Everything is changing now-a-days. The way we communicate, the way we receive news, the way we read the news, the way we teach, the way we learn… It became virtually impossible to keep up with everything that we need to as there is an overload of information. But, thank God, there are some tools to make our lives easier. RSS is a wonderful web tool to keep us informed without having to look for the information. iGoogle has been my best friend for sometime now. And, when I think about it, if I had to look for information, instead of information coming to me, I would just be out of my mind! 

It is interesting to learn how something so simple, yet so complex, such as blogging, can have so many different uses and facets. 

We now have some great tools that help us to keep track of our findings, learning and built knowledge. One of these great resources is social bookmaring, and Diigo is one of these wonderful tools. 

One of the most important features of this new way of tracking our favorite pages is the fact that we can share these bookmarks with like-minded peers. That creates an array of knowledge that would not be possible otherwise. Social bookmarking creates an infinite web of knowledge and sharing. 

In addition to the bookmarking feature, Diigo allows its users to highlight and add sticky notes to the pages one has bookmarked. These two resources are of utmost importance when sharing and collaborating in a virtual / web arena. We can track what others who are working on the same content think is important and their thoughts about it. This can be easily used with students. We, teacher, can work on vocabulary and context collaboratively using these features of Diigo. For example, the teacher can assign a webpage for all students to read. Then the students will have to highlight the most important ideas of the page utilizing Diigo, and they would have to add 2 or 3 sticky notes using vocabulary they have just learning in sentences created by them.

Rodrigo bookmarked on Diigo a nice Blog called "For the love of learning." The heading of the Blog reads: "Teachers who blame students for being bored is the equivalent to yelling at the hammer after you strike your own thumb." I loved it! It make us think, reflect, and want to read the Blog. 

I also loved "The Hip Hop Classroom" and, again, Rodrigo posted it. :) It simply blows my mind how some teachers have the gift to link many different things and make learning a fun journey. 

It is amazing to face the fact that we live in the 21th century, we preach on how technology is great and resourceful, and how it should be integrated into learning, but we, teachers are not doing it on a regular basis, or are not ready for it. 

 At another time I will talk about my wonderful family, especially about my loving and wise mother and my special little sister Cléa. Today the word of the day is Carla, my older sister.

Carla, my sister, confident, best friend, mentor, guide.... And let's not forget that she was also the person who I really didn't get along at one point  - one point being teenager years. Well, the past is the past, but it is also makes us who we are, and now-a-days it is just fun, and funny also, to remember those days when we fought like a "pro" and partied like a rock star! But there is one word that summarizes it all when talking about Carla, known also as Carolta or Carluccia.... AMAZING!

I am always in "oh" with how much one single person can accomplish and can be all at the same time. Carla is the daughter, the sister, the friend, but also she is the wife and the mom. She is the professional, but not your average professional. She does her job well at the same time that she is learning a lot of different new things, applying them, and teaching them. Not to mention all the side projects she is involved with at the same time. Just writing about it all makes me tired… And I almost forgot! She is amazing with the two little ones, and even with all the work, projects and learning, she manages to spend time with the kids at the kitchen baking and decorating nice yummy cookies. Did I mention she is an amazing cook? But the greatest thing about her is how she is always remembered and how she touches lives wherever she goes, including our modern virtual world. How could you forget Carla? As soon as she walks in a room you can feel the vibe, the energy, and let's not going to forget her voice! Yes, she loves to talk. She always wants to convince people that I talk more than she does, but no way… She talks much more than I do! But it is good to listen to her talking. She always has interesting and fun things to talk about. Sometimes we have these long phone calls and all we are doing is chatting away and laughing like two crazy women. She does good for my soul, as for many other souls. She also surprises me with how much she knows about me. She is right most of the time, and always is such a good friend and sister who travel with me along the world of possibilities that sometimes I cannot see because the clouds are too heavy.

I could go on and on and on talking about this amazing sister and great human being. But the point is not to brag about Carla, but to honor her and the great addition she is not only in my life, but in many lives. I wish everyone could have a "Carla" in their lives… But I'm sure most of the people know someone out there that sparks good wherever they go. It makes life easier and simpler.  

