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Working too hard... and not making the time to blog about the important stuff!

Yes, it is time for a rare "and Life" post.

The content I am writing for my managing technology in education class is sustaining almost daily blog entries right now, but my work at the Orange County Department of Education has been taking too much time (meaning I am working much more than I am paid to, suprise surprise... though I was getting much better at it for a while, and though my phd is definitely serving its purpose of helping me work less... ironic, I know.)

I attended the CUE (Computer Using Educators) conference two weekends ago and have not yet taken the time to blog about (and podcast!) all of the great material I was exposed to at the conference. Presentations by national personalities such as Elliot Solloway and Bernie Dodge, by dynamic local presnters such as Hall Davidson and Jason Ediger, and perhaps most importantly by new local presenters such as Jaimie Knight. Well, actually, I think I did get the most out of the Jason Ediger show... I went to nearly all his sessions in an effort to download some of his knowledge base before he disappeared; he recently left us at the OCDE to join Apple Computer as the nation wide manager for iPod in Education, which is pretty much the coolest job I've ever heard of. Oh, I also got an opportunity to speak about the "Access for All" 1:1 handhelds in middle schools project that I managed for over at year at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Presenting something, especially after some time away, helps one gain a new perspective on a topic, and we were certainly able to connect with others who were involved with similar projects.

I've been teaching blogging for tech leads and teachers in the Laguna Beach Unified School District, and this has been a good introduction to yet another organizational culture, and an exciting first foray (for me) into sharing the read/write web with classroom teachers. It has also been a great opportunity to work with Jenith Mishne again, and more collaboratively than we ever worked in the N-MUSD.

Now tonight I went to see James Gee speak about video games and learning at UCI. I was lucky enough to accompany phd in education student Jorge Valastegui to a much more intimate grad student only session following the presentation.

And this is to say nothing of the amazing conversations I've had with my wife Eva (a kindergarten teacher and site tech coordinator) while on our evening walks! Students assessing themselves with iPods... and our future in the educational technology industry, for example.

At any rate, this list of things that I would like to be writing about in detail is just to say I intend to at some point... but right now my assignments have to take priority. After all, as people tell me often, your goal while getting a phd is to get a phd, not to change the world. Get your phd and then change the world, they say.

Ok, so this was all about educational technology after all. Sorry. ;)

Here's this, though... I am going to see the first show of the new U2 tour this coming monday in San Diego, and soon after I will be making the LA show with my former bandmate Ryan Chan. There must be some correlation between U2 fans and educational technologists, because both Jason Ediger and Jorge Velastegui turned out to be big fans as well. Ooops. There I go again. I better just turn in for the night.

-Mark

PS - I'm even feeling too busy to include images in my posts this week. :(