Galway Christmas

Sleigh Ride

Enjoy this rendition of the Sleigh Ride performed by the Boston Pops.

Greensleeves

"What Child Is This" set to John Stainer's arrangement of the traditional tune "Greensleeves". Sung by The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, 1995.

A Short History of Google

This two-minute video provides a history of Google and its contributions to the way we wok and play.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Enjoy Bing Crosby in this old favorite.

CLAS Secretaries Conference

If you are visiting for the first time as a result of attending the CLAS Secretaries Conference, welcome. I hope you will visit often. Please take times to look through past months and years. You will find a wealth of information, both technology-related and non-techie. Mixed in, you will find other posts that are simply important to me and the interests I have. Feel free to leave comments about things you have a question about, things you liked, or just comments in general.

Thanks to the principals reading this post who supported their school secretaries in the desire to attend. Money is tight, and I put a great deal of thought in preparing for this workshop. It was my hope that those who came would take with them tools and strategies that could be implemented immediately. Furthermore, it is my hope that the funds mustered for this conference will be seen not as an expense, but rather as an investment in helping good people become even a little better at their jobs and perform them with a little less stress.

Special thanks go to Earl Franks, Exective Director of CLAS and Linda Campanotta, Professional Development Coordinator for scheduling me for this conference.

Thanks for Mentioning This Blog

Thanks to Denise Williams for mentioning this blog in this post. Denise is a program specialist in Special Education for the Birmingham City Schools. Enjoy this blog she began in October located at this address.

Straight No Chaser 12 Days of Christmas

Newly reunited Straight No Chaser performs 'The 12 Days of Christmas' at their reunion show at Indiana University!

The Christmas Can-Can

"The Christmas Can-Can" is from Straight No Chaser's brand-new album, "Christmas Cheers!"

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

During the Christmas season, you will find a mixture of stuff about being productive along with some of my favorite Christmas music. To start things off, folks my age remember when Andy Williams had his own variety show. Nobody sings this one like he does.

Happy Thanksgiving

On this Thanksgiving Day, enjoy this medley of traditional hymns of the season.

Indianapolis Pictures

The horse-drawn carriages were an every-night scene during our trip. Davonia and I took a ride with "Riley." Here are some of the horses and their carriages that we encountered.

God Bless the USA

This video was made at this past spring's high school graduation in my former school system. The vocalist is David Horton, husband of the superintendent at that time, Dr. Joanne Horton. David is a shining example of a businessman who has kept music as an important part of his life.



The speaker at this high school graduation was Dr. Condoleezza Rice. Dr. Rice speaks at exactly one high school commencement exercise each year. In an example of "out of the box" thinking, Dr. Horton invited Condoleezza Rice, and the rest is history. Below is the audio from that address. Thanks to David McDaniel for putting together a slide show of sights from that night to serve as a backdrop for Dr. Rice's speech.



Both of these videos have been displayed on the school system's blog. Since my retirement and Dr. Horton's retirement, the school system has unfortunately not maintained these two very active blogs it had been operating. Embedding these videos here ensures they will be available long into the future.

Indianapolis Pictures

In the bottom of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a Civil War Museum. Pictured here are scenes from the museum.

Ambiguity and Gratitude

As we approach another Thanksgiving, I invite you to listen to a story of the events that led up to that first celebration. The story is told by the Rev. Dr. John R. Claypool, IV. He makes the point that when confronted with life's ambiguities, we have two choices. One is to focus on the forces which oppose us. The other is to focus on the positive, to see the future as a friend, and embrace the concept of gratitude as a means for coping with those times when life works us over.

Dr. Claypool recounts the harshness of that first winter in the Plymouth, the several significant decisions that were made beginning shortly after the initial voyage and continuing through the first year of the colony's existence, and the impact on the rest of American history of the decisions to accept gratitude in the face of ambiguity .

You may listen to his message by clicking here. The complete text is found here.