Rapid Fire Learning

End of May already. Besides being too long ago, when was the last time I did a Rapid Fire Learning?

February actually, you can read about the long learning for the short month here

So what have I learned this month?

1 - teamwork remains key
The Job Search Jam Sessions came off successfully on May 14th due to the outstanding teamwork of those involved in the planning and the cooperation/collaboration spirit of those who participated.

2 - the devil is in the details
Some feedback on my resume lead me to use wordle to help analyze it with embarrassing results. Needless to say, the modifications are getting in the right direction but some more wordsmithing remains.

3 - perspectives make all the difference
With the special election  coming up in Franklin on June 8th, the various perspectives on the override are rather interesting to see. There are no easy solutions. Time, good listening, patience, appropriate explanations are all required to get through the discussion in a respectful manner.

4 - no such thing as normal
Dad's health has taken an interesting turn with a change to his eyesight. While the age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment has been working wonderfully, he has developed a blood clot in his good eye effectively rendering him legally blind. Needless to say, without his wheels he has some new challenges and so does the family.

5 - time is short, priorities are needed, adjustments are constant
Further along the line of 'normal' the priorities one sets may not last long. You need to be able to adjust quickly. It is a challenge but hey what are the alternatives? Challenges create the individual right!

What did you learn this month? Feel free to share here, on your blog, or on Rosa Say's blog where she has her Rapid Fire Learning for May posted.

Rapid Fire Learning

Expanding upon this comment I left on Rosa Say's Talking Story blog for the February version of Rapid Fire Learning

February, the shortest month, is still long on learning experiences! Here are my five:

1 – It was good to step back in front of the group of eager learners at PodCamp WesternMass and take them through Blogging 101. I wrote up the notes I used for the session and broke them out into individual pieces of Blogging 100 (the principles), Blogging 101 (the setup), and Blogging 102 (the doing). You can find the collection here

2 – The fickleness of New England’s weather is no longer unique to our area, it seems everyone is having many changes to adjust to. For the folks in the Washington, DC area who doubt climate change is here, it was time for a good lesson.

3 – Each new day is a commencement on the remainder of life, it becomes a it becomes a good day when any combination of two of these three things occur. It becomes a great day when all three things occur: you learn something, you help someone, you laugh

4 – Took the opportunity to combine some fun and games with the learning I share each day by creating Twitter Bingo. What? Yes, the details can be found here.

5 – The job search continues. I have been fortunate to find more opportunities to apply to. So I am leveraging the network to ensure that the application gets seen. I have confidence that once I get to the in person interview, things will work out the way they should. My resume is being re-done to more properly include the blogging, social media and "community information director" role, I have created for myself. Hence the “essence of Steve” is being further refined. 

I manage change to create a good experience. I help people (and business help their customers) navigate the intersection where business process meets technology.

What did you learn this month?

Rapid Fire Learning - July 2009

Rapid Fire Learning is a monthly feature at the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. Karen Swim gets us started this month.

Here is what I have learned in July:

1 - being 'off the net' in the woods is good
Off line, no internet, no email. Yes, I can do more than survive. I can live and enjoy the peace and quiet of nature. The discussions with family and good friends.

2 - being 'on the net' in the woods is surprisingly nice
What can I say other than appropriate use brings the best of both worlds. Balance!

3 - fresh fruit makes for wonderful homemade sherbet
As part of this year's Baslock reunion (more to come on this), Doug prepared some strawberry sherbet that was wonderful Together we played with the recipe to make some blueberry sherbet, also quite wonderful. Then fresh picked raspberries made a decadent sherbet. Cream is the key to providing body to the sherbet, the lighter the cream, the less body. But it still tastes soo good!

4 - nature has many lessons for life, just begin by observing
whether it is a tree growing hugging a monstrous boulder, or a small fungi popping up from the floor of the woods, there are lessons abundant all around. What can you find? Check out my Flickr stream for additional photos.

5 - conversations succeed when both parties use the same frame of reference
The School Committee meeting on June 23 left me with doom and gloom. The budget deficit had yet to be resolved. The numbers were still not balancing and yet tipping in the wrong direction. How many teachers would end up going out the door? It seemed likely that a minimum of 40 would. How many more would go was the question that remained. I returned from travel to find that of the 60 school personnel notified only 12 would not be returning. How had this come about? The level funded budget from the Town didn't change. What did change was all the stimulus funds from either the Federal or State sources were added to the level funded Town budget. That made a big difference. To the tune of $1.1 million. Instead of ending up with a level funded budget, we ended up with a level funded plus budget. The point of view that the School Committee used was not clear to me. Hence, a new learning!

