I’m a Skype virgin. I even made JGL test it out with me at home! I’ve been putting it out there for quite some time now that if you can’t make it to campus and want to interview that I was willing to do phone interviews, and even learn how to skype. Most ladies, though, have gone the phone interview route.
Until today! Miss GB took full advantage of my willingness to learn, and Skype we did. Can I just tell you that after 7 years of phone interviewing, Skype kicks the phone’s booty? I can look you in the eye, you can see that I’m taking notes and not just being awkward on the phone, and it is a much more personal experience. BRILLIANT!
So if you can’t make it to campus or any of the off campus interviews I’ll be holding this fall, but want to talk to talk to me about your future here at SBC, consider a Skype conversation with me–I’m happy to do it and get the chance to know you better!
And a BIG thank you to GB for being my first Skype conversation!
I really love technology (if you can’t tell(;). For the most part I am anal about checking my e-mail and going through the whole litany of things after that (e-mail, Facebook, Google Reader, Twitter, back to e-mail…and it goes on), even when I’m home. Even when I’m on vacation.
Now, I love you all. Really, I do–you have a little piece of my heart, and you’ll always have it but in about 5 minutes I’m walking out my office door and I’m not walking back in for 19 days (including weekends). My sister is coming down for her 5th year reunion here at the Briar, my folks are coming down to visit for the first time since the wedding, and then I have nothing on my plate–just me, my dogs, and that pesky book list that I never seem to get to.
I’m convinced that the book list grows instead of shrinks because I’m so attached to things like my e-mail. So for the first time in…gosh, 5 years? I’m completely disconnecting during my days off in the summer–just wanted to give you fair warning That’s right, folks–I’m having someone else change the password on my e-mail so I can’t check it, my cell phone is being turned off and thrown into the dark abyss of my purse (not much new on that one, though), and should you need immediate assistance my fabulous colleagues who are in the office are ready and waiting for you
I’ll miss you dearly, but I’m kind of excited about this. My hope is that when I return I’m going to come back refreshed, excited to tackle everything head on, and a little more interesting since I’ll have done something other than “work.” I have books to read, dogs to walk, and garden things that need to be cooked/canned/eaten. I have a list of projects mile high that will finally get accomplished, and more importantly I’ll have time to reflect on why I love this place so dearly. It might only be seven miles down the road, but I’m convinced that absence makes the heart grow fonder
So I was poking around on the blogs yesterday and I was camped out on my couch praying for the antihistamines to kick in (the pollen has been brutal this week–another story for another blog, though!), when I saw President Jo Ellen Parker’s new post regarding iPads. Read it–the rest of this blog will make much more sense if you check out what President Parker has to say on the subject!
Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes knows I’m addicted to my iPod Touch, and the thought of Verizon carrying the iPhone just makes me as giddy as a QV at Spring Step Singing. But an iPad? Dear Daisy the things I could do with an iPad work wise! College fairs would ROCK because I could download pictures to the picture app and video to the video app and have them scrolling as we talk about how awesome Sweet Briar is; during school visits I can have access to departmental videos, websites, and information so when you have a specific questions, I can not only tell you about it, I can show you; our coffee and conversation rendezvous would be exponentially cooler because I could actually show you the awesome podcasts Professor Witcombe has been doing to advertise for his various class offerings; shoot, want to see what a real live text book would look like at the Briar? The new iBook section would allow me to download that sampling just to show you. Gosh, I’m sure I haven’t even started to dream big enough in terms of how and iPad could change some of the very basic ways I interact with students, with you, on and off the road (and not to mention the INCREDIBLE calendaring on there…but I digress, and this is a faculty initiative, not GAL’s dream list!).
Can you tell I’m having serious professor/iPad envy?
BUT, the cool thing for you is that 8-15 professors are going to be playing with new technology in our classrooms in this coming year thanks to President Parker’s enthusiasm and gusto for Digital Sophistication. YOU benefit from a) having such a forward thinking president, and b) incredible professors who will undoubtedly take on this challenge with grace, hard work, and I’m assuming a lot of fun.
Some families get excited about big things–big vacation get aways, new toys, and the like. As far back as I can remember, two things stand out: 1) We’ve always been a family of celebrating smaller things–a calm canoe ride on the pond, the accomplishment in finishing a quilt or wood scrolling project, and Skip-bo nights 2) My Dad has always had that hitch in his gitty up, never was really into sports (except to cheer ELF and I on like a champ, “Was that a field goal?” “No Dad, they call that a home run….”), and he’s always needed a hip replacement.
Dad has had arthritis in both his hips since the age of 19. He’s never been able to run (unless it’s an emergency), playing with us as kids for long periods of time meant he couldn’t walk really well the next day, and in these later years my 90+ year-old Grandfather walks better than my father. During travel and when I was staying with the folks, Dad slipped and fell, and as a result had to got back to the Doctor about the hips. Come to find out there are four stages of arthritis, and he has a level 4 in his right hip, and a level 3 in the left one. His doctor claims that they’ll be documenting the whole thing because it’s the worst case he’s seen in a 55 year old, and Hip Replacement Doctors for years to come will learn from the WRF Case Study.
As of…well, actually right now…Dad is under the knife having the old right hip taken out, and his brand new Bionic Titanium one placed in. What amazes me most of all is who thought to do the first hip replacement, or mechanical heart, or mechanical prosthetic hands? Growing up I always thought that scientists and doctors were these old gray-haired men, much older than I, who came up with this stuff. How wrong could I be!
