iGoogle

So iGoogle seems like the easy, user-friendly equivalent of Pageflakes; without the cantankerous, on-again, off-again problems I was having with PF. I have a gripe, however.... Why is it that gadgets like a beautiful photo of nature have to come with a cartoon figure of a suggestively dressed young woman??? Not happy, Jan :( Apart from that, it seems pretty simple to add/subtract a wide variety of functions - especially news stories, puzzles etc

To make up for the ridiculous advertising that comes up on the iGoogle page at times, here is a  beautiful nature photo with no advertising whatsoever :)  ENJOY

GOOGLE BOOKS

I made an amazing discovery when investigating Google Books - I found a Maths Puzzle book just brilliant for the Gifted and Talented students I am taking. It has shown a few really challenging problems to put at the end of worksheets to really sort out the bright sparks from the Bright Sparks! :) There is a lot to explore in Google Books and it has whetted my appetite to find out some more. This holiday list is getting a bit out of control!!

GOOGLE MAPS

I have found Google Maps really useful except when it gives me a dodgy route to get from 'A' to 'B' when I know that there is a much better way to go! In this session, though I enjoyed the opportunity to create a route for myself - just a simple walking route that I regularly take with THE DOG (actually my wife's...) - a (not so) fierce Maltese x Poodle - a Moodle - which is quite funny seeing as our Intranet platform at school is also a Moodle....

When I get a bit more time - holidays maybe - it will be a good learning opportunity to retrace our 2 trips around Australia in 2005 and 2008, including photos of notable places we visited on the way. Something to add to the growing 'Things to Do on our Holidays' list!

Blogpost 2 - LIFE 2.0

It seems to me as a digital immigrant that a lot is being made of the '2.0' mindset when it comes to new technologies on the Web, in libraries and so on. There is definitely power in the concept of generational change when it comes to 'what's new' but I wonder if it also includes an attitude that we should be embracing a whole new view on 21st century life as well - Life 2.0.... The idea that newer is somehow better and more life enhancing is something we need to challenge on a regular basis. The ditching of traditional values in pursuit of the new and avantgarde is fraught with danger and lacking in wisdom. Surely the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies is a brilliant development but only if it is based upon a firm bedrock of enduring values and foundational principles which undergird the adoption and embracing of newer ideas.

Google Doc blog effort

So I went and had a look at Google Docs and ending up modifying a lovely serene template that looks like a boat on still waters but I couldn't work out how to transfer it to this blog - yet. Does anyone know how to copy and paste a powerpoint slide onto a Blog page like this?

BLOGPOST 1b

IT'S AN INTERESTING EXERCISE TO play around with fonts and other such things particularly when there are a million other things which could be written. There appears to be no end to what can be done here, including embedding this Sons of Korah video clip from Youtube. Enjoy it - they are an amazing band who just sing the Biblical Psalms with phenomenal musicality and passion

 

BLOG POST #1

So here I am about to write my first blog...... what I should really be doing is my reading for my Masters program that I have also just started. Not enough hours in the week at the moment. Still, I can't complain - it's all of my own doing! As well as doing the Deputy Principal thing from 8-6 each day, I have a wonderful wife and 4 very unique children aged 9 to 19. I have had to learn how to manage my time, my energy and stay on top of things; I have also had to learn, the hard way, what Jesus meant when He said the following:

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own