Summer musings

I have packed a lot into this summer. Took trips to Texas, Santa Fe, Albuquerque (some of them were even planned), turned Kailee’s room into my office (hope she isn’t planning on moving back in), gained back all the weight I’ve lost, (see photo of the Hey Cupcake trailer, in Austin. Absolutely the best chocolate on chocolate cupcake of my life) and acquired a second dog. Yep, a fruitful three months.



I have also waded into the wonderful world of Twitter. Little play with consonance there. Anyhoo, I have avoided Twitter because I thought it would be a drier, emoticon-free version of Plurk, which I bailed on just recently. I really didn’t want to get updates on what everyone was doing or wearing or going or eating or anything else. Instead, though, I have found it to be a fantastic networking tool. Who I follow can be divided into lists: education twitterers (is that a word?), writing, art, and just for fun. I admit, Jason Hawes from “Ghost Hunters” is on my list. And Grant, although he doesn’t tweet as much…


In a very short space of time I have learned so much about the ongoing conversation taking place around education. If anyone doubts the passion of teachers, I dare you to try to keep up with their threads. I have ‘met’ filmmakers and writers, artists and the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama, people! He twitters! I have him categorized under “just for fun,” but I admit that’s probably not the best choice. Maybe I need a new category. Any suggestions?


I have also been introduced to some great blogs. It’s a virtual smorgasbord of information out there—really, really good writing. And just in case I grow too serious about life, the Onion tweets some pretty outrageous headlines.


In other news, and closely aligned to the Twitter thing, I broke down and bought a smartphone. A BlackBerry. I have no idea what kind, except it’s not a Storm, which is good because I would have hated to spend that much money on a phone I can’t even use in the UAE. I say this is closely aligned to my Twitter adventure because this little black box that doesn’t really look like a berry at all brings Twitter right to my palm. I can also see my email and Facebook. Now, those of you accustomed to technology just stay offa my cloud. I’m like-- me in a candy store. I can even—ready for this?—surf the Internet while walking along the river. I don’t know what kind of voodoo magic this is, but I’m liking it. A lot. I’ll let you know how much of my soul I’ve sold when I get my first bill…


But, sadly, summer has come to an end. I am back to work, which requires me to actually get up in the mornings. And wear shoes. However, I am taking a digital photography class, dance with me, people! I will no doubt be using this space to share my attempts throughout the semester. Consider yourself warned.