Yet another way to waste time

Powerpoint and teaching methods

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:14:07 GMT

Many of you will already have seen references to this research:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/04/03/1175366240499.html

Who knows exactly what the researchers think, but it has certainly been picked up by the popular press as "power point sucks". But leaving aside all the obvious counters, what amused me in the article, were these statements:

The findings that challenge common teaching methods suggest that instead of asking students to solve problems on their own, teachers helped students more if they presented already solved problems.

"Looking at an already solved problem reduces the working memory load and allows you to learn. It means the next time you come across a problem like that, you have a better chance at solving it," Professor Sweller said.

Do I even need to comment? Nah, i think i will just let the statements speak for themselves :)

P.S I am waiting for one of our Algorithms (451) students to tell us the homeworks are useless for their learning.

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:12:06 GMT

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/a-fundamental-wrong-in-letting-some-marry/2007/03/30/1174761750887.html

Entertaining way to write an opinion piece. Though, since I knew what she was on about after the first line or so, it may not be useful as a device to convince people.

Some books read recently....

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 21:55:29 GMT

It has been a very long time since I blogged about any books I have read. So before I forget what they were, here is a list! Hopefully I have not forgotten anything.

Neverwhere: A Novel, by Neil Gaiman - fantasy fiction set underneath London. ***

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut - cross between a war novel and an SF novel? ***

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith - pretty interesting/entertaining. ***

Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier - quite a good murder mystery. ***

Love in the Time of Cholera", by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - i did not like it at first, but then it drew me in. ****

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers - this is a memoir, somewhat pretentious and self-obsessed, but it is ultimately quite engrossing ... not sure how he did it. ****

Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke - pleasant to read. ***

Things Fall Apart, by Chinau Achebe - interesting, but also quite depressing account of life in Nigeria. ***1/2

Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami - i love the way this guy writes. ****1/2

The Trial, by Franz Kafka - totally struggled through this. There were some interesting ideas, but I would have preferred it in short story form. *

Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov - what can I say, Nabokov is a genius. *****

His Dark Materials - golden compass, by Philip Pullman - lots of fun. ****

I capture the castle, by Dodie Smith - quite endearing. ****

The Pillars of Earth, by Ken Follett - absolutely epic, like fantasy but without the magic, both interesting and entertaining. ****

Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh - all the characters annoyed me. **

Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman - second book is as good as the first! ****

Pigs

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:35:50 GMT

Poor pigs: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/opinion/14niman.html?em&ex=1174190400&en=a08952256d38b787&ei=5087%0A

I was not aware pigs were kept in cages like chickens. I wonder if this happens in Australia too.

book meme

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:30:12 GMT

Anyone feel like a really long book meme?

Instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won't touch with a 10 foot pole, underline the ones on your book shelf, and *asterisk the ones you've never heard of.*

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkein)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkein)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkein)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
~~12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)~~
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)*
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
~~30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)~~
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
~~32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)~~
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
*38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
*39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
*41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
*43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
~~44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)~~
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
~~49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)~~
*50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
*56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
*65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
~~67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brahares)~~
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
*73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
*76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
*77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
*79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
*81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Tery Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
*88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
*89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
*91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
*93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
~~94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)~~
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
*98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
*99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

1. One book that changed your life?
none

2. One book you have read more than once?
LOTR (and many more)

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Not sure, probably a really complicated maths book - i might learn something

4. One book that made you laugh?
Hitchhikers guide

5. One book that made you cry?
umm, can't remember crying

6. One book you wish had been written?
some awesome story by me? weird question.

7. One book you wish had never been written?
anything that is hateful, otherwise people should write what they like, i don't have to read it.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Brideshead Revisited

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
I have a whole list...

I have credit!

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:28:29 GMT

Woohoo! I finally have a somewhat reasonable credit rating!! I became suspicious that i might finally have decent credit when i succeeded in getting my brother a cell phone. I was wasting some time on amazon this afternoon, pondering what sort of camera i want to buy, when i was enticed by their little $30 off for signing up for a credit card ad. Given my recent cell phone success i figured why not give it a go... And guess what? I was instantly approved! Granted $800 is not a very useful credit limit, but given the number credit rejections i have suffered (I was even rejected for a secured credit card - my lack of credit record meant i could not be identified properly or some such nonsense), i am very happy.

Reading Log

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:58:27 GMT

White Oleander by Janet Finch
One has to hope the series of LA foster parents depicted in this book are not a representative sample.

