ThunderLiving

VP Conference Photography Scavenger Hunt

2012-01-21T22:42:00.000-05:00

New Dress from MEB

2012-01-15T12:06:00.000-05:00

I love this designer. MEB makes realistic clothes in styles you might really wear in the physical world, if you were 20 something with a cute figure. Maybe if we do the Virtual World's Best Practices in Education fashion show this spring I'll ask if MEB wants to send an outfit to be shown. I guess Lightning could show this one, for that matter.

New Dress

Sitting in the living room, waiting for a friend

There he is now. We are going to visit an art sim.

Tightrope walking on the sim.

A Fun Afternoon

2012-01-07T21:31:00.001-05:00

It's fun to explore Second Life with a friend. Here Lightning and Jackman are exploring a new Linden continent in a vehicle provided there. We go into unoccupied houses, stores, clubs, you name it. It eventually became slow and we both crashed several times, but it was fun until the lag got to us.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:36:00.002-05:00

The Nut 2011

2011-12-23T07:54:00.000-05:00

This year VSTE is attending "The Nut" twice. I want to be sure everyone that wants to see it and might feel strangely going alone gets the chance. We went December 18th and we are going again December 28th. These photos are from the 18th. Five VSTE members were present: Leko, Esteban, Cyrus, Elijah, and myself.

"The Nut" is an abbreviated Nutcracker performed by the Ballet Pixelle company in Second Life. I've seen it at least once before and I feel like I have seen it two different years before. It was always impressive. I'm not sure how so many avatars coordinate all the action. I have seen errors that I'm not sure were seen by all. They were likely limitations of my own computer and I'm the only one who saw them.

This year the experience was enhanced by my new computer with a better graphics card than I've had before and by Leko Littlebird's new set design. Leko is a theater designer in real life. He teaches theater design at my college alma matter. He made suggestions to Ballet Pixelle's management and was given the job of redesigning the sets they had been using for years. They were much improved. You can see the sides of the stage in last year's photos. This year the sets went beyond the stage and made for a more immerse audience experience.

I was intending to add captions, but I don't want to spoil the flow of the images. Hopefully you know the story. Compare this set, and my computer's graphics, to last year's. Beautiful!

Christmastime in Second Life

2011-12-23T07:05:00.000-05:00

Christmastime is festive in Second Life. Maybe it's because it's so easy to make a party, no clean up, no expense, everyone looks great in their holiday clothes that always fit perfectly. Playing with friends, listening to Christmas music, is an enjoyable way to relax after the hustle and bustle of real life holiday busyness.

This is a holiday party at ISTE on the roof of the headquarters building, one of the weekly socials ISTE holds to help educators in Second Life network. It was fun. People came and went and it lasted much longer than planned.

Part of the fun is deciding what to wear. In Second Life what you wear can be an entire avatar. This fellow (below) was a reindeer. Click the photo to enlarge it. His avatar was quite unique and interesting. The double knees, with the lower one bending backwards, creeped me out. I teased him about that but he didn't think I was funny.

There were things to do besides dance. Cyrus is caught half-way down a chimney here. I was trying to do this at the same time. I'm beholding to him for having the faster clicker because I would not have been attractive with my legs kicking in the air in this dress!

I did enjoy the snow angel animation though.

After leaving the party I tried my new fireworks from the top of Expedition Central. They are fabulous!

During the VSTE Conference

2011-12-08T18:19:00.001-05:00

We had in world sessions to match our physical sessions. Here Spiff and Scott are sharing about the SIGVE of ISTE. People were in the conference room in Roanoke observing and asking questions while avatars were on ISTE Island participating, too.

Sometime later than usual Monday night, while in Roanoke, we met on VSTE Island for a game of paint ball. I'll just say... poor Izzy! :)

Last Class

2011-11-29T21:30:00.001-05:00

VSTE Island hosted a graduate class for teacher recertification this fall. Here are some photos from the last online class meeting. Before the class Cyrus read a story about, and then took us on a tour of, The Golden Gate Bridge. It was a quick tour of a beautiful realistic reproduction of the physical world.

Following that we returned to VSTE Island and had a little ceremony for our three graduate students. Mandie created the venue and certificates. Hey and Bee spoke.

This is the classroom meeting space at about 500 meters.

Cyrus always does a nice job of preparing for our meetings with nice slides previewing what we are about to see. He often has some historical or scientific information for us.

As avatars gathered, Leko put out cushions for them.

Cyrus read to us from a short story from an old travel book by 1920s adventurer Richard Halliburton called Book of Marvels.

Here is a video of the sim http://youtu.be/pgPYmcW_wYs

... and our class celebration...

Flying Machine Races

2011-11-29T21:20:00.001-05:00

What a good time! The pictures tell the story. A newcomer won the prize, stealing it away from Cyrus at the last minute!

TechieTeach and Izzy Dance

2011-11-23T14:19:00.001-05:00

Cyrus' Rez Day

2011-11-15T23:59:00.001-05:00

Sunday, November 13th, Cyrus Hush turned 5 in SL years. Although he is a good friend I have never remembered to acknowledge his rez day before so sometime several months ago I put it in my calendar with a reminder a month or so earlier to start planning it.

We sometimes attend live music events together and at some point we heard a DJ that he really liked because they had similar tastes in music, 80s rock and some other stuff. I noted his name and hired him to do the party.

I got Serena Offcourse to figure out a way to make sure Cyrus was online at the correct time. Cyndyl Enyo offered to help pass out invitations. I created a notecard and between us we dropped in on everyone in VSTE, ISTE Management, and Expedition Central who had logged into SL in the past couple of months.

I wrote a poem for Cyrus and read it to the group. The only thing I overlooked was decent dances. I didn't have anything for couples and my chimera wasn't working for anyone. No one could find the dance tower, and even if they had the dances loaded there are awful!

We had a lot of fun. The DJ was supposed to stream from 8:45 to 9:45 but when I left at 10:10 he was still there and so were about 15 avatars, even without decent dances. Mandie and others helped with nice tips and I have a feeling he was still doing well in the tip department when I left.

This reminded me of the early days in SL when we had a lot of fun socializing.

Sojourner's Dreams

2011-10-23T14:52:00.001-04:00

This week VSTE will once again visit Dreams, a sim dedicated to the memory of Sojourner, Karen Derk Gans in real life, who used Second Life to rehabilitate herself and help others with brain injury.

