Random Access Musings

Or, at least, I should be! I have realised that I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing when we get back to work: Let's break it down:
Year 9: Which Unit?
Year 10: What happens in the very first lesson?
Year 11: What exactly have the groups I have not taught done so far?
Year 12: Which unit am I starting with?
Year 13: OK, I can do this one and I have made a start!

So solutions?
Year 9: Email sent; awaiting reply. But it doesn't matter as I have taught all the units several times and it isn't needed until Friday
Year 10: So I might not use the second lesson I plan. No biggy. Perhaps I just need an excuse not to spend any more time on the PoS (program of study? Perhaps!!!!!)
Year 11: I'm just going to assume they are all doing metals from the start.
Year 12: I'm sure the unit is Elements of Life.
Year 13: Who cares? They will cope anyway! (OK, I put that in because they're the only ones who regularly look at this drivel

Back to it then - or another blog posting?

I know. Boring! But this time it was for me! (Not shopping for me, I hasten to add - I'm not for sale!)
Today was forecast to be the best day of the week s we went to Skipton. No chance of the boat ride - 1.25 hours is too long for a three year old. We stopped for a bite to eat at "Coffee and Cream", as seen on "Big Cook, Little Cook" apparently!
Next to David Goldie for my hat - a leather australian hat by Barmah

Finally a trip to Hesketh Park Farm for a couple of hours chasing animals and screaming!

I came across this today:

I think it's a great 21st century play on an old idea! Amongst the other ones at macmerc.com is "Apple-N: ctrl-C", meaning Apple Innovates, MS Copies... but it's a bit too geeky for me

What else? The holidays? Oh, yes a great time, but it's in my Off-Line capture device!

Catch ya later

Today was our first real holiday. We set off to Reighton Sands, stopping at Sledmere for a picnic amongst cereal thrips ("thunderbugs"?). The the final leg to Filey. When we got there we were far too early, but R managed to meet Rory. Wow! Was she excited or what?

The caravan was lovely - we are now glad we went for the basic model! Clean and well equipped. Despite that we had a proper camping tea .. Pot Noodles!

Then off to the "ShowBar" for the evening entertainment. Rachael was a bit awestruck She sat where she was put … until Rory emerged! A little hesistant at first then she danced her heart out. She was most upset when it all ended.

A few more dances then tears. "I want to see the Animals!"
(Translation: I am absolutely shattered!")

Day One over
This Blog is taken from my off-line journal, (or at least the earlier version!) started this day

Today is Rachael's third birthday. And what a day. She woke at the usual time (about seven a.m.) to see the balloons outside her room. This was a great start as it reminded her she was "Number 3"! After the early morning routine she went into our room to open cards and a few books. Then … downstairs!

Loads more presents, including her bike, and a few more cards. She loved her Piglet rug, curling up on it straight away. NO-ONE else is allowed to even touch it!

After breakfast, with the "Happy Birthday horror" (We weren't allowed to sing; she wasn't at her "birthday (party?) and there wasn't any cake!) it was time to take the bike on the road - or at least to Co-Op - for the first time. It took a while to get used to the act of pedalling, winding them backwards more times than not. Over the road we had the supermarket car park to ourselves, so loads of practice there … and her first falling over. When we had done a bit of shopping we headed home. Now our street is on a slight hill, so the downward journey led to an unexpected turn of speed. This was slightly worrying and she wanted off! Still, we made it without incident! When Nana arrived it was time to go for our party. Several hundred under-fives (or 15+1 slightly older) running around a play gym for an hour! And all those presents! She spent a lot of time saying "Thank you" and ripping paper - and there are still some left! Next came the food. They all sat round a big table and ate normal party food, including stuff they didn't normally get. In Rachael's case this was crisps! Several sandwiches, biscuits, sausages and stuff later, it was time for the cake. Theresa's mum had done her proud. A great big sponge cake with an icing picture of Dora the Explorer in the middle. Many others wanted to know a) where we had got it from and b) would she do deliveries from York? She did try hard to blow the candles out!

