a wiper's tale . . .

Wow! I'm finally here!  Word-to-Go on my Blackberry Curve!  Never mind that I've owned this phone almost two years now and never checked out Documents-to-Go until today. And then there was the deal that my "included" version did not offer the "create a new file" option--which meant downloading a 30-day trial of the "premium" version and then rebooting the phone and . . .

Why now?  That is an even wilder personal technology tale!  I'm sitting in the waiting room of my car dealership, where I've spent three of the last four Saturday mornings also. The first visit was routine--oil change, tire rotating/balancing, and, by the way, could you replace my wiper blades?  I'm so trusting/oblivious/naive. Did I think to check the wiper blades when leaving?  No!!

It was only after running several errands on my way home that afternoon that I noticed that one wiper blade had gone AWOL. Where and how?  Who knew?  I found another open dealership that afternoon (mine had closed for the weekend) and had the blade replaced--with a mismatched clone--only to discover that the passenger wiper arm had also lost its connectivity, was out of commission, KAPUT.

Two weeks and many rainy days later, back at the dealership. Almost three hours later came the verdict that a part, not in stock, had to be ordered. OK . . .

After several email tussles over my needing to have the repair done on a Saturday, I was back last Saturday, armed with my  iPad, a book to read, papers to grade...  Two hours later came the verdict that the wrong part had been ordered and that the repair would take more time than their Saturday hours would allow. They'd work out a rental car for me though. What about bringing it in this morning (yes, a Saturday), picking up a rental, and then doing the swap-out, hopefully, after work on Monday?  Sure...  Not much of a rental car user or fan but, considering the alternatives ...

Did I mention that this was a warranty-covered repair?  Or that the part needed was out-of-stock statewide and had to be shipped from Texas?

So I was here bright and early this morning. Sent to the waiting room while they called the rental car place. I had read/deleted most of the 100+ unopened emails on my phone when they came with today's new scenario. Not a rental car to be found in the area!!!  But they had a technician on duty today who could replace my wiper transmission in maybe an hour or so?  Was I OK with waiting on that?

Needless to say, I had not come equipped, today, with iPad and a book to read and papers to grade. But I'm resourceful, if nothing else. I should have "killed" most of my hour's wait time by now. I'll email this story to myself so that it'll be ready to copy and paste into a blog entry once I'm home again.

I really should upgrade my phone, shouldn't I?

Followup: the repair took two hours so I consumed a cup of Starbucks cocoa and read some mindless magazines to fill the last hour.  Tested the wipers BEFORE leaving this time :-) Still mismatched, but HEY, they both work!!!  I can live with that . . .

personal technology:Kindle 2 is too two to ignore???

I'm loving it!

OK, so I'm the book woman . . . Every gift to a family member has "a book" at the top of the guesswhatitis response list. The youngest grandbaby is vocal about her expectation that I arrive on her doorstep with books in my bag, every time, without fail. The second oldest said to me, just before Christmas, "Nonny, you won't believe this but there's this book I want . . ."

A Kindle was on my Christmas list but not under the tree. My children laughed at me. How could I--the catalyst for their own paper and ink book addictions, the very reason none of us has bookshelves enough, ever--want to read on a technothingamabob? a Kindle?

They were right. That part of who I am is imprinted in indelible inks on the pages where they keep their mother's perpetual profile. But some things change. Even mothers change. Even mothers old enough to be comfortably set in their ways change.

I ordered my own Kindle the day I discovered that generation 2 had arrived. I figured, backordered as it had been and still was, my Kindle would arrive with spring, or later. I was wrong. It arrived last week.

At the moment, the Kindle is charging--for the third time. I've bought three books, finished reading The Graveyard Book, am now somewhere in chapter 3 of By a Slow River (have ordered the print version too, but in the original French :).

Of all the personal technology that has come my way in this last year or years, this was the most natural transition from old ways to new.

It could be that being a book woman transcends physical form and substance.

It could be that being a book woman is all about having access--anywhere, anytime, any book--at my fingertips.

Could it be that both the book and the woman understand that change is the flip side of survive?