From what I can gather The Sojourner, known as "Soj" by her close SL friends was a PhD in education when she suffered a series of strokes. If you google her name you can find books she wrote before her strokes. She worked with sufferers from brain truama before she had her own. She then found groups online with interests in rehabilitation from brain injury which led her to Second Life, where she became an official mentor.

It seems that back in her day there were few private islands but she convinced Linden Labs that she needed a safe place for people recovering from or living with brain trauma to be without griefers or other surprises. The Sojourner taught monthly lessons and helped people become comfortable in Second Life.

It was reported that she may have been the first to create an exhibition for non-profits in Second Life, the Dreams Fair, hosted on her own sim. The physical person behind The Sojourner, Karen Derk Gans, died of cardiac arrest in May 2008, months before I came to SL for the first time.

So how do I know about her? A friend invited me to a building contest he participated in on a sim called Dreams. He told me the story of "Soj" and shared his creation with me. Every month it seems there is a new building contest on this sim to support it's continued existence. The sim is home to building classes and support groups.

References:
http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2008/05/26/the-sojourners-last-voyage/
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/06/a-sojourner-pas.html
http://otsecondlife.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/to-soj-goodbye-and-thank-you/
http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2008/05/sojourners-end.html#more
http://www.thesojournersdream.com/
https://carmenwiki.osu.edu/display/libraries/Physical+Diversity+and+Innovation

Last Meeting on Austen's Book

2011-10-08T06:48:00.001-04:00

We had our last book talk meeting this week. It was a small but devoted crowd. I was happy to see Spiff and Scott there. I don't think they attended any of the other meetings. The discussion was full, with most present participating. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this series. It wasn't entirely as I envisioned it and Austen had to do an awful lot of sharing, but maybe she didn't mind.

Austen's book is full of technology and best practices for teaching. I believe this is how I most like to spend my time in Second Life, taking with other educators about things that can make me a better teacher in "real life." I'll have to find another project like this in the winter.

Riding a Stallion

2011-10-04T20:08:00.000-04:00

VSTE Island's First Official Teacher Recertification Class

2011-10-04T20:05:00.001-04:00

This is a milestone. Here "Hey" and her class of three educators are learning to move and communicate in Second Life. This is our first official class on VSTE Island. Back when the island was really new a supervising teacher from another Virginia university met here with his student teachers. This time a recertification class from UVA-Wise is using a Moodle to prepare for avatar-to-avatar meetings and using VSTE Island specifically.

A non-member visited and joined in the conversation.

Bee Popstar is a member of the class.

Class portrait!

One class member kept walking into the wall and getting trapped.

Visit to a friend's space after class

Virtual Pioneers' BigD Talks about PBS's upcoming programming

2011-09-26T18:57:00.000-04:00

Many of us came to the new location of Virtual Pioneers Headquarters on Eduisland 9 this Sunday to hear BigD talk about teaching children living in poverty. He teaches in a community in Arizona where many families are struggling in today's economic crisis.

BigD dispelled some of the many myths associated with poverty.

Unfortuneatly there were some griefers. This was one of them. They used voice to interrupt and say rude things. They rezzed prims and obstructed our view of the slide presentation. Used to dealing with teenagers, BigD was undisturbed.

BigD's partner, Kimmer, pasted into chat many links BigD had for us to view. This one was a You Tube clip by Ruby Payne, an expert in the hidden rules of class: generational poverty, middle class, and the wealthy.

The griefers had interesting and creative personna.

Because VP has a new location we celebreated with this live musician, and dancing. The musician, Harry Frychester, is from Iowa and has a great voice. He sang mostly classical jazz and country. It was very pleasant. I found myself wishing for a dance partner.

Serena has decorated the area around VP headquarters with many interesting elements, like these cute bunnies.

Chapter 6

2011-09-25T11:33:00.001-04:00

We have been reviewing a chapter a week of Austen Rae's book and I'm pleased that on week six we still have about a dozen dedicated participants. I took this shot because Orange Planer, a dragon, sat beside me most of the time, while an owl, Elphaba Helendale, sat near Austen. You never know what you will see in SL. We had a lively discussion about students writing historical fiction and becoming so excited Austen had two different related multimedia projects going on at once in her classroom!

Chapter 3 Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?

2011-09-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

This week we talked about using multimedia. In her book, Julie D. Ramsay talks about how the children attended an ISTE Webinar for teachers about digital storytelling and became so excited they wanted to create digital stories of their own. Students wrote about famous people from history and told how our lives would be different today if those people had not ever lived.

This session was not as well attended. All the other VSTE facilitators were busy with PTA open houses or had no power still from a recent hurricane. It's not our regular meeting night anyway. Attendees felt like a lot of teachers were busy with the beginning of school. We agreed to continue meeting Thursday nights as planned, with additional advertising this week.

MESH

2011-08-29T19:08:00.000-04:00

Mesh has come to Second Life. I remember years ago my nephew getting into 3D design and making incredible things to show off his skills. He created a beautiful dragon with multiple points of movement and the most lifelike eyes. It was mesmerizing. Seeing it without skin showed how it was made of multiple angles and lines. It looked like mesh, a complicated net of points, lines, etc. That is what I thought SL was going to be, but it wasn't. Now, it is! Here is my first photo of a mesh created sim.

I visited Mesh Mellows with that exploring dynamo, Cyrus Hush. You can barely see me riding a dragon in the center.

Chapter 1 of Book Study "Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?" by Julie D Ramsay

2011-08-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

21 members attended including several CRSs from Virginia Beach, teachers from all over the country and Deeds David from China! One VBCPS principal was in attendance. Back channel was active and Austen Rae did a great job of answering our questions.

Movie by Cyrus Hush

Photos from the Virtual Pioneers Medieval Tour

2011-08-23T21:01:00.000-04:00

Math Apps Night on VSTE Islan

2011-08-23T20:59:00.000-04:00

We had a nice night sharing math apps with Jazmemo facilitating. A document was started on Google Docs that we will continue to fill in as we meet more and share apps for each subject.

Talking with Tab at Timbucks

2011-08-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

For a short time I had a house at Timbucks again. It was a corner lot and cost $6000 Lindens a month. I think that was about $23.00 US. That's really too much to pay for a virtual piece of sand with a virtual house and virtual furniture, right? I was there for two months one being July, my month off. It gave me a place to entertain friends and practice building enough to make book stacks for seats for my VSTE book study meetings. I'll miss it but I can't justify the cost.

