Travel

In Washington D.C.

/ Cole Camplese / Leave a comment

I got down to DC last evening to prepare for today’s “Expert Panel on Technology-Based Learning” that I was invited to be a part of. Let me first say that this is the first time I have taken part in anything remotely connected to the Government. This all day panel is hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor and its intent is to inform them on policy decisions related to technology in education. I am one of maybe a half dozen people here to join the conversation.

I talk at 1:00 PM (right after lunch) on the panel titled, “Emerging Technologies Now and in the Future.” My piece of the hour and a half panel is on what we are calling disruptive technologies — blogs, wikis, podcasting, RSS, and social bookmarking. I get 20 minutes to talk and then we are on the spot for 30 minutes of questions. Should be a lot of fun. I am really looking forward to hearing what goes on today. There are some good people here that will be making remarks in the morning so it should keep my attention. I will post a follow-up after I get home tonight.

Long Strange Trip …

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Showing the Dead roots with that title … it is so tired and so used, but what a week.  I spent the first half of last week cleaning up after the TLT Symposium and finally finishing up my group’s staff review and development plans.  I even got mine done … phew!

The second half of the week kicked off with being picked up by two of my brother-in-laws and whisked off to my time share at Lakeview just outside of Morgantown, WV.  Now, for the handful of people who spend any time here, you know I did my undergrad at WVU in Morgantown and loved every second of it.  Honestly it is why my one brother-in-law Eric and I bought a week there.  Both of us have experience with timeshares, but they are usually in places like Palm Springs, Orlando, and other “nice” destinations.  The roots of the MoTown purchase go back a few years.  Eric and I were working together at the Solutions Institute and were having one of our typical late night “few glasses of wine” conversations … I think Eric said something like, “let’s buy something on eBay …”  Well, about an hour later and $300 poorer, we were the co-owners of a mid-April week at Lakeview.  One of the best $300 I’ve ever spent.

We try to get down every year to play a little golf and get away.  This year we headed out Wed and stayed through to Saturday.  Our group was joined by two other firends from PSU … golf, downtown MoTown, campus, and just plain old fun was what it was all about.  I’ll post some pictures over at my flickr space tomorrow.
Leaving on Saturday we raced to Bloomsburg to join the families in a backyard Easter Egg hunt — a local tradition.  It was great seeing more friends and family!  I will say it was a bit sureal leaving WV to arrive in a button down Easter Egg hunt though.  The weekend was rounded out with a wonderful Easter dinner at my wife’s parents’ house.  Then back to State College.  Great weekend all the way around.  My wife was not only wonderful enough to let me escape for a few days to recharge, but when she realized I really needed to recharge from my recarging, she let me take a nap today!  I think I have the world’s greatest wife.

So that’s where I’ve been.  Later.

Back in State College

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Travel … it takes it out of you, that’s for sure. I spent all week last week on the west coast meeting with Apple and then Odeo. It was fun, interesting, and informative. I’ll post a full on report as time permits. When I travel, I get punished upon return with stacked up meetings. Heading towards the weekend that is how things look … crazy busy and really stacked up.

Airports

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On a recent trip to Chicago I saw the best icons ever.  Not that a McDonald’s icon is that big of a deal, but when placed right next to a martini icon it just seems to work.  Guess which direction I headed in?

Best. Icons. Ever
Best. Icons. Ever

Off to MacWorld

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I am getting set to fly out to San Fran this morning for some meetings with the Apple Digital Campus group … we are doing it around MacWorld because it allows everyone to be in the same place at the same time. I’ll be flying while Steve is doing his thing on stage … I actually had a pass for the keynote, but I am already spending way too much time away from home and another night would’ve been over the top. I’ll catch him on the replay once Apple posts it. And just being there later today, I imagine I’ll get to see whatever he releases. Oh, and being right next to the San Fran Apple Store will allow me to try not to burn a hole in my pocket on the next big thing.

The ADC meeting is going to be a good one. They’ve put together a great agenda and it will allow us to talk openly about how the ADC Exchange changes this year. There needs to be some open discussion about some of the things going on over there and this will give us a chance to do it face to face. Tonight we are visting with the John Lennon Tour people … looking at how they use technology to empower student’s ideas. That should be very cool … I’m hoping to take some ideas back for my class. I will probably be blogging from the air, but not about the Keynote. I certainly won’t be the first to write about the new stuff, but I’m sure I will have something to say about it. Well, off to MacWorld.

Roaming Rates Could Apply

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I am actually typing from somewhere above the western part of PA, central Ohio, or maybe eastern Indiana. I spent probably the shittiest three and a half hours wandering the Philly Airport trying to figure out what gate my continuously delayed flight was to leave from. Was it F17, F37, F27, or as it turns out F36 that my flight was to leave from. I don’t want to turn into a pain in the ass over a little delay, but winter time travel in the Northeast — particularly from Filthadelphia –is a real drag. I am honestly still not 100% sure my “carry on” that needed to be put under the plane will arrive with me. If it doesn’t, my time with the CIC will be spent in blue jeans and a lime green button up … oh well, that’s life.

The flight itself isn’t all that bad, smooth so far, but I am always worried about actually saying anything about a flight until it lands safely on the ground. I was going to use the typical language of, “when it hits the ground,” but that just freaks me out to type (too much time around my wife I guess). As I sit here in coach hell, I am reminded that we do live in an amazing World … here’s an example, I woke up this morning to the ground covered with a fantastic sheet of white … I actually hoped it would cancel my trip so I could spend a quiet Sunday with my girls watching football, making a fire, and chilling out. While I am sitting here somewhere above the US (see above) I am struck with just how beautiful the cloud covering is below me. It is like that blanket of white that would typically cover a field in central PA before anyone, or anything, touched it … pure white, rolling like a sea of snow as far as the eye could see. Really. Amazing. Stuff.

When you spend an hour sitting on the runway you start to notice strange things — here’s an example, which way do you flip the little latch that governs your tray table? Mine is pointing left while my seatmate’s is pointing to the right. Not sure what that means. I also noticed that, since I am a miserable flyer, that the steward gave me two packs of pretzels because I ordered wine — three of them to be exact — while my neighbor only got one (BTW, I think I am only one on the plane who ordered a drink). Strange. At this point, about the only thing I know is that I will miss dinner and spend a quiet evening in a hotel room in Indy … maybe I might try a podcast.

Speaking of podcasts, I loaded up my Nano with a bunch. I listened to several episodes of the Bitterest Pill and laughed out loud more than once. I even downloaded a couple Daily Source Codes (haven’t done that in a while) … My old friend Adam was busy defending his updates to the wikipedia.org entry on podcasting … too funny when you step back and think that the guy who really played a huge role in starting it all has to defend his view of the history. All in all it has me ready to jump back in with both feet. It also makes me wonder what would’ve happened if we’d stayed in the game with From the Basement and really worked that … either way, the sky is not falling and Indy is only another 45 minutes away. A new live version of “Daughters” by John Meyer that iTunes “made” me buy just played in my ears and I am missing my girls. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully have a smoother ride and I can get back to all the things that make my World so wonderful.

Wireless in Philly

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So I am at the Philly Airport on my way to the CIC meeting in Indianapolis today. I woke up this morning in State College looking at 3″ of snow on the ground and thought the trip might get cancelled … everything is close to being on time, so here I sit wireless on the cell modem and waiting for a quick bite to eat. The meetings should be very good — this is my first foray into the CIC (sort of the Big Ten of aceademics), so I expect it to be a great day tomorrow. I’ll post when I get to IN and have a chance to collect my thoughts.