Or . . . could it be that, together, we're saving a tree or two or three???

personal technology: HDTV and DVD

I'm not much of a TV watcher. Small screens, outdated TVs--no problem. I've got cable! No problem until the arrival of the Wii.

Fast forward to my twice-handed-down "new" plasma HDTV--too small for its former owners but impressive as TVs go in my home!

There were new DVDs under the Christmas tree--and old ones still in shrink wrap and silver security stickers in the study cabinet. HDTV in the living room and only a VCR (and Wii for company)?

I ordered a DVD player that promises to upscale even my not-so-high-tech older DVDs for quality viewing.

And then I decided tonight that I could install it all by myself! YES!!!!

Fast forward to tomorrow when Time Warner is getting a used digital cable box back. Like I said, I'm not much of a TV watcher. Whatever the promised benefits of that black box, I needed the space it was occupying. Might want to play one of my old VHS movies, you know . . .

personal technology: the Wii

Too busy playing to write about it, I guess :-)

There were two technology toys on my Christmas wish list: Wii and Kindle. My children laughed at the idea of Kindle. After all, wasn't I the one who fueled their terminal addictions to real books, the paper and ink kind? So no Kindle for me under the tree . . . There were a few real books though . . .

And a Wii, with all sorts of accessories, enough to be a full-time retirement plan if I were retired and fit enough to exercise all day. I'm not . . .

There's a saying about statistics, that you can make them say whatever you want. I think that's even on a Facebook Flair button I saw somewhere. But I'm loving some of the statistics I finagled this week. The only drawback is, since you can't erase a score (or at least I don't know how to), I'm afraid I might have already peaked in some areas, with a downhill coast in my future. Or maybe even like what happens to the skier in the Wii Fit ski jump when I don't extend my legs in time . . . Snowball ride!

My first too awesome record was in bowling--Wii Sports style. One strike and, count them, nine spares! I don't think I've ever in my life come close to that. Should I just retire from bowling, as I did from running years ago when I placed first in my first-ever one-mile race???

Today's record is one, unfortunately, that I can't retire from. My initial Wii Fit age a week ago was six years less than my actual age--not impressive by any means, especially at my age, but I figured I could improve on that some. Some? Today's Wii Fit age was less than any of my children's actual age?!?!? And the tests were harder this time--like balancing on one leg, which I'd already been doing 30 seconds or so before I realized I hadn't pushed "A" to start the clock! But taking that test, and often, is part of the game. Guess I'll just have to steel myself for some silver days among the gold . . .

And then there's the fact that I still score "unbalanced" on most of the balance games. I'm working hard on those (ski jump and table tilt often bring me up to amateur status). I'm improving at the slalom but can't head soccer balls, walk tightropes, or catch fish while perched on a iceberg. I console myself that somehow, with no training, I'm easing into Yoga master or at least trainer more often than not. Well, except for the tree position . . . A human being is supposed to be able to self-contort like that????

I'll save the tennis and golf and hula hoop stories for another time. I will admit, though, that if I didn't have six months of fairly consistent neighborhood walks to my credit, much of this story coould not have been written--at least truthfully. And so, this week, while I Wii Fitted daily and Wii sported twice, I also made time for four neighborhood walks . . .

Feeling pretty good for January :-)

Think

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/248029/think

Happy wordle-ing!

a personal technology question

tech·nol·o·gy

1.
the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.
technology. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved October 08, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technology

OK, now that we know what technology really means, here's my question.

On my front porch this afternoon stood a tall carton, 50+ pounds of content, a white toddler sleigh bed with drawer from Dream on Me, Inc. Unassembled, of course . . . Are the simple tools I'll use to assemble the bed (and to disassemble the crib and mobile and . . .) this weekend still considered technology?

One more turn in the road of life . . . and decidedly a personal one. . .

footnote from Christmas 2008: a bed for Cassie

personal technology: the phone

The phone is my technological weak link. I love, love, love connecting via email (maybe because writing is my therapy of choice) but seem unable to cultivate a dependency on the extra ear appendage . . . Friends, colleagues, family--all know that to leave voicemail on my cell means I may get it a week or two later. Voicemail on the unlisted landline? I do honestly mean to check that daily but slip up at times there too. And don't you call me at work! Blinking message lights are in my blind spot somehow . . . Even my car has its own hands-free number now, but do you think I give that information out? I think I emailed the number to family members but they, above all others, know that I don't drive and talk!

