#Joe&039;s Journey

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Creativity is Productivity

Recently I came upon an article about creativity and productivity by Wall Street Journal best selling book author Scott Young. In it he explores various traits of creative people and how they transition into productivity. Below is an interesting excerpt of his findings. Nearly two centuries ago, the Belgian sociologist Adolphe Quetelet observed the impressively tight link between personal…

[charmiixx]

At this point it takes a miracle for a celebrity couple to actually stay married together for longer then 5 mins…

[vninspire99-blog]

Success is getting what you want happiness is - W.P.Kinsella

The quote “Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get” by W.P. Kinsella holds a profound message that delves into the complex interplay between success and happiness in our lives. This insightful quote challenges our perception of these two concepts and invites us to reflect on the deeper meanings they hold. W.P. Kinsella’s quote, “Success is getting what you want;…

[atthequillsmercy]

Interesting Meal Prep (Nope, not sponsored)

Interesting Meal Prep (Nope, not sponsored)

[thedoctorwhocompanion]

Jackie Tyler is Back - For Big Finish's Short Trips!

Jackie Tyler is Back – For Big Finish’s Short Trips!

Camille Coduri returns next year as Jackie Tyler for Big Finish’s Short Trips range – but she’s paired with a pretty unfamiliar Doctor. In case you’re not up to speed with Short Trips, it’s a series of download-only tales, under an hour long each, typically told by one narrator; but if the lack of an all-star cast makes you uncertain, rest assured that the range is one of the strongest of the…

[wintersunukyespana]

Daily Dose Of Wintersun/Dosis Diaria De Wintersun: When Time Fades Away & Sons of Winter And Stars Wintersun - When Time Fades Away & Sons of Winter and Stars live in Phoenix, AZ 8-29-2013

[joebustillos]

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 37: The Endless Assault of “New Normals”

Pondering the challenges of finishing the school year in “work from home” mode and how the world might change “after this is done.”

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/jbbsfinalthoughts_e037_the-endless-assault-of-new-normals.mp3 Enjoy and please subscribe to my YouTube channel or subscribe to all of my blog posts (scroll to the bottom of this page, click the red FOLLOW button in the “Follow blog via email” box).

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Past JBB’s Final Thoughts Podcast Episodes

Resources/Credits:

music: Social Blindness – 22K by Smart Sound Music

All images and screen grabs by Joe Bustillos ©2020 except where noted

Nevada schools will stay shut the rest of school year (image by Rachel Aston), Las Vegas Review-Journal, 04-22-2020

CCSD Chromebook Deployment (images), CBS 8 News Las Vegas, 04-22-2020.

EduBlogs screens (images), retrieved  01-22-2020

Empty Las Vegas by Josh Metz, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2932568266766674&set=pcb.2932568556766645&type=3&theater, retrieved 2020-04-08

Episode Notes/Script/Post:

Joe Bustillos here.

Toward the end of last week I found out that the rest of the school year is going to continue in the current “work from home”/“emergency learning” mode. Side Note: many districts are calling this current mode “remote learning,” but those of us who have conducted actual online or remote learning reject the use of those words to describe what we’re doing because it wasn’t begun with any planning or guidance or technology support that actual remote learning requires. And any successes in this endeavor is entirely because teachers are determined to stay connected with their students and quite frankly we are used to being told to do the impossible and make it happen without the means to be successful.

2020-04-22 RJ: CCSD schools closed for the rest of the year

2020-04-22_NCTA: CCSD schools closed

Stickam Session 2009 – joe bustillos

2012-08-22 Full Sail University EMDT Wk4 Wimba at 7.53.06 PM

Henry Price works on a Pepperdine OMAET project while we edit the video(s)

Last week was also the week when Chromebooks were being distributed to families attending my school who do not have technology at home. Since week two, home room teachers have been calling homes to connect with their students and to verify contact information. The word was that a large portion of our students and families didn’t have any technology at home including any kind of smartphone. So the decision and implementation of distributing technology is a good thing. I just wish that this could have happened before we began the fifth week of our current situation (sixth week if you count the week of Spring Break that we still got). So, that leaves four more weeks until the beginning of the Summer Break. I’m curious how much can be done in that time, given the lack of direct contact.

