| Digital - teacher | Education in a technological world

Machine Error 41

I thought I was being clever last year when I bought an all singing, all dancing new printer (mentioned it in my digital teachers blog) from Brother. I was beaming at my smartness.
Not any more - the thing is only good enough to be used as a doorstop now. You see, I get a message on the small LCD screen that says (wait for it...) ERROR 41 (all brother printer owners are now cringing into the monitors).
Yes, the famous and annoying Error 41 message has struck me and my machine is just out of its warranty period, so I'm up sh*t creek without a paddle.
I wasn't sure what the Error 41 message was, until I googled it, and then sat in horror as I read report after report on how so many other people had been affected by it.
So, my advice to you - DON'T BUY A BROTHER PRINTER!!! Ignore their website advice of "Turn off and plug back in". It doesn't solve it. It won't make it work. Just go get another printer from a more reliable firm.
Please.

All fall down

I paid a visit to a local park today and went for a wander around the grounds of Wollaton Hall there. I was saddened to see that the once great Camelia House was in such a bad state of disrepair that it is in danger of falling down. Vandals had smashed most pains of glass within it, and the whole thing looked shabby and uncared for. In addition the Hall itself looked tired and old, and the steel fencing around it (together with the overgrown grass verges) added to the abandoned look of the place.
What would the Willoughbys say if they knew...

Fortunately, looking at the City councils website, they have the following statements;

We hope to begin a major programme of restoration works at Wollaton Hall & Park from September 2005. Work will take place throughout the Hall and Park and will last around 18 months. We aim to let people visit the Hall and grounds as much as possible during these planned works, but some disruption will be inevitable and parts of the Hall and grounds may be closed at various times to allow works to proceed. The Hall itself is likely to be closed from October to mid December 2005. Please telephone to avoid disappointment.

and also;

Wollaton Hall, now owned by Nottingham City Council, is to be restored as part of a £6.75m conservation project.  £1m will come from the European Regional Development Fund with the rest coming from The Heritage Lottery Fund and other public and private sources.  The plans are ambitious, but they will restore one of the nation’s most important landmarks. 

Phase one of six in the Council’s long-term conservation plan for Wollaton Hall includes: 

• Repairing and opening up the Prospect Room to the public 
• Creating access to the half leaded roof so that people can walk around it 
• Structural repairs to the Grade 1 listed Camelia House and remedial repairs to the Doric temple in the park grounds 
• Opening up more rooms in the hall and more of the park to the public 
• A modern interpretation of the exhibitions housed in the hall, with integrated displays replacing the existing natural history collection 
• A fresh programme of guided tours, featuring live actors in period costume 
• Better facilities, including a new visitor centre an caf, plus extra toilets 
• A fully accessible ramp to the hall, with a new visitor entrance through the servants’ wing at basement level 
• A lift to provide access to all levels 

I'm glad to see that the local authority is keen to return the area to an attractive state.

igot iPod

Hey, I entered some code numbers from the back of some crisp packets into a website and guess what - I won an iPod mini!!
It's arrived, and although the new nano has just been released looking even more stylish, I quite like it.
Already I've put on around 30 albums - there are more still to go - and experimented at adding podcasts from some of the top podcasting sites out there, and found it quite straightforward to do it all. I never thought I'd like so much, and now I see myself looking at other apple products thinking "wouldn't that be nice"...

Where has all the respect gone?

In the last few months, these are some of the incidents that I have seen taken place on the road;

• Children hedge-hopping all the way up the street from garden to garden
• Children wandering up and down the road armed with large sticks
• Mini motorbikes racing up and down the road
• Children throwing footballs at cars (and the reaction from parents indifferent)

What has happened to respect for peoples property, and respect in general? There is the government talking of clamping down, but on the street there is nothing to be seen at all. Is this more hot air from a  political party that has lost control?

Building site wedding

We've been to the church to have a second chat with the minister about planning for the wedding.
One slight, but potentially BIG, problem is that they are planning building work at some point, and we could find that we'd be sharing the aisle with a lot of builders tools and rubble.
Could be interesting...

Privaliged Vs Not so

I've work for many years within an inner city, and loved most of my time there.
I recently spent two unhappy terms working in a very leafy suburban school with children who had everything they could ask for.
Although almost put off teaching completely, I'm back in the city, once again working with children who get very little outside of school.

Which children appreciate what you do for them more? Yep - those who have nothing. This is why I love working in the inner city. Seeing the gratitude on their faces each and every day instead of "We're going to collect my new horse tonight, it cost dad £3,000".

It has made me think long and hard about the previous school, and ask myself this question;

Are all suburban school children like this?