After an agonizing period of time wrestling with the options in my mind, I finally made some decisions and filled out my absentee ballot today.
I ended up voting for:
13 Republican candidates (6 of which were unopposed)
4 Libertarian candidates
3 Democratic candidates (1 of which was unopposed)
I also abstained from voting in three races, and all three were races with Republican candidates running unopposed.
If you haven't voted yet, I urge you to cast your vote for the candidates you do like, and not against a candidate you don't like. Don't base your decision on a fear of "the other guy" winning.
I am glad this is finally over. I look forward to the next election.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
New Android Rom
If you happen to have an HTC Droid Incredible 2, I highly recommend checking out the following site: MROM
I have experimented with using various roms on my phone. I have used the Cyanogedmod 7 Nightlies for the most part. Usually, I will install a rom for a day or so before going back to CM7.
But this MROM, wow. It is built using CM7, but specifically for the Incredible 2. Battery life is great, it seems quite stable, and it is visually GORGEOUS. I am particularly fond of the battery meter on the top status bar.
You can see the battery icon at the top right. Notice also the icons all along the left side. It reminds me, somewhat, of seeing the Windows 2000 icons for the first time after upgrading from Windows 98SE (in a good way.)
MROM is Gingerbread (2.3.7), but visually looks like similar to what I have seen of ICS.
I have been using it for a couple days now, and I expect to stick with it for a while.
Anyway, please go check it out!
I have experimented with using various roms on my phone. I have used the Cyanogedmod 7 Nightlies for the most part. Usually, I will install a rom for a day or so before going back to CM7.
But this MROM, wow. It is built using CM7, but specifically for the Incredible 2. Battery life is great, it seems quite stable, and it is visually GORGEOUS. I am particularly fond of the battery meter on the top status bar.
You can see the battery icon at the top right. Notice also the icons all along the left side. It reminds me, somewhat, of seeing the Windows 2000 icons for the first time after upgrading from Windows 98SE (in a good way.)
MROM is Gingerbread (2.3.7), but visually looks like similar to what I have seen of ICS.
I have been using it for a couple days now, and I expect to stick with it for a while.
Anyway, please go check it out!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
On homeschooling...part 2
Here are the results of the past year of homeschooling, and my thoughts on the curriculum and the progress made on my daughter’s education.
You can read Part 1 here.
Phonics/Reading - The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
RESULTS: My soon-to-be first grader is doing very well at reading. She is over half-way through the reading book, and BOB Books are way too young for her now. She reads short chapter books for fun all by herself, and even has some books for slightly older readers, like The Boxcar Children and American Girl books. We are a bit more than halfway through the book, and are continuing using it for first grade.
Writing - A Reason for Handwriting: Manuscript A
RESULTS: Dd is moving right along in handwriting, but doesn’t use the curriculum too terribly often. Every now and then she will do a few handwriting pages. Her handwriting is improved dramatically, and she has a notebook that she loves to write in. She has been writing songs and letters to friends. She also likes to write down her dreams sometimes.
Math - Math Mammoth Grade 1-A
RESULT: WOW! My six-year old went through 1-A, and is just a few weeks away from finishing 1-B. I imagine she will probably be starting on 2-A in the next several weeks…second grade math! She is learning very well, and even her four-year old sister enjoys doing simple mental math (addition and especially subtraction). The four-year old has actually even started working through grade 1-A as part of her preschooling at home.
Science - Magic School Bus DVDs
RESULT: The girls both watched the Magic School Bus DVDs over and over to the point where several are scratched. They really enjoyed them, and would tell us all kinds of facts about the bloodstream, outer space, the water cycle, deserts, and other fun topics. We just purchased three more DVDs that include about 10 episodes they haven’t seen yet. We have an exciting curriculum for our oldest dd for 1st grade science that we she is really enjoying now too!
Bible - Big Truths for Little Kids. We will combine this with regular readings from The Jesus Storybook Bible, as well as continuing in AWANA for Scripture memorization.
RESULT: Well, we got a few chapters in to the book, and the girls became very good at answering questions like “Who made you?” “How many Gods are there?” and “Why did God make you and all things?” My eldest finished two AWANA books this year, mostly by reading them to herself and memorizing several verses each week on her own.
So, what about first grade?
Phonics/Reading – Continue with The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
Writing – Continue with A Reason for Handwriting: Manuscript A
Grammar – First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind… she actually started this several months ago.
Math – Math Mammoth Grade 2-A once 1-B is completed
Science – Mr. Q’s Classic Life Science. This is a FREE Science curriculum based on classical education. The only cost is printing out the pages. There are 36 chapters, and we plan to do one chapter per week.
History – The Mystery of History. This is a classical education based history curriculum. Volume 1 starts with Creation and covers the time period up to the Resurrection of Christ.
You can read Part 1 here.
