I really enjoyed working with the mashups and apps. I like to experiment with anything that enhances photography. It is a lot of fun. I learned about the RSS which I will customize to suit my own needs when this course is over. I learned to blog. I always wanted to learn a bit more about it. I started a few new ones.

My life long learning goals have not been effected by this course at all. I already knew how do to most of these things to begin with. I used the more complicated software to create original works.

The 23 things is a great program for people with no graphic design skills and gives the a little knowledge. I am just surprised that we are learning this. Most schools don't allow social networking. There has been a history of teachers fired for their participation in these activities.

I can't think of any changes other than a video production project. Teach me something with a video and post it to YouTube. I think that is the cherry on the cake.

I spend a lot of time on the Internet and monitor new technologies pretty closely. I always check to see what is new with the children.

Thing #23

Creative Commons License


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0
United States License.

This means that the work was licensed under Creative Commons. The videos and links that are contained within the blog were created by other people and linked into the blog.

I used copyrighted media so much as a student that it has become a bit of a predicament for commercial development of my work. I now search for reusable media through the creative commons portal. I will eventually be creating all the media and images on my own with out the assistance of the any outside work. I may use the Creative Common licenses to allow other people to use my work. It is important to teach the students how to use this technology so they know about copyright.

Thing #22

I found and interesting podcast about the production of music technology pod casts at Edtech Musician podcast. It discussed harvesting historical sound actualities and where you could find them and gave some examples. The examples combined popular music, movie sound track, historical, and political actualities during the same historical time period.

The Always On episode Research and Information Fluency from the podcast direcory was a very interesting podcast. It discussed the need to understand the process of research and how to understand it. Research classes are usually put off until the end of an educational experience. It is most helpful when it is studied first. I could enjoy listening to these professionals discuss life with a laptop.

Learn Out Loud was a panel of experts who are discussing the use of podcasting in education.

I added the http://edtechmusician.libsyn.com RSS feed to my Google reader account. It contained a lot of interesting podcasts about relative education topics.

I really enjoyed working with educational podcast directory. It was a directory by subject and several layers deep.

Thing #19

I finally got to access Ning TeacherPop. I am a bit reluctant to use these things.

I am a member and here is my new badge.

Visit TeacherPop


I have been a member of a few social networks. They have very different characteristics. MySpace is my music business site. It contains artist profiles of people I have worked. IT is more of a public relations site for me than anything else. My FaceBook account managed to find some of my long lost best friends of my childhood. We have all moved away from our homes and live all over the country and it is a lot of fun to connect with them. My nephews are in LinkedIn. I put a profile in there. I have not accessed it in a long time. I have joined a lot of the ones listed here. I have a browser called flock that opens with links to all the networks you belong to. It seems more logical than the Google desktop. I can open flock and all my social networks are right on my desktop.

While looking for a Web site of the day I could not find anything suitable that brought together Neurological and assistive technologies so I started a blog. I put videos to start of new advances to assist the locked in and quadriplegic communicate. The blog also contains information about the hearing and visually impaired assistive technologies. It is a place where the recently handicapped can view options for assistive technologies.

I also joined last.fm. I did not do much in the sit but plant to.

Thing #18

My MySpace page is at this link run931alee . I designed this page to be a place where my listeners could check out the pages for the recording artists who performed the music I played on my radio shows. I also started to write about them on a blog.

I have been social networking for a while now and don't really think it has anything to do with education. I think there are probably educators networking with educators but I don't. I keep hearing about all the teachers getting fired for things that appear in their Web pages so I don't think I would add any teachers, or students on the pages. I have them for a particular purpose and that is all. If I did use it for education it would be for the classes to communicate. I like the blogs better for that.

My daughter has a lot of friends and has a good time networking. It really has no place in education. I use it to talk with my friends who live quite far from me. I have some pictures of family and friends. I have been neglecting it lately.

