Tech Tip: Canvas Calendar

I officially regret not completing more of the tech tip extra credit assignments. As I scrolled through all the options I thought how helpful some of these tips will be and how too bad I have not learned about them earlier.

This is my only class this semester using canvas and from my understanding all courses will be on canvas starting next semester. The university is going to drag some of the professors kicking and screaming it seems too. Once we finally learn and understand how to use a program it seems like another one comes out and we are forced to learn all over again just in time for another to come out. Funny enough, I remember distinctly feeling this way when Facebook went public. I was so reluctant to join because I had literally just got the hang of Myspace. I finally had to make the switch though and.... turns out Facebook was a ton better than Myspace!

I watched the introduction video for the calendar tool on canvas. I personally have never kept a digitized calendar, even on my iPhone. I prefer to buy an Agenda and write everything down... color coordinated by class. This system has worked for me since middle school and it has not let me down yet. I do have an on campus job, however, and I would not be able to schedule and organize my work life without the outlook calendar. It is a very convenient tool when scheduling meetings and such.
I have enrolled in next semester and those classes have already shown up on my calendar which makes it a little confusing. Of course when the assignments are due are not on there but they are listed under my courses (not by title but by course number too).

I am just a little worried about the professors who are reluctant to switch to canvas. They only make it harder on the student trying to figure out the new system when they do not attempt to learn it as well. This course has been amazing! I do not know what I would have done if not for the extension you have added on to our assignments. I wish some of my professors could complete some of your canvas tech tips. It would make the students live's so much easier if they had a professor willing to learn.

Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part A

The Monkey and the Crocodile

(Wild Crocodile) 

• Monkey lived in a tree next to a river full of croccodiles
• The mama croc wanted a monkey's heart, she asked her son to get her one
• The young crocodile thought he would trick the monkey into going to the middle of the lake to an island full of fruit
• The greedy monkey jumped on the tricky crocs back
• The crocodile tried to kill the money  by drowning him
• The monkey said he left his heart on the shore. The crocodile was stupid. 
• The crocodile wanted the heart so he took the monkey back to the bank of the shore
• The monkey of course took off left down the river to live another tree but the crocodile found him and tried to trick him again but it did not work!

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

• A turtle tricked men who were afraid of him to throw him into the water bc they thought it would kill the turtle. 

I'm thinking about combining a few stories into one. Like a  couple of animals with some good dialogue. 

The Merchant of Seri

(Ancient Gold Bowl)

• Basically a story about greed.
• An old poor lady and her golden bowl and the 2 merchants

The Turtle Who couldn't Stop Talking

• Two geese and a turtle became good friends. 
• The geese wanted to talk him with them so they said as long as you can keep your mouth shut and hold on to this stick you will make it
• The turtle did not and died

These stories are very similar to Giant Crabs and Other Tales. which I just read but it is fun to see the different styles and how some of the gory ones could be turned into nice ones. 

The Ox Who Won the Forfeit

• This is a story about being nice
• The man made a bet but was mean to the ox so the ox did not cooperate until the man said he was sorry

The Sandy Road

• wow. This story was about a desert and how they found/ dug a well.
• I think I like the grim stories better than the happy ones. 

The Quarrel of the Quails

• Tale about the quails that learned to get away from the hunter but quarreled and got caught anyway. 
• Maybe I could make a tale about two children who gets caught stealing candy or something like that. 

The Measure of Rice

• There was a dishonest king
• Maybe I could write a story about the one king who was too kind and this king. They would not get along very well I have a feeling. 
• The valuer on his court was very honest and set the price of things
• Obviously the King wanted to cheat so he found a random person to become his new valuer but he made a laughing stock of himself bc of course he new the value of nothing!
• I hope the king learned his lesson

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

• There was a rabbit who thought the world was breaking up and stated to run when he heard a loud noise. 
• Rabbits began to follow him then deer then a fox then an elephant
• The lion stopped them and made the original rabbit go back to the tree and see what has happened, that is when they saw a coconut and knew that is what scared him.

