Article on cell phone discounts for teachers. http://ht.ly/8ekQn

Top 5 Texas Instruments Calculator Hacks of All Time

http://www.techpoweredmath.com/top-5-calculator-hacks-time/

I've got a new review up for a site called Reflex Math, a very, very cool way for kids to learn arithmetic. http://ht.ly/7Ts97

Unusual Red Ribbon Week Celebration

https://www.techpoweredmath.com/red-ribbon-week/

Untitled

Wanted to highlight my church, Imago Dei Church.  We are non-denominational church in the heart of Peoria, located at 210 W. Arcadia Ave, Peoria, IL 61604. http://www.imagodeichurch.org

testing links

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Culbertson and Allen Law Firm Website

So I've been helping a few different groups out with promoting their businesses online recently. I've spent a lot of time promoting my dad's (Mark Allen's) law firm, Culbertson and Allen. The firm is located at 306 Locust St., Delavan, IL 61734, meaning it's not exactly in the most populous location from which to build a business. That means drawing from the surrounding areas, and that's a great reason to have a website. While the site is still just starting to build content, I've encouraged dad to have a monthly blog. One of the challenges in promoting a small business is fresh content. Since he knows a lot from his years of real estate law, estate planning, and agricultural law, he's got a lot to write about. His first post was about potential changes to the power of attorney law in Illinois.

Abandoned Buildings

As you may have already notice, the focus of this blog has rapidly shifted away from being an opportunity to promote my main site to just a chance to write about any random thing. After Wednesday's trip to Six Flags St. Louis, I heard about Six Flags New Orleans being abandoned in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That got me really thinking about urban decay and abandoned buildings. It's kind of beautiful and tragic all at the same time. Right near where I live, there's an abandoned mental institution that has a lot of notoriety. I'd like to check it out if they offer any more tours. Here it is on Wikipedia.

Working With a Peoria Church

I'd like to start writing a few posts about some of the side projects I'm working on. One of them is assisting Imago Dei Church with their rankings. Imago is a church in Peoria, IL, that is very forward looking. They'd like to be able to be found by those new to the area who are looking for a church or those that have been away from the church for some time and are looking to go back. They have a beautiful site but haven't been very visible online and are trying to raise their profile in search engines, social media, etc. If you live in the area, Imago is located at 210 W. Arcadia Ave, Peoria, IL 61604.

Wolfram developing iPad Apps

Head on over to the Wolfram website (makers of Mathematica). They are developing iPad apps like an iOS version of Wolfram Alpha, as well as study apps for Pre-Calculus and Physics.

Go Back to School

I've been thinking a lot about why people go back to school lately. I guess for a lot of people, money is the primary motivation. I doubt that is the case for everyone, however. How frustrating must it be to be stuck in a job that you no longer feel is appropriate for you. There are so many ways to move on to a different career, but in a lot of cases, lack of the right college degree will limit those options. If you can't make the career change you'd like to make, going back to school may be the only option. If you find yourself in that situation, I hope you'll make the leap. Don't let anything hold you back: cost, previous failures, even fear of your math class. You need to make the jump.  Good luck!

The Seniors Will Be Missed

I just want to say thanks to the class of 2011. Today was the last day for my seniors, meaning tomorrow, all of my pre-calculus classes will have shrunk a bit. This semester, I had a very nice group of senior, some of the nicest I've ever had. I heard stories of some of the kids being rude or disrespectful on their way out, but not so with my seniors. I hope they have an amazing graduation this weekend and even better futures to come in college. I think they've learned enough math along the way to open the doors to a lot of different career options. Best of luck in calculus and beyond to all of them.

Farewell seniors

Today was the last day for students in all of my math classes. Best of luck to them. I've had a really great group this year. I know some of the other teachers were less fortunate, expressing frustration with how the kids acted on the way out--some of them being rude, intentionally messing up the hallway and classrooms. Fortunately, those kids are the minority. Best of luck to all of you, especially my seniors who will be taking freshman calculus next year. Try not to forget everything we taught you; we certainly learned from you as well.

School year almost over

Well, another school year has come and almost gone. This is always a bittersweet time of year. Of course, I'm thrilled to have my summer ahead of me, but you also miss the good kids, which in all honesty, is most of them. Lots of good things to dwell on from this past year--chess team improved dramatically, math team came within a hair of winning state, but mostly, just a lot of nice kids in my class. Who knows what the next year will bring? We'll have a new member of our department, and as a result, I don't even know what classes I'll be teaching.

Alright, I've got a whole Saturday ahead of me, and I don't want to spend the whole day in front of a computer, so I'm out of here for now.

Shopping sites for Katie!

FAVORITE SHOPPING SITES

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.target.com

http://www.kohls.com


FAVORITE TRAVEL SITES

http://www.priceline.com

http://www.travelocity.com

http://www.hotwire.com

TI-Nspire 3.0 Science Tools and "the TI-Nspire way"

Spoke with TI-Nspire chief Mark Fry again last week. Latest briefing about TI-Nspire tools. http://www.techpoweredmath.com/ti-nspire-3-0-science-review/

Used Graphing Calculator Advice

Check out this post on Buying a Used Graphing Calculator.

New site

I've started a new site, Personal Finance Blog 101. The idea behind my new site is to talk about all the things I working through in my own life about saving for college through a 529 plan, saving money through the Upromise program, looking at Roth IRA's and much more. Check it out at http://www.personalfinanceblog101.com