Day 68: Final Work before Vacation!

Ok, it's semi-crunch time today. Kristin and I leave tomorrow for our two week adventure. This means I have to get as much work done as possible on my Database Proposal, considering it is due only hours from when I return. I think I did pretty well. It will be organising the appendix and writing my user scenarios when I get back. I think I can pull this off.

My homework day ended around 5:30pm when I left for a SMCEDU Meeting at Jackson's on George by Circular Quay. Again it was a small turn out, but the four of us had another wonderful social media conversation. Doug Chapman, partnership director for SMCSYD provided useful insights to the local Social Media Club Chapter. I also got clued in to some other courses using social media, and got a few more names to look up. We concluded by deciding to set a date for a SMCEDU Meetup in three weeks to try to get more students involved. Unfortunately I will be gone for the first 2 weeks leading up to the event, so I hope we can get enough chatter going to recruit students to attend.

While our evening should have consisted of packing, we took a break and walked down to Darling Harbour with some friends. Lovely evening for a walk, but it definitely made me stay up much later than I needed to. Oh well, I have short plane ride to catch up on some sleep. Off to Cairns in the morning for our 2 week adventure!

Day 67: I tried, but mainly a Lazy Sunday

I sent Kristin out on her own today to discover more of Sydney, as I spent my Sunday in the computer lab. I didn't feel as productive today. I felt like I was running around in circles around the metadata standards. While I found IPTC for the news articles and photos, I was having trouble with videos and audio. I think in the end I will just have to compromise and take few standards from MPEG-7, just not many. I think I am doing a good job so far and I will get myself into trouble if I worry too much about a small portion of the proposal.

For dinner we went to Lansdowne to use a coupon that I had. It turns out the kitchen is closed on Sunday. Luckily for us they had a deal where you if you buy a drink you get free pizza! We took advantage of that, splitting a jug between us and enjoy mass amounts of pizza while listening to a live band and people watching. Pretty much the perfect Sunday night if you ask me.

Day 66: Manly Walk into the Night

Ok, I should have spent today doing schoolwork, I know. But I need to show Kristin what Sydney has to offer! And at the same time, I made sure we did something I haven't done yet :)

After looking through her Lonely Planet book for some local insight, we decided to take the ferry to Manly and take on the Manly Scenic Walkway. It is a 9 km walk fro Manly to to the Spit Bridge, along the coast and through some bush. http://www.openroad.com.au/travel_onfoot_thespittomanly.asp

Instead of telling you all about the gorgeous scenery, I'll show you with pictures. But I have a few titbits to add. The ferry ride was amazing, as expected. It reminds me of Marin, and makes me appreciate where I am currently and where I came from. Kristin said this was her first time on a ferry, which I couldn't believe! Once we were on the walk I loved how tranquil it was. At some points it felt like we were way out in the bush, or right on the ocean where there was no land for miles. And then you would turn a corner, and there was the Sydney skyline. Not bad, not bad at all. The natural surroundings were a great addition to our long conversations about life and our future. That seems to be on my mind a lot, and Kristin's as well since we both just graduated. One thing we concluded was that we better find jobs that we enjoy. Because if you spend 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year working, that is the majority of your time. What good is money if you aren't happy for most of the year?

So I forgot to mention that we had a late start, not getting to Manly until about 3pm. Now this walk is supposed to take about 3 to 4 hours. We are fast walkers, don't get be wrong, but we took the road less travelled several times, and took lots of pictures. Basically, it started to get dark, and we some how wound up in someone's backyard, getting scared out by a possum. Luckily for us, when we made it up to the road a woman had just pulled in. She basically told us we were screwed and it would be impossible for us to find our way back. But right then a man and his son pulled up, asking if we were lost (and if we were tourists). He said this happens a lot, and offered to drive us to the bus stop. Phew, saved by the dad! We eventually made it back safely, happy with our excursion and the stories to go along with it.

Day 65: #coffeemornings!

