I am posting this video as I came across it tonight and I actually watched the whole thing thanks to Yahoo Music.
I like it because Weezer reminds me of my brother. And now that the lead singer has a ’stache, I am sure that my brother will grow his again.
We are at the start of an academic year, a person down, and in the process of hiring a User Support Specialist. I say these things not as an excuse but to acknowledge to myself that these are not normal circumstances. What it does mean is that I need to pick and choose how I spend my time now more than at other times in the past year.
In an effort to keep some of the day to day requests for help from boiling over into fires, I have chosen to do a great deal of desktop support to allow the rest of the team to focus on registering students on the network, plan for computer replacement, and attend to the technology classrooms. This has meant that somethings have needed to take a back burner. Planning and thinking seem to be the things I placed on the back burner and I don’t know that that is wise for long periods of times or even short periods of time for that manner.
One of the biggest hits has been my blogging time which needs to change (and this post is my attempt to reverse gears). Blogging is at the core of my planning strategy as it allows me to write, which allows me to think, about anything that is occupying my time or on the horizion which I need to focus my thoughts/perspectives on. I realized today as I composed responses to emails on the plane that having the opportunity to write and think on a topic and then review what my response allows me to communicate my message more clearly than when I sit down and just fire off responses. The chance to jott down ideas, ponder, and revise helps keep me focused on the end goals – User Centered Desktop Support. By having worked through details, hunches, implications of issues prior to responding to them allows me to adjust to the nuances of the day to day in a process driven way.
Another thing that I have dropped from my daily routine is the tweet of what I am doing next. This may seem trivial but I started doing it following an NPR story that include a piece of research about how vocalizing the next step of a process creates efficiencies in performing the process. Something about the level of commitment it takes to say something as opposed to thinking it. And to tell you the truth It worked for me. When I tweeted “I am gong to respond to emails” that is what I did for the next 30 minutes. This worked to a large degree even for the tasks that I would normally procrastinate. The times that I got distracted or interrupted I would tweet that too to acknowledge that I was not successful. That often is all it took to get back on track with the next thing on the todo list.
I intend to reinstitute both of these strategies pretty much starting now. We will see how I do.
So I took a quick break this afternoon to do a something meaningless to give my brain a chance to rebound.
I read my back log of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips and found this one.
Back in the day I had my fair share of Jams. I even went as far as making a set for my Home Economics sewing project. I wonder if those are still hanging around my parents house. If they are I will need to get them and relive the glory days.
ReaToday in the mail I received an card from the Clinton campaign talking about how PA can’t afford Barack Obama as president if we care at all about universal health care. This is yet another reason that I the Senator from Illinois will get my vote and should get your vote on Tuesday.
While if you look at the positions of Clinton and Obama the differences are merely nuances in most cases. The true difference between the two candidates are in their view of people and their ability to organize diverse people into a functional group to do the business at hand which today is to win the primary and tomorrow is govern this country in a manner which works to protect the interests of the majority without marginalizing the minority.
Why do I believe this Obama is better able to organize people into a functional coalition to accomplish the goals of the day?
In the end, if you know that you will be voting for a democrat, the question becomes who do you believe has the X factor to be able to lead and who do you trust, because the platforms are fairly identical. For me the Senator from Illinois is that person. Good luck in making your decision. If you think I am misinformed please engage me as this is a big decision and I want to make sure I consider all sides before walking into the booth tomorrow.
It seems the phrase technology as a way of thinking from the first keynote has impressed several people. It struck a cord with me as it seems that now I think in terms of posts, tweets, and tagged resources. For example last year as I produced my annual review I posted about what I wanted to say complete with links and such that were annoyingly lost in translation (which I wrote about here). My adoption of this medium of writing/think has altered the way I think as now I form my ideas in ways that are shareable as tweets (140 characters or less) text with inter linked resources, or keywords to find my ideas later.
Is this approaching the idea of technology as a way of thinking or am I simply fitting my thoughts in to the medium that I wish to share them through? I think this was the counter argument that a friend challenged with when I shared that the technology/think phrase made me stop and think.
Are their analogies to the changing times from being a oral culture to a written culture?
I don’t remember the exact words my mom would use when we caught her in a half-truth she was attempting to use to buy a few minutes of quiet in here life but it was something like if you respond quickly with authority it will sound a lot like the truth.
I thought of that this morning as I found my daily dose of Calvin and Hobbes between posts from the Chronicle of Higher Education and Educause.
Funny thing is that I find my daughter sneaking a quick look at her mother to check the plausibility of my statements when I succumb to the temptation and float a half-truth.
First, my brother gave me a copy of Scouting for Boys the original version of Baden-Powell’s manual. It is really interesting to remember my experience in the Boy Scouts through reading this edition. I enjoyed learning the rationale behind a lot of the craziness that we had to do as scouts. Like the Kim’s Game which was played at every gathering. I always thought it was just a silly game used to eat up some time between a hike and dinner, who knew it is really a game to improve your observation skills to help you observe the immoral folk who lurk in this world. Speaking of observing one’s surroundings, did you know you can learn everything you need to know about one’s character by the his/her appearance? Also, I really enjoyed Baden-Powell’s description of eating boiled iguana.
Secondly, my daughter received a set of cd roms with learning games on them. On installation, I was impressed by how the games taught her to play as she played them. All I need to do was get her on the computer and she went for it. At the end of each round she was asked if she wanted to play again or choose a new game. I let her play for about 20 minutes or so and in that time she organized letters, collected the appropriate number of various fruit, and combined machine parts according to simple blueprints. Even though these were pretty mundane activities when compared to multi-player learning games, I was impressed with the basic skills they help develop.
It was a good break but now back to work. I need to move forward on technology training, implementing Sakai, and getting call tracking software.
One of the new things I get to do in my new position is to deal with vendors for pricing of the new technology that we want to implement. After dealing with a few I realize that I live in a different world then them.
The newest post of the 15 Minute Lunch got me thinking that it is funny how reading just a few weeks worth of post can make you feel a connection with someone you never met.