Thing #17

The bookmarking Web tools are great for saving bookmarks. You no longer have to worry about losing your favorite sites to computer problems. You can also share the bookmarks with the public or a group. Tags provide a logical process for organizing the bookmarks for easy retrieval during searches.

Bookmarking Web sites are great for gathering current information about topics relevant to coursework and providing it to the students in an efficient manner. As a choral or band director I can see it would be very useful for providing my student with music resources concerning music theory, music history and applied music instruction.

Personally, I don't like to share my information with anyone. I find it to be an intrusion to my privacy and the privacy of the students. I will not publish my lesson plans, grade books or any information about my children because it is a violation of the Family Education Rights to Privacy Act. The Web 2.0 tools provide the untalented, unskilled teacher with other people's work free of charge. Some of the tools are nice but most of it just increases the work load and takes up too much time. Not all of it is bad. It just cluttered up my computer with unnecessary junk, Trojan horses, ad ware, and malicious code. I love the news but, I have my limits.

Thing #21

I had a good time with this project again. I never liked photography until I had to buy a digital camera for my Web design program. I thank my friend and mentor Ish for getting me interested in Second Life. Anywhere he goes there is sure to be a lot of fun and interesting things going on. I have been taking these photos for a while and collecting them. My other friend Pari is a professional model and has gotten me interested in modeling. I have learned a lot from here. I was a child model. This project was real easy to put together. I like the result. It edited it, and rendered it a few times to see what it would do. The beginning of the audio has a loud noise. That is from the Animoto because it isn't anywhere int he audio. I checked it several times in different media players and there is no loud noise at the beginning. I did edit the audio but the beginning was the original beginning. There is a loud click at the end also. It must be from this program. I think there is a nice little learning curve here. My jibjab project would have been good to do right before this one. It is easy and fun and you can do a lot with it. I use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effect to do this kind of thing. You can also use Flash but Flash is designed for Vector files not raster photographs.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing #20

This is one of my favorite YouTube videos. I use YouTube to learn advanced guitar playing techniques from the people who wrote the songs. It is very interesting to listen to what they say and how they explain what they are doing.



YouTube changes every time I look for something. I have been uploading my son's performances and will soon upload my performances. I have been thinking about doing music lessons on my site.

The sharing and linking capability is growing. You can now hit the share button and automatically link or share or post it to another site. This is very convenient and a good way to promote a new site.

When my son was working on Smokey Joe's Cafe I saved all the songs in order in my youtube playlist. We watched the Broadway performances, learned the songs and played along. He had to learn songs real fast and was able to learn the whole show in about 7 days. He knew exactly what to expect performed the shows like a pro with no mistakes.

I think when I am teaching I will have a class blog for each class. I will have links to the audio, accompaniment and performance versions of the works we are performing. I will also have a wealth of links to other relevant material.

This is one of my all time favorite videos.

Thing #16

I customized my igoogle page with images art, time and my favorite links. I was skeptical but I kind of like it. I may need a while to get used to it. I like to have time everywhere, the day and date and it can link me to may favorite pages in one spot.

Then I played with 30 boxes. I like to keep my activities private and not published. I have had a problems with stalkers. I don't want people following me around and intimidating me. I am a private person. It is mice and I am going to have to think about this for a while. One of them you could embed into a blog. I think that is pretty cool for an organization's private blog. Calendars are a pain to design and these are already to go.

I placed information on the to do list. It was in 30 boxes. I thought is was pretty cool. I have a few paper note pad for this stuff. Maybe I am old fashioned but it is convenient. I still am worried about the security breach.

I like zamzar. I use a lot of images and it is a real quick way to change formats. It should be a browser plug in. I like this a lot and would recommend it to all my designer friends. You don't have to open Photoshop now to change file format.

All this is a bit overwhelming for me. My security suite keeps reporting adware and tracker cookies. I am not happy with it at all. Way too much for me and an overload. I am not big on this stuff at all. Every new thing added to my computer increases the security risks. I am a creative person and will not share with anyone it is the same as illegal downloading to me. I am a bit annoyed.

