Made it back home Sunday night...after 24-hours of road time in three days.  Great travel.  The toughest day was day three.  I rode eleven-plus hours from Missouri to DFW.  More on the travels in a coming post.

The pictures below are from the morning I picked up the Cycle of Education.  These photos were taken at Fort Meigs (1813) in Perrysburg, Ohio.

The chrome, rims, and other non-painted pieces are not polished up yet...but I bet you'll appreciate the beauty of the artwork!

Yesterday I took a rather scenic (read...I got a bit turned around) route to Bloomington IN.  It was flat until I reached Nashville, IN  (not "the" TN Nashville).  Nashville, IN is just under 20 miles from Bloomington.  Though it was dark when I arrived, I can tell this part of Indiana is beautiful.  The glaciers didn't make it to the southern part of the state, so it has a much more interesting topography than the northern part of the state.

I am a member of a motorcycle travel network I'll write about soon.  We all make our homes available to host other riders for a nominal fee of $15 a night.  Pretty cool and a great way to meet neat people.

Barry and Bonnie Martin (not related to me) are two such people.  Really good folks.  I pulled into their garage about 9:00pm last night, had good conversation, got some sleep, and am about to take off for St. Louis, MO.  Five hours closer to Dallas..home.

I saw the Cycle of Education today for the first time.  It is getting reassembled at Honda East Toledo.  It should be done tonight, so I am planning on hitting the road tomorrow.  I will ride five hours tomorrow to Bloomington, Indiana after finishing a photo shoot here in Toledo.

Here are a few views of the bike partially reassembled.  They were taken inside the Honda shop, so there are some florescent light streaks in several of these photos.

I made it to Ohio.  Two unpleasant surprises today dealing with business ethics. 

1) Don't fly SPIRIT AIRLINES without heeding the following.  They charge $40 for a carry on without readily advertising such.  So, when I looked at Hotwire.com, it showed Spirit with a fare of $51 and American Eagle with a fare of $63.  Seems like an easy choice EXCEPT you must read the fine print at Spirit Air that will clue you into the fact that the actual cost to get what you are getting from American Eagle for $63 is a cool $91 on Spirit.  Deceptive in my book. 

When I return to DFW I am going to call the Southwest Airlines corporate offices and suggest they do a funny commercial about Spirits' business model.  They love attacking the other airlines on baggage fees...for checked bags.  They would no doubt have a field day with fees for a carry-on bag!

I asked the airline rep behind the counter and it sounds like the policy is just as unpopular with her and her colleagues.  They probably have some pretty unpleasant confrontations with unhappy customers over this matter.  I bet I heard one out of three passengers on that flight complaining about this matter.  The lady representing Spirit simply told me when I asked if any other airlines had this policy...and she said, "no, it is our business model." 


2) I am going to think more before I write this one.  This business matter capped off a string of disappointments and--clearly--it is terrible business.  On principle I want to write about it, though I'm trying not to and won't at this time.

Tomorrow I fly to Chicago...then on to Toledo OH to pick up The Cycle of Education on Thursday!  I will arrive in time Wednesday evening for the World Series game...though the weather does not look good for getting it in.  Incidentally, the Texas Rangers are up three games to two. 

When I booked my flight for this trip I used Hotwire.  I entered Dallas to Toledo, OH and my date.  Many options were presented.  The low price was $230 one-way, with a stop in a hub city. 

I then decided to search for cheaper tickets for each leg of the trip independent of the other.  Same date and time.  I noticed that many flights into Toledo originated in Chicago.  So, I searched for DFW to Chicago and found a flight for $51 on Spirit Air.  Then I searched for a flight from Chicago to Toledo and found one on American Eagle for $63.  My layover is a mere two hours.


Moral: if you are flying to a small city and must fly through a hub to get there, you may save money by pricing the trip like I did above!  Of course, you may need to switch airlines.  No problem for me.  I got a kick out of saving the money!

