Free Software

Thank you Google!

Needless to say, not everyone owns Microsoft Office and the ubiquitous Microsoft Word. Families sometimes have other priorities for their hard earned cash. So they use Microsoft Works, which usually comes free with a new PC. The problem is, Microsoft sabotages its own files. The greedy buggers make sure Word doesn't recognize the Works files.

When students arrive flustered because they've done a ton of work and can't open it at school, I do two things. First, I assure them we have a converter and all will be well. But before sending them to the Technology Help Desk, I set them up with a free Google account and demonstrate the free Google word processor. Among other benefits, it can save documents in Word format!

It irks the daylights out of me that Microsoft intentionally restricts access to their most used file format, and leaves it to a competitor to save the day for my students. IBM has just released their own free word processing program - it, too, will save in the Word format. I do everything I can to promote these free programs, including introducing them to my Computer Literacy classes.

Let's hope they catch on!

I also advertise to my classes that I normally arrive at school about a half hour early, and encourage anyone with home access problems to come to my homeroom. It's located in a computer lab, and students can use the computers if they need to. It's not much, but I hope in my own small way, I'm helping out those with technology access problems.

Civic Values

The Institute for the Study of Civic Values explains: one need only visit Historic Philidelphia - home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall - to be reminded of the founding vision of America as a free nation in which men and women of diverse origin would learn how to work together for the common good.

My youngest son, Kyle, turned 18 this year without ever having flown on a jet plane. So this summer we booked the cheapest airline seats I could find on the internet; $29 tickets to Philadelphia. Our plan was to fly in to Philly in the morning, check out the sites, grab cheese steak sandwiches, and fly home. Naturally, I assumed the cheese steak sandwiches would be the highlight of the day.

Turns out they were good, but not the highlight. I had three other highlights that surpassed the culinary delights.

One highlight was exactly what ISCV suggests. Historic Philadelphia brings you back to another time and place. Things were different in colonial America. Idealistic. Ideals that did not yet prevail in society were first dreamt, then brought to life there. It doesn't take much to imagine yourself there, in that time and place. Doing so, for me, brought on an overwhelming sense of awe. I stood where our Declaration of Independence was drafted and simply soaked the place in. Here was where the world changed forever. For the better.

I recalled feeling depressed when I turned 33 because Jefferson had penned the Declaration at age 33. What had I done to better the world? Thankfully, Linda had been there to offer encouragement, reminding me I was setting my sights a bit high, and encouraging me to be the best father I could be to our sons. Perhaps I could change the world in some smaller way than Jefferson, serving on the school committee, or something...

The second highlight was the cab rides. Talk about America in microcosm. Kyle and I had a blast on the cab rides, talking to the cabbies, finding out who they were, learning about their city, their lives, and sometimes their countries of origin. All this for the price of a cab fare and the willingness to race through South Phillie intersections at breakneck speed!

Third was Kyle. Just me and him. Father and son. At the end of the day, I told him I would be taking this day with me to the old home and the grave. Plane rides. National Heritage. Cabbies. Cheese steaks. Living free. Father and son. All thanks to idealistic rebels who put their lives on the line to bring us the United States of America.

Many thanks to them and to the long line of Americans who followed suit.

And thank you Kyle!