Opening Day

Thing 1: Intro to the 23 THINGS.
How can you not get a little excited by the promise of playing with all these new toys? Pat yourself on the back, they say. And start having fun. CHECK 9/19/2009

Thing 2: Lifelong Learning Lecture.
The 7 (and 1/2) habits of lifelong learning are divulged and explained, and we are prompted to fill out a LL contract and to reflect on the habits that are the easiest and the most difficult for us. The easiest is #2: Accept responsibility for my own learning. At my age, I welcome every chance to exercise the gray cells and refresh the connections among synapses, and I have nobody else's agenda to contend with. The hardest... well, several pose some degree of difficulty. #3: View problems as challenges, for example. If I am tired or in a rush, I am less likely to see the opportunity in a crisis, although I agree with the overall concept. Or #5: Create a learning toolbox -- Books, classes, Web pages, friends, no problem, but I am a little fearful of new technologies (is this going to blow up my computer?), and I have to overcome a certain amount of reticence to seek mentors. Habit #6: Use technology to your advantage -- again, there is that Fear Factor, but on the other hand, I'm here, blogging! And I want to learn these other Things (*gulp*). CHECK 9/19/2009

Thing 3: Create a Blog.
Ta-da! Can I just point out, though, that it's not quite as easy as they make it sound. First, even though I have a gmail account, I couldn't sign in with it. (Fortunately, I have Friends (see Habit #5) who provided solutions. Also, did anyone else have a hard time reading the string of characters that you had to recognize and key in? Sheesh! Accurate transcription required not only good vision but also excellent powers of gestalt reasoning plus a dash of sheer luck. In other words, I got it wrong a couple of times before I got it right. CHECK 9/19/2009