Why Can't Siri...Record My Thinking and Organize It

In case you didn't know, I am an extremely creative person. Creative to the point that at all points in time I have 5-10 ideas floating around in my head at all times. It is almost crippling. For real! I try to record my thoughts on Voice Memos, so that I will not forget. When my thoughts are finally to a point that I want to share, I need Siri to do certain things. In fact, there are a lot of things I need Siri to do that will make my life so much easier, so I am going to do a series of posts on what I wish Siri could do.

For instance Siri should help me organize all of these creative thoughts flowing around in my head. I should be able to have a conversation like this with Siri:


Me-Hey Siri I want to write a book.
Siri- Okay what would you like to write about?
Me-I'm not sure yet. 
Siri-Okay why don't we make a mind map. What is your topic going to be about?
Me-I want to make a mind map about my thoughts on teaching math through art. 
Siri-Okay, I have your main topic. What are some of the subtopics you would like to have?
Me- Right now I want to add two chapters. 


If Siri could do this, it would be the best app ever. It would mean that for people like me you don't need to forget your Rants or Raves. For those of us...bloggers, writers, artists...that have things to say it could be monumental. You wouldn't forget your thoughts, or they wouldn't get lost in translation, or lost when you walk into another room and can't remember what you were thinking at all. 

Siri should be able to help you keep track of your thoughts by creating mind maps through voice memos and then it should be a simple thing to translate those voice memos into text that you can add it quickly to your blog or article or book or...whatever. 

It is super aggravating! Apple, I do hope this is what your Newest iPhone does, because I really needed to do that so that I can get out all of the ideas I have floating around in my head, and use them to possibly become a millionaire! Well, at least, be able to feel confident that I don't forget all these amazingly creative things floating around in my head. 

Parenting Through Politics

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. The busy life of a full time working mother of three with two different side jobs and a whole heck of a lot of creativity. Plus, my husband was very worried about me posting about politics due to our positions as teachers, and since the past year has been immersed in politics, I have tried to stay quiet because if I did blog I would probably go off. The last week has changed things, however. Let me give you a little background: 

My husband and I have never been on one side of the aisle or the other when has come to politics. We have almost always voted for the Republican. Even up until this monumental election day I was unsure of who I would vote for, even though the majority of our friends and all of our family are starch republicans. I stood there on the presidential screen debating and debating. Who did I vote for? Who cares! It doesn't matter any more. The election is over (thank The Lord above), and it should no longer matter who you voted for or which party you claim to be a part of....all that matters now is that we ALL ARE AMERICANS. 

And as an American and as parents, it is important that we educate our children on what is going on in a nonpartisan way. To do that we allow, our children to watch the news  (a variety of news stations because if you are only watching one news source then you are limiting and allowing someone to control the news and truths you are hearing) with us and we have discussions. We are living in a monumental historic time which will be in history books in the future. Not only that but your kids should be informed and educated on how our government works and why our country was founded (look for future blog post by current 3rd grade teacher and former 4th grade teacher on the basic fundamentals of our government).

One thing I remember growing up was watching the news with my parents. I watched the morning news with my mom and the nightly news with my father. I was educated about what was going on in the world, which is one of the reasons I think I had a good head on my shoulder growing up. I knew the dangers that were out there, and I knew about the things going on in the world. 

In the last 18 years of teaching, I have watched parents shelter their kids from the news, even to goes as far as telling their kids they couldn't do their homework of watching the weather because they were afraid of what their children would see. 

Guess what? They need to see it! They need to know how scary and wonderful the world can be. They need to know what is going on in our communities, our state, and especially our nation.

Now I don't care who you voted for....THE STATE OF OUR GREAT COUNTRY IS AT STAKE. Our amazing country was founded on the principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The only way that works is with our democracy's checks and balances. This is not a dictatorship, but if we all, as AMERICANS, do not start standing up to this insanity, we will all be under a dictator soon! 

To quote the ex-head of the CIA, James Clapper, "I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally -- and that's the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system -- and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally."

Please educate yourself and educate your children on our government, not the Republican or Democratic side, but the government of the United States of America and why it was founded.  Some say it doesn't matter because the reasons our country was founded are no longer valid...to those people I say...either educate yourself or goodbye...go live in one of the red countries in the picture below:

Also you might want to be educated about our president's views about the leaders of these countries (Side note: these quotes are not alternative facts. They were actually said by our president):

"We shouldn't have destabilized Saddam Hussein, right?" Trump asked his supporters on Tuesday. "He was a bad guy, really bad guy, but you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good."

After Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Trump as "talented" and the "absolute leader" in the GOP race for the White House back in December, Trump said that "sure" he liked Putin's remarks about him. "When people call you 'brilliant' it's always good, especially when the person heads up Russia," Trump told the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Trump in January 2016 first called North Korea's Kim a "maniac," then riffed with some awe on the young despot's bloody rise to power."You have to give him credit," Trump said. "How many young guys -- he was like 26 or 25 when his father died -- take over these tough generals, and all of a sudden -- you know, it's pretty amazing when you think of it. How does he do that? Even though it is a culture and it's a cultural thing, he goes in, he takes over, and he's the boss. It's incredible. He wiped out the uncle. He wiped out this one, that one. I mean, this guy doesn't play games. And we can't play games with him. Because he really does have missiles. And he really does have nukes."

Trump said during the CNN-Telemundo Republican candidates' debate in February that while Gaddafi was "really bad," his tactics were effective. "We would be so much better off if Gaddafi were in charge right now. If these politicians went to the beach and didn't do a thing and we had Saddam Hussein and if we had Gadhafi in charge, instead of having terrorism all over the place, we'd be — at least they killed terrorists, all right? And I'm not saying they were good, because they were bad, they were really bad, but we don't know what we're getting," he said.

For now...'nuff said, but I'll be back...