Learning Challenge: Deskercise

Article Title: 6 Yoga Exercises You Won’t Be Embarrassed to Do at Your Desk

Sometimes when we sit for long periods of time our body gets a little stiff and we feel the need to stretch. I read the article about 6 different yoga exercises that you can do at your desk at work. I chose this article because I have been getting really into yoga so I figured I would be able to recognize some things and relate them to yoga poses. From those 6, there were 2 that I regularly do. I often do the open chest stretch and the chair twist. I do the chair twist the most often because I feel like it stretches my back so good. I also like the idea of doing shoulder rolls and you can do those without even having to think about it!

Google Timer Tech Tip

When I am doing homework or other things I often like to give myself a break. What I usually do is for every 30 minutes that I work on something I take a 5 or 10-minute break. I usually make that decision based on how hard the assignment is. I don't usually set a timer tho. I just look at the clock and keep track of time. Knowing that I can keep a timer on google as I work tho just makes it so much easier.

Tech Tip: Canvas Profile

I made a few changes to my canvas profile. First, I changed my name on there. It was my full first and last names, but I changed it to my nickname. My name is Gabriela, but I always go by Gabby so I went ahead and changed it. I also added a profile picture, which I made my dog. My dog is so important to me and the cutest thing ever so I put him on there. Lastly I added my pronouns because as most of us know they are very important in 2020.

Tech Tip: Canvas Mobile App

The Canvas mobile app has been so helpful throughout my college career. I did not find out about it until halfway through my freshman year. All of my friends knew as soon as something had been graded and I did not know until I had time to pull out my computer and go look at my grades. At times it was so much easier to just be able to pull it up on my phone. As most college kids know, one of the things that give us the most anxiety is waiting on a test grade to come through. It is such a relief to know that as soon as an assignment gets graded I get a notification right away and it is greatly accessible. It is also helpful when you need to quickly check what assignments are due soon. My favorite part is being able to see when a Canvas message is sent out. My favorite one to receive is the one that says the class is canceled that day! Without the app, I would probably show up to a canceled class because I do not check my email too often.

Learning Challenge: Your Sleep Schedule Can Make You Sick

Article Title: Yes, Your Sleep Schedule Is Making You Sick

Before reading this article, I already knew that your sleeping schedule can make you sick. A lack of sleep can cause irrational behavior and can make you lash out. However, sometimes it is hard to get a good amount of sleep with the busy life that some people live. Something I learned in this article is that traveling can have an impact on your circadian rhythm, which in turn affects how much you sleep. They say that traveling if you travel east you need morning light and evening melatonin and when traveling west you need morning melatonin and evening light. The reason for this is so that time zones do not affect your circadian rhythm as much. I sometimes deal with depression and according to this article., waking up in a room with a window facing where the sun rises can help with depression. In a study that they did, people got released from a facility faster if their room faced the sun because the light helped with their depression. People's whose rooms did not face the sun were kept longer because their symptoms were not cured as fast.

Keys to life with health being the main one.

Source: Flickr

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales Part B

In this story, an old, ugly, little fellow went to DAME Goody's home to ask her to come care for his wife's baby as she was sick and could not do it herself. She hopped on the horse with him and they went to the fellow's cottage. When the wife handed the baby over she gave DAME Goody an ointment and told her to rub that on the baby's eyes when he started to open them. She was curious as to what that ointment did so when she rubbed it on the baby's eyes she also rubbed it on her right eye. She saw everything much more elegant and realized that she was in a house of pixies. 

DAME Goody caring for the baby

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The next day when she was home she went to the store and noticed the little fellow was going from stall to stall and nobody seemed to notice. When she saw him she went up to him and he realized that she had put the ointment on her eye as well. When she told him what eye she had rubbed it on, the little fellow struck her on the right eye and she became blind. 

Bibliography: Fairy Ointment from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales Part A

This story is a lot of repeating but each time they add one more thing to the sequence of things that must happen in order for the pig to jump over the stile. The woman could not go home until the pig jumped over the stile.

Illustration from the storybook

Source: Flickr

Example: From end to beginning

The cow ate hay and gave woman milk.

The woman gave the milk to the cat.

The cat began to kill the rat.

The rat began to gnaw on the rope.

The rope began to hang the butcher.

The butcher began to kill the ox.

The ox began to drink the water.

The water began to quench the fire.

The fire began to burn the stick.

The stick began to beat the dog.

The dog began to bite the pig.

The little pig in a fright jumped over the stile.
Bibliography: The Old Woman and Her Pig from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes: Alaska Part B

A man married the only woman that they knew of at the time and she lived in the south. A while after they married the son of the headsman went to the south to get the woman and grabbed her by the shoulders. When the husband awoke he noticed what was happening and grabbed his wife by the feet. They both started to pull in different directions and the woman's body broke in half.

The son of the headsman took the top half of the woman's body up north and her husband took the bottom half to the south. They each completed the rest of the woman's body by carving wood to make the body complete.

The woman in the north was great at sewing and needlework but not so great at dancing because her legs were made of wood. The woman in the south was good as dancing but not needlework because her arms were made of wood.

So to this day, all the women in the north are skillful with their hands and the woman in the south are good dancers.

Bibliography: The First Woman from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson

Image source: Alaskan Eskimo women from Wikimedia Commons 

Reading Notes: Alaska Part A

Man burst out of a pea pod when he stretched. He stretched and moved his arms and legs and realized that he was full-grown and there was a hole in the bottom of the pod that he came out of. The ground was very soft and was moving under his feet, which made him feel uneasy, so he stopped to get a drink of water from a pool underneath him.