About six months ago, I came home to a line in use message on my answering machine. Now, honestly, who would be using my line when no one was home? Every line in the house was DOA. I faithfully followed the disconnect/reconnect advice to no avail. Then, magically, just before bedtime, a dial tone . . . The next morning, of course, the technician came out, checked the line outside, and said NOT US!!! and that problem I'd had must be interference somewhere inside the house . . . As if I haven't paid for years and years for that to be their problem too . . .

That was the first time, repeated at least half a dozen times, same scenario. My son-in-law said it sounded as though there was a short in the line outside somewhere. I finally figured out how to talk to a real person in this automated scheduling world. If you call in a repair request and then call back immediately to check on the status of that repair request, guess what??? The lady I spoke to a couple of weeks was helpful. She suggested I use the outside jack to check the line while the dial tone was still AWOL. I did. No dial tone. She agreed the problem must be external and said this would be handled the next day--when I received yet another of those calls that said NOT US!!! and that problem I'd had must be interference somewhere inside the house . . .

When it happened again on Monday (what did we ever do before cell phones?), I decided that being nice (I usually am) wasn't working. I threatened, after doing the talk-to-a-real-person number, to cut the landline cord. Ditch the service. (As if I would when my home alarm system--yet another personal technology story--depends on that . . .) Three messages on my cell phone when I checked it this morning (five days later). The first two said NOT US!!! and that problem I'd had must be interference somewhere inside the house . . . The third said . . .

We found the problem.

We fixed it.

which is webdings for

we found the problem,

and we fixed it!

what became of the inquiry

I didn't know what I didn't know.
It's that simple.

I figure it will take this year and more to bring my 1980s-90s digital settler self into the 21st century.

So I exchanged my public inquiry focus to something I can do, in part, in my sleep: the impact of summer reading and, the flip side, what impacts the summer reading experience.

My inquiry into digeracy (I want to be one of the digerati in my next life)--newly freed of APA-formatted review of the literature due in December and planning the study (due in writing in April, presented in May) before embarking on the quest (like when have I ever done anything in someone else's prescribed sequence?)--has taken on a life of its own! Co-teaching a technology course (what a wonderfully inquiring group of adult learners this class is!) has given me the purpose I needed (and the excuse) to delve into new technologies I could only namedrop a few weeks ago.

So I may blog about those experiences here--and the professional readings (yes, I'm doing that with a passion) too. A travel log of sorts . . .

This week's celebration . . . Did you know that PowerPoint presentations can be saved as a series of pictures? Which means digital story telling (mastering [I thought] Photo Story was last year's triumph ) can indeed require some digital story reading ;-) Can't wait to play with that!

More to come . . .

personal technology update 1: the car

I finally did use that rear window wiper one dewy morning last week--without reverting to the print manual. Just punched a button with a promising symbol and got lucky! But it's the old technology that has me puzzled.

Thanks to emerging technologies, I get car diagnostics via email every month. Each month, noticing the tires had lost yet another psi, I've resolved to find or buy a tire gauge and maybe replace my ancient tire pump.

A couple of weeks ago, one of those dashboard lights came on and stayed on for a while before giving up on my paying appropriate attention. I was paying attention. After two days in the depths of the manual, I learned the universal (?) symbol for low tire pressure--which I will remember more for its location on the dash of this car than I will for its shape (so much for the universal concept :-/ ).

Last weekend my son, with his also ancient pump (but it did have a gauge!), helped me get the tires back up to standard--or so we thought. The monthly diagnostics, received on a Thursday, look not unlike last Saturday's readings. Delayed email? Leaky valve stems?

So I've done some upgrading. Tomorrow my 3K-miles-driven all-but-new car goes in for its first factory recall service--a possible power steering fluid leak which would, by the way, explain the way it complains when I back out of the driveway and head out in the mornings . . . With the price of gas, there's much to be said for one-stop shopping. I added getting the tires checked out to my personal technology recall list for tomorrow. I scheduled both appointments online . . .