My day began with an early morning adventure to evangelise SMCEDU. Gavin Heaton, (@servantofchaos) showed interest in the initiative but can't make our meeting next week. He is however the organiser of #coffeemornings, a weekly gathering of social media enthusiasts in Surrey Hills. @cafedave is a regular attendee as well, so I wasn't as nervous knowing I would know a familiar face.

While I put the idea of SMCEDU out there, I didn't get too many biters. Everyone thinks it's a great idea, but I think it is hard for them to realise how they can get involved. On top of that, people already attend so many meetups and coffeemornings, it can be hard to fit another one into their schedule. I did get some names of people doing great things with social media and education that I will have to investigate. To name a few:
- Mark Smithers, Senior Manager, Teaching and Learning Support at RMIT University (www.masmithers.com)
- Jeremy Lebard - Book Tagger (www.booktagger.com, not quite SMCEDU, but cool concept)

Nonetheless, I met some great people and had good discussions. With a seat at the table I jumped into conversations and learned from the more experienced.

I also found out about GetUp!, an Australian grassroots activist organisation like MoveOn in the states. I love all the new things I learn about the world around me.

One key thing I took away from speaking with @RazChorev is that you never stop learning. After doing my information literacy report I have realised how important lifelong learning is for people in all fields. Grad school may not be the answer right away, as it can often be behind the trends. I need to keep reading blogs, attending conferences, and speaking with people to learn from my surroundings. He also emphasised just going out and doing probono work. This was a key concept in the Recession Proof Grad slideshow as well. As a young graduate looking for experience, I can offer services for free to establish myself and build up a portfolio. I like the idea of having a mentor, which I think is why I enjoy volunteering for things like Media140. I'm excited to see what comes of it!

After a fun filled morning of networking, back to Uni I must go. I worked on my media services database proposal, researching more about media monitoring. This is a really interesting topic to me, and I could see myself working in the industry. Instead of just doing it for commercial companies, I think it can be used for current events and global and political issues. I also like the fact that the news media uses the International Press Telecommunication Council (IPTC) metadata. I looked into this a while ago when I was interested in photo metadata. I think it has a lot of value and I am enjoying the opportunity to learn more about it. Of course I like the idea of monitoring the social web, but mainstream media is still an important stream of information, reaching a lot of people. I knew something good would eventually come out of this assignment! But now I need to do real work and put a good dent in my proposal so I can travel in a few days without worries!

Day 64: Kristin is...(5 hours later)...HERE!

Oh what an early morning it was. But I got up early enough and caught the train to Wolli Creek. Why Wolli Creek and not the airport? Well, the airport, being all high and mighty, charges an extra fee just for stopping there! This fee has to be paid when travelling by train, taxi, bus, or car, so there is really no way to avoid it. But - after some research I found that you can take the train one stop further to Wolli Creek and walk 2 km along the Creek to the airport to avoid the cost! I thought I might as well, see some more sites and save a few bucks. It was a nice walk on a very foggy morning. The creek was calm, and it looked like there was a waterski jump. Potential for wakeboarding? There is something I should look into.

I made it to the airport with no trouble and time to spare. Her flight was supposed to arrive around 6:15am, but I was giving her time to get through customs. And let me tell you, I gave her PLENTY of time. It turns our her flight was rerouted to Brisbane because of the fog! At first someone told me she might not come in until the evening, which I thought was absurd. And I almost brought a book to read... Instead, I spent hours on end reading through travel guides and learning health and money saving tips. Finally, by 5 hours later, at 12:15 she arrived!

After a long morning for both of us, we made our way back to my flat. It was good to just hang out for a while and catch up. It was surreal having Kristin sitting on my bed - I felt like I was back at home! It has been 2 months since I have seen my friends and family from the states, and here she was sitting right in front of me!

We ventured downtown to grab some food, until I realised I had a group meeting...oops! We cut our walk short, grabbed some Subway, and we parted ways. She went off to explore Darling Harbour, and I went to class.

