My Last Blog as a BU Student

It's pretty simple I am done at Brandon University next week.  It is bitter sweet and I am going to miss a lot things but mostly the people I have met over my 5 years at BU.  I loved living in Brandon and going to this small school.  It is so unique the person to person level you can use in your learning here at our university.  I can't even begin to describe all the memories I have had here.

I will however describe what my experience was like in Internet for Education and I will do it through this blog post via my video. Thanks for the opportunity and class Mike and good luck everybody!  Enjoy and I will keep in touch and this blog will continue.

    

TT #12 The future??

What does the future hold? What is in store for us an educators and for our students? It is easier to predict than you may first think.  I don't have to go 88 miles per hour in a time machine to get there and have some evidence to show whats 5, 10 even 20 years down the road.  We have even took the time to discuss this in class.

From what I know and what we have discussed as a class things are on the change and some of the grey area we talk about now concerning devices used, sites, apps we may not even be thinking about having in 5 years because it will be fully adapted into our lessons and curriculum.  The more flexible the division and especially the people at the top the more change that can easily occur.  As a class we discussed that the rural divisions in Manitoba have been more adaptable to the use of technology in the classroom than those of the  city or urban divisions aka Winnipeg and Brandon.

So why is this? Are they afraid that there are too many teachers and students to make it work in a positive manner? Their has been evidence in Winnipeg to show that bringing your own device (BYOD) to school can be beneficial.  I have heard that it has been a success for the most part at Dakota Collegiate in Winnipeg.  There are also risk, what if it gets damaged or stolen; what happens then?  Are students going to use them in the right way?  These are the questions, I believe it must be tried just like anything to see if it works or not, similar to a science experiment.  There are honestly too many questions that could be asked about the use of technology and devices in a class that one blog post is just going to open the conversation.

What are my personal thought on the future though?  I want to look deeper, 10-20 years down the road when I am in the middle of my teaching career, hopefully with a family and in a place I enjoy being at everyday.  I feel that books will rarely be used by middle and senior years students, it will be almost paperless in most classes besides Math.  All students will be able to BYOD for use in school. Student learning will happen a lot more on there own through module style, video tutorials and presentations.  Reading will improve but won't be done through traditional books.  Our students will have access to many more sites and apps that can advance their education.  The teacher will either have an easier time or tougher time managing their classroom.  I am on the fence about that one I do not know which way to lean to.  These are my ideas, in kind of a rambling on manner but that what the blog is for.  Not a psychic but have some predictions with some evidence and thought behind it. Let me know what you think. This was my last tech task, Yahoo!

So Long for Now,
Rod.

 Doc Brown and Marty McFly

From Back to the Future

What I'm going to Miss about Internet for Educators

I have taken 2 classes about using ICT and Internet in Education.  I got to say Mike has brought the noise in both.  It often is hard to pay attention because I want to get work done with that computer staring be right in the face.  The apps and sites I have learned about in the last 2 years are going to help me become a better teacher and support my students in a way the current student knows how, through the internet.  We have stayed current discussed hot topics and gone over the positives and negatives and now I know what to look for and commence in and what to stay away from, which I am truly thankful for.

Will I use everything I am shown in class, probably not even half.  But the ones I do like and have learned about make it easier for me as a teacher implemented tech into teaching.  I find myself using these apps and sites almost everyday and a year ago I didn't even know about them.  I am going to miss my family when I leave my ED family that is.  With only 2 weeks to go at BU it is so strange. I have been here for 5 years, this has been what I know and do. Thanks for making this year another good one ED family and thanks Mike Nantais you make the experience fun and easy going.  You know I like to joke around and appreciated the sarcasm and laughter. 

Rod.
BU at BU.

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.

During the 7th Week I went to Westcast and....

I learned nothing.  Just kidding of course I learned a few things and had fun doing it.  Our tremendous group of Brandon University Education students took off around 9 am on Wednesday Feb 18th.  We spent about 6 hours on the bus ride there but it was so much fun it seemed like 2.  We got there and on the first night after settling in and hitting the pool we had a nice meal, a couple drinks and a few of us even went to the Saskatoon Blades game.  It was an awesome start.

