Bike Inspiration

The bike I own-1986 Trek Elance 400 with a Reynolds 531 steel frame, is too long for me.  I can sort-of manage the height, but the top tube length means I need a new stem and swept back handlebars.

I went out yesterday and bought a vintage Raleigh Sprite Mixte, which is a teensy bit shorter but has swept back bars.  It's a pretty bike, but my first impression was that it is sluggish compared to the trek.

Because I cannot allow myself 2 bikes in a teensy studio, I listed the trek at an inflated price.  Now I can pretend to try to sell it, but actually shop for parts and try and make it into something like this

The outcome:

Upcycle

I love/hate pinterest.  It is blocked at work, and doesn't have a 'pin it' app out.  This limits me to browsing and re-pinning :(

Today I'm really interested in easy upcycling projects, so I'll just collect them here on my blog instead.

Umbrella Skirt


T-shirt Ideas

Angela Johnson Designs

T-Shirt Bag 1

Necklaces:

jamilajoblog.tumblr.com

Technology Round Up

Hmm, I keep finding possible class website platforms, and then losing them.  I'll try to keep track of them here...

www.memrise.com  Love it! add vocab lists and definitions, students practice and earn points.

Kahoot! Create multiple choice quizzes, students use laptops or ipads instead of respnse devices. No student account needed!

www.mybrainshark.com: A site for adding voiceover to powerpoint slides


http://jcts.edmodo.com/home: an education specific site for posting assignments, grades, awarding badges, weblinks, sources, etc.  Not sure what the student interface is like.

Want to use:

www.Voicethread.com: $60/year teacher account, 50 students. $1 each adl. student.

livescribe pencasts: needs a special pen, which allows you to record notes as you use them.

Personal/could be used in classroom


https://www.ourspot.com: alternative to pinterest
http://www.stixy.com alternative to pinterest

Dogfish Head at George Keelys

Just a simple list of what I drank....

Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre: A deep mahogany, Belgian-style brown ale brewed with beet sugar, raisins and Belgian-style yeast. 

My favorite of the night

Blend two Dogfish Head favorites, add maple syrup and carbonate the mixture naturally. What do you get? 75 Minute IPA.

 Pangaea-- a slightly spicy ale, brewed with ingredients from each and every continent.

Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA.  At 18.5% ABV, this was the last brew of the night for me.

Leap Day

If today is really an 'extra' day that we only get once every four years, why are we working?  Shouldn't we be given this day to accomplish all of those tasks we could do 'if only we had more time?'

Why is today Wednesday?  I know, yesterday was Tuesday, tomorrow Thursday, etc.  But how fun would it be if yesterday was Tuesday, tomorrow is Wednesday, and today was simply 'extra?'

What would you do if you truly had an extra 24 hours of time?  I hope it wouldn't be spent watching television!

Volunteering Abroad

Now that I'm back from a lovely vacation, I can't help thinking about where to travel next.  I'm still not comfortable touring alone, but volunteering sounds like a great midpoint.  I've spent some time today looking over conservation volunteer opportunities (yes, they cost $$).  I'm leaning towards somthing with sea turtles or a rainforest, and focusing on Costa Rica or Equador.  There are amazing trips in Asia and Africa, but the airfare is quite a lot!

                                                

One of the most well known is probably http://www.earthwatch.org/.  Although quite pricey, fees are tax deductible.  Great if you itemize, but I don't.  What else is out there?

TURTLES
http://www.seaturtle.org/jobs/  --has many opportunities, all to do with turtle conservation.  The cost is less than most volunteer organizations that arrange opportunities for you.

• http://www.parisminaturtles.org--Costa Rica, $25 per day homestay. Carribean coast, 2 hr walk from La Tortuga Feliz.
• http://www.corcovadofoundation.org/program-sea-turtle-conservation.html --$270/2 weeks. El Progreso/Drake Bay (Pacific Coast)
• La Tortuga Feliz, Carribean coast just north of Tortuguero.  6 person dorms, $40 per day, spanish class $80.

http://www.asvocr.org/english/dondetrabajamos/ has quite a few projects, mixed reviews on Lonely Planet.

RAINFOREST

Tirimbina Biological Reserve seems to have interesting research jobs for volunteers, but the information on the  site might be out of date.  About $20 per day, no meals, has internet and electricity.  Ficus or Howler monkey research.  2 week min, north of San Jose.

WILDLIFE

http://www.rainsongsanctuary.com/volunteer.htm

ORGANIZATIONS

http://www.workingabroad.com/ one of the cheapest volunteer organizations I found.
http://www.tambopataexpeditions.com/expeditions/volunteer-placement-program.html
http://www.isvolunteers.org/
http://www.i-to-i.com/