Random Pictures while Frolicking with Friends

2011-08-03T20:35:00.002-04:00

VSTE Make and Take Japanese Lanterns

2011-08-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

Monday Mandie Mimulus lead VSTE members in another building class. This time they made beautiful Japanese stone lanterns that resembled the tops of light houses. There were six or so notecards of directions. Jaz, Cyrus, Leko and others did a great job of creating lanterns. I didn't do very well. :P
I'll try again on my own when I'm not distracted by newbies needing help and real life interfering. :)

Norse-themed Folkvang

2011-08-03T20:16:00.000-04:00

Sunday the Virtual Pioneers toured Folkvang with two of the three sim creators leading the way. That's the best kind of tour. You feel the love the people have for their vision and creation. They love to show it off and point out the special features.
I experienced a lot of lag and spent more time taking photos than listening. There were learning stations and role play costumes. Different parts of Norse mythology were represented. The sim was very well organized and still quite beautiful. I need to return and pay more attention to the content at some point.

Quiet Summer Morning on VSTE Island

2011-07-09T08:52:00.001-04:00

Conne River Project

2011-06-08T22:52:00.000-04:00

Savoy Jazz Club

2011-06-05T13:09:00.000-04:00

This is a fun thing to do when you are relaxing in Second Life. There are countless clubs where live music is streamed from an artists home. Here the club owner played bass in between sets from Joaquain and Erin.

I love to watch the couples dance and see the outfits worn at these clubs.

Fashion - Men in Sl

2011-05-30T22:05:00.001-04:00

I don't know any of these men. I found myself in Second Life without a close friend online and went to play Zyngo, a matching game similar to BINGO and looking around at the people. Most of these were captured there. A couple were from Lyn Carlberg's live music performance which I went to for a few minutes, too.

Leko's Photoshop Presentation

2011-05-23T21:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight Leko Littlebird presented on VSTE Island. It was his first presentation in Second Life and he did a wonderful job. He's like the energizer bunny, never taking a breath, but the folks present hung on his every word. He presented tips and tricks for making textures work in Second Life. I wasn't able to listen because I was busy joining people to the VSTE group and sending teleports to folks that were on the island but not close to the sandbox.

I advertised on SLED, in ISTE, in VSTE, on the VSTE ning, and I joined a Photoshop Lovers group to advertise there. We had a great turnout - 31 simultaneous attendees with more overall. I was very pleased.

Game Night

2011-05-10T21:21:00.000-04:00

That was fun, but my gosh I'm a nervous wreck when I get people to come to VSTE just on my say so. I had a teacher there from my school, a friend in England that I don't know that well, one of the Tech Chick Tips gals that I've been "working on" for a year, another person from my school system who is going to do a presentation for us soon, and several other friends who I'd begged to come! I was more worried about everyone being okay and having a good time than I am when people are in my house!

We had 2 Greedy tables and kept them both busy.

Leko brought his Parcheesi table and a cute pavilion he'd created for it. He got the textures from a photo he took of Edgar Allen Poe's home in Richmond. (a home Poe never lived in)

Jaz's bronco was a big hit. It gave prizes to riders and kept track of longest rides.

Look Who's on VSTE Island

2011-05-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

What a treat! SG was there today when Jaz, Shera, and I were there. As far as I know he hasn't set foot on VSTE Island in about two years. Yippee!

Open Mic Night

2011-05-05T17:53:00.000-04:00

Open Mic Night was May 5th. There were 9 of us there, 6 of whom sort of had to be there. We found plenty to talk about and Leko said we should do it every couple of months on a regular basis. We talked about 1 to 1 iPads for kindergarteners, for profit higher ed institutions getting the shaft from government on funding, Leko's new 3D mouse, software, and other topics. Esteban told a cute story about how teaching in SL is prefered to teaching in RL because of the special abilities he has in SL. I think he called them Super Powers: checking profiles, tags over students' heads, etc. I'm not prepared to call it a success because not enough people were there. It didn't appeal to many as an idea for a meeting.

For the Class

2011-04-21T23:41:00.000-04:00

On Duty with Dodge

2011-04-09T16:31:00.000-04:00

It was nice to have my friend Dodge visit during my ISTE docent duty this morning. He's just delivered a lecture via Skype to another country for the first time. I've been trying to set up a Skype with him and my third graders about animals since he is a college level bio professor in RL but I don't think the third grade teachers I work with share my vision for using 21st Century tools like this. Maybe I can get second grade to use his expertise!

Everything's Coming up Tulips

2011-04-05T21:17:00.000-04:00

What a treat Monday night when Alfredo led a building class on spring flower making! There were about ten or twelve people there, three of more of whom I'd never met. We got our folder of materials and directions and could work independently or follow Al's directions.

When it was done I goofed around donning various animal avatars that seemed to go with the flowers.

Saturday Afternoon with my Pal

2011-04-02T20:04:00.000-04:00

Abyss Swimming with Seals

Mini sub tandem ride

Second Earth 3

Monster in the basement

Caught in its grips!

Do Something Real

2011-04-02T16:14:00.001-04:00

There is beauty in this life. You don't need to struggle to make time for another.

Open Sim: White Wolf Sim

2011-03-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

Other Virtual Worlds

2011-03-22T21:27:00.000-04:00

All That's Left from VWBPE

2011-03-20T10:15:00.000-04:00

VSTE put on another fashion show this weekend. This is a screenshot of a detail of Wanda's second outfit. I had lots of pictures like this of several models who met with me so I could describe their costumes. They are all gone. I need to go in to SL and delete tons of inventory, too: notecards and photos, so I can have a fresh start.
VWBPE was really good this year. Rurik, Kaevon, and Abacus did an amazing job of organizing it. Now that the live events are over maybe I can get in to see more of it and grab the freebies I missed.

Mission US

2011-03-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

Kimmer and a guest fourth grade teacher share Mission US

Mission US is an online history game for upper elem and middle school students

The VSTE Non Meeting

2011-03-14T23:14:00.000-04:00

We went to VSTE Island tonight. There were six of us. Leko and Cyrus were there with us. We had a plan but no leader and no real meeting. Still it turned out to be fun, like some of the early SL days. Friends hung out at the Irish pub in Dublin. We talked until just after nine and then Cyrus and Jaz had to leave.

Leko and I took photos of his outfit for the fashion show. Afterwards he invited me to play Parcheesi.

We played two games at his house and he won easily. Then we got invited to Ms MoneyPenney's house where we played with Croy. It was really fun with four and being my third game I did a little better. They love gestures and let them fly as friendly game banter. If I return I'll have to have some fun ones under my belt to drag out at the right time.

