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What Jane has been up to
Highlights of 2003
Dec. 24, 2003
Happy Holidays, everyone! Resting up after a busy and exhausting semester, preparing to hit the ground running very soon after the first of the year.
Plans to add to this site, and pretty much all of the plans I had for my month at home, were sidelined after the sudden loss of our beloved dog, Chelsea. The fact that she had a long, happy life right up until the end helps, but the hole in our hearts is large and will take time to heal.
Needless to say, we’re sort of going through the motions with regard to the holidays and pretty much everything right now. At some point, I suspect I’ll get excited about the fact that my coauthor, Eric Katz, and I have a contract to do a new book for Health Communications, Inc. (It will be my 6th book with them!)
Entitled High School Isn’t Forever, this book has been “cooking” in the back of my mind for a number of years. Look for news and a bunch of surveys—we need a lot of input from site visitors, workshop participants and friends—on this site in the coming days.
So as I count my many blessings at this special time of the year, please know that anyone reading this page is high on the list. From my heart to yours, sincerest wishes for health, happiness and abundance during the season and in the coming year.
Sept. 30, 2003
I'll keep this short. I’m frantically finishing pages, checking links and spelling, validating code. I’m leaving town in 36 hours and want to get this site online before I go. Preferably before I go to bed tonight.
So, if you’re looking at this site, you know exactly what I’ve been up to— almost to the exclusion of everything else in my life— for the past several months.
No it’s not perfect, and there are a bunch more pages to go up, but I’m thinking this is a pretty good start. Let me know what you think, what you want me to add, where I missed a spot...
More later...
July 26, 2003
Schedule updates
I just received the cities in which I’ll be presenting for the Bureau of Education and Research during the 2003-2004 school year, and I have updated my calendar accordingly. Check it out to see if I’ll be near you—with 35 dates, and 35 cities, it’s a fair bet I’ll get close this year.
New Web site
See what will eventually become my new home page! (Note: This link was disabled when the new site was launched. The page included a first-draft screen shot of our new home page to give visitors a sense of what was coming.)
I’ve finally begun construction of the new site, which has been an interesting process as I’m using new software (Dreamweaver MX) after years of comfortable familiarity with GoLive and have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve also had to learn all sorts of maneuvering in Photoshop to come up with the graphics for this site.
I have most of the “front end” pages designed and am now venturing into the world of frames for the 9 sections represented by the hands in the center of the page. Much to learn. Overwhelming amount of new stuff to learn. But one page at a time...
June 21, 2003
Changes
I came back from two weeks in Hawaii (including the MacMania Geek Cruise II—more below!) to find out that the facility at which we’ve been receiving our mail was closing. We will now be receiving our mail at 1709 Father Sky Ct NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87112-4815.
In addition to notifying everybody in creation, it also means new stationery and business cards, shipping labels, checks, the works! What a headache.
Well, our 20-year-old company image was due for a make-over anyhow, and so having finally decided on a new logo and finishing the initial design considerations for the new Web site, I guess this is timely.
Geek Cruise #2
Having so enjoyed the last Geek Cruise (Alaska), I was very excited about the second one, which left Honolulu on June 1 for stops on the Big Island (Hilo), Maui and Kauai, as well as Fanning Island in the Republic of Kiribati. (I feel really cool just saying that! A lovely place—think Gilligan! I took a lot of pictures of the kids there and will eventually post them all, probably on the new site. I’m anticipating a Gallery in this “What I’ve been Up To” section as it probably evolves into some version of my personal blog.)
In any event, the 3 days at sea were devoted to a wide range of truly fantastic seminars. I attended two seminars on Dreamweaver by my on-board roommate, Laura Gutman, that were both excellent. (One other change coming up is that I’ll be switching from GoLive, which has been very good to me, to Dreamweaver, which, from what I’ve seen, seems to have a slightly more intuitive interface—to me. Plus, with Laura, a well-known expert on Dreamweaver, close by, I’ll have a lot more support for doing the new site in this software.
