Gargoyle

Reclaiming my media starts here.

Why the change?

Boredom Fear Ennui Post mid-life crisis crisis Too much coffee Not enough sleep Side effects of seizure medication (prevents, not causes – just for the record) Existential angst Awesomeness Whimsy Despair over the decline of RSS in the wake of Twitter Procrastination Blame it on the rain that was falling falling Tight shoes that pinch my toes Spring frenzy Meh Tenacious iconoclasm Black mold Envy Yada yada yada Pick one or more of the above. Or leave one of your own in the comments.

Onward to Edmonton

The long period of stagnancy (7 months!?!) on the blog is broken. Thanks to two future film directors/producers for giving me the impetus to write. The students in question recently represesnted NBCHS at the provincial Skills Canada comptetion for Saskatchewan, competing against teams from other schools across the province in the category of TV Video Production. This is the first time I’ve sent students to the Skills competition, the Communication Media program being a relatively recent addition (2 and a half years) to the school’s program offerings. Given that, I was somewhat surprised that they returned from competition with the gold medal in the category. I wasn’t completely shocked – they’re very talented film-makers. Having earned the gold, they will now be heading to Edmonton in May to represent the province of Saskatchewan at the Skills Canada national competition. I … Continue reading »

My 15 minutes

It’s 6:45 a.m. and for the next 15 minutes I have the house to myself. I found out in late May that if I am up early enough, the house is completely quiet. I have a few minutes for coffee and maybe even a little read through my very neglected group of RSS feeds. I’m also trying to put together a quick blog post. I’ve greatly reduced my twitter intake over the summer so maybe I can rechannel some of the half formed thoughts I’d usually put there into a blog post, even if it is a lame “blogging about why I haven’t been blogging” sort of post. Sorry this seems to be heading that way but maybe it’s necessary to break open the creative logjam that I’ve been feeling has kept me from writing. Uh-oh – only 2 minutes … Continue reading »

Connections – new book (and more) from Rick Schwier

My friend and mentor (frientor?) Rick Schwier has recently announced the publication of his new book Connections: Virtual Learning Communities. Rick describes it as … … an eBook that explores how online communities form, who joins them, and how they operate in learning environments. This book is available as an .epub document, suitable for viewing on most mobile devices and desktops. The book is already on my iPad and in the top three for my summer reading list (and no, Rick, Stieg Larsson is not on my reading list and I certainly wouldn’t put it ahead of your work). I’m impressed with it so far for three reasons. First, it might be academic in content but it doesn’t read like an academic book. Maybe that’s because Rick and I have talked about these things so often, I recall some of … Continue reading »

Hiatus

Apparently I’ve been on hiatus from blogging for a while. Don’t take it personally – it’s not you, it’s me. I haven’t had much to say or maybe just haven’t had the time to put together any thoughts that need more than 140 characters. I’m playing around with auto posting via posterous. Maybe that will help get more stuff on the blog. Maybe not. But it’s always fun to play with new toys/geek tools while I’m supposed to be working on other things. Alas, I must now yield to the siren call of the dishes. Let’s see how this experiment works out.