Earlier I posted a picture of the trailer's top.  Below are pictures (pre-clear coat) of the trailer cooler and two sides.  The cooler represents Fine Arts...with a decidedly Mardi Gras feel!  A theme appropriate for the cooler section, though I'll probably store more H2O in there than anything else!

The trailer represents a few portrayals of the extracurricular side of schooling.  I suppose the next photos I'll be showing you of the Cycle of Education will be next Thursday the 27th, when I pick it up from Honda East Toledo!  Then it will be reassembled with new parts and a paint job for the ages by Pam Shanteau!

If you know anyone who teaches about the Solar System, you should let them know about "Solar Walk."  What a teaching tool!

In fact, if you are a parent this is a good one to share with any young person.  It is a fascinating view of our Solar System for only $2.99!

Visit the App Store to purchase it.  (I am in no way affiliated with this software developer or company.)  It is just cool!

EDIT:  Well, the idea is good...but I am not recommending "Safe and Savvy Browser".  Perhaps I'll find a similar product to share that I feel more comfortable recommending.

Lesson reinforced: performance and support are at least as important as the idea of the app.  

EdClick does this well.  The product works as intended, support is responsive, and very often it is customer feedback on needs that shape product development. 

Sometimes, when you are regularly using Apple products and EdClick applications, you expect the hardware and software will 'just work'.  Incidentally, one key difference between EdClick products and "Safe and Savvy Browser" is that anyone can DEMO Edclick products before buying.  That is not the case with many other software applications, such as "Safe and Savvy Browser."  All around, "Safe and Savvy Browser" did not work for me.

If you work in a school, EdClick applications can work to promote your school's continuous improvement efforts!

If you work in an elementary school and/or have a child that is 3-8 years old, you may really benefit from this application I am setting up for my 5 year old.  It seems very neat and it is inexpensive.

This application is designed to make computer navigation easy and secure for young people.  I will let you know soon what my experience is implementing the app.

DON'T Find it for your Apple Mac in the Mac App Store.  (I am not affiliated in any way with this app developer/company.)

In a healthy discipline program, the "radar screens" that keep personnel informed and actively participating in the school's discipline program extend out to parents too. 

One such radar screen is documentation:

*Does your school collect data over time, in a "electronic repository" that can be used by the school to, for instance, create discipline histories allowing parents to view patterns of behavior, interventions attempted, consequences assigned, consequence follow-through, and so much more?  This is a radar screen on their child that parents deserve to see readily.

The technology EdClick offers schools does this--->efficiently, easily, and inexpensively.

Another component of an effective discipline system that gives parents a radar screen on their child's overall behavior is regular communication pushed out by the school, especially when it relates to the child of that parent.

*Is a documented attempt at contacting the parent of each student involved in each discipline matter part of your school's discipline program?  If so, does it happen...even most of the time...really?

The technology that EdClick offers schools does this--->efficiently, easily, and inexpensively.

Bring a little automation to the task of running your data-dependent school!  In the process, create radar screens parents can use to get a truer picture of their child's contribution to the disciplinary climate of your school!

The trailer is airbrushed and off for clear-coating.  The cycle parts are now being airbrushed.  Within a few weeks I will be flying up to Toledo, Ohio to pick up the Cycle of Education!

Tuesday evening I returned from the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators' Leadership Conference in Little Rock.  The two-day conference was held at the Peabody Convention Center in the River Market area of downtown.  The area has character and feels safe, but I was 0-3 on food purchases!  Yuck.  The rest of the restaurants in L.R. are probably great  (;   ....My luck!

According to the AAEA website:

"The AAEA Leadership Conference was a huge success with approximately 850 attendees representing 129 school districts in Arkansas and two additional states.  Those attending were able to develop an action plan to assist their school/district with implementation of the Common Core State Standards."

I was at the conference listening to teachers and administrators share their pain points.  As appropriate, I shared how 21st Century web-based technology can be used to improve the operations of their school, with the goal of continuous improvement of all systems and decisions based on more holistic data sets.  I helped develop, have used, and now support implementation of these tools.  They are automation solutions that help schools run better, more easily.

More on several of these pain points in blog posts over the next several days.