I originally hadn’t planned to post this video of our trip to Salem, MA., but I will share it for a short time. I created it in iMovie using photographs and video taken with our iPhones and Flip camera. It’s a little distorted to fit here, but not substantially so. It clocks in at about 11 minutes.
Tag: salem
Map of True Places Sweepstakes
On Friday, I received a package full of goodies. You might remember I won the Map of True Places Sweepstakes for Brunonia Barry’s newest book, The Map of True Places. It’s hard to tell what all is in the picture above, but the prizes included
- 2 signed copies of The Map of True Places
- 2 paperback copies of The Lace Reader (my review is here)
- 2 nights at the Salem Waterfront Hotel and Suites
- a copy of America’s Membership Libraries
- dinner for 2 at Sixty2 on Wharf
- dinner for 2 at the Hawthorne Hotel
- a year’s membership to the Salem Athenæneum
- a cruise on the schooner Fame for 4
- 2 adult and 2 child tickets to the Salem Witch Museum
- 2 adult admissions to the House of Seven Gables
- 2 adult tickets for the Salem Trolley
- 2 tickets for the City View Trolley Tours in Boston
- 4 one-way tickets for the Salem Ferry to Boston
- 2 general admission passes to the Peabody Essex Museum
- 2 guest passes for a tour at any museum from Historic New England
- $500 toward travel expenses
We will probably go in July. Dylan and Maggie will most likely come with us. It’s weird. You see these contests online and enter for the hell of it, not thinking you could win, but definitely thinking why not? It takes a minute. You know ultimately someone wins these things, but you never think it will be you. This time it was, and I am so excited. I actually don’t know how to put how I feel into words. I still don’t believe I won.
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A Really Good Day
First, I received an e-mail from HarperCollins informing me that I won The Map of True Places Sweepstakes. I enter contests like this all the time, but I never have any expectation of winning. My prize is a weekend in Salem, Massachusetts, a place I have always wanted to visit (especially as an English teacher). I am so incredibly excited. I hardly know how it happened. Like I said, I enter these contests whenever one strikes my fancy, but how exciting!
Second, I am slowly catching up with my Instructional Technology coursework. I read and took quizzes on three chapters of Educational Research yesterday. I didn’t too badly on the quizzes either, especially considering the difficulty of the quizzes. Today I wrote a short paper critiquing a journal article for the same course. I am virtually caught up in this course based on the schedule I set for myself. What I would like to do this week is get a little ahead in both this course and Multimedia Authoring so that I can be sure to finish both courses by the end of the semester. Once again, I find myself wishing we didn’t use grades to evaluate. I would much rather receive the feedback and a pass/fail. Grades stress me out. I hate giving them to my students, and as a student I hate worrying about them.
Finally, I noticed a small crack in the back case of my iPhone about half an inch long originating at the center of the docking port. I have scheduled Genius Bar appointments twice, but canceled them so I could continue working or not feel pressed for time completing other activities. Finally, I decided it bothered me enough to bring in and see what would happen. The Genius at the Apple Store examined the phone, determined somehow that I didn’t cause the damage by dropping it (not sure how he figured it out; I didn’t cause the damage that way, but I admit to having dropped it, although not hard—maybe it was the location of the crack), checked on my warranty (glad I got AppleCare), and replaced the phone. I’ve had it since December 2008, so it wasn’t new. It was in good shape, though the corners were chipped (I didn’t used to have a case for it; now I do), and a tiny scratch marred the otherwise perfect screen. I bought some crystal film protectors to prevent damage to the new phone’s screen and immediately put it in the case. I hope I can keep this one in pristine shape with some extra care.
So all in all, a really, really good day. Plus it’s spring break! Bonus!
In book news, I’m still reading The Annotated Pride and Prejudice and keeping up with Crime and Punishment as best as my schedule and interest will allow (I’ll be glad to finish that one and begin Gulliver’s Travels). I am thoroughly enjoying the audio version of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I am planning to read about the Once Upon a Time Challenge to see if I can participate.