One for the Books

SO SNOWY: I'm trying to think of the last time there wasn't some snow on the ground. It's been days. And days. And it feels like weeks. 

Though it might sounds like I'm being a tad dramatic, take this fact into account: 

So there you have it. It's only February 12, and this month has been the snowiest one in Seattle since 1969. 

We'd had some flurries before, but the snow started falling in earnest on February 8th. I decided to station Captain James T. Kirk out in the backyard to act as our snow gauge.

The first photo I took of him was at 12:30 p.m. on the 8th. There was already about an inch on the retaining wall where I placed him (photo at top of blog post).

By 4:30 that afternoon, the Captain was up to his knees in it. 

Come twilight (about 5:30 p.m.), Kirk looked downright frigid. He was nearly waist high, and had a 'hat' of snow.

 By 9:30 that night, he was chest deep.

 We got even more snow overnight, and the Captain was up to his chin.

Fortunately, we were able to (mostly) enjoy the pretty snow without too much trouble. We have two cars with all wheel drive and chains, so we're fortunate in that regard. We were able to get my parents to the airport on Saturday afternoon, no trouble. We've played board games, enjoyed a fire, had plenty of groceries and multiple tasty meals ... not bad at all! 

Long range forecasts call for snow off and on for the next week plus. Time will tell how much more fluffy stuff the skies bring. ...

LISTEN UP: All-too-often around MPA, I hear myself telling the student body they need to be better listeners.

I say it, and somehow it doesn't just magically happen. ... Hmm.  

That got me to thinking (finally!). I could exhort the kids to be 'better' at algebra, but unless we practice it and work toward it, that's not magically going to happen. Seems to me that listening is, likewise, a skill that maybe just isn't inherent for many and it has to be taught. Don't know why I didn't think about that before.

Anyway, when I started contemplating how to learn to be a better listener, my mind immediately turned to TED. I figured there just *had* to be a TED talk or ten about listening skills. 

We wound up watching one today with "sound expert" Julian Treasure. With 6.9 million views, I figured it had to be at least somewhat legit. In the talk, Treasure shares ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening. It's worth a listen, IMHO. 

Following are a few of CJ's 'takeaways' from the video we watched.

This morning, after completing a brief arithmetic exercise on Khan Academy, we watched a TED Talk given by Julian Treasure, titled "Five ways to listen better," about, as the title implies, how to improve one's listening skills. While I won't provide an equivalent to the entire lecture in this essay, I will list my two biggest takeaways, both of which are ways to listen in our noisy, crowded world, from the lecture:

First, one thing somebody can do to gain a better sense of listening is to employ "the mixer." "The mixer" is a process where, in a noisy environment, one determines how many "channels" of sound there are around you. An example, as provided by Treasure in the video, is determining how many birds are present in a nature environment, and where they are around you.

Second, Treasure recommended "savoring" the sounds and noises around you, even if they seem (and/or actually are) mundane and uninteresting. For example, it can be interesting to think about the nature of certain sounds and noises, such as those made by laundry machines, and why those things make those noises. Treasure referred to the sounds around us as "the invisible choir."