PlanetUSF

Bendelow Road had our monthly hit at Lakeland Steak and Ale tonight. This was our first outing with new drummer, Ryan Marsh. It was with Ryan that I played the Red Rose Room last Wednesday.

” alt=”" />This was a quite successful hit. Our second set was definitely shaky, but we haven’t sounded as tight as we did on several tunes tonight. Victoria deLissovoy sat in on an absolutely wailing rendition of Blue Bossa. Several friends came, including Woody and Tina Detwiler (Woody, of Carousol fame) and Paige Pilkington, a co-worker when I was teaching. Thanks to all of them.


Afterward, Meghan and I met up with Paige and her friends at the Blue Nile, a restaurant in Lakeland. It was nice to see Everton and Keenan with Taabu, an R&B band in town, with whom I am well acquainted.

A fun night, about to be followed by a viewing of Pursuit of Happiness.

God do I love Netflix! They have Jem and the Holograms! I watched this episode today and loved the song and choreography so much I had to see if it was on YouTube, and it was!

While I love the 80s glam rock cartoons, Andy is more a fan of the Gummi Bears, and again, Netflix came through for us. YouTube has the catchy theme song:

My alma mater, Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL, has been seeing some press lately in relation to its proposed performing arts center. The property directly to the north of the University has been owned by its affiliated church, the Assemblies of God (for the sake of disclosure, I am an adjunct at this University and my father is a pastor in this denomination), and has been leased to primarily retired pastors and missionaries for as long as I know.

Earlier this week, residents were informed that the property had been sold to the University to make room for a much needed performing arts center and they have 6 months to move. The story has been picked up by the local newspaper here and here and perhaps elsewhere. The residents are very upset and, as the Ledger tells, are considering class action. I truly hope an agreeable solution can be reached.

Got a call last night to be a last-minute sub for Alejandro Arenas for the Mars’ Trio’s steady at the Westchase Starbucks. I found out today that USF drum instructor, Steve Davis, would be playing drums on this gig. This was quite a big deal for me, as Steve has played with some of the great modern jazz musicians. He’s a member of the Lynne Arriale Trio and, as I’ve been told, is the most represented drummer on the Jamey Aebersold play-alongs.

There were definitely some distractions at this gig, including a very loud near-car-wreck, that rattled me a bit. I felt I represented myself as well as I can at this point. I finally see improvement in my playing, but I also see more to work on than I ever have before. I appreciate Steve’s helpful yet challenging playing. When things weren’t always clear for me, Steve helped clear things up with his playing. The trio is rounded out be sax player Rich Van Voorst (who runs the show). Definitely a musician and friend I’m glad to have met.

Look for more photos and stories from recent gigs shortly.

I am still waiting for comments from my exam committee–mainly whether or not I passed–which has left me in some what of a limbo. I know there are things I can be doing to move toward the only step left, writing the dissertation, but I’d like to hear from my committee about specific directions I can go in my three areas of study before outlining my 5 chapters. I might even want to draft articles based on my exam question responses since I did so much reading in preparation and don’t feel I got a chance to use a lot of that literature. So til I hear, I’ve been cleaning the apt. like a mad woman and watching way too much television. Who knew I’d ever become addicted to The OC???

Next week we go to NOLA for Easter weekend, to see the friends that matter most, and to research stuff for our wedding (date still to be determined…)

I am still working on my interactive interview with New Orleans bloggers and posted follow up questions this week. It’s been amazing to see it all sort of happen on a wiki without me, i.e., whenever people have the time to contribute. I can’t wait to start writing a paper about how this technology offers the chance to reflect upon what’s been going on in the NOLA blogosphere!

