Been awhile...

Been awhile since my last posting. Life's that way. You get busy and some things slip through the cracks. Hopefully, they're not the important things but some times they are as the memory isn't what it used to be.

What should it be if it shouldn't be fun?

Latest iteration of my band Fire In the Belly is fun, definitely! (foto below)

Lost My Way

Up until last Friday, I'd lost my way, it seems. Lost the fire, zeal, drive, enthusiasm, etc. Then, last Friday, I attended a keynote presentation, "Emerging Technologies Delivering Education to the World," by Raymond Schroeder, Professor Emeritus of Communication, Director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning, University of Illinois at Springfield. It was a great presentation that helped to revive my interest in and be excited about the subject of Web 2.0. Or, at least part of it.

Then, over the last few hours I've visited Mike Wesch's Digital Ethnography site, viewed the videos, especially enjoyed A Portal to Media Literacy and become even more fired up at a time when I haven't been as fired up...the subject excites me...is constantly changing...at a very fast rate...so much more to learn...at a really fun time to learn!

March 17, 2008 Happy St. Pat's Day

It's been awhile since my last post. Had hoped to be more diligent about posting but such is life. Holidays, work, and the start of a new semester has been time consuming.
Hope y'all have had a Happy St. Patrick's Day and remember, no Irishmen is ever drunk so long as he can hold on to a single blade of grass and not fall off the face of the earth!

A Few Things to Share

Found this set of video interviews on DevSource. There's 18 interviews with a variety of leaders in internet development. I've watched Episodes 1, 13, 14, & 16. Episodes 1 & 16 are related to usability, interviewing Dr. Jakob Nielsen and Steve Krug, who wrote "Don't Make Me Think." Episode 13 interviews the guy, forgot his name, who started del.icio.us. Episode 14 interviews Celik who started Technorati and worked at Microsoft on the Mac version of IE5. Definitely worth the watch. They run about 20 minutes each.

Also, read an interesting interview with Khoi Vinh Design Director of the New York Times the other day.

Sessions also had a pretty good article on
Staying User-Centric in the Maze of Web 2.0

The University of Georgia has a Forum for Instructional Design. They accept papers on Instructional Design.

Here's an eWeek 10 Things You Should Know About Corporate Blogging slideshow. My blog's broken a couple of the rules stated here...oh well.

Final Project Finished and A New Family Addition

Completed and uploaded my final project for IDT 516 last night, actually early this morning. I've learned a lot within this course not to mention in creating a rubric. I'll be anxious to see Dr. West's comments on the rubric I've developed as I'm not a teacher, facilitator, or instructor. Perhaps that's better as I'm coming at it with an empty teacup. That's a reference is to a Zen proverb about learning in which a teacup is an analogy for a learner's mind. If a learner approaches a learning experience with a full teacup, more tea cannot be added. In order to learn, a learner has to empty his teacup (or his mind) so there is space for new learning. Hopefully, I keep an empty teacup for all my learning experiences.

On another note, we've a new addition to our family. Kath has always wanted a Scottie and so her Christmas present came early. Altho' he'll never replace Dakota, Kath's got her Scottie and she's tickled pink! Jacques is a 10 week old Scottie pup with a wonderful personality. Terriers tend to be independent and self-assured, playful, intelligent, possessing a rugged nature, endless determination, loyal to one or two in a family, and bark only when necessary so they make a good watch dog. The Scottish Terriers' origins are obscure but it is known that they were bred to hunt vermin, voles, badgers, mice, and foxes in the cairns and Highlands of Scotland. Terrier comes from the French word Terre which means earth. The Scottie's paws are broad making them ideal for digging the critters they hunt out of their lairs and dens. The Scottish breed of Terriers were categorized into 5 groups in the mid late 1800s. Those categories consist of the West Highland or Westies, Cairn, Skye, Dandie Dinmont, and the Scottie sometimes called the Aberdeen. The Scottie is most commonly known to be jet black in color but actually, they come in brindle, dark gray, and wheaten (a light wheat color). Jacques is black and brindle. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Terrier)

The wheaten are pretty pricey when buying from a breeder. Some of the wheatens we saw listed on the internet started at $800. Way too rich for my blood! All of our dogs have been mixed bloods until Jacques. Shot the pictures this morning as well as the video. Used a Canon Powershot A70 which is about 4 years old so the quality is not the best. But I thought it'd be fun to shoot it and post it on YouTube and embed it here on my blog so fam, friends, and fellow students can view it and enjoy Jacques in action. The YouTube process is very easy to do...as easy as settin' up a blog!



