Facebook vs Twitter

Hellooooo all from Smokin' Joe! It has been a bit since my last post. I have been busy beyond belief this past week. It has been craziness in the Athletic Training Room with injuries as well as player moves. I can only hope life slowly gets back to normal this upcoming week. Anyway, back to the original point. I have been taking the time to get aquainted with Twitter. I can honestly say I am not a fan. I have been on Facebook for quite some time now and feel that is a better site all around. Let's look at specifics. Facebook is a true social networking site. Picture sharing, messaging (both public as well as private), Groups, Friend Recommendations as well as other things I am not going to drag on about. Twitter, from my exploration, is basically teling people what you are doing. BORING! I can send a mass text on my phone if I want to say "Going to Lunch!". If I did that people would tell me they didn't care. That is my opinion of Twitter right now. I would rather have a site that is a better complete site than a comment site basically. I know that you can do private messaging, but not being able to do much else bores me.

Just because....

I have watched this about 1000 times and it still makes me laugh.....haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

Am I the only one who enjoys stupid humor?? I doubt I am.....

Nice!

The previous post was posted via Google Documents! It was wayyyyyy easier than I thought it would be! Having the ability to share documents without worrying about compatibility is amazing. I can see the uses being vast in the educational setting such as I am utilizing it, but with some thought and creativity it could most def find a place in my setting. Looking at it from a quick standpoint travel itins, player moves as well as communication between all other Athletic Trainers can all be focus through this. All MD notes as well as rehab protocols still need to be kept in a safe place as well as hard filed, but possible communication of throwing progressions/hitting progressions can take place on this site. I will have to sit back and really evaluate more uses, but coming from a profession where you see your co-workers 6 weeks a year and the rest is distance communication....there is always use of a tool like this! Thanks Google, I owe you a drink.

Google Docs....

OK. I am not sure if this is going to work but I am giving it a whirl. I am sitting here in the rainy city of Altoona, PA with nobody in the clubhouse. On the first day into a new city my assistant and myself are the first ones to the clubhouse. We set up the Athletic Training Room and just relax before the deluge of players arrive. Today, the skies opened up and now we won't see players for approx another hour since batting practice has been cancelled. This who Google Documents program is honestly boggling my mind right now. The prospect of never having to worry about who has what program or overall accessibility is an awesome concept. This is a type of technology that I feel is truthfully useful in every aspect of the workplace! From high school through the working sect and all point in between, this is applicable and usable. I know I have a long way to go when it comes to fully understanding how this works 100%, but seeing it now has be intrigued! I am excited to see how it simplifies group projects as well as work in general. Thumbs up on technology this time!

Time Saving!!!

I had no idea that such a magical place existed as bloglines. I am such a creature of habit when it comes to checking my favorite internet sites that it can become time consuming. I was of the old midset that I would just open my favorites menu and click right down the row. From mlb.com....to milb.com....to my fav gossip site perezhilton.com. I am all over the map, but I look at them all everyday. Having one place to stop and shop is awesome! I still have to adjust and take some of the excess out that I will not ever look at on a daily basis, but once I get it under control and where I want it bloglines will be an amazing time saving and organization effort. Now, is there a site where you log on and all of your completed assignments pop up on the left hand side of the screen?? :) Just wondering....

Technology and why I have a problem with it sometimes...