BTW, I do now own a high-tech tire gauge that can be programmed to remember different settings for front and rear tires--serious technological overkill since 30 psi all around is easy enough for my brain to hold onto for now (kind of like the home thermostat I've never programmed beyond the 68-degree heating and 78-degree cooling absolutes). The new pump--a leaner and meaner version (but hopefully with some ooomph!)--also has a gauge. Both tire gauge and pump are still in the box/shrinkwrap/house . . .

Guess I should be grateful for the 3-month break from automotive repair waiting rooms. . . This one has popcorn (can't eat any until my current dental adventure is finished [hoping for Thanksgiving . . .]) and wi-fi (but I'm opting to spend my time with something of substance, of paper and ink).

In some, maybe many, ways, I'm a digital settler. It's good for the resume, for job security, for exercising the brain. But on my own time? Very much the immigrant, delighting in my native language and culture in the quiet spaces I call home.

Honoring UAF93 . . .

Click on the link above . . .

personal technology--mp3 player

The story of how I came to own one--and why I waited so long--is on my other blog (click link above). But here are the digital immigrant confessions . . .

what I already knew
how to download music
how to create playlists
that shuffle is a universal play option
that the usb ports in my new PC are powered (but don't try charging the player on the upstairs computer . . .)
that, when all else fails (or sooner), consult the manual
that my new toy could be a hazard to my perfect hearing :-)

what I had to learn
how to use a joystick controller (I know that speaks volumes about what else I have yet to experience . . . but I'm going for truth here)
how to turn my player off and on
that mp3 player menus work a lot like cell phone and digital camera menus and that I'm still a neophyte in mastering any of these
that iPod has a corner on the docking station and speaker market and finding the right, affordable model for my player is going to be a challenge
that I really do need earphones I can trust to stay in place
that I've been missing out much too long on this source of music therapy/pleasure!!!!

personal technology--the car

I'm sure my status as a digital immigrant will be much too obvious here. But here goes, all the same.

I bought a new car two weeks ago. If I were a digital native, the manual would still be virgin territory. While I can't say I've read it cover to cover (manuals aren't meant to be read that way--even I know that!), I can say that I did look up the location of the control to the rear window wiper (a technology new to me) and that, even armed with that assistance, I'm still very puzzled . . .

My new car is in the shop today--leather seating upgrade--and I'm in a loaner, different model but same colors (even the leather) and similar controls. But I've already consulted that car's manual too, not trusting myself to learn simply by playing/doing . . .

There is hope for this digital immigrant though. While it took me four days to muster enough nerve to have my opening conversation with OnStar, I'm totally in love with this technological advance! I actually trusted its disembodied voice to tell me, turn by turn (and were there ever a lot of turns!) how to get to a beach I'd never visited! Well, I did, momentarily, tell it I'd find my own way after it complained when I left the route (just following the beach traffic signs in a place where I knew my way) and asked me if I needed it to recalculate. Momentarily. Truth was that I was well off my printed-out Mapquest route by then and the highway maps from my old car had not yet made their way into my new one . . . and I didn't know how to get where I was going . . . most especially in the pouring down rain.

OnStar talked me home as well--a different route but just as efficient as the first.

I have yet to read the OnStar manual (did read the getting started flyer) or load/explore the CD . . . But, I'm hooked all the same!!!!

Now to find the control for the rear window wiper (and, more importantly, to understand why and when I would use this feature???) . . .

inquiry 2008-09

Experimenting again . . .

My "other" blog was birthed as an attempt to use a blog as the vehicle for presenting a multigenre project for a writing course I was taking. Multigenre naturally evolved into multimedia, something I could not have accomplished by pen(cil) and paper alone. The funny thing was how long it took me to realize that my blog could not be an exact replica of the pieces I had already crafted--first in my writer's notebook and then in Word. One entry is a scan--just had to bring Contrails across the digital divide. But, over time, I have grown very comfortable with the blog, with its limitations and its possibilities.

And now . . .

I used to think best on paper, with pencil in hand. There are still moments . . . when, convert that I've become, I still revert.

But it seems practical, this next year, as I focus on what it means to be digitally literate as a reader and a writer, that I do my thinking here, in this digital world.

