Each month has a picture of a place that is on my “Must See” list. There is also space at the side or bottom of each calendar page to jot notes or important dates. It’s too bad there are not more months in the year, because I ran out of months before I reached the end of my list. I didn’t even include any domestic locations. Oh well, that will be more for next year.

I realized by creating this calendar, it helps me…

1. visualize all year and work towards visiting these places one day.
2. keep in touch with friends and family
3. use a little bit of creativity.

However, you get to use a little creativity too. There is some printing and assembly required. Choose the paper, rubber bands, and chopstick color of your choice! Also, please let me know your favorite places or if we have favorites in common (hey, maybe we could think about a group trip and do an international blogger meet-up).

I chose all of the pictures from Flickr, and they each have a Creative Commons license (feel free to share, but check the individual license for each picture before you modify or use commercially). See the photo credits on the first page for links.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2008!

Free WIFI in Manhattan
Manhattan Neighborhoods – maps
Dining Fever – coupons, maps, menus, and searchable by neighborhood or type of food. Mantra looks good. Their signature dish is lobster guacamole. Yum. The only catch with this site is that you print the coupon and call ahead for reservations, which is not ideal for travelers who don’t have access to a printer.

I’m so happy for them. I just talked to them and they seem excited. I told them to take lots of pictures.

There is an article in the Columbia Missourian this morning that asks whether the city’s snow removal efforts have been satisfactory. Well, given that it’s Monday and it snowed on Thursday and most city streets other than the main roads are not cleared, I’d say no. Even major side streets have frozen ice and snow covering some parts of the street so the lanes are narrower than usual and it is still slow going. Also, the right turn lanes of major streets are still snow covered and rutted with ice. It’s as if the snow plow drivers only drive straight through town and don’t make wider passes through the side streets.

Then, despite the fact the the University is open today and classes are in session, most of the sidewalks are still snowcovered and icy. I’ve slipped several times and I’ve seen some people fall down. It’s not very safe. In my opinion, they should have cleared more of the walkways before resuming classes.

If you’re local and reading this post, be sure and take it slow and easy — both in your car and by foot.

St Joseph Missouri,
originally uploaded by Marcia H.


Map of St Joseph, MO

I am giving a talk tomorrow at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph Missouri.

I am posting this entry from Flickr. I’ll be updating this post as I add more links.

handout [pdf]

My new wikispace:
m2h.wikispaces.com

Oh, and have you tried 30 Boxes yet? Really cool tool!

Today’s forecast:
“Abundant sunshine. Warm. High 87F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.” Fabulous.

Later!

I’m almost done with my summer class. The last class is tomorrow and I’m sorry to see it end. I wish I could suspend time. This group of students has done an absolutely fantastic job and I am so proud of them! I just want to keep on writing and creating with them. They have accomplished a lot this semester. Plus, I like being able to help them out with their technology projects and being there for that moment when I can see their excitement in their expressions because something turned out the way they wanted it to. Wonderful!

I gave a talk this morning at the Missouri Writing Project Network retreat. It turned out pretty well. I gave them lots of info on where they can go to start blogging and learn more about audio, images, and video. I wish I had been able to spend two hours with them rather than just one.

I’m leaving town tomorrow afternoon for my god-parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Then, it’s time for a family reunion on Saturday with my dad’s side of the family. On Sunday, it’s home to Illinois for a while to hang out with my Mom and step-father .

But, first, back to grading. I need to get most of it done this evening so that I can bug out early tomorrow afternoon.

When planning the trip, I tried to use Google Maps and the Beta Yahoo Maps, but at present, nothing beats the trip planner at RandMcNally.com. If you click through to their site now, their homepage graphic advertises a Harley Davidson atlas with the tagline: “There’s no such thing as a secondary road.” And, that statement expresses why I have such frustration with Yahoo and Google when trying to use their mapping tools. To Yahoo and Google, all main highways are the expected routes and I have to input smaller cities even in a direct route on a “secondary” road to prevent the program from circling around and back on a main highway, and in some cases, the tool will still refuse to use the secondary road as the preferred route even when I say I want directions between two small cities. While I still have to input smaller cities with RandMcNally, it is much less problematic and works the way I think it should while planning a trip.