Thursday morning rolled around and we took a shuttle or city bus to University of Saskatchewan. We then checked in and sat around until the 9:30 keynote speaker.  He was actually a big technology guy so it was right up the alley of this class.  The keynote was good, not too long.  The sessions than began and it was an open house type of concept.  You could go to which ever you wanted.  I tended to go to ones that catered to the early years.  I am going to be teaching grade 1 and have little to no experience with that age group so I felt that was a good opportunity for me.  I really enjoyed the Math Work Stations that our own BU early years students put on.  Those were my favourite, I learned a lot.  A few of us decided to head back around 5 in a cab and got settled in for the night and supper.

The next morning was the last day and we were headed out after lunch for our trek back to Brandon.  I myself along with Jon Filewich, Jake Weidenhamer, Kelly Whitmore and Kalena Green formed a group called PEDAL standing for Physical EDucation Activity Leadership.  We made a presentation and it was hands on and fun.  We got the feel that most enjoyed it and we even got invited to present at another conference.  That was exciting.  More sessions followed and they were quite interesting.  A great catered lunch brought us to the end of our trip and a longer more relaxed bus ride home.  All and all a great experience, fun group and cool university. Thats my story, thanks for reading.

Rod.

TT # 7 : Infographics

When I looked at this task and the word infographic I thought it might be complex and I didn't know what it was. When I googled and searched it on pintrest I found out I indeed do know what an infographic is. An infographic is a unique was of expressing graphic visual representations of information, data and knowledge.  It is made to present it quickly and clearly.

I definitely think these could and should be used in a classroom. They are great to have to present info to dress up the walls of a classroom. You can analyze them in class as a discussion for any portion of a lesson. You could also have students make their own as a form of assessment.

Here's some cool infographics you could use in Social Studies/World Issues

Now here is my infographic I made on Piktochart. I focussed on one of my favourite sports, Curling! This great for introducing the game to young students in Early Years Physical Education.

Reading the Fine Print...For Once

Honestly how often do we read all the fine print and the user agreement when updated, getting apps or signing up for different online sites? I know I often glance but never take the time to look at anything in depth. We now know from this weeks presentation that if you want to sign up for something in your classroom with you or your students involved you better take an in depth look at these documents.

The user agreements are usually long but straight forward. The biggest thing to look for is minimum age. Some sites have a restriction that should be followed such as 13+ only on this site.  In BSD you must send in a form with what social site you want to use if it is restricted. You are liable if anything goes a rye. Teachers must make sure that this site is going to be useful. If there is anything fishy or you suspect something may be off it is best to look at using something else. Use trusted sites!

I think using social media sites in the classroom can be beneficial but you have to take the time to really look through the agreements. It is much different when you are looking out for 20 people that you are responsible for during school hours than just for you personally. Be careful folks!

TT #11: Show and Tell

I have two apple applications that I find useful in Physical Education and that may be relatively unknown. The two are: Team Shake and Games for Understanding.

Team Shake is used to sort teams. You can set it up for your classes if you want to randomly select teams for a specific activity you may be doing that day.  You input the names, number of teams you want or people on those teams and shake your device. It is that simple! Fun and easy to use plus the classes I used it for liked it a lot as well.

Then there is Games for Understanding. We were told by Lee Carter last year that it is a very useful app. It is simply a collection of games for Phys. Ed that is sorted by grade and type. It is very useful for ideas in the gym.

TT #9: Using Online Video in the Classroom

I am definitely a YouTube fan. Now that Google owns YouTube in what was a multi-billion dollar acquisition it makes it that much better if you use a Google account.  I fully understand why Google would spend this money to acquire YouTube.  Simply because it is an awesome resource, easy to use and arguably the easiest thing to make money off of in the world via advertisements.  Hard to imagine about 20 years without having this site where you can literally search and find almost any video you want to see. It could have happened 50 years ago or yesterday YouTube has so much data and really works as a history resource.  I love it and use it daily. For the most part it is relatively safe and classroom friendly providing you are searching for something appropriate.

