The Flash Point, Chapter 0.5, You Can’t Make this Stuff Up

My father decided to run for congress against a popular incumbent. Go figure. Keep in mind, this is not the first time he has tried this stunt. Over the past 12 years, he has run for congress on 4 different occasions. During each attempt he would use 1 central issue for his platform. One time it was gun control, another time it was abortion, and another time it was all about food stamps.

To date his campaigns have never captured more than 9 percent of the popular vote. I suppose he envisions himself as some kind of populist. This time around he wants to target 2 issues health care and drilling for oil. He believes two issues will double the number of his votes. I sure hope he knows what he is doing.

The Flash Point, Chapter 0.4, Sister Can You Spare a Law Suit

Don’t get June Brittel mad. She is a ruthless personal injury lawyer who never loses. From a young age June, fancied herself a lawyer. She used to watch all the TV shows involving law practice, would read law books for fun, and always managed to play the role of lawyer at the school productions.

Mom always said, she could talk her way out of any problem. Her teachers often shrugged her shoulders, as she always seemed to have the answer to any challenge thrown her way. I will never forget when she threw a chair out the window, got caught, and used legal logic to justify her actions. It is therefore no surprise, that she graduated high school 1 year early, obtained a law degree in record time, started her own personal injury firm, and like I said before has never lost a case.

The Flash Point, Chapter 0.3, Another Brick in the Wall

Meet Carena Brittel; wife of Jack Brittel and 4^th grade teacher at John Dewey Elementary School. Jack was her high school sweetheart. They both attended different high schools in different states. They met each other at spring break and hit it off instantly. Those were the days long before Twitter and FaceBook. So… they would write letters to each other at least 3 times a week. Their parents thought this long distance relationship would never work. However, despite the doubters, Jack and Carena prevailed, and married ten years later.

Many of Carena friends still can’t believe she married the greasy rocker form her high school days. Carena always says, she doesn’t look back, loves her kids, loves her husband. However, there was a time, there was another man. After Jack’s mom died, he travelled the world for three years to find himself. During this time he visited India, Germany, Russia, London, and Africa. He was part of a special college program which had aspiring musicians study each semester in a different part of the world during which they studied music under a professional in the business. This experience was great for Jack as it gave him a broader perspective of the music world at large.

However, the travel years were very difficult for Carena. Subsequently, during Jack’s third semester she ended their relationship. A few months later, she met James Weber. James was 5 years her senior, working on his educational doctorate, and was conducting fascinating research on how technology could be used to aid autistic children. Needless to say, Carena was quite taken by James. However, in due time, Carena would learn about the difficulties of dating the eccentric genius. At the same time, Jack was in the process of finding himself. In finding himself, Jack flew across the Atlantic to reclaim Carena.

And so it was. Jack would marry Carena, have 2 children, purchase a three bedroom house, and vest their time in their respective careers. However, many of Carena’s friends wonder if she was being fair to James. What if Carena had been more patient with James? Would things have turned out differently? One can only wonder…

The Flash Point, Chapter 0.2, Take the Long Way Home

At first glance, the graveyard shift at a radio station seems horrible. After all, who wants to work those hours? Talk about howling at the moon. However, it does it have its advantages. Driving to work is really smooth as there is virtually no traffic at the midnight hour. It also works with my fitness lifestyle. After, I finish my shift; I jog a few laps around the park and head home. Actually, I jog home as I live close by. This is a good thing as it gives me time to help the wife with the kids and send them off to school. After, the kids go to school; I sleep for about 6 hours. At least I try to.

The Flash Point, Chapter 0.1- Juke Box Hero

Meet Jack Brittel; DJ at WROK from 2-6 AM during the weekdays. He has held that slot on the station for 9 years. His shift usually beats the other nighttime radio stations. The job offers a decent wage and although the hours are odd, how many people can say they work 4 hours a day.

Of course, being a DJ wasn’t his dream job. He set out to be the next Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen. Like many other adolescents of his time, he was a part of a high school rock band, took guitar lessons, played bar mitzvahs, weddings, and bars. During the early 1990’s rock music was on its way out as hip-hop music was quickly becoming the music teens wanted to hear. This did not bode well for Jack as this environment assured that his talents were largely ignored.

In the early years, he submitted numerous audition tapes only to be rejected time and time again. Eventually, he tried out being a disc jockey. For some reason his DJ work was well received. He even had the good fortune to provide backing vocals for a few musicians producing records. During the past few years Jack has been trying to land a morning or afternoon slot on WROK and has made himself available to fill-in for vacationing/ and or ill DJs. So far, this effort has not materialized any results. Still, Jack wonders what would it be like…

Look Out Madonna!!