Speaking of which, I’m posting the abstract that got me into the Oxford Internet Institute here so to get feedback and let everyone have a glimpse at where I see my dissertation going:

Since 9/11 people’s responses to tragedy have evolved, and where “news-telling” occurs has expanded. The immediacy of the Internet allows web sites and weblogs to have their own validity, levels of interaction, and concept(s) of truth. Previously unheard voices are now speaking to wider audiences than ever intended. When local citizens “go global,” in a phenomenon some refer to as placeblogging, the whole world can read about (or watch videos of) someone’s daily life, and in post-Katrina New Orleans, those days are saturated with loss. Yet, via the burgeoning New Orleans blogosphere, we can read these accounts of witnessing, reacting to, and dealing with that loss and, more importantly, answer their calls to action.

The Post-Hurricane Katrina Blogosphere and its Ability to Heal, Inspire Recovery, and Celebrate the Rebirth of New Orleans begins by exploring the breakdown of communication during Hurricane Katrina and then offers examples of how online spaces since created by native, displaced, and “naturalized” New Orleanians encourage new ways of creating knowledge and inspiring activism. I also include data collected from an interactive interview where New Orleans bloggers and I discuss our reasons for going public with our opinions. Our reflections and ongoing dialogue demonstrate how writing continues to help us work through the natural and man-made disaster we experienced in August of 2005. Ultimately, my dissertation aims to illustrate how the typically de-centered and diverse web creates knowledge in a collective way more effectively than traditional media and thereby enhances the definition of technological literacy.

Let me know what you think and I’ll be sure to post follow ups as soon as I hear more about my summer programme schedule.

This is a temporary workshop podcast.

This is a workshop on podcast, and blogging is part of it.

Click Testpodcast to hear the file.

this is a temporary podcast completed in a workshop on 3/30/07.

click the link below to download the audio file:

Test Podcast

Creating Podcasts — temporary post.

Click the link below to download my Test Podcast.

Podcast Test

I am posting.
here

My experience with my online community has increased my understanding of online etiquette as well as accelerated my knowledge of sports and the people who engage in these activities. Before joining this community my view of sports was limited to simply watching events without any interaction. Through my fantasy sport league I have been able to interact by predicting and forecasting outcomes and performances. This has made me feel much more a part of the event and has triggered my interest to follow the sport with more interest. I contributed to this community through periodic blogs and responses. I made my presence known through the community by blogging on popular subjects such as my predictions of the NCAA basketball tournament, as well as offering my opinion on the recent allegations against stars such as Adam “Pacman” Jones. Through this community I have been educated on topics such as collegiate endorsements that benefit the institution but never make it to the student athletes who sacrifice their time, effort, and body for said institution. If given the chance to change a particular aspect of my online experience I would retool the set-up for the blogs. It was a bit confusing as well as hard to read. I would like the opportunity to see all blogs represented in the viewing area so that my options are not limited from the start. In conclusion my experience was both enjoyable and valuable. This community has opened my eyes to a new outlet that I can learn, teach, and participate in. I am thankful for the experience.

The USF Jazz Blog got a much appreciated nod from be.jazz, a Belgian jazz blog. Check out this visually appealing, insightful blog.

For the most part when it comes to college basketball if you want to prevail in the postseason, money and quality faculties are what separates the great from the rest. If you have a very dynamic workout plan in a high class facility you will be that much more ahead of the game than someone who is sharing a court with the another squad. If you look at teams who have the best facilities they recruit the best players, cause and effect they will be successful. Teams who have the best facility get the networks to pay a lot of money to broadcast there school playing.
Colleges have a very rapid increasing popularity in sports, therefore bringing in more of a cliental and they can charge the networks more money to reach that cliental. When there is more cliental you can charge more for adverting and it all snow balls in place. Colleges today have turned into multi million dollar “companies” that’s soul purpose is to reinvest the profits back into the school.
Think about how much colleges have changed in the past ten years, what are they going to be like ten years from now?