The best known YouTube source that I know for Physical Education that is easy and awesome is Phys.Ed Games. If you type phys. ed games you will get to the channel that literally has hundreds of games and exactly how to play them with rules in the short videos. They even separate it in grades if you wish to follow that. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhysEdGames
Here is an example: Swamp Ball

This video can be used by the instructor to fully understand how a specific game is played. The large collection of games that Phys. Ed game has gives Phys. Ed teachers all over the world a great resource. If you wanted you could use this as your instruction in class for the students if suitable or possibly a substitute so they fully understand how the game is played. This is just Phys. Ed if I wanted to show a video in class for learning, an assignment or as a reward YouTube is always my favourite. I had done a WWII unit with a group of Grade 7's in my practicum and found a great video resource called WWII from Space. It was a 90 minute video that got the students engaged right away because it was a overview of the War in a modern style with different aspects and a view of the geography from Space. The students absolutely loved it and their grade's reflected it as they did a choice project with rave reviews.

The good thing about YouTube is it's popular. Most people use it, it is able to be used in most school divisions although mostly just by the teacher. I could see it being a distraction for students so having the teacher being the only one able to get on may be a good thing. This way you can ensure it is used in an appropriate way...we hope.

There is my opinion on YouTube, very positive.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Rod

TT #8 Podcasts

I myself enjoy listening to podcasts. I have listened to many different podcasts over the past few years and have my genre set on sports talk and comedy. I have some podcasts that I subscribe to that I listen to on the regular.  These being; The Jay and Dan Podcast (sports/comedy), Pardon the Interruption (sports/comedy) and Baseball Central (sports). I try to subscribe to new ones that are high on the featured list to listen to something new. I tend to listen to podcasts that cater to my likes (sports and comedy).  I did a lot of driving with my summer job the last 2 summers so podcasts were my go to on the road. I made sure I had plenty downloaded for my travels. I sometimes will even listen to them when I workout.

The podcast that I tried for this assignment was technology based.  It was rated high on the most downloaded list under that categories in the iTunes podcast vault.  It is called "This week in Google."
The two people involved in this podcast are Leo Laporte and Jeff Jarvis.  I found myself lost at times because they discussed technology very in depth and referred to data and research behind it. It was very business related which I found myself uninterested in.  So I guess I would say I wasn't that interested in it and didn't like it but I will describe what they talked about. They ranted and ranted quite often. The theme of the day seemed to be how people make money off of YouTube. This one specific issue came up where a young musician put her music on YouTube with no real agenda of making money put getting notice. She did and some started using her music in different videos and actually made the big screen. She was happy but felt that YouTube didn't credit her the way she felt it was necessary. The two hosts went back and forth about this for about 30 mins.  They spoke of issues that google has had in the past and will in the future.  Most of this section of the pod was fuzzy to me. They also talked about a Google retreat in Switzerland and how that was. I found this story telling to be far more interesting and found I liked that part.  Overall I won't be subscribing to this podcast but it is well done and the right person certainly would enjoy it.  I'm not sure this specific episode could be used for an assignment in a class.

I would consider using a podcast for an assignment. I would have students listen to a much shorter podcast about 10-30 minutes. Some podcast tend to run quite long like the Google one which ended up being 90 minutes long.  With the podcast you can do a formative type discussion or listen to before and have them answer specific questions. A bigger assignment would be for them to make up their own podcast. I made one last year using audacity with classmates. It was only 12 minutes long so you don't get too bored. Garage band for apple also works well.

Thanks for reading
Rod

TT #6: Your PLN & The Connected Student

To me this is what I like to use and use consistently.  All of these are both websites as well as apps for my iPhone and iPad.  I tend to always have my phone on me and use the apps more than double the time of the websites.  It is just easy and convenient for me.  I like the power that google can give me.  They connect many of their apps together with one username and password which is awesome.

Here is what I think represents the student currently with the use of devices and technology.  I tend to use some of the things and devices these student's use because of closeness in age. I think students are easily adaptable to new technology which is a good thing.  The bad thing is there is that much more to distract them from their studies and being physically active.  I hope the 21st century student will continue to learn and grow with technology but hope they don't forget the basics to which got us to this point.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

How cool is this using Social Media in your own classroom! Well if used correctly and professionally with understanding by students and their parents it can extremely useful. I would like to use some forms of social media in the classroom because it is an easy way of relaying information to teacher to student or parent and vice versa.

