Flora started blooming last week; spring is attempting to come to Middle Tennessee. This photo is from the 2.5-mile Warner Woods Trail at Percy Warner Park. It was the perfect day for a hike; I was actually too warm in long pants and a short-sleeved t-shirt.
Although it was sunny, mud lingered in spots. The trail widened in these places, where walkers had searched for dry ground. That's not good trail etiquette, but it happens on any popular urban trail. The problem isn't the dirt aspect of the mud so much as it is the slippery aspect of it. (Anyone who hikes in shoes they want to keep clean is deluded.)
I was surprised to see as many wildflowers as I did; around town, I've seen primarily redbuds, dogwoods, and daffodils out. Most of my photos didn't turn out as well as this one, since they were taken with my iPhone. I should get out there with an actual camera.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Modern happenings
I've felt dumber than a box of rocks this weeks, thanks to a cold. (I never see "feeling like your IQ has dropped 50 points" listed as a symptom of illness, but it should be.) Thanks to Mucinex-D, I at least have the choice between sleeping and breathing - which is an improvement over doing neither. This is why I am posting at nearly midnight despite being ill.
Today was Graduate Student Research Day, at which I presented my scholarship of teaching and learning project, which is part of earning a Teaching Certificate at Vanderbilt.
Yesterday I saw the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble.
Wednesday I experienced a free lunch.
Tuesday I reached a milestone in dissertation data collection.
Monday I went to a birthday party.
That's the past. The future? This weekend I was supposed to do trail maintenance, but I backed out due to the aforementioned cold. Then it was canceled anyway. This at least frees me up for a very important happening on Sunday - the return of team Shazam! to trivia competition.
Today was Graduate Student Research Day, at which I presented my scholarship of teaching and learning project, which is part of earning a Teaching Certificate at Vanderbilt.
Yesterday I saw the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble.
Wednesday I experienced a free lunch.
Tuesday I reached a milestone in dissertation data collection.
Monday I went to a birthday party.
That's the past. The future? This weekend I was supposed to do trail maintenance, but I backed out due to the aforementioned cold. Then it was canceled anyway. This at least frees me up for a very important happening on Sunday - the return of team Shazam! to trivia competition.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Why Twitter hasn't lived up to the hype
I am tired of "social media experts" wondering why Twitter hasn't taken over the world yet. It's because, duh, we're not all "social media experts," and that's the sort of folks it works best for.
Twitter works for (a) people who others tend to search out, primarily celebrities and (b) people who want to be in category a and can develop a niche or hook. So I want to keep up with Neil Gaiman; I follow him on Twitter. I doubt he follows me in exchange.
But Twitter doesn't make it easy to connect with friends or acquaintances, not like Facebook does. I have a friend I know is on Twitter, but I don't know her username. I searched for her using her real name, but no luck. I have other friends that I know are on Twitter, whose usernames I know, whose Tweets I don't read because on Twitter they are an expert - on something I don't care about. They tweet about relational databases or something instead of their life. I care as little about their expertise as they care about mine.
Sure, there are services that help you find people of interest. In my experience, 95% of the suggestions are garbage. Of the rest, some are theoretically interesting but not practically so. I'm interested in higher education news, but if all you do is tweet articles from the two main industry pubs (which I already read), what value do you add? (Especially when you make me go through your website to get to the actual article.)
The best use I've found for Twitter is backchanneling at conferences and events, yet in my field there still isn't a critical mass for this to really be valuable.
The thing is, Twitter seems to be best for disseminating information or hive-mind commentary. It isn't a relationship/network manager like Facebook and other social media websites, which is really of interest to more people on a daily basis.
Twitter works for (a) people who others tend to search out, primarily celebrities and (b) people who want to be in category a and can develop a niche or hook. So I want to keep up with Neil Gaiman; I follow him on Twitter. I doubt he follows me in exchange.
But Twitter doesn't make it easy to connect with friends or acquaintances, not like Facebook does. I have a friend I know is on Twitter, but I don't know her username. I searched for her using her real name, but no luck. I have other friends that I know are on Twitter, whose usernames I know, whose Tweets I don't read because on Twitter they are an expert - on something I don't care about. They tweet about relational databases or something instead of their life. I care as little about their expertise as they care about mine.
Sure, there are services that help you find people of interest. In my experience, 95% of the suggestions are garbage. Of the rest, some are theoretically interesting but not practically so. I'm interested in higher education news, but if all you do is tweet articles from the two main industry pubs (which I already read), what value do you add? (Especially when you make me go through your website to get to the actual article.)
The best use I've found for Twitter is backchanneling at conferences and events, yet in my field there still isn't a critical mass for this to really be valuable.
The thing is, Twitter seems to be best for disseminating information or hive-mind commentary. It isn't a relationship/network manager like Facebook and other social media websites, which is really of interest to more people on a daily basis.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Death and remembrance on campus
I've walked by this grave a hundred times and never seen flowers on it before.
Monday, March 15, 2010
There's good news and there's bad news
I found out this morning I was waitlisted for a writing workshop I had applied for. That's the good news and the bad news.
I nearly didn't apply, and I had no expectations going in. The competition was pretty tough this year - at least 145 applicants for 18 spots. Many of the applicants are already published or are regular participants in workshops and critique groups. To be considered one of the top 30 out of this pool is, for me, a huge honor. Don't get me wrong, a waitlist isn't as exciting as a "yes," but it told me what I needed to know - I'm not wasting my time. And think of the money I'm saving!
Technically, I have over two months to continue to wait - but realistically, I figure it's over now. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for bad things to happen to the folks who are going!
I nearly didn't apply, and I had no expectations going in. The competition was pretty tough this year - at least 145 applicants for 18 spots. Many of the applicants are already published or are regular participants in workshops and critique groups. To be considered one of the top 30 out of this pool is, for me, a huge honor. Don't get me wrong, a waitlist isn't as exciting as a "yes," but it told me what I needed to know - I'm not wasting my time. And think of the money I'm saving!
Technically, I have over two months to continue to wait - but realistically, I figure it's over now. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for bad things to happen to the folks who are going!
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