My online community was a very interesting one. It was sometimes confusing trying to follow certain blogs and I wish that members would have interacted more. There are plenty of blogs, but to me, not enough comments. I really want to know what the average college football fan thought about serious and not so serious subjects regarding collegiate sports and football in more particular. I took a more passive approach to my community. I really wanted to understand what non-athletes thought about the best sport in the world. I sometimes regret not making my presence known. I have so much insight and probably could have enlightened many fans and gave them reasons to think about college football from an athlete’s perspective. I wouldn’t really change anything about my online community but I thought it would be interesting to post a certain topic and have it debated by those who play the sport and those who are fanatics of the sport. It would be kind of like a double blind study in some ways. Neither side would know that they are part if a certain group. What I’ve learned most about my major from this community is that as a broadcaster bias opinions are not acceptable. In a blog you can say whatever you want, but when your broadcasting your views most be objective. Some members didn’t hesitate to call names or use inappropriate language, but again this would not be accepted in the world or sport of broadcasting. If I had the chance to change communities I would. I would go to a community whose topic is not so broad. I believe that the more specific a topic the more feedback and interaction you will have between members. I always like to get feedback and opinions from others about what I say or write, so I would join a community that would be able to fulfill that.

The second article that I read was talking about how to best leave a legacy online after one is gone. Author Dave Winer talks about having your ideas, thoughts, and creativity preserved on the world wide web once you are no longer able to manage what you are writing or have written. I think as humans we all want to be remembered for something and would like for things we did to be celebrated or memorized after we leave this earth. As an athlete you want to set records and as a researcher you want to be the one who discovered a cure. With online communities becoming more and more popular it’s not hard to understand why Winer wants to find companies that would keep someone’s work current once that person is no longer current.

The article written by SCOTTERDMAN about how to mourn someone’s death online was interesting. My first thought was that this online community thing is frighteningly close to a real community. I would have never thought that people would be looking for ways to properly mourn the death of someone in their online community. I have seen several examples of how students remember their peers via facebook and Myspace. Last month one of my former teammates died after a hit during a football game. Many of my current teammates put his picture in the place of theirs. In this article the author is looking for ideas, from people that he is connected to, on how to best remember members of their online community. I was surprised by this article but I believe what he is asking for is needed. In today’s society our lives are very fast-paced and I believe that many people do not get the chance to properly mourn the death of a loved one, so having a website and or page dedicated to someone is not a bad idea at all.
The second article that I read was talking about how to best leave a legacy online after one is gone. Author Dave Winer talks about having your ideas, thoughts, and creativity preserved on the world wide web once you are no longer able to manage what you are writing or have written. I think as humans we all want to be remembered for something and would like for things we did to be celebrated or memorized after we leave this earth. As an athlete you want to set records and as a researcher you want to be the one who discovered a cure. With online communities becoming more and more popular it’s not hard to understand why Winer wants to find companies that would keep someone’s work current once that person is no longer current.

Hello everybody my first blog! Amazing!

After few weeks of observing “space and time” in Google community, I realize that the group activity is very low. There were only 6 new messages since I had joined the group and 4 of them were non-related topic to the space and time community. Those non-related topics tried to advertise for their products. However, there were some earlier posts that really interesting about space. One of the interesting posts was about the early origin of the universe. The topic was post by a user called “pww”. I had contacted and interviewed Pww because I like this user’s topic. I sent an email to ask the user three questions about the membership. Those questions were: How often do you sign in to see the group? What are you looking in this group? And what do you think about this group? The user replied me few days after that. Pww said that he signs in about one or two times per week. He wanted to share information with everyone about the universe that we are all living in right now. He loved it and curious about it. He also said that he like this group a lot because there were few topics that really impressed and surprised to him.
In the last few weeks, I observed about the community primarily. However, I had posted one topic about the Mar society announced that Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) will launch a four months mission on Mars in this coming up May. I found the article on the web, so I wanted to share with everyone. The group has nothing new much since I had joined. I’m looking forward to see more interesting topics that will impress and surprise me.

