Yep, it works like a charm. I got a cellular wireless card the other day and got to use it today. Driving from State College to Philadelphia today my wife pulled out my PowerBook, slid the card in, connected to Verizon and spent the last two hours of trip on the Internet. This is a very good thing. Opens up a whole host of opportunities. The speed of the card isn’t what we are used to in the broadband world we live in, but being able to get online while driving is amazing … pages loaded just fine, we didn’t drop a connection once. It was great being able to keep up on the Nittany Lions while she read the news and browsed blogs. As a matter of fact I am using it now that I am sitting in a sports bar watching the second half to write this post, catch up on email, and do a little research for class this week. I hate to beat a dead horse with this, but I am amazed.
Travel
Orlando Grab Bag
So, I’m in Orlando … hmm, Orlando. The land of magic, fun, and all around interestingness (?) … I finally have a little bandwidth for the moment. I am standing in the Apple Podcast Suite just wrapping up a nice interview with James Hilton and Lynne Johnson from the University of Michigan … we spent the better part of 40 minutes talking about their use of iTunes in their School of Dentistry. Really interesting stuff. Later in the day I’ll be hanging out with some folks from Ohio State about teaching and learning with technology. Should be cool — but what is it with me and the Big Ten schools. The U Mich people gave me a little grief about the football game last weekend, but not on tape. At any rate, here is the feed that will pump out all the Apple ADCE Podcasts.
I spent the first several days down here with my wife and little girl, Madeline … we went to the Disney kingdom. We hit the Animal Kingdom and Epcot on day one and then did the Magic Kingdom and back to Epcot on day 2. Here’s the deal, that Disney stuff is expensive but it does grab the attention of a 4 year old. The thing we noticed is how the folks at Disney allow you to purchase adult beverages in Animal Kingdom and Epcot but not the Magic Kingdom — hence the 2 trips to Epcot. If you’ve been there then you know all about the countries … we like Great Britain. And we spent a lot of time there drinking pints of Stella while Madeline slept on day two. I can’t tell you much easier the whole Disney experience is with a buzz. Here’s the evidence, when you go to the Magic Kingdom (no adult beverages allowed) you notice how all the parents will lose their shit on their kids at least once or twice. It is actually funny to hear everyone going nuts in different languages … see we are all the same down deep. By the time we got to Epcot, Madeline was sleeping and it was straight to the pub for a few pints … that made it all much easier.
Mixing work with vacation can be a drag, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Several things left this week here with Apple and then it is back home and back to reality. At any rate its been fun. Oh, by the way … I got to see and hold one of the new iPods — you know with video. It is an amazing device … a lot cooler that I thought it would be. One huge disappointment is that you cannot do ratings on videos. That is just lame — imagine how easily you can use those 5 stars to assess student work on the fly. If you are going to give us new features, don’t take away old ones! I want that back in. Ok, that’s it. I’ll be back later this week or over the weekend. Later … back to spending money in the land of Disney.
On the Road Again!
Off to Florida today for Educauase … oh, and for a little vacation. I’ll be staying in a condo, so I will not have high speed (or any other sort of Internet access)! What am I going to do … and it isn’t just me. My wife and daughter are coming along … my wife is a blogger (a good one at that) and she is going to go a little crazy not being able to write or read her favorite sites. I just downloaded the iPod map of the wifi spots in the part of Orlando we’ll be staying, so maybe we’ll find time to get our high speed fix. Pathetic.
On a related note … at the conference, I’ll be workign with Apple (and several others) to produce podcasts for the Apple Digital Campus Exchange. Should be a lot of fun. Look for posts about that next week, with pointers to the content. Until then, enjoy the silence!
Off to Philly: NECC Bound
I’ll be leaving for my old stomping grounds, Philadelphia, PA tomorrow morning for the NECC conference. I’m sure I’ll be dropping some posts in here over the course of the next few days … if they have good wifi. You know, that makes all the difference at a conference these days — solid wifi gives us all a chance to open the confernce up to so many others … let alone the huge amount of word of mouth goodness they get via all the bloggers in the seats. At any rate, if you’re there, look for me … and if you decide to go to the podcasting event, really look for me! See you in Philly!
Where I’m Spending My Time
I haven’t been posting here all that much lately … things have been nuts. Between heavy travel and major changes at work, I’ve been a little too crazy to focus for some good posts. I have been spending all my blog time over at the Blogs@PGSIT. You should keep an eye on it the next five weeks … I am betting it is a good thing. I am even using the tools to design and manage my course materials. Oh, subscribe to the RSS feed, there is going to be a lot of podcasting going on — Apple, I could use that iTunes 4.9 (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)
Next week, I start teaching at PGSIT and I run down to NECC in Philly. Hey, I get to go back to my old stomping grounds … I am doing several things, but one night I am taking part in the Podcasting Event … should be a good time. I’ll be hanging out with some old and new friends. So all in all, I’ll be busy but having a good time. Seriously, keep an eye on the Blogs@PGSIT — I think it’ll be interesting.