2020-04-22 CCSD chromebook deployment1

2020-04-22 CCSD chromebook deployment2

2020-04-22 CCSD chromebook deployment3

2020-04-22 CCSD chromebook deployment4

I’ve been working like crazing creating instructional videos and trying to figure out how I might get students to access the curriculum. One of the other specials teachers, the music teacher, has been championing using the Seesaw platform because it’s not dependent on student email addresses and can be accessed with a smartphone. Before this began I had created individual blogs for the 4th and 5th graders to teach Internet communications and digital citizenship, but that got a little derailed. So I’m thinking that I will jump on the simpler Seesaw bandwagon for the primary grades (K through 3) and use Google Classroom with the intermediate grades (4 and 5) with the option for any 4th or 5th grade students to use the blog accounts I’ve already created if they want to. Now to figure out how to get the personal login information to each student without creating a security leak. Oh yeah, during the second week of this situation district IT decided to change how student passwords could be updated and/or recovered and I was locked out of that process altogether, making it impossible for me to assist my teachers in getting student emails up and running (another reason I am going with Seesaw with the primary grades…). Then toward the end of last week, I was able to update a student password, so I’ll be busy working on those classes that didn’t get setup after I was locked out.

2020-04-06-COVID-19 Work From Home-week4: Spring Break edition

2019-08-28 twinsies with Mr. Sharp

edublogs1

edublog-dashboard-post-view-original

edublogs2

It’s not exactly a “new normal” for me to work from home or begin and end my day sitting at my computer desk. I taught online for six-years at Full Sail University before coming to Las Vegas and have been an online student since working on my masters with Pepperdine beginning in the summer of 2001. That said, I do miss going to the local micro-breweries Friday evenings after work or going to the movies at the Orleans with my girlfriend, Deb. And I really wish that I hadn’t sold my trusty treadmill when I moved from Orlando in 2016. Before I sold it, I got a lot of mileage on that bugger because I had it set up so that I could work on my laptop, create assignments and grade student work while getting in my daily walks. I notice that most of the treadmills are sold out on Costco’s website. When I was working face-to-face in the classroom I was on my feet continually, so I’m going to have to find some solution before I put on too much quarantine-weight. I also recognize that concentrated creativity requires routinely stepping away/physical activity to keep the brain fresh and engaged. Oh, and we’re now in that time of year when it’s getting over 80° by 9am. Ugh.

jbb video editing

2010-05-12 Work space iPad-ified

2011-04-01 Office Still Life (keyboard)

2020-02-22 Sand Dollar Lounge with Deb

2014-06-14 Treadmill Workout/Tech Pix

2014-09-12 Treadmill Workout Pix

Alas, a little physical discomfort is nothing compared to the challenges many are facing particularly unemployment and job loss because few service businesses like restaurants, casinos and theaters (the bread and butter of Las Vegas) can be done from home. I am lucky that there is an “emergency learning from home” possibility, but as I noted earlier, there’s a lot of families who don’t have the means to do at home learning and are falling through the cracks and might not come back when things turn around. And who knows what this “turn around” might look like. The number of students re-enrolling in the Fall might drop tremendously, shrinking the number of teachers needed in the Fall. Just after the work-from-home order was given, I was lucky enough to secure a position teaching at a Middle School close to my place beginning in the Fall, but things are far from certain given that we have no idea what enrollment is going to be in the Fall or what challenges we’ll face when we’re hit by COVID-19’s second wave. Given my health history, I’m certainly not in a position to not take precautions and be very concerned about getting back into the business of working in close proximity with hundreds of potential walking germ factories. I hope they like me in my fashionable face-masks.

2020-03-24 Josh Metz – empty-vegas

Learning from Home – robots

2020-03-03 Reading Week – funny Hair Day

2020-04-28 n95-busted

2002-06-04 Twain computer lab teacher

2020-04-07 costco with bandana

I have been working in technology (officially) for over 40-years, since I hired on with the phone company in 1979, so I’ve made a study of the constant change brought about by the continuing changes in technology. I’m used to this and I’m always looking for benefits and challenges. But most of my fellow teachers do not easily welcome change. One year after one of my schools became a video-journalism magnet school, ten of the thirty teachers left that school for other teaching positions at other schools. Hell, my change of schools has nothing to do with the current COVID-19 challenge, but it certainly doesn’t help with the difficulty of starting something new at a new school, new grade levels, new administration and the possibility of the second wave of COVID-19 rearing its ugly head just after the beginning of the new school year. So, yeah, I’m okay with the computer stuff/working from home stuff, but I worry that the world outside my door will never be the same again and I am getting a bit old for this shit. Really. I appreciate a good challenge, but this is getting ridiculous.

pacbell by joe bustillos

1979-1995 The Pacific Bell Years-04-ANHM01 ITT T-CXR equipment

Kaypro II

Non-Linear Systems Inc., Kaypro 10

2001-04-15 FACT TV screen shots – 12

2020-03-30 teach from home

How are you coping? How do you keep your sanity? I do find myself watching way too many Graham Norton videos on FaceBook when I need a break from other computer things. What’s your guilty pleasure? Please leave a comment or a like where ever you are seeing or hearing this podcast.

