The modern classroom

Guest post by Susan Schumaker

Computer Based Training is increasing in popularity in the work place and in the classroom. The Information Age has made many changes to the way people are approaching education. As a college student, there are many classes I took that included taking labs in the computer lab at school. In the workplace, several of the places that I have worked focused their training sessions in an office full of computers.

Many professions now require the passing of state certification exams, and the preparation courses for these exams are available over the Internet. The exams themselves are done on computers in modern, secure testing facilities. The Information Age has truly transformed the way that business and education are done in the United States.

In Maine, the public education system gives the students their own personal laptop computers to take home with them, and to continue using the same laptop through out their high school years. This kind of forward-thinking is something that I think every state should get involved in. The world is shrinking, and becoming more competitive every day. We need to give our students every competitive edge we can.

Trip down the toy aisle

My wife always says that the only difference between the men and the boys is the price of their toys. I admit it, I am just a big kid at heart. I have a collection of Classic kids toys like Lincoln Logs a growing collection of remote control toys like the helicopters and automated dogs. I keep telling my wife that they are an investment, but I don’t think she’s fooled even for a minute. She tells me that if they were an investment then they would have never been removed from their boxes! Yeah, but they are an investment in my happiness!

Whenever we go shopping together, she complains that I always wander away so she can’t find me. And then her twenty minute trip to the store turns into an hour or more! I keep telling her that all she has to do is come to the toy aisle, and she will find me checking out the latest in electronic toys! She just needs to build more time into her shopping time budget if I’m going along! And never mind how much money I’m spending on toys; after all, we ARE saving money by car-pooling in to the store!

Get your own!

As long as I can remember I’ve bought boxers to wear. When I was a kid, my mother always bought me tidy whities, but once I got out into my own life I changed over to boxers I feel that boxers are more comfortable to wear. A few years ago my wife decided to buy me some of the new kind that are knit, like t-shirts are knit. When I tried those on for the first time, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

A couple of months ago my wife was confined to bed for a couple of weeks, due to an illness. She found herself tossing and turning in bed quite a lot, getting all tangled up in her bed clothes. She found herself tugging a lot at her panties that kept riding up and bunching up. In desperation she borrowed a pair of my boxers to sleep in and now she wants to keep them!

I told her that she is going to have to go shopping for her own boxers! I don’t mind sharing some things, but I have to draw the line at my underwear!

A designer look

Yesterday my wife was watching some home improvement television shows and noticed that a lot of the designers that have been featured in the bathroom renovations were using Vessel Sinks. She was telling me that the next time that we renovate the master bathroom she might like to have a Vessel Sink. I think they’re nice looking but I would be concerned because there does not seem to be any kind of overflow outlet in them.

Tagging along to a trade show

My In-laws run their own retail shipping store and they frequently travel around to as many local trade shows as they can squeeze into their very busy schedule.  As I mentioned in my previous post my mother-in-law just turned eighty years old and even though she is a real spitfire we know that packing up her Trade Show Displays into the back of their van and then setting up at the show location is becoming more difficult for her to do. My father-in-law helps as much as he can but he’s getting on in years as well and has his own aches and pains and physical limitations.

My wife and I found out that they are scheduled to go to a local trade show that we want to attend over the Columbus day weekend and we have volunteered to help her to unload the van and set up her Vinyl Banners and display tables for her. Since the show is so close to home we have also volunteered to help her breakdown the display and repack her van.

The last time we tagged along with her we ended up helping to man the tables and talk with the interested people that stopped by for information. We were also selling raffle tickets to help raise money for the Shriner’s children’s hospital charities. Since my father-in-law, brother-in-law and I are all Shriners we always try to incorporate raising money for the children’s hospitals in every possible activity we get involved in where we are dealing with a lot of people that we might never have contact with for any other reason.