Bibliography: Jataka Tales. Ellen C. Babbit. Illustrated by Ellsworth Young. 1912. 

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India, Part B

Birds of a Feather

• Horse named Chestnut was kind of restless and always hurt other people and horses. 
• The King wanted to buy some horses but was cheap so he had Chestnut let out so he would hurt the other horses and lower the price. 
• The next time the dealer went to sale the King horses he made sure to bring another wild one to occupy Chestnut, turns out they like each other
• Long story short, the King felt bad and gave the dealer double the money. 

Spend a Pound to Win a Penny

• A strange story about a monkey and some peas
• Basically don't be greedy.

The Cunning Crane and the Crab

• Crane wanted to eat the fish in a drying up pond so he thought he would trick them
• Fish did not fall for his trick at first bc they knew he wanted to eat them
• The crane convinced them that he would take them to a beautiful cool lake

             - They fell for it, and the crane ate all the fish

• The crane tried to trick a crab after he ate all the fish but the crab knew better
• he had him carry him but only if he let him secure himself with his claw around his neck
• The crane took him to the lake with the intent to eat him but the crane clipped his head off
• Revenge

Union is Strength

• There was a quail hunter and he would catch many quails in a net every day
• One smart quail said when he catches us we will all fly together and lift the net
• This worked for a while until the quail started to quarrel then they fought so much the quail hunter caught them all one day when they were too busy arguing with each other

Silence is Golden

• This story is kind of sad bc it is about a lion who sounded like a jackal so all the other lions made fun of him. Reminds me of Rudolf the Red nose reindeer. 

The Quail and the Falcon

• There was a quail and he lived on the land of a farmer with a plough 
• One day he decided to venture out but while he was out a Falcon saw him and swooped down do grab him
• The quail convinced him to take him back to his own farm so the falcon could see it but when they landed the falcon stumbled and died

The Bold Beggar

• Story about a King who ate his fine meal in front of everyone
• One day a beggar came running and pretended to faint so the king let him eat some of his food
• When he was done and asked what the news was he said I was hungry and now I am not
• The king laughed

The Jackal Would A- Wooing Go

• A jackal fell in love with a lioness with 3 brothers
• he waited to propose to her until her brothers went off hunting
• The lioness was surprised and wanted nothing to do with the jackal, in fact she was disgusted. 
• He left all sad with his tail bw his legs
• When the brothers came home she told them this outrageous story and they one went to kill the jackal but he was behind a crystal wall and the two eldest cracked their skulls
• The youngest roared so loud it gave the jackal a heart attack and he died
• The sister wasn't even sad her two eldest brothers died. 
• Geez, kind of reminds me of Varuka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Lion and the Boar

(Lion)

• Boar and Lion at water hole drinking
• Boar challenges lion to a fight
• Lion agrees to fight in a week bc he was full
• Boar goes back home and tells everyone what is going to happen, they freak out

“Dirty Boar, I want no more,

You’re saved from being eaten;

If you would fight, I yield me quite,

And own that I am beaten!”

• The boar rolled in mud so the lion would refuse to fight him.. it worked.

The Goblin City

• story about female goblins
• Maybe my story could be about this for Halloween
• Ship wreck

“Man’s meat, man’s meat,

That’s what Goblins like to eat!”

• The women goblin tricked the ship wrecked men into marrying them like they had others
• The captain found out they married goblins though 
• A magic horse saved them 

Lacknose

• Basically a story about a go with no nose but these kids who want a flower from his garden do not have a filter and offend him with their poems so he does not give them a flower
• The last little boy tells the gardner how it is and he gets a posy.
• Maybe I could make a rhyme about a posy

The King's Lesson

• A wise, good king named Godfrey.. this is ironic bc it reminds me of King Geoffrey from Game of Thrones... & he is not nice.
• This is a strange story about two kings who basically fight bc they are both too nice

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W.H.D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897. 

