Red Socks Sox.
Patriots.
Celtics.

One city.
One year.
Three championships.

Too busy to make a Jack-o-lantern this year? Never fear, the digital equivalent is here!

[via Julie Dietrich]

The theme for Pleasant Vineyard’s 2005 summer camp season was Area 52: Portal to the Lost World. To get campers and families excited about the coming summer, we created this video and put it on the PVM website.

When parents want to take their children out of my school for several days at a time, they’re required to fill out an Extended Absence Form. This form is overall pretty bland … but one of the questions always produces quite a few entertaining responses:

What are the possible educational objectives that could be accomplished while your child is out of school?

It’s always hilarious to read the crazy “objectives” that parents come up with … you can tell which ones were good at B.S.ing their way through college and which ones still use it in the workplace. So funny!

I couldn’t help but collect some of the best answers over the years … so here are the student names, followed by the “educational objectives” that parents said they would accomplish during their vacations absences:

• Luci: increased geographical knowledge; exposure to Carribean culture
• Nick and Kathleen: learning about the diversity and cultures of the world at Epcot and MGM Studios
• Chad: Exploring the Pacific Ocean and tidepools
• Jeremy: Jeremy will be visiting Inverness. Jeremy’s desire is to see the Loch Ness monster.
• James: hunter safety; outdoor environmental education
• Ben: Ben can help plan for the trip; expensives, milages, average mph, average temp. for week, written report on history of the area
• Chris & J.T.: An opportunity to be enriched by the diverse cultures and the geographical features in California.
• Brian: travel, see the real world
• Jennifer: Will have the opportunity to visit the Carribean Islands and see different cultures and geography. Will get the opportunity to see marine wildlife (on Disney Cruise).
• Courtney: studying.
• Sam: Learn about mountains and mountain life; additional geography appreciation. (family ski vacation)
• Jacob: Will help AIA staff with the 2003 Super Bowl breakfast, much exposure to Christian athletes who use their platform to share their faith (going to the Super Bowl with AIA)
• Aaron: Calculating time, distance, altitude, flying (math); environment, animal and plant life during winter months and on mountains at altitude, altitude and how it affects your body (science); lots of excersize (p.e.)
• Joe: In the past, our children have been enriched with not only time spent with their Grandparents but also written reports on “red tide” (done with our laptop), explored marine life upclose and personal, and visited natural surroundings.
• Christian: Louisiana history (thanksgiving holiday to visit grandparents in louisiana)
• Maria: It is teaching her to juggle a heavy schedule of practices and homework, there is a lot of discipline involved.
• Jonathan: He will experience the mountains of Lake Tahoe and tour San Fransisco. Jon will definitely grow in his snowboarding skills.
• Jamie: Absolutely nothing.

“Mr. Webel, I like how you’re legitimate and funny at the same time.”

– Elise, sixth grade

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately digging up details, hitting the road, and crunching numbers for my home hunt. When you’re a perfectionist like me, it can be an exhausting process … especially when you’re still learning the ropes and double and triple-checking your facts all the time.

Here are three of the current leading contenders, in no particular order. You can see their locations on this map or click on the links below to see more details about each home.

10650 Robindale Dr
This single family home in Sharonville has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths and is selling for $119k. It’s a foreclosure that’s lender-owned, so the price is right and maybe even a little bit flexible. It would require some work … landscaping, carpet, finishing the basement … but would probably resell for at least $140-150k. Sharonville’s about 10-12 minutes from school, it has great parks and a rec center, and the property taxes are the lowest that I’ve found anywhere nearby.

6819 Ohio Ave
This 2-family home in Silverton has a beautifully refinished 2 bed/1 bath lower unit and an occupied 3 bed/1.5 bath upper unit. It’s got a lot of square feet, brand new utilities and innards, and is going for $150k. If I lived here, renting out the second unit would almost completely cover my mortgage … an obvious advantage over single-family homes. This home (and the next one) is near Kenwood mall, a steadily growing community about 15-18 minutes from school.

4005 Deer Park Ave
This 3-family home has been meticulously updated by the owner for the past couple of decades … it features a 3 bed/2 bath unit upstairs, an occupied 1 bed/1 bath first floor, and an occupied efficiency in the basement. The price is high … $185k … but the renters have been there a long time and want to stay. I trust the workmanship here and like the flexibility of differently-sized units, but I’d need to get the price down significantly to seriously consider it.

I still don’t feel like I’ve found the “right” place … but I don’t now how long I’d have to wait for it to show up on the market. So what do you think? What are your initial reactions?

For the past two years, I’ve been pursuing my Master of Science in Education with a focus in Integrating Technology into the Classroom from Walden University. I finished my last of ten courses in May … and at that point, all I had to do was complete my portfolio.

Because of some miscommunication, my move back to America, and some downright irresponsibility, I completely missed the June deadline. Yeah. I didn’t even think about it until August … and at that point, I had to petition to be let back into the program and have my portfolio graded. What a mess it was.

Fortunately, they let me back in … and now my portfolio is due on November 15th. I’m hoping to finish it before then, however, so I’m spending all weekend here at home plugging away. It’s so difficult for me to concentrate … but at this point, I don’t really have a choice!

I’ve actually decided to shun the usual format for portfolios and instead put mine online. So if you’re interested, you’re welcome to check it out as I upload new components and fit the pieces together. If nothing else, I sure could use the accountability!

Now webeldotnet is even smarter … it lets you know which posts and comments are new since your last visit by putting next to them.

What do you think … do you like it?

I’m not sure how true this statement, inspired by Master Chief, is … but it resonates with me.

[original photo]

While preparing for our pirate-themed summer at PVM in 2005, I sat down with Matt and Amber to record an audio introduction for the staff website. Here’s what ensued:

The quality was pretty bad, so we never ended up using any of it. But it still cracks me up!

[The Autumn Pickerings, by Lance Webel]

This past weekend I went to Indianapolis to visit my sister and her family. We cheered Drew on at his football game, picked pumpkins at a local farm, and celebrated the baptism of all three kids (see the photo set and slideshow).

It was fantastic!

People say that you’re not supposed to do your shopping on an empty stomach because you’ll buy too much food.

I don’t understand that reasoning … when I’m hungry, I shop less so I can get out of there and eat.