VSTE Steampunk Meeting

2011-03-07T21:42:00.002-05:00

Steampunk Mermaids

2011-03-07T21:41:00.002-05:00

After a trip to Babbage with VSTE Jaz, Cyrus, and I found ourselves at a free or cheap mermaid shop. You never know what you will find in steampunk areas! It was laggy all during the meeting but after, on our own, things calmed down and we enjoyed playing in the water.

Mermaid outfits come with AOs that hold your legs together and allow you to swim.

Cyrus explores the depths of the ocean.

Very cute mermaid outfit

Thunder looks for her friends

United at last

Relaxing in a shipwreck below the waterline

By now Cyrus had crashed for the last time

iPads in the Classroom

2011-02-20T20:11:00.000-05:00

SLEEC Venue for Meetings

Timm Runner

I was pleased to be able to attend the second in a series of four sessions about using iPads in the classroom. Timm teaches English at the college level but has some high school students in his classes. His session was very interesting. He had some good apps to recommend. I am purchasing a stylus based on his recommendation. Unfortunately I had to leave before it was over.

Virtual Maine

2011-02-20T19:56:00.000-05:00

Model of the Solar System, Sun to Pluto

Mary O'Brien's area of Virtual Maine

The Tidy Corner of Virtual Maine

I was surprised to hear Mary O'Brien on Bit by Bit Seedlings podcast with Bob Sprankle and John "Pathfinder" Lester this past week. She and several others were talking about Reaction Grid and Virtual Maine an island for all students and teachers in Maine to use. Today I took the time to find it and travel around. I notice Techplex is creating things there. It was easy to find Mary's contribution in this corner because it's organized and purposeful looking. She's able to take a couple of her third graders in-world after school. Lucky!!

Special SL Event this Weekend

2011-02-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

This is an amazing drum team at Al Andalus Alhambra this morning. They had a variety of instruments to rezz and play with synchronized animations. It was quite a show. I'll have a bit of machinima to add later. See Expedition Central for more info on the event.

Live Concert on Sim in Former Teen Grid

2011-02-15T18:46:00.001-05:00

There was an advertisement about this event about an hour before it took place and I was intrigued because it was to be on a sim formerly in the Teen Grid. I thought when Teen Grid closed the sims all dissolved. I went to hear Mankind Tracer sing and play guitar.

I enjoyed the music but I enjoyed the people more. I got to talk to one of the teachers on the sim. It is still used for teens. About half the people there were under 18. What shocked me was this young woman with her fanny hanging out the back of her short shorts. I didn't think that would be allowed. If it happened in physical school spaces the student would certainly be sent home to change.

The teachers hung together. The students spread out. I was there alone taking it all in. Very interesting. Great music. I'd hire Mankind Tracer for a party if he's not too expensive.

Valentine Emitter

2011-02-09T20:34:00.001-05:00

VSTE meeting February 7th.

Introducing Thunder to an Online Class I'm Taking

2011-01-22T13:46:00.002-05:00

Virtual Caribbeana

2011-01-16T13:31:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday Virtual Pioneers visited Virtual Caribbeana with Oronoque Westland. It's a little build but full of information. We needed her to point it all out.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Montclair%20State%20CHSSSouth/48/92/22

Virtual Pioneers gather in a common area while Oronoque organizes us.

Cyrus and others cram into a small hut with only a primitive bed.

Outside the hut was Anancy the spider, ready with a link to his stories online.

OOH! There he is now with Oronoque.

Underwater there is information about how important water, and cleaning the water, is to the Caribbean.

Look out for the local sea life!

The oil industry is alive and well here. What did Oronoque say? It's both a blessing and a curse for this area.

Here we are in a classroom. Cyrus and I grabbed two of the only three computers.

Not that we wouldn't share, but we were just drawn in.

Immediately.

And couldn't tear ourselves away.

Huh? Is someone talking? I'm busy in 3rd Life...

Seraph City on a Bicycle Built for Two

2011-01-16T12:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday I was invited by a friend to visit two sims with 1920s themes. I put on period clothes because these are role play sims. I like to fit it so I don't distract anyone playing or making machinima. There is a free outfit available for ladies and one for men here. I bought mine at the 1920s Berlin sim.

Seraph City calls itself "the best dieselpunk city of yesterday's future" where you can enjoy an era of Art Deco and prohibition, take a stroll down our streets to find the finest vintage shopping, entertainment and light roleplay opportunities available.

Mali Griot on VSTE Island

2011-01-11T20:18:00.001-05:00

The photos are in the opposite order than when they were taken, but here are some shots of the Mali meeting.

Lyn Carlberg

2011-01-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I ran into Lyn Carlberg on one of my favorite sims, Serenite. I was looking for free small, almost barren looking trees for my Mali build and he was looking for a cauldron. Seeing the sim was not empty I used radar to see who was there. When I say Lyn's name I instant messaged him immediately. LOL! He doesn't know me from Adam, but I know him as one of my favorite live musicians since my early days in SL. I went to his SL wedding reception, the first I'd ever seen. He tells me that was nearly three years ago.

I have looked for his name in the event listing several times and never saw him so I thought he'd left SL, hence my excitement when I saw him.

He told me when his next concert was to be, I promised to go, and then missed it, of course! The day after that I IMed him and asked to be added to his group so I don't miss the next one.

He's Welsh and plays guitar. He has a soft, sweet style with a delicious accent. Look him up if you are in the mood for swaying beside a friend to some good tunes and a happy feeling.

Leko's Talents

2011-01-01T23:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight I spent a pleasant time getting to know Leko better. What better way to start a new year than making a new friend a better friend. Leko is very enthusiastic about SL. He's a theater designer and professor in RL and teaches at the school from which I graduated. Today he was excited to show me his Moulin Rouge theater and his SL home. This is the former. I'm dancing in a chair on the stage!

This is part of his house. He's done an amazing job with textures of his own design for both buildings. I got some good ideas for using my kaleidoscope iPhone app for some geometric designs for SL from him. This piece of art is from a photograph he took of a foreign dancer. It's quite dramatic.