When I got back from class we spent the remainder of the evening planning our trip. Well, not so much planning, as looking at some options and deciding, "we'll figure it out when we get there!"

Day 63: Some things done, more to come

Finally, one more thing to check off my list. We presented our report on information literacy today, and it feels good to be done. I think we did a pretty good job. Our substitute thinks we should have examined the policy issue from another angle, but it was too late to incorporate her ideas. We put in a lot of time to gather and prepare our information, and now that it's done, it's done.

After coming home and refuelling, I went to the library to do some research for my database proposal. Kristin comes tomorrow and I would like to do some site seeing with her, but of course school has to be my priority.

Since I have to get to the airport by 7:15am tomorrow, I'm making it an early night after cleaning up and preparing for Kristin's arrival. Goodnight!

Day 62: My First Grade...!

Yet another exciting day of schoolwork. Tomorrow I will feel semi-relieved after our information literacy presentation is over, but I still have the database proposal looming that I need to make a dent in. But on a good note, I got my first assignment back from my database class. This was one I was stressing about and did not really enjoy, but I received a DISTINCTION! This scared me at first when I saw "D" for the letter grade, but that really means good work, a B+ or A- in Sac State standards! This really made my day, as I have been stressing about how my grades are going to affect my GPA. I'm sure it still won't help, but I have more confidence in myself and I am starting to feel like my hard work is paying off. The funny part is that I completely misinterpreted the scenario, but luckily it didn't matter because I still created a relational database and showed my knowledge of the topic. It turns out the hypothetical company I was creating the database for is actually a media MONITORING company, not media PLANNING. I am really happy about finding this out because I am interested in social media monitoring, an off-shoot of the topic. This next assignment is very different than the first and requires analysing and indexing documents, so I am very happy it is from the media monitoring perspective. I will actually be interested in what I am doing and now it is much more straight forward. I thought about asking if I could make it a social media monitoring database, but it is a new topic and there wouldn't be any metadata standards established yet. I'm just happy I am getting interested in my school work again, it makes it much easier to put the time in if I care about what I'm doing.

Day 61: Back to life as a student

Now back to the real world. Kristin arrives on Thursday and we are departing for our trip the following Tuesday. I have a database design proposal due the day I am planning on returning, so I'm trying to finish it before we leave. And I have a presentation on Wednesday. To school I will go!

In between schoolwork I have been actively tweeting trying to recruit people for our SMCEDU meeting next Monday. This evening I took the opportunity to visit my professor Maureen Henninger to see if she had an idea of what lecturers in the UTS Communication department were using social media. While her answers were helpful, I have yet to find a professor that is really involved in social media. I think I am going to start searching through the professors online to see who is researching anything about social media and inform them of SMCEDU. I guess I have to just keep on trying!

I was given another study break when I returned my Mom's call. She is almost done packing up the house and will begin moving things into the new house in a few days. She seems to think I am going to need to move home when I get back from Australia due to lack of money, and she kindly offered her lower lot for me to park a trailer. Let's hope it doesn't get down to that...

Day 60: School work or the Beach? hmmmm

I couldn't end my birthday weekend by staying inside doing schoolwork, especially when it was nearly 30 degrees outside! So off we went to Bronte Beach to take in the sun and even dip in the water this time! My first real entry into the Australian ocean if only for a few minutes was still quite refreshing. The water is starting to warm up, but I am sure it will be much nicer next week when I am in North Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef...

And for the evening, I ate way too much food at Little Haveli, and my mouth is still a little burnt from the amazing spices. We had been talking about getting Indian food for over a month, and now that I bit the bullet and shelled out the $9, I was overstuffed with a spinach and a chicken dish. Next time I might need to save some for later, especially since I might begin to crave this much more often.