Also, if you haven’t done so, please subscribe to either my blog or to my YouTube channel. If you found this on Facebook and clicked the link to my blog to watch this, please scroll to the bottom of the blog page and click the “Follow” button. Enter your email address and whenever I post another podcast you’ll get a message in your email. Because I recently moved my videos to a new YouTube account, I have very few subscribers. So, if you’re watching this on YouTube, please feel free to go to my channel, click the subscribe button and the little bell icon, so that you get an email message whenever I post a new video podcast to my channel. Alas, thanks to FaceBook’s precious little algorithm, it’s not enough to be my friend on FaceBook, if you are interested in getting these podcasts when they come out (which I’m working on getting one out every two-weeks)… So, it works better if you either subscribe to my blog or my YouTube channel (or both!). Enjoy.

JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 37: The Endless Assault of “New Normals” JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 37: The Endless Assault of “New Normals” Pondering the challenges of finishing the school year in "work from home" mode and how the world might change "after this is done."

[thecatsreaderslibrary]

Avid Readers and Book Bloggers ... Author, Joe Siccardi's Holiday Sale Book Blog Tour Begins Dec. 9th, 2019 By Enticing Journey and Here Is All You Need To Know!

Avid Readers and Book Bloggers … Author, Joe Siccardi’s Holiday Sale Book Blog Tour Begins Dec. 9th, 2019 By Enticing Journey and Here Is All You Need To Know!

….. WELCOME READERS, BOOK BLOGGERS, BOOK REVIEWERS, and NEW VISITORS!  New Book Holiday Virtual Book Blog and Sale Tour For Joe Siccardi, Author.

Here are the details and be “In The Know” for this Fabulous Book Tour for Joe… The CAT will be hosting Joe Siccardi on DEC. 13th 2019, so be sure to come and visit for a SPECIAL AUTHOR INTERVIEWand all about “My Name Is Sam …and Heaven Is Still Shining…

[larryland]

Oldcastle Theatre Announces 2018 Season

Oldcastle Theatre Announces 2018 Season

What do history, silliness, Cole Porter, mathematical genius, comedy, George Washington, new works, Herman Melville, a Nobel Prize, mystery, a Pulitzer Prize, music, Ethan Allen, America’s greatest drama, the Civil War, Ben Franklin and the Tony Award for Best Play, all have in common? Each will be found in Oldcastle Theatre‘s 2018 season. The company’s 47th season opens June 15th and will run…

[wwwdotideasnmoredotnet]

No. 11 and Counting

I never thought I’d write a book. Never gave it much thought. That is, until a year or so ago when I started writing short fiction stories. Mostly mystery and science fiction with a twist and macabre themes. To date, I now have published 11 such stories since I sorta accidentally began this trek. I had considered early on that after I published an even dozen or 13 (Baker’s Dozen) I would try to…

[kellyinthesky]

My Road to Veganism(ish)

My Road to Veganism(ish)

There are so many opinions based on health and diet. One week we should eat coconut oil, the next week we find out it’s never been healthy. One week we should trust doctors, the next week we shouldn’t. As our technology advances faster and faster, the the more change we will see in the health world and almost every other industry and topic. I have always been interested in food and the food…

[newssplashy]

Terry Tha Rapman officially released his debut studio album, 'Tha Rapman Beginz' in 2007, and we revisit the project 11 years after.

This week in 2007, Terry Tha Rapman released his official debut album, 'Tha Rapman Beginz', kicking off a journey that has seen him remain one of the few active members of not just his clique, SWAT ROOT, but also the now defunct label, under which the album was put out.

Released under veteran's filmmaker, Charles Novia's imprint, November Records, which had Majek Fashek on its stable at some point, 'Tha Rapman Beginz' is not exactly Terry's first body of work, as he had previously released, 'Tha Rapmanifestation' in 2001 during his time with Payback Tyme Records, but he says the project was not properly released or distributed, so it wasn't considered as an official body of work.

'Tha Rapman Beginz' album offers up-to 17 tracks of rap awesomeness as Terry who had just signed his first major record deal at the time, was eager to make an impression on the mainstream and at the same time, cater to his core hip-hop followers.

ALSO READ: 10 Essential songs by Modenine

Featuring a number of artists like Aysia, A.T, Modenine, J.Vox, Sam P, Babyrella who is now known as Munachii Abii and Overdose, the album served up a mix of talent, lyrics, flow and something pleasantly inspiring to the genre at the time of its release.

In an exclusive interview with Pulse, Terry Madaki revisits the project, producers and artistes he worked with, the major singles and where it ranks among his body of works 11 years after.

On the major singles off ''Tha Rapman Beginz''

''The first single off the album, ''Na Beanz'' was produced by Mista Seth, I was basically tired of the media painting hip-hop as music for school dropouts and street people.