Next came the games. With pass the parcel it was a fight between Josh and Reece as to who sat next to R! Then onto musical chairs (R came third, but still managed to run around at the end. Eventually, tired and full of food everyone went home, happy and smiling. This wasn't it. Nana, Uncle Ian, Auntie Pam and Uncle Martin came back so we had loads of guests for our new cooking sets to be used on. Then we unpacked some of the dolls (time for a campaign against hyper-packaging!). When they left for York R still had loads of energy left. Eventually we went upstairs so she could listen to her music, while Mummy went to sleep. Tea, bath and bed. One tired and very happy little girl … and two tired and very happy parents Tomorrow is another day … ¡

It's been over a month! I must be working too hard again! Then again it may be the heat - we don't do 25°C at night and 30s during the day! Then the humidity is AWFUL ...

We had a great end on term "gathering" at the Hare and Hounds, made even better by the visit of T and R. I think Rae kept most of them amused, especially when it came to joining in the impromptu "several-a-side" football. She told Theresa that she "enjoyed playing football with the ladies and gentlemen from Daddy's school", even though she was a little upset that the "Park" didn't have any swings!

I think Linda may have forgiven me for dropping her in it toda, too. But 21 years at BVG deserved recognistion, and she got it. "Well done Chuck!"

Still, end of term, and time to spend time working at home ... and playing with Rachael. She is so excited about her birthday ... the "big girl number 3" - watch for a post-party message later.


Then there is time to start Getting Things Done. The book is shipping from Amazon, and the junk pile is disappearing. I'll try and use my Palm for a lot of the easy stuff, but I really need an excuse to put pen to moleskine soon ... I might just use the diary I got free with the 18 month planner (thanks NPW!) - after all it is half over. I have been practising by taking notes in a cheaper note book from Paperchase but cheap isn't always better. By the time you take into acount the binding my new pocket moleskine has more "real estate" than the slightly bigger cheaper model.

Houdah.

OK, corny, but it's the thought that counts. Today I happened upon HoudahSpot as seen on MacZOT.com

So I thought I'd give it a go. I set it to look for bloated folders first via its totally customisable interface - none of Spotlight's limitations here!. I can have ANDs and ORs (as well as andNOT and a few others) You can also set it to search different areas of your computer. After finding little in the way of bloated folders in my home folder I tried to search for folders in excess of half a gig anywhere ... and it's still searching!

So. Is it any good? I suppose with effort I could do something similar in File Buddy , but notice "with effort" - HoudahSpot doesn't need any. Also HoudahSpot is cheaper than the upgrade from FB8 to FB9. Then again, it's not meant to be a replacement ... you wouldn't fire up Word to read a "ReadMe" ... would you?

One more thing ...
If you’re seeing this on June 16, 2006 head over to MacZOT, you might be able to get a Free copy of HoudahSpot

Search easily in Tiger, Mac OS X, with HoudahSpot

I'm playing!
Omnigroup, makers of OmniOutliner (the thing I'm supposed to be using) and OmniGraffle (this is also "a good thing") have made OmniDazzle. It's supposed to be something to find your cursor on a big screen. There are cheaper ways of doing that. If they marketed it as a way of wasting time when using other things it would be a market leader!

Not using a mac?
I suppose spreadsheets can be fun - after all Excel on the PC can have different coloured tabs!

Bank Holiday Monday.
We went on a picnic into the local woods
It rained!
More to follow!!!!!!!

The saga of the phone continues.
Short answer... YES! I now have a phone that works with the Mac. OK, I haven't been brave enough to synchronise all the contacts using iSync ... just in case, but I have sent a nice new theme across, used Amadeus to create a ring tone from "Right here, Right now", and controlled iTunes and the Apple DVD player using the wonderful Salling Clicker (also available for Windows).
So. Ericsson 1 - Moto nil!
OK, it said my PDA couldn't find a phone, but a little bit of fiddling and it was OK with messages.
It also works with BluePhone Elite (I can't stand texting with little buttons! Palm or keyboard anytime!)
So... one happy bunny!

I was let loose in York with plastic in pocket!
I fell victim to gadget frenzy! You see, it's lie this...
Carphone Warehouse had this advert for the Motorola SLVR Red, complete with "every call donates to charity". How could I resist?
So. A new phone, and matching headset and off I go! All set up. O2 sim, but not locked to a network. How could I lose?
(But I could... couldn't I?)
At home, hook it up to the Mac via USB. Crash on startup. SBBOD! Lucky I didn't buy a USB cable ... the one for the Palm worked just as well.
So, let's try bluetooth.
"There are no services available" or some such nonsense! Apparently, reading the bluetooth discussions over at Apple this is common. You see, there are two different versions of the firmware, depending on your global location. One works. One doesn't. Guess which one we had?

