I haven't been posting here much - I admit to a Facebook gaming obsession :P - but I recently dug up an old video of a super8 movie our class made in 1977. The film itself has been lost in the mists of time, but I had it transferred to VHS back when I was working at Dunn's City Camera in the mid-80s, and even that copy was lost in my closet until a few weeks ago.
My school was very non-traditional, even for the 70s. The were four classrooms, totaling about 80 students, ranging in age from K-8th grade. We called our teachers by their first names, had class sessions on old couches and throw pillows, listened to Cat Stevens and Elton John records during class hours, and were generally self-directed in our studies. This movie was the result of a student teacher  (whose name I've forgotten) coming to work with us. It was conceived, written, directed, filmed and edited by our class of 5th-8th graders. Much of what we did when filming it would get the teachers fired and the school closed down if it were to take place today...

(I am also amused and intrigued that the soundtrack music - which I had no idea of other than it was ELO - was identified by youtube's bots within milliseconds of upload.)

I just signed up to do the Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes at the Detroit Zoo. I have Diabetes + I need more exercise + I love to take pictures of animals + there are geocaches at the zoo (!) = no brainer on this one. I did the walk a couple of years ago but that was before my recent medical "issues" so I'm trying to work my way back up to 2 miles. I did a bit over one yesterday at Kensington while looking for a cache (that I never found - grr!) and managed not to fall over before I got back to the car, so I'm counting it as a victory and figure I should be fine by October.

I've been eating better (more veggies, less fast food) and trying to exercise more (the tricky part!) and though it may not be showing in my weight yet, my A1C numbers were the best they've ever been at my last Dr. appt., so I must be doing something right!  If you'd like to help motivate me to keep walking, you can sponsor my walk at the link above. Wish me luck!

filkertom hes been suggesting that I should blog my geocaching adventures rather than just boring him with them, :P  so I figured today would be a good start.

I started geocaching back in 2005 when I first heard about this cool techie treasure hunt and was intrigued enough to spend $70 on my first GPS unit. Tom went with me on a few hunts back then and it was fun, but I didn't have the time and energy to really pursue it. Fast forward five years and I find myself with not much more energy, but lots of free time and a need to get some exercise and fresh air. I decided to try it out again and this time I seem to have become well and truly addicted! I have now found 79 caches (including 63 in the last two months) and hidden two myself, with at least four more planned (including one incredibly devious puzzle cache!). I know myself and how I wax and wane on hobbies, but I'm having so much fun that I'm riding this mania as long as it will last!

And so I'm planning my first specifically geo-inspired road trip: I found a trackable geocoin last Sunday that had been released in Germany and traveled to Chelsea by way of Sweden with a goal to "travel to Santa Claus and please take Christmas fotos". My first thought was, of course, Frankenmuth. It's about an hour from home and has great chicken, so why not take the coin there to visit The World's Largent CHRISTmas Store. I mentioned it to R and he was intrigued by the chicken, if not the thought of witnessing my geo-geekiness up close and personal, so here I sit, waiting for him to arrive and help me escort a 1"x 2" hunk of bronze to a tourist mecca, take its picture there and leave it in a hidden piece of tupperware for someone else to find. Ain't technology wonderful?

Part of my daily routine on teh interwebs includes a series of clicks at The Breast Cancer Site et al. Clicking the buttons on the page and those attached to the tabs along the top helps the sites collect money from their advertisers to donate to causes like mammograms for poor women, hunger relief, children's health and literacy, ecological charities and animal rescue. It's free, easy and it takes me all of 30 seconds once a day.
This month the Breast Cancer Site will donate an additional $10,000 to fund research if the number of site clicks adds up to 200 mammograms paid for. Go help them with thier goal, and add 30 seconds to your daily routine - it's a Good Thing.

Just a heads up/reminder for those interested.filkertom  just called and they've asked him to go on early at the Assembly Line Concert in Ferndale. You can watch it live here.

ETA: just called back and he's not going on early after all :(  He'll be there at 9 though!

I went to the Detroit zoo yesterday for the first time since October. I didn't walk all that far (only made it back to the Gorillas before deciding to save enough energy to walk back to the car) and didn't get any really exciting animal pics, but I did take one wonderful picture. It's not that it has amazing composition, incredible lighting or any other technical merit. It's just SOMETHING GROWING!!!!! Yay Spring!

I love things that serve no other purpose than to make random people smile. This qualifies.

So through a series of stupid mistakes on my part, I have a pair of tickets for both nights of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival this weekend that I likely won't be using. Here's the line up:

Friday:

Jeff Tweedy
Old Crow Medicine Show
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Ryan Montbleau Band
Katie Herzig
Chelsea Williams
The Ragbirds
Joe Pug
Jim Lauderdale, MC

Saturday

Kris Kristofferson
Pete Seeger
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Girlyman
Luke Doucet & The White Falcon
Claire Lynch Band
Misty Lyn & The Big Beautiful
Joe Pug
Jim Lauderdale, MC

 These are really good seats (main floor, center section, row Q for friday, V for saturday) purchased for $75 each ($150 for the two night package) during member pre-sale. I don't really mind losing some cash, since the money is going to Tha Ark, but I'd like to try to recoup some of it and I'd like to think the tickets aren't going to go to waste. Saturday night is now sold out, and only side mezzanine tickets are available for Friday.

If you're interested, email me at lklarkins at gmail.

I've always been fascinated by psychology - especially my own - and finding this online Johari Window has made me suddenly curious. Help me out?