Whew! Finally complete!

Stress, you must leave now. My thesis is done and handed in (just awaiting corrections). The AP computer science exam was taken by my students yesterday. Botball is over. Standards and Benchmarks AND my courses' indicators are written. Stress is melting away. Time to go get a massage!

It's been beyond busy these past few months but it now looks like I'll survive. The good stuff is coming. What good stuff? Thought you'd never ask! I leave for NYC and graduation a week from tomorrow and I'll get to see my friends and family. I'm presenting a workshop at "Scratch Day at TC". I'm getting myself an iPhone as my graduation gift to myself. I'm teaching my students how to make iPhone applications (as I learn how to make them myself). I'm moving into a villa, shared with a friend, that has outdoor space and I've already bought a pool. I'm bringing a hammock back to Doha with me. I'm seeing (and staying with) Nicole in London on my way back to Doha. Ed and Mike are visiting in June.

How's that for a quick update?

BOTBALL!!

Updated with pictures!

The competition board and our robots in action!

Taylor, Grant and I discussing strategies for reprogramming.

The team watching the competition. The five boys
surrounding me are on our team.

Original Post:

What a fun, fun day! Today was the Botball competition and we loaded up our robots, our toolboxes, our computers, and our students and went over to Carnegie Mellon to showcase our stuff. Lots of lessons later, we didn't place in any of the categories but we did receive a "Judges' Choice Award" for our robot designs. The kids had a great time and, although they are dead tired, are already thinking about next year's competition. I'll post pictures tomorrow when I finally get my hands on some.

You know..

... you live in the middle east when you pull into the grocery store parking lot and realize that the Porsche Cayenne parked next to you has been left running while its owner went inside. I couldn't believe it! The owner possibly felt comfortable enough with middle east justice or was just so filthy rich that he/she didn't mind the car being stolen.

Welcome to Doha.

Recovery

After two naps yesterday, I was finally rid of the migraine. Or so I thought. Nasty bugger decided to return and attacked me all night. Today is much better.

I'm up at school working on writing my major paper, kind of like a thesis just not as big, for my masters degree. It's a gorgeous day and I'm sitting in the senior commons, a place in school with windows two stories tall. Birds are flying around outside the windows and I'm energized to write. Wahoo!

Okay, break time is over now. See ya!

Migraines are for the birds

When I was a kid, I would get a migraines often and have to go in to my mom's bedroom because it was the darkest and quietest room in the house and I would sleep it off. Now that I'm an adult, the don't come around as often but when they do, they are whoppers. I've been fighting a bad headache off and on for three days and so it was no surprise last night that it turned into a full fledged migraine. Yuck. Queasy, dizzy, hungry but nauseous, pounding, pounding, pounding. Thankfully, these days there are better over-the-counter medicines to help. Thank you, Excedrine Migraine! I took two pills and slept through the night. Now that I'm awake, my head feels about 5 feet big/wide and a little light-headed, but that's pretty normal for the after-effects. There is still some lingering pain so I'll wait to see what it does before I decide to take more meds and go back to sleep or not. Or maybe I'll just go back to sleep.

Thank you, Lord, for sick days. It feels so weird to be home when everyone else is at school. I put more birdseed out on the balcony so I could watch the birds come and listen to them sing. It looks like it's going to be a hot day here!

Seniors

All year long, I've had this one particular Senior boy in my AP computer science class who has tried to get me to slow down, to not give so much homework (or any), and to go off on tangents during class. He has annoyed me to death! There were days I actually did not want to see him or hear his voice. Now they have finished all the course materials and are taking practice exams to prepare them for the big one on May 5th. Now he says to me, "Thank you, Miss T. This practice is really helpful." :-D Aaaaahhhhhh. Finally.

Still...

...dealing with writer's block. Ugh!!!

On a different note, here is what my Robotics students have been doing lately.