Coffeechug Listography: I need to explore these, have you?

I am continuing to sort my notepads and eliminate all these massive volumes of pages of notes that I scribbled on tons of notepads. This post is based on two pages of lists of things I told myself to check out. I have not checked them out yet, but before I lose these notes I am typing them up.

If you any an recommendations or have used/heard/read about these please let me know.

1. Minecraft Project for Schools
2. Sekai Camera
3. ARIS
4. wiki.lvl1.org
5. nerdyderby.com
6. socialbro
7. bufferapp
8. restwise.com
9. samiinkinen.com
10.Robert Miller
11. fakebook.com
12. Calm Counter/ Noise Dial
13. ourdigitaldojo.com
14. edorigami.wikispaces.com
15. Nearpod
16. Monday Trick Shot
17. Move strawberry in water with mind
18. DOINK/EDCanvas
19. Amy Unell
20. Augment Reality Apps
21. Too Big Too Know - Weinberger
22. Teecino - I have used these products and they are AWESOME!
23. Lego Poetry
24. MJ Failure video
25. Star Wars Snowflakes
26. Lego Brick Race
27. Lego Brickshow
28. Teachem - free online teaching platform


BE. DO. HAVE.

40% of our actions are not based on decisions, but habits.

NERD ALERT: Insights and Random Notes from the Notepads of Coffeechug

I have been working on gathering and organizing all my notes. I have notes by the notepads all over. At least 10 notepads completely full of notes, links, websites, books, etc. I am attempting to declutter my life and getting organized not only in my home, but also in my nerd aspect of my life. So, as I have been working through all my NAGC notes from that amazing conference I thought it would only make sense to sort through these notepads. This is my attempt to record ideas and such that I think are important to remember and ditch the rest. As I sort each page I will recycle that piece of paper until I have not papers left in these notepads.




This is about getting myself centered and balanced. Here we go!

Here is a quick sample of what these pages look like. Full of random ideas assembled all over the page for an organized structure only I would understand.


Education Apps To Explore

• Stick Pick
• Dropbox(I have this and use it on a daily basis)
• Teacher Assistant
• Smart Seat
• Common Core
• Wunderlist
• Confer

Other Apps and Links To Explore

http://www.slideboom.com/

Junk Jack

Epicurious

Whole Food Counter

Robot Sites and Programming & Minecraft

botmag.com

nxtacy.com

minecraftteacher.net

massivelyminecraft.org

minecraftinschool.pbworks.com

Books

S.M. Boyce - Grimoire

Athlete's Plate - Kelinson

Liminal States - Parson

Crogan's Loyalty - Schweizer

Bunch of Amateurs - Jack Hitt

Totally Lame Vampire

Middle School Worse Than Meatloaf

Paper Covers by Jenny Hubbard

Rot and Ruin by Maberry

Split by Avasthi

The Seeker by Guy Finley

Run Explosively by Michael Yessis

Math Girls by Hiroshi Yuki

Lola and The Boy Next Door - Perkins

How To Die - Ann Hadgman

Americus - MK Reed

Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion

Quotes

• Don't compare with those who have more, don't compare with those who have less. Compare not. Just be yourself.....allow your being.

More notes to come. This was only two pages worth keeping from one notepad. Enjoy this list and as always feel free to let me know other suggestions and ideas worth exploring.

I could not help myself.......

I was looking at my training provided by Dailymile.com and this is what I saw

Now you might be asking yourself - So what? He is just showing off his training.

Wrong

First, there is enough there in my training to warrant any bragging of any nature.

Second, if you look at the daily training numbers there is a nice little sequence I could not pass up based on how us CRAZIES roll each Tuesday and Thursday.

Being the nerd that I am, I quickly added one little touch, cropped out any unnecessary parts of the screen that I did not need and turned this

Into this

I know it is remarkable :) Just kidding, but I could not resist. It is the small things in life that make my day.

Thank You John Green - My Nerdy Superhero and Mentor

How I love John Green!

My favorite author. Period. Of all genres.

This weekend I received my signed copy of his latest novel, The Fault In Our Stars.

And yes I have started reading it. Reading it slowly. Digesting all the witty dialogue and writing elements that John incorporates into his writing.

I have many places bookmarked as favorite passages, quotes, one liners, etc.

The best part of this book?

His autograph

Thank you John Green for your autograph, your splendid YouTube videos, and your books. After a long hiatus from YA novels you have brought me back in the genre. A book review will be later this week. So far I am loving this novel.

Maybe one day I can convince him to offer up a dialogue via YouTube between him and me. That would be the ultimate of all ultimates. This has me thinking that it is about time to bring back the Coffeechug videos. Let the gears start to turn......

What the blogger?

Blogger is finally back up and running. Not sure what happened and why things were offline as I have not had time to figure things out, but thank the Lord it is back up and running.