Day 59: The Birthday Celebration Continues

Ah, made it to the weekend, and ready to celebrate my birthday without the thinking about assignments! Ok, I spent part of the day on assignments, but I also got to chat with my Grandma, Mom, Dad, and Nicole. As of yesterday I believe, my mom has officially sold the house I spent my whole life in. It is a sad thought, but my mom worked so hard to get the house ready I am happy it worked out so quickly and that she found another house she loves. It will probably be twice as much work as the last one, but she is looking forward to living in the Novato countryside with deer roaming around her backyard. It looks like a really nice house and I am looking forward to seeing it, but it will never be a house a really call home. I guess at the age of 22 as I'm entering the real word it will soon be time for me to find my own place to call home. But for now, the world is my playground and I'm going to take advantage of my youth and lack of permanence to explore everything it has to offer me.

Back to my current life...When I say I worked on assignments, I actually mean I got carried away responding to a blog about why teens don't tweet. There have been several reports providing statistics about this, but this blog by Dee Jackson started to delve into response by teens behind their behaviour. I wanted to share my two cents since I am one of the "younger" people on Twitter and I see how people my age look at the social networking service. Check out the media140 Blog to read my thoughts!

Later in the afternoon I met with Hamed and a few others to go shopping for our birthday party this evening (Hamed's birthday is 10 Sept). We got some food and drinks, along with some balloons and streamers (we're going big! haha) Then to get ready for our Gumal Rooftop Party and night out in Darling Harbour, Sabrina was kind enough to be my personal beautician for the night and curled my hair and did my makeup. Just like back at home, I have friends to help turn me into a girl :)

And yet again, another gorgeous evening spent with my Sydney friends, and a good time was had by all.

Day 58: Shining sun, Impromptu Tweetup, and SMCEDU moving forward

Why do I have to do schoolwork when it is so much fun connecting with people?!?! I kicked off my morning by talking to Kristin about our upcoming trip, which we are both getting excited and nervous about. It should be fun playing it by ear, but nerve-wrecking at the same time! I followed up her call with calls to my parents, which were a little disappointing because it looks like I'm not getting all the things I wanted from home. I definitely asked them at the worst time - my mom has to be out of her house by Tuesday and my dad has his Waves to Wine ride this weekend. Oh well, I've been doing well enough without some of my things, I think I'll survive.

After surfing Twitter for a short time I saw a few friends tweeting about #bbtu - a tweetup put on by @Brasseriebread. They were providing free lunch in Hyde Park at 12:30 pm. How could I say no? I walked down there with my laptop on my back as I was preparing for a conference call with @Yongclee about #SMCEDU at 1pm. While I only stayed long enough to meet some tweeples and grab some food, the sandwich and cupcake were delicious! I quickly scurried to a cafe I found with free wifi and chatted with Yong for a while. We are both very enthusiastic about SMCEDU, and I'm really looking forward to see where we can take this in Sydney. It is good to know that different chapters are heading in different directions, as I think Sydney will do the same.

Once I got home I was all over twitter and the SMCEDU Ning site trying to arrange a time for our next meeting. I'm hoping more people can come along so we can really see what we can accomplish here in Sydney. I really should be working on my Information Literacy presentation, but I am finding so many interesting people online I just don't want to stop. I love how the web is allowing me to find people that might be interested in SMCEDU, and other interesting tweeple around Sydney.

Day 57: Media Chit Chat and Free TV!

Of course after celebrating yesterday, I had to get work done today. The library called my name, and I went to complete a paper that was due in the evening. Luckily it was on a topic I enjoyed and I had already completed part of it, so it wasn't too bad to finish up. I am definitely more productive in the library - I should really spend more time there.

As soon as I finished my paper I power-walked my way to Bar 333 for a short meeting with @sarallenconsult about interning with Media140. I have decided that I will not start until after the break. I need to concentrate on getting my schoolwork done before I take on other endeavours. Sarah seemed perfectly fine with that, as I am sure there will be plenty to do once October rolls around. This is a great opportunity because I think I will get my hands on several aspects of the conference planning. I mentioned that I was interested in live-blogging for the event, and it seems like I'll be able to do that! I love hearing people speak about social media, so why not "retweet" their thoughts to the world? I am really interested in the topic of this conference, as it is about journalism and the real-time web. They have some great speakers lined up and I hope I can learn more about them before the event.