The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood
Atwood writes about a totalitarian future where people's lives are tightly controlled and women are generally subjugated. It is not 1984, but it is pretty good.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
Not sure what to say about his one. It took me a while to get into it, but i enjoyed it in the end. Palahniuk is certainly quite creative.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I read this ages ago and forgot to note it down. I think this is the best book i have read in many months - gut wrenching, interesting, and compelling. I would write more, but i had better save my hands for work.

I had no idea...

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:21:11 GMT

According to Gary Bouma, writing in the SMH, I am a member of a religious group! :)

"How is the host of a dinner party, or corporate function, to cope with the dietary regulations of vegetarians, vegans, as well as those of other religious groups?"

Not sure how that one got past the editor.

Crazy proposed copyright law

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:50:56 GMT

In Australia, the government is trying to get an amendment to the Copyright Act through parliament. This amendment would make it illegal to put tracks from a music CD you bought onto an iPod! Apparently it was meant to make this sort of copying LEGAL, but the lawmakers did not realise that iTunes keeps a copy on the HD as well as on the iPod...

It would also allow for on-the-spot fines of $1320 for copyright infringements. The cops could pretty much issue every household in the country such a fine! It is hard to imagine a house without, some video recorded from the TV, or some CD copied from a friend, or a few MP3s unpaid for.

You can read all about it at the SMH.

If the article is even half-way correct, I think whoever wrote this Bill should be fired for not using their brain...

Swimmers

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:25:12 GMT

Anyone know a good place to buy some-what practical swimwear at this time of year?

Reading Log

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 02:57:27 GMT

"Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt

Memoir about growing up poor in Ireland in the 1940s or thereabouts. Dad is a drunk, both parents are smokers, and the toddlers are often fed water with sugar instead of food. It was both humourous and depressing. This is an extremely popular book, and is worth a read for sure, but I would not rave about it.

"The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai

I liked this one better than the last booker prize-winner, "The Sea", which I never even finished. The novel is largely set in the north-east of India, in the 1980s, against the back-drop of the Nepalese independence movement. It touches on many themes - young love, culture clash (both Indian and British and Indian and American), class divides etc. The words flow well, but the story less well. Some parts were excellent - well written and compelling, but as a whole I just thought it was lacking something.

Crocodiles, crazy tourists and crazy locals

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 19:57:41 GMT

The SMH had a funny article this morning: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/11/09/1162661802875.html?from=top5

Some incredibly dumb tourist entered a water hole and splashed around in attempt to attract the attention of a Croc so he could photograph it. The crocodile, rather understandably, bit the tourist and now is going to be moved out of the water hole. The reporters managed to get the following quote from an upset, croc loving local - "If you were being taunted by that tourist you would bite him too." Clearly idiotic tourists should stay well away from Cape Trib. :)

Carnegie and Mellon

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 19:53:46 GMT

Apparently there are two new biographies out - one about Carnegie and one about Mellon. The NYTimes has a joint
review. There are many "... Carnegie, Mellon .." and "Carnegie and Mellon" references in the review, but not one "Carnegie Mellon". :(

"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:01:54 GMT

"The Poisonwood Bible" is the story of the Price family. The story is largely set in the Congo where Nathan Price, a Baptist minister, drags his family in 1959. The Prices find themselves in an isolated village where they have to rely on some of their supplies arriving by air. They are woefully unprepared and unsuitable for the situation.

The story is narrated by each of the women: Orleanna - the mother, Rachel - the eldest, the twins Leah and Adah and the baby of the family Ruth May. Rachel, Leah and Adah are all teenagers, but they each have a very distinct voice. Rachel is perhaps the least well-drawn character. She is selfish and superficial and these qualities are reinforced by the events of the story. What seems like teenage self-preoccupation at the beginning starts to look like a poor caricature by the end. Leah is a younger teenager, desperate for her father's approval. Adah, Leah's twin, has had difficulty moving one side of her body since birth. She does not speak ... she is capable of it, but finds it very difficult. Both she and Leah though are considered "talented" and have skipped a grade in school. Ruth May is only 5 and her chapters are generally the most amusing as she stumbles along, misunderstanding things but making friends with the local kids nonetheless.

The older women all eventually realize the pointlessness of Nathan’s brand of ministry, but Nathan never does. He wants the women to cover their chests, is determined that nothing less than baptism in the local river is adequate, and generally moralizes at the local people while making almost no attempt to understand their customs. He is a man incapable of compromise. At home he is tyrannical and abusive but for the most part placated by his wife and children. However, a death leads to a profound change in the life of each of Prices….

