Finally - after almost a week - my computer is operational again.  Here is a picture of my MacBook’s innards, with the offending hard drive removed.

[picture coming]

First, I want to apologize to all of the folks from my conference session (if you haven’t given up on me by now) who I promised that I would post a wealth of resources.  I am still working on rescuing some of those from my old hard drive (which died promptly after our session), and will post them here as soon as is humanly possible.

So after about 10 hours last nigt of rebuilding, reinstalling, and reconfiguring, I am finally almost back to where I was before the crash.  My backups weren’t flawless, but they were sufficient.  If I can get at my old hard drive today, I should be 100% ok.  If not, I can live with what I’ve got.  To all those who I have promised “I’ll get to your thing as soon as possible” — I’m working 24/7 until I do so.  Thanks for being patient during this difficult time.

Ok - So between Pepperdine’s VirtCamp, Junior Olympics, and speaking and attending a homeschool conference with a tour of te central coast to wrap it all up, our vacation season is drawing to a close, and we are packing to return to Bakersfield.

My MacBook has been completely dead for 5 days now, and I still don’t know what will be recoverable, what exactly I have backed up (not enough, I presume), and how long it will take me to put the pieces back together.  There will be much to do when we get home - Enough that I am inclined to stall the trip, and make it last a day or two longer, even though I can’t escape the reality that is waiting for me.

Of course, there is plenty to be excited about as well.  The fall is full of great plans, new roles, and plenty of other things to look forward to.  I think it’s time to make the jump.

2008 Central California Swimming Long Course Junior Olympics
Fresno, CA - Day 4

The final day of Junior Olympics was by far the longest and busiest of the four. We got up early enough to pack up, dress, and feed 5 kids and leave for warm ups by 6:45 am. This also meant that we didn’t have a hotel to return to for a rest between preliminaries and finals today, which meant killing over 3 hours in 100+ temps while trying to rest up for the afternoon.

Robby swam his final three events in the 8&U competition today, and won all three completing a sweep of the entire 8&U boys competition. A few of the races were close, but he held on to win them all, and walked away with 5 individual gold medals and the 8&U Boys High Point Award. He’s worked hard all year, and it was nice to see this meet come together for him.

Here are the video highlights for Robby:

50 Back - 1st place [video]
50 Breast - 1st place [video]
100 Free - 1st place [video]

Stanzi had an extremely demanding day, with 7 swims. She swam the 50 Back, 100 Fly and 100 Free in prelims and then came back and swam in the 200 Free relay, the 50 Back, 100 Fly and 100 Free again in finals. Even still, she was able to pull off some big time drops for the day and took third in the Fly and fourth in the Free. The backstroke didn’t go her way, but she still managed a 7th place finish. With 20 swims during JO’s, we were amazed that she was still dropping time, right up through the last swim of the week.

Here is the summary for Stanzi today, with some video highlights:

50 Back - 7th place
100 Fly - 3rd place [video]
100 Free - 4th place [video]

Gabbi joined Stanzi and Robby for relays today, and got her first Junior Olympic medal. She swam second in the Girls 8&U 200 M Free relay, and her team finished second to the team from Clovis. They weren’t as fast as the other team, but they won the cute contest hands-down. Stanzi’s team swam well, but one of the less experienced girls on the team had a false start on a changeover that resulted in a disqualification. Robby’s team also finished second to Clovis. They all tried hard, and Robby swam a very fast 50 M, but not fast enough to make up the difference.

Click for bigger image
Here is video of the relays:

8&U Girls [video]
10&U Girls [video]
10&U Boys [video]

We had a great week at JO’s. Dominique and I are very proud of our kids, their hard work, and what they accomplished. In the last 4 days, we watched 34 swims between the three of them. They came home with a total of 21 1st -8th place medals - one for almost every event. Stanzi and Robby both improved their time in every event they swam, for a total of 50 seconds of improvement across their individual events. We don’t have an official time on Gabbi’s relay leg, but she looked great out there.

2008 Central California Swimming Long Course Junior Olympics
Fresno, CA - Day 3

Today was a bit longer, with more events. Tomorrow we have to pack and check out of our hotel before warm-ups, so I’m going to keep this brief. The videos will also be limited to whatever gets uploaded while I type this update. The rest will get done on Monday, I hope.

Today, Robby started competing in 8&U events, which do not follow the prelims and finals format of the older kids’ events. They are swum during the prelims period in the morning, but they are called timed finals, which means that everyone swims, seeded from slowest to fastest, and the best time wins. No second chances, and no re-dos.

Here is a rundown of Robby’s events:

50 Fly:

Seeded: 1st
Seed Time: 48.03
Finished: 1st
Final Time: 42.69

50 Free:

Seeded: 2nd
Seed Time: 39.83
Finished: 1st
Final Time: 37.86 [video]

So far, so good. He has 3 more 8&U events to swim tomorrow, and if he does well he will take home the 8&U Boys High Points Award.

