Fiji!!!

Well we have been here for 10 days and I am finally on the net!!! Been busy and booked with clinics and competing. God has been doing amazing things and I cannot tell you how amazing it is for me to see my team going through this experience. God is so good and He has continually lifted us up! I have to go. More to come today!!!

LibraryThing? But I Don't Read!!!

I was excited about LibraryThing! I was at the home of one of my biggest supporters today. He is a great guy who is always helpful and supportive of me as a coach. We spent about two hours looking at his library of track & field and running books from the 1800's till today. It was awesome! When I looked at LibraryThing I found a couple of those books and all the books I currently have in my library. The coolest thing was finding a book called, "Five Were Chosen", which was the first book I ever read cover to cover during my 7th grade year. I am excited about cataloging my books and finding some that I want to collect as well! This was a really cool activity!!! My catalog can be found at the following location: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/fputrak

So much GENERATING...So much FUN!

I have never been much for playing with images. I taught 7th and 8th grade computers for 7 years and we did plenty of this. I enjoyed it but couldn't spend a great deal of time on it because I got bored fast. My students on the other hand couldn't get enough! It was all they wanted to do. Playing with the generators for this assignment were great. I will admit that I spent a lot of time doing it. My favorite site was one that I never knew existed called Motivation. The web link is: bighugelabs.com/flickr/motivator.php. On this site you can upload a picture and make one of those motivational posters. They will actually make a poster for you after you create it! I was pumped! I actually am going to use this site a lot in the future as a way to reward my athletes. The first poster I created is the one I included. I am ordering a poster tommorrow that has my national champion triple jumper on it with a slogan that she and I have shared for years! Can hardly wait.

Technorati or not!

I am not a big fan of Technorati. Blogging is great but I would rather research and find information in other ways. The searches and tags are great and put me into contact with all types of blogs but it just seemed too much for me. Don't get me wrong, photos, videos, posts and blogs all in one place is amazing. I even liked the search component where each of these areas shows different things when the same search word is launched. But, I am just not attracted to it. Maybe once I use it more I will like it but for now, it won't be something I use a great deal. Maybe as a last resort. It seems that I am still having trouble getting used to the whole idea of how big social networking really is. I am starting to like parts of it, but as of now, Technorati is not my favorite component of this social realm. I am going to pursue a few more topics that I need to do research on anyway and I will start with Technorati to see if I can enjoy it more than I do so far.

Sooooo Del.icio.us!

This is my favorite experience using web-based tools so far!!! This site is awesome! I have so many bookmarks on different computers and my browser is a trainwreck. This is the tool for me! As an instructor, coach, mentor, and fundraiser, I have an incredible amount of sites and organizing them is crazy! This is perfect for organizing the sites the way I need and want them. Tags will keep me organized and will save me time. I really like the social aspect of it as well! I am always networking with other coaches and trainers so this becomes another way I can do that! Anywhere, anytime, and always growing and changing! The perfect combination for a site to keep track of my sites! It is certainly delicious!!!

Books...that I don't have to read? Where?

I've never been much of a reader! My intentions are good! I but what I want and then...it sits! I have a great library but it does me no good! When I started looking on the sites that were provided us I couldn't believe what I found! I am always trying to find more books that are based on living a life like Christ. I found all kinds of books that I could play in my vehicle! I spend a minimum of 10 hours a week in my vehicle so this is perfect for me! This is a great thing!

Podcast love!

Podcasting is great! Whether you are listening to a play by play of an event or watching a recorded instructional video, podcasting is of great value to anyone willing to search a little bit to find what you are looking for. I am really into fitness training and finding a podcast on weight training, speed and agility training, or coordination training was simple! Now, will I use it in its purest form with my team? Probably not. Why? Because I will take the information in a podcast and make it my own with all of the expectations and structure that defines FPU Track and Field. The best idea would be to create my own podcast on the same information or have my athletes create one that they can refer to based on my procedures and expectations, whether it be in the weightroom or on the track. One of the things that I really support is my athletes finding podcasts, watching them, and then asking questions about ways information is communicated differently. It is interesting to them, because they can watch these on their IPOD's, and it is a great way to make them more knowledgeable about their sport. For some reason, probably because they can take the podcast with them, they are so much more likely to do this than they are reading an article I give them that includes exactly the same information. In order to reach my athletes most effectively, podcasts are great!

It doesn't get better than YouTube!

I enjoy YouTube! I have used it a great deal the last couple of years. I use it frequently as a visual tool for my athletes. I have also used it as a core component of a couple of the kinesiology classes that I have taught. The visual component is as important for students as it is for athletes. Recently I have used it to coach athletes who live in other parts of the country. They load their videos onto YouTube and then send me the title so I can watch and send them back critiques. It has worked really well. I included one of those videos in my blog. It is titled "Sarah triple jumping." What a great tool! I love it! Entertainment, education, and easy to use! YouTube rocks!

Library 2.0...Hmmm!

I really like the idea of library 2.0! The interaction from library to patron and patron to library is a great thing because social interaction is how society tends to be leaning. One of the things that I have a hard time believing will happen is that librarians will give up the control necessary for this to happen as it should. The other thing that I am concerned with here is that the librarian to patron ration is rediculous and teaching all of these patrons to use library 2.0 effectively will be near impossible!!! I think we will be able to overcome these dilemmas and library 2.0 will rule!

My Hero! Jonathan Edwards: Triple Jump World Record Holder