Category: Uncategorized

Yeah, so caved in and bought a little drone. This is the same model I saw at the ADE conference and it can be programmed with Swift Playgrounds. I have not done anything in Swift with it but I did get some pictures of the top of my head in my back yard!

It is a Parrot Mambo Minidrone. 

The thing on the top is a cannon that can shoot little plastic balls and there is a clamp on the bottom to pick things up. I have not done any of this yet, I’m still learning how to NOT fly into walls!

———-

Mark K.

Last night we played a gig as a trio.

Drummore Bay Music Hall
It was a cool show. It I had a bit of a hard time hearing myself, particularly in the first set. Second set we moved the bass amp in front of me and that was a lot better.

Did some cool songs as a trio including “Burn Down the Mission” and a completely new song, “Border Song”.

Fun was had by all!

Here is a picture of me that was captured by James Ross!

———-

Mark K.

While working on Poems 7, I have updated all previous six Poetry books and organized them int a series called “Poetry by Mark H. Kavanaugh”

It is amazing how fast one can get at the publishing interface in iBooks when you have to repeat them over and over. 

All these books should be available again tonight. The only change is that I changed the survey link to one that is only for works of Fiction. 

Finished Poems 7 as well. There were some neat poems in this one. I wish I was as motivated to write additional poetry now like I was then!

———-

Mark K. 

I have finished my preparation for my presentation at the upcoming ADE Academy in Houston, TX.  My topic is “Integrated Textbooks”

I will be discussing the way in which I have connected the CourseBooks in the Mental Health program with two “Reference CourseBooks”…on is the iOS and App Tutorials CourseBook and the other is the Mental Health Core Content CourseBook.  

This was a fun process, taking advantage of the animation capabilities in Keynote.  Looking forward to the entire experience at the ADE Academy!

———-

Mark K.

Today I find myself dealing with barriers and adversity within my work.  Without going into the details of the situation, it is clear that disrupting KVCC with the iPad 1:1 program is going to have to endure the attack of many levels of administration and others.

Today’s Bible reading devotional seems to address what it is I am to do under circumstances of adversity.  While the context of this advice is when we are under adversity for our faith, I believe it has application with every aspect of adversity…including the unimportant work-related ones!

Bring healing

My approach needs to NOT be rash and should not push people away.  If the things that I said to my windshield (as I process some of my anger out loud) were actually said to the people in question I would certainly get nowhere.  I have to restrain my anger and frustration and seek to heal those around me.

Be truthful

In all I say I need to be sure that I do my research and get the facts straight.  I can’t make my argument based on what I THINK is happening, but on what I have clear evidence for.  This will endure.  Despite the tendency we have to mix up opinion and data.

Be restrained

This one is similar to the “Bring healing” mentioned above.  I have a tendancy to blurt out my thoughts.  While it may be true that these attacks have no basis in truth and fact, and it may be true that the attackers really do have “real” power over the situation and are not using their own restraint of these powers…I am not in the position to go full tilt against them.  This will only make me look like the fool.  I have already failed in a number of circumstances with this.  I struggle with restraining my outrage.

This is the tough one because I am so angry at this situation.  So angry at the things that were taken from me by this administration…projects that I have been working on and the expressions of my knowledge and talents.

Restraint also needs to be applied to the expression of knowledge.  This is an interesting one.  “A prudent person is reluctant to display his knowledge.”

What?  This is what I bring to the table…!  Just because I know the answer does not mean I need to show it off.  This might be where I am intimidating and when I act this way around those in power (who also lack knowledge) they are left in a defensive position.  While my intent is simply to win the argument, it is perceived of as a challenge to power.  

Be kind

Everyone around me has their own anxieties.  I need to be more understanding and apply this to the interactions I have.  MY particular issue is not necessarily on the top of everyone’s agenda!  (I know this, but to practice this within this context is challenging!)

Be at peace

Ultimately I need to rely on one thing and one thing alone.  This is all part of a lager plan.  God’s plan.  I face these things as part of an overall preparation for something much larger than I can see.  Maybe I have to face adversity in something more important and this is a preparation…maybe it is as simple as making a career change.

Either way…God is in charge.

Pray for peace

If we want God to answer our prayers we need to be focused on Him.  During this time I’m also working on removing the worldly distractions that distance me from God and focus my attention on what He wants me to focus it on.

In fact, as I write this, I realize that this whole situation is a distraction from what he wants me to focus on! Here I am at 3:11 am perseverating about this situation when I should be focusing on being thankful that I’m alive and well and learning about what God has planned for me!