Here is a list of Stanzi’s events:

50 Free:

Seeded: 6th
Seed Time: 34.73
Finished: 4th
Final Time: 33.09 (AAA Standard and Western Zone Qualifying Time) [video]

200 IM:

Seeded: 3rd
Seed Time: 3:03.43
Finished: 4th
Final Time 3:00.11 (AAA Standard) [video]

They both also swam relays (200 Medley Relay). Robby swam the breast in his (10&U Boys), and reduced a huge lead by the other team to almost nothing in only 50 M, to put his team in a position to finish with a gold medal.

Stanzi swam a great butterfly leg in her relay, but it wasn’t enough to catch up with two of the other teams. Her team finished with a 3rd place medal.

Tomorrow, Robby swims the 8&U 50 Back, 50 Breast, and 100 Free, and a 200 Free Relay. Stanzi swims the 10&U 50 Back, 100 Fly, and 100 Free, and a 200 Free Relay. Gabbi might also get placed on a 200 Free Relay for 8&U Girls. That’s a potential total of 12 swims for the kids tomorrow — Then it’s back to Bakersfield for us.

2008 Central California Swimming Long Course Junior Olympics
Fresno, CA - Day 2

Same morning schedule today, but the races were very competitive, especially for Stanzi.

In the prelims, Stanzi qualified 7th in the 10&U 100 Breast, and had the 4th best time heading into finals dropping from 1:43.74 to 1:40.89 and getting her AA time.
In the 10&U 200 Free, Stanzi qualified 6th at 2:53.05, and was seeded 6th again in the finals despite dropping her time to 2:48.91.

Robby swam his second 10&U event, the 100 Breast, and qualified 8th at 1:53.56. His prelims time of 1:43.09 earned him the 5th seed in the finals.

In the finals, the races were all highly contested. Stanzi dropped another 4 seconds in the 100 Breast to 1:36.90 [video], and was able to steal 3rd place. We later found out that her time was .01 away from the national AAA standard. In the 200 Free [video], Stanzi managed to cut her time by another 2 seconds to 2:46.88, an AA time (at the end of a tough day of swimming). The rest of the field swam so tough that even with 7 seconds of total time dropped, she still ended up right where she qualified - in 6th place.

Robby went into the afternoon knowing that he had a decent shot at a top finish in the 10&U 100 Breast. He’d been out-touched at the end of the prelims race by the 3rd and 4th place finishers, with less than a third of a second separating the three of them. In only his second 10&U championship final, he swam a 1:42.45 [video] - about a half second faster than prelims, but enough to out-touch one of his morning rivals and take 4th place overall. His time is ranked as an A time for 10&U, but among 8 year olds his time puts him at #7 for 8 year old boys in this event — in the nation. He was pretty psyched to find that out. We’ll tell his coach tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the third day of JO’s. Robby begins his quest for the 8&U boys high point award with the 8&U 50 Fly and 50 Free. Stanzi will be trying to grind out 2 more AAA times in the 50 Free and 200 IM (her favorite event). Stanzi and Gabbi will be swimming in the Free relays tomorrow as well. The girls’ competition continues to be tough - we have a really talented, hard swimming bunch of 10 year old girls. Every race is a battle, so it’s fun to watch (and a little nerve-wracking too). So far, though, both kids are healthy and having some great swims. They both have made personal bests in every event.

Thanks to Pam for driving up to watch, cheer, and take some great photos of the action today. Tomorrow, Nana and Papa will be up, and Sunday it will be Grandma and Grandpa’s turn. If you want to send Stanzi and Robby a good luck message, you can email it to me at bill@bmoseley.com - I check my email regularly throughout the day.

I’m sorry about my bad cinematography (which worsens at the most critical moments of every race), and that I have no more Wii playing footage of Julian.

2008 Central California Swimming Long Course Junior Olympics
Fresno, CA - Day 1

This morning started early, with a 6:00 am breakfast and warm ups at 7:15 am.

Today, Stanzi (10) swam the 10 & Under 50 Meter Breast and 50 Meter Fly. Robby (8), swam the 10 & Under 50 Meter Breast as well, since he qualified for the 10 & under time and his 8 & under events don’t start until Saturday. In a championship meet like this one, preliminary heats are swum in the morning, and in the afternoon the top 8 compete in the championship or A final and the next 8 swim for 9th-16th place in the consolation final or B final.

In the prelims, all three swims were good, with small time drops. Stanzi swam the 50 fly first, and took a respectable 5th place overall which got her into the A final. Next up, Stanzi swam the 50 breast. There was tougher competition in this race, and she moved into the A final with a 7th place rank. Robby’s first 10 & under race got off to a slow start when he dove too deep, but he recovered and managed to swipe the 8th spot in the A final by .3 seconds, still managing to beat his own personal best by about 1 second.

In between prelims and finals we rested, ate, and outfitted the two with some new, tighter racing suits. Back to the pool for warm-ups at 4:00 pm and a 5:00 pm start time.