Phonics/Reading - The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
RESULTS: My soon-to-be first grader is doing very well at reading. She is over half-way through the reading book, and BOB Books are way too young for her now. She reads short chapter books for fun all by herself, and even has some books for slightly older readers, like The Boxcar Children and American Girl books. We are a bit more than halfway through the book, and are continuing using it for first grade.
Writing - A Reason for Handwriting: Manuscript A
RESULTS: Dd is moving right along in handwriting, but doesn’t use the curriculum too terribly often. Every now and then she will do a few handwriting pages. Her handwriting is improved dramatically, and she has a notebook that she loves to write in. She has been writing songs and letters to friends. She also likes to write down her dreams sometimes.
Math - Math Mammoth Grade 1-A
RESULT: WOW! My six-year old went through 1-A, and is just a few weeks away from finishing 1-B. I imagine she will probably be starting on 2-A in the next several weeks…second grade math! She is learning very well, and even her four-year old sister enjoys doing simple mental math (addition and especially subtraction). The four-year old has actually even started working through grade 1-A as part of her preschooling at home.
Science - Magic School Bus DVDs
RESULT: The girls both watched the Magic School Bus DVDs over and over to the point where several are scratched. They really enjoyed them, and would tell us all kinds of facts about the bloodstream, outer space, the water cycle, deserts, and other fun topics. We just purchased three more DVDs that include about 10 episodes they haven’t seen yet. We have an exciting curriculum for our oldest dd for 1st grade science that we she is really enjoying now too!
Bible - Big Truths for Little Kids. We will combine this with regular readings from The Jesus Storybook Bible, as well as continuing in AWANA for Scripture memorization.
RESULT: Well, we got a few chapters in to the book, and the girls became very good at answering questions like “Who made you?” “How many Gods are there?” and “Why did God make you and all things?” My eldest finished two AWANA books this year, mostly by reading them to herself and memorizing several verses each week on her own.
So, what about first grade?
Phonics/Reading – Continue with The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading
Writing – Continue with A Reason for Handwriting: Manuscript A
Grammar – First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind… she actually started this several months ago.
Math – Math Mammoth Grade 2-A once 1-B is completed
Science – Mr. Q’s Classic Life Science. This is a FREE Science curriculum based on classical education. The only cost is printing out the pages. There are 36 chapters, and we plan to do one chapter per week.
History – The Mystery of History. This is a classical education based history curriculum. Volume 1 starts with Creation and covers the time period up to the Resurrection of Christ.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
What is the Gospel? (video compilation)
It seems like a simple enough question, but so many misunderstand. Here are several videos that tell what the Gospel is.
Trip Lee:
Mark Driscoll:
John Piper:
Sam Storms:
Michael Horton:
Paul Washer:
Each of these videos tell the same message, but each appeals to a different audience. Which of these presentations of the Gospel resonates with you the most?
Trip Lee:
Mark Driscoll:
John Piper:
Sam Storms:
Michael Horton:
Paul Washer:
Each of these videos tell the same message, but each appeals to a different audience. Which of these presentations of the Gospel resonates with you the most?
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Some of My Sources...
I have had several people ask me where I get my information from, so I wanted to share with you, loyal reader, the websites that I check regularly. Most of these I check daily, if not more. Some of them I may check only a couple times a week.
Facebook - I have two accounts: one personal one, and one solely dedicated to political postings.
Email - I have three email accounts that I check, not including multiple work emails.
Twitter - you can follow me at @realtonygoodwin at Twitter. I retweet a lot of stories and things I find interesting, not very much in terms of original content though. See below to see some of who I "follow."
