Renew

Why I hardly use my car any more

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 06:48:00 +0000

One of the more dramatic, unforeseen changes that has come from moving from the suburbs to downtown: I actually resent my car now. Back in the suburbs, I had to take the car everywhere. Driving was sort of like breathing: Need a gallon of milk? 10 minute drive each way. Want to go out to a movie? 20 minute drive. Restaurant? 10 minutes in the car.

I knew that moving downtown would allow us to walk to more. But I did not realize that I would come to just resent getting in the car. "What? I actually have to drive in order to do that? Oh, never mind then, it can wait."

To illustrate my point, I chose just one type of business, restaurants, and then did a little Google mapping. The total number of restaurants within a two-mile radius of my former house = 8.

The purple mark in the middle shows the location of my old house in the suburbs. The closest
restaurant is .5 miles away, and it's the concession stand at Long Lake Park (open seasonally,
fine selection of sunflower seeds and bottled sodas.)

Here is the same search for my condo downtown. Total number of restaurants within a two-mile radius = 174. See why I just sort of hate the idea of getting in the car now?

More about college for your kids

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:11:00 +0000

My last post regarding paying for kids' college expenses seemed to generate some interest, so I thought I would follow that up with what I hope are a couple of helpful resources. In the last two years, when our sons were seniors in high school, we learned A TON about researching various colleges, applying for college, and then paying for college.

I have to say, before we went through this with our boys, my wife and I THOUGHT we knew all about it. After all, I've been a high school teacher for over 20 years, and we have 4 (soon to be 5) college degrees between the two of us. But the landscape of college applications and financing is very, very different from what it was 10 years ago, as we found out.

And as much as I hate to say it, the Boise State University online degree program in which I am currently enrolled is...not a good indicator of what students just out of high school are going to go through regarding applications and financing.

So, based on everything I learned over the past 2-3 years about researching, applying, and financing college for your kids, these are the THREE BEST RESOURCES I have come across:

College Confidential Just about any question you could EVER ask about researching, applying, and financing college can be answered on the hundreds of thousands of discussion forums at CollegeConfidential.com. Staggering amounts of honest (sometimes blunt) commentary. An absolutely invaluable resource.

Cappex This is a great website for researching colleges. Easy to read, accurate data about admissions, majors, etc. for just about every college. The graphs, charts, and comments from current students and faculty are very helpful.

US Government's easy-to-use "Paying for college" worksheet This is a great tool from the federal government's consumer finance department. You input the colleges you are interested in, and it gives you a comparison of how much you will pay to attend each college. If you know them, you can also input your sources of scholarships, aid and savings, and it will figure those into the calculations.

There are other websites you will need to know about: the common application website, the FAFSA website, collegeboard.com, and the websites of the colleges your children are interested in. But those are sort of obvious. The three I listed above are a little lesser-known, and infinitely more useful.

The two photos at the top of this post, by the way, are where both of our boys ended up going, which is Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University.

Rehabilitated old buildings, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:46:00 +0000

One of my favorite examples of urban renewal and making great use out of old buildings: the Distillery District in Toronto. Some great footage here of the old buildings put to modern uses.

Poll: Paying for kids' college

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:20:00 +0000

I've been told that parents are never truly empty nesters. Acquaintances who have children older than ours say things like, "They still need us even after they've moved out," which is fine, and "We spend a lot of time babysitting the grandkids," which is also fine, and "They keep moving back home!" which I'm not so sure about.

But in a few short weeks we are going to have a very, very empty house.

And on one hand, I kind of feel like our job as parents is mostly complete - it's their life now and they will have to make of it what they will; hopefully we've taught them well. But on the other hand, we're still their parents and we still love them and want the best for them. So we worry about getting them through college.

Of course I realize that college is not for everyone - a lot of people do just fine without it and I have no problem with that. But many parents want to see their kids get a college degree, and in case you haven't been paying attention, college costs have been going through the roof. Our kids were looking at tuition costs of anywhere from $10,000 to $26,000 per year, with room and board at most colleges being another $12,000 per year.