The story spans more than 20 years in the life of the Price family and includes many political developments in the Congo. Kingsolver’s treatment of the political events is not to everyone’s taste, and I have read reviews that labeled it simplistic. But personally I think there is nothing wrong with introducing readers to the idea that not all western interference is altruistic and beneficial. If people want to get a good understanding of Congo history they should read something other than a novel!

In summary, “The Poisonwood Bible” is both interesting and entertaining. Though perhaps not particularly profound, it is certainly worth a read.

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho **

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 01:38:37 GMT

"The Alchemist" is the story of Santiago, a Andalusian shepherd boy, who travels around the world in order to find his life's treasure. Santiago's desire to travel had lead to his becoming a shepherd, but at the start of the book he is contemplating settling down with a nice girl. However, a dream and a magical stranger combine to send him off to Egypt in search of treasure and his destiny. On the way, Santiago learns much about life and people. He learns to follow his own heart, to never give up on his dreams, to read omens, and even perform miracles.

The "magic" in the "The Alchemist" is strongly entwined with religion and the notion of a single creator God. The lessons for life delivered vary in quality. The main message is that if you want to achieve something, and never give up, you will achieve it eventually and the universe (read God I think) will conspire to help you. Following a dream is all very well and fine I suppose, but it seems that a person had better choose the dream that is actually their "destiny". It is no use telling someone who is 5 foot and wants to play in the NBA that they should devote their life to basketball.

"The Alchemist" is written in the style of a fable, and I am inclined to label it a children's book, though a child under 12 might find it hard to understand. "O Alquimista" was a huge hit in its original Portuguese, so it is has been translated into many languages, including English. :) I gave it only two stars ... but then i have never liked fables.

Nobel prize for literature

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 15:13:05 GMT

Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk, won the Nobel prize for literature. Probably one of their less controversial choices.

Guardian Article

Booker Prize

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:48:27 GMT

Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize for her novel "The Inheritance of Loss". Anyone read it? It has only 10 reviews on Amazon at the moment.... I expect that will be sky-rocketing soon.

The prize winning books are normally quite good.

The Sea by John Banville - i tried to read it but got too bored.
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - different and reasonably entertaining.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel - good, very pretty writing
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey - i have not read it. I have an aversion for anything that looks like it might be "Australiana" ... i guess foreign is more interesting because it is, well, foreign.
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - have been meaning to read this one.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee - pretty good, short.
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy - all over the place, but the prose is pretty in places and the story interesting.

"Forest Mage" by Robin Hobb ***

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:14:37 GMT

“Forest Mage” is the second book in Robin Hobb’s “The Soldier Son Trilogy”. The Trilogy is set in Gernia. The Gernians have taken over a landscape once primarily inhabited by the magic wielding Specks and Plainspeople. Although seemingly defeated, the Specks, at least, are still strongly resisting the take over in their own subtle way.

Nevare Burvelle is the son of a “new noble” – a man elevated due to his service during the war. Like all second sons of nobles, Nevare is destined to be a soldier. The first book in the trilogy recounts part of Nevare’s childhood and his time at the King’s military academy.

Due to an event in childhood, Nevare has a special connection with Speck magic.
But, I don’t want to reveal the story of the first book too much, so let’s just say that “Forest Mage” begins as Nevare is preparing to return home for his brother’s wedding. Nevare has recently recovered from a life threatening illness, and it turns out that he is suffering from a very rare side-effect. Nevare is gaining weight at an alarming pace.
By the time Nevare makes the long journey home (this is epic fantasy, so think horses not cars) he is alarmingly overweight.

For the rest of the book Nevare’s appearance has a huge effect on what happens to him. He is censured by his family, rejected by his fiancé, shunned, and openly abused. Everyone assumes that it is his own fault he is fat, and judges him mercilessly for it. The reader experiences Nevare’s sadness and anger, making this a book that is certainly not upbeat. Nevare is largely alone as he battles with the Speck magic that attempts to control him to the detriment of his people.

“Forest Mage” has unusually strong themes for a fantasy book. The book explores the problems with judging someone on their appearance at length. But it also touches on the clash between invading and native cultures, where the invading culture sees itself as more civilized.

While “Forest Mage” is quite good, it is not a very enjoyable novel. Nevare’s never ending struggles with a society where he does not quite belong are somewhat reminiscent of the very low periods Fitz goes through in Hobb’s Farseer books. The depressed tone of the novel is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not what most people would have expected.

Mysteries of Pittsburgh

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 21:52:19 GMT

I read somewhere today that the Mysteries of Pittsburgh is being made into a movie. I guess it is about time i got around to reading it!

