Remembering How to be American

by
Our American society has been growing increasingly arrogant and ugly lately in this blogger’s opinion.  One need look no further than our politics, especially on the right, to see levels of disrespect ratcheting up to excruciatingly high levels.  But it goes beyond politics to infect other areas of our society as well.  From the wanton […] Read More

The Speed of Progress

by
I came across this fascinating article in WIRED magazine that made me feel like a dinosaur.  Sure, I am a “hip” blogger, using the latest technical application to produce my every-other-daily musings here at the Allen School Online Blog.  But I am old enough to remember life as it was before the personal computer and […] Read More

Horrifying Ingredient List Artfully Presented

by
You know I have an affinity for whole foods.  Not Whole Foods the grocery store (which we refer to in my house as Whole Paycheck), but rather simple, healthy ingredients.  So much of what our diet consists of is adulterated, processed and downright chemical.  Case in point: the ham & cheese Hotpocket.  Don’t get me […] Read More

Start Your Monday Like This Little Girl

by
With all that’s going on in the world, it can be hard to get up and hit the ground running some days. Especially Mondays!  But we can all take a page out of precious little Jessica’s playbook, spending 49 seconds in front of the mirror each morning to psyche ourselves up by listing all the […] Read More

Gulf Oil Disaster: What Do You Think?

by
I am not going to reveal my personal feelings with regard to the whole issue of energy policy and what it means to the future of our economy and ecology.  This blog is not the venue for it.  But I do think it would be interesting to use this post as a sort of informal […] Read More

Its Never Too Late to Learn

by
The Great Recession of 2008-2010 has destroyed alot of formerly good-paying jobs.  Many reports indicate that even once employment begins to pick up again, many of the lost jobs are not likely to return.  Either rendered obsolete by automation technology or outsourced to lower cost labor markets overseas, some gigs are gone the way of […] Read More

Last Ever Space Shuttle Launch Today

by
Because so much of modern medical science trickles into civilian use through the work done by NASA and the military, I thought it was fitting to spend today’s post saying goodbye to the Space Shuttle program.  Today marked the final launch of the space shuttle Atlantis.  It will be the last launch of the entire […] Read More

The Truth About Eggs

by
How do you like your eggs?  This is a question that for years, I always answered either, “sunny side up” or “over easy” and typically followed by, “with bacon, well done and coffee, black.”  But a few years ago, after landing a stable virtual office job, I moved to the exurbs and having lots of […] Read More

Flexibility is a Blessing but Structure is Important

by
Many online students point to the flexibility of online study as one of the main reasons they chose to go to school via the internet.  It is true for folks who juggle work, family and studies, being able to allocate one’s own time and formulate one’s own schedule is invaluable to succeeding in all these important tasks.  […] Read More

Happy Mother’s Day: How Will You Honor Mom?

by
Writing the blog for the Allen School Online poses a challenge as I must always weigh whether a given topic is going to be relevant to a large enough segment of our readers.  Some very interesting topics are put aside if I determine that they would only be of import to a smaller percentage of […] Read More