So, just as a way of generating discussion, here's a poll for all parents or parents-to-be regarding how you paid for, or are planning to pay for, your kids' college expenses. After answering the poll question, feel free to leave comments!

Good morning!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 16:41:00 +0000

It's a beautiful summer morning, and in the spirit of renewal and new beginnings, just thought I would provide you with a little wake-up music today. Enjoy! -Dan

Rehabilitated old buildings, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:05:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, I posted some links to photos showing the progress of urban revitalization in downtown Tacoma. Here's another entry in that series, but I'll just show a few photos here rather than give you the links.

This is the Waddell Building in downtown Tacoma. It was built in 1890, although unfortunately I can't seem to find any photos of it prior to the 1970's. These first three photos are from the Tacoma Public Library archives:

Here's a closer view of the building's front in about 1979:

And here's a shot from a corner angle:

Needless to say, downtown Tacoma was pretty seedy in the 1970's and 1980's. But that's the great thing about urban revitalization: when it's done well, entire neighborhoods and cities get turned around. Today the Waddell Building houses one of Tacoma's nicest restaurants, the Pacific Grill. The first two photos are from Flikr, the third is a marketing photo by the restaurant:

Inside the building, they make very good use of the old exposed brick:

EDTECH 597 - Generational differences revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:47:00 +0000

In case any readers missed the genesis of this blog, this is a "learning blog" initially established as a project for my EDTECH class at Boise State University. So, I'm going take time out from my usual themes and address an issue pertinent to educational technology- the notion of generational differences with regard to technology, and the question of whether or not technology has changed the way students learn in the last decade.

This issue was addressed in an earlier blog post here.

Tonight I pulled the latest issue of Newsweek out of my mailbox. And while Newsweek, of course, is not a scholarly research publication, this week's cover story does cite numerous instances of legitimate scholarly research. According to the article, there still is no clear evidence to prove that student learning - in general - is any different now due to the prevalence of the internet and mobile technology.

However...

If we are to believe the researchers at UCLA, Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, and M.I.T., then the widespread use of the internet and mobile technology is making people (almost all of us), more depressed, more obsessed, more cynical, more addicted, and more prone to sleeplessness, suicide, and anxiety. Don't believe it? The article is pretty convincing, and pretty scary. Naturally, we must account for the fact that Newsweek, like most media outlets, thrives on scary as a way of selling their content and making money. Still, the research in the article is compelling.

And if the research is solid, then we need to be prepared to confront the idea that these negative effects of technology must have corollary implications for how students arrive at school, and indeed how they learn.

I'm still not going to back away from a statement made by Jaime McKenzie - a statement I quoted in my last blog post on this subject, and one I still believe to be true. McKenzie stated, "Real fifteen year old humans are quite different from each other, a fact that [Marc] Prensky did not take the time to study or notice. Some love things digital. Some are more interested in a horse or a dog or a walk along the shore" (McKenzie).

After considering it, I believe that yes, there are some 15-year olds who love horses or walks on the shore more than video games or texting or Facebook. But damned few of them.

References:

McKenzie, J. (2007). Digital nativism: Digital delusions and digital deprivation. From Now On, 17(2). Retrieved from http://fno.org/nov07/nativism.html

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants – Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved fromhttp://www.marcprensky.com/wri...0Part1.pdf

Guest blogger...and a picture of a goat

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 20:06:00 +0000

Today’s guest blogger is someone who was absolutely against the idea of living in a condo. No privacy; no flowers; no spare room; no autonomy – she just couldn’t wrap her brain around the idea of giving up her home. But I can be pretty convincing. I convinced her to marry me once, so I figured that convincing her to try condo living would be a walk in the park. -DH

I was a somewhat reluctant participant in my husband’s condo living scheme. However, if the past several days are any indication, I am now a whole-hearted convert!

I’ve had the past several days off from work, which in our past (house-dwelling) life would typically mean getting caught up on yard chores. This week has been different.