It’s YOU. Our girls are doing this stuff, making things better, creating new ideas, learning how to save the world, one hip at a time, EVERY DAY. Because my Dad is “so young” to be having a hip replacement, the likelihood of him having to have another one later in life is pretty high. But I’m sure that one day a Sweet Briar Grad will have come up with a solution for that. Just like I know our students are going to find the cure for cancer, change lives with programs like Doctors without Borders, educate the future of our country, and be the high-ranking elected officials who can initiate legislative change. Our girls are great, and I for one am excited to be a part of this ever-changing and evolving community.
For today, we wait. We wait until Dad gets out of surgery, we wait to see how he does, and then we start the good work all over again…one bionic step at a time.
This week marked a momentous moment in the L household…for my birthday my wonderful husband got me an iPod Touch. I’ve been resisting the iPod movement for years (claiming, I don’t need that, I have my CDs!), but I was SOOO excited when I opened it up on Thursday.
How does this have to do anything with SBC or Google? Simple–part of the allure of the iPod Touch, or iPhone, or Blackberry is accessibility. Through accessibility comes connectivity. It was soooo simple to get my work/former student e-mail and calendars on this new toy because of how easy and accessible Gmail, Google Calendar and the like are. While I know it took hours upon hours on our tech support’s part to make this conversation a reality, for the rest of us this has been a smooth and easy transition (Thanks, Computer Services and everyone who made this possible!!). This one change will allow us to be more productive, accessible, and more importantly, available to you.
So thank you Google, iPod, and SBC for making this journey to the 21st century a little easier, and a little more exciting
(although now that I have this new technology, there’s no excuses for not starting to run again…I plodded along with day three this morning, and we’ll see how far along I can get!)
I am a Google Convert. I set up an account for my personal stuff earlier this year, downloaded Google Chrome as my web browser, and I have haven’t looked back once. I’m Googlefied, and I’m happy.
Today, as my Facebook status says, Thanksgiving came a little bit early for us at the Briar, and I am ever so grateful–our campus got Googled! We have Google Apps now as our mail server, and will soon be transitioning over to using Google Calendar as our official online calendar of choice. As soon as the e-mail came in, I converted.
This is really going to change, I think, how we do business with each other on campus. Everything is integrated, everything is (in my mind) user-friendly, and it will allow many of us to “think smarter, not harder.” Prime example? Google Docs. I’d totally recommend reading Prof. Bragaw’s blog about this phenomenon, because I have not had the opportunity to work with it much yet, but what I do know is incredible–you can collaborate and make edits on a document on-line, students can submit papers to professors using it, you don’t have to junk up e-mail space by sending docs back and forth, and can you imagine the thousands of pages of paper we can save by utilizing this technology?
There’s a random tree in a random forest right now saying, “Thank you, Google Docs, thank you.”
Tomorrow we have our first Social Media Lunch, and I’m very excited to a) report back how it goes, and b) see how Google might chance how we look at a few things.
I name just about everything. My very first car was the Golden Bullet (she was a gold Mercury Sable Station Wagon–I miss her!), my current car is the Green Monster after my beloved Fenway, and my first GPS was named Doris (after the actress who plays Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond, since my Dad’s GPS is named Marie since she nags him (:). While Doris has gotten me through many, many travel seasons, she’s getting a little…out of date. Not recognizing new schools or new hotels, or *gasp* new Dunkin Donuts…like many of us, she’s just getting a little older. So I was very excited when I learned that my office had purchased a few new ones for us to utilize. At utilize I am–I’m in Southwest VA, and this new girl in town is actually able to tell me where I am and where things are–something Doris failed to do last year.
So naturally, she needed a name. This new one can speak in a British accent, which I was tickled with. It’s reminiscent of Mary Poppins, so we thought Julie, but it’s also reminded JGL of Julia Child. So it stuck–Julia Garmin and I are taking the traveling world by storm this fall
And with that, this weary traveler needs to find her way to bed. But not before the stats for today!
Number of students I’ve met: 25 great conversations at my college fairs
Miles driven: Approximately 125 miles
Number of caffeinated beverages: 5 I love being caffeinated!
Much like my beloved Kermit said, it’s not easy being Green. Making the conscious choice to live a greener lifestyle or create a greener work environment is a tough one–sometimes the easy thing to do is chuck something in the trash can instead of walking it over to the recycling bin; sometimes it’s easier to print out a document to read rather than reading it on your screen. Thinking long and hard about what you use, how you use it, and how you might get rid of it takes time, effort, and energy.
With that in mind, I’m really excited to announce here on the blog that our office is taking another step toward being Greener–we are no longer printing our application to mail to you. I say Greener because you can still choose to print our online application and mail that paper form to us, and we will send a paper application to students who may not have access to our online version. I also say Greener because we mailed you a postcard announcing this change.
But it’s a step in the right direction, right? Right!
There’s also another big change with our application–we are simplifying our process (and thus yours) by offering Responsive Admissions.
What the heck is that?
You must apply before the priority deadline of February 1st, but if you have you application complete and into us today, Sept. 9th, you will have an answer from us in one month. That’s right, folks, you’ll hear from me by Oct. 9th. Thirty days, 720 hours, 43,200 minutes, however you want to qualify that. Quick, simplified, responsive.
Exciting, huh? We’re tremendously excited to see what this means for you, and how this will hopefully make your lives easier. Which means we would love to hear your thoughts and feedback and we venture forth on this new Greener, more responsive terrain. Feel free to comment here, or e-mail at gloughhead@sbc.edu.
Want to apply right now? Check out the following links for tools to our admissions process.
That’s right, folks–I’m having someone else change the password on my e-mail so I can’t check it, my cell phone is being turned off and thrown into the dark abyss of my purse (not much new on that one, though), and should you need immediate assistance my fabulous colleagues who are in the office are ready and waiting for you 