Thing #15

This was a great exercise to show people how to use the Wiki's. I learned about them a few years ago when a famous friend of mine died. I was searching for information about him and the Wiki had no information about him. I contacted his family and asked them to post that information. I was going to but, but did not quite understand that many people can add to it.

It is good that you can actually correct the wrong information that always seems to show up every where. I would beware because the Wiki may only contain here say and no actual facts. The Web 2.0 tools really make citing your research a necessity. If you used erroneous data in your research, you need to know where to find it and correct it. At least notify the people that they published errors according to whoever accused you of false information.

Thing #14

I really liked Gliffy. It contained may tools that will assist me in my personal and professional life. Site maps, charts, diagrams, floor plans and processes can come in handy trying to teach children things based on a hierarchy. The floor plans were fun because I like to decorate. I should have been an architect or structural engineer.

Bubbbles was a fun to use. I have been doing some research on my family tree and had thought about how to actually draw it out in one tree. Now I have the tool. It is very easy to use and you can type in the bubbles and change the colors.

I chose these tools because I did not have to sign in to an account. The other software, flowchart and mindmeister look like some great tools for educators.

I would not buy these apps for any particular purposes. Kids could use them for their projects and I could use them to put together some music history or theory charts.

Thing #13

I really liked using Zoho Writer. It is a very convenient tool for people on the move. I can jump from computer to computer and use this feature no matter where I am. Not all computers have word processing software installed. It provides more tools for formatting documents than are available on computers without word processing programs.

I am not sure if I am supposed to put my document on here. It was simple and sweet.


ANNABELLE LEE

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Thing #12

After looking at each of Google tools, choose two of them to explore further. Try setting up an alert, calendar, notebook, P icasa album or iGoogle page and using it. If sharing is an option for the tools you choose, make them public. Blog about your experience with both tools and include a link to your creation. Be sure and include possible educational uses

I really don't like the Google tools and probably will not use them. The big thing is security. I think that there is a line to draw with your public life. Especially when you are a teacher and just wearing a dress your principal does not like is enough to put you on unemployment for 2 years. I don't think any of this information is anyone's business but mine and I will never use these applications. . I don't think there is any educational application to any of these things. It is a violation of the American Education Rights to Privacy Act. You can not release any educational records with out written permission of the parents, and the students over 18. You can not make that a condition of taking a class. Putting all your educational lesson plans, notes, student pictures etc. is in direct violation of the students rights. I am not going to answer to anyone about my personal life when I clock out and go home. That is going way too far. I will sue the first person who starts any stalking, slandering or defaming the first time without warning.

Now I did sign up for alerts related to my area, vocal music. I think this is a good idea especially if there is little information available in your subject area. I have been searching blogs and there is not a lot of blogs on vocal music.

I looked at the calendar and it is the reason I wrote paragraph one. I did like the reminder. But I have applications that do not make my activities public much better. I did sign up for reminders and made one for the test on Monday. I will never use it again it is really a waste of time.

Web 2.0 has some valuable tools for educators but there is a lot of trash out there. It is interesting to read but I would caution people from using anything but peer reviewed publications. I think there is a line to draw. Do I base my lessons on blogs by people who have less education than I or, am I going to seek a higher authority. I believe you eventually get to a point were you have to lead not follow. If you know more than everyone blogging it is a waste of time to read unless you are going to play police officer 0r become a nuisance commenter constantly telling everyone they are wrong. Traditionally music was taught like an apprenticeship. A master trained a protege. Since formal schools have taken over, some of the privately trained experts in their art are being over looked. A college degree has a lot of weight but some times,especially with performers, 20 years of private instruction is far more valuable than 5 years of college.

Well I don't like the google tools. Some people may find them helpful but a sports watch and a little organizer or cell phone is far better. I can put my schedule in my cell phone and it is with me all the time with little reminder alarms. Cell phones are great. My cell phone was turned off several years ago and I still use it for a phone book, radio, calendar, alarm clock, and reminder system. I think they had a good idea but it is not for me.