What did you learn in July?

Rapid Fire Learning - January 2009

This was originally left as a comment as part of Rapid Fire Learning over on the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. Click on over to read the other learnings that have occurred this January.

Thanks for hosting this David. I have my five "learnings" this month but I think they are really centered around one recurring theme that "words matter".

1 - I am dusting off the resume as the job search gets energized this month. Action words, accomplishments, and my skills all need to be expressed with just the right words to make it readily apparent that I can deliver value to a company.

2 - President Obama's Inaugural Address may not have been as flowery as some of his other speeches but it was still carefully crafted for the effect it created. Words matter!

3 - On the public service front; I am part of the Steering Committee for the Franklin School District's strategic plan. We are crafting the release to announce our effort and engage the community. Yes, the words matter.

4 - I saw the movie "King Corn" last night. Inspired by Michael Pollen's book "The Omnivores Dilemma", two guys rent an acre, plant it with corn and then discover what happens to it in the food stream. Did you know that when you eat at McDonald's, most of what you have has corn in it? The food industry gets away with this because the words they use don't raise an alarm about what we eat. Words Matter!

5 - One local program to help teens confront their alcohol and substance abuse problems is in jeopardy due to the state budget cuts. I am embarking on an effort to assist the founder, Bill Phillips, with fund raising to continue his program. There are over 150 teens in the program now and to them Bill's words of encouragement and counseling matter. Without these words, alcohol or drugs may control their life. With Bill's words, they have a chance of controlling their life. Words matter!

Rapid Fire Learning - December 2008

I wrote these in the comments to Joanna's post kicking off the Rapid Fire Learning for December.

1. The real work in painting your study is in the preparation
2. Time slicing requires focus
3. If "location, location, location" is the word for retail then "family, family, family" is really the word for the holidays
4. The first step is the hardest
5. Music touches more than one sense

You have my permission to click through to read the other learnings gleaned from looking back on this last month of 2008.

Joanna writes about December 26th being Boxing Day. Today is also the celebration for St Stephen.

What have you learned this month?

Rapid Fire Learning - November

Image by shersteve via Flickr
Rosa Say leads us this month with the Rapid Fire Learning exercise on the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. With a few days remaining in the month, there is still time for learning but a turn to reflect on what has already occurred is a good thing to do. Can you learn something new in the time remaining? Yes, we can!

1 - There are many synonyms for loosing one's job: layoff, reduction in force, etc. When a company makes the decision to simply cut costs, then reduction in force I think is most appropriate. Fortunately, there is a decent severance package in my case, so I will have some time to both enjoy the holiday period coming at us and begin to figure out what and where I should go next. The importance of the network, of our connections becomes clear. While it is never too late to start, once you are out, you want to be part of a group and collaborate sharing tips and tricks to get where you want to be. Can the group provide support and knowledge to successfully find a new position? Yes, we can!

2 - You have likely noticed that music is a recurring theme (no pun intended) here. We started the month viewing the documentary "Young @Heart". The elderly singing group from Northampton, MA generates life sustaining energy from their singing. Studies on the effects of music continue to reveal positive findings. Singing while in a traffic jam can be calming. Should we be singing more? Yes, we can!

3 - Recipes are simply guidelines to recreate something some one once did. I feel comfortable enough around the kitchen to be able to make modifications to recipes that Dolores and I decide to try. Occasionally, I find out something new. Like if you are going to substitute long grain brown rice for white rice, you also need to adjust the cooking time, or partially pre-cook the rice before adding it to the work in process. Does this stop me from making adjustments? Not at all. Should we all add our own twists to a recipe? Yes, we can.

4 - In my contribution to the November theme of giving, I talked of encouragement. Encouragement is an easy thing to do. The benefits can be enormous. As the luck of the calendar would have it, the post was scheduled for the first Monday I would not get aboard the train and report to work. That evening also was the scheduled meeting of our local networking group. We started meeting about 2 years ago and while the group has fluctuated somewhat we have grown from 5-6 regulars to the 16 folks who joined us that night. Having such a network of support, of course in addition to the family and other close friends, is priceless. Will we succeed? Yes, we can.

