Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Seven Things

Oy, Jane! Why me?

Jane Bozarth has passed on the "Seven Things You Don't Know About Me" challenge to me. Not having blogged here in SUCH a long time, I am forced to resume what I should be doing every day or so. Yes, Jane. Thank you, Jane.

1. I was on the Grandma's Teeth bowling team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Fed used to have a bowling alley down underneath the main floor ... somewhere above the gold vault. We were close to last place. Oh, wait. I was on the Fed Research softball team one year too. We WERE in last place!

2. I met Alan Greenspan (going with the Fed theme) in his office. I had my head in his fireplace and my tush sticking out -- admiring the wrought iron -- when he walked back into his office. His remarks? "Oh, I forgot my paper".

3. I was bitten by a dog when I was 12 years old (going with the tush theme). My good friend had a show dog and apparently I went onto the doggie porch when I shouldn't have. Yes, there's a piece of tush missing (OK, some of you know that) and I still don't like dogs.

4. My father worked on the Apollo Lunar Landing Module. When I was young, we all used the silver/gold paper from the module to wrap presents. I was so embarrassed that we didn't have normal wrapping paper. I still have a search light from the Lunar Module. No cool wrapping foil, though.

5. I love hot air ballooning. Hate flying in planes, love ballooning. Once flew at the helm of a balloon for 20 minutes after working ground crew for the Black Tie balloon team in New Jersey. There was a young man from NYC who wouldn't stop talking during our flight. The whole point of flying is the quiet -- right? Oy, he wouldn't stop chatting. So, the balloon captain told me to take the helm. Then mentioned to the entire bunch of us (seven adults crammed in a wicker basket) that I'd never flown a balloon before and gave me flight directions. Man, did that guy go quiet!

6. I also once piloted the Staten Island Ferry going from SI to Manhattan. There were a group of us riding the ferry back and forth for a few hours drinking bottles of champagne. The captain invited me up and let me take the wheel and told me to point the boat right between the towers.

7. I sleep with a stuffed hippo that was given to me by my sister's husband. He died a few years ago -- way too soon. He sent me on a treasure hunt to the store where the hippo, already paid for, was waiting for me. After he died, I bought my sister the same hippo when I found it for sale at Sears. She sleeps with hers as well. Each hippo sits on the pillows when we make our beds. Hers lives in London with her, and has a page on Facebook. Mine's too shy for Facebook. We take our hippos to visit each other on occasion. Family members indulge our insanity. Isn't that what family is for?

I could add that I once shimmied across a Hawaiian stage in a grass skirt and coconut bra, that I love my family, miss my mom, depend on a fantastic group of friends, am passionate about what I do, love Antigua, love the undersea world, live to fish, am proud of my children ... but you already knew that!

Hugs to you all this new year.

Now I have to pass this on to 7 people! Here we go: Clark, Alison, Char, Alan, Rachael, Isaac and Robert?

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Places to Go

The October/November issue of Innovate Online has a great article from Steven Downes, titled "Places to Go: Connectivism & Connective Knowledge". The article highlights the course (titled the same) that Downes teaches with George Siemens.

Great integration of Web 2.0 tools and an amazing peek into a decentralized course structure (of which I am so fond!).

Worth exploring more: Downes uses a course newsletter to keep students on track.

Friday, June 27, 2008

It Can Wait

I do try to get things done when I should, but there's a procrastination streak in my blood that just rears it's ugliness way too often. Yes, I do find myself standing in front of the refrigerator with the door open waiting for my food to come to life like on the Pee Wee show.

We know that there's a Web page for everything, so here's a great way to waste even more time ... Great Moments in Procrastination. I'm quite fond of office jousting!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Drinking and Driving

I'm a huge fan of cup holders. The old ones that used to hook to the window -- I loved those. So, when I get into a car, I check out where the cup holders are. I like when they're hidden and I get to go searching for them. I like when they're adjustable so they can hold my coffee cup and my water bottle.

The cup holder layout makes the car. I don't like where the cup holders are in my car, and yes, that's part of the reason I'm searching for a new one.

Why do we need a place to put our drinks? Are we the only nation that drinks and drives? My guess is that we eat more in our cars than any other nation -- but then again, we eat more than any other nation.

So, imagine my pleasure when I stumbled upon an article by one of my favorite authors, Henry Petroski, on the history of the auto cup holder. Oh great joys, the article even states that "Malcolm Gladwell quotes the French cultural anthropologist G. Clotaire Rapaille expressing amazement that the first thing educated car-buyers look at in a car is how many cup holders it has."

Read on!
Just don't spill on my floor mats!

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

LinkedIn

I've been using LinkedIn for about two years now and just remembered that it is an excellent example of a virtual community!

Virtual Communities on Wikipedia

Wikipedia's page on Virtual Communities has a nice crop of examples.

Well, Well, Well

There's always The Well, which is one of the oldest online communities - it's been around in one form or another for 20 years. I gave up my subscription in the early 90's when it became a paying service. The Well is held in high regard in the virtual community world, as is the Utne Cafe.

Meet Me in the Hallway

Howard Rheingold, at Stanford University, uses a separate blog as an extension to his residential class -- HUM 202: Toward a Literacy of Cooperation

CodeBaby Baby

Macewan College in Alberta, Canada, has integrated a CodeBaby agent into their online student portal. I've been playing with agents in online help systems for years - gotta love CodeBaby!

Monday, December 12, 2005

The Winners

Student Affairs Online has given awards to the following institutions for their online student services:

Simplified Community Building

Broward Center for the Arts has a very simple mechanism which they call a virtual student union - but in fact is little more than an email list builder! They're still building community!

Merlin

My friends at Mercy College created Merlin in the late 90s and have established themselves as leaders in the distance education community. I've had opportunities to speak with Mercy staff and students about Merlin, with much positive feedback.

Social Computing

The Tennessee Board of Regents has an extensive virtual student union - although it's busy for my taste. Their main student services pages are well organized and seem to offer an extensive array of services.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Hi all! What an exciting new feature!