Thing #11

I found that searching Google Reader was the easiest way to find blogs. I found a wealth of very interesting blogs related to vocal coaching and singing. I needed to type in a lot of different search key words before I started getting results.

I could not even get the Syndic8 to do anything it was just spinning wheels. I found all of them a bit confusing. I was looking for voice, choir, singing types of blogs and could not find them with the other blog search engines. There was a wealth of other topics I am interested in but not vocal music. I was a bit disappointed but I was told that there is a shortage of voice teachers.

I like reading the news and anything high tech and undeveloped scientific ideas and research. I could find all of that with the other searches. I did not use Google for those topics.

After participating in Thing #11 I realized that in my daily search for information on the Web, I have learned what all the icons mean on the pages. I did not really understand what a RSS was but they were showing up everywhere. I can use these particular search engines that specialize in blogs. I like my good old fashioned search engines. They pull up all kinds of information. If they are blogs and have feeds that is great.

My frustration was with the advertisement feeds. I thought I would be getting a music related feed and it would be an advertisement for a jewelry company. It happened a few times and got me a bit mad. I don't blame them for trying.

Thing #10

I am an avid news reader. One of my careers lasting about 16 years was broadcasting. I learned to love researching and writing news stories. I learned the Web out of necessity. The stations utilized the predecessor AP wire and Tennessee News Wire. People affiliated uploaded news stories for redistribution. The RSS feeders and news readers are very similar.

I used the internet all the time to find news stories. I love reading about what happens around the world. This service definitely will save me time. I have a feeling that it will keep reading longer and more sources than ever. I no longer have to search so much because I can link my favorite pages to one site and they are regularly updated. It is very efficient and saves a lot of time especially for news addicts.

As an instructor I can make current events and research very current and up to date almost in real time. It makes it easy to keep up with changes and trends. It is great for the class room. All the stories to one site and you can select the public ones to share with your students. You can link sites that pertain directly to your subject and even topic.

For choir and band topics I don't think that this will be that big of a help in the classroom. I like to keep up with music news. As you know news today, history tomorrow. If I had kept all my music news stories I could have written a book on the 80s and 90s rock and the beginning of the new century. So when I teach music history it would definitely work for current events purposes. It may also help me to keep up with recently published research. I plan to teach technology and I believe this service will come in real handy as a lesson and a tool for learning new up and coming technologies.

I like the idea of having a public page. I puts you in the editors chair. You get to choose the stories that you think are important. If you are a broadcaster and well known you have a following. You can program the news for your viewers, students and relevant communities of interested people. As a teacher you are considered an expert on your topic and you are expected to keep your knowledge of you subject area current. As a college professor you are required to do community activities and research. RSS is a good way to see what your peers and doing and where they are getting published.

One thing that really bothers me is that this has been the subject of many lawsuits. People would take news stories from a news Web site and re-post news stories on their pages with links. The main complaint was that it took the viewers away from their site and to another one. Even if the writer and news agency was credited they had stolen their audience. It was a big issue and when I started to learn to design web sites I was told that I could not design a sight like this.

Thing #9

I first went to http://www.customsigngenerator.com and uploaded a picture. Then I went to http://www.fototrix.com/border/ and added this electricity border. If you save the image and upload it again, you can layer the things in a thoughtful manner to creates some real impressive work. I am going to come back in here and design some textures.

I then went to http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/and had some fun with the Simpsons. I went to http://graphics.imagetemplate.net/upload.asp and found my little alien friend.

I proceeded to look and experiment with everything in the palette.

It was a lot of fun and very useful in creating aesthetically appealing lessons and tutorials for classroom use. They can be personalized and used as a reward for excellent work. It is a real incentive to have you decorated picture on the wall for having done great work.

All of these sites are great tutorial and introductions to graphic design. If a young child likes playing with these tools, they may be ready for Photoshop.

The image generator tools would be a help to any one they are customizable for any use.

