What to do? Another snow day...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 08:38AM Once again nature is being a real mother and has left us here in Minne-snow-da with a few more inches of the white stuff, whipped into some rather amazing drifts. As readers know, I love a snow day. Here is how I plan to spend mine:
1. Review the materials for my ISTE SecondLife presentation this afternoon/evening. I am really looking forward to this and hope that both the curious and the knowledgable about cloud computing and GoogleApps for Education attend. I promise to be both tall and blue. The event is free and open to ISTE members and non-members.
2. Work on my TEDxASB talk, slides for which are due next Monday. I am pretty nervous about giving this talk. (Reminds me of preparing for a graduation talk a couple years ago.) Why is it more difficult to do a 15 minutes talk than a six hour workshop?
3. Clean out my hard drive. If you don't read Blogg-Ed Determination by Steve Taffee, you should. His "Delete This Post" is a great example of his common sense, humor and thoughtfulness. Why clean up your data act?
And if you’re still not convinced that it’s time to give your hard drive a thorough scrubbing, think of this: Your hard drive has been subpoenaed by the district attorney, and all will be revealed in court! Or imagine your children having to go through all your files when you’ve passed on. Or perhaps the video crew from a new reality TV show arrives on your doorstep, and the host barges in, ready to do an “intervention.” Scary!
4. Move the electronic version of my book Machines are the Easy Part; People are the Hard Part to my website. Why? I'm going to do a little Seth Godin-type experiment. I will continue to give the book away 
for free in its electronic version and still sell the print version on Lulu for a modest mark-up over the cost of printing.
Almost no one has purchased the print version, I think, since the electronic version is so convenient. (This book is growing whiskers so I was not expecting any big sales - but at least a few!) What I think might be interesting is to see if the book sales increase if the electronic version is a bit less convenient although still free. I guess what I am trying to figure out is whether to work on a book published by a commercial publisher or self-publish. Of course, if I spend all my time dinking around writing blog posts, the question will be moot.
5. Get outdoors. The LWW bought us snowshoes for our anniversary. A walk across the lake to Dinosaur Island is definitely in order.
Stay warm. Hope to see some of you tonight in SL.
Reader Comments (6)
I hope you went right for the snow shoes. A little fresh air helps clear the brain.
Make sure we know when we can access the TED talk. I am looking forward to hearing it!
On a snow day I love to relax and watch movies with my mom and dad or I like to go sleding at my friends house
Thanks for the book, I look forward to reading it if we every get a snow day. All the schools around us are off today, but not Moline School District. Thanks again, Jay
Hi Amber,
Sounds like a great plan. Throw a little reading in the mix to please your teachers and librarians!
Doug
Hi Jay,
Glad you enjoy it!
Doug
Looking forward to the TED talk in Bombay - I also downloaded your book and will check it out. I just skimmed the first few pages. I like "If it works with 3rd graders, it'll fly with adults." My wife teaches 3rd grade, and I teach seniors. I learn so much from her techniques and her students. My own students (and colleagues) tend to be overgrown versions of those little tykes. Too often to ignore!
Thanks, Greg. Looking forward to my first visit to India as well. If the TED talk bombs, it won't be for lack of work and worry I put into it!
All the best and enjoy the book.
Doug