Last week we all received a request at school to submit a picture of what we looked like when we were in middle school for the school bulletin board. It was not easy, but I finally found one that did not look too bad. There was no middle school in my day. When I was in the 7th grade, it seemed like high school since I went to a 7-12 building. Then when I was in 8th grade, we moved and I was back in a K-8 elementary school. I ended up only going to school in the mornings because of severe crowding conditions. I had a fine time that year, but that's a story for another day.

It has been a busy weekend. I spent some time at the Apple store in Legacy Village. I now have a Shuffle, and it looks like I am going to like it a lot. D put some music on it for me, so I would have something to listen to when I exercise. I finally realized I needed one of these as I looked around the gym, and seemed to be the only one carrying a CD player.
We also saw the movie Firewall, starring Harrison Ford. It was a thriller, although reworking plotlines I have seen in movies many times. It just had more technology - including the use of an Ipod.
Another project keeping me busy this weekend is trying to finish up a grant application about space education. I don't usually do science grants, but one of the components is a trip to a composium in Colorado Springs in April, 2006.

A very interesting website and my age gauge

I keep hearing the most interesting things on NPR. The other day on All Things Considered the topic was Zillow.com. The person who started Expedia has now tried something with real estate. One can put in any address and find out how much that home is worth. The next day several people emailed NPR that the prices were out of date, but the ones I tried seemed fairly accurate.

38 years old when Pres. Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.

D called me in the morning to turn on the news. The event was replayed over and over on TV. There was lots of talk about more gun control, but not enough because too many people still have guns.

33 years old on the U.S's bicentennial Fourth of July

I was at my mother's house that day. I remember the tall ships sailing into New York Harbor.
I was recuperating from the pumpkin affair.

26 years old at the time the first man stepped on the moon

D and I lived at the Hudson Drive address. We stayed up hoping this event would be on his birthday, but it did not happen until about 2:30 the next morning.

21 years old at the time President Kennedy was assassinated

I was a student at OSU. I walked into my dorm room and switched on the radio and heard the news about President Kennedy. Everyone on campus seemed to be in shock. I went home for the weekend with my roommate, Anne. On Sunday morning we went walking on her parents' farm, and inadvertently surprised a large mother pig. The pig chased us through the pasture until we both were able to jump over the fence.

17 years old when Hawaii was admitted as 50th of the United States

The discussion then was how long it would take Puerto Rico to become the next state.

15 years old when the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 was launched.

I was a 10th grader, and not particularly interested in space. The general reaction was that the Russians were way ahead of us and American children were not learning enough science and math.<

10 years old at the end of the Korean War

That was the year my family bought a television set. The big debate was whether to do that or take a trip to Florida. The TV won out, so the news about the Korean War was probably one of the first news events I saw on television.

2 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima

I was too young to remember this. I do have a couple memories from this time. I remember ration books. We must have had a lot of soap coupons, as I remember playing with bars of Ivory Soap. I built houses with them. There were not many real toys at that time.

A Memory Recalled

The senses certainly do elicit memories. I had one this past week as I listened to Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis. It was not the story itself, but rather the narrator on the CD. This fellow must have worked with the SuperKids Reading Series. All of a sudden I was surrounded by EttaBetta and the rest of the gang. At least some of my children learned how to read with this system. We had everything - the texts, workbooks and the tapes, thanks to my brother who sold them when he was a book representative. We all thought the SuperKids were wonderful, although I never heard of any school district actually using it. No matter, the lady who started it went on to different endeavors. Pleasant T. Rowland began the immensely successful American Girl Doll Company.