Many of the speakers at the event are on Australia Television, which we have not had - until tonight! My friend had an extra cord and we plugged it in and it works! We have free-to-air TV which is plenty for me. I was doing fine without it, but I am really interested in seeing the news and Aus TV is different than in the US. I will make sure I don't spend countless hours watching brain-draining television - I'm watching strictly for research purposes! :)

Day 56: It's my birthday and... my friends are awesome

I didn't expect anything special for my birthday this year. I am trying to get my work done so I can enjoy my East Coast trip in a few weeks, so I didn't plan anything. Luckily, I have made some great friends here who made it a great day.

After class my friend Helen took me to Myers (department store comparable to Bloomingdales) to get my makeup done. She obviously picked up on the fact that I'm not very girly, and wanted to spoil me for my birthday. I figured later that evening I would just have a few drinks with some friends. Saturday we are planning a party and going somewhere nice for the night because it is Hamed's birthday tomorrow - joint celebrations are always fun! After sitting and chatting on the rooftop of Gumal for a while, I was pleasantly surprised by my friends as they brought up balloons, wine, and cake! It was all very unexpected and definitely made my day. The cake was delicious and we all enjoyed the evening together. I am truly lucky to have made great friends here - it makes everything we do that much better.

Day 55: Sandwich and Soda! It's a lunch time!

Man were my legs sore on my bike ride today! Not quite sure why, but I am going to associate it with the exercises I've been doing while sitting at my desk :) It has also been a while since I rode my bike, so maybe after riding on Sunday my legs hadn't fully recovered. Time to work more on my upper body!

After doing some homework for a while, it was time for Subway Customer Appreciation Day! Buy one foot long sandwich and a drink, get the second free! I guess it isn't really that great of a deal considering I had to buy a drink, but I have been hyping up this day for a week now, so I had to follow through. Subway is my saviour here, and 4 meals for $10 is a pretty sweet deal.

Class this evening was much more enjoyable than it has been. The last few weeks I have been kicking myself in the foot for taking the Organising Information class. After turning in my assignment last week that was not up to my standards, I wasn't looking forward to hearing about this next assignment. Alas, Maureen walked into class to inform us she will be our lecturer for the rest of the semester. She proceeded to explain our next assignment, which is indexing various forms of media. Luckily it has nothing to do with the first assignment besides the topic, so goodbye Microsoft Access and relational databases for now! I think her lecture style makes me more interested in the topic because her enthusiasm rubs off on me. Now I just need to put the last assignment behind me and concentrate (and maybe even enjoy) the next one. I'm hoping to have it completed before I take off on my trip in two weeks, so staying on task is imperative for the near future.

Day 54: Productivity ends in a Headache - but it went away!

Next week I have a group presentation on information literacy policy in Australia and Thailand, so I started by day meeting with my group. We're making some good progress and I think are in fine shape if we keep adding stuff this week. It is interesting reading about the current state of information literacy, especially while I am involved with SMCEDU. I think media literacy is an important topic that should be taught in schools, so I am enjoying reading how different countries are approaching the situation.

After meeting with my group I stayed on campus and did some work on my collaboratory report for Digital Libraries and Collections. Wow, I actually think I accomplished something today! Lots of staring at a computer screen, but at least I got something done.

Unfortunately it was too much staring at a computer screen, because I came back and was plagued with a headache. I haven't had one like this in ages, but I think I was just doing too much schoolwork (this doesn't happen when I'm on Twitter!) I took some Alieve and went for a walk to get some fresh air and hope the headache would subside.

On my walk I stopped and had a phone conversation with @sarallenconsult about Media140! We had been trying to arrange this conversation for over a week, so I think we were both satisfied to be talking instead of e-mailing. It looks like there is a lot to do to prepare for this event, and I am looking forward to it. There is already a bit of buzz going on around the event, so I am trying to keep up with it so I know what's going on. I am going to have to think about how much I can contribute, because I don't want to stress myself out. At the same time this is a great opportunity and I want to do everything I can to make the most out of it.