Reading the newspaper makes me mad

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:54:29 GMT

This morning, the opinion section of the Sydney Morning Herald had a summarized version of the speech the prime minister, John Howard, made at the 50th anniversary of Quadrant (a right-wing literary magazine). You can find it here. The title is "Australia must fight in global struggle for freedom and liberty". Nothing wrong with that perhaps, but the whole thing was simply an attack on the left. By pairing such a title with the attack, he implies that since some people on the left were at some point supportive of communism, the left of today is not for liberty and freedom! Of course nothing could be further from the truth, it is conservative right-wingers like Howard who are not for liberty and freedom. They go on about freeing the Muslim world, but at home, it is these people that want to restrict liberties based on their own religious beliefs. Furthermore, it is the Howard government that introduced anti-terrorist legislation that goes counter to basic principles such as "innocent till proven guilty". So that got me mad this morning.

To make matters worse there was a follow up this afternoon by the Herald's most idiotic and nasty columnist, Miranda Devine. Devine spends most of her piece simply quoting Howard, but can't resist adding her own jabs as well. Miranda makes it clear what a great/smart/rightly thinking audience she thinks is present and she states "The consensus after the dinner of beef carpaccio and roast lamb (no vegans invited) was that the Prime Minister's speech was perhaps his finest". What the hell is up with the random jab at vegans? So annoying!

If i want to get work done i really should not read opinion articles it seems.

Reading Log

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 21:51:32 GMT

The Soul Weaver by Carol Berg ***

This is the third book in the "The Bridge of D'arnath" series. I read some bad reviews of it on Amazon, so i thought it might suffer from the typical fantasy fiction syndrome where, after some point, the series degrades until the books are unreadable (think Terry Brooks and Terry Goodkind). But, I actually thought it was better than the first book. Not sure what was bothering the Amazon readers so much.

The Nanny Diaries: A Novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus ***

Written by two former Manhattan nannies, the Nanny Diaries introduces the reader to the crazed upper-strata of New York society. The aptly named Nan goes to work for a Mr and Mrs X, parents of a strangely named boy, Grayer. Every minute of Grayer's day is scheduled with a bizzare assortment of activities for a four year old (French class, Tennis, visits to art museums etc, etc). The only thing that is not scheduled is time with Mrs X. Despite having no job, she is way to busy to spend any time caring for her own child. I won't go through the story line, except to say that Mr and Mrs X are the bosses/parents from hell.

The book is readable and enjoyable, but not particularly well written. A movie version starring Scarlett Johansson is coming out sometime next year.

Banned Books

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 22:47:06 GMT

Happy Banned Book Week!

The most challenged books of the 21st century are the Harry Potter books! I guess someone thinks all that magic stuff is satanic or something? This website has lots of interesting information about attempts to ban books.

Audio Books

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 18:19:09 GMT

This site is pretty cool:

http://librivox.org/librivox-catalogue/

You can download free readings (in mp3 format) of books in the public domain. It seems the readings are done by volunteers, but the one i clicked on was very clearly spoken.

Reading Log

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:28:52 GMT

"Guardians of the Keep" by Carol Berg - Fantasy of course. :) Second book in a series. I liked it better than the first book which i found hard to get into at the start. ***

"Rabbit, Run" by John Updike - well written and interesting in places, but i found it hard to enjoy since none of the characters are appealing. It is about a young man, Rabbit, who just keeps running from his responsibilities. **

"The Blood Knight (The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Book 3)" by Greg Keyes - definitely not as good as the first two books. The characters and the suspense were lacking something. Unfortunately, since this is a recent release, it will be quite a wait for the next, and hopefully final, installment. **

"The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith - set in Botswana this book follows Mma Ramotswe as she begins the only detective agency in the country run by a lady. Mma Ramotswe is great, the story interesting, and the writing is enjoying to read. ****

"At Risk" by Patricia Cornwell - this originally appeared as a series in a magazine. It is weak all around. The goodies are dull and lacking in character, the baddies not interesting, the plot kinda boring, but it is short. It felt like watching a bad movie and took a similar amount of time. *

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole - I am not sure what to say about this book. It is supposed to be hilarious - but while i was amused at times i did not laugh once. Ignatius J. Reilly the novel's focus is a totally unappealing disaster of man, completely unfit to cope in the world. Wherever he goes things become interesting. While i did not like this book as much as many i won't forget it any time soon. ***

picasa web

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 20:19:55 GMT

I recently started using picasa web albums. It is reasonably nice. The main bad thing about it is the 250MB limit. I have already used half of that. But there appears to be no rule against having multiple accounts through multiple gmail accounts, so i guess that can be gotten around.

Here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/liz.crawford

There are some photos there from our summer trips.