To my sister Carla and all these living shinning stars in the world who brings good, peace and hope… A toast for happiness! J

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A sunny Friday afternoon, the bags are packed, the bike is already all set on the bike rack, and the kids are having a discussion with their mom because of the shoes to wear to the weekend trip. Amazingly enough we were on time heading to Karina and Roberto's house. To my surprise they were packed and ready to go. But man pride (and engineering pride) has my wonderful friend still try to find a way to mount the bike roof rack for the trip after over an hour (that's what the legend says...). No luck, a lot of "Latinity," and finally we are on the road to pick up "Bekah" (Rebekah, who I just decided to call Bekah for the sake of it) and finally head to MV (at this point, already late). But wait... Karina had forgotten her phone inside of the bag that is inside of the trunk which now is holding the bike rack with 3 bikes... Sorry, no cell phone at this time!

I can't see Roberto through my mirror anymore! A call... Uff.. They just stopped for gas. So I started to drive very slow. After all, we are on this together! Roberto finally appears again on my mirror, but now we are really racing against the clock. Still, I took time to look over the Bourne Bridge at the Cape (I have a fascination with bridges...). We finally arrive at the parking lot, but then it is too late (well, not too late, but 7 minutes late to take the shuttle to the ferry that we were planning to take). Well... It is part of being a Latin after all... So what do you do? You just take it as it goes and sit down, eat something, chat with everyone, make fun of your friends and family, and finally get into the boat. What a nice feeling to finally be heading to the beautiful Island for a nice, fun and relaxing weekend. I can finally feel it!

We get in the Island, and Roberto and I decided to bike for Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven, where the camp site is, while the others took the bus. Again, the "Latinity" all over the place.. One get this, the other forgets that, one runs here, the other is not sure what to do... But again, we are finally off. All of a sudden I thought to myself: "Will I really be able to bike all the way to the campsite with all this gear on my back?" I guess now it is my matter of pride and accomplishment. Slowly but surely I got there. Ufff! What an accomplishment!!!

Being at the familiar campsite feels good because of all the great memories of all the years I've been there before. And this year I was even happier because my sister was there with her family to see somewhere new to all of them, and the kids could at least see a campsite for the first time in their lives, and they were so excited. It was simply refreshing to see the kids so happy and excited... But then comes Rebekah, with no Karina... But where was Karina? With all the excitment she forgot her bike at the bus and had to go get it. Jim arrived with his girlfriend Chrissy, and verbalized exactly what I thought "This is a classic Karina!" Finally Karinita makes to the campsite safe and sound, and more important, with her bike!

It is very early in the morning, and as always I don't want to get up. But I'm awake, my mind is racing and I simply cannot fall back asleep. To my surprise, I am up and ready very early for my standards, and ready to have a nice and long camping breakfast with great friends (Janice, Jorge, Karina, Roberto, Yvonne, Jose, Rebekah,Jim and Chrissy). My friends are simply amazing... Karina is back from the store with eggs and juice, and Jorge is Mr. Chef cooking these amazing eggs (with the Brazilian spices that I brought and people were making fun of me for that because we love "fondor" on everything...) and great grilled sandwich.

After the great and fun breakfast we are ready to bike away. Not so fast! Not all of us have bikes, and we need to make sure everyone is comfortable with their rentail bikes. But wait! There is another problem: Karina brought her mother-in-law's bike, and the sit is too high. Roberto, with all his gear could not find the right tool (unforgivable)!!! But someone finally found a tool somewhere, and Karina is ready also. But wait! Jim is now in the store to get a helmet. You can only imagine Janice face at this point... "We had already "wasted" half of the day! I am leaving," Janice says. Poor thing. Always waiting for all these crazy friends. Well, Bekah is not Latin per se, but she fitted right in. How? Just being quiet and going with the flow, or perhaps she pretended very well.