Stanzi swam the 50 fly first, in lane 2 [video]. She dropped a couple of seconds, got her AAA time, and took 3rd place overall.
Next, the 50 breast, lane 1 [video]. Stanzi dropped significant time again, moved well into her AA time, and took 4th place.

Rob was up last. He was excited to be in the final of a 10 & U event, so he pulled out all the stops. He swam a great race (lane 8 ) [video], and managed to drop 3 more seconds for a total of 4 seconds on the day. He took 6th place overall, and we later found out that his time ranks him 12th nationally against 8 year olds in the 50 M breast. We’re excited to see if he can shave off any more time when he swims it in the 8 & U race this weekend.

Overall, it was a great first day of Junior Olympics. We’ll try to keep up with the posting as each day unfolds. Wish us luck!

Here is a bonus shot of Julian playing the Wii (notice the full body involvement).

There are many things I like about skateboarding.  The physical and mental challenge, the style, and the individuality found in its expression.  The thing that I like the most, though, is the way the skateboarding community functions as a living, breathing (although coincidental) community of practice.  Even better the CoP functions almost completely without regard to age.

Two days ago, we were at a new skate park (Oxnard, CA), where there were a variety of ages and skill levels.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the interaction take place.  There were two very advanced skaters there, probably in their mid-30’s, who were putting on a great show for everyone.  However, they also took the time to stop and let the noobs in the park have their turn, often offering helpful words of advice and encouragement.  A few times, the more advanced guys even modeled the correct body positioning or footwork.

There was also an older guy skating, perhaps in his late 40’s or early 50’s (older for a skater, I suppose).  He didn’t provide as much instruction, but his smooth lines and very graceful style showed that he had some expertise.  He understood the lines of the park, and he flowed between the various bowls and transitions.  It was certainly an encouragement to me to keep at it, even at the ripe old age of 33ish.  He was very polite and mostly kept to himself, although it was clear that he was adjusting his direction so as not to disrupt any of the lesser riders attempts.

I love showing up at a skate park and being offered unsolicited tips by kids who are my son’s age.  I take it as a symptom of a healthy community of practice when expertise flows in all directions, based on skill and knowledge rather than superficial or unrelated qualities, like age or finances.

Maybe that is a better name for them. The Net Generation is a good name, and in some ways the idea of “Digital Natives” appeals to me (although there are plenty of good criticisms of it as well). However, what I continually discover about this generation is their drive to create and share, using a huge set of electronic and multimedia devices, from cell phones to portable video cameras to ultra small, ultra cheap laptops. Technology has become their paintbrush, and the world both paint and canvas. The most exciting thing about all of this is that they are working within the context of authentic experiences - activities and relationships that mean something to them.
Today we went to the skate park in Bakersfield for the first time since school let out for the summer. As expected, there were 20-ish kids, ranging from 8 to early 20’s (but mostly on the younger side) skating around with varying levels of expertise. In the hour we skated there, I saw at least two digital video cameras, and several mobile phones being used to capture footage of the action. The videography was fairly sophisticated as well, with various angles being shot and even footage being shot by one kid on a skateboard following another. It seemed like they had some good shots to create a 2 minute masterpiece, perhaps destined for YouTube fame. It was great. A bunch of kids, using digital tools to capture pieces of something they were passionate about, in order to create something and share it.

One last thought on this: I frequently have students in education classes I teach build robotic creations out of Legos with to solve a problem that they are given. It is a great context to get them thinking about learning, collaboration and how knowledge is built in a social context. However, something like the Lego project seems relatively weak when compared to the energy that surrounds more authentic work, like the skate videos I watched being created today. The trick is to create opportunities for such authentic work to be done in the pursuit of specific learning objectives. (Not that I inherently care about or value arbitrary learning objectives, but honestly - What’s the use in theorizing if that’s as far as it goes? If educators can’t use an idea, then there is no use at all).

I spent the better part of today painting 65 polka dots on the walls of our little girls’ room. It was a simple process, but required some concentration. I would use a large bowl (or another, differently sized object) and a pencil to trace a circle onto the wall, and then paint it in freehand. Staying inside the lines, and making each circle completely round, while making sure there was sufficient coverage required me to focus to the point where I couldn’t do the job on autopilot.

As I painted, the focused physical repetition reminded me of swimming workouts. When swimming, it’s sort of the same thing. Making sure your body is doing the right thing - head still, body rotating, kicking in rhythm, breathing steady and controlled. These sorts of activities are virtually tantric for me, not so much in a spiritual sense (although I could see that) but in the sense that they tend to free my mind to think, even in the middle of intense concentration and even the physical strain of working out. I find it all a very interesting sort of paradox - that my mind can be freed to think in the midst of what on the surface seems like intense focus.

I’ll keep exploring and reflecting on this topic, but that’s as much as I have right now.

Harvard seems to think that there is a valid connection between leadership styles iRL, and styles of play in MMO games. I tend to agree.

Harvard looks to MMOs for online leadership styles - Massively: