work. Plus, it just takes awhile to take 360 photo. There are few places I could’ve done a better job lining up the previous image, but hey… IT WAS COLD!!

Also, I’ve put the “Snow Cam” live. Check it out by clicking SnowCam at the top of the page. It’s a live shot of our street. Enjoy.

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Weather Channel vs. NWS

Woo hoo!! It’s funny how the national weather service alerts and the weather channels forecast differ. Look at the twc forecast and then read the alert.

…TWO SNOWFALLS ARE EXPECTED IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE THIS WEEK… …THE MID WEEK SNOW STORM COULD BE A BIG ONE… A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL SURGE INTO THE MID STATE ON MONDAY… BRINGING A TURN TO SHARPLY COLDER WEATHER. AS COLDER AIR POURS INTO NORTHWESTERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE MONDAY AFTERNOON…SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AND CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING. THE SNOW WILL THEN SPREAD EASTWARD ACROSS OTHER PARTS OF OUR AREA MONDAY NIGHT…BEFORE TAPERING TO FLURRIES ALONG THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU TUESDAY. MOST OF THE MID STATE IS EXPECTED TO RECEIVE BETWEEN ONE HALF AND ONE INCH OF SNOW BY SUNRISE TUESDAY…WITH LOW TEMPERATURES TUESDAY MORNING FORECAST TO BE IN THE MIDDLE 20S. SOME ROADS MAY BECOME SLICK AND HAZARDOUS. A COLD CANADIAN AIR MASS WILL SETTLE IN ACROSS THE REGION TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY…AS A LOW PRESSURE AREA DEVELOPS OVER TEXAS…AND HEADS INTO THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER THE MID STATE BY SUNSET WEDNESDAY…AND INCREASE IN INTENSITY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE WAY THINGS LOOK NOW…THE MID STATE HAS THE POSSIBILITY OF RECEIVING SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW BY SUNRISE THURSDAY. THE SNOW IS FORECAST TO DIMINISH FROM THE WEST ON THURSDAY…BUT ADDITIONAL LIGHT AMOUNTS ARE STILL POSSIBLE. HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY OCCUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. ANYONE PLANNING TRAVEL IN THE MID STATE THIS WEEK SHOULD STAY TUNED TO A RELIABLE SOURCE OF WEATHER INFORMATION…AND LISTEN FOR ANY FORECAST UPDATES…OR WINTER WEATHER STATEMENTS…THAT MIGHT BE ISSUED.

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Why I dont mind snow and ice.

I’ve railed against the school system closing for snow (actually for the THREAT of snow) in previous posts, I’ve complained about how horrible drivers in Clarksville are when there’s any precipitation, and I’ve blasted out tweet after tweet about the bad weather forecasting. Before I continue doing any of those things (and I will… I will…), I thought I would enlighten those of you who don’t know me that well, to some of the reasons I think the way I do.

My experiences with snow and ice:
For what i’ts worth, this is how I remember it. It may be completely fictional, but it’s what I remember. (Don’t call me and correct on these facts, Mom, it will shatter my world.)

I grew up in East Tennessee. It was great growing up the community I did. I remember, as a child, getting more frequent and deeper snow than we get now, but that’s just probably just nostalgia kicking in. Truth be told, we probably got about the same amount on average. But there was a different mindset when it came to snow back then and back there. Maybe it was just my perspective, as a child, that snow was magical, fun, and something to look forward to. Maybe that’s something I’ve carried with me into adulthood that others might not have. Whatever the reason, I love snow and ice. I love to watch it fall, I love to sled in it, I love to do donuts in my car in it, and I even love to watch is coming on the radar. I don’t dread it. I don’t run out to buy all the bread and milk I can carry when I see it coming. In fact, I’d rather have to go shopping in the snow.

