Improve your marriage with technology

Disclaimer: Listening to me give relationship advice is like hearing the captain of the Exxon Valdez lecture on navigation or following Jeffrey Dahlmer's cooking tips. The Demotivation poster that reads, "Dysfunction: The only consistent feature in all of your dissatisfying relationships is you." was written just for me. - Doug

After many, many years, I discovered the very best thing a husband can do when he gets home from work is to pour a large glass of wine, sit down, and make sympathetic sounds for about 20 minutes while his wife relates her day. No advice, no reading the newspaper, no grumbling about one's own day. Men, repeat after me: "Oh, that's too bad." "Well, that wasn't very nice." "I am sure it wasn't anything you said." " People just don't always show their appreciation." and the always popular, "Uh huh." Eye contact required.

I call the LWW (Luckiest Woman in the World) morning and evening when I am on the road, trying to be a supportive spouse. No problem in the US with cell phones and calling cards. But being overseas is more problematic. Even short calls from hotels can be very expensive and I find it difficult to be empathetic while charges mount on a hotel phone bill. Enter Skype.

I am not one to give many product endorsements, but Skype has allowed me to be both cheap and understanding. The last trip I took overseas, the LWW and I prearranged times when we would both be online and used Skype's free computer to computer calling system. (Matching headsets with the cool microphone built in.) OK, but sort of a pain.

This trip I went out on a limb and purchased a whole $10 worth of SkypeOut which allows me to use my Internet connected computer to call any phone in the US from anywhere in the world for about two cents a minute. I'm at my computer and the LWW can talk on either the home land line or her cell phone. It's a miracle. We've had about five relaxed calls and I still have $8.46 or something left. I think even in the States, two cents a minute is pretty cheap calling time.

So men, technology doesn't have to wreck a relationship - it can actually improve it. Take it from me, the Dr. Phil of technology.

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Thanks to all the librarians and techs who attended today's workshop here at the EARCOS conference in Bangkok. You were about the feistiest bunch I've worked with and you made my day fly by.  You were great!

Sometimes "they" actually listen!

This came in this morning's e-mail in response to a letter I sent to the editor of ALA's American Libraries (or more probably because of an eloquent posting by LM_Net's Peter Milbury):

Because you are an active blogger in the school-librarian community, the editors of American Libraries would appreciate adding your voice to the magazine's May story about media specialists who blog.
 
We hope this followup feature will rectify the omission of school-librarian voices from the March 2007 feature "Mattering in the Blogosphere."  
 
As we did in the March feature, American Libraries will compile a cross-section of responses to questions in the May 2007 print edition.  However, because I'm about to invite LM_NET subscribers to suggest questions by Monday, Mar. 26 for which they'd like to read school-librarian bloggers' replies, the actual questions will be sent to you on Tuesday, March 27, with answers to be emailed to bgoldberg@ala.org by Thursday, March 29 at 9 p.m. Central time.  We'll also need a high-resolution color photo of you (at least 300 dpi at 4 inches wide).
 
Looking forward to your help in making American Libraries' coverage of this topic more inclusive.
 
Cordially,
 
Beverly Goldberg
senior editor
American Libraries 1907-2007
Celebrating the First Hundred Years
 
American Library Association
50 E. Huron St.
Chicago, IL 60611
 
voice: 312-280-4217
fax:     312-440-0901
e-mail: bgoldberg@ala.org
 
P.S.  By the way, your letter is appearing in the April 2007 American Libraries.

 Sort of redeems by faith in human nature. So, OK, LMSs - what do you want to know about school library blogs and bloggers?
 

Worry-free vacations

My flight to Bangkok via Tokyo leaves from Minneapolis this afternoon at 3:30. About 20 hours en route, arriving in Bangkok just before midnight on Sunday, local time. My primary reason for going to Thailand is to speak at the EARCOS Teachers' Conference. It's a great group that I also visited with last November at its administrator/technology conference.

But it's also a chance for a little R & R. My buddies Judy Freeman and Ian Jukes will be speaking there as well, and I am looking forward to meeting Jeff (Thinking Stick) Utecht for the first time. The LWW will be flying in next weekend and we will play tourist at the end of the conference, seeing the major tourist traps historical areas of Bangkok which I have not toured for 20 years. We'll probably make the day trip to the old city of Ayutthaya, too. I've always been a sucker for getting my picture taken with elephants and snakes. For the last few days we will head to Phuket for a little beach time. Last time I was there I visited a temple with attack monkeys. They would scamper right up your body with sharp little toe nails to snatch food practically from your mouth. Something you just don't see in Mankato everyday. What I am really envisioning is a pool side chair with my name on it and a cold beverage with a high alcohol content. I've packed some potboilers to read and plan on actually being a bum as much as my nature allows.

I believe I have most of the items checked off my guilt list:

• long range tech plan submitted
• staff need survey completed
• RFP for 2007 IWB installations sent
• applications for participation in SmartClassroom project read and forwarded
• interviews for new student information system manager completed
• state legislative matters for MEMO done as much as possible
• article sent to MEMO for journal
• article sent to Threshold magazine
  
• article and column sent to LMC magazine
  
• article sent to Texas Libraries journal
  
• column sent to Leading & Learning journal
  
• column (almost) sent to Education World
• 2006 income tax prepared and sent in
• presentations for EARCOS conference prepared
• materials for Discovery Ed webinar put online
• bags packed with snorkel remembered
• credit card companies called to say I will be out of the country (and not to suspend my account)
• mail stopped, papers stopped, children notified of hotels
• haircut
  
• e-mails all answered (almost)
• hard drive backed up

I need a vacation. And enjoy your respite from the Blue Skunk for a while. I am deliberately planning not to be diligent about all things virtual. But I will post any attack monkey pictures I take.