Category: Clif’s Notes

My Second Blog

I’ve started another blog. It’s entitled A Work in Progress and is intended to be a place where I can share my thoughts and ideas, encouragement, resources and information, etc. with others that also have an interest in living for God. I welcome your active participation in this newly developing community.

I’ll still be blogging about education and technology here at Clif’s Notes, too.

All the best,
Clif

7 Things You Don’t Need to Know about Me

I’ve procrastinated on this far too long. I’ve been tagged by Lisa Thumann, Paul R. Wood, Alan Lutz, Elaine Plybon, and others in the 7 Things You Don’t Need to Know about Me meme. (NOTE: Don’t confuse this with my 8 Things You Didn’t Know about Me meme responses from Summer 2007.)

  1. Dusk in the mountainsI can not stand the taste or smell of bananas.
  2. I was an accounting major my first year of college. Wow, was that a mistake for me!
  3. Horses are my favorite animals. I grew up on a horse farm.
  4. My wife coached college basketball before our kids were born.
  5. I bought my first “brand new” car in 1995. I’m still driving it today.
  6. I’ve given a lot of thought to becoming a full time church minister. I like that teaching allows me to spend my summers at church camp and on mission trips.
  7. Of all the places in the world that I’ve visited Switzerland is my favorite (Specifically Adelboden, Switzerland. See the image above and map below). This is a bit ironic because I much prefer water skiing over snow skiing. Greece is at the top of my list of places that I still want to visit.

I tag John Dobbs, Tom Barrett, Patrick Higgins, Leigh Zeitz, Bob Sprankle, Kristin Hokanson, Jeff VanDrimmelen, John Curry and Drew Polly.

Favorite Theo. LeSieg Story

I recently mentioned that while building My Google Library I decided to identify my very favorite Dr. Seuss story. It didn’t take me long to narrow the list down to Too Many Daves (from The Sneetches and Other Stories) and Wacky Wednesday. Wacky WednesdayBoth of these stories grabbed my imagination as a child and hold fun memories. While agonizing over which of these tales I treasured the most (I’m exaggerating a bit.) I was thrilled to realize that Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss) had actually authored Wacky Wednesday under the pseudonym Theo. LeSieg. This realization spared me the dilemma of choosing which of these two beloved stories was my favorite Dr. Seuss tale. I admit it’s a technicality but it works in my favor, so I’ll take it (hahaha).

I’ve included Wacky Wednesday in my library because… well, because it’s wacky. It’s all about a boy’s zany adventures on a far-from-normal Wednesday. My friends and I would sit in the library trying to find all the wacky details in the illustrations. We were exposed to figurative language, creativity, word play, imagination, and so much more without even realizing it. Perhaps the best thing I can say about Wacky Wednesday is that I’ve read it over and over – and isn’t that the greatest testament of a good book?

Favorite Dr. Seuss Story

I decided to begin building My Google Library so that I can:

  • Share my favorite books with our own children.
  • Easily access books, images, citations, etc. during class, presentations, workshops, etc.
  • Share and suggest resources with other educators

When it came time to add my favorite Dr. Seuss books to my library I realized that I would have to add most of them, so I decided to try and narrow it down to my very favorite book. It took some reflection and deep soul searching (I’m exaggerating.) but I was able to identify my very favorite (Thanks to a technicality that I’ll share in another post.) Seuss story.

The Sneetches and Other StoriesI remember the first time I read Too Many Daves (from The Sneetches and Other Stories). I was sitting at a table in my elementary school library with two of my friends. I read the book silently and the ridiculousness of one naming all 23 of her children the same thing just sent my imagination spinning. It remains one of my favorite poems all these years later. I’ve included the poem below in case you’re unfamiliar with it. Unfortunately, I can’t also include the artwork because it really sales the story – as is typical of all of Seuss’ work.

Discussion
What is YOUR favorite Dr. Seuss story? Why?

—————

TOO MANY DAVES
From: The Sneetches and Other Stories
By: Dr. Seuss

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?

Well, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out “Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves’
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn.
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O’Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate…

But she didn’t do it. And now it’s too late.