There must be an understanding that the classroom social media will be used in a positive manner. Students could take advantage of this is a negative sense if boundaries aren't set via cyber bullying, etc.  The sites I would find useful for a middle to senior years class are: a classroom website, Google community, twitter and blog. These all are good for relaying information, notes and assignments that may be missed, homework, sites that may be useful for that specific course and a project or assignment along with test preparation.  Twitter could be used for a twitter chat as students may ask questions for a test as an example and the teacher can set up a time where they can answer and reply rapidly.  The Google community is a great way to present all sorts of information while keeping it just in your classroom.   YouTube could also be useful as a social medium if they are always posting along with watching. Presentations and projects could be filmed and put on YouTube if the students all agree upon this. Social media in your classroom could get your class the credit they may deserve from the educational world!

The Online Course

I for one have never been in or part of any online courses in any level of schooling. I do however find it to be extremely useful and an effective way of learning for students who may have trouble connecting face to face with a teacher because of different situations and difficulties.

In the past my mother worked as a hutterite teacher around Portage la Prairie. I went to visit quite often and saw that their high school students 9-12 had no actual teacher present.  They did the majority of their schooling online, through web cam with often quite a lot of success.  They were not able to get a full time teacher and this was the way it had to be.

This is the same for high school, university and graduate studies. I think it is great that it is an option. Although I still do believe the most effective and preferred way is to learn in a class with peers and teachers in a traditional manner.  For those less fortunate to have distance, illness or any other thing get in the way doing a course or even diploma online is a good option. In the future I may think about doing my masters and know that something's may be required to be done online. I think at that time when I am busy with overall work life the online course load will be the way to go and a huge benefit.

TT #5 Your digital footprint OR digital identity

My digital Identity is similar to who I am offline. I don't want to seem to different on and offline because let's face it that confuses most people and in turn gives people a altered perception of who you are.  I use social media for my personal enjoyment and mostly to see what my friends and people I want to know about are up to.  In no particular order I use facebook, twitter, instagram and snapchat.  I find most of these to have different but important uses in my life, the life of my peers, teachers and students. It allows us to connect and that is important.

I find twitter to be the most important for all these as a whole. You can easily get connected to people, teams, associations, etc. you want and their websites, blogs, videos, pictures you name it. I also really enjoy using snapchat. It is so cool how I can talk face to face with a friend that could be hours away. The picture and video quality is also very good. Facebook is a little older and I find I use it less but find it useful for making and organizing events.  To finish instagram is just fun to check out some cool and interesting photos.

I also find my digital footprint to be made by the other apps I use and devices I own. I am a sports fanatic. I enjoy playing and watching almost anything. I also like to know what is going news wise, scores and to watch highlights. I use a variety of different apps to help me do so including; tsn, the score, nhl, mlb and more. I like how most sites now have apps so they are easily accessed from your personal device. Things like google drive, mobile banking, maps and yellow pages are extremely helpful.  As for devices I own and use on a day to day bases that I consider part of identity or footprint are: my iphone, macbook pro, ipad, apple tv (notice the apple theme) and Playstation 4. I enjoy all these devices and find them to be extremely important in my daily life. They all have different functions and provide me with an easier student lifestyle.

TT #4: Follow an Edublogger!

For this task I was to follow an edublogger and get a feel for what they post about, who they are and what they do and bring to the online world.

I chose to post here about Dean Shareski who just so happened to be our first presenter of the year in Internet for Educators. He had a lot of good things to say during that presentation and that is why I chose to follow his posts using feedly and read what he has to say. His blog url is: http://ideasandthoughts.org/

Dean has been "Learning Stuff since 1964" as he comically posted an his quote on his blog. He currently is the Community Manager for Discovery Education Canada.  He worked in the Prairie South School Division in Moose Jaw, Sask for 24 years and went on to get a Masters at University of Sask. and now does some sessional instructing at University of Regina.

Dean shares a lot of information whether it is education related to the past, present and looking ahead to the future to stuff that went on in his life in 2014.  He uses a variety of ways to post his comments via text, video and sometimes podcasts. His posts are his and he has some opinions that have obviously had a lot of research to back it up.

I particularly liked his unique post http://ideasandthoughts.org/2015/01/03/2014-my-year-in-numbers/ This was his year in numbers. This was done in video and would have taken a lot of thought and time to produce. I liked how you can visually see what he was up to during the course of the year and how much time he puts into his education, fitness and golf game. It was cool.

I will continue to follow and read his posts. I would encourage all classmates to check his blog out.