Thing #8

Mashups can facilitate the development of learning activities. It can not only spice up your design but actually help you to design new activities. It took me a while to get it all together but once I got the hang of it, I took it in another direction.

I liked the puzzle maker http://bighugelabs.com/jigsaw.php. I have a lot of fun with it. I actually used pictures I made in my photography studio in Second Life. The puzzle was quick and gave me a few ideas.

I found a mashup called Jib Jab, http://www.jibjab.com. It uses your pictures to make a Star Wars movie. It was a lot of fun but took a few tries to get the best pictures. They have to be the right resolution and size to look the best. It looks impressive but I have to compliment Lucas Arts on their technical wizardry. Again I used my pictures from Second Life to produce this project. The pictures are actually my friends from Gemany, Italy and France. I am 931.

Kids would love this to either make or it could be used to encourage children. It is a nice project for the introduction to multimedia.

I have mixed feelings about publishing my original work online. I will do anything for a laugh. I love to post funny things on my sites.

I think I am more worried about posting objects that are not registered with the US copyright office more than anything.

Thing #7

This was a fun exercise. 931 is a good robot. This picture was taken at OD Designs in Second Life. It is the largest music store in Second Life. 931 has been bored lately but is ready to spring into action any time the call is made.

I like the working with night time space themes and science fiction. If I had more time I would have shot some better footage.

I like flickr but I don't really feel comfortable about it. It is a real nice photo gallery that can be viewed all over the world. My problem is that if I get too creative I may get fired from my teaching job because the school boards are violating our constitutional rights every time we go to work.

I am almost a PhotoShop expert so this was easy. I think students would love these. Most kids in high school are not really into photography and this may spark some interest. They could have a group for their choir and bands.

Thing #6

2009 Webware 100 winner: Skype http://www.skype.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237739-29.html?tag=mncol

Skype is a lot of fun to use. I have been using it all year to talk with my friends in Europe. There are several components to Skype. You can pay for the telephone service or if you have a Web cam, microphone and headphones you can teleconference all over the world via the Web. If you don't have a Web cam you can talk with a mic and a headset. Then you can also Instant Message. If they don't answer you can leave them the message.

It is funny because you have to pay for the phone but you can teleconference for free. I would talk all night with my friends in Europe. For free.

For music purposes, I can talk with my friends in Europe and get lessons from them. If they have a Web cam they can teach me right then and there. I can talk with composers and performers who can demonstrate their talents. As a matter of fact I do this a lot. If I am learning a song and the composer is online I contact them and try to get a Web lesson. I think these tools make the world a little smaller. It is an excellent tool for foreign language students. You can connect two groups of children and they can learn to speak the languages and help each other while learning about the cultures first hand.

I love Skype. I did not like using the Web cam that much because I felt I would be exposed. Sitting up all night in pajamas with my hair in curlers is not a good time to get photographed. Plus it is better to leave things up to the imagination some time. But for the classroom use it would be a great way to connect two classrooms in different places if there was a collaborative learning environment.

My friend could not afford to perform at a concert in Nashville and was upset about it. He had a Web cam and did the show from his studio through Skype.

Thing #5

I am an avid user of Web 2.0. I did not know the technologies I was using were given a name. I was slow to get involved in the technology but slowly started learning about them as a necessity to keep up with the people around me and the music industry. It has been he breath of fresh air to a stale music business. It facilitated independence and a way for musicians to promote their music and to communicate with their audience. It seems to be a necessity now since things have changed to keep up with the trends in fear of being left behind. It is essential for music students to know how to utilize these tools if they are going to become successful professional musicians. You no longer have to work for a record company or television station. You can video tape your show, stream it, upload it, distribute it on the new Web 2. 0 technologies while at the same time you can inform your audience about your performances, correspond, and sell merchandise through the site. It is also a place where you can teach music. I use it regularly to learn about new music technologies. People love to show off new toys. I also can listen to the new repertoire that I am working on. There are beginning to advanced levels of instruction and people demonstrating how to perform well known musical works. I can give the links for the musical works to the students to watch and listen to while they are preparing.

