My To Do List Woke Me at 1:30 a.m.

Actually, I never slept. We had lightning in the sky, a frightened puppy on the bed, and my head spinning with all the cool ideas gleaned from the ASTD International Conference and EXPO in San Diego last week. At 1:30 a.m., with Sparticus at my heels, I searched all the 'junk' drawers in the house for a notepad. The only one found said ONE with the ConAgra Foods logo, from a failed effort years back to get all business units on the same page, but I digress. Thirty-eight line items later my husband wandered into the room, somehow wakened by the dog, the light, or doors and drawers being opened and closed. Only one of the line items related to him, in that I would like him to stop being so cranky every time a certain fishman drives his boat up near our beach...But thirty-eight? Here are some samples:

• finishing our flip house (Plattsmouth)


• missing my brother who passed away (Vince)


• needing a fence (ours)


• judging an art contest (for OneGirlsDream)


• setting up Power Hour webinars (work)


• upgrading our Corporate training (work)


• buying an investment property (San Diego)

I had to write them down. By the time I turned the light off an hour later, I had scheduled my work of the week, reminded myself that I can't do everything at once and even planned time for social interaction with a former colleage, Ronda Smith, who now owns her own marketing company in addition to working on her Phd. Let's call that perspective. Lights out, good night.

Whoa! Why does my Avatar have a Beard?

In 2005 2nd Life was new to me, introduced at the Learning 2005 conference. I set up my first account "Learner Hiam", get it? 'learner I am'? Anyhow, I never logged on. This year I attended a symposium at SDSU sponsored by our EdTech alums and SAGE (the student arm of ISPI). So now I have an Avatar, MichaelVincent Nathansohn. We've already gotten through 'orientation island' and flown around the riverfront. If we ever meet, I'll explain the name, but I chose to classify myself as a male to prevent being hit on in 2NL

So today, I sign in to 2NL and suddenly my delicate-faced avatar is sporting a mustache, goatee (sp?) and sideburns. And it's not easy to edit my 'appearance' given my early millenial Dell which doesn't quite meet 2nd Life minimum graphic requirements. In fact, after I changed my hair and put on a sparkly skirt, my clothes kept flashing from undergarments to plant textures (seriously, it's creepy to see avatar pantyhose lines, in public no less). So this image is just a headshot. You understand, right?

Eventually, I'd like to build new business orientation in 2NL. For now, I'll settle for learning to dress and groom myself. I have to start somewhere.