I remember, when I was old enough, I got to be in charge of the fire (We didn’t need one, but I liked to have a fire going when it was snowing. I guess it made me feel more rustic). I would chop the wood and keep the fire going for days (again, for no reason… I just like to play with fire, I guess). It’s crazy how that has carried forward into adulthood. We have a wood stove and I still like (for no reason) to keep it going when its really cold and snowing. Granted, in our house it does heat pretty much the whole house, so it’s nice, but still…

Lesson 1: Work is more fun in the snow!

My first memory with snow, or the one I recall the most, is probably the “blizzard” of ’92. I can’t remember how deep it was, but I remember it came up above my knees and I was 10 years old at the time. Plus, it had came down, not in a gentle snowfall, but in a storm of snowflakes that drifted all over the place, so it could feet deep in one place and inches in another. My Dad worked 45 minutes-1 hour away and was at work when it started, he drove all the way home through mostly covered roads in a 1990 Ford Taurus (not 4 wheel drive) and ended up getting stuck in our driveway because the snow had drifted up higher than the car.

Lesson 2: Just becuase its snowing doesn’t mean you can’t go places, just use your head and know what your doing.

I can remember not long after I got my driver license, my Dad taking me out to show me how to drive in the snow and ice. At this point we did have a GMC Jimmy (4 wheel drive), but the car didn’t matter. I learned that to be confident when driving in bad weather, you have to put yourself out driving IN THE BAD WEATHER! Do it safely, do it a parking lot, if you have to. Just as with anything in life, you have to practice. If you think you might have to drive in bad weather, practice driving in bad weather!! Oh, and later in life, I learned that a front wheel drive car with a big heavy motor is the best thing to drive in the snow and ice. Go figure…

I also remember, when I was older, the families that lived around us reinstated an old tradition that they had as children. When a big snow came, they used to all gather at night up on the hill and build a big bonfire and sled for hours, have hot chocolate, and just have fun. I’m glad I got to experience this for a few years growing up. It was a great time of community and just plain fun. We would use 4-wheelers to pull us to the top (it was a big hill) and sled down and speeds that were probably more dangerous than we knew. But we loved it.

Lesson 3: Snow is for fun. Not to be dreaded.

As an adult and parent, I have to be a little more responsible. Not much… But a little. I still like to do donuts in the parking lot at work when its icy (I can justify it by the way it helps me to learn how to drive under control even when I’m sliding on ice, so I’ll just call it practicing), and I still like go sledding down the steepest hills I can find, but I try to always use my head and my common sense. I’m glad my boys seem to enjoy sledding as much as I do. We may not have any huge hills around our house, but we make do with what we have.

And if it comes down to it, thanks to my Dad, we can alway jump in the car and go find a big hill.

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Powdered Donuts…

Had a little fun before leaving work. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I love this weather.
-Drive slow.
-Keep a hand on the shifter to drop into 2nd.
-Try not to break suddenly.
-Above all, just try to maintain a steady speed.

Unless you want to have some fun in an empty parking lot. Then ignore all of that, or do the opposite. And use the emergency break to really whip it around.

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iPhone Alarm Clock Problem

Most of you are probably aware of the iPhone alarm clock
issue that started on January 1 of 2011. From what I’ve observed
and read the alarms won’t work if they are one time alarms. In
other words it an easy fix, if you just make your alarms recurring.
See photos below.
Hopefully apple will release a patch in the next
few days. If their alarms wake them up so they can work on it.

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Caught on Camera!

INTRUDER!

Caught my father-in-law coming in to our house to feed our cat. I love technology. Especially, webcams! Here’s a free tip. With the low price and fairly easy setup of today’s wireless network webcams, no one should be without a security camera or two,or three in their home. This one cost just at $100 and took minutes to setup. I have it programmed to watch our door for movement and when detected to email me a series of images. It works pretty well. I get a few false positives, but that’s better than not getting anything at all. Remember these are secured wireless IP cameras, not just wireless security cameras, which usually just plug into your tv and can be picked up by anyone driving by with an RF receiver. IP cameras work in you wireless network (hopefully, secured network) and are basically little web servers. Pretty neat, useful little gadgets for $100. Check one out if you don’t have one already.