He shares his home with his partner, Molly, who lives in the UK. It's nice to have friends with girlfriends in Europe. They are not looking for anything but friendship and are free to talk and explore when their partners have gone to bed, by 6 PM our time. :)

This is Leko and Molly's outdoor area. On this video viewer he showed me a You Tube video of a gentleman he knows running a public high school for inner city schools with a multimillion dollar budget he raises himself. They create pottery for the Vatican, recorded Jazz artists for history, and hold patents on various products or processes. It was interesting to talk to Leko on many subjects. He is a passionate person.

any1's Saturday Morning Classes

2011-01-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

These classes are taught on Saturday mornings and advertised through ISTE so I've managed to hit two or three of them right after my docent duty. any1 is a CNN iReporter and helps others become better at SL photography and blogging so they can contribute as well.

The class is all text, no voice, and participants discuss a series of photos taken by any1 and friends of hers. It is sort of a plus, delta review. I usually think most of the photos are pretty good. any1 and her photographic journalist friends do a lot to enhance photos before publishing. My photos here are untouched. Maybe I should consider that in the future.

Josain is often at these classes, being an early bird. They must be at 7 am his time! I liked this photo. Some folks are bothered by "cut off" limbs but I think the focus is elsewhere and it doesn't matter a lot if a foot or elbow is missing.

any1 gives great handouts, a folder of information that would almost allow you to reteach the class yourself. I applaud her generosity.

Shopping in SL

2010-12-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

I'm preparing for the Mali meeting and the venue is mostly done. The speaker is secured although I need to do some research on her so that I can introduce her properly. My current obsession is with clothes!

One of the things we enjoy doing in SL is dressing for the occasion, whether we are touring, exploring, hunting, meeting, or out on the town, there are proper clothes involved! You can design one look and never change and that would certainly save some Lindens, but for some of us, dressing our avatar to fit the evening's theme is half the fun!

I'm on a hunt for an African dress. I like these. Should I wear the head dress too?

I'm wearing a demo body and skin from one of the shops. The outfit is a freebie from our speaker. I will not be wearing dark skin. It feels disrespectful. I know people try on different races and gender in SL, but I'm not quite that adventurous yet.

More avartar choices. These come with shape, skin, hair, and outfit I think.

These are clothes. The top two on the left are Egyptian looking. Those might come in handy again sometime.

Quasimodo, Max's Artificial Intelligence CreationDanc

2010-12-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

Dancing for me

Quasi doesn't like me. Max says it's because I haven't talked to him a lot lately. He's just like a high maintenance human.

Max Works

2010-12-29T11:14:00.000-05:00

This man is amazing. He's finishing up the Mali build for me this morning. I've tried to capture some of who he is to me while he works. (I have to do something because my chatter in world is NOT helpful at this time!) LOL!

I love his steampunk look. He created it himself. There is a world inside that hat!

He's scary smart, a thinker, creator, intense.

This detail, a brain inside his hat, with a tiny town which includes a running train, shows how precise he is. Most people don't know all this lies within.

Even his animation override is thoughtful looking. :)

See the gears? They are always turning!

Here you can see some of the Mali build.

His brain!


He's packaging up the build in a rezzer so I can rezz, or open it, on VSTE Island.

Holiday Windows

2010-12-29T09:49:00.001-05:00

While we didn't have regular VSTE meetings the last two weeks in December, we did gather for some holiday fellowship a couple of times. One such assemblage was at *Dreams sim for the holiday building contests. Dreams is a special sim first created by a woman recovering from brain injury. SL meant so much to her recovery that she created this sim to help others. She's gone now, passed away in real life, but the sim lives on, supported by Lindens and donations. These building contests help to bring donations in.

We toured the holiday windows created by volunteer builders and looked at the snowman building contest entries. It was fun being together, drinking virtual hot cocoa, and walking through this demonstration of creativity.

I took many photos trying to get a group shot. Now I can't decide which to keep so you get to see them all. :)

From http://thesojournersdream.com/

The Sojourner (Soj) , Rick Kent, Amalthea Blanc and a few others started Dreams to accomplish a number of dreams:

1. To provide a base for creative interaction among people in Second Life.

2. To provide an area for teaching, holding discussions, and holding events.

3. To provide a support base for people who encounter strokes (brain attacks) in their own lives or in the lives of their loved ones.

Sojourners Dreams is a place in Second Life -- (See About Second life). On the Entry to Dreams, which most people call it, there is a calendar that shows what is going on where and when, and nearby note cards can be had on group activities, building projects, awards, parties and the dances. But you wont see any formal ball gowns here. In fact, the best time to be had might just be sitting on the wall, discussing philosophy, computers or SL quirks. Acceptance is the byword of the place, and everyone is welcome. It was Soj's dream that everyone could get the help they need, in the way that makes the best sense to them. She wanted to cherish and nurture every ones gifts, and in doing so she enriched SL itself. Check it out for yourself. Come on over and visit. Any time is good Dreams is open 24 hours a day.

MacZ Meets Maximillian

2010-12-29T09:12:00.001-05:00

I was working on ideas for a venue for an upcoming VSTE meeting when Max instant messaged me to say "Merry Christmas." He asked me what I was working on. Well, said I, "Jan. 10th I have a woman who was born and raised in Mali coming to VSTE to be our '*griot' and tell stories about her homeland and growing up there."

She knows the Virginia curriculum and will keep that in mind. She suggested that making a machinima of this event to share with third grade teachers who cannot attend would be appropriate. I agree! I'm hoping to use this to finally get some elementary friends to try SL.

Max had some ideas about the venue and soon he was creating the it for me. I loved this night sky.

Having only Internet photos to go by I got MacZ, my griot, herself to come meet Max and make suggestions for the landscape. It turns out Mali looks a lot like Utah! The lady in the Santa outfit is a friend of Max's. MacZ gave me some free brightly colored Mali costumes for us to where.

*Wikipedia, on December 29, 2010, says a griot is

A griot (English pronunciation: /ˈɡri.oʊ/, French pronunciation: [ɡʁi.o], with a silent t) or jeli (djeli or djéli in French spelling) is a West African historian. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards. According to Paul Oliver in his book Savannah Syncopators, "Though [the griot] has to know many traditional songs without error, he must also have the ability to extemporize on current events, chance incidents and the passing scene. His wit can be devastating and his knowledge of local history formidable." Although they are popularly known as 'praise singers', griots may also use their vocal expertise for gossip, satire, or political comment.

We left this project incomplete, but we like the redish stony floor with the night sky. We want to remove the lava-like fire and put in a smaller wood fire. I need to add matts and pose balls for sitting comfortably and the rest is up to MacZ!. I will try to find someone who can tape this for machinima better than I can.