Here is the approximate route I took:

Day 1
63 South to Jefferson City, MO

54 West to Camdenton

MO 5 South to Lebanon

44 West to Springfield

60 South ** I missed this exit because of the road construction. I just took the next main secondary road south to Monett

37 South to Washburn

90 West to Jane ** This short stretch of road had been recommended to ride on a motorcycle. It was nice and fun to try once, but I wouldn’t detour out of my way next time I come through here. One of the drawbacks of curves in Missouri is that they’re not marked by how slow/fast riders/drivers should take them so it’s harder to judge how fast to enter them when you’re not familiar with the roads.

71 South to Fayetteville **To the person in the black Mercedes: thanks ever so much for not looking over your shoulder and checking your blind spots when entering the highway. Since the left lane was packed with other traffic, I really needed the added excitement of braking really hard to avoid hitting you.

Day 2

62 West to 51 West **Five miles out of Fayetteville, I sat for about 15 minutes in traffic waiting for emergency crews to clear an accident in front of me. The dead Armadillo on the road beside me made for a wonderful view.

51 West to Hulbert, OK

SR 80 to Fort Gibson **This road is really tricky. Lots of different curves with different elevations, including a hairpin turn coming down out of the mountains at the Lake.

62 West to 64 South to Muskogee

Main Street/2/10/64 East to Warner **This road shows up multiple ways on the map and in online directions. Look for Main Street on street sign.

Rt 2 South to Kinta, Wilburton, and Clayton

271 South past Antlers **Lovely road, except watch for deer coming out of the forest. When I stopped in Clayton, the woman at the convenience store, who I asked for directions warned me to be on alert. And, I did see a dead deer by the side of the road.

70 West to Durant

69/75 South to exit 38A to TX-121 S **To the ASS in the red Suburban: fix and *USE* your turn signal! Do you not get that I have zero metal around me to protect me from idiots like you who deliberately pull in front of me and allow almost **zero** room for clearance?!? Do you understand you could kill me by such inconsiderate driving?!? It was ever (not) so much fun to brake really hard to avoid splatting into your rear bumper, and then when that car pulled in front of you and I had to brake even harder it could have turned out so much worse if I was as stressed and as stupid as you to get where I was going! I HATE riding on 75 between Sherman and Plano. Most of you people drive like idiots!! Slow down and show a little compassion please!

Tip: If you’re sitting in a nicely air conditioned car and stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic and you see a biker exposed to 90+ degree weather, you might not try to pull in front of them on every occsasion you might. A biker deserves as much space as a car people! If you’re really compassionate, you might offer a bottle of water even. Bumper-to-bumper traffic, hot asphalt, running motors, blarring sun–while I try to avoid such situations, sometimes there is quite some distance between safe places to pull over, cool off, and hydrate.

More to come on the Texas biker wedding I attended…

One of the groups that I asked for help with funding just came through with an extra $250. It’s hard to believe. I am just ecstatic! This means that registration costs are covered and now I’m working on travel expenses.

I’m waiting to hear from the English Grad Student Assoc. about a $100 grant for the Computers and Writing Conference. Also, I need to apply for a GRN grant.

I’m thinking about riding my motorcycle to Lubbock for the Computers and Writing Conference and then fly to Columbus for DMAC and then fly back to Lubbock and ride home to Columbia after DMAC. The timing is just really tight so I’m not sure how it will work out best, especially considering fuel and flight costs. I really need some bike time. I’ll have to punch in the numbers and see what I can manage.

Here is how my summer is lining up:
Head to TX and spend time with friends: ASAP
Computers & Writing Conference: May 25-28
DMAC Institute: May 29-June 9
Summer classes begin: June 13
Summer classes end: August 4
Vacation–Offline: August 7??
Fall classes start: August 21

I’m excited now about everything that is going on; however, I’m sure I’ll be ready for some serious downtime come August.

Update 4/26/2006 9:50 pm — I just got an email telling me that I’ve been awarded the $100 that I applied for to go to the Computers & Writing Conference. YEAH!!!! That award will pay for most of the $130 registration fee. So now for that conference, I’m only down $30, plus $60 for a shared dorm room, plus travel costs.

I am so grateful. It’s been a long winter.