I read a story today about a man in Poland that was not happy with the mail service there. It took him three weeks to get a priority mail letter that was sent to him. So, he did the calculations and found out that a snail really could have beat his letter. It literally could have traveled the distance quicker than three weeks. sad but true.
It’s the coldest day of the year, so I knew what to expect coming in to work today: the window washers for the seven story building nest to where I work would be out cleaning the windows today. It never fails that they are always up there on the most frozen day of the year. Now, they either have the cruelest boss in the world, or the world’s most unlucky schedule maker. Either way, I look at them and think back to the worst jobs I have ever had, and think “at least I was never sitting on a plank of wood 5 stories up working with water on a near freezing temperature day.”
Of course, I am now sitting in my office with the A/C blowing on my, a huge sweater and my coat on to stay warm. But I get to sit here and do blogs like this. So, I’ll put up with the temperature.
Especially since I get to work on some fun things. I am finishing up a rough draft on a chapter in a Web2.0 in Education book. My chapter looks at Web3.0 and the future of online education. It’s really fun, and I hope it passes the next round of approvals. If not, I am presenting on this same subject at a conference in June, so I can at least use this content there. I also need to get to work on an article about choosing between a blog or a discussion board in online classes. Should be fun to write, also.
People spend way too much time complaining about the weather. Especially in Texas – where there is no such thing as “normal” weather. This warm weather is great – but some people are even complaining about that! Of course, one of those people is a Russian friend of mine, so I can understand why he doesn’t like the warm weather. Still has Siberia in his blood, I guess. But no vodka – he doesn’t like Vodka.
There’s an old saying here in Texas: “if you don’t like the weather – just wait a few days. It will change.”
I hate the cold, anyway – so I am hoping it won’t change. Doubt I will get my wish. Besides – it is really hard to get in the holiday mood while walking around in shorts.
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Now playing: Undertakers – Wolves
via FoxyTunes
Because my writers are on strike. I threatened to cut their salary in half if they were to dare go on strike, but it gets hard to divide 0 by 2. So I decided to take away the generous benefits I offered them.
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Now playing: King’s X – Black Flag
via FoxyTunes
This picture is cute and creepy at the same time:
Of course, they didn’t come up the title of the Energizer Sith. A colleague of mine from UT Dallas did.
Many people don’t know that I am also certified to teach Geology and Art at the junior high and high school level in Texas. I actually spent two years as a junior high science teacher. Geology can be pretty dull if you don’t love rocks. One look at my office, and you can see that I love rocks. I found an article today about a really cool way that some textbook authors are using Google to bring Geology to life. I want to check out this textbook:
Teaching Geology, Google Style
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Now playing: The Alarm – Strength
via FoxyTunes
I’m not saying I am a huge fan, but I think the works of Jackson Pollock are interesting. So I installed the Virtual Jackson Pollock widget on the side of this page. Works pretty cool. Just drag your mouse across the white area, and random splatters go everywhere. Click once to change to another random color. Go fast for streaks. Right click to print if you come up with something you really like:
As far as the other widgets, I’ve got a virtual Simon game. I spent so much time playing that as a child. I even beat it once. Yep, it does give up if you go long enough. I also have Moon Patrol – the greatest video game ever! Or, at least, pre-Nintendo.
No interesting articles to post today. All I saw were people complaining about how much Google and Facebook are making. I guess we all want the American dream – for ourselves, not for others.
Off to Second Life to heckle a colleague from UT Dallas who is presenting at a conference. Should be fun 🙂
The best way to kill time on the job is to start doing something like this. Especially when the boss person says “I want everyone to blog!” I already have about 4 other blogs going, so I am not sure what I can add to the Blogosphere with this blog… other than a bunch of random nothingness. Being random can be therapeutic, after all…
I am listening to some old alternative music sampler. Mostly mid-90’s “we’re-trying-really-hard-not-to-be-grunge, but-still-coming-close” stuff. The last song on the album is a Don Ho song. I think it was meant as a joke. Kind of…. relaxing. But annoying at the same time.
Here is the coolest technology article I read today:
In India, Poverty Inspires Technology Workers to Altruism
Some great ideas there – I wonder if something like that would work in America? You never know…
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Now playing: Don Ho – Give A Little Laughter
via FoxyTunes