5 - You have probably noticed the refrain "Yes, we can" and said to yourself, where did I hear that before? I hope you recall it being one of Barack Obama's telling phrases, the one he refers to as the American Creed. The positive attitude he has brought the country and the world is a very good thing. The morning after the election results were final I started a series of sherku:

• Obama morning: Readville
• Obama morning: Dedham Corp Ctr
• Obama morning: Norwood Central
• Obama morning: Walpole

... to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright – tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

...

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Thanks Barack!

There is much to do.
There is much to learn!

Will we succeed?
Yes, we can.



Note: If you would like to revisit the text of Barack's acceptance speech in Chicago on November 4th, the link is here. It also includes the video.

Rapid Fire Learning - July

Chris Owen takes us on a scandalous look inside her learning this month to get the JJL group kicked off with Rapid Fire Learning (RFL). If you are not familiar with RFL, briefly we take some time at the end of the month (usually the 25th, but I am late) and reflect on what has occurred to come up with 5 things we have learned.

1 - Travel is a great learning environment
Dolores and I took the train from the northwest suburbs into downtown Chicago on our recent trip there. The conductors ticket collection routine is different from here in MA. Here, they usualy gruffly demand to see the ticket or pass, leave a ticket on your seat so they will know for the next stop. The conductors in IL walked pleasently long the car, calling out "Who needs a ticket?"

2 - Go into the woods
Hiking in the woods is a great get away. No cell phone service, no internet (ah, can I do it but what if I miss something). Yes, the world is different in the woods. You get reminded of what really matters. And with all due respect, it is not the internet.

3 - Lincoln lost
I recall learning about the Lincoln-Douglas Debates while in school (now many years ago). 150 years ago, the two gentlemen met in 7 towns from Auust through October; whistle stop travel, the crowds, the actual face to face debate. Completely different from the TV stuff we see today. One thing I had forgotten from those days was that Douglas won the election. The debates established Lincoln and his line of thought so that he was able to move directly from his role as an attorney to the Presidency. Quite a move.

4 - Pictures tell more than one story
The wonderful theme at JJL shows that every picture does tell a story but they are not limited to tell just one.

5 - When folks gather around a common interest, great things can happen
The recent PodCamp Boston 3 (PCB3) with 370 individuals attending over two days has spawned over 2,000 Flickr photos, hours of podcast and video shows, and the learning continues. If there is a PodCamp near you, I recommend participating. If there isn't one go ahead and start one, I'll be glad to provide some help.

What did you learn this month?

Rapid Fire Learning

June has come and is almost gone; time again for Rapid Fire Learning. Dwayne Melanson kicks off the monthly look back at what the learning opportunities were with a great posting about a wild west horseback ride that takes you back to the days of cowboys.

I was not on a horse recently but the month seemed to have galloped by so here we go with the recap:

1 - "duty, honor, country"
There was a Baslocks reunion at the beginning of the month as we got together to celebrate Nathan's graduation from West Point.

2 - You don't need to go far to feel as if you have left this country.
This was the experience as the soccer double header took place in Foxboro's Gillette Stadium. The second game between Brazil and Venezuela took us to another world.

3 - "Knowledge synthesis: This, in fact, is the skill of the future. With search technologies bringing us more information than we can possibly assimilate into productive action, we are more in need of the ability to merge concepts into a new, comprehensive understanding."
You can read the full posting here. Isn't this what the Joyful Jubilant Learning group is all about?

4 - A new set of priorities has been lined up and a new podcast introduced.
Some of my time spent on Franklin Matters will be shifted to return to Jerry's Story. The details can be found here.

5 - A summary of life long learning culminated in the posting early this month announcing the male members of my honorary "board of directors". The female members will be announced at an appropriate time in the future.

What did you learn in June?

Rapid Fire Learning - May flowers a blooming

Yes, it is that time again; time to look back at what learning opportunities there have been this wonderful month of May. April Groves kicks off this event at Joyful Jubilant Learning with the following loaded clip from the latest Rocky. Loaded because, well if you haven't seen this Rocky yet (and I haven't) Stallone has a bunch of quotable lines packed into this 2 minute clip:



So what have I learned this month?

1 - Focus: there are so many opportunities, paths to follow, I need to prioritize and follow one. I can not continue to be as spread about as I am. I have enjoyed the variety but there is only so much time to go around. Stay tuned as you will see the results of the forthcoming decision some time in the next several weeks.

