Brad Paisley Needs French Lessons

(C) Nancy Sharoff - all rights reserved, 2014

For the last few weeks I've been catching a tune on the country channel I listen to on the way back & forth to work. With my mind on automaticity (Yup! It's a word) I never fully processed the content, I just 'felt' that something was not quite right with the world (or in this case, the song).

On the drive home yesterday I did catch the phrase 'Mona Lisa' and immediately honed in on the lyrics. Yes, Brad Paisley (no, I will not hyperlink his name to his Twitter handle or his Facebook page or his website, deal with it) was crooning about the Mona Lisa, and yes the lyrics did go on about something to do with 'French' (though the words indicate that there was something more going on there than having to do with the country or its people), but then...WAIT FOR IT!!! -- he starts counting in SPANISH! Huh?!?!

Mr. Paisley (no, we're not yet on a first name basis) PLEASE have someone proof the lyrics before you record. What are we to expect next?

Diigo Dumping

OK, before you read any further I want you to go into your Diigo (or whatever social bookmarking application you use) and tell me the number of items you have bookmarked.  Go ahead, I'll wait...

Image: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Now let me ask you this? How often do you actually go back and use those websites? Now I'm not talking about the ones that you use on a regular basis (in fact, you probably have those urls memorized -- as do I), no, I'm talking about those posts, articles, etc. that you bookmarked that will help you do x, y, and z should the a, b, or c situation arise and Mr., Mrs. or Ms. is not available to answer your question. Yeah, THOSE bookmarks!

If you're like me, when the aforementioned occurrences happen, I tend to either use Google to find my answer or I reach out to my PLN on Twitter.  So what exactly will happen to all of those bookmarked pages? They'll collect 'digital dust'.  And then the day arrives when I'm feeling particularly ambitious and decide to just dive into Diigo and hit 'delete'.  What about you?

Match Made in Heaven! Post-it(tm) Notes and Evernote?

Talk about analogue meeting digital!  I just ran across this and couldn't wait to share, but unfortunately I will have to wait until my driveway is plowed out of the 11+ inches of snow before I can venture out to our local office store to pick up my block of favorite colored Post-it(tm) notes. UPDATE: DH had to go get a paper in town (our paper is buried somewhere in the snow in our driveway) so I asked him to stop and get me the Post-its -- let's see if he can follow my specific instructions: they must be 3 x 3 inches and I even gave him the names and a photograph of the colors I needed.

You can read the detailed 'how to' on the Evernote website. But let's just say that my doodling, colored marker, Zentangling being is in creative heaven! Krissy ( @venspired ) you've GOT to check this one out!

So while I'm waiting for him to return I'm thinking of all the things I can do with Post-its(tm) and Evernote. Four colors, four categories.......GO.....

Color #1 - Inspiration things to do that I can't do right this moment, and maybe not even this week, but I will do this year
Color #2 - doodles, quotes and Zentangles(tm)
Color #3 - School related items
Color #4 - Misc., heh....I expect life to happen so I'm being realistic here.

Now I'm wondering if I can have more than just four colors/categories.

So if you were to use the Post-it(tm) and Evernote combo, what would you use them for?

We Are No Longer Leaving Behind Footprints

Image Source: Flickr.com VinothChandar

For a few years now I have been presenting on the concept of 'digital footprints'. At the very beginning it was about the tracks we left behind as we ventured through cyberspace. Then, as social media became more pervasive in our lives the presentations morphed into awareness sessions for teachers, parents, and students alike. Now, with daily media stories about the damage caused by behavior online those presentations have evolved into specific strategies on how to mold an online presence.

I have come to realize that we are no longer leaving behind footprints in the sand, instead I am convinced that we have become so immersed in technologies (particularly our students) that we are now dealing with one's 'digital DNA'. On a whim, I headed over to Wikipedia to see what they had to say about DNA. The information I read was spot-on; "genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms" and "long-term storage of information" and "contains the instructions needed to construct other components"

I guess my presentations on this topic will continue to evolve and my slides of footprints in the sand will have to be retired while I search for DNA images in my favorite stock photo websites.

Do you think we are still leaving footprints behind?

My Digital DNA (screenshot) from the WEB2DNA Art Project.