Spent a good portion of the afternoon playing Christmas carols and fiddle tunes with another fiddler at Dot's Pots a pottery shop in Moline on 16th Street. Dot makes some wonderful pottery as well as some zany stuff that is just laugh out loud funny! Besides her moose mugs, big toothy smiling cross-eyed people mugs, and her cross eyed critters like the elephant taking a shower in a lion clawfoot bathtub, every year at Christmas time she does Roadkill Christmas specials. This is usually a special Christmas related character such as Santa, reindeer, etc. that she runs over before firing them in her kiln. She runs over these creations with a small Tonka truck so the characters have tire tread marks on them...roadkill! Dot and Dan are fun folks to be around and know! We share a lot of laughs, tunes, beer, and great food at their sales which take place at Christmas time (1st weekend in December) and the Saturday following the 4th of July. Musicians have also begun gathering in their basement on the third Thursday of the month for an open music session. Open meaning it's open to whatever type of music the musicians want to play. Today was special, however. Pat Oliver and I played Christmas Carols on fiddle and had a great time playin' them bending and twisting the melodies with improvised backup and twin fiddling parts. What a special time it was. Definitely some moments that would have been wonderful to have captured on tape or cd. Speaking of Christmas, this is my Christmas wish to all you folks Kath and I know and love! May your holidays be grand, and '08 great!!!

Rubricizing, Lost a Close Friend, and Recent Wiki Articles

I've applied my rubric to two courses and have tried a third course but have had trouble finding the lesson materials. But, fear not! I have other alternatives! I started writing my report last weekend and shouldn't be a problem to complete it by Saturday.

Last night I came home, got Dakota (our half German Shepherd half knothead, and God knows what else) his dinner, went out to give him supper, and I had a stiff pup on my hands. Dakota and I had become very close, over the past 6 or 7 years especially. Kath (my wife) is always close to her pets. He was almost 14 years old. Lessee, that's somewhere in his 80s for a dog his size. He had a good life. We had a lot of good times...still doesn't make it easy. Dakota was with us since weaning as a young pup. Josh picked him out and reminded me how Dakota's mom, Gretchen-who lived next door, used to come to our back door and whine 'cuz she knew we had one of her pups. There are a lot of good memories. Kath reminded me of the time he had a cat treed and the cat wasn't gonna come down for love or money. Dakota just sat down at the foot of that tree until the cat decided to come down and promptly chased the cat into next week! He was a smart dog. We had a grey cockatiel named Mosby. Mosby got outside one day and flew away or so we thought until we heard Dakota barking from the back yard. Kath got out there and there was Dakota with his paw on Mosby gently pinning him to the ground and a smile on Dakota's face! Then there was the time he shoved the kitchen chair up against the counter, got on the counter, and drug down a bag cheese flavored chips and had a feast. Kath came in the kitchen as he munched the last of the chips and asked, "Would you like some dip with that, Dakota?" Then there was the Christmas he ate a whole box of chocolate covered cherries. And once when the fridge we had had a bad seal on the door and he nose that door open and helped himself to a whole, thawed out, uncooked chicken with a sheepish grin on his face! At least he died (we say moved) easy and we didn't have to have him put to sleep. That'd probably be worse. He had the typical German Shepherd problem of bad hips and arthritis in his front right leg. Still he was always game for a car ride and a walk along the Mississippi. Buried him in one of his many holes he dug in our back yard, right near his dog house. No other dog will ever replace Dakota...we know that...just the same we're on the lookout for a Scottish Terrier pup. May have found one out southwest of Iowa City for a very reasonable price. Kath would really like a Scottie.

Earlier yesterday a couple of articles about Wikis came to me via email...thought I'd share them here. They both came from eWeek and provide some worthwhile reading. Here's their links...
25 Tips for a Better Wiki and Wikis While You Work

A Brew of Note

A friend of mine came back to visit his fam for Thanksgiving brought me a treat. He brought a 6 pack of Bell's Oberon Ale from Comstock, Michigan. He says every time they brew this particular ale, maybe it's any brew, they have an article in the newspaper announcing it. Apparently it's a very popular brew from Bell's Brewery, an area favorite in the Kalamazoo, Michigan region. With home hot-air popped, buttered (real butter) and cheese flavored, popcorn, my Friday night was complete! One of those "priceless" moments.