I also got a great deal out of Marc Rubenstein’s session on “Shrinking Vinyl to CD” as I’ve just begun “shrinking” a rather embarrassingly large collection of LPs and music cassettes to digital. Bob LeVitus, as always, as tons of Mac tips, tricks and shareware ideas. I wrote my first AppleScript in Sal Soghoian’s intro class (brilliant!) and really tweaked my understanding of iPhoto in David Pogue’s presentation. Wil Wheaton (yes, THAT Wil Wheaton) had some great ideas on blogging—an idea I’ve been playing with in these pages.
The best part of the week—and simply having access to some of the most brilliant minds in the Mac world—was that I left feeling not just more knowledgeable, but more grounded and confident in my knowledge and understanding, and especially in my ability to gain knowledge and understanding where and when I need it. I spend a lot of time at the keyboard, either of my G4 tower at home or my G3 laptop (bless it’s little 400 MHz heart) on the road.
I met a lot of wonderful new people (including Andy Inhatko, whose columns I have read and loved for years, regardless of whether I understand the topic or not—genuinely nice person in addition to being incredibly intelligent and funny) and thoroughly enjoyed the reunions with the cruisers from last year’s trip. There was also a Trek Cruise on our ship with over 300 Star Trek enthusiasts. I happened to be passing by just as their photo shoot was winding up, and managed to get my picture taken with a few (very nice) cast and crew members!
The next Geek Cruise will be Nov. 7-14, 2004, cruising the Carribean out of Ft. Lauderdale. I know that’s not a great time for school employees, but for anyone reading this, I heartily encourage you to consider this experience. It’s a blast. Check out the MacMania web site for more information.
Travel
Tired of hearing myself moan about being gone as much as I’ve been (about 50% of my life during the past two years or so), I’ve decided to cut back on the time I’ve spent extending my work schedule to visit friends and family, or simply enjoy a few extra days of wherever I was. I’m starting to feel a little burned out and need some time at home that isn’t devoted exclusively to getting ready for the next trip or recovering (and unpacking and catching up from) the last one. I’m not looking to cut back on work dates yet so I don’t think I’ll be turning down jobs anytime soon, but I’d like to take a little time off from the visits and "vacations" for a bit.
January 13, 2003
On the Road
It’s been a blast, though I often awaken in the middle of the night with absolutely no idea where I am... Lots of new territory, and while I’m no longer "commuting" to Slovenia every year, in 2002, I was invited to speak in Finland—my first time in Scandinavia, with side trips to St. Petersburg, Russia, and Tallinn, Estonia. Spectacular!
This past year, I’ve also increased the number of days with the Bureau of Education and Research. Through them, I’ve been able to get into some new markets, and have met hundreds of dedicated, talented educators, counselors, curriculum specialists and others devoted to helping kids.
My schedule is up-to-date and posted on this site. Check to see when I’ll be in your area.
Geek Cruise #1
As a Mac user since 1985, I jumped at the chance to go on a week-long MacMania cruise up the inside passage of Alaska. I’ve done a lot of traveling, but what I saw on this trip blew my socks off.
I also loved the seminars offered on this cruise and, more so, the people running them. Excellent, knowledgeable instructors (if you’ve got any software books or have ever read MacWorld, you know who they are), gracious with their time and information, and able to work with participants who ranged in experience and ability from people who are doing some pretty basic stuff to pioneers and propeller-heads wh0 live and breathe computers 24/7. Amazing experience. (I’ve got lots of pictures, but probably won’t have them on-line until the new site is up. See below.)
FYI: The next cruise is out of Honolulu on June 1, 2003, and it’s entirely appropriate for educators who want to get more out of their Macs (and need a yummy write-off vacation and can get away during that no-so-convenient time). Check out the MacMania web site for more information. You may even be able to use the hours for your recertification (check your local or state boards). Big fun. I highly recommend it as an exceptional educational, social and "recharging" experience.
