Is anyone out there?

UPDATE: I understand there has been issues with the comments. I'm trying to fix it, so if you have tried and had an error, please try again! Now back to the original post:

I got to wondering today . . .

Is anyone out there? Does anyone actually look at what I write here? Google reader tells me that there are four(4) people subscribed to my feed. I at first thought that it must be my sisters, but none of them are tech-savvy enough to have a feed reader.

So, I'm just curious who actually reads this blog? So, if you would, post a comment here for me and answer the following questions:

  • Um, who are you and how did you find me?

  • What do you like most about my blog?

  • What do you think I could do to increase my blog readership?


I've just installed reCAPTCHA to help with SPAM comments on my blog (thanks to Ed at EdTech for the idea), so we'll see how that works.

So if you're willing to help out, thanks! If you're not willing to stroke my ego and let me know who actually cares (to at least a marginal degree) what I write, to you I say, "COME ON!" Seriously, though. I'm interested, and I'd appreciate it.

Links for 1-19-08 to 1-25-08

I'm late this week, but I feel guilty for not having gone back and annotated last week's links and for not having posted this week's yet. So without further ado . . .

Gordon B. Hinckley, 1910-2008

hinckley


 


Many people today glanced over headlines like, "Mormon President dead at 97," or "LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley Passes Away." Then they never thought about it again. Let me tell you something, he'll be missed. And the majority of the world doesn't even know who he is.


See who he was after the jump.

Links for 1-13-08 to 1-18-08

OK, so I'm going to have to do something about this. It would seem that even though I've been trying to limit what I am marking weekly, I keep marking more. I've started limiting what I star or share on my Google Reader to items that I want to respond to in a separate post, but I still have TWENTY-NINE links for today--nineteen from my reader, and ten from my del.icio.us account. I might have to start doing this more than once a week.

See the links after the jump.

Here are two links for Marci Scott

I specifically saved two links for one of my former teaching assistants, Marci Scott (she was Judd to me). Marci is the type of gal I pray my Natalie grows up to be. She's beautiful, sweet, spiritual, and is one of the most genuinely caring people I've ever met. She keeps a great blog where she brightens the world with her cheery outlook. One of her favorite things is finding a new great recipe, and when I found these, I decided Marci got her own post.

So Marci, I know you read this blog, so I want an update on whether or not these are worth the time!

So here's to you, Marci. I hope you enjoy these!

Links for 1-6-08 to 1-12-08

Here are my links for this week. I have to warn you, there are more than a few. I wonder if I should post them all or be more selective? At any rate, here's what I found interesting this week:

And my links from my del.icio.us account:

Look at me go! My first Vodcast . . .

So I decided to try something new--not radical, but new for me--with my online 3123 class this semester. I just thought it would be a nice change from either a text introduction or the audio introduction I did with a simple podcast last semester. Now it's nothing fancy, but I've already heard back from students who have told me how refreshing they felt it was.

I guess it's just the illusion of normalcy. At any rate, I've uploaded it to my YouTube account, and you can see the whole thing (it's only 14 minutes, including buffer music) where I introduce myself and my philosophy of the undergrad preservice teacher course. You can also see different movie clips I use in the course on that YouTube page.

See the vodcast after the jump. Nope. It's too long for YouTube. Here's the link.

Links for 01-01-08 to 01-05-08

Here's what I found interesting this week:

And from my del.icio.us bookmarks:

  • BAIDU. A Chinese search engine where you can search for and find .mp3 files? How is this legal? Is it?

Today's Inspirational Video

"Come Thou, Fount of Every Blessing", one of my favorite hymns, by one of my favorite groups, Jericho Road.



Welcome to 2008!

Here are some random thoughts that have been going through my head:

  • Biggest memory from Christmas? High School Musical. My daughter, Natalie, had a HSM and Hanna Montana Christmas, and we've listened to the soundtrack over and over again. Not only that, Andrew, the two-year old, has learned to change the CD to track 8 of HSM2, so he can listen to Troy sing "Bet on it" and dance around the room like him. Hil-ar-i-ous!

  • Best football game? OSU defeats Indiana in the Insight Bowl. I teach a lot of the football players, and I was proud of how they played. I'll miss seeing Dantrell and AD. You guys were great, and good luck in the NFL! Don't forget Tommy, Mo, and Jeremy. I hope we see Bobby and Brandon back, though I would understand if we didn't. Also, farewell to two great Cowboys both on and off the field, Donovan Woods and Martel Van Zant.

  • Worst football game? Dallas at Washington. Why even show up?

  • I'm going to work on this blog more. I've been killer-posting to my del.icio.us account, and I've added the del.icio.us widget (seen on the right). I've also been starring and sharing a lot of things from my Google reader account, but I want to make more regular posts. So I've started tagging items by week, so I can make a weekly post of what I found interesting.

  • I'm going to Phoenix tomorrow to see my brother, David, get married. I don't really want to go, but I love my brother, so I'm going to support him. He's getting married in the Mesa, Arizona temple. I'll be back on Sunday.

  • School starts Monday. I'm needing to update the EDTC 3123 wiki with all the teaching resources for our undergraduate preservice technology course. I'm behind on it.

  • I'm still worried about 3rd year review. I can't even write about it . . .


That's enough for today. I'm outta here . . . The video below is for Andrew.



"Bet on it, bet on it, bet on it, bet on it . . ."