I have lots to say. It was killing me not getting caught up in my blog posts.

So, this is my blog post to be prepared for an infiltration of Coffeechug thoughts, book reviews, game reviews, and all the other nerdy things floating around.

While sitting in the hospital holding my new daughter, Ava, I realized that it felt great to not be plugged in to the internet almost 24/7 like I typically live my life. It felt good to be off the grid. Being off the grid opened my eyes to something that is not a brilliant idea by any means, but an important breakthrough for myself.

It is time to be more creative. It is time to find my own niche. It is time to bring Coffeechug Concepts brand to the forefront of nerdiness in this world. Looking back at some of my posts I started to see a trend of me not being very original.

It is time to be original. What will that look like?

I

HAVE

NO

IDEA

However, I am back. Ready to share my insights. Ready to post my thoughts and reviews.

It feels good to be back. This time with another native to the tribe.

Off to go pick up my son from school and mowing the yard. This my friend is not original, but will will be coming down the pipeline will be.

And yes, I am claiming the phrase, "What the blogger?" as my new catchphrase. Maybe it has been used, but for me it is the start of Coffeechug Concepts moving forward.

So, carry on with your bad self.

Coffee For The Brain March Madness Book Tournament

The books are almost all here


Coffee For the Brain Judge Meeting

We are going to have a meeting on December 14th at 3:00 in my classroom C11.

This meeting will cover

¨ Book Bracket

¨ Handing out of the books

¨ Requirements of all judges

¨ Timeline of events

¨ Important decision about final round

If for some reason you cannot attend this meeting please track me down in the hallways or my classroom (C11) or email me. I know that this is a tough time for a meeting after school, but I will try to not have any other meetings outside of school. I really need to meet with everyone to make sure everyone understands how everything will unfold. It will be important to stay within the time schedule so we don't fall behind. For some of you who cannot make this time I can arrange a separate time. For example, some of you are parents who might have to work so either your child can make the meeting and deliver everything to you or contact me. Teachers you can just stop down and see me on your prep periods if that works best. After the meeting I will type up notes of what was addressed and covered in the meeting.

 If I don’t hear from you by the end of this  meeting you will taken off the judging panel.

Get your reading skills ramped up as we have some serious reading to do!

Please spread the word to other judges. We are dependent upon one another.


I look forward to this bracket. It will be here soon!

Don't Forget........

Don't forget to submit your shout-outs for the next video. (watch Nerd Factory Season 2, Episode 2 for more details).

Shout-outs have to be school appropriate, but can include anything from

-telling someone hi

-a joke

-a quote

-something important for others to know like your birthday

-maybe you just want me to call your name out

-maybe you want me to tell your pet good morning

-maybe you have something that you would like me to tell your teacher

This is open to everyone, not just students. Please email me your shout out (aarmau@gmail.com) or if you are in my school, just track me down in my classroom or hallway. Your shout out will be in the next video which will be posted next week.

Welcome Back to School - A little challenge to begin the year

If you are like me, then you are ready to be back to routine, but probably not in school shape quite yet. It always takes a week or two to get in the flow of school. I want to welcome all of the returning students back to my blog. Many of the 7th and 8th graders are used to this blog and many things will operate the same, but I have many surprises to throw your way this year. More challenges, more games, puzzles, videos, etc. If you are a 6th grader you may have heard of this blog already, but many are new to this blog. I welcome you to a site that is designed to provide some good laughs and hopefully find a way to brighten up your day.

To begin the year off in the right direction I have a little challenge for those of you who are reading this.

Here it goes
1. I am putting some finishing touches up on a few videos. I am going to be creating another Question and Answer video again in a few weeks. Please email me or post in the comment area questions that you would like for me to answer. They can be whatever you want as long as they are school appropriate. The questions will be answered, but may or may not be the right answer!

2. I am looking for some funny and/or just plain interesting videos. If you know of a video that I can post here on my blog, then please email me the link at aarmau@gmail.com

I would like to post a video each week and many of you know of more videos than I can possibly view in a lifetime. Send me those links.

I will begin and post the first video. This video makes my palms sweaty watching this guy walk on these beams. It is quite amazing. The crazy parts of this hike are around the 5 minute mark, but the beginning gives you a sense of how high up they really are.


Two easy challenges. Please join in and I look forward to another great year of providing you useless information. Adios!

A new book blog to check out.

I was curious to see how some people were coming to my website. So I checked my monthly update about how people are finding my blog and this super cool blog was one that had my blog mentioned. Go ahead and check this blog out Bookworming in the 21st Century

I thank the creator of this blog for mentioning my blog and just wanted to return the favor. I had no idea this blog existed or my blog was even mentioned. Just another little surprise that makes your day. The Mean Old Librarian blog is another good one mentioned.