Story: The Beautiful Maiden

There once was a beautiful maiden who lived deep in a forest. 

She was often very lonely and would long for company.

One night while dusting her cabin, the young beautiful maiden could not help but sneeze.

"Ah..Ah..AHH Choo..!"

A goblin, who lived near by, heard the sneeze and went

 to go investigate the loud noise in the quiet forest. 

"Is anyone there?!" yelled the goblin. "Helloooo! I have not met or seen anyone for many moons in this forest."

The maiden became very afraid when she heard the harsh voice of what she knew must be a goblin. She had remembered the tales her father used to tell her as a child about goblins eating people up when sneezing and not saying, "God bless you."

The young, beautiful maiden did not want to be gobbled up by a goblin, so with no one around to bless her she said, "God bless me!"

The goblin heard this proclamation from the east of him so he headed that direction until he ran into a cabin he had never noticed before because it was so well hidden in the brush. 

"Hellooo!" said the goblin again, hoping he had found the source of the noise. 

The maiden, inside the cabin, was frozen still. She had not intended for the goblin to come closer to her after saying, "God bless me" but for him to go away!

Unsure of what to do, the maiden said, "Okay, Mr. Goblin, you have found me because of my sneeze but please do not eat me. I have said, "God bless me!"

"Silly girl. I'm not here to eat you! I am just a lonely goblin cast here to the forest because people in the town were too afraid of my appearance. I have not had a friend or even a traveler pass by in many moons and I am very lonely, ma'am. Please keep me company for a while."

Breaking her trance, the maiden finally moved toward a window to look out at the goblin. 

He was indeed not very nice-looking but the maiden, longing for someone to talk to too, took a chance and invited the goblin in her cabin for tea. 

"Okay, goblin. I will make some tea for us while we have a nice chat, but if you eat me up the Gods will not be very pleased with you because I have said God bless me as I am supposed to when one sneezes."

"I wish no harm on you ,fair maiden. Thank you for your kindness."

The goblin walked in the cabin and sat at the maiden's table while she prepared a pot of tea. 

"Fair maiden, please if I may ask, what is a young, beautiful and kind maiden like yourself doing in such a dreary and lonely forest?"

"Well, sir, I was living with my stepmother and half-sister in town while my father was away at war. Every day when my stepmother, half-sister, and I would walk through the market the townspeople would sing their praises of my beauty and kind heart. My stepmother grew very jealous because she wanted her own daughter to be the most beautiful girl in town, so one day in a jealous fit she bade me off to the forest in hopes the townspeople would forget of me and my beauty."

For years after that day, the goblin would visit the beautiful, young maiden at her cabin and they would have wonderful conversations over tea. 

One day, out of the blue, the maiden suggested to the goblin, "Let's get married!"

The goblin taken aback by what she said sputtered over his tea, "Wh.. wha.. What did you just say?! Ma'am, you do not want to marry an ugly ol' goblin like me. What would the townspeople think?"

"Oh, goblin. Who cares what the townspeople think? They have cast us aside and have forgotten about us by now for no one comes to visit.  You are the kindest heart I know and I wish to marry you." 

The goblin finally agreed to wed the beautiful maiden and on their wedding day, upon the first kiss, the goblin turned into a handsome young man.

They were both surprised at this revelation but continued to live happily in the cabin in the woods for a few years until one day they decided they had been cast aside from the townspeople for long enough. They packed up their most prized possessions and walked into town after a day and half journey. 

Upon their entrance into town, the townspeople were stunned by their beauty and instantly remembered her as the beautiful young girl who stunned them when she was small. 

The townspeople rejoiced she was back and the couple lived happily ever after in the town. 