We finally hit the road... Chrissy mapped out our itinerary: we were going to do the scenic road, with a pit stop at the bridge to do the famous jump, then off to the Edgardtown and then South Beach. With Chrissy in charge of the itinerary and Janice in charge of the time we should and must always be in a good shape... These women rock!

Martha's Vineyard, here we come... We are now all looking great and biking away (including Jose on his cute girly red bike! Wasn't Jorge using the same cute red bike too? And so was Jim? :)  But on the way, poor Karina, again, had some issues. She is such a caring, loving and good friend, and always making sure everyone is ok. So she decided to turn around to see if everyone was around and following the route (they just had made a left turn), and then.... boooom.... She fell. Ambulance please! No, we don't need one. Our nurse Chrissy is there with good Jim with great gear for "bo-bo's". We are back on track again. We pass the cute little houses at Oaks Bluff, and then  we are off to the bike path by the ocean. Such a great bike ride... But I'm having a hard time to keep up with everyone. I am way behind always, and I keep asking myself if it is just because of my bike that is too heavy and might need some oil as well, or if the major component for me to be so far behind it is just because I am just way too slow (or my friends are way too fast). I still don't know the answer, but please, let me believe it was the bike the major problem.

We are now half way to Edgardtown and stop at the famous bridge so people could jump of the bridge and have the ultimate MV experience. I sticked with my flavorful ice cream, and a good chat while seeing everyone jumping. Crazy pregnant Janice wanted to jump, and said "Absolutely not!" I really care about this little peanut. Oh... Rewind... Jose and Yvonne told me they are pregnant! 5th friend pregnant at the same time. Can I keep up with all the hormones? Wish me luck!

We get at Edgardtown and we are looking for "that" sandwich shop that we went before and the sandwiches were awesome. It took us a while but we got there. Indeed they were awesome, and we could not wait to have lunch at the beach. We were way to hungry. Now with recharged batteries we take off to South Beach (By this point my but hurt so bad once I started to bike again!). We almost got at the beach in time for a sunset! Well, it was already around 3pm. The boys set up the volleyball net, and we went into the water. It felt very cold at first, but amazingly enough it was warm enough to stay in (which is great for the New England Area). Ahhhhh... What a great afternoon. Just hanging out at the beach and chatting away. The boys didn't play volleyball long enough for all the work to set up the net. I think it could be that Grandpa Roberto couldn't keep up! His charming Grandpa hat was the most amazing beach fashion. And you might ask yourself how a Grandpa can have sexy Karina. This woman looked Hot! What about Chrissy showing off her beautiful colorful "canga?" We have another model right there.

The sun is about to go down, so we head back to Oak Bluff's to Nancy's to taste the drinks that Janice talked about. We hate to admit, but she was sooo right! The drinks were sooooo good! I had the lime coconut one... The atmosphere and the view of the sunset also added to the great late afternoon meal. Jim went fancy and got a lobster, with which he made a mess and stuff exploded all over his shirt. A great "kodak" moment. Now that we are fed and happy, we are also tired. The "sissy" girls took a cab back to the campground. Well, only Chrissy was woman enough (and still had energy enough) to come back biking with the boys in the dark. A good shower after a great day with the perfect weather, canddle light and a nice bottle of red wine. I couldn't even keep my eyes opened.... I cannot even remember what were talking that night. Good night!

Morning comes on Sunday, I am just getting up and Jorge and Janice had already packed and tent is already down! How they can be so good and efficient. Breakfast was also great, but not as long as the one on Saturday. We have about 1/2 hour to pack and go per schedule (I am not mentioning names...). Oh no, we were already late.... ICE CREAM... Mad Martha's was the recommendation, and indeed it was awesome. While we were having the ice cream this lady started to talk and wanted to take the picture for us. She was hilarious. I had to turn around because I could not stop laughing. We then decided to go back, pick up the gear and come back for lunch. Nothing worked as planned... Some people could get in the bus, others had to wait for the next one. We didn't have time for our nice lunch, but I did have time to think about the great time I had!

Definetely simple moments with friends and family is priceless, brings joy to the heart, and makes the long days worth it!

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