I was supposed to be in Atlanta this week for ELI, but alas I am still sick after nearly 10 full days. Ear infection, sinus infection, and now the worst sore throat I think I’ve ever had. The bummer with missing ELI is that I actually really like their take on things — they pay attention to the little guy and innovation seems to matter to them. It is so less formal than the big Educause annual event … it is just a nice place to spend a few days. The other bummer was that I was going to get to hang out with three great high school friends who moved to Atlanta years ago. Oh well … always next year.

Speaking of real life, I came across perhaps one of the best sites I have seen in quite some time — Get a First Life. I have a Second Life account and I even play (is that what you do in SL?) it every now and then. At ETS we are offering an Engagement Award for faculty who want to something interesting with it and a colleague of mine, Brett Bixler maintains a blog for us related to it. At any rate the hype and almost ironic utilization of SL has always made me feel a little less than impressed with it as a real life simulator. I guess I’m not the only one … Darren Barefoot has built one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. It has to be worth a peek.