http://www.msn.com/ MSN.com - this is for headlines and interesting little stories
http://drudgereport.com/ The Drudge Report is known for breaking news stories
http://www.fark.com/ Fark.com is a news aggregator, it includes user-submitted links and snarky commentary
http://www.politico.com/ Politico is my main source for mainstream political news, especially the 2012 Live tab
http://www.fark.com/politics/ - This is Fark.com's special politics section
http://realclearpolitics.com/ - RealClearPolitics has the best and most accurate polling numbers, as well as news stories
http://www.maximumpc.com/ Maximum PC is all about PC hardware and other technology stuff
http://www.tomshardware.com/ Tom's Hardware has indepth PC hardware articles, with excellent reviews and testing
http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/maximum_tech Maximum PC's tech site, for Android, tablets, phones, etc
http://www.smartmoney.com/ SmartMoney has a portfolio tool where I can check my real and fantasy investment portfolios, as well as interesting articles
http://crawlingroad.com/blog/ Crawling Road keeps me up to date with interesting investment news, mostly focusing on Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio Strategy
http://thegospelcoalition.org/ The Gospel Coalition features great articles and blogs from a solid theological footing
http://www.challies.com/ Tim Challies has great reviews of books and whatnot, from a Reformed perspective, and his a la carte posts are quite interesting
http://edstetzer.com/ Ed Stetzer blogs about church research, missiology, and church planting
Here is just a small sampling of the several hundred accounts I follow on
TWITTER:
Politics
https://twitter.com/#!/gallupnews
https://twitter.com/#!/POLITICO2012
https://twitter.com/#!/politico
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedPol
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedAndrew
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedBen
https://twitter.com/#!/ZekeJMiller
https://twitter.com/#!/HuffPostPol
https://twitter.com/#!/thehill
https://twitter.com/#!/TheFix
https://twitter.com/#!/daveweigel
https://twitter.com/#!/TheStateColumn
https://twitter.com/#!/PeterHambyCNN
https://twitter.com/#!/BretBaier
News
https://twitter.com/#!/csgazette
https://twitter.com/#!/HawaiiNewsNow
https://twitter.com/#!/MilitaryTimes
https://twitter.com/#!/reason
https://twitter.com/#!/TheEconomist
https://twitter.com/#!/CatoInstitute
Polling
https://twitter.com/#!/pewresearch
https://twitter.com/#!/ppppolls
https://twitter.com/#!/RasmussenPoll
Christianity
https://twitter.com/#!/MarsHill
https://twitter.com/#!/edstetzer
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorMark
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorTullian
https://twitter.com/#!/RELEVANT
https://twitter.com/#!/desiringgod
https://twitter.com/#!/CTmagazine
Miscellaneous
https://twitter.com/#!/joshualyman
https://twitter.com/#!/AnonyOps
https://twitter.com/#!/LiveActionFilms
https://twitter.com/#!/5tu
https://twitter.com/#!/HomeschoolConv
Facebook - I have two accounts: one personal one, and one solely dedicated to political postings.
Email - I have three email accounts that I check, not including multiple work emails.
Twitter - you can follow me at @realtonygoodwin at Twitter. I retweet a lot of stories and things I find interesting, not very much in terms of original content though. See below to see some of who I "follow."
http://www.msn.com/ MSN.com - this is for headlines and interesting little stories
http://drudgereport.com/ The Drudge Report is known for breaking news stories
http://www.fark.com/ Fark.com is a news aggregator, it includes user-submitted links and snarky commentary
http://www.politico.com/ Politico is my main source for mainstream political news, especially the 2012 Live tab
http://www.fark.com/politics/ - This is Fark.com's special politics section
http://realclearpolitics.com/ - RealClearPolitics has the best and most accurate polling numbers, as well as news stories
http://www.maximumpc.com/ Maximum PC is all about PC hardware and other technology stuff
http://www.tomshardware.com/ Tom's Hardware has indepth PC hardware articles, with excellent reviews and testing
http://www.maximumpc.com/tags/maximum_tech Maximum PC's tech site, for Android, tablets, phones, etc
http://www.smartmoney.com/ SmartMoney has a portfolio tool where I can check my real and fantasy investment portfolios, as well as interesting articles
http://crawlingroad.com/blog/ Crawling Road keeps me up to date with interesting investment news, mostly focusing on Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio Strategy
http://thegospelcoalition.org/ The Gospel Coalition features great articles and blogs from a solid theological footing
http://www.challies.com/ Tim Challies has great reviews of books and whatnot, from a Reformed perspective, and his a la carte posts are quite interesting
http://edstetzer.com/ Ed Stetzer blogs about church research, missiology, and church planting
Here is just a small sampling of the several hundred accounts I follow on
TWITTER:
Politics
https://twitter.com/#!/gallupnews
https://twitter.com/#!/POLITICO2012
https://twitter.com/#!/politico
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedPol
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedAndrew
https://twitter.com/#!/BuzzFeedBen
https://twitter.com/#!/ZekeJMiller
https://twitter.com/#!/HuffPostPol
https://twitter.com/#!/thehill
https://twitter.com/#!/TheFix
https://twitter.com/#!/daveweigel
https://twitter.com/#!/TheStateColumn
https://twitter.com/#!/PeterHambyCNN
https://twitter.com/#!/BretBaier
News
https://twitter.com/#!/csgazette
https://twitter.com/#!/HawaiiNewsNow
https://twitter.com/#!/MilitaryTimes
https://twitter.com/#!/reason
https://twitter.com/#!/TheEconomist
https://twitter.com/#!/CatoInstitute
Polling
https://twitter.com/#!/pewresearch
https://twitter.com/#!/ppppolls
https://twitter.com/#!/RasmussenPoll
Christianity
https://twitter.com/#!/MarsHill
https://twitter.com/#!/edstetzer
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorMark
https://twitter.com/#!/PastorTullian
https://twitter.com/#!/RELEVANT
https://twitter.com/#!/desiringgod
https://twitter.com/#!/CTmagazine
Miscellaneous
https://twitter.com/#!/joshualyman
https://twitter.com/#!/AnonyOps
https://twitter.com/#!/LiveActionFilms
https://twitter.com/#!/5tu
https://twitter.com/#!/HomeschoolConv
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