Technology for Learning

photo credit: dmje

After being tagged by Alec Couros, reading his 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me and being fascinated by his stories, I knew I would have to think carefully to provide something interesting for you to read. So here goes (in no particular order).

1. I have never had a traffic ticket (parking tickets don’t count). Yes I’ve gone over the speed limit and there have been times when one might question whether I should have stopped for that red light. My daughter contends that I’m rule bound and therefore missing out on some fun. I would rather save my money for something more productive than paying a fine.
2. I spent my summers during high school being a camp counselor, and my nickname was Buhme. As I recall it had something to do with the noise that occupied beds made when lifted and dropped (boom – and the occupants woke up rather sharply). We stylized the spelling – we were teens after all. At a leadership training camp for counsellors, my evaluation said I was too enthusiastic. Who ever heard of a counsellor being too enthusiastic? I thought that was the nature of the job!
3. There are a great number of adopted children in my life. My two first cousins, my husband and his sister, my sister’s first husband, two of my father’s second cousins and as we learned later in life my own father. The attitudes toward adoption clearly changed over the years as it was with great love that all these children were raised and with the choice of seeking their birth parents. Because he never knew until later in life my father missed the opportunity to act on that choice. We now know who his birth mother was but little about her or her family. Will I always wonder? Probably – but my grandmother will forever be the one that lived with us and loved me as the granddaughter I was to her.
4. I love to scrapbook, and take great pleasure in scrapping special photo memory pages for family. I just finished and framed an engagement page for my nephew and his fiancee as a Christmas present. I did a wedding album for my neice, and an 80th birthday memoir book for my mother. I feel like I’ve given a piece of myself with these gifts and wish for nothing in return but a thank-you hug.
5. When I was growing up, my “what I want to be” wish was someone who had nice clothes and carried a briefcase. I think that was my vision of being successful. I don’t know what I thought I would be doing in that successful career. But I now have a fettish for laptop/tote bags (and shoes to match).
6. My biggest fear is missing a plane. Prior to travelling anywhere by air (even the 45 minute flight to Edmonton), I have nightmarish dreams about the terrible things that could cause me to be late. The dreams are vivid and memorable – a car accident, a home invasion, a visit from aliens. So I always arrive early at the airport, drink lattes and read books. My friends are not always so understanding, but luckily my family is.
7. I go by the nickname rdrunner on several sites. When I was first building an online presence I was nervous about being me. Funny that it was Alec that tagged me for this meme, and Alec that was my mentor and guide into online networks to begin with. But I digress. My nickname came from my first job. I was responsible for the computer room that ran the western offices of a federal government department – mounting tapes, reseating boards, startup/shutdown, changing disk packs, monitoring switches. And sometimes pulling cables through false ceilings. In those days we wore lab coats in the computer room, as we considered it to be a sterile environment. The site of the white coat flying down the halls past desks and open doors delivering output or troubleshooting problems was the origin of the name – Roadrunner. No coyotes, just lots of energy. And if you’ve met me in SL, you’ll know me as Bip Wylie. I leave you to figure that one out.

So there are the seven things you may not have known about me. Once I got started, it wasn’t so hard after all. I look forward to reading about others in our network – the power of which still continues to amaze me.

And here are the next seven I have tagged:

Lorna Costantini
Matt Montagne
Cindy Zautcke
Heidi Hass Gable
Penny Lindballe
Peggy George
Jaymie Koroluk