As an avid jogger, I change my music playlist on a regular basis as hearing the same music day after day is definitely an “exercise killer”. With this in mind, I clicked on the iTunes <

I proceeded to sample Kings of Leon, The Boxer Rebellion, Lady GaGa, Jay-Z, and several other artists. Each of the artists had a few tracks that were enjoyable; however, in many cases it sounded… old. Old in the sense, that they were not covering any new territory. For example, rap music has been on the scene for close to 30 years and the best of this year’s rap or hip-hop seemed to be recycled. The notable exception to this is the Black Eyed Peas who continues to innovate the genre with its fusion of rock-hip-hop music with electronica. Similarly, U2’s and Springsteen’s latest efforts are enjoyable, but not jog worthy. Go figure, Springsteen decides to put out a mellow album this year.

Anyhow… I sampled Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” and was instantly transported back to the 1980’s. I continued to sample additional tracks and was enjoying the fast and hard pace of the music. More importantly, the music worked great on my run and at the gym. Clearly, the use of synthesized funk, electronica, and Madonna like vocals pays off in a big way. Having said that, I will forewarn you some of the tracks are a bit raunchy. Additionally, if you never liked Madonna, you will hate this music. On the other hand if you enjoyed 80’s pop and Madonna’s music go GaGa now.

The Flash Point, Chapter 6

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

ENTRY, December 20, 2010

Over the years other strange occurrences happened like the day I became a great baseball player. For some reason, on this particular day I was performing amazing catches and hit 2 grand slams. This was all very strange top me as I had always been a lousy player and now I was playing like I was Babe Ruth and Dwight Gooden rolled into one. Then as quickly as this strange luck came it dissipated just as quickly. In no time, I was back to dropping balls.

A similar incident happened with bowling, karate, soccer, and football. The football incident was really bizarre as I somehow tackled a 250-pound player. So as you can see the flash point is not easily explained. I really do not what it is. I do know that the flashpoint definitely does exist. The evidence is irrefutable, as these strange stories do not fit the norm. I have also concluded that my mother must have experienced this phenomenon at some time in her life. I believe that I am just scratching the surface, that there is more to the flash point. The problem is, how one knows when, where, and how the flashpoint is occurring. If I would only get a sign; this would definitely help.

It has also become painfully clear that my mother did not share the flash point phenomena with any other family members; even my father. Naturally this makes me wonder, why she would only share it only with her eldest son. On one hand I am extremely flattered. On the other hand, well I really don’t know, do I? That is probably most exhilarating and scary item of this flash point concept.

Clearly the flashpoint is an enigma in itself. My mom never mentioned the flashpoint until the very end of her life. It was the last conversation I had with her. Often I wonder if the flashpoint reference was a result of the medicine she was taking to fight the cancer. After all, at the end of the day, I am a pretty grounded person who does not believe in hokey pokey stuff. Then again, my mom was one of the most grounded people I knew. Additionally, her conversation with me on that night was quite lucid.

The Flash Point, Chapter 5

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

ENTRY- December 17, 2010

Occasionally, I believe that a person in a cloak is watching over me. I am almost sure that the cloak is similar to the one of my dreams from so many years go. This makes me wonder. What if the dream is true? What if my mom never died, walks among us in secret, watching over her children? Perhaps it’s a young boy’s wish, perhaps its not. Of course, I understand that these kinds of secrets can never be shared. What would the world ever think, if they knew? And so, I keep this to myself.

Many times when I jog in the morning I reflect on what was, and what could be if in fact the flashpoint really does exist. At the same time, I understand this is not a world that accepts different. It is a world that was built and survives on conforming. No mater how stupid it is, you must conform. Because at the end of the day all we have are our rules. Our precious little rules really seem to be quite the rage.

10 Cool Things I Discovered in 2009

Another year is quickly coming to an end. With this in mind, I share with you a few things I learned about this year.

#10- http://pbskids.org/electriccompany/#/games/escapes/ Electric Company on the Internet- This is a fun way to expose your children to building sentences. I will also note that the pbskids.org has a bunch of interesting educational games on the Internet. Obviously, the games and resources vary in quality. Despite that, it is definitely worth your time looking at.

#9- Wii Fit- There has been much hype about this product. Having said that, it is a fun product that is helping many people get into shape. However, I should forewarn you that when you run the initial fitness profile, it will tell you that your fitness level is comparable to someone that is 10-20 years older than you. Do not get insulted. It probably means that you are not familiar with how to use a Wii. Subsequently, it is giving you a lower fitness rating. The important thing is to have fun.

#8- http://www.kutoka.com/_en/products_mia_reading.html Mia- Mia is a cute little mouse that offers young children an engaging platform to learn literacy, math, and science. Mia involves higher order thinking skills and does not distract children with too many non-educational tasks yet is very engaging. You will not be able to find this software easily as it is a French import.