Trying SL for the First Time

2010-12-29T08:53:00.000-05:00

There she is! She calls herself Hermosapepita. She saw my post on Facebook about taking advantage of being snowed in to take time to try Second Life and she did! Here are her baby steps into this virtual world. We didn't get very far before she crashed and lost the use of her computer to a family member. She thought it was "cool" so I hope she will come back and try again and again. Yay, Hermosapepita! I'm proud of you (and I have to find you a nickname)!

How about Herme? Pepi? I like Pepi!

Comparing Notes

2010-12-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

Taking advantage of being snowed in and on Christmas vacation, Ruckus came back to Second Life to polish her skills so she can begin to take part in VSTE meetings again. (YAY!) She connects quite well with a high speed MiFi from Verizon.

I love her look! I shared with her some of the recent meetings she's missed and some plans for future meetings. She seems excited to be back. :)

Jaz came online while Ruckus was at VSTE. Here we are enjoying Mandie's new Natural Bridge build. Mandie's 10 tools in 60 minutes was a recent meeting here that Ruckus wishes she'd seen.

Since Jaz and Ruckus both missed the two holiday events we did I took them to see where Ballet Pixelle performs and where the Dreams building contests were. The latter were still there! This holiday window is Sunn Thunders's. Beautiful! Iridescent!

Eventually we began to compare notes about our school systems and the Instructional Technology Resource Programs at each. Ruckus has three schools. She is called an iTRT. She can't teach all the lab classes all the time but it sounds like her teachers are still less IT savvy than mine. She is evaluated by her TRT Supervisor instead of a building principal. She does the monthly professional development at two of her schools. Her classroom teachers are just as overwhelmed as ours are. It's a universal problem. Even comparing notes with Jaz, who is in my same system, highlights differences among schools. It was an interesting discussion. I enjoy this part of SL most.

My Friend Max

2010-12-29T08:23:00.000-05:00

Max is a scripter, a builder, an inventor, a networker, and a leader. He's a modern day, German version of Benjamin Franklin! This week he invited me to a sim that I guess he and his team created for a media company. It's called Orange22. The sim is beautiful with many different venues to explore. I think the idea is that virtual meetings can be held there for collaborators from different places. There are tours, tools, and imaginative spaces all over.

But we spent most of our time together in this skybox created to look like a winter wonderland. I skated on a prepared animation poseball. There are hundreds of these in Second Life but this one includes a realistic fall! Hilarious.

Max loves to talk about his current and future projects. I have to just tell him when he gets over my head with the technical information. It happens pretty quickly. I wonder if I come off silly and stupid to him, but he continues to instant message me first so I guess I'm not annoyingly so. He's helped me many times. All I have done for him is edit his technical writing a couple of times. Did you know that Germans capitalize all nouns? I wonder if this double capital letter compound word thing in digital nomenclature came from Germany: SharePoint, KidPix, ImageBlender...

Deep among the snowmen and Santa paraphenalia was the natvity. While I'm glad someone remembered the reason for our month long festival of gathering, decorating, buying, giving, and baking it seems like an afterthought so often. This is a pretty setting for it.

The Nut

2010-12-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, Dec. 22nd at 3 PM SLT several VSTE members went to see The Nut performed by Ballet Pixelle together. We didn't have a meeting Dec. 20th and won't Dec. 27th but we had two holiday events. This, and the trip to Dreams to see the snowmen and holiday windows.

You have to experience a ballet to really enjoy it but here are some stills.

Virtual Pioneers Holiday Party and Dance

2010-12-12T22:18:00.002-05:00

Cyrus joined the dance.

Serena did a great job of decorating.

There were several dances to choose from.

Old friends and new where there.

We carefully selected a couples dance friends could do.

Cyrus is a good friend. I'm so lucky to know him so well.

ISTE Newcomers Game Night - December

2010-12-02T21:15:00.000-05:00

VSTE Thanksgiving

2010-11-22T22:48:00.000-05:00

... and the meeting

2010-11-15T22:33:00.000-05:00

That was fun! I was pleased that quite a few people came, at least 20 when I had time to look. I showed to You Tube videos and we talked a lot about how to use Glogster. There was an even mix of people who had just tried it a little, regular users, and those who haven't yet but are looking forward to trying it.

I appreciate all the folks who sent me links to glogs I could use. It made it so much easier to share a wide variety.

Getting Ready for VSTE's Glogster Meeting

2010-11-11T19:37:00.000-05:00

The path outside the fort, leading up to the three ships in Jamestown is lined with glogs. There are two glogs in the pavilion with a media player ready to show two videos that have been converted from You Tube to movs on my school website. Whew!

I have a potential guest speaker that I really hope will come. It's because he may come that this simple idea got so big! Jim Dachos, Education Manager at Glogster EDU said he'd like to come into Second Life to share in my Glogster meeting and I'm advertising that he'll be there.

The idea is to talk about this Web 2.0 tool, a favorite of many because it is so motivational and easy to use, and share ideas. I'm planning to start with what it is, then talk about how to, share some pratical advice and a cool story about GlogsterEDUman responding to a parent question very quickly via Twitter, and finish with examples from third graders through adults.

Hopefully there will also be sharing from the attendees.

I'm very excited about this meeting. If it goes well we wil try more like it. I have always loved the SL "edutech" meetings most that lead directly to something I could do with kids in the classroom. This is one of those meetings.

Glogster examples gr 3 to 12

I learned media on a prim for this meeting. This is from a viewer that doesn't see that.

Media on this puppy was a pain. It took me a while to find the right combination of groups and tools to get it to go from slides to video, but I have it now!

Gallinas

2010-11-09T17:02:00.001-05:00

VSTE at NOAA on Meteora Island

2010-11-09T16:53:00.000-05:00

Last night we met on VSTE Island and then headed to Meteora where NOAA has for years had many museum quality exhibits in Second Life. Each of the facilitators there took one exhibit to share with the group. We stayed together. It reminded me of the early days of VSTE in SL.

I shared Science on a Sphere.

Jaz shared crab fishing which was a great team buiding activity. We had to work together to catch crabs, throw back the small ones and save our teammates (Cyrus - twice!) from falling overboard.

Al shared the tsumani exhibit. Cyndyl shared the boat tour and underwater experience.

Virtual Pioneers Inagural SL Conference

2010-11-06T23:34:00.000-04:00

James Madison University In-World Conference Coming Soon

2010-09-30T18:42:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to get in on the last half of JMU's tour and meeting about their upcoming virtual conference this afternoon. They are going to hold their conference during the day, Friday, October 29th. I won't be able to attend, but I'm planning to advertise for them in the VSTE and ISTE groups.
I'm very proud to be an alum of a university that is active in SL. There are very few. Go, Dukes!