Wednesday, instead of zipping through the lawn mowing and house cleaning before packing into the car and heading off to find “just the right spot” in the nearest mall parking lot to watch the local Fourth of July fireworks, we took a leisurely bike ride up the road to a nearby Independence Day festival. That night, we walked up the hill to watch the fireworks with friends.

Yesterday, instead of trimming the rhododendrons and transplanting the “name that plant” that always needs transplanting, we went on a trail run at a nearby park, and then spent some time wandering through the park’s vast rose garden. Today, instead of weeding the back yard flower beds and cleaning out the fish pond, we went on a hike in Mount Rainier National Park and “met” a curious mountain goat…and ate lunch while we gazed out over a panoramic view of Mts. Rainier, St. Helen’s, Adams, and Hood!

This picture was not PhotoShopped. Guest blogger is there on the far right.

Tonight, instead of watering the garden, I plan to sit out on the deck with a glass of wine and do some serious people-watching. Tomorrow, instead of pressure-washing the deck, we plan to sleep in. And when we awaken, in those lazy morning hours, we may walk up the street for a pastry and a latte.

Aaah…life is good. I am definitely converted! (But do I have to tell him he was right?)

Commentary on getting pregnant, and not just in that abstract way

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 04:26:00 +0000

My wife wrote a guest entry for this blog today, in which she (reluctantly) admitted I had been right about something. I'm going to return the favor, with regard to a disagreement we had 20 years ago.

At that time, I was 24 and had just saved up enough to purchase my first motorcycle. I was also planning a hiking trip with a few buddies to the Southwest. So when my wife announced she was pregnant, I was dumbstruck. I might have to sell the motorcycle. No more road trips with friends.

Oh, sure, we had discussed the idea of having kids, but it seemed to me that our discussions were always in that abstract, "Sure honey I want to have kids let's start right now" sort of way. Did I mention I was 24 at the time?

Twenty-four, you see, was her outer limit for getting started on child-rearing. If she had her way, she would have had our first child at 22 or so, but I was too busy "living life" to settle down and have children. I'm like a lot of people in my generation, who wanted to spend their 20's traveling, working in coffee shops, and playing the bongos in black turtlenecks at night for free drinks. Having kids? That's something most of our peers started in their mid to late 30's. But my wife was adamant that it was better to start a family when we were young. Looking back, this was a pretty serious difference of opinion between the two of us, and I actually think she was pretty sneaky about getting her way, exploiting my limited understanding of the human reproduction system like that.

But you know what? She had the right idea. Most of my co-workers are now in their 40's and have kids in elementary school. They're going to be in their mid to late 50's when their kids leave home. And right now they are insanely jealous of us. But I think having kids early has other benefits as well: As younger parents, we had much more energy to expend on our small children. And because we had little in the way of careers, we also had no money - which forced us to learn to live frugally early on. And that too has paid off.

So it's worked out pretty well for us so far. And while it might not be right for everyone, I do believe there are couples out there who convince themselves they "should" have a mortgage, and careers, and a 401K before they have kids. But you know what we found? Your children won't remember how much money you had when they were little. They just remember the sandcastles.

City dwellers increasing faster than suburban dwellers

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 03:30:00 +0000

Saw this article about suburban living vs. city living the other day. The first line is, "For the first time in a century, most of America's largest cities are growing at a faster rate than their surrounding suburbs..."

The article goes on to explain why more people are fleeing the suburbs to live downtown.

Interesting.

Poll: What would you do with the spider?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:42:00 +0000

I stood in my son's bedroom, holding a worn, colorful spider. If you're a certain age, you will certainly remember "Beanie Babies," the soft, cuddly beanbag toys that were all the rage a decade ago. Oh, yes, my sons also collected Pokemon cards and Hot Wheels, but those were easier to dispose of... I guess...because my sons didn't sleep with those every night.