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Winter Weather Alert!!

100% Chance of Failure

It’s no shocker that I get a little annoyed by the Clarksville School System shutting down at the first hint of snow.  Not even a hint…  A rumor.  An idea. The mere thought!!  Boom, they close!  Are they that keen on taking snow days?  Do they long for a good old fashioned snowball fight? No, I’m afraid the reason they are so skittish about having school in bad weather is not so innocent.  And this actually highlights an issue that I have with the education system as a whole.

For those who know me, its no surprise when I say, I think the 100% graduation philosophy is a bad one.  I actually think it’s a move in the WRONG direction.  Yes, the wrong direction.  Think about it. What is so special about “earning” (using that word loosely) a diploma, if any fool can get one for sitting in a seat for 12 years?  The problem is that an education has become a right.  And not just the way it was when I was growing up. When the right to an education meant that it was available to you, you had to decide what you were going to do with it.  Now it seems children (and parents, most of this issue is with them, but that’s another rant…) believe that not only is an education a right, but a diploma is as well!  And it seems to go even farther than just a “right”.  They feel (and unfortunately, so do the folks running the education system) that they are entitled to it, no matter what. 

I don’t know how such “educated” people as those who run the school systems can be so blind (read-dumb), that they don’t see what a slippery slope they are on.  If your goal is 100% graduation, that means policy is going to be created to make that goal a reality.  What does this mean?  It means you can throw discipline out the window.  If you are trying to graduate 100% of the children (whether they want to or not) then you can’t expel, suspend, or punish your students.  At the pace of classes today, teachers and administrators have no recourse in matters of discipline, if a student misses any time in class, they will fall behind quickly.  Making it more likely they will need to be held back, making it more likely they will drop out by the time they get to high school because they will be older than their peers.  See where this is going?  I do, it’s not pretty.

So, the teachers just have to make it through each day and then pass the entire class up to the next grade level, whether or not they can do the work.  And why didn’t the teacher make sure they knew how to do the work, you might ask?  Well, they were too busy focusing on the one or two behavior problems in the classroom to adequately instruct the other students who were actually there to learn.  If we can’t get the behavior problems out of our classrooms, then ALL of the children will suffer.  Education is not a right, IT IS A PRIVILEDGE!  One that has been taken for granted by parents and subsequently, their children.  Too much of the pressure is being put on the teacher, without giving them the tools they need.  They don’t need new teaching techniques, computers, or books.  Those things are great, but real learning is not going to take place until the educational system gives teachers back their most important tool.  Discipline.

Ok, so how is this related to snow days? It illustrates the point that if every student can’t be in class, then no students will be in class. Do I want children being bussed unsafely on ice covered streets? No, of course not.  However, just as it should not be only the school system’s job (or the teachers) to make sure the child is learning, it should not be the school system’s job to make sure the children can make it to school.  If most of the city streets are clear, have school! Those whose parents truly want to invest in their children, will get them to school.  I promise it is possible to drive in snow.  People have being doing it as long as cars have been around.

I think my thoughts on this topic are best summed up by Syndrome from Disney’s The Incredibles: “And if every-one’s super… no one will be”.  So, take a risk CMCSS.  Go to school when the roads are a little slick.  See who shows up.  Those are the kids who will be the leaders of our community years from now.  Expel a few kids every now and then. Help the teachers take control of their classrooms by removing the troublemakers.  Do that, instead of rewarding misbehavior with a diploma for sitting in a chair for 12 years.  Make the diploma mean something.  Make it stand for hard work, intelligence, and discipline.  If you do that, people won’t care what our test scores are, or how many students graduated. They will be in awe of the caliber of human beings that this county has produced and all the great things they will do.

 
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