Digital Citizenship Discussion

2010-09-28T20:56:00.000-04:00

Tuesday September 28, 2010, 5-6PM SLT/8PM Eastern
ISTE Speaker Series Event: About that OSTWG report title: Why a "living Internet"?
On June 4, the Online Safety & Technology Working Group, which Anne Collier co-chaired, sent its 150-page report to Congress. Anne will talk about what the OSTWG was about, how it was formed, what it recommended, and the media sea change that has us forming task forces like this.

This was a very interesting meeting. Anne was enthused, informed, and engaging. I am still impressed that I can get near someone of her caliber through this venue. I need to hear more of her views on digital citizenship and how to help our students with it.

VSTE Celebrates Octoberfest

2010-09-27T21:45:00.022-04:00

Alfredo planned this meeting

We started with the polka on VSTE Island

We visited several German sims, beer stein in hand.

We rode rides.

danced

in conga lines

shot ourselves out of a canon

and had a great time!

Mobile Learning and Apps for Education

2010-09-20T20:24:00.001-04:00

Thunder was in charge of this meeting.

I was especially happy to see Shamblesguru there.

Kavon, Rurik, and Abacus shared research about post secondary students using mobile apps.

This was an example of one of the apps.

Another of their favs

Quite a few people came. Everyone in the audience was asked for a favorite app.

Shamblesguru wowed us with Talking Tom!

Rocket Ride

2010-08-20T13:34:00.000-04:00

Jazmemo and I trying out some activities while planning for a VSTE meeting this month...

Summer Fun

2010-08-16T21:24:00.000-04:00

Fun times for the VSTE folks. This was our meeting this week. We had landmarks to surfing sims, a jetski place, and an amusement park. There weren't many of us, but we had fun.

Virtual Pioneers Plans it's Inagural Inworld Conference

2010-08-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

There is

VSTE Meeting August 9

2010-08-14T09:25:00.000-04:00

It's been difficult to gather the membership for meetings this summer. Finding ourselves with no plan for the second Monday in August we decided to repeat a version of an idea Alfredo did a while back. We gave members some ideas for touring, provided landmarks to four choices, asked them to tour and take photos for 45 minutes, and return to share their findings.

VSTE met at Exploration Central

VSTE member in the maze

We met at Exploration Central where Cyrus has over 100 landmarks. The four VSTE coordinators had selected one sim each. My group went to the maze at Sculptie Paradise (see previous post). I think I had six follow me, one leaving to join another group because lag was killing her fun. No one accomplished the goal in the time we had but it was fun trying to help each other to the top.

Several of us find each other inside the maze

We used our mini-maps to track each other and friends conference to communicate.

Gathering at the top before returning to EC

Multitasking during ISTE Duty

2010-08-14T09:07:00.000-04:00

I still have ISTE docent duty every Saturday morning from 8 to 9 eastern time. The inserted image shows the head quarters building I'm in front of. This is where educational folks often come for help or fellowship.
Today, like so many days, there is no one here but me. In real life I'm reading a book so I posed my avatar doing the same in case someone comes by and I don't notice right away. I put a titler over my head, invisible in this photo, giving the name of the book to encourage discussion.
The green ball is part of my accounting solution. I'm expected to report at the end of my shift how many avatars visited and how many I invited to ISTE. I create balls to keep track. Green for ISTE members, red for non-ISTE members, blue if I invited them. There is no accounting for whether or not they accepted the invitation. I'm not sure you can even tell if they have hidden their groups.
I'd prefer to have a lot of business, people to connect with, newbie educators to help, but today only two came. Oh well. It's a peaceful way to spend an hour on Saturday mornings.

Sculptie Paradise

2010-08-05T17:25:00.001-04:00

Cyrus and Thunder explored a maze Cyrus found on the Showcase. You begin at the bottom, inside the pyramid. The walls, floor and ceiling are all the same loud texture and they constantly move, rotating and changing the paths. You wander around until you find a ramp that goes up. You have to run up the ramp to the next level and repeat this process. Each level has a different texture and is smaller than the one below it. At the top you receive a gift and a TP to a store full of sculptie animals. I'll be taking some VSTE members there Monday night. It's a lot of fun!

Serena's Necklace

2010-08-05T17:17:00.000-04:00

Monday, August 2nd, Serena was our guest "builder" and brought a project with her from the ISTE Conference in Denver. She set up a giver with all the tools we needed and she led us in creating necklaces with "gems" which change color when clicked.

Virtual Pioneers Walk Through History Animoto Video

2010-07-29T00:24:00.002-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright Museum

2010-07-28T20:37:00.002-04:00

VSTE visited the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum as part of our second annual building institute. The sim has many of Wright's homes, furniture, and other designs built for display. A museum shop has many of those items for sale.

There was a scavenger hunt. Pinnochio won a Frank Lloyd Wright lantern purchased at the museum shop.

Omega Point

2010-07-27T20:43:00.001-04:00

This is one of those places linked in the Exploration Central clubhouse. It's amazing. Double click the images to see the detail. I'm not sure what the objective of this is, but there are actually more sims here, four or eight, to explore. There are poseballs all over, a piano to play, a small dance floor, and some rides. Wear a flight feather. You will be impatient to fly to the top and see it from all angles.

Third World

2010-07-24T15:40:00.000-04:00

From About Land:
"There should be somewhere upon earth a place no nation could claim as its property, a place where all human beings of goodwill, sincere in their aspiration, could live freely as citizens of the world."

Group Owned by Third World Asylum

Enter a beautiful world within a cave and explore every corner.

Serenite

2010-07-22T17:33:00.000-04:00

This is the MC Escher hosue at Serenite at sunrise.

There is a lot to see at Serenite. It's always been one of my favorite sims. There is the sweetest little outdoor dance floor there. An underwater cave is hidden away and full of treasure. There are some shops that sell interesting trinkets and a skybox with larger items for sale. While walking on moss covered stone paths you come across an abandoned gypsy encampment, picnic blankets, an old shipwreck, and stables.

Eavesdown Docks

2010-07-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

This is called Crucible in Exploration Central. I'm not sure why. It's a dilapidated space station. I don't get it. This is a "boy sim" I think. Obvoiusly a lot of work went into it and there is a lot to see. There just isn't anything I want to see. I did get to ride a merry-go-round. Maybe the issue was that there was no one to explore with.