But with my son off at college, I found myself cleaning out his bedroom and deciding what to box up for moving, what to throw away, and what to send to Goodwill. And there I was, holding that Beanie Baby spider...his favorite. Sure, he really liked the lizard and the dog as well. But the spider was the one I would find tucked under his chin at night as he slept, all those years ago. Here it was, in his closet, along with 20 more Beanie Babies in a box on the top shelf. He had saved them. But he probably had not looked at them in years. But now it was up to me to decide their fate.

Condos do not have much room for storage; every square foot counts. So there were some difficult decisions to be made.

"Downsizing" is something a lot of people do when they get older and/or when their children move out. Although downsizing can be cathartic, it's not easy giving up space and possessions and...sometimes memories. Below are two polls - share your thoughts on what you would give up, and then, if you want, use the blog comments to discuss your choices!

Confessions of an empty-nest parent

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 05:40:00 +0000

Now that my youngest has graduated from high school and will soon be off to college, I think it's time to come clean. First, a disclaimer: My boys are GREAT kids. In high school they both earned outstanding grades and were very successful in numerous sports and activities. They generally treated other people well; if not always with outright kindness, then at least with courtesy. They never got into any trouble, and stayed away from drugs and alcohol. So. Good kids.

However.

I clearly remember when they were very young, and I - as a high school teacher - witnessed what some parents of high schoolers did. I remember shaking my head and vowing, "When my kids are in high school I will never..."

Now that my kids have both graduated, I can say that the actions of those other parents make much more sense to me now, and I am here today to eat crow. I am not going to offer any rationalization or justifications for my actions, but rest assured that before my kids were in high school I could not have imagined any reasons why these parenting decisions would have been acceptable under any circumstances. And yet...

"My list of 12 things I said I would never do when my kids were in high school, but I did anyway."

Ignored son being tardy. To my own class. More than one day in a row.
Asked track coach if that workout was really the best she could come up with.
Made three different dinner entrees to satisfy the different dietary preferences of four family members.
Allowed son to sleep until 3:30 in the afternoon during the summer.
Went home during my lunchtime to fetch forgotten homework, track jersey, flash drive, etc.
Got in the habit of allowing son and girlfriend to be home alone while wife and I went out for the evening.
Asked math teacher to explain how that semester grade was fair.
Went to bed at 1:30 a.m. with son still out...somewhere. Did not mention it to him the next day.
Paid for car, car insurance, and gas. For years.
Figured that if the teacher assigned worksheets for homework that she took directly off the internet, then she must know that the answer keys are pretty easy for kids to find.
Cleaned bathroom because it was easier to do it myself than nag.
Allowed son to quit a sport in the middle of a season.

There you go. I'm not proud.

Rehabilitated old buildings - links entry

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:53:00 +0000

I think one of the coolest things about urban renewal is the rehabilitation of historic architecture. Certainly there are times when, after 100 years or so, a building is just a complete loss and must be torn down. But I think it's great when an old building can be rehabbed into something modern and useful, but still preserve the charm of the original structure. Today I'm going to share some links regarding two of my favorite rehabbed buildings in my neighborhood:

The library at the University of Washington Tacoma was built in 1908 as a transformer house for a power company. It served as a fuel company, and a warehouse, and then was boarded up for decades, before being rehabilitated in 2008 as the college library.

The Alber's Brothers' Milling Company built their Tacoma mill in 1904. The building served a variety of industrial uses, and then in 2004 was rehabbed in a manner that left much of the original brick building intact, but added modern additions alongside.

Here is a link to some history of the building
These two pictures are both fairly modern, but show what the building more or less has looked like since 1904
The building can be seen in the top center of this 1929 photo
Also in the top center of this 1975 photo
Here's the building today, showing the modern addition on the water side
And from another angle you can see the modern additions, with the original brick building nestled within them
And this is another good angle
Inside the building, it has been partitioned into rental spaces for apartments, offices, retail, and an exercise studio.

Space-saving idea

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 05:43:00 +0000

Moving into a much smaller space has necessitated finding clever storage solutions. Today I came up an idea: to hang some of our hiking gear on the walls, interspersed with photos of mountains and pictures from our hiking trips. The gear blends in well with the photos, and by hanging the gear on the walls, it saves space in the closets. I'm not finished with this wall yet, but you get the idea.