I think through the use of these technologies teachers and individuals can find a technology that will assist them with any topic that you can think of from simulations to real-time streaming of media. The uses are endless. Instead of going through publisher who edits and screen your work, you can instantly publish it for the review of your peers. I just met a man who emigrated here from a hostile country. He told me about politics and the wars. I suggested that they write about their experiences on a Web page so people can hear the stories from the people who experienced the history. Teachers can use the Web to create lessons from people who were making the history. You can gather lesson materials from all over the world on nearly every topic. One thing for sure is that the children love watching movies and playing video games. If education was more like playing video games all day the kids would be excited about learning. I have been telling people for a while that YouTube is actually a great learning tool. Unfortunately bad press has created a negative image for Web 2.0 technologies. A few bad incidents blown out of proportion have led school to lock students out of these sites and sanctions instructors who frequent them. It appears that the education world is trying to go paperless and collaborative. You no longer need a book. You can derive all your lessons from a collaborative community of experts on the topics. Students are exposed to an unlimited supply of resources.

Thing #3

I would use a blog in my music education program to communicate with the students, parents and the music education community. I would ask that they suggest new choral repertoire that is being used in other secondary schools. Not only in the United States but worldwide. I would like my kids to have a global perspective of music. That is what is going to make people successful. Going beyond their small town and making music that the world appreciates. I also like to review music suggestions.

Thing #4

Commenting on blogs helped create a great sense of community because it helped people to communicate ideas and think about our everyday lives. Criticism was part of the learning process. Until you heard how people appraised you and your ideas it was difficult to put the pieces into the puzzle of life. Shared opinions helped to shape our sense of community.

It is important to ask questions and invite comments. Sometimes people will not comment unless you ask them to in some shape or form. You must formulate great open ended questions and make the audience feel comfortable about answering them.

I chose to comment on Beth Tejeda's and Kat William's blogs because I am a big fan of foreign languages. I know a few languages at the novice level and would like to learn a few more. I practice the languages by talking online with people in foreign countries. It works the same with students. If they were required to blog in their foreign language their vocabulary will increase and hopefully they will become expert conversationalists.

I commented on Halee Anthony's blog. She wanted a class blog to use to communicate with the students about course work, homework, quizzes and any other course related topics. This is a great thing especially for the parents to keep track of the students assignments and also the instructor.

I commented to Lindsey Mullholland about the value of the blog as a research tool. You can turn the world into a subject pool. You can gather information on all kinds of topics from experts to lay people. If you ask for information people usually give it to you also. So if you have a need for some good resources you can just ask and your blog may respond.

Jessica Moran felt that there was a need to be cautious while communicating on the Internet. You need to use caution to cross the street and in any discourse. Disclosing information about yourself is something public figures do to gain trust and votes. They want you to come into their lives for a bit and get to know them. They are constantly in communication with their constituents looking for ideas and opinions that will help them do their jobs. Blogs are a great way to keep in touch and get opinions on issues that the Legislature is working on.

I couldn't help but stray into the funny jokes blog and heard a good one about mistakes. But those two have been deleted

At http://singingtipsblog.com I commented on Breathing Made Easy. The blogger was a singing coach who was trying to give advice to improve your voice. However this blog was not a good technique for the purpose he described. Bending over and breathing did not demonstrate how well air goes into the lower part of your chest. It demonstrated what if feels like to only get air into the upper part of your chest. Because the bending over compresses your diaphragm and lower chest area. The air fills your upper chest area. When you are singing and the upper part of your chest filled with air it compressed your larynx and caused misalignment and stress. The best air flow was a completely full chest. When you stood up straight when your singing, everything is aligned and you can really felt the air expand into your lower chest area. I believed he may have explained it wrong. He had the right idea, but he was totally opposite.