Connecting with People Easily Online

The internet has the ability to operate at what seems to be light speed. It reminds me of the times in Star Wars when they could go from galaxy to galaxy in the blink of an eye. I have been in contact with a school in Thailand called Lertlah English School. With the help of the internet and the fact that I can email someone over half way across the world and they can get back to me in an instant I now have my first teaching job.

I like using email, text, facetime and snapchat all of which instantly connect me to people I want and need to speak with. The fact that this is something we are used to today is not something to take advantage of. I believe we do have an advantage now than any other generation before in our ability to connect.

My first teaching job is grade 1 at the Lertlah Campus 3 in Bangkok, Thailand. I will be away from my family and friends for a year minimum. I will also be ahead in time 13 hours from our central timezone.  The amount of time during the day I will be able to connect with people is going to be a very small window. I will want to have a smartphone out there so I can still text (imessage) from wifi and snapchat my friends. I will also rely heavily on email for communication because of the time difference. Facetime will also be used but My early morning will be home's evening and vice versa. I will have to map out when to use it.

Going away for a an adventure of a year like this used to be more daunting. With all the apps and easy communication to people back home I don't think it will be a huge issue for me.

Thanks for reading,
Rod

TT #3: Twitter

This isn't going to be my longest post because I think my tweets can speak for themselves. I have been on Twitter since September 2011 when Twitter was on the incline in popularity. I remember my friends jawing at me for getting it but I told them how fun and useful it was and surely enough a by that Christmas most of my friends were using it.

On twitter you have the power to voice your opinion, be a comedian, talk trash, sports, music, entertainment and basically anything you wish. Using the hashtag or number sign # you can find trends that are occurring all over the globe. I use it to see what my friends, and some famous athletes are up to along with current issues or events. I do not like to follow people who tweet to often as when you follow many people or teams on twitter you can be quite busy looking at your feed, especially if you don't check it that often. Trust me once you get on, you will check it as much as you do texts or emails.

If you want to follow me here's what you need to know:
First off I'm @RodMcLeod13
I tweet about current funny things along with retweeting some of these items.
I tweet about sports quite often and my favourite teams before, during and after big games.
I tweet about a trip I may be on and whatever is happening in the area I am.
Don't take my account to seriously as I don't take myself that seriously either.

Thanks from @RodMcLeod13
PS: I found this picture while googling myself on images
From 2012 when I worked at Big Brothers Big Sisters, Portage.
Put good things online folks!!!

TT #2: Organizing your self online

I've said it before and I'll say it again organization is one of the fundamental keys to running a smooth operation. Curation is essential to staying on top of things and bringing your "A" game whether its teaching, being a student, coach, player or just taking care of day to day chores. If we teach our students to stay organized the amount of success in a classroom has an extremely high ceiling.

I myself take pride in being organized. I learned to be organized from a young age with the help and kick in the butt from my mother. Who I might add was a teacher for 33 years. It is just easier to stay on top of things and be organized. My room, the places I have lived, my vehicle and my school work are always organized. I never run into problems finding something, losing an item or forgettfulness. It just is not in my DNA.

Staying organized online and in Internet for Education is a challenge but nothing impossible. We are given many outside the box sites and apps to try from Mike. I find myself still relying on basics to keep myself involved in social networking. I consistently use email, twitter, instagram and facebook. Out of all those if I were to get rid of one it would probably be facebook though, it has not adapted the way I'd like to see as compared to newer social sites and apps. I have gotten into some other networking mostly through the ICT courses in BU Education with the help of Mike. I love the power that google has all in one. It makes it so much easier when you sign up for a new networking site and you can just use your google gmail. I bet google really has a money problem, they have so much they don't know what to do with it all. The blog isn't really my thing but I do find a use for it. One of the best things we have been shown is feedly. That site is exactly what curation is all about. It makes organizing your blogs so easy. When Mike set up our google classroom site that is also a huge help. Lastly pintrest, I have an account that I barely use but should get more involved in using it because boy does that make searching for ideas easy, a very unique and useful site.

So now what to do with my own classroom (once I get one of course). It's all dependant where I end up and with whom I work with. A middle years classroom that I see for most my classes would be easier I beleive. You get to know your students so well in this situation. The google classroom circle/site is great for letting students know ideas, links to articles, assignments, homework, etc. I would like to take advantage of that if the division has it set up so we can. Social networking sites other than pintrest may be an issue because of possible cyber bullying and overall may not be apporiate for a class. I just want somewhere so curation so my students can learn the organizational skills I was so lucky to learn. It helps!