Intel, Inside, Interesting
I just got off the plane here in San Fran using my free trial of T-Mobile at the Fog Bank bar at the airport. I had to stop before heading downtown to see what went on with Steve’s Keynote at WWDC … from what I can read, not much happened — unless of course the whole Mac on Intel thing is something big. I am not a processor guy and don’t pretend to be, so I have no idea if this is a really good thing. Seems to me, given the fact that Steve is smart, that this will be a good thing. It does make me feel a little weird though, but I am sure I’ll get it figured it out. I just hope they don’t put those disgusting “Intel Inside†stickers on the hardware.
I’m sure I’m like everyone else who is a MacHead and have been reading the rumors — I, like Apple, try hard not to comment on rumors … I won’t beat this one to death considering there are lots of others who are much more qualified to discuss this. I will say that I did have a feeling that something like this was going to happen — for a lot of reasons. But, this is a move I’ll be studying and trying to figure out on the next few weeks. Maybe I’ll be able to get to the bottom of it while I am here. I guess that means there won’t be any G5 PowerBooks — speaking of that, what hell are they going to call these machines? I know the Wintel industry does such a nice job naming their crap … advice, keep it simple!
I’m not in town for WWDC, although I am going to try like hell to hang out with a couple of friends who are in town for the event. I’m here to meet with Macromedia … I am trying to finally really get something meaningful going with them. Macromedia products power so much of the stuff we build at the Institute. Meeting with them tomorrow … I am waiting here at the Fog Bank for Keith and Chris to show up so we can head down to the hotel and get ready. I’ve been up in Medford, Oregon for my best friend’s wedding and have been without reliable access … great time, but I ended up in the ER without a voice yesterday and almost bagged this leg of the trip. But, I’m here and we’re going to make the best of it. More to come!
The Mile High Club Never Looked Like This!
Sitting on the plane heading out to the west coast it dawned on me — I NEED bandwidth. I try to sit and listen to my iPod, pay attention to the in-flight movie, and generally just try to ease my nerves with a few drinks … but when push comes to shove, I need an active connection. Here I sit in between strangers, kids walking the isles, and disinterested airline employees trying as hard as I can to kill time by typing a blog post in text edit … I even have trouble blogging when I’m not sitting on the live Internet.
I guess I’m not alone in this discovery, but man it feels strange when you actually discover that you have a serious addiction. A crutch that keeps you going. What kind of person NEEDS bandwidth? I’m not the typical net generation participant. I am too old for that. At 32 I am well beyond the “kids who are wired differently …” but it seems to me that all the time I spend in the connected World has moved me somewhere in between old skool (as the kidz would say) and net gen. I’m not kidding around — I need bandwidth. Strange, but true.
I can only imagine what students coming up today — say in middle schools — will be like when they are my age traveling across the country. How in the hell will they keep it together? All I have to say is that someone needs to really figure out bandwidth for the coach class or those kids are going to go postal in mid air! I’ve only had Dashboard for a week or so and it is already part of my World — F12, where the hell is my info? Imagine the kid who will have the type of always-on expectations for the next 15 years. I’m not sure I’m even making any sense … I find myself just rambling. Must be the withdraw hitting me.
Is there a lesson in all this? Something that I need to take back to my classroom? Something that will spark great discussion? You know, I bet there is, but I’ll approach it from a different perspective. The perspective that my students bring to it … with the idea that bandwidth, always on, that pervasive access is good. Too many of my colleagues come at it from the other direction — that we need to get away from it. I wrote somewhere (while I was connected) not too long ago that I am more relaxed when I am ON, not OFF. Man, this flight is reminding me how true that is. Sorry for the rant … its the withdraw talking. I need to get off this plane and get this post published — now, which blog does it go to first? Maybe the airport has a hot spot …
I Hate These Posts …
These damn, “where have you been” posts that I throw up everytime I come back from an extended time away from the technology world piss me off … they bother me only because they aren’t really posts of value — they are simply these little statements that try to explain why I haven’t posted anything here in a couple weeks … I haven’t had the time, the ideas, or the inspiration to be active. Too many projects, too many travels (State College, Bloomsburg, Philadelphia, NYC, Bloomsburg all in three days), and too little inspiration has me waiting one more day. I’ve been out of the office which means tomorrow is a total nightmare — plenty of meetings that might provide a little mojo.
I do actually have a lot to talk about, but I am trying like hell not to talk about the things on my mind. Things have been tough lately and I don’t really want to air it out here. I promise that I will get my shit together tomorrow and restart my blogging engine. For now, its off for some wine and a little dinner. Talk to you tomorrow — I promise.