I commented on http://singingtipsblog.com, Improve your singing Voice Through Feeling. This technique had nothing to do with your actual voice as he explained. It was a discussion on acting techniques to gain audience involvement in your performance. Eye contact with as many people in your audience as you can, you gained their attention and gave them some personal involvement. Your song choices were important too. You need to understand your audience and be able to communicate with them about subject matter that will evoke core emotions. If they related to the song you are personally sang to them, you had their attention, involvement and you improved your performance.

Educational blogs were a good idea. They worked well as a communication tool, research tool, foreign language practice, and just plain fun. Everyone had a different reason for using a blog which made them highly desirable.

Thing #2

It took me all week to figure this one out. I found out that live.com is really hotmail.com. Then I created a blog with my full name and realized that was a mistake. I was easily identified. Then I tried to delete the blogs and it did not work. Then I figured out that I had actually deleted all my posts some how.

I try to crate an avatar at http://www.doppelme.com. My computer would not work properly and became sluggish so I had to wait and do it at school. I had a lot of difficulty in the class room for some reason. I had emailed stuff to my email address but could not access it on the MAC. Mozilla upgrades was somehow linked to yahoo. I lost all my work and had to start over.

I think in the process of of this exercise I have created several email addresses and blog accounts. I can't seem to figure out how to delete them. I had a great amount of difficulty creating this account because of technical difficulties. I believe my connections was slow with too many connected computers. Data collision may have been a problem. My son was playing his new xbox360 live game on the internet. It is amazing to watch, but a bandwidth hog. The MAC keyboard is real nice but a different scale than the one I use all the time. So my typing is a little inaccurate.

I am happy with my current name run931alee. I have a terminator avatar named 931Arun. 931 is a nice biker robot who likes to fight in the D2 and Warps battle grounds of SL. 931 is actually an angel or medic avatar who revives injured or dead soldiers in the Warps game. 931 is fearless and has no sexual identity.

I enjoyed creating the avatar when the equipment was working properly. It took a few tries to get it right. I have always had somewhat difficult hair no matter what color it has been. I like the white color but I may go black one day. I feel at times a bit shipwrecked in Tennessee. I spent at least half of my childhood sailing my sailboat all over the Florida Keys and won many races. I would love to buy a new boat and try to win an Olympic medal for sailing. I tend to be a bit of a pirate. I have found over my life time the only leadership role I have been chosen for is the emergent leader because the legitimate leadership is incompetent and the followers turn to me for guidance. I think it is my hair. My background is Disco. Ask any of my friends in Miami. I am also an elite level guitarist. I have been playing for 35 years. I have had to put the guitar down for a few months to get music certified for vocal instrumental licensing. I want to teach choir, strings, piano, theory, jazz combo, music business and assist the band director.

I like to be myself most of the time. Occasionally I mask my identity with a new name, but the everything else is the same. I do tend to fudge on the body mass a bit. My weight keeps going up and down. So I just make them look the way I want to look. But I don't lie about it. I think if you lie about yourself in virtual reality, you just may be a liar in the real world too. You lose your credibility.

Thing #1

The easiest habit I have is playing. I love to play. I have been lucky enough over my life time to find careers doing what most consider to be play. I am obsessed with play and I try to think of new ways to make money at it. I feel a great sense of satisfaction and joy when I am able to play for a living. I am a member of a large community of Bohemians who have also found the non-traditional life style of playing for a living to be equally as satisfying.

The most difficult habit is to set goals. I tend to make my goals unachievable and make too many. It leads me to have to re-evaluate my goals multiple times. Then I abandon them and try again. I did not feel that my goals were unachievable, but those around me did. So I spend a great amount of time in trial and error and trying to narrow down my goals. What I find to be my ultimate goals are not necessarily those that will make me successful. I try to focus on goals that will lead me to self actualization, a great deal of satisfaction and happiness in life. I see myself slowly but surely getting closer and closer. By setting seemingly unachievable goals and breaking them down into groups of achievable goals, I am able to slowly move toward achieving my ultimate goals in life. I may never get there but I get closer every day.