Introduction

[Mark Benno <mbenno@mail.waco.isd.tenet.edu>]

It's been a while, but I have prepared an introduction...

My name is Mark Benno.  I am the technology facilitator at Hillcrest 
Professional Development School in Waco (home of Dr. Pepper), Texas.  
(100 miles south of Dallas and 100 miles north of Austin)  Our school 
is affiliated with Baylor University (Sic' Em!) and it's teacher 
preparation program.  My campus is a PK-5 public magnet with, in my 
opinion, far too many educational initiatives happening all at once.  
integrate technology in their classrooms.  Some days I think I do a 
good job, other days I am frustrated.  I'm always harder on myself 
than anyone else.  Our school has received some recognition in 
technology - we are an Apple Distinguished School (1/100), and were 
recognized as the US Distance Learning Association's program of the 
year award.  However, even though awards are nice, nothing is better 
than a teacher or student who finally "gets it!"  Especially, in my 
opinion, if they are a student intern who is about to go out into the 
real world and affect many more students and teachers.
At home, I have a wife of eight years, a 21 month old named Carter, 
and and eight week old named Grant.  They are the best!  Other than my 
family, I like to snow ski, cook outdoors, and *really* get to know 
people.
As I have read *Chicken Soup for the Soul*, one story influenced my 
introduction.  One man set 129 goals for his life and has completed 
most of them.  Thus, I decided to share my goals.  Some of them, I've 
completed, but most of them are dreams I'm striving for.  How about 
y'all?  What are your dreams?  Are any of them like mine?

Life Goals

scuba dive (Iıve snorkeled in Cayman)
hang glide (wife wonıt let me, but I found a simulator on the 
Internet)
attend a home game for every major league baseball team (12 so far)
write a book (in progress)
serve as a youth minister (three different churches)
visit every state in the US (missing Nevada, Alaska, North and South 
Dakota)
take a sleigh ride and visit toy shops in Germany at Christmas
visit Australia (Iım saving frequent flyer miles)
attend a culinary camp
learn carpentry (I just added a screened in porch to my house)
drive a jet ski
learn how to fly an airplane (I just want to know how - not 
necessarily do it)
retire with more than a million dollars (in todayıs money)
provide kids with a fully paid undergraduate education to the school 
of their choice (my  parents did this for me)
earn my doctorate (in progress)
attend a Winter Olympics (Salt Lake 2002?)
snow ski every year (Iıve missed the last two with kids)
teach my kids to snow ski  (hope Carter will ski next year)
ski in Switzerland
own a bed and breakfast (my wife and I both have hotel backgrounds)
grow a garden
learn to juggle (Iıve tried this a bunch and never been successful - I 
even read *Juggling for the Complete Klutz*)
outlive my wife (I donıt want her to be in pain over my death)
keep my family ahead of my career (and God before them)
swim with dolphins
have an invention patented (I have ideas, one time I even talked to a 
marketer and he laughed at me.  I wanted an alarm clock with a 
calculator keypad so that you wouldnıt have to hold down the plus or 
minus buttons to move the time or alarm time)
coach a little league baseball team for each of my kids (everyone 
would play, not just the top athletes)
be a contestant on a game show (I love game shows of all kinds - I 
started watching The Price is Right when I was very small)

I'll bet even Dr. Anderson and Rob Hammer, who know me pretty well, 
learned a lot from this.  I look forward to seeing more personal 
information from others on this list.  I get more out of listening to 
a person when I feel that I know them.  Thus, motivational tapes are 
interesting, but much better if I know the speaker personally!

Mark Benno
Hewitt (suburb of Waco), Texas