Taran's Proposal

Taran is a friend I met when researching Numbakula for a VSTE meeting some time ago. I don't remember who messaged who first but he told me Taran means Thunder in some language. We searched together some but never found anything of significance. Taran was partnered (a public pronouncement of attachment to another in SL) when I met him and since I've known him has ended that relationship and been through another. He's not frivilous with his affection I don't think. He has a lot of female friends, is single in real life, and pretty sweet and sentimental. He tells me about his girl friends and quest for love in real life like I'm a big sister. Recently I learned that the man behind Taran is a Christian and pretty serious about that. He would not get to know a female avatar based on groups in her profile that indicated she could be pagan, for instance. All this information is to make clear that Taran and I have no affection for each other beyond friendship before I tell you about this photo. Taran asked me to be in a photo contest with him. The prize is a wedding in SL worth 25,000 Lindens! He wanted to do the wedding with me too, "just for fun." I declined but it was fun being asked. Taran's friend, Tovah Bravin, is a new wedding planner in SL. This was a promotion to drum up business. I did give her landmark to a few friends in SL that I thought might be interested. To visit her sim go to http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkiTyrol%20Estates/118/89/501. I don't know if she is still running this photo contest, but she has about a dozen different venues for the bride and groom to chose from. Anything can happen in SL!

St. Patrick's Day

From Second Life

Look closely to see Jazmemo, Thunder, and Mandie enjoying a jiggy time at the Chicago Schools Island sim! We all wore green in honor of the upcoming St. Patty's Day. Sometimes SL is just silly!

ISTE Sunday Tour

From Second Life

Sometimes it's fun to just let someone else show you something they found and if you can do it with friends, that's even better! Esme and Janita give tours that start at ISTE HQ every other Sunday beginning at 9 AM SLT (12 noon Eastern time).This week we went to three or four underwater sims. It was fun! In this one you could get a free SCUBA suit, which, of course, I did! That's me in the yellow. The sims were educational. One was about biomes, one was about organisms, but I wasn't paying attention to the information. I was relaxing and taking photos.

From Second Life

From Second Life

VSTE Meeting - Profiles

I got to run the first VSTE meeting after the face to face VSTE Conference in Virginia Beach March 2. I created a slideshow on profiles and the newest avatars worked on theirs while we talked. Profiles in Second Life are how you present yourself to others. Because we are there to network and collaborate with other educational technology folks we want to let the world know who we are and what we do to some extent. I went tab by tab over what is available in the profile, including how to make notes about the others one meets so as not to forget important things they have told about themselves. Everyone added VSTE Island to their picks and at the end of the meeting Pocahontas gave all the newbies 10 Lindens and we helped them add a profile pic of themselves. We had over twenty people in attendance. :-)

Virtual Pioneers Meeting at Virtual Abillities Island

Comments to follow.

March 1, One Year Later

I met Cyrus at an ELVEN meeting March 1, 2008. I was weeks old as an avatar and had just discovered educational technology groups. I probably heard about this class through a message sent to ISTE. Dewey Jung, was presenting a two hour session on teaching tools in Second Life. I went. Cyrus, as it happens was two seats away. You can see us in this photo and the script of the class is available at the link above. I learned so much in that class that I still remember showing off my skills to others who weren't all that interested. I showed Kiwi and Jerry at Eduisland. I showed Corvette, who invited his friends Luvis and Vegos to see, in a sandbox. I learned about SpeakEasy, FreeViewer, and Notecard Giver at that class; three tools I have used since over and over again.
During the class I was also working on paying bills and my avatar fell asleep. Cyrus IMed me that he had a script that would prevent that. :-) He also had to be away from the computer and asked me to take notes for him, which I did in minute detail! Afterall he was higher ed and I didn't want him to think I was stupid. :-) We met later for me to give him the notes and he showed me his classroom. We have been friends ever since.
We celebrated our friendship on March 1, 2009, days after meeting in person at the VSTE conference. This is one of the magical things about Second Life. You can meet someone and get to know them well in a virtual world and eventually become "real life" friends and, if you are lucky, even work together.
Cyrus, Matt (RL), came to VSTE in Virginia Beach and helped with our eight sessions. He ran the computer attached to the projector for the interview and the New Voyages concert. He managed the audio streaming on the island for us. He's been a huge help with newbies on VSTE Island and has become a friend of Al, Lisa, and Marie, too.
Cyrus, Matt, I appreciate you!

March

Gotta catch up