Author's Note: In my story this week I decided to combine multiple tales from old India into one story line along with a little hint of the American version of Cinderella. In the Indian tale, "The Goblin and the Sneeze" a goblin haunted a house just outside of the city and would gobble up anyone that would sneeze outside of the city unless someone else said, "God bless you" and the other person must answer back, "the same to you." The ending of this particular story probably had the happiest ending, in that the boy persuaded the goblin to turn vegetarian so he no longer ate people who sneezed.  Most of the other Indian tales did not have such happy endings and someone typically ended up dying or being fooled. With the Walking Dead (spoiler alert! Do NOT click on the link unless you watched the latest episode or simply just do not care) being on this week and a lot of the other stories I have been reading I felt like it would be a nice break to have a happy ending for once. Since I wanted a happy ending, what better to turn to for inspiration than a Disney-fied princess story. That is where I got the inspiration for the beautiful maiden and her evil stepmother.

P.S. If you would like to listen to some music while reading I've embedded Hans Zimmer "Time" from the Inception sound track into my post for your listening pleasure. If you have never heard of him I suggest you look him up! I enjoy studying while listening to the Hans Zimmer radio station. No words to distract me but often soothing. 

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W. H. D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897. 

Picture: Cabin in the Woods. Sheila Sund. flickr.

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India, Part A

The Giant Crab

• I could write a story on the base of the giant crab but make it humans instead of animals. 
• Maybe a story about greed, we'll see.

The Hypocritical Cat

• Well this was a surprisingly scary story. Maybe with Halloween coming up I can make a story about a cat and mouse

The Crocodile and the Monkey

• This story ends up having a happy ending but mine could end badly. Maybe the monkey is the one that gets fooled by the croc wife

The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot

• I didn't like this story bc she plucked the birds feathers! I had a pet bird, so this made me sad.
• I could write a story about to parrots though, that could be fun. 
• Maybe some kind of rhyme. 

The Dishonest Friend

• I like this story. I could go a few different directions with this story. 
• There is a lot of trickery in these stories, I need to think of something clever.
• Maybe modern day, borrowed a mower or something like that.
• Honesty is the Best Policy.. or maybe not
• maybe I could tell a story how one lie just rolls into a bigger one and a bigger one

The Mouse and the Farmer

• This is kind of another mouse and cat game story
• It reminded me of the latest Walking Dead Episode
• I could make it where the mouse makes an entire village of mice bring him food in exchange for their lives.

The Talkative Tortoise

• Wow. 
• I could write a story about how sometimes talking can get you into trouble, kind of the same with lying. 

The Monkeys and the Gardener

• This story kind of reminded me of the monkey on the Night at the Museum for some reason.
• my creative juices are not flowing.

The Goblin and the Sneeze

• I could write a story about a goblin for Halloween. 
• It could be a nice goblin but no one knows he's nice bc everyone is afraid of him.

The Goblin in the Pool

• Another story about a Goblin but this one lived in the water
• Maybe I can combine the Goblin stories

(Goblin in the Pool)

The Foolish Farmer and the King

• This reminded me of Game of Thrones
• Except this King was nice... I could make him not nice.

The Pious Wolf

• The fairy taught the wolf a lesson

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W. H. D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897.

Reading Notes: Tales of the Indian Epics, Part B (stories I missed)

I somehow messed my reading up last week and read a story that was not in the reading guide, part B for Tales of the Indian Epics by Kincaid. I really wanted to read those stories too but by the time I realized what I had done I had already read a rather lengthy story from the same book. Anyway so here are the notes from the stories I missed in Tales of the Indian Epics by Kincaid, Part B. 