So the next day off to CW again to swap. I had decided I wasn't going through this fiasco again, so "can I have a K750i instead please?", returning all the other stuff. We did and off we went ... only to return 10 minutes later!
I had assumed from our conversation that we were getting the phone at the "Orange" price, not the SIM-Free - a £30 difference. The guy in the shop thought we wanted to use the Ericsson with the O2 SIM from the Moto. He had no Orange boxed phones in stock so I took a BT headset in exchange for the difference.
I think I broke even if you consider the 10 quid on the O2 SIM and about a fiver for unlocking.
Will it work ... see later!

Today the death of Desmond Dekker was announced. I always associated him with Ska, but reggae is just a later version.
Today's iTunes list is in memory of him

In the CollaboZOT stakes
Of, course, it will almost definitely change, but here is it preserved for properity!

The guys at MacZOT are running a CollaboZOT. Basically it's a treasure hunt around the web to answer a series of questions. I'm in team "halogenandtoast" and we're in the running for a prize draw.

Anyway, along side this is a "MegaMyzteryZOT". There is a bunch of software, at round about $130 (and climbing) going for $25 (today ... I got it at the earlier $20). One of the deals involves another "BlogZOT" - see below. Basically I paste a bit of code into this page and the price of a piece of stuff drops by 5 cents ... or in this case the value of the bundle increases by 5 cents!

So ...

"MacZOT.com Fans want Pzizz because 'According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation and its effect on work performance may be costing U.S. employers some $18 billion each year in lost productivity. Another study pushes this cost to over $100 billion.' - link to full article

Here are the files from today.
In order to protect the contents from "Those Outside The Purchasing Institution" I have zipped the files and password-encrypted them. This means you should download them (as normal) then use something like FreeZip to unarchive them. It will ask for a password. The password is the colour of the booklet you were given today ... all in lowercase (Not very secure, but it will do!

First, My File (4 MB)

Next All Dr Gs files (nearly 9MB!)

Now for the Revising from Storylines bit

Finally, CONquestionsTEXT

Shout if you get stuck!

And if you are on Dial Up ... bring a USB thingy in!

Peace

Well, I hope it was useful ... if you were there! If not ... someone probably told you about this bit!
Here is the outline for my session ... the colour version without the extra branches ... do that for yourself!
Also included ...
How to make notes from Storylines

The example from A9 (carbon)

Zips to follow!

A productive day for some. A wake up call for some. These two groups are not necessarily exclusive. And now for the good stuff. The full colour map for today's lesson. Further ones may follow. If you fancy trying this for yourself you can either use a bit of paper and some pens (I usually start like that) or software is available. Check somewhere like versiontracker or download.com. I know of a couple of pricey ones...
I use Inspirations, mainly because it synchronises with my PDA.
I also got ConceptDraw MindMap ... as a freebie from a magazine
As I say, there are others. A free one called FreeMind also gets some favourable mentions.

There is NovaMind ... looks nice but I haven't tried it (£55 + VAT, but there is a discount for students/teachers) All these are both Mac and PC. Don't ask for PC only recommendations - how would I know?

Other alternatives can be seen at the freemind Wiki

None of these are supposed to be "the best" - just a few links to get you going.
You could also check out the backround to this sort of brain use by reading a book or two by Tony Buzan (mind-map.com seems to be down at the moment!)

Interested? No?
OK. Here's the pretty picture anyway!

I exercised my democratic rights! OK ... a "X" in a box!

As far as A level chem goes, we finished. First we covered "cis/trans" isomerism from Chemical Ideas 3.5
This can be seen in ...

Next we looked at the alcohols from 13.4, but only up to dehydration

Phillip and Hanni did this summary, but everyone else produced paper ones too.




Next week:
Handing in Q1-6 from 13.4
A test (mock covering Minerals, Atmosphere, and Polymer Rev)
Going through the test


Revision session 9-12:30, Saturday 13th May

Going
Going
Going
GONE

Here is the Mind Map for Polymer Revolution ... I should really do a proper page, but it's late!


Click to enlarge ... I think!
Yup .. "Click to Enlarge!"

But only to the mac community! If you scroll down a bit there was something about "MacZot!".
Well they've launched BLOGZOT 2.0 on MacZOT.com. MacZOT and TheCodingMonkeys will award $105,000 in Mac software if loads of people publish something in their blogs about SubEthaEdit from CodingMonkeys. So head over and see!