#7- Guitar Hero and its Spawn- Not only is this game very entertaining it’s a great way to learn how to play music.

#6- The secret to buying trains- If you have a 8 year old boy who loves trains avoid buying the smaller trains. While the smaller scale trains are cheaper, they are not easy for a growing boy to handle. O Scale is the way to go. For more info check outhttp://www.trainworldonline.com/.

#5- http://faujsa.fau.edu/jsa/home.php Jewish Music Archive- A great collection of Jewish music

#4- http://www.pandora.com Pandora.com- A great web application that allows you to create your own customized music channels

#3- Wayne Steel- Its All About Chanukah- Last year a musician passed me along his CD. In short, the CD went to my bag of CDs that people give me. Anyhow… long story short, I did some cleaning around the house and discovered this gem just in time for Chanukah. For more details, check out http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/waynesteele

#2- Blogging and rediscovering my writing roots- For the past 12 years I have been writing grants as a part of my job. Thankfully, most of these grants becoming award winning grants and schools/districts directly benefit from my efforts. While this was going on, I have been trying to figure out when, where, how, did I learn to write. Certainly, I did not major in English. Well… blogging helped me rediscover that it all started writing for fun. With this in mind, I am glad to jump on the blogging bandwagon as it has proven to be a great forum to express a variety of ideas. To see my blog visit http://thefutureofeducationaltechnology.blogspot.com/

The awesome power of FileMaker Pro- A few months ago one of my schools needed help building a database that would help them create customized goals for their students. They also wanted the database to include the following features; multiple pull down menus- e.g. Grade selection provides a choices of classes and then provides a choice of students, parent letter generator, the ability to set up to 20 customized goals, report card generator, and of course easy navigation. Needless to say. a learning curve was involved with this process. Interestingly enough, none of the manuals really explained how to do this. In the end, one of my Apple reps hooked me up with a FileMaker Pro rep from the UK. He then explained me that the best way to learn this was to an existing sample file and cannibalize it. It took me 3 hours to figure out what I was looking at. Three hours later I figured out how to define relationships in FileMaker Pro. This in turn proved to be the catalyst for developing the database. Along the way, I learned some more cool FileMaker tricks and I am excited that this database will only become more powerful.

The Flash Point, Chapter 4

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

ENTRY, December 14, 2010

Shortly after my mother passed away, I had a number of strange dreams involving the flashpoint. For starters, in my dream my mom never died of cancer. In actuality, she was near death and was rushed to a hospital in the former Soviet Union as they developed a new experimental medicine not legal in the states. Since the medicine was considered controversial, no one including my father knew of this. Subsequently, she was in hiding for several years.

In the meantime, my father got re-married. Unfortunately, the second wife turned out to be an ice queen. Even more disconcerting, the new woman in his life was wreaking havoc and was causing all kinds of problems. In 3 short months, she had convinced my father that two of my brothers should receive psychiatric treatment. Needless to say, this was a pretty dire situation. My uncle had tried to put a stop to this but had no luck. To be truthful, the situation seemed hopeless. Then the strangest thing happened… I had a dream in which my dead mother came to me in a dream. This dream was very different as it was first dream in which she directly spoke to me. She approached to me in a dark cloak and at first I did not know it was her. However, she then lifted the cloak and revealed herself and stated, “this is all wrong. Something must be done to put a stop to this.” The bizarre thing is, I came back that night and my father had divorced the ice queen. Just like that.

The Flash Point, Chapter 3

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

ENTRY, December 11, 2010

Another strange incident that comes to mind is the baseball card incident. As the story goes, I was working on my science fair project. For some reason my Science teacher decided to give me five baseball cards as a reward for a job well done. So far the story seems plain enough. Ironically, I was one of those kids who didn’t care about baseball. So I’m thinking what I am going to do with these 5 baseball cards. Not knowing what to do I decide to play one of those games where the kids flick the card against the wall and the winner takes the entire pot. Needless to say, I did not know what I was doing. However, somehow I won that pot and another 55 games consecutively. In two short weeks, I had a shoebox filled of baseball cards. Then one day, I stopped winning. After losing quite a few rounds, I called it quits. This story is pretty bizarre, as it appears that I was riding some kind of wave. Perhaps the flash point is a wave in which it powers can yield fantastic results. However, as soon as you lose balance, the flash point is over. Needless to say, this very strange occurrence only fascinated me with the flashpoint and what it might represent.

