Google +

I admit it. I have been completely distracted by Google+ since I gained access last week. OMG!

Here's what I know so far: It takes a little while to set things up - especially if you have hundreds of people in your rolodex.

It is more addictive than News of the World and its ensuing (no pun intended) scandal.

We have just felt the shift in a way Google Buzz failed to manage.

Welcome to the next generation of social networking. I hope Facebook will keep up and my aggregators will let me post once and still be able to share with everyone I care to.

If you need an invite, let me know. If you need a tour, that is coming soon to this very blog. Just you wait!

Connecting and Disconnecting to Connect

I'm really, really bad when it comes to privacy. If I'm in a room and people are talking then I feel I'm a part of their conversation, be it passive or active. Just because your not facing me, huddled close to one another and murmuring in hushed tones doesn't mean I won't chime in with an "I couldn't help but overhearing...".

Flickr photo by Dean Sharesk

And yes, this does get me in trouble occasionally. Often. Well, regularly.

I can't help it. I have a restless mind,  a trained ear and read postures well. And I am oh, so, curious.

Restaurants are the worst. I will zoom in on anyone in earshot and this drives Chris nuts. It drive everybody nuts. It disturbs me sometimes. Amazing what people will say in a public place.

But this morning I was listening on the radio to an interview with Katherine Brooks. A well known director and writer of reality TV shows and documentaries, she's got thousands of Facebook and Twitter fans still her life felt hollow, empty. It held little meaning. A few months ago she was spiraling into a bleak depression. On the radio she admitted at one point it had been more than a month since she had received a hug.

Where the #@&%! were her so called friends?

Face2Face cuts out the electronics and brings Ms. Brooks into the homes and lives of 50 Facebook friends for a day. A day to connect and be a part of someone else's life. She used the technology to make the first connection and is now disconnecting to connect personally.

Building online and using technology, even 2.0 tools that are supposed to connect more than reject collaboration and interaction, is no guarantee that an audience will be engaged and participate. And how can we give a hug or hold a hand across cyberspace?

If you have any ideas, please post them here. If you've been able to create an active community post a link to your site, Twitter and/or Facebook.

Happy Birthday USA!

Kari sings with Orlando Concert Band
at Lake Nona.  Photo by OCB.

For the past few years I have performed July 4th with the Orlando Concert Band at Lake Eola. If you are coming, stop by the bandstand and be sure to say "Hello"!

Procrastination, it's making me wait

I have a secret. I don't really do anything. Well, work related that is. Okay, nothing traditionally considered work related. I just get things started. And read. A lot.

In high school we called ourselves doers - people who got things done.
In college we called ourselves activist - people actively supporting what they love.
Now we're called entrepreneurs, and by some flakes but I don't let that bother me.

My son Aren thinks time is short. Photo by Christopher Elliott. 

I work with the realization of ideas and creating marketable projects. So far I am 0 for at least a 100 and statistically it's time for a winner. Most of my best work has gone into OPP (other people's projects) so I at least have some street cred for success. And tons of experience.

But I am so frustrated with myself. I have good ideas. Mostly. But I lack the selfish quality it takes to do them.

Notice I say selfish. Negative word with negative connotations.

What I am really doing is procrastinating using one of the oldest tricks in the book for self-deception, semantics.

No, I am not watching Community with my better half, or Barbie Fashionista with my daughter to save myself from being too selfish. I am doing it to avoid the possibility of failure. Or having to work hard.

And I hide it in semantics.

Of course I'm afraid. And overwhelmed. And underfunded. And staring down the absolute unknown.

But wait a sec, am I the first person to be an starter? Am I really creating something totally unique, resembling nothing you've ever encountered, behaving in a completely untested manner?

Probably not. Yes? No. Definitely not, now that I think about it.

My cat Pollux is an excellent listener.
Photo by Christopher Elliott.

There are tools out there to help me and if I can just find a couple of people to use as a sounding board that might help with my personal motivation engine. My cats never disagree with me and are very, very, very supportive but I am not looking for a bunch of "Yes Kitties." No I need some people who can save me from getting distracted and keep me on task. And a few that will take a long term view.

Where will I find these people? Can you make some suggestions here in the comments and I will give you a few ideas as well.

Colleges. Colleges have students and educators that, though overworked, are usually willing to spend some time with you especially if there is food involved.

Entrepreneurship Centers. Yes, we have them all over Central Florida and they are supported by the University system including UCF's CEI. They have experts willing to share their links to resources you may need and give advice.

Experts. You may come across a paper or article that names an expert in his or her field. Believe it or not they are usually willing to share their knowledge and may point you in the right direction for organization or meet-up groups in your area with folks with similar interests.

Organizations.  American Society of Journalist, ASJA, is a trade association. The Chamber of Commerce is a business organization. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are social organizations. There are thousands of organizations but only a few will be what you're looking for. Many you won't even have to join in order to access their research or contact some members.

Government Agencies. Make sure you are connected to a true agency. If they ask you for money right away, it probably isn't legit.

I am sure you have a couple of suggestions. Post them to the comments below.

BP3_iGoogle Screen Shots

Well, I feel a little silly. I started my iGoogle homepage a while back and took it, well, nowhere. Really. I didn’t see the point. I didn’t have the time and I didn’t want the distraction or hassle. And come on, what can it possibly do for me?