If you have any comments you have about the software, the web site, or the promotion hit "Discuss" at the top and leave a message.

Using a PC?
Switch! Head over to Apple!

It should have been a breeze ....
Open Book papers in? CHECK!
Any problems? Minor only (in the grand scale of things)
Can we do a bit of chem?
Yup... then the trouble begins.........

The bus is late. We can't find where we are going. The lectures have started.
The "MetCeno" looks like a Food Court at a shopping centre with prices to match.
The temperature drops; the bus is missing; we are frozen!
The bus arrives after its trip to the Police station.

We are late back.
My class hasn't behaved.

It should have been a breeze!

Well, a site I haven't come across before! Apparently MacZOT sell stuff at a discount ... but only for the Mac.
So why am I telling you about this? Well, greed really! For everyone that mentions the site they drop the price of an app by 5 cents. Enough blogs will get it for the community for free!

So where do you go?
MacZOT!

So. Everyone was in after all (except Noreen, but she wouldn't have got the message about the blog anyway!). I don't understand how we could have been "deep cleaned" yet still able to let the Infected Ones in to contaminate our pristine environment!

Anyway did you like the drawing mechanism game? An easy way to learn is to try it out! Then there was the presentation after break. It's a pity you can't all have a copy for revision etc, but it is copyrighted and very expensive!

Want some revision? Got too much cash left?



Revise Chem DVD
Disclaimer: I haven't seen it yet. Also I haven't received any goods from this company, but I do have an order pending. You can also buy it from Amazon or Play or your fave high street retail outlet (or less legally if you are that way inclined!)

No pixels were harmed in the making of this blog article

I have now given you chance to give feedback. If you don't want to email me hit the comment button at the bottom of the posting. It will open a pop-up for your comment, so make sure you let it through your pop-up blocker. Please use it properly. Any abuse will get you totally scuffed!

OK; The lesson will start with ...

HOMEWORK! Read and make notes on Polymer Rev PR2 from the Storylines (Polythene)
Assignment 1 to be done too

We will then look at Chem Ideas 12.2 (The alkenes) and do some of the problems (the rest to be finished for homework)

Depending on time, we may start 5.5 "How are properties affected by chain length etc?"

I will update this to let you know what we actually DID!
Don't forget ... Open Book next week, and some of us may be on a trip to Leeds Uni!

Peace
Out

I'm back to the original reason for this blog. I set my blog in action last year to help the current Year 13 chemists keep up ... they were on loads of courses at the end of June/July. So with the quaratine restrictions imposed by the latest "foot and mouth" outbreak here goes!

Really this is for the Boys' school component although all are free to read and ignore!

More to follow

We have a new puppy ...

This is becoming a habit. What is the point if I can't maintain the effort?
Anyway, week one post-viral was a bit iffy. I managed it, but only just. Week two was so much better - we even got the filming done for the "Project". Then there was the tricky rejigging of the groups, but it smooothed itself out within a couple of hours.
So the term ends. A couple of lessons. Some useful news (being creditted for marking in school - if only the seven or eight hours at the weekend could be taken into account). Still it has to be done somewhere and at sometime. Work holds fewer distractions - after all it is infested with PCs! Time to load up the iPod (shuffle! I won't be there that long!!!) and prepare for another day of fun
Chrissy's leaving do was OK - nice to catch up with colleagues who have left for pastures new. And an hour or so in the pub was a good idea too!
So. Christmas is almost upon us. I just need to sort out cards, and perhaps a Christmas web page!
If I don't write before ... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

After two weeks, normal service is nearly resumed! It has been rough. The first week was lack of sleep as well as viruses. By Friday I was popping valerian tablets before bed. They didn't help me sleep but I felt a lot calmer about being awake. I went to the doc's again on Friday who said I might need antibiotics. By Tuesday I was told to take them - the stuff I was coughing up was developing language skills by this point!
So, the remedy: 4 erythromyocil a day; cough sweet before bed; then nytol; then Vicks on the throat. Then "night-night"!
By last Friday I was getting listless. Saturday was rough but OK.
Today I ventured forth... and felt like venturing back again a couple of hours later. But that's the way it is. You get in to work to prove you can do it ... even if you can't! I am knackered now. So it's finishing this, updating the playlist on my shuffle, then bed ...
... and I'm not going to wonder about why Windoze IE 5.5 can't show my web site properly! I bet I need t declare a width somewhere, but "who gives a duck?" (Is that the right phraseology?)
Peace
Out