I feel so honored

Patrick Carman has shared my blog on his Facebook page. It is always a awesome feeling when an author recognizes your blog. This makes me like this guy even more. Now I just need to make a robot from garage sale parts!

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1195918225&k=Z5LYP66YW2TF6BD1PB2XWVWSSVIB4ZWD4SFW1&oid=405820178820

Coffee For The Brain Twitter Book Club

As many of you have hopefully noticed I have begun to change and update my online presence to better serve you and the internet world. I have been working on the design of my blog and have a basic foundation laid out. I still have some things I need to add, but I think it looks much nicer than before.

Another addition that I am adding is an online book club via Twitter. I have already begun this and you can see my comments over to the right in the sidebar. For the summer I have it open to anyone who wants to share what they are reading and their thoughts on the book. The challenge is that your Tweet is only 140 characters long so choose your words carefully. Just simply make sure we know what book you are writing about. As school starts up again I will be turning this into a place to talk about one book at a time like a true book club. So come join in the fun and share what you are reading. I am currently tweeting about Fever Crumb, then moving on to Thirteen Days to Midnight by Patrick Carman and then The Short Second Life of Bree by Stephenie Meyer.

I am still looking for symbols and slogans and decorating ideas for the blog and the Nerd Factory as posted yesterday so feel free to offer suggestions. As always thanks to all of you who check the blog.

Random Thoughts and Ideas for the Week

Here are the three questions posed to you in the Nerd Update Video
1. What is your favorite fauna?
2. What is up with the crazy guy?
3. What is a nibblet?

Watch the video and then answer the questions in the comments below. Enjoy my fellow nerd clansmen. Don't forget to check out Nerd Factory Episode 9 that was created on Saturday. You know you want to watch that one too.

Oh yeah! Please don't forget to post/email/dropbox me your questions that you would like for me to answer. I am making the video soon. I have some questions, but I need more. PLEASE SEND QUESTIONS or POST in comments or submit in DROPBOX. Here is a link to the Question Post

Below are the links to items mentioned in the video.

Superman: The Musical

Here is that darn catchy Gap Commercial



Here is a link to the crazy guy that I mentioned in the video. Submit responses.

Awesome Coffee Pictures

Miley Cyrus

Here are some additional links to think about and check out when you want to waste time.

Here are 12 of the nerdiest, but yet coolest wallet designs. I want them all(too bad I never have any money to warrant the use of carrying a wallet)

These two great ideas were found at Mental Floss

Weekend Project 1: A coloring book dress you can wear! (ok this version is a little pricey, but it’s a cool idea overall!)
*
Weekend Project 2: How to Make a 3-D Origami Christmas Star. Report back if you managed it!

Nerd Update: Anti-Theft Sandwich Bags

Why can't I think of this stuff? This is such a genius concept.

Sandwich Bags

Nerd Update: Random Thoughts

Here is the latest video of the random thoughts that have been plaguing my brain over the course of the last week. Feel free to post your thoughts and ideas to this video in the comments.




Adam Sandler - Turkey Song

Super Mario Bros for the Wii




Here is the link to the Pee Wee Herman website Pee Wee Herman

Did you watch him on Conan the other night?

Part 1: http://bit.ly/7zdgl2

Part 2: http://bit.ly/8EaQDd

Thanksgiving Pageant: http://bit.ly/4ZHbLa

Here is the link to the "What Cereal Should I Eat"

Not mentioned in the video, but this is A funny picture

Nerd Update: Things I am Thankful For

I decided to create a video on things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday. Watch. Enjoy. Post your ideas on things that you are thankful for in the comments. Have a great Thanksgiving.

Mr. Maurer

Nerd Update: Hairball Article from my old teaching days

As I was walking with some former students in the hallway a few days ago, we were reminiscing about the good old days of 6th grade literature. One of the things that came to mind while we were talking was an article about a girl who ate her hair. With a little help from Google and the fact that I am a pack rat who stores everything on my flash drives I was able to find the article.

The reason I share this with you all? Because the picture of the hairball is so gross and to add to the idea that it was sitting in her intestines just blows me out of the water. So, go ahead and read the article and check out the picture. Don't say I didn't warn you - the hairball is 10 lbs!


Click here if you would like some hair to go with your lunch.

Nerd Update: Miley Cyrus Does Not Know a Jay-Z Song?

I know, I know, teachers should not know about music and pop culture, but I am not as old as I look. Anyways, here is my latest video because I am a little upset. Why? Check the clip.





Here is the link to the music video from YouTube. This will help ensure that I am not alone in having this song stuck in my head for another week.

Nerd Update - Walmart Sells What???????

This is not a joke! I promise you that this is the truth. Wal-Mart really does sell everything. There is nothing this store does not sell. I was wasting time on the internet and look what I found.....




Here is the hyperlink in case you still don't believe me.

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&search_query=casket