The Flash Point, Chapter 2

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

Entry December 4, 2010

As I mentioned earlier, understanding the Flash Point is very difficult. I remember various times during my life that some unique incidents occurred. These unique events are truly unexplainable; yet they did happen. I am always drawn back to my memories of being 3 years old and being unhappy in the school my parents placed me in. Anyhow… to make a long story short, by communicating my unhappiness they ultimately removed me from that school. This story on the surface sounds ordinary but hardly is. You may say, so what it sounds pretty plain- unhappy kid changes school- so what gives?? I distinctly remember the interactions in that foul school and how I confronted my parents with this issue.

Clearly, this is unusual as young children –especially 3 years olds do not have such memories with such clarity. Yet this particular point of my life I remember with such vivid detail. From the checkered green and white floors; to the independent psychologist who interceded on my behalf, I remember it all. It almost seems as if this was meant to happen. Of course it is possible that my so-called memories of this watershed event are supplanted by my parents’ reminiscent discussions of this event, as they were amazed that there 3-year-old son would take such a stand. Yet at the same time, I actually remember both; the post-discussions my parents had about this event and my own individualized account of the occurrence. Even stranger many of the events that occurred afterwards are fairly hazy. I do vaguely remember being happy in the new school. Yet this is all I remember. It’s almost as if the flashpoint came and went.

The Flash Point, Chapter 1

FROM THE PRIVATE BLOG OF JACK BRITTEL

Entry, December 1, 2010

It has been said many times that there are certain turning points in life in which all that you hold dear can change in an instant. The trick of course is to know when one of these moments is coming. My mom once spoke of this phenomenon. She referred to it as “the flash point”. As she saw it, a flash point comes in many forms. It can be a dream, an inspiration, an opportunity, or perhaps a last chance. Most importantly, it is almost impossible to define and it is just as difficult to know when the flash point is coming. Having this knowledge is dangerous, as one will be incited to seek the flashpoint wishing to harness its power and in the process possibly manufacture a fictional flash point.

Those were my mother’s dying words. Twenty years later, I still do not pretend to understand the meaning of these words. These words are both scary and intriguing. It should come to you as no surprise that I have searched for the flash point. True to form, I have analyzed various past events trying to determine if these were flash points. But as my mom would say, seeking the flash point is a game played by fools with danger on their agenda. Despite it all, I am still fascinated by the flashpoint.

Here’s Looking at You Bobby Jean

This past Sunday I attended a retirement party of a former boss. As expected, it was a trip down memory lane. I saw many faces I hadn’t seen in more than 6 years. We talked about the old days, asked about how our families were faring, and wished each other good wishes. It was good to see old friends, as I never had a chance to bring good tidings to all of my colleagues and former supervisors when many of us moved on to new employment venues.

As this nostalgic event was taking place I wondered, “Am I expressing the appropriate sentiments?” After all, what do you say to the boss who gave a young adult a chance at supervision more than 12 years ago? What do you say to the supervisor who gave you the push to pursue more ambitious projects? What do you say to the supervisor who believed in you?

In the end, I said the following. “Congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for everything. Words alone cannot express my gratitude.” Now I understood, what Bruce Springsteen was trying to say when he sung Bobby Jean. Through the course of our life, we all meet and become good friends with Bobby Jean. Sometimes Bobby Jean is a caring supervisor, sometimes Bobby is your mentor, and sometimes Bobby is a great friend. However, regardless of the context we miss Bobby Jean’s friendship. So in closing, I share the following…

Well I came by your house the other day, your mother said you went away

She said there was nothing that I could have done

There was nothing nobody could say

Me and you we've known each other ever since we were sixteen

I wished I would have known I wished I could have called you

Just to say goodbye bobby jean

Totally Redux, Chapter 4-Blue Light

I said, “Arcade World? What’s an arcade?” The man in the yellow tights said, “Hmm, I guess I am dating myself. I forget that they stopped calling it Arcade Games a few years back. Anyhow, its what you refer to as video games, and Arcade World is part of what makes all these games possible. In Arcade World, Pac Man lives, Wii is a one of the newer countries recently founded, and Arcade Man governs this world.”

I then asked, “Who is Arcade Man?” Arcade Man said, “It is I. In fact, I have been running Arcade World since 1959 or roughly 60 years. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to protect Arcade World from its enemies. With this in mind, I have been looking for a successor for the past few years. I believe you can be that person.”

Needless to say, I was perplexed by this conversation. An Arcade World that controls all the video games we play? Talk about strange. “So, how does this work exactly? And why me Arcade Man?” Arcade Man said, “I have watched you for a long time and you have the gift.” “What gift?” “The gift of becoming one with the arcade and fixing all that has been damaged.” “Arcade Man, I don’t understand.” Arcade Man said, “Do you see the strobing blue light? Focus on it, you will become one with Arcadia, and all will be explained.”