The Front King's Daughter

• King Parikshit ruled Ayodhya
• While hunting one day met a beautiful maiden, fell in love, wanted to marry

              -She said yes under one condition; he can never let her look in water on the ground

• Of course he agreed and they got married
• The Kings minister found out about the condition under which the maiden married the King

            - he made a beautiful garden and put a pond in the far corner
            - The minister made it look like a gift and sent the king and his new wife there,
            - He tricked the king by telling him there was no water to be found there

• While in the garden the King and Queen stumbled unto the pond and the King forgetting his promise on the hot day went swimming and invited the queen in

               - She jumped in but never came up for air
               - the king had the pond drained to look for her
               - all that was there was a big frog and he swore the frog ate her
               - he orders all the frogs to be killed

• The frog king, Ayusha disguised himself as a brahman to demand the stop of frog killing

          - Turns out the maiden the King married was the frog kings daughter, Ayusha
          - She deceived him into believing she was a maiden

• It would be fun to write a story about a deceptive woman, maybe so she could get money from a rich guy (thinking modern times) or maybe like a Maid in Manhattan kind of a theme!
• Turns out the King did not care and took her back
• But the frog King was mad so he cursed his daughters children saying they would hate all Brahman. 
• They had 3 kids; Sala, Dala, and Vala
• Sala became King after his fathers death but made a rich angry so he died
• Daly gave the rishi his Vami horses back so the rishi lifted the curse that was put on the brothers by the frog queens dad.

The Descent of the Ganges

• I did not like this story as much as I thought I would have. The Ganges River  is a very interesting topic to me.
• This story is about before the Ganges River flowed on earth.
• Sagar the King of Ayodhya had an elderly wife, Keshini and a new wife, Sumati
• They went to the Himalayas to get a boon from the holy sage

            - they both asked for sons b/c neither of them had born one yet.

            - Keshini got one son who became king

            - Sumati got 60,000 sons but none of them ruled

             --> eldest of her 60,000 sons named Prince Asamanja but tormented his brothers and was

                        banished, hi son, Aswanedha stayed though and was given a quest to travel the world

                         with a horse

• The god Vishnu disguised himself as an old lady and stole the horse
• King Sagar sent his 60,000 sons after it
• They all died when Vishnu killed them with fire from his eyes
• The king sent his grandson, Aswanedha after his uncles
• Aswanedha found the horse but Vishnu was nowhere to be seen
• On his way back he runs into god Garuda and said if they pray long enough that maybe Vishnu would bring down the Ganges so that they can honor his 60,000 sons properly. 
• it took 3 kings but they finally prayed enough
• The river flowed but it was going to wash over a rishi's house so he stopped it, so Lord Brahmadeva told the rishi that the Ganges could be his daughter so he let if flow

Tales of the Pole Star

• King Uttanpad had two wives:

                  - Suniti, had a beautiful nature --> boy named Dhruv

                  - Suruchi, had a beautiful face --> boy named Uttam

• The king of course spent most of his time with Suruchi with a beautiful face
• The king was careful not to show Dhruv much attention though because Suruchi was jealous and one day Dhruv was sitting on his dads lap and Suruchi pushed him off
• Dhruv went to the forest to pray to Krishna and never returned 

              - Krishna came to Dhruv one day to grant him wish and Dhruv wanted to go with Krishna

                   but he said he had to go back to his father to rule

• Everyone was happy about his return except Suruchi and Uttam of course bc they are jealous
• Prince utter wanted to go with an army and attack a forest tribe, the King let him bc he was making the king angry anyway. He of course made a bad decision and was killed during the first battle
• Dhurv went with a new army to seek revenge and did
• Suruchi was driven crazy with sadness and ran into the woods and never came back
• Uttanpad gave the throne to Dhurv
• After years of ruling he wanted to return back to the forest so he gave the throne to his son and did just that, but this time he climbed up a mountain and went past the sun and moon god and past the 7 rishis and sat at the end of the trail.
• Krishna turned Dhurv and the 7 rishis into stars

                - Sauce pan like constellation that Indians call the "seven rishis silently point is Dhruv"

(The Seven Rishis Silently Point is Dhruv)

Bibliography: Tales of the Indian Epic by C.A. Kincaid. 1918. 

Story: The Prom Barter

"You knew I was going to wear those shoes tonight, Vinata!" shouted Kadru, her sister, from the other room.