Turns out it might have been a real time saver, digital personal assistant and project organizer.

This is my iGoogle home page.

Yes, back in December 2010 I was contemplating taking my oldest son out of school, starting up a new Web site, putting an old Web site back on the market, editing the current bevy of blogs as well as running the show at the Elliott Ranch.

We’d only just started talking about maybe going on a big road trip and Chris’ book contract still seemed highly unlikely.

March was a nightmare. The book was picked up by Wiley. We’d been to California for almost two weeks on assignment. Chris had taken Aren on a Disney cruise and Iden to Hawaii. Those assignments were completed but there were trips to Peru, St. Lucia, Colorado and Annapolis on the horizon. All this was managed in email, Google Docs and Google Calendar. Not efficient.

We had to turn down a number of assignments – including Peru – because we just couldn’t manage our traffic. Plus, Iden had a handful more days he could be absent from Kindergarten without being held back. Glad we missed that bullet.

This week, I went back to iGoogle. It was a class assignment. I have to admit to thinking the same thoughts as when I started my account. Why bother?

But somehow, maybe because of the outline to help me get started or the video tutorials, it finally clicked. I finally understand the power of the iGoogle homepage and what it means for me, personally.

This is one of those tools that helps change the size and shape of the boxes that limit us. It does this by helping us assemble tabs on a personal Web space. The tabs act like idea buckets where we drop links to video, websites, newsfeeds, documents, pictures and a host of other helpful related resources via “gadgets” that we can share with others. And they can share back!

Take a look at my FSO/CBR Tab:

FSO/CBR tab is for keeping track of AR resources and important Full Sail contacts.

I am using this page to give me quick links to the information I need to manage my Action Research project that will follow me throughout my Full Sail coursework. I hope to share links and my AR blog with friends in the blogging business as I study the best business models for education blogs. Just looking at the tiny picture you can tell we’ve a lot of work ahead, but soon this page will fill up with shared information and will remain dynamic as we continue to update and add new data and news.

And this is my ETC Tab:

This tab contains links I'll need during my
Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture
class and probably beyond.

See how all the important links, contacts reside in one workspace, not unlike your desk at work. You can find the resources needed to complete assignments here, without wasting time hunting them down. But I can still get to my AR or main page with a click of the tab.

Chris and I already share calendars and docs.  Now we can share links and resources whether we’re apart or together on business anywhere there is a connection. Without this tool I don’t know how we’d manage the educations of 3 children, submissions to the 20+ blogs we contribute to or the organization of our upcoming national family road trip.

Maybe iGoogle can help you as well. If you are interested in something you see in this blog let me know and I will gladly share some gadgets with you. And if you have anything you’d like to share, I will greatly appreciate it!

Outside, Outside the box

A friend asked on Facebook for a link to a song that makes us smile.

I'm a singer, so you'd think I'd have no problem with this one. But darn it, I just couldn't think!

Too many? Overwhelmed with the sheer number of tunes? No. It had just been a while.

Very recently I came into the latest Weird Al Lady Gaga Parody. And I admit, it was fun, but it just wasn't as far out as I recalled Wierd Al to be.




Okay, it is pretty weird. But compared to Lady Gaga. It could be considered tame.

Still this led me to think about limits. Limits we set on ourselves and the things we allow ourselves to do. And how we are affected by the thoughts and ideals of those around us.

One of the biggest issues I face is the desire to please others. With three kids, I have plenty to please - and that's just at home.

So I am reaching out to the one person whom I believe is not even aware that limits exist. Yeah she's even stranger than Lady Gaga but she gets crazy things to happen - and it's because she looks forward and involves as many people as she can.

You might not even know her, but Bjork is releasing her 8th album. She is Icelandic and dances on the fringe of, well, just about everything. Her creativity and it's resulting projects know no limits. Her new album is a musical description of nature and science. It is out in September, 2011 and distributed exclusively as apps.

I have a link to It's Oh So Quiet, her most mainstream song ever (it is a renamed cover of a 1948 hit by Hans Lang and Erich Meder). But it makes me smile. And when I worry about limits, I find her other work and rethink where can't and can meet.

Video directed by Spike Jonze.

Written by Hans Iang/Bert Reisfeld.

Published by Peer Music (UK) Ltd.

I dream of building my own apps

Do you dream of building your own apps for Apple devices or Andriod? But you're not a coder, you just have great ideas. I have great news for you!

Go to visit AppsBar. According to a recent press release, it tout's itself as "the first cost-free way for any business or person to create professional, multi-function apps and get them quickly published in apps stores."

From the press release we found at prnewswire.com:

"appsbar was designed to fill the gap between over-simplified apps and costly, professionally-produced apps. It presents myriad personalization opportunities with a unique interface that guides creators through the entire process – from creation, to editing, to publication - with visual and textual clues at each step. As creators build apps page by page, each app becomes more personalized through limitless combinations of background colors and fonts and the ability to upload images and videos from personal libraries."

This site is a free service and will help you with all the coding and even the submission process. But don't expect to get rich quick. There is a catch. Let's just say you should pay special attention to the licenses and rights granted to appsbar section in its terms of use.

It is also somewhat limited but probably does everything you need. I will share my product, once it is available, on this site.

Please leave a comment if you are thinking of trying or have used this service.