I am not a big fan of sitting here and using cutie catch phrases, but technology has always been a double edged sword in my eyes. Reading Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0 written by Kimberly Bolan, Meg Canada, and Rob Cullin I started to see so many problems with the way the youth of today is coddled through technological advantages. I am only 31, but when I was in school you went to the library because it was a place of peace and quiet. It got you away from the distractions of the dorm room and suite mates. It wasn't meant to be a place to hang out and be distracted there as much as in the comforts of your own room. I honestly find it hard to believe that students today are going onto MySpace to check out pictures of the library and Twitter to see what event are going on down in the A-V room. For every student that might read those posts and networking sites for that reason, there are 10 that don't. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the Internet in general are all so tempting in so many ways to not be lead astray and down non-work related paths. I guess I am sad to see the days gone where the lady in the Library was shushing you for being too loud and the card catalogs were in the corner in light tan wooden cabinets. I feel the changing of the guard to new wave library is getting away from everything that school and studying once was. Now, we change everything to make sure people are happy in the Library. None of us were happy in the Library, but we went and we were better students for it, period.
I was a little more intrigued by Examining Social Software in Teacher Education by Richard E. Ferdig. While I still don't feel a social software such as Facebook will ever be usable in the classroom, it may be a springboard to software in the future. Facebook, when started, was an innocent college networking based software. It has now taken on a life of its own. It is used by all age ranges and all types of people both in and out of school. There is nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that it will never be conducive for learning. Call me old fashioned, but unless a software is 100% monitored and taken seriously by its users it holds very little benefit to the masses. We may sit here and say in theory it will work, but tell me that you can trust Facebook 100% when tweens are posting risque photos and killers have been known to stalk their victims. It will take some work, but that software will need to be monitored and monitored closely to keep it in check!
Alfred Weaver and Benjamin Morrison hit it a little bit better when they wrote Social Networking. That is exactly what this is all about. Networking! Not learning for the most part. It is about friends keeping in touch and relationship/status updates. Who doesn't enjoy posting as well as looking at pictures? I know I do! All I am saying is look at these networking sights for what they are. Let's not try to make them more educational then they ever will be. People go on MySpace and Facebook to unwind. Nobody I have ever met in the youthful age range of 18-35 has ever sat down and wondered what was going on down at the Library and said "Let me check Facebook". That's not the reality. A tool like Moodle is a great example of being able to network via Q&A as well as forums while keeping the content professional and educational. It will take more sites like this to show a true educational site vs. Facebook and who is going to what kegger and who cheated on who last night. That's probably not going to be on the final exam.....

That's not a smile....It's frozen, with a tad of sarcasm

cold
Originally uploaded by joebenge

I am a native son of Maryland. I grew up battling winters and playing in the snow. Praying for snow days and early dismissal schedule due to weather. Well, Smokin' Joe doesn't play the cold game very well anymore! It's funny in retrospect to remember people who live or lived in the South talking about how the warm "thins" your blood to the cold. Here I am, a Floridian now and as soon as the temperature drops below 60 I am grabbing a jacket and a hat to walk the dog! As you can see in the picture the cold is COLD. It was a freezing night in Wisconsin during the Holidays and being inside the car did nothing to cut the cold I was feeling. Let me tell you, if you aren't a person who enjoys the cold....Wisconsin is not the place for you! It is beyond cold. It is cold +1 times infinity with a dash of yuck. I am to the point where wearing shorts and t-shirts year round is the way to go. Well, Smokin Joe is going to get off his hatred for cold soap box. Time is ticking and there is still so much to do! All I know is, wherever I do what I do....it is warm!

What a World....

Hello All! Only in the world we live in can two people sit in the same room and text....each other! Seriously, where was this when I was getting detention for passing notes in class. We have become so reliant on technology as a society that should something drastic ever happen to the internet, cell phones or GPS systems we would be utterly torn apart. The best part, I am one of the people who would be lost! Who among us isn't addicted to technology? We all have cell phones. Remember when calling when you got somewhere meant you had to ask to borrow your friends home phone. When GPS was a map and a yellow highlighter and someone writing directions on a piece of paper. Now, the most primitive I get is MapQuest. Even that annoys me when it moves too slow. We are all victims of technology and we all love it! I am first to say I love my latest purchase. I finally caved and bought the iPhone. Honestly, if it wasn't for classwork I would barely open my computer. This cell phone, or handheld wonder tool, does everything we humanly need! What ever happened to the cell phone from "Saved By the Bell"?? Now that was a convientently sized phone. It fit comfortably in the briefcase you had to carry it around in. I hate listening to people complain and moan about the age we live in, yet they reap the benefits and live by the very tools they damn. I say Viva Technology! Move forward. That is how we have developed. Does anyone think someone back when the wheel was invented sat back and said "Now what are we going to do with that silly invention....we are just fine without that in our lives!" I know I am enjoying every minute of the technology age we live in and the day we stop moving forward with technology is the day we start to regress as a society. Today is today, leave tomorrow in the past! Smokin' Joe signing offffffffffff.........

Sitting with Smoke....

Hello All! Smokin' Joe checking in with the first of what will be many posts. I am not really sure which direction this is going to be heading in. I always have some much to say and never enough time to say it all! Where to begin. Well, I would tell you all about me but aren't the stories going to be more fun with an atmosphere of wonder. For all out there you can call me Smokin' Joe. It is a name that was given to me years ago and has stayed with me. Only the people that know me best call be Smokin', so I guess you all know me a little bit better now. I have interests that range from politics, sports, movies, music and all points in between. I do have the habit of going off on rants so no telling if or when those will happen :). I live in the Sunshine State and can't even stand the thought of winter anymore! My eyes are starting to go crossed so I am going to sign out for now. Feel free to comment and contact me as my posts grow. Smokin' Joe signing offffffffff........