2 - Community: the importance of community was reinforced multiple times this month. SOBCon08 was a rewarding experience meeting so many folks that had only been words on a blog, or email, or tweets. These words now took on a bodily form, fleshed out into a real personality with such rich layers to explore.

3 - Mentoring: a special form of learning environment somewhat related to coaching but without the monetary transaction. I am on the steering committee for the company's internal program. The recent trip to Denver to met with others using the same software application to manage the matching and relationship process brought new connections and reinforcement of key concepts (like community).

4 - Commencement: my oldest daughter graduated this month. Going back to my alma mater some 32 years after my own graduation brought back all kinds of memories and re-opened areas of thought into a different light. A significant milestone, one that was well prepared for, but awakening none-the-less when it finally arrives. A trigger to the sense of focus and community discussions stirring in my gray matter.

5 - Fear: living on the edge. I learned many years ago (as a substitute teacher) to harness the butterflies when speaking in front of a group. There is good energy in that fear. Harnessing it can produce wonderful results; some planned for, some not quite so planned for. Life is not fully planned (i.e. Rocky's clip) it happens when you take action. It happens in reaction to your actions. Living on the edge is a constant adjustment. "We always have to be scared to death," said project manager Barry Goldstein. "The minute we lose fear is the minute that we stop looking for the next problem." Quote source.

This does not mean that I am strapping on a para-glider and looking for the nearest cliff. It does mean I'll taking some daring steps.

What have you learned? What will you do with your learning?

Rapid Fire Learning - April

There has never been a better time to be alive. The means to share, collaborate, learn and grow are at our finger tips with the click of a button. Learning is in our blood. We all carve and need growth--whether we've come to recognize it or not.

Tim Draayer kicks off Rapid Fire Learning this month at the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. It has been a special month for learning. What are the five things I learned this month?

1 - Voice does make a difference. If you have not had a chance to experience VoiceThread, please click through to see the experiment Joanna Young fostered for us at JJL. Viva la difference!

2 - Daily writing brings unexpected pleasures. I started a series of sherku on the Franklin Line station stops. That got picked up on Universal Hub which turned from haiku/sherku into limericks from the community. I wrote about that on JJL and the limericks have some legs now. There will be more to come.

3 - Body balance is wonderful. The Day 1 GEL2008 morning session was Sphereplay. Rolling a sphere around your hand keeping in contact with it. This was not like playing catch or juggling. That requires coordination and separation of the sphere from the body. Sphereplay requires constant contact between the body and the sphere. We all have a strong hand or strong side, one of the positive developments is to spend time with the weak side. Bring the body more into balance. One major plus for me was after an hour of such sphereplay, I could not recall what my most recent work task was. Checking the Blackberry after the session brought it all back so nothing was lost. I did gain the capability to re-produce this sometime now with a sphere.

4 - Listening is an intense activity. In the Day 1 GEL2008 afternoon session, I did some improv exercises with Cathy Salit. The first was mirroring the movements of a partner. Every so often, a bell rang, and the leader switched between my partner and I. We needed to pay attention to the movement underway and then transition to a new leader/follower. The third step in this set was the leader started speaking a sentence. You need ed to speak real ly slowly... to allow the partner to follow you and when the bell rang and the leader switched, it was a real challenge.

5 - You don't have to spend a lot of money to learn. PodCamp New York, a free unconference re-enforced this again. One prime example was finding about the Free Reading.Net site from Anna Breed. Anna works for Wireless Generation. The Free Reading program has been certified by the Florida Department of Education for use in the state. The program is in pilot with three Boston elementary schools and expected to roll out to all of the Boston elementary schools this September. The cost avoidance of books with program is a clear benefit. It is focused on K-1 right now with grades 2-3 being added this summer. Maybe something for Franklin to consider?

There was more learning this month but this is the top five.

What did you learn in April?

Rapid Fire Learning for February

Karen Wallace kicks off the Rapid Fire Learning for February over at the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. He is my recall of what I learned this month:




1 - Immigrants come to Franklin, MA from a variety of places around the world and for a variety of reasons, most prominent amongst them being the quality of the school system. So why do we have such a problem getting funding for the schools? That is the subject for another discussion.

2 - What started as a project for Dolores' kindergarten friends became one for me as Dolores brought the amaryllis plant home as the Franklin schools were out on winter vacation this week. She took off for a well deserved break of her own leaving me to mind the plant. I became enchanted with the explosion of blossoms and took a daily photo to record the progress. For a few days, the amaryllis also inspired a sherku.

