April 2009 Archives

sym·po·si·um   (sĭm-pō'zē-əm)

1. A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations.
2. A collection of writings on a particular topic, as in a magazine.
3. A convivial meeting for drinking, music, and intellectual discussion among the ancient Greeks.

Saturday was the long awaited arrival of this year's TLT Symposium. As usual, the day was full, it was engaging, it was a bit overwhelming, and at the end of the event, there was more to take away than I could really effectively comment on without additional cogitation (you know, thought, decompression, discussion, and... stuff).

Today is Earth Day. I should be more excited about it than I am, just because we only have one. But some days just feet like a Hallmark excuse for more cards and swag. Or guilt. There's always room for guilt (paper--which deforest our lands? Or plastic--which fill our landfills?) and sometimes a girl just needs a break from hemp guilt.

That being said, I think that Jones Soda has actually embraced the day for what it really was intended for: to remind us that the earth is what we all have in common. In celebration of Earth Day, Jones Soda employees are off the grid for the day. I didn't say they're off; but rather, they are off the power grid. All employees are cycling to power the bare essentials (telephones, computers, lights, etc.) in the office from 9:00am to 5:00pm PST.

Okay, how freaking cool is that???

Thinking about CogDog's impending visit here at Penn State, and stumbled across this lovely example of stop motion animation. An entirely different way of telling a story with pictures. I love that this was created by someone who speaks another language, but the images reach across language barriers to tell the story.

I've spoken here at length about my relationship with Twitter. I've been watching it grow and change over the last two years, and continue to see the dynamics shift, depending on what I'm doing and where I'm focusing my interests. Recently, prodded by my partner-in-crime Nikki Massaro Kauffman (@NikkiMK on Twitter), I have expanded my circle to include a cadre of high ed bloggers like @rachelreuben, @bradjward, @KarlynM, @kylejames, @mherzber, and added them to @markgr (an amazing higher ed web professional whom I've actually been following since last year's Web Conference here at Penn State. Plus, he knows my name. So there.). To top off the list, I'd even added @chrisbrogan who is generous in his time, webinars, and sharing information in general. But for a guy who's got 62,555 followers? You watch him work his magic, you don't interfere.

Until today.

So here I am, all excited about posting a thought that has to do with something work related, and I jump to "manage entries" because I want to use a Daily Show reference that I had already blogged about, only to discover that I never actually published the 95% written post.

#$*Y%&$%^*&Y@!!!!

Unfortunately, I have to say this is more common than I'd like. I get into writing the post, then something calls me away--kids, work, life--and by the time I get back, The Muse has filed her nails, gotten bored, and wandered away to create with someone else. I have to admit, she's kinda fickle too. Like, if I do this too many times (as it seems that, apparently, I have) she is much less willing to stop by and grace me with her wit and creativity. It is, in fact, one of the bad habits I was trying to break with the one post a day challenges. That I failed. So, obviously something I need to work on. (Write the post. Publish the post. Pray for comments.) In the meantime, if you have a blogging problem, you might want to bear in mind: you must hit "publish" to move things along.

Just saying.