So far, I’ve learned that blogging is basically a high tech version of a public diary or journal. It’s a way of letting the public (including friends, family, coworkers, peers, students, etc..) know how you feel, what’s going on in your life, and so much more. Blogging is a way of getting things off your chest and letting everyone else have the key to your diary. When you create a blog, you are agreeing that you have many thoughts that need to be written down, and you dont care who sees or reads them. Blogging is very interesting. People all over the world blog. Whether it’s business-like or friendly Myspace blogging, it is the nexest think since email and IM. Blogging has many positives but it also has some negatives. When you blog, anyone anywhere can access what you’ve written. Some guy once told me, “Say mean things, write nice things.” I always thinki about this before I write or type anything. Basically this means that if you’re going to say something nasty about someone, say it to their face. If you say it to them, it gets it out in the open and can soon be forgotten. However, when you write something, it can get misinterpreted. You also can’t erase it and it can be reread a hundred times over. Therefore, if you dont have anything nice to say- don’t blog about it.

I really enjoyed this project. The only thing I would suggest would be that this project could be a little longer. Even though the project is over, I still plan on maintaining my spot in my educator community. It has given me a lot of insight and I’m not ready to stop yet.

Wow! I never thought joining an online comunity could be so interesting and helpful. I learned a lot about what teachers go through to make lesson plans and to create better strategies to help educate their students. I believe this assignment has really benefitted me in a personally rewarding way. I did a lot of “lurking” in the community mainly because I wanted to observe the teachers and their questions and ideas. I got a lot of great ideas from the discussions that took place in the community. I noticed that many teachers who asked a lot of questions were concerned with one class or topic and seemed to only struggle with lesson plans from that particular class or subject. For whatever reason, they seemed to have difficulty coming up with ideas for those subjects. It’s interesting to know that teachers reach out to other teachers for advice. Its also nice to know that when I become a teacher, I’m not on my own. Somewhere, somehow there will be teachers willing to give ideas and advice. I feel reassured already. Interestingly enough, participating in this assignment hasn’t lessened my wanting to be a teacher, but it has actually increased my wanting to be a teacher. Never once during this assignment did I think about changing communities. I think I picked the perfect community to observe and interact with. This assignment has helped me to realize the kind of teacher and planner I want to be when it comes to using ideas and strategies in my future classroom.

Middle school went by rather quickly. I spent a lot of time participating in chorus in and out of school. Middle school was soon over and I had to face going through the big doors of Chamberlain High School. It helped that some of my middle school friends moved over to the high school with me. Ninth grade was fun and new, not to mention I felt cool that I was now a “high schooler” and now had a learner’s permit in my wallet. The beginning of tenth grade was great. I got my license and was the first of my friends to be able to drive. The end of tenth grade is where things got rough. My dad moved to wesley chapel with my step mom and my step sister Sara went off to college. Also, according to the court, at 16, I no longer had to see my dad every other weekend. So I didn’t. Before school got out for summer, my Grandma began to get really sick. My mom and I spent a lot of time visiting her at her nursing home, but she just seemed to keep getting worse. One night we had gotten home from the nursing home and I had just laid down for bed when I received a phone call. It was a friend telling me that three of my other friends had been in an awful car crash and that two of them had passed away before making it to the hostital. They were only 16 years old. Funerals and final exams were coming up the following week. It was very hard to attend school the first few days without Tiffany and Naomi. One afternoon I was called down to the office saying I was being signed out early. My grandma was predicted to not even make it through the night. We spent the rest of the day and evening at the nursing home. Three funerals and 7 exams in one week is really rough. It’s also very trying on one’s body. For months, I couldn’t smile or laugh. I felt almost rumb to emotion. One day during the summer my mom surprised me with a tiny black puppy. She was an energetic little thing. She was the best form of an anti depressant and helped me get through the rest of that hard summer. Life seems to be just a bunch of transitions running together.