3 - The learning about embedded links in meme widgets continued this month as the article that Michael Pollitt was researching finally got published. I summarized the caution here,

4 - On my second visit to the library this week, I learned more about the history and happenings leading to and just following the Great Boston Molasses Flood in 1919. I had recently completed the book Dark Tide and learned that the anarchist in New England were quite active. Sacco and Venzetti are probably the most well-known. What I did know realized was that Sacco lived in Milford for 9 years. Milford is next door to Franklin. I will write more of the historical discussion that occurred on Thursday. The discussion helped me decide to choose Dark Tide as my entry for the Love Affair With Books.

5 - I helped at the registration desk at the NewBCamp08 held this past weekend on the Johnson & Wales campus in downtown Providence, RI. As a new event, it was a success. 50 of the 80-odd preregistrations showed up along with 20 walk-ins to give 70 folks the chance to learn and share information on blogging, podcasting, and new media in general. While I have read Chris Penn regularly, I got to see his updated intro to new media presentation. While I participated in the two previous PodCamp Bostons, I was unable to stay for the Saturday party. This time the schedule worked out for me and I got to hear Matthew Ebel perform his material for a free 90 minute show. More to come on this front but NewBCamp08 was a success and much credit goes to the lead organizer, Sara Streeter!


What did you learn during February?

Rapid Fire Learning - January 2008

January is coming to an end quickly. I am late with my Rapid Fire Learning so without further ado, here we go:

1 - "caveat emptor" - 'let the buyer beware' comes true again. I could have been a buyer had their letter been more fulfilling than it was. Suffice to say, do your due diligence before the offer is made. You will be in a better position to know what to do at that time.

2 - A free-lance writer from the Guardian contacted me about a post I had made earlier with a meme I had picked up on readability tests.

Were you aware that the blog readability test is a promotional device which tries to boost the search results for a site called cashadvance1500.com? If lots of bloggers use this code on their sites, then it pushes the loans site up Google's search results.

He went on to detail how the html code was hiding the link. I have since removed the offending code and will be much more alert when posting future memes of this sort.

3 - Active.com has undergone a major overhaul, and for the worse. As a runner, I had come across this site for the occasional race that used the Active online registration process. I did have an account but didn't use it other than for race registrations. Now, the new version synchronizes the account with CoolRunning and incorporates a whole load of other (I think) unnecessary stuff. While it used to be a race registration convenience, now it seems to be trying to combine blogging, social networking, and community forums all into one. Oh, and while they are doing this, when you use their account you still need to input items on the registration form that should be in your profile (well actually those data elements are there in the profile but they don't get pre-filled). Go back folks, complexity kills, simplicity is king.

4 - "Point of view" is so important. Where is someone coming from? What is their perspective? What are their expectations? If you stop and consider, you may avoid a rash assumption or not say something that may worsen a simple situation. Understanding, or at a minimum, appreciating an other's "Point of view" can make all the difference.

5 - I have been filling my bag on our weekend walks. I ran one 7 mile route on Sunday that will take quite a few bags to make a dent into the roadside recyclables that are available. Why don't you consider doing something simple as taking a plastic bag along on your walk to pick up recyclables. One small step, one can (or bottle) at a time.

What have you learned this month?

Rapid Fire Learning - December 2007

December: my birthday month, the end of the year month, holiday and party month... very much a busy time of the year. Benjamin Bach mentions something similar as he kicks off Rapid Fire Learning this month over on the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog. He found a good Dr Seuss quote.

1 - Sharing at an elementary level will start a conversation or enhance one. How? Use the FORM mnemonic (family, occupation, recreation, and motivation) to kick start a conversation. Once you get started, who knows how much in common you will find? And once underway, when you find something else in common (like a birthday) it just adds some icing on the relationship cake.

2 - I took the time to record and edit the recording from recent Town Council and School Council meetings to share the individual sections on Franklin Matters. The realization that while I had attended the meeting, and took notes during the meeting, but still missed important points during the meeting came when I was going through the editing process. No wonder folks can go to a meeting and walk away from it saying something completely different! Even when trying to capture what was occurring I was missing pieces.

3 - Patience is rewarded. I have been making my running recovery very gradual and taking great care to avoid a re-injury. This patience is paying off as I am able to achieve good mileage like on my birthday run and again on Sunday.

