CogBlogged from ‘June, 2011’

Holy retro, Batman! I am sending analog postcards! Those things with short, hand written, possibly tweet-length sentiments (sans hashtags) with a real photo attached, not a twitpic link. Doing this while traveling took me back in time to growing up and getting postcards from Cousin Bobby. I was not (and still not) clear on whose cousin he was– it was on my Mom’s side. I recall that he worked for the post office, was not married, and used all fo his free time and money to travel the world. This I knew because we would get these strings of postcards from Poland, Argentina, Greece, Mexico, Ireland etc, all bearing his signature “Hi from _______, Bobby” and of course, some exotic stamp. I can barely remember him visiting, and all I do remember is that he was bald. That’s pretty minimal. I’m not trying to compare myself, but I feel myself [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Number of days on the road: 7 Miles Driven: 953 Number of States driven in: 3 Money Spent on gas: $228.11 Photos posted: 220 Money Spent on Hotels: $0 ($15 for camping does not count) Friend Homes Visited: 3 Number of new dogs met: 9 Number of original music recordings shared to StoryBox: 6 (where are your contributions?) Number of Nags By Me for StoryBox: 9367…. 9368 Number of Storybox Public Appearances: 5 Number of Sheep Born while visiting friends: 1 Boxes of Pretzels consumed: 1 cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog And… Number of regrets for doing this: -999999999999

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog It’s more fluffy than running with the bulls. The last few days I have enjoyed a relaxing times at my friend’s Ken and Oggie’s farm in Paonio Colorado- they have an amazing story themselves in how they are devoted to their flock of rare Black Welsh Mountain Sheep, of which there are only 1200 in the US and 10% of those are on their farm. I could not really begin to fill in all the details, which you can find at their web site at http://desertweyr.com. cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Both Ken and Oogie are also techies; I’ve known Oogie since my mid 1990s hey day of Macromedia Director and Ken is a real deal hacker/builder- for example he has an entire system of weather data collectors, device routers, that auto publish and archive [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog (who would be a better announcer than Dr Bags of Gold Campbel?l) FROM THE MANAGEMENT DESPITE THE LEMMING LIKE BEHAVIOR OF OTHERS THE DECISION MAKERS AT COGDOGBLOG.COM ASSURE YOU THAT WE SHALL NEVER ABANDON THIS SITE AS OUR MAIN OUTLET; NOT FOR FACEBOOK NOR TUMBLR NOR ANY OTHER SUBSTITUTE. THE BLOG IS OUR HOME BASE, NUFF SAID.

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog I am still based on my friend’s place in Paonia, Colorado, but took today as a day trip on the scenic West Elk bypass- the first part was most glorious, a sometimes rough gravel road that climbed through aspen forests, crossed Kebler pass, and dumped me in the town of Crested Butte. This is one of those towns with the mains street duded up in western store fronts, lots of restaurants, art galleries, and tourismo shops… cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog I strolled through the Farmers market on the mains street (regretting not making that the lunch stop spot). There were two musicians, one on guitar and one on fiddle, and I asked them, if I could have them play some live music for the ds06 web radio station (I planted the tip jar). They [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Just a quick post, cause there is stuff to see today. I’ve been out on the road 3 days now, and am feeling that separation from the life I knew so well before, disappearing into the clouds of not knowing what comes next. I described it in an email to someone as a sense of disorientating rootlessness. First night was spent camping in San Juan National Forest, very peaceful, and then a day’s drive over majestic mountain passes of the big mountains here. I’ve been relaxing a few days at my friend’s sheep ranch in Paonia (check out http://desertweyr.com for a fascinating life of caring for a rare breed of sheep_, and enjoying things like fresh local food and the great beer at Revolution Brewery. The StoryBox is scheduled to make a public appearance there tonight. cc licensed ( BY [...]

cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Lady Pain (Marta Manso) After putting out the idea for the plan three months ago, tomorrow is the day my odyssey starts. After all this talk, and planning, and buying shit, and putting shit into boxes (some are boxes that stay others are ones that go), it is time to hit the road. I have to admit I have a rollercoaster of emotions zooming around the gut area. I know this will be a grand adventure. I know I am lucky to have this opportunity. Yet, not knowing how living out of the truck for the next 4 months will go, not being around the comfort of my haven in Strawberry, not knowing what will happen, is all part of it. But I am ready as I will ever be. Tomorrow is last bits of clean up, packup, and [...]

My friend Debbie (not friend like in the real sense) (or any sense) (but it sounds good) is so popular with her eHarmony bio video, she has like 10,000,000 views. She’s a star! And thus, she has inspired me to respond to Dr O’blivion’s opening video for ds106– here it is

Being open and supporting openness is one thing. You make the step to leave the door open, letting the outside come in, ro maybe just let them see inside your living room. But it also can feel like FoD Syndrome (Field of Dreams), if you Open it They Will Come. But it’s another whole level when there is a person, or group, or entity, that puts their energy not just into the construction and operation of doors, but more into the process of actively inviting people to take part of the openness. Perhaps it is semantic, or perhaps it is just a weak excuse for me to try and put an animated GIF to use beyond playing around in ds106, but its been on my mind. This idea on openness has been brewing, perhaps fermenting, in my head since my trip to Vancouver last month for the Northern Voice conference. [...]

ds106 is going to a new level of meta-ness, as unleashed live this morning on ds106.tv. It was here, that the teacher, Dr. O’Blivion, made his first class address, in the medium form which he will only communicate- TV. His TA, Jim Groom, will be the conduit to the teacher for students and class participants. As noted by @timmmmyboy in the ds106.tv sidebar chat, Dr O seems a whole lot nicer and even keeled than the jerk who taught the class last semester (that’s NOT Martha!) ds106– going where no MOOC has ever gone before…