Do you have a Feed Eater? I have two.

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 16:09:00 +0000

Both sons now finished with high school, but they are home for the summer before heading off to college in the fall. This was my freezer on Thursday, and the same freezer this morning:

Well, they are taking me out for Father's Day tonight, so I guess I won't starve.

EDTECH 597 - Generational differences

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:52:00 +0000

I'm going to switch hats here and post about my blogging class - if you missed my first entry, this is actually a "learning blog" where I am learning about blogging tools and techniques, by creating and maintaining a blog of my own.

So, the topic this week is generational differences as related to educational technology. There are three articles referenced below that deal with this subject. Prensky essentially argues that teachers are "digital immigrants" to the world of their students, who are "digital natives," which creates disconnect in schooling. But Prensky has been roundly criticized by McKenzie and others, who argue that Prensky is guilty of sloppiness and over-simplification. Indeed, McKenzie's best line is, "Real fifteen year old humans are quite different from each other, a fact that Prensky did not take the time to study or notice. Some love things digital. Some are more interested in a horse or a dog or a walk along the shore" (McKenzie).

But while McKenzie certainly takes Prensky to task, I feel that it's Reeves who really brings something new to the argument. Reeves finds that middle-class and wealthy "Millennials" own and use a lot of technology. But that high usage does not translate into the ability to gather information with the technology and process it in a literate, discerning, and critical fashion. That, I think, is where educators need to focus their efforts.

References:

McKenzie, J. (2007). Digital nativism: Digital delusions and digital deprivation. From Now On, 17(2). Retrieved from http://fno.org/nov07/nativism.html

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants – Part II: Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved fromhttp://www.marcprensky.com/wri...0Part1.pdf

Reeves, T.C. (2008). Do generational differences matter in instructional design? Online discussion presentation to Instructional Technology Forum from January 22-25, 2008 at http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/...mJan08.pdf

Hole or hotel?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:05:00 +0000

So, in keeping with one of my main blog themes, "urban renewal," I thought I'd share one of the controversies broiling in my neighborhood right now. The picture below shows a big hole in the ground between two buildings. This waterfront location used to be purely industrial - and not pretty. I won't go into its sordid history. But the city has worked hard to create a nice public walkway, a marina, and luxury high-density residential buildings.

This big hole in the ground remains, though. It seems that after a years-long court battle, a developer finally has the go-ahead to build a Marriott Residence Inn here.

But a lot of people are against it, because A) the hotel management has said they will not be hiring union hotel workers, and B) some people think this location needs a hotel that's "classier" than a Residence Inn (see picture below).

So as the controversy goes on...there's still a hole.

Then and now

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:21:00 +0000

We lived here...

...and moved to here.

First blog entry

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Hardebeck) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:07:00 +0000

My wife and I raised two sons in the pretty suburb of Lacey, Washington. I have decades of memories of their growing up: little league, elementary school, camping trips, first girlfriends, and finally the joy of watching our sons thrive in the same high school where I teach English and journalism.

Graduation day is this Saturday for our youngest son. Less than a year ago, his older brother graduated as well, and took off for college in warmer climates. And squeezed between their two graduations, we took a leap, gave away half our possessions, sold the sprawling house with the huge lawn, and now, from my window five stories high, I can watch homeless women push shopping carts in the streets below.

It's all been a little crazy - all these life changes. But our friend Connie, who lived down the street from us in Lacey, is our same age, married with two kids still in high school. She just accepted a job teaching in the United Arab Emirates. I think she's crazy, but she told me that our move to the city was her inspiration to head off to the Middle East. So I guess we're all a little crazy. If we allow ourselves to be.

This blog exists because I am working on a Master's degree from Boise State University. I am enrolled in a class titled "Blogging in the Classroom," and while this may be more of a personal blog than a professional one, I am hoping to learn more about the tools of blogging, which I will ultimately pass on to my own high school students.