My Daily Routines, On and Offline

Everyone has daily routines, some consistent, many scattered but we all have certain things we just do on a day to day basis. I'll give you my Monday to Thursday for example. I am a university student I have a class schedule. I am also involved with things in and outside the school setting. I believe in hygiene, nutrition and exercise. These are definitely essential in anyones success. My class schedule is paired; Monday and Wednesday mirror each other along with Tuesday and Thursday. Everyday is somewhat similar until the evening at least.

Monday and Wednesday (sleep in days, short days)
Get up between 8:30-9 am, cook breakfast (usually eggs), go to the Healthy Living Centre to workout. Come home to shower, make lunch then off to class. I have a one hour class 12:40-1:30 and Internet for Ed 1:40-3:30 then its after school where I could be doing x number of things one of which includes homework, blogging and lesson planning.

Tuesday and Thursday (coach basketball. long days)
Get up at 6:50 am, quickly cook breakfast and off to Harrison School to coach Green Acres boys Basketball practice. Once that is over its off to the HLC to workout then home to shower and eat. My class schedule is different today. I have the same first class then I head to the gym for Early Years Phys. Ed methods from 1:40-3:30 and then back for my final class 3:40-5:30. This a long day at school for anyone.  Friday is often a homework day and the weekend is mine.

So that is basically my semester in a nutshell. I am a man of routine and I think having routines in a classroom make your class a success and you a successful teacher.  But what about tech routines, often we don't think about it because with most of us its so automatic its like walking to school. Almost all of us now have smartphones and they make having a access online a breeze and quite convenient.

Basically this is how a day would shake up with myself and technology. I wake up and usually check 4 things: texts, snapchats, my twitter and instagram feeds. I used to not be big on instagram but like it quite a bit now. I will often also look at my email, fantasy sports and facebook on my macbook. Throughout the day I continue to check twitter, texts and snapchats from my iphone. I try not to get to distracted but I often do. If I have some down time and I want to just relax I usually will watch something online using Netflix or youtube. It's funny to think about how much I do actually look at a screen now a days. It seems to be just part of my daily life. The same as brushing my teeth in the morning. Sometimes when you can get away from that technology I either find myself really missing it or just totally content with being disconnected. The middle ground is lacking...

Anyways, so long for now
Keep Fit and Have Fun
Rod.

Back in the Saddle...for the last ride.

It's hard to believe after 5 years at Brandon University the journey is almost over.  I decided I wanted to go straight to university after graduating from Portage Collegiate Institute in 2010.  It didn't take me a long time to decide BU was the place for me.  I have had plenty of friends that reassured me that it was a quality school and city to live in.  For the most part it has been and it did feel like home right away.

I got involved in the university life right away at BU.  I quickly chose to take the newly formed Bachelor of Physical Education Studies which was a decision I would not regret.  From my first class at BU in the program I met most of my close university friends I have to this day and are still my classmates in the Bachelor of Education.  It's pretty wild to think that we all have taken this 5 or more year journey together.  Hopefully we can contribute to each others careers in the future.

But on to the present, what is this semester all about, what does my final semester at BU entail.  For the first time in the education program we got to pick some courses.  This is unique and fun task.  I have chose to take along with my one mandatory course Reading, Thinking and Study Skills; Positive Behaviour Interventions for Adolescents, Physical Education Methods for Early Years and of course Internet for Educators.  Having this choice is a great opportunity even through the first week I'm enjoying the courses I chose and the Professors have been great.  I'm excited for the road ahead.

I haven't blogged since I was in Using ICT in Education.  I'm not quite sure if I am a blogger.  I do bring more to the table through other social media being Twitter @RodMcLeod13 Instagram @rodmcleod13 and Facebook.  I will continue to use these now and into the future (in the right way I mind you) as reassured by our discussion with Jon Finch.  He reminded us that technology although extremely useful does have its downfalls especially if it is abused and used in a negative manner.  This can get a future educator such as myself in some trouble so I best be minded my p's and q's.

Anyway thats going to be a wrap for this week.  Stay tuned as I'm back to the blog...for now being anyway.  Respectfully Rod.