So I was explaining how hip-hop is intelligent music, you gotta be intelligent to be a dope rapper, since the slogan, ''No be beans/na beans?'' was trending in the streets back then, I decided to use it for a catchy hook.''

Another song that caught some buzz following the release of its video was ''Shake Ya Shangbash'' and Terry says;

''Shake ya Shangbash'', is dedicated to some girls I knew in UniAbuja that year, ''Shangbash'' was a popular slang for booty so I decided to make a club song about it.

The original track was produced by Mista Baron, but the remix was produced by Jamix.''

 On ''Small Boy'', a jovial track where he featured close friend, Modenine, Terry states, ''That was the most unserious track of them all, Modenine had a skit called Small boy earlier, so we just made it a full track for the album, we actually recorded and teased a sequel that we never released''.

''Only 4 Naija'' was just me addressing the ills of our society with witty humorous lines, I worked on it with hip-hop legendary producer, G Lynx and it featured Maytronomy and Ayuba Tete.''

If there is one song on the album that many Nigerian hip-hop heads still point to as perhaps the greatest rap collaboration, it is Spazmodic, a song where Terry Tha Rapman alongside his darker alter ego, Joe Spazm came together with Modenine in a pure lyrical fest.

Terry looks back on the song with joyful nostalgia, ''Mehn, there is so many memories attached to that album, ''Spazmodic was just that record that was meant to happen.

Modenine and I went over to Jonah da Monarch's studio, which was in a police barracks then in Ikeja, Lagos. Mode selected one of his beats and we recorded same day, Pherowshuz was also present in the studio.''

   ''There was a song which later became a favourite, ''PH Girl'', produced by Fairface, my first gig in Port Harcourt, I was introduced by a friend to Munachi Abii (who was known then as Babyrella), I was so impressed by her delivery that I decided to put her on my album.''

ALSO READ: Terry Tha Rapman is Terry Pablo in new single

On the inspiration behind the album title

 ''The album title came at me after watching a movie about my favourite superhero character, Batman titled, Batman Begins,'' he says.

Placing the album on a scale with his other projects, he responds, ''It is a favourite amongst my core fans since it was more or less my introduction to the mainstream, I hope to capture the same vibe on my forthcoming album.''

Speaking in an earlier interview years ago, Terry identified the project's track 12, 'The Revelation' as his best song on the album, ''It is the first song I recorded for the album, I had just left PayBackTyme Records and I was broke, mad and all, it was a personal song.''

The album earned nominations for Best Rap Album at the 2007 Hip Hop World Awards and Nigerian Music Awards.

11 years later, his messages remain alive as songs like ''Only 4 Naija'' fits in perfectly into present day societal occurrences, while ''Spazmodic'' literally packs more punch than most rap albums available on the shelf.

That said, The Rapman Beginz faced criticisms with some songs pointed out as being average and lazy, while some of his day one fans struggled to accept his commercial songs, the album however works its way as a pioneering body of work that delivered epic moments cementing Tha Rapman's place as one of the most revered emcees on the scene.

via Latest Nigerian News Online-Nigerian News,World Newspaper

[wwwdotideasnmoredotnet]

Creativity Predictions for 2023

Creativity Predictions for 2023

Well, a new year is upon us, for better or worse. What will happen, nobody knows for sure. I came upon a recent article that provides some insight as to what may occur. These predictions come from a variety of sources, all tied into the world of creativity in some form or fashion. I concur with the author of this article when he indicates that the beginning of this new year doesn’t feel so…

[wwwdotideasnmoredotnet]

Do You Have a Purpose?

“People age well where they have a purpose” is something I read somewhere. Makes sense, I guess. But what if you don’t know what your purpose is? What if you lose track of it somewhere along the way? Then what? It’s not something you can just pick up and glue the pieces back together. Everyone’s purpose is different; they’re all custom made. Same for your thought process. We all think…

[wintersunukyespana]

Daily Dose Of Wintersun/Dosis Diaria De Wintersun: When Time Fades Away & Sons of Winter And Stars

Daily Dose Of Wintersun/Dosis Diaria De Wintersun: When Time Fades Away & Sons of Winter And Stars

Wintersun – When Time Fades Away & Sons of Winter and Stars live in Phoenix, AZ 8-29-2013

[joebustillos]

JBB's Final Thoughts Episode 36: Possible Ancient Astronaut, indeed

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 36: Possible Ancient Astronaut, indeed

JBB’s Final Thoughts Episode 36: Possible Ancient Astronaut, indeed

Life changes inspired before the arrival of COVID-19, beginning with leaving my teaching job at Fitzgerald Elementary to apply for position that has been my life-long dream and far beyond the confines of CCSD.

MP3 Version: https://joebustillos.files.wordpress.com/…