To that end, I will post my professional readings (both summaries and reactions) and the progress of my inquiry (at present still groping for the question) here in my virtual sandbox.

Tracking my thinking . . .

Going public . . .

Ouch!

My Fatal Flaw

Well, you know me! I'm going to try to wiki with my students. I've already set up my site, but immediately got overwhelmed with the unfamilair technology and ran to something I know I can do well. Blog. But eventually I'll get back into the wiki site, set it up, and give it to my students. Naturally, I won't know half of what a wiki is capable of until my students get hold of it. That's exactly how I learned how to use think.com: I gave it to my students and then learned solely in order to keep up with them! If I waited until I was completely comfortable to give a wiki to students, then I would never do it! No, the best thing for me to do is to hit the road running, and learn as I go. Which is why you will probably see wikis in my near future! But then again, this overwhelming compulsion to dive right into something is also why you'll probably also see me freaking out when I discover my students know more about wikis than I do! But NOT FOR LONG!!! :)

Response

I am not too timid about most things, but the newness of this idea makes me hesitant. I love the opportunities provided through technology, but it always leaves me with lots more questions than answers. I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing to just watch, read, and absorb. (at first). However, in order to learn and grow we will have to leave our comfort zone to dive into something new. The concept is appealing, but I admit it will take me awhile to feel at ease with it.

what this page is about

We're winding up this year's study group. Our focus has been on writing but, as always, I'm trying to sneak in a little of the technology too. Last year we used Think.com, an online learning community, to communicate and showcase our literacy learnings. This year (well, maybe just this month!?) we're exploring/using our school websites (new this year) and wikis and blogs. Next year?!? All things are possible, virtually speaking. After all, it's April and we have all the way to August to do our dreaming.

So that's why the sandbox (borrowed that idea from my wiki provider)--a safe place to experiment with new tools and maybe even new ways of thinking about the teaching of literacy.

my "protected" wiki (April 24 update)

So the link doesn't work?

I've actually deleted this protected wiki because being a member of three totally private "work" wikis is wiki enough for me!

Maybe this summer, or whenever, I'll play with a more public wiki about a topic I'd like to write about some day. Rivers I have known comes to mind . . .

dO i REALLY WANT TO wiki ?

Create simple web pages
that groups, friends, & families can edit together. . .

I used to think that a wiki was an online encyclopedia that anyone could contribute to. I used to think that all I needed to know about a wiki was to be careful whom (which is, by the way, “a dialectical difference” we older language arts folks still use from time to time) I told that I actually consulted wikipedia out of desperation when I had burning questions other sources couldn’t satisfy. I guess that was a bit like seeing maybe just one side of one tree and not the whole forest?

So what is a wiki? The quote above from http://www.wikispaces.com/ seems to be a place to begin my understanding, my thinking.

But I’m an inquirer through and through, so now I want to know all of this and more.

• Simple compared to what and for whom? (I’ve got to be able to explain—no, teach—this to a group of teachers five days from now.)
  
• If a wiki is a web page, why not just stick to my school web page (School World) or my personal blog (Google’s blogspot)? Why do I need another site, another something else to keep up with? Why would teachers need to be wiki-wise?
  
• OK, maybe the groups, friends, and families can edit together . . . answers my last question? Or maybe not. . . We’ve just begun to set up a summer reading school web page that at least seven of us will be able to edit/monitor, sharing one username and password. I’ve invited my children and the children they married to contribute to my personal blog. Two of them have; the others just lurk. . .
  

I read somewhere—in more than one place, I think—that wikis are democratic. They are in the sense that we all have equal rights to share our thinking in the same space and even to intrude on each other’s thinking via editing something we didn’t post. The anonymity of the process—the casual reader certainly won’t know who wrote what, will he?—reminds me of the anonymity of the voting booth.

So here are my new questions.

• Are wikis about interdependence in lieu of independence?
  
• Are wikis about collaboration in lieu of competition?
  
• Will all voices be heard—is there no way to know?—or will lurking be participation enough?

I guess I should ask whether using wikis as an instructional tools matters at all. But, you know, if I didn’t suspect that it might matter a lot, I wouldn’t have taken you, or even me, on this journey of thought. . .

Your thoughts???