Feeling green?

Is the price of gas at the pumps have you gasping for air every time you fill up? Have you considered ride sharing to your classes as a way to save a little cash, as well as being great for the environment?

I've spent a little time researching a few online options for ride sharing for students. I can't personally recommend any of them, but the price is right and they might be worth a try. I also created a forum in the Blackboard Student Activities account to help you connect with other students trying to save a little cash while commuting to campus.

Ride Sharing Links:

• http://www.erideshare.com/
• http://www.ridecheck.com/ridecheck/

I spent the weekend in St. Louis visiting some friends. It was the first time I've been there so of course I had to check out the arch. I opted not to go up inside of it, I'm not a big fan of heights. There was an intense thunder and lightning show on Saturday night and the light bouncing off of the arch was very cool. Driving in the storm on the other hand was not so fun.

Today's Quote
"The real test of friendship is: can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple?" --Eugene Kennedy

The Emerson Center at Edison Community College earns state and national recognition for its “green” features

Edison in the news...

I have spent some time this morning posting press releases to the Edison web site. Some stories of interest:

• The Emerson Center at Edison Community College earns state and national recognition for its “green” features

• Gift from Alexander family sends the Campaign for Edison Community College over the top

• Edison commencement speaker tells 400 graduates his community college education helped him realize his dreams

• College Experience and Phi Theta Kappa agree with Edison non-traditional student who totals 80 credit hours

• Three Edison PSEOP Students Graduate with 4.0 Grade-point averages

• New Summer Hours for Student Services at Piqua's Main Campus

Today's Quote
"Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community."
-Anthony D'Angelo

Oh my..I'm not believing this...

It's Monday morning 7:00 a.m. and I am at work already and looking at a day that will stretch out until 6:00 p.m. tonight. Today marks the beginning of the 4 day summer work week at Edison . The building will be closed Friday-Sunday in an effort to reduce summer energy costs.

I've opted to work 10 hour days, and take a full hour for lunch. With a day that lasts that long I think I am going to need a break in the day..not to mention a few times during the day to get up and move around campus to keep myself going. I'm sure in a few weeks I will be adjusted to this new schedule, having 3 day weekends for the summer is going to be great.

I didn't sleep well last night, waking up every few hours with a start, worried that I would oversleep. Kinda silly, I don't think we have imposed the death penalty on campus should that ever happen. :o)

Off to begin my day...

Today's Quote

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Don't complain." -Maya Angelou

My head is spinning....

I've looked at the help sheets and documentation to support the new email/student identity project so many times this week that my eyes are both crossed and glazed over. (Eventually words start to run together and I have to get up from the computer, have a small brain shift and come back to reading and reviewing.)

You've Got Mail--it really sounds so simple. One day you come to campus for your summer semester and you have an Edison email address--cool. What you have no idea is the months of preparation that have gone into this project, as well as the man (and woman) hours that continue to go on behind the scenes to support this new initiative.

In order for this to happen, on May 27 & May 28 quite a few of the college systems will be taken down to delete existing information, repopulate that space with your new bright and shiny Edison account. For two days, there will be no access to email, Blackboard, WebAdvisor and the college's Datatel system. On May 29, the systems will come back up and everyone will have a new username/email address--even me!

This project is being launched in the summer to be as little disruption as possible for students, faculty, adjunct faculty and staff. There will be some growing pains for sure in this new venture.

Some helpful links to get you started (Effective May 29, 2008)

• Edison Mail
  
• Password Help
  
• Getting Started in Your Online Course
  
• WebAdvisor

Today's Quote
"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." ---Arnold Bennett

The *Big Day*...

You can feel the excitement in the hallways today. It's the last day of the semester and tonight is graduation. There are a lot of people scurrying around readying the campus for tonight's festivities.

I've been a participant in two Edison graduations, once when I received my associate's degree and round two when I received my bachelor's degree. Most of the graduations I work my way up and down the hallways, into the gym and wherever I might find people to capture with my digital camera. I usually get one or two great photos, and a lot of photos that will work through the year in different areas of the Edison web site. Honestly, I just like being in the middle of all of the joy and celebration of the graduates.

Graduation is not the only excitement on campus this week. The campus will be altering summer operation hours beginning May 19, 2008 to August 3, 2008. The building will be open Monday-Thursday and closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Edison e-mail is ramping up full-steam and those involved in summer classes will be the first group of Edison students to have an *official* Edison email address. A great deal of work has already gone into this project--behind the scenes.

Today's Quote
Attitude is everything---but a little sunshine never hurts

I'm going to the moon!

I spent the weekend in Washington, DC with a great friend who works at the Goddard Space Flight Center. She is part of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) project team. Her role in the LRO project is in education outreach. Yep, I spent Friday rubbing elbows with REAL *rocket scientists*.

During my day at Goddard I saw enough science and technology to make my head spin around more than a few times. The pictures on the wall that were captured from the moon and a sundry of other planets were breathtaking.

I was able to tour several buildings at the space and flight center. From the outside, and also the inside it was amazing that these simple concrete walled buildings held so much creativity and innovation. I thought that we had a lot of initials and acronyms in education, but after spending a few days and hearing the jargon I was in the midst of a lot of alphabet soup.

One term that I did recognize was STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). You will notice that term used quite a bit in the new academic catalog. I have to wonder if I was born into a different time if I would have felt the urge to turn to science or math. I think I do work in the technology area, but when I was in high school (We won't discuss how many years ago THAT was :) there were no signs of computers or even the Internet. It's hard to even imagine what the future will be for those entering the STEM related fields today.


The LRO that will be heading to the moon-hopefully before the end of the year was being built in a *clean* chamber. I am standing in front of the prototype that will be used to diagnose and repair problems. (Perhaps they were afraid if they let me near the real LRO I would slap an Edison sticker on and send it to the moon!)

Take a few minutes and send your name to the moon with LRO!

Today's Quote
"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." -Neil Armstrong

I certainly felt pretty tiny standing next to all of the space technology. In another clean room they were doing work on the Hubble Telescope in preparation for some changes and repairs to the actual telescope in space.

Monday, Monday..it's been a busy one!

It's starting to be that crazy time of the year. It's the last week of the semester, students in my Web Development class have their final presentations tomorrow night. My Teaching & Technology stars will show me their stuff next Wednesday. Both classes have impressed me with their work in the class so far. That's put the bar up there pretty high for their final project presentations. I'm confident they will do a terrific job.

Graduation is one of the best days and nights on this campus. It's a party atmosphere with all sorts of people scurrying around to make sure that things go well. My evening is spent snapping photos in the hopes of catching some images that can be used on the web site in a variety of ways. My evening is rather laid back so I get to take in all of the people running around getting ready for the actual ceremony. After that, we all take a deep breath and send another crop of graduates out the door to a brighter future.

I'm part of a team that has been working on the student email/identity project. It looks like we are about a month away from some major changes on campus. It's an exciting time, and in my heart I know that things are going to be fine. There are so many pieces to this puzzle and getting things to line up right and to go smoothly has taken well over a year of planning. Of course, there will be things that have been missed and a few surprise along the way--but so far we are on track for a summer deployment.

Someone turned the thermostat down over the weekend. Brrrrr.... Hopefully that will change before next week and the end of the year festivities.

Today's Quote

It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot, irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.
-Jacob Bronowski