He saw a black figure flying towards him and it turned out to be a raven. The raven moved his beak up to the top of his head with the help of his wing. When he did that, he became a man. He was shocked at what he saw and started looking at Man from all different angles.

Raven went to get Man some berries so that he could eat and came back four days later. When he came back they went to the river and they molded animals out of clay. Then Raven would flap his wings over them four times and they would come to life.

When he was done with the animals, he created a girl so that Man would have a companion.



Bibliography: The Raven Myth: Raven's Creation from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson

Image Source: Black Raven from Wikipedia

Week 10 Story: Black Bear and Squirrel

You can find the updated story in my portfolio.

In a mountain far away lived a very friendly black bear named Sobig. He was very friendly and was always willing to help the other animals that lived in the same area. Throughout the years, He had mastered the skill of balance due to there being a tight rope that connected two mountain cliffs. The rope was usually used by humans, but every so often Sobig liked to cross over to the other mountain cliff. He found it easier to cross on all fours than trying to cross standing up on his two hind legs.

One day, he was getting ready to cross over to the other mountain when he ran into a squirrel named Scrat. Scrat needed some help getting over to the other side and getting Sobig to help him was his only chance of making it across. Scrat was very clumsy and there was no way he would make it over on his own.

"Hi Sobig," said Scrat.

"Hey Scrat, what are you up to today?" asked Sobig.

With a big grin on his face, Scrat said, "I need some help getting across to the other mountain cliff and I have heard that you seem to do it pretty easily."

"I have indeed mastered crossing to the other cliff. I would love to help you, why don't you sit on my head between my ears? replied Sobig.

Scrat replied, "I am afraid If I do that then I will fall off."

"Well then you can sit on my back if it works better," said Sobig.

"That brings us back to the same thing though, I am afraid that I will fall," replied Scrat. 

"How would you like me to get you across then?" asked Sobig.

"Let me hop inside you and you can carry me across in that way," said Scrat. 

"Sure, sounds like a great idea!" said Sobig.

So, the two of them went on their way and started to head across on the tight rope to the other mountain cliff. While in Sobig's body, Scrat was slowly gnawing away at Sobig's carotid, which is one of the biggest blood vessels in the body. When they made it to the other cliff, Sobig collapsed because of how much blood he had lost. Scrat climbed out and began to look around. 

"I need to find a sharp, jagged rock to butcher Sobig," Scrat said to himself. 

As Coyote was walking by, he heard Scrat talking to himself and wanted to be a part of his plan.

"Hey Scrat, let's make a deal. Once we find a good rock to butcher Sobig with, the person who can jump over him without falling should be the one to butcher him," said Coyote. 

Scrat agreed, but as sly as he is, he had a plan in mind. Coyote went first and did not quite clear the body of Sobig without tripping and falling. Scrat is significantly smaller than Coyote so it is nearly impossible for him to fully clear Sobig. So, he jumped over his head since it is not as big as the rest of his body. 

Scrat started to butcher Sobig and gave Coyote his internal organs to go wash in the stream. When he got back, Scrat noticed some of the organs were missing and he checked his mouth only to find remnants of food in there. He was about to kill Coyote when he saw that, but Coyote was quicker and killed him with a flint that he had found. He left all of the food sitting next to Scrat's dead body as well as a tick and went to go get his children. 

Scrat got up, and when he did the tick flew to Coyote and informed him that Scrat was not dead. So, Coyote went back to the site, killed him again and went back on his way. Once again, the tick flew to Coyote and told him that Scrat had once again got up. So, Coyote went back one last time to assure that Coyote was dead. When Scrat got up and saw that the tick was about to go get Coyote, he killed the tick. 

With Coyote being gone, Scrat got all the food and climbed up a nearby tree. It was late when Coyote got back everything was gone and Scrat was nowhere to be found. Scrat finally called to Coyote from the top of the tree and told them that they could lay down at the foot of the tree and he would throw them some food. Once they had all fallen asleep, Scrat grabbed the biggest, heaviest tree limb that he could find and threw it down at Coyote and his kids. It killed all of them and Coyote took them to the edge of the mountain cliff and threw them down into the canyon. 

Authors Note: In the original story, Buffalo helped Porcupine cross the stream by letting him crawl inside him. Porcupine gnawed at one of his main blood vessels and when Buffalo got to the end of the stream he instantly fell over. Coyote and Porcupine found flint and the one that could jump over the buffalo without falling would be the one to butcher Buffalo. Porcupine fell when he tried to jump over the body and Coyote just jumped over his tail. Since Coyote got to butcher Buffalo, he sent Porcupine to the stream to wash off his organs and noticed that Porcupine had eaten some, so he instantly killed him. Coyote's feces, that he left at the site, told Coyote when Porcupine had got up. After two times of this happening Porcupine threw dirt in the feces mouth so that they could not alert Coyote. So, Porcupine climbed up in a tree and when Coyote came back with his kids, he killed them all. 

In my story, I kept the same plot for the most part but changed it in some instances. I also changed the animals in the original story to different ones in mine. The lesson that is taught from this story is that sometimes the one that is known to be kind and helpful is taken advantage of by sly ones. 

Bibliography: Coyote and Porcupine from Jicarilla Apache Texts edited by Pliny Earle Goddard


Image Source: Mountain cliffs at Yosemite National Park with a tight rope between them from    
                        Wikimedia Commons