Kadru, the eldest by only a few minutes, flung her sister's door open and stormed in the room. "Give them here," she shouted, motioning with her hand to hand them over. "I told you, they look better with my dress; besides you'll be taller than Kash if you wear them."

Kadru knew her sister was right about her being taller than Kash, her prom date, if she wore them but the last thing she wanted to do was admit that she was right.

"Fine, wear them for all I care.... I'll...just wear..." Kadru slowly inched towards Vinata's closet where she kept her shoes, "your Jimmy Choo's!" She grabbed the shoes quickly and rounded the corner of her door before Vinata even registered what happened.

"Hey! I was going to we.." Vinata stopped mid- sentence because she knew she could not wear two pairs of shoes and she had already taken her sister's. She had intended to wear her favorite Jimmy Choo high heels to prom but when she saw Kadru's she became jealous and wanted hers instead. Now Kadru not only had the prom date Vinata wanted but she had her favorite high heels too.

Vinata had always been jealous of her older sister. Even when they were children and people would tell Kadru how pretty and proper she was. Then all through grade school and into high school Kadru had always gotten better grades than Vinata and was praised by the teachers. Their senior year of high school, Vinata thought, "This is going to be my year." She had had a crush on Kash since freshman year and she had a plan to get him to ask her to prom. Then, just weeks before prom when Vinata was getting nervous about whether Kash was going to ask her or not, Kadru went running up to her and shouted with excitement, "Kash asked me me prom!!Ahhh!!"
Vinata couldn't help but show the disappointment on her face. Turns out Kash had taken advantage of his friendship with her to only get closer to the beautiful Kadru.
Of course Kash's friend Bobby asked her to prom the next day and when nominations for prom king and queen were announced the couples were to face off.

"The boys are here, Kadru!" Vinata shouted. As Kadru walked down the stairs she said to her sister, "How about we make a wager? Whoever loses prom queen tonight has to do the other's chores for the rest of the year."
Knowing the one thing she had more than Kadru was friends, Vinata said, "You have yourself a deal."

Once they reached the prom destination with their dates, Vinata started to dance and encourage her friends to vote for her for prom queen.

Kadru knew Vinata had more friends than her but being the more cunning sister she visited the voting station where a lower classman transfixed by Kadru sat. Without hesitation, the young boy let Kadru cast multiple votes for herself and she had him destroy the rest of the votes cast.

When the results were read at the end of the night and they announced Kadru and Kash as prom queen and king, Vinata could not believe her ears.

Now she must do double the chores for the rest of the year but Vinata knew one day things would fall in her favor.

(Banquet Hall)

Author's Note: In the original tale of King Janamejaya's Snake Sacrifice, King Kashyapa married two sisters by the names of Queen Kadru and Queen Vinata. They both took such good care of him, he granted both of them a wish. Kandru, the eldest, wished to be the mother of a thousand snakes and the younger sister, Vinata, wished to be the mother of two sons who were equal in strength to the thousand snakes. They both laid eggs and waited for them to hatch. When Kandru's eggs hatched, Vinata grew jealous and impatient because her eggs had not hatched yet. In haste she broke one of her eggs open and the boy inside was not ready to be born so he cursed his mother Vinata for being impatient.
Kadru then made a bet with Vinata that the horse's tail that rose from the sea foam when the gods were granted immortality was black. Vinata knew the tail was white for a fact so she agreed to the bet. When they went to see for themselves though, the tail was black and Vinata was enslaved to her older sister for the next five hundred years. Turns out Kadru had her snakes sneak to the horse before the sisters and had them cover the white tail to make it look black.
I wanted to follow the same story line somewhat but set in the modern times. I chose to have two quarreling sisters over prom in my story instead of quarreling about the strength of their children.
I think prom is a little more relatable since most people take part in that high school tradition. Also, even if one does not have a sister (like myself) I could imagine how annoying it would be to have my mind set on an outfit and for it to not be there when I went to look.

Bibliography: Tales from the Indian Epics. C.A. Kincaid. 1918.