My Writing
I haven’t had anything solid on my plate since I finished Creating Emotionally Safe Schools, on December 31, 2000! I think I really needed a break after the challenges of that massive project, but I’ve written a couple of tentative first chapters for a possible new book to go along with my workshop on Dealing with Difficult Students. Stay tuned.
I also revised most of the articles we offer as reprints, particularly those written early in my writing career. Each article now has a 2003 copyright and in some instances, represents significant changes from the original—or even the previous—version.
New Products
In October, 2002, my friend and videographer, Jim Thompson accompanied me to Long Island, where we taped a 2-hour parent workshop for a truly fantastic audience. The video parent training is currently in the works and will be announced on this site as soon as it becomes available.
Our Other Products
We’ve spent the past year selling off the remaining inventory of books by authors other than myself. We came to this difficult decision as a result of several factors, including the release of my last book and a set of videos, and an enormous increase in my travel and bookings for speaking engagements, which made the logistics of setting up large book exhibits impossible. (Some workshop participants may remember the days when I arrived at a school with over 100 different books! No more! Airline restrictions, shipping costs and consideration for my back have made this option untenable.)
Although we had planned to have returned all books to their publishers by the beginning of this school year, we decided to hold off until my new web site is completed. As it is, I’m spending considerable time revising the Bookstore portion of this site, updating the availability of a constantly-shrinking inventory.
Of course, my own resources (books, articles, audio tapes, videos and stationery items), will continue to be available on this site, as well as on the new site.
New Web Site
I’ve been a little tired of this web site for a while and have been wrestling with a redesign for over a year now. At this point, all I can say is that I’m a little closer. I’d love to give a date as to when I hope to publish the new site but until I nail down a design and a template for the new pages, things are going slower than I’d like.
This is the one main disadvantage of the past year’s travel schedule. I’m finding that I need a stretch of time to do development kinds of things. Plus, I’ve taken a number of computer classes and immediately take off before I had a chance to really work with what I’ve learned. Add to that the learning curve with a new operating system and upgraded software and things have been a little too fragmented for me to make the kinds of progress I’d like.
The new site will feature new graphics, new colors, even a new logo. It will use “frames,” which mean that the navigation buttons (which are now hidden if you’ve scrolled down this far) will remain stationary (so you won’t have to scroll back up to the top of the page to get to another part of the site).
Additionally, the new site will be divided into different sections for different audiences. I’ll have specific pages for educators (possibly, or eventually, broken down by elementary, middle and secondary levels), beginning teachers, administrators and inservice coordinators, counselors and other mental-health practitioners, university and teacher training instructors, parents and other caregivers, the media and the general public.
I suspect, since so many of my resources deliberately apply to a variety of these groups, that the sections will be pretty similar, at least at first. The new site architecture, however, leaves room for group-specific additions of resources and links, and should save visitors a lot of unnecessary searching and browsing.
That’s the idea. Any further suggestions, please feel free to contact me
Meanwhile, I will continue to maintain this site while the new site is in development, although big changes and additions are not likely to come during this time. If anybody wants me to post anything, do let me know, and I’ll do my best to accommodate.
My Studio Work
Another piece of my life that has suffered a bit from the travel schedule, though I’m still lugging my beads and knitting around with me. I’ve done a great number of other projects than those published in the gallery on the Father Sky Studios section of this site. Again, I probably won’t be updating these pages until well after the new site is established.
Other “Highlights” pages: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. For an index to all blogs, photos, and other personal information, click here.
Jane’s current Blog.
About Jane home page (bio, intro, other professional information).
Direct links to free stuff on this site:
articles and excerpts • handouts • materials in Spanish and French • videos and podcasts • links to other sites and resources • ideas, tips, and experiences of other educators
My Calendar
Click here (or on the image to the left) to see my schedule. Click here for a map with links to dates that I will be in your area.
