Week 4: Items 8 and 9

Big breakthrough in understanding the technology! Last week I read about RSS feeds and set up a blogline account. Okay, I haven't gotten to the point where I'm able to provide the URL address...

Rafe Neeleman's video was excellent: very clear and concise. The tutorial was also very comprehensible.

http://www.syndic8.com/ looks intriguing and I'll explore it more a bit later.

I posted three blots into my blogline and subscribed to six feeds. Topics ranged from the Caribbean, Australia and the South Pacific to the Red Sea, the best-of-the-best scuba sites. They're on my lifelong checklist of must do's (assuming the body holds out!).

And, since I was on a roll, I also explored MERLIN. My favorite aspect of it was the Web 2.0 awards which I looked through but certainly warrant a closer look at a later date. I checked out Ning to see if there were other scuba divers doing social networking. A couple looked as though they were created by one individual and they hadn't gotten any members. One, ScubaSpace, was much more dynamic. I would use ScubaSpace to get some firsthand information about dive sites that I'd like to visit. This is the kind of sport where it's important to hear from divers who've been to sites recently. Storms can really degrade sites by bleaching and breaking coral. Also, I like locations that have smaller inns and dive operators so that I'm not diving with a large group.

Week 3: Items 5-7

It's easy to spend a lot of time exploring Flickr, Flickr mashups and 3rd party site. I tried to limit my search to scuba: locations in the Caribbean, underwater coral and fish, etc. Nevertheless, I found myself losing focus and immersing myself in another tourist's visit to islands such as Saba and Bonaire, where I've been diving. There are some really nice photos and there's stuff that only your mother would appreciate! I needed a little staff help in posting pictures that I found, but after a while I did it successfully on my own. And, I could add captions and edit their arrangement too. Practice, practice, practice--that's what it takes. Doing one's own blog is making me appreciate and understand others' blogs.

Week 2: Item 4

My blog has been registered and now I'm really ready and feeling confident about moving through my 23 things. A staff member has graciously agreed to work with me when I reach a stumbling block. He postd this photo of the London Tower Bridge so that I could observe him do it. Now I'm going to look through Flickr and find a photo appropriate for my scuba site.

Week 2: Item 3

I set up my own blog and read about it. It was tough but I did it alone and I'm proud of that accomplishment! Unfortunately I had trouble adding my first blog but I had help with it and now it seems so easy that I wonder why it initially seemed so hard. (I need to remember to view problems as challenges.)

Week 1: Item 2

I read about lifelong learning and found some of the tips very relevant, especially the following:
1. Attitude is everything (oh yes!).
2. I'ts never too late to learn something (an encouraging remark for a sixty-something).
3. Keep the end in mind (like one of Covey's seven habits and one I have to remind myself about).
4. View problems as challenges (Ah, it's so easy shy away from them).
5. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner (good idea).
6. Teach/mentor others (wish I'd begun mentoring much sooner in my career; it's very rewarding).
7. Play (I need to do this more at work!).

Week 1: Item 1

I read the introduction about blogging last summer but I don't remember a thing! So, I re-read it and have gotten mentally geared up to do the 23 things even though I am a technology Luddite in some ways. I very helpful staff member coaxed me forward and I'm ready to go! All 23 things: here I come!