I am on the fence about online classes.

I fully support continuing education and of course mostly everything online. Haven’t walked into a bank in years, love that Safeway delivers and me and the iphone have an almost unhealthy relationship … almost.

I took my very first online class this semester. I usually take classes at least once a year, anything from fused glass fun, Indesign, Linux and of course Thai cooking. (yum!). This time I took a javascript class.

For the most part it was a disappointment. And it has nothing to do with the online aspects. The interface is clean: the enrollment, grades, tests, options to talk to fellow students all very easy and  good usability.

The problem I had was with the instructor.   I got the impression he wrote up this class several years ago and it just goings through the motions. His lessons plans were covered with typos.  Assigments and examples that were appropriate for Netscape 4 just wont work on modern browsers. And really why do I want to edit the status bar?  Hello 1995!  

As I wrote to him, I think he just needs to fresh up his online course.  He is very attentive and responds quickly to questions. But he needs to gauge how his students are doing, often his possible solutions were far more advanced than the class.

So even though the class helped, the idea of online classes was a bit discouraging.  I asked a few coworkers who were taking other online classes and they were having a blast and they learned a lot.  This was encouraging, so I signed up for another online class Spring semester.

Thanksgiving went without a hitch.  John had the day off before and had cleaned the house really well.  His mother was staying with us for a few days, so she took us out to dinner Wednesday, which was nice. I didn’t have to clean/cook. I woke up bright and early and started “the food preparation.”  The turkey had been brining overnight.   It was 20lbs, so cleaning the brine and getting the aromatics was challenging but it made it to the darn oven. Unfortunately, I forgot to take other pics, so all you get is a nekkid raw turkey.  Then came the stuffing, sautéed green beans with rosemary and garlic, mashed potatoes, rolls,  spiced yams and of course pie.  Everyone liked it, in fact there was almost no leftovers! The stuffing is a big hit, I added hot italian sausage, that seems to help.   My cousin arrived late and instead of using a plate, he just piled the sides on the turkey carving plate and used that.  Then Dory and her buddy got to clean the kitchen, score!

I was determined to use the turkey carcass this year.  So afterwards, I added all the leftover veggies, onions and turkey bones and made the stock.  Then into the pot and simmered for 18 hours.  It turned out fabulous!  I used the stock and tiny bit of leftover turkey in a jambalaya this weekend.  Yum.  Froze the rest.  After everyone left, I feel asleep on the couch for a few hours. It was a good Thanksgiving!

After a little vacation, SMOLT! has returned to its trivia ways.  The peeps were so happy to see us, now on the win again!

We will be missing this weeks of course.

Sadly, there was a death in the family, so John and I spent a few days in Stockton. Between the various family events and comfort, we got a chance to drive around Stockton and Lodi, again reminding us all that Stockton has to offer.

The majority of national and state political signs on lawns were pro 8 and Mccain/Palin in nature.  The pro republican signs were unusual, because since Stockton is the foreclosure leader in the U.S., I figured they would put some blame on the economic situation with the party currently in the White House.  Well, I was mistaken.  On Sunday and  Monday, many of the street corners were filled with children brandishing large Yes on 8 signs.  And lots of cars honking in agreement.

Then we were behind this guy for a little bit.  I thought his truck was broken, but according to John, it is “cool” that your truck tilts from one side to the other and occasionally sprouts flames.  Who knew?

One of the apps I have been playing with on the iphone is Photoswap.  It has been … interesting.. to say the least.  This program that allows you to trade one picture with a random stranger anywhere in the world.  Other than taking a screenshot there is no way of keeping an archive.  You can reply to the person you have “swapped” pics with but that is the extent of interactions.

My first swap was of a tree or something as I walked out to the parking lot, person x replied with a shot inside his/her car, as they were driving home.   I responded with a picture of an Obama bumper sticker, he/she responded with a copy of Obamas book that was on the passenger seat.  Pretty cool!

Of course, this app has been around little over a month, it only took a few days for the  more seedier aspects of this app to come too life.  What has been a beautiful exchange of the birds eye view of another person life, often from around the world,  is sometimes replaced by a written note imploring me to expose body parts.    *sigh*

Fabulous pic of Zori

I get: hello Kitty Pez dispenser with a bag of  “herbal supplements” in the background.

I was a a bar watching the Phillie’s crush the Rays and sending pics of the various drinks consumed and started this little picture swap wth some guy.

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Okay so that’s in good fun, but more and more I get photos l where they aren’t even trying, its a pic of their keyboard and then a vulgar request.  I am hoping the developers will find a way to filter out those requests,  Right now you can “report” it but just means they send another pic to another person.

Here is a small collection of the photoswap pics I have gotten so far… Not sure how mch longer I’ll use it, depends on the types of pics, I suppose.