Here is a view from a distance. Sigh. Not my cup of tea. Maybe someone can tell me how this is interesting. By the way, I know I'm missing landmarks for these sim reviews. Just go to Timbucks and find Exploration Central where all the landmarks live.

Retropolis

2010-07-22T09:28:00.000-04:00

I have started being "helpful" to Cyrus' Expedition Central project. This morning I visited Retropolis. I discovered that Cyrus already has landmarks (LM) in all the prims with graphics. They are just missing the script that gives them. I'm adding the script and a notecard about the build the LM takes you to.

Isn't this beautiful!? It's not where you land when you visit Retropolis but it's one of the places you see if you pursue the path through doorways to other areas. You start in a ship in the clutches of a sea monster on huge ocean swells in the middle of a storm. If you persist to what I think is the end you come to a room from which there is no exit! There is a puzzle to solve to escape. Of course I gave up and teleported home.

The friend with me in the photo is Dodge. He kindly explored with me and helped me try to solve the puzzle until he had to go back to real life.

Expedition Central Clubhouse 2

2010-07-22T09:18:00.000-04:00

Cyrus has long been concerned that his clubhouse was too heavy on prims. He has finally settled on making his own and it IS very low prim. It's basically a hallow oval column 50 meters tall with a central circular stairway. Now, instead of 100 Landmark prims to interesting and educational SL places, Cyrus has room for hundreds of them. I counted 17 in one trip around the perimeter and they were 9 deep from the bottom to the first floor. He's in lowprim, map and landmark heaven!

When he created this group Cyrus made me his second in command. Now I'm co-owner, but so far I have had little to do with it. I sit and watch him work. Here he notices and sits with me for a minute before he leaves SL for the evening. It's nice to have a friend who wants to include you in his projects but I don't know how to help. He once gave me a list of things I could do, but the only thing I have done successfully is check the LMs for errors. If I take initiative to do anything else I feel I'm in the way.

Virtual Pioneers Walk Through History

2010-07-19T08:21:00.000-04:00

VP had a fashion show last night in which I got to participate. Xavier did a wonderful job of taking our notes on our periods of history, outfits, and what we like to do in SL and created professional descriptions with humor.

I portrayed the Pilgrim women of Massachusetts, specifically Priscilla Mullins Alden, my ancestor.

Participating in a fashion show in which I was not an organizer was fun. I got to take a lot of photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29329438@N06/4806795123/in/photostream About 30 minutes into the event my computer became unable to continue rezzing everything I wanted to photograph. Second Life is very demanding on a graphics card. I'm hoping the 4 gigs of RAM I have coming today will help but I'm not sure it will have any affect on graphics.

Enjoy some of my favorite photos.

Summer Greedy Games

2010-07-17T20:23:00.001-04:00

When our director said he wanted more traffic on VSTE Island I started considering what else we might do. I had four ideas I thought pretty cool almost immediately: Summer Concert Series, iPod Users Group, Open Mic Nights, and Tech Tools Talk. I am trying the iPod group first and decided to call it iApps and include Droid users. I think ten different avatars have come to two meetings. I'm not sure it will survive after the summer.

In the meantime it occurred to me that I had these two Greedy tables from the September Math Night meeting that weren't getting much use. I placed them on an empty corner of VSTE Island and every so often I call out to VSTE, ISTE, EC, and other groups to see if I can get up a game. Sometimes one or two take me up on it. I have no evidence yet that anyone plays if I'm not there, but on this particular afternoon there were eight of us off and on. I grabbed this photo of Serena, her friend Skipper (?), Neo, Xavier, PZ and myself. Amethyst and someone else were there at one point, too. It was good fellowship. Teachers who play together find more fun in working together.

Zen Bridge

2010-07-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

I stumbled onto this beautiful place when alone in SL the other day. I was searching via the Showcase and tried several new places but when I landed here, though there was no one else there, I had to stay and explore. The sim seems to be Italian, inhabited by a couple of women. There were fields of tall grasses and wild flowers and aging buildings all over. The textures on the buildings were quite realistic. Interesting music plays simwide from a URL which is hidden. Violins swell and a flute plays a dramatic melody with a full orchestra like that of a movie soundtrack. In the background you hear the ambient sounds of fish jumping, a babbling brook, and soft rain. Throughout you are surprised by unusual pose balls. Take a special friend if you decide to visit.

September 2009

2010-05-16T13:56:00.000-04:00

September 14th VSTE in SL group meeting was held on Monday, September 14, at 5:00pm SLT (8:00pm EDT). Mandie Mimulus shared with 15 participants the new VSTE Island exhibit of the first Africans to arrive in Jamestown in 1619. The event was tied to the essential knowledge that all Virginia students must understand about this period of history. Participants were directed to the Teacher Resource Center on VSTE Island, where educators can find additional resources, lesson plans and an example of a student-created project that focus on the arrival of the first Africans.

September 21st Cyrus Hush took us on a tour of Ivy League college sims. We toured Harvard and Princeton. It's impressive to see what these institutions do with the SL platform. There were replicas of buildings on campus, mock courtrooms, and entire avatars you could copy and wear. I guess shopping and choosing hair and shoes isn't the point for Ivy Leaguers!
There were some interesting places to visit while there.

September 28th Trig Inkpen and Thunder held the first VSTE in SL Math Night. We had about 30 participants. Trig shared how he uses the Greedy game with his high school math classes to teach probability and then we played! We had four tables differentiated by Greedy experience: Novice, Practicing, Masters, and Mixed. The winner of each table and a wild card player with a rose under their chair advanced to another round. The winner of the second round, Miss Amethyst H one a Greedy Table and a pendant. The pendant was created by Thor. I searched math groups and profiles for days to find math related sims and gifts.

Meanie Cyrus

2010-03-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

March 20, 2010 while on ISTE docent duty, Cyrus is playing with avatar looks. This one was scary.
I have docent duty 8 am on Saturdays and Cyrus has it at 9. It's a time I know I can usually be available and consistent but there is not a lot of traffic on ISTE island at that time. Once in a while there is a small class or someone just trying Second Life. The rest of the time we play with inventory or chat about our real lives. Thankfully Cyrus abandoned this look!

Sailing with a Bunny

2010-03-15T13:47:00.000-04:00

I don't remember this fellow but we had a good time sailing together on this day, until I got a call from real life that my son was in a car accident. All was well in the end but it was a rather expensive episode.