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

 

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!

• Chocolate Chip French Vanilla Pudding Cookies. Do you think these should be served with an angioplasty on the side?


• Homemade Apple Jelly Makes a Great Gift. Video on how to make homemade apple jelly. It looks good!

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:

• Remove Clutter in the Background of Photographs. I stink at photo editing, so I'm always looking for tips.


• The Secret to Creating your own PowerPoint Templates for e-Learning. Again, I'm no graphics expert, so I appreciate someone telling me how to be better.


• Social Networks, or "I'm a Hermit." Dave Warlick at the 2¢ Worth blog tries to wrap his mind around Facebook and other social networks. I've already blogged about my usage of Facebook and how it has enhanced my interaction with students and about my thoughts for Facebook as a CMS. It's interesting to me to see other's opinions about something I feel strongly about.


• The Bamboo Project Readers' Guide to Getting Back Your Creative Mojo. Ever get stuck in a rut and you can't get your juices flowing to get things done? Here are some suggestions. Me? I throw darts in my office.


• The Value of Instructional Designers. Okay, I have to admit I'm geeking out COMPLETELY about Cammy Bean's Learning Visions blog. It's all things instructional design! The interesting thing about this post is that it attacks a question my fellow students and I grappled with while in graduate school. What good are we as instructional designers? I think I'm going to need a full post on this one. (You know, in my immense free time!)


• How to Avoid the 10 Worst Energy Zappers. I'm always looking to be more productive, and I've tried to start implementing some of these suggestions to see if they help. I particularly like the Toxic People suggestion. Sometimes I let others control me way too much.


• Quickly Install the Best OpenSource Apps with WinLibre and MacLibre. I love OpenSource technologies, and I'm all about getting the newest things easily. I haven't downloaded and used these yet, but when I do, I'll let you know how it went.


• Convert any Audio File with MediaEncoder Audio Edition. I've got some files I need converting, so I'm going to give this one a whirl.


• Instructional Design and Market Sector Differences. Another post by Cammy Bean that I need to follow up on. This one asks the question, "Just what is it that you do, Dr. Curry?" Actually, it asks what those of us in academia do.


• New Blogs for Learning. Jeff Utecht at the Thinking Stick blog talks about the power of putting the technology in student hands.


• Download and Listen to Free Music on the Web. Great overview of the different places to get music on the web. I do so much podcasting with my students that I'm always looking out for buffer music. Granted, I have something like 10,000 songs on my iPod, but you can never have too much music. You have to have something for every occasion. Plus, I try to make my buffer music apply to the topic. I'm quirky that way.


• Top Ten Underhyped Web Apps. The best web applications you've never heard of.


• Watch Full-Length TV Online with Fancast. This one's just for fun . . .


• Edit PDFs Online with PDFHammer. A neat looking new tool for editing PDFs online.


• PRISM Video Converter. I've been having problems with Handbrake as of late, so I'm going to give this one a try. Thanks, Neil, for the tip! It seems they also have an audio converter as well. YEE HA!


• See Real Recent Car Sale Prices at PriceHub. I've got to get a new car, so I need some help countering the dreaded car salesmen of the world . . .


• NEULIO. I'm not going to use this to publish a course, but I'm interested in seeing how it works.


• Convert WMV files to MOV Files for Free. Another interesting-looking tool.


• Getting Productive in 2008 with JOTT. Now this looks COOL. This is a longer post about one of the above mentioned underhyped web apps. I will DEFINITELY use this one. Basically, you call a toll-free number, leave yourself a message, and it sends you a reminder (text-based) via e-mail.


• Social Networking in Education. Steve Hargadon provides a HUGE list of social networking sites specific to education.

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

• Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do. This is video of a TED talk given by Gever Tulley. Very insightful and entertaining.


• Blue Moon of Kentucky performed by Conan O'Brien. HILARIOUS. Great, but hilarious.


• Technology Skills for Instructional Designers. This parallels the conversation Cammy Bean has above.


• Dizzler.com. Free music and video with the MySpace player.


• Taxonomy of Technology Integration. I'm working on an article that deals with levels of technology integration, and this proved helpful.


• CARET. ISTE's Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology's research database.


• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes. Who knows, maybe one of these will show up on here one day.


• Five Effective e-Learning Design Strategies. Webinar given by Karl Kapp.

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:

• Top Ten Obscure Google Search Tricks. I thought I knew a lot, but even I learned something here ;-).


• Keep Your Weight Loss Plan Simple to See Results. Ugh. I'm the heaviest I've ever been, and I'll take any help I can get . . . you know, except for eating less and exercising more.


• A chance to contribute to Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day's Top 10 Tools for Learning 2008. I submitted my list (albeit late) last year, but I'm interested to see how things change this year.


• KeyJNote. A tool I read about on the above mentioned Jane's website. Looks like an interesting (more interesting I should say) way to view slides online.


• Grab Music from your Browser with FreeMusicZilla. I've always wanted to know how to do this, and I now know! I'll let you know how it works when I try it.


• The Ethics of Wi-Fi Stealing. I know I've done this before. But I've just always assumed (and had heard) that it was wrong. This got me thinking: is it?


• Trick Yourself into Eating Less. Yep, more weight loss. Like I've changed anything this week . . .


• Instructional Designers with Degrees: Survey Update. Cammy Bean at Learning Visions has some really nice insights in to what instructional design as a career is all about. I find her blog to be very interesting. I filled out the survey, and I felt sheepish about having a Ph.D. in the field. Great work there.

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 . . ."