4 - The Sherlock trip to Washington, DC and the National Museum of the Marine Corp was a very special weekend. We had been planning this trip for a while. It was actually Dad's gift for Christmas 2006 and originally scheduled for February 2007. Dad's health took a turn for the worse and set us back a couple of times this year. Fortunately, he has made good progress and was in good health to travel earlier this month. My brothers (Bob and Mike) and Mike's son Mark, joined us so there were three generations of Sherlocks on the trip. I have a better understanding of what my father went through when he was a just a teenager entering the Marine Corp and then serving on Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima. I have more to record to capture the remainder of Jerry's Story.

5 - When I wrote earlier today about Stephanie Fernandes, I thought she was the inspiration. She certainly has the fortitude to meet her own significant challenges. When I was sharing the story as the day progressed, I realized that it was a couple of others in the story that were the real inspiration. Her high school friend who did not play an instrument but having always wanted to be part of the band, joined the band to guide her around. Her current partner in the band who guides her with her shoulder. These are the real inspirations. They are giving of their time and effort to help Stephanie!

These are my rapid fire learning five for December 2007. I look forward to living, learning, loving, leaping, and laughing in 2008!

What are your most recent learnings for this month?

5 for Friday

1 - from Creative Think -> the seven fingered hand!

2 - What's this about Dumbledore? Goes to show that once a creation is put forth, it is no longer owned.

3 - The Sexual Aptitude Test? Commentary from Georgia on the hullabaloo in Maine.

4 - PodCamp Boston 2 is upon us. I am looking forward to a full weekend of learning new media stuff. Meeting and greeting.

5 - I kicked off the Rapid Fire Learning for this month over on the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog.

Enjoy!

Rapid Fire Learning: August

Dean Boyer raised the bar during August at the Joyful Jubilant Learning group blog. Merriam Webster says that August is "marked by majestic dignity or grandeur". It is quite fitting indeed for this month. All the more so when paired with time as the one variable to manage carefully. The least little slip, it is gone and no longer available.

1 - In consideration of how little time we have, I have re-ordered my writing. Coincidently following a fellow blogger, I consolidated my writing on "good experience" and "tertiary education" (life long learning) into this blog, letting the other two slip into archival mode. This elevates my poetry blog into a more prominent position. Eventually this will become a podcast to join my other two podcasting efforts; Passionate Runner and Jerry's Story.

2 - Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary contributed to the "time factor" this month. Here I am, still believing in Peter Pan (I'll never grow up) and I have been married for how long? Fortunately, the time has past with a great partner; my lovely wife, Dolores. Oh, and our daughters; they are wonderful young ladies. Someday, I'll re-do a MasterCard commercial for them!

3 - We drove to Niagara Falls to celebrate our anniversary and spend some quality time together. The girls gave us a basket and a CD with "music for the road". The wine glasses were hand painted by a future famous artist. The drive itself along Interstate 90 in places parallels the Erie Canal. If we had attempted this trip back in those days, the journey from Albany to Buffalo would have taken us 7 days and not the several hours it did. The New York State Thruway Authority provided a "History Happened Here" kiosk at the Chittenago Travel Plaza where I learned that:

If you were a traveler on the Canal 150 years ago, your boat would pass Chittenago Landing, a major boat building and repair center, about three miles from here. As your boat was being pulled by a team of horses at four miles per hour, you would have time to notice the general store, blacksmith shop, sawmill and other buildings. It would take you seven days to travel from Albany to Buffalo. You and almost 100 other passengers would fill the 80-foot boat, and pay five cents a mile for your trip on America's first modern waterway.

4 - The power of water is incredible. The majesty of Niagara Falls can not be understated. My first video blogging attempt tries to capture some of this immense majesty. The Niagara River approaches the Falls calmly and rolls over with a thunderous roar. The Maid of the Mist and a rainbow happened to cooperate and appear during the video. 35 million gallons of water per minute! Wowza.

5 - Continuing to look for ways to make connections, and to use Web 2.0, keeping it simple, I decided to build on something I had seen a couple of other bloggers do: Wordless Wednesday (here and here) and of course, add my two cents to it. While I have many connections around the world, I was looking to add to my "local" connections and created the "Where am I?" game for Franklin. Don't worry, the thinking cap is on for how to expand this concept to the wider world of my readership. If you have any ideas, please leave me a comment or send me an email (shersteve at gmail dot com).

How was your August?