and I feel lousy! It may "only be a man-cold" but I know it is much worse than that - as any male will tell you! Female hormones stop the full effect of colds being felt.
I have a had some good news - my coding is getting better! The new-look "Salters at BVG" site is imminent if that means only weeks away. I had a little problem, but the folks at the macromedia.dreamweaver newsgroup got me sorted (who knew you had to tell it not to add padding! (Funny... even though this blogger has clicky buttons for italics etc I could resist hand-coding that last bit! Sad? Geeky? Sad geek? Who cares?
The bad news is that two police officers were shot in our fair city - one fatally. Say what you like about them, but the police do make a difference. Anyone who can pull a gun on a woman deserves contempt. To do it to two, and then use the weapon ......

OK. Back to it then. Catch you on the flip side!

So. I'm not writing much! R got her rocking horse on Sunday and she is really happy ... although not feeling well at the present.
If you are sad enough to be from BVG and reading this you deserve a bonus!
Hess's Law is very important for Thursday!!!!

Judging by the emails and conversations I am going to be inundated with practical write-ups tomorrow! I'm glad the "web site" is useful - even if half the new links don't work! That should be fixed now. I will sort it out properly ... eventually!
Rachael is a big girl now - out of the cot and into a bed. This meant tonight she spent 5 minutes in bed, then got out! "I've had a good night's sleep", she said. They cried. We relented and left her come down stairrs for a bit - she was distraught!
Next time ...

See you tomorrow (if you have read this!)

It's about time I posted again! I am so chuffed. My form are really dedicated. They have made the decision to come into school so they don't miss lessons (even Chemistry), despite being given the opportunity to disappear into the shopping paradise that is White Rose! This is for you:

I realy wanted to be in school today - you need teaching! The afternoon wasn't really a problem. I will try to get something on the website should you need it

All good things come to an end, and so does year 12! The Chem is over. Just the results to come. Then you hit year 13 ... and the hard work!!!!!!!! Seriously, though, it does get much tougher from here on in. You need to learn everything thoroughly as A2 builds on AS to a large extent. But for now just finish WiaM? Answers to follow ..............

Well. The esters stirred things up! I will post the answers, but I plan to make you work for them! Mass spec problems?

Another hot one - I hate summer! Still Rae enjoyed it! Lot's of early TV with Daddy followed by a chance to run about at church. Part way through she joined the Sunday School party (gatecrasher!). Later she rejoined Daddy, only to be taken out for a buttercup hunt. At the end of the service we had a go on "Uncle" Greg's drums - smiles all round. Then a play on the "double9" (piano to you and me) Next a picnic in the park, a ride on a train, some ducks to feed, and finally an ice cream. If she doesn't sleep tonight........

Well. What's the point? We teach to educate. We question to check. We mark to help. The answer book doesn't need education. It cannot answer questions. It doesn't need help. To paraphrase my daughter's fave track on iTunes... Teach it Set it Get it Mark it Return it Remark it ... Educate It

Today was a pain ... for the students! I know, "we weren't ready", but a deadline iis a deadline! Anyway, you needed to know we meant business! Tomorrow I will make it up to you ... an experiment, and some more homework! Today we looked at TLC, and you were to revise Chemical Ideas 7.6 You should have been taught 13.3 and 13.4 by Dr Gilbert. Check to see if you understand it. If you missed the lesson, read both chapters and make a note of any difficulties. Then either ask me in the lesson or email me with problems ... ... speaking of which, Rachael has chicken pox! Ciao

I know. Boring as ever, I am just updating the "What have I missed" - but a promise is a promise! I shouldn't really have to do this bit because it is DOCTOR G's lesson, not MISTER G! Still, the lesson was spent on more research around the individual investigation as only four people were present. Remember: End of this term we expect an idea of what you want to investigate, as well as a brief outline of what you are going to do.

The three of use went to Chester Zoo today! Rae didn't sleep at all for the journey down. Then she slept for half an hour before staying awake until bed time! She is knackered. The zoo? Brilliant. She loved it - especially when it came to shouting "hello rhinoceros"! Two things sprang to mind; who knew a rhino could look startled?; should a two year old (nearly) know the word "rhinoceros"? Nearly time for TV (watched through half closed eyes, I think!) ... and I'm glad I set up the recorder for Glastonbury... got to catch the Bunnymen and New Order - that really should have a comma; this isn't the name of some new supergroup!