Summer 2009

Intro

I started working on way too many tech projects including a project to take the paper out of debate. 

I wasted lots of time. 

I taught at a summer camp with 4 days notice and no lesson plan (and no sleep during the week).  It taught me some lessons about teaching, such that handwriting, no matter how horrible, can still help.  It showed me the other side of kids not paying attention (Get off my lawn!).  It made me realize just how valuable debate and debate camp is.

Using MS Word

I was inspired to write a document about the features of MS Word for my debaters.  However, when it got long enough, I decided to release it to the entire debate community.  It’s posted to my website at http://stanford.edu/~samking/debate/paperless-current/ if you want to read it for yourself.

Music

My music interests have remained mostly the same.  I’ve gained a new appreciation for some old bands, though. 

I’ve been listening to Blue Scholars and Common Market, Washington based hip-hop groups, recently.  Their music has a good message (politically / philosophically) and is very community-oriented. 

Coaching

I am very proud of my debaters at Palo Alto HS.   They seem very excited about the upcoming topic and have been doing a lot of work on their own.  I have high expectations. 

One team even wants to do paperless debate!  That was what originally inspired me to make my own version of the paperless template rather than just helping Whitman with their template.

The Job

The last week in July, I was teaching Java at a summer camp.  The camp was run by Matt Fraser, the director of debate at Stanford, who also owns a company called Education Unlimited that puts on summer camps.  A few days before the start of the camp, he gives me a call saying that his regular person flaked on him, and he needs a replacement.  I accepted.

Lessons Learned

Country Fair

July 10, I went to the Oregon Country Fair.  This is one of the experiences that most strongly demonstrates that the anti-consumerist in me is much stronger than the hippie in me. 

Hackathon

I’m one of the project directors for next year’s Dance Marathon Hackathon.  Dance Marathon was an organization dedicated to fundraising for FACE AIDS, and the Hackathon was designed to connect technically inclined people, who might not otherwise be interested in public service, with nonprofits.  During the 24 hours when the Dance Marathon dancers are dancing to fundraise, the Hackathon hackers are working on tech projects for nonprofits.