By the end of my conversation my headache was almost gone!!! This is a huge deal, as in the past no form of medication would make the pain go away. I can't believe I used to have headaches all the time, and I don't know how I managed. I am so glad to be able to control them now. I have grown a tremendous amount physically, mentally, and emotionally, since I graduated high school. What is interesting is that I am witnessing this growth in relation to my health. Let's just hope I keep climbing up the hill as my physical health is closely related to my personal well-being.

Day 53: Same ol' Sunday

Just like I said via Twitter, Library time! But I first spun my legs and enjoyed the sun on my bike for 30 minutes. I took what I imagine will be my usual route - followed the signs towards Annondale, turned right somewhere to end up near Blackwattle Bay, and headed to the Anzac Bridge to make my way back into the city.

The library was nice a quiet, I guess what you would expect for a library, and a Sunday. I researched information literacy, checked out a book about creative commons, and also picked up a copy of Clay Shirky's Here Come's Everybody. I wish I had more time to read so I could actually sit down and enjoy the book, but for now it will suffice to use it for my research paper.

I ended the evening with Vanish and Sabrina watching We Could Be Heroes, the first show by the creator of Summer Heights High. Got to love watching some Australian Comedy!

Day 52: Wollongong FTW... not so much

For our weekend adventure we took the train 2 hours to Wollongong, a beach town south of Sydney, home of University of Wollongong. There wasn't much else there (and we didn't even see the university), but it was a nice beach town away from the city. We went there because a group of my friends went skydiving for AJ's birthday! While I don't have an urge to try skydiving (especially not for $300), jumping out of a plane with the beach in view the whole time seems like a good way to do it.

All in all I wasn't very impressed with Wollongong, but probably because I kept thinking I should have been at home doing my work. It was a nice beach and I enjoyed the view of the lighthouse (always gets me excited, makes me think of my Mom), but it wasn't anything new to see. I would get the same satisfaction from going to Bondi which is much closer. At least I can say I've seen more of Australia!

Day 51: Meeting Day!

11:45 am: Met with Digital Libraries and Collections group at the Australian Museum. We will be scanning transparencies of the top 30 mammals, birds, frogs, and reptiles and cataloging them in a database. Unfortunately they probably won't be able to use the final product we make because they already have an image management system. We might try to create a field guide that can be used on an iPhone - that would be awesome!!!

3:00 pm: Met with Dave, Daniel, and Shelley about starting SMCEDU in Sydney. It was great to get their insight on the social media scene in Sydney and how it relates to education. I think we can really get something started here, and everyone seems very keen to help and make something happen.

Day 50: Another day in the neighborhood

My morning started talking to my Dad. I think he was happy to hear that I was feeling better, as was I. Instead of spending another day inside doing homework, I ventured out for a much needed bike ride. It is always nice to get my heart pumping; I feel much healthier after.

The remainder of the day before class was dedicated to researching more about my social media censorship paper. I really enjoy finding articles - now for the next step of reading them and hoping they have some content I can use...

Day 49: Spring Break 09! (part 2)

I finally feel like I'm in the clear, but I know I'm not. I have a paper due next Thursday, a presentation in two weeks, and a lot of assignments to work on before I leave for my break. Because guess what, I'm travelling the East Coast with Kristin!!! She is going to get in from San Francisco on Thursday, Sept. 17, and we're flying to Cairns on Sept. 22! It is going to be a great trip, and I'm so glad we get to do it together. We are going in true backpacker fashion, planning the trip as we go. We both like to have fun and try new things, so I think it's a good fit. Way better than going by myself, and a lot less to worry about with only 2 people. While I am so excited for this trip, I know I need to work hard until then so I don't have to think about my assignments when we are gone. Gotta love having two spring breaks in one year...

Day 48: Due Date #1

If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done. No, really. I'm surprised I finished it at all. But at least I don't need to think about it anymore. Now on to the next few assignments...