There are so many distractions in this world that tie us down from accomplishing God’s plan.  

I spend a LOT of time focused on my career.  But that focus is still connected to other people.  By this I mean that I am tied deeply to the thoughts of others on what I’m doing.  It is vanity, really.  

Yet, I still know, and I’m experiencing this insight as I write this, that the good work, the creativity, the labors that I have in front of me need to be focuse on God, not on other people.  I do these things not to bring attention to myself but to glorify Him.

So my prayer for peace is to ask God to intervene and help me realize how unimportant these circumstances are in the larger scheme of His plan…while at the same time, celebrating his power in me to be creative, encouraging, kind, and patient.

———-

Mark K.

In this reading we learn that the divine order of time is from night to day.  It is not that the end of the day goes into the night as we often perceive, but that the night is first and it becomes the day.

This sequence is much like the life we lead when we follow God.  We do not go from day to night, we go from night to day (from darkness to light).

This really is the hope that we carry with us.  That although our bodies move from life to death, our spirit moves from death to life.  Each day we repeat this…the “day” begins at sundown and ends at the following sundown.  

As I make my walk with God a deeper part of my life, I am looking at the ways in which I am in darkness.  In these ways I need to move from darkness into the light.

The Mission: What darkness is in your life, the darkness of fear, of sin, of problems, of gloom?  Today, turn away from it and to the light of day.

———-

Mark K.

Kissing is the most intimate of acts.  To worship God, in one sense, is to engage in the most intimate act of love with our creator.  

Some anthropologists believe that kissing arose from the need to chew food for each other (largely due to tooth decay) and that the partially chewed food was transferred from one person to the other.  As gross as this sounds, this would certainly not be something you would be willing to do with just anyone…probably only your spouse. 

In a way though, it is a kiss that transfers nourishment.  So, worship also nourishes us.  It is also our commitment to give to God all we are.  We put everything we are into the love we express when we kiss God.

The Mission: Today, draw near to God in worship, in love, in joy, in the deepest of intimacy.  Learn the secret of kissing God.

———-

Mark K.

Today’s reading contrasts the east-west continuum of geography on Earth with the north-sound continuum.  It was important that the temple was oriented East to West.  As sine was removed from the people it was removed from the east end of the temple to the west.  Now because the East-West continuum has no poles, it is infinite.

God removes our sins and places them very far from us…in fact they are infinitiely far from me, as far as the East is from the West.

The Mission: Today, take time to ponder and take in the love of God that removed your winds as far as the East is from the West – and live accordingly.

———-

Mark K.

In the Bible in a Year devotional that I am reading, the discussion is about the universal longing and emptiness we feel as humans because of the part that God used to play, and needs to play, in our lives.  We have, as it said, a “God shaped hole” in our soul.

Addictions are very powerful distractions from this “hole”.  They mimic the feeling of being filled, happy, content.  But they do not last and they destroy the “temple” of our body.  The draw is amazing though.  On a small scale, consider a nice cold glass of water.  Anyone who has been really thirsty knows how good a cold glass of water can be.  It is instantly satisfying.  Yet despite this very inexpensive (except of course for those who do not have access to clean drinking water) source of refreshment I still find myself drawn to soda, beer, wine, and coffee (lots of coffee!)

When I do have a glass of water it is SO refreshing I wonder why I drink anything else?

A relationship with God is like this.  The different and “exciting” feeling of the substitutes for God’s presence are so attractive.  But when we DO have God close to us, it is like that cold glass of water!  WOW!

This disconnection from God is the profound disconnect from the natural world.  Even within science, the wonder that we see in the natural world is meaningful not only when we see its magnificence, but to understand our part in it as a pinicle of creation.  We are the greatest of all of God’s creations!  (Although, and this may be counter to some Christian teachings, I would not be surprised that we are not God’s ONLY experiment.  It is also possible that some of these experiments worked out a bit better!  What if Adam and Eve did NOT disobey God on another world?  What would that place be like?)

———-

Mark K.

Today I began work on the first of a number of guidebooks inspired by the ALOTA instructional design method and the iPad 1:1 program.

The first of these is focused on the iPad, “Managing iTune U Courses”

This one is directly related to the Apple Distinguished Educator stuff, so I thought I would start there.  I’m hoping to have a number of them published by the time I go to Houston in July.

Note: Finally got this blog up and running again after some trouble getting acces to the MK Journal site.  Took the wind out of my “Book of Mysteries” reading.  I’ll be doing that again starting tomorrow.

———-

Mark K