Productive or Crazy?
One of the things I wanted to accomplish this summer was getting some of my technology updated along with making my life easier. As the summer officially draws to a close, I have been able to reflect on this and am wondering exactly how this has helped me become more productive???
In late May I went for the phone update because I was ready for an upgrade and made the switch to the iPhone. Love it. While getting the iPhone I decided I would also get a Verizon HotSpot so I could connect to the internet at the beach. Love it and it was well worth the investment. I was completely on a technology high.
Wow-I just might become the most productive person in the universe….
In June I started this blog by teaching myself how to use the software and in July I went cold turkey to an electronic calendar. That means no more paper calendar in my school bag. I felt like a child who was giving up a passy…I needed to do it but wasn’t sure I would survive.
How will I soothe myself?
Bossy Boots loved her passy as much as I loved my paper calendar. Both gone.
In July ERG also started our website revamp which has included getting Twitter accounts, YouTube accounts, and learning lots of lingo about web design and layouts. All these accounts include passwords. Lots and lots of logins and passwords. I had to create a file to keep them all straight even though I am sure there is a super cool iPhone app for that! The “punch list” for the website is much longer than I imagined but we will be unveiling soon and it’s going to be amazing. I also learned how to use Dropbox for my beach pictures so I could share them with friends. Only took about 3 different tries and emails to my friends to get it to work.
Isn’t technology grand?
In August, I splurged for a Macbook Air (tax free!) because I wanted something light-weight to take into classrooms when I am working with teachers. That was all wonderful until I tried to “migrate” some files and realized my iMac at home has different software than my iMac at work. I keep wondering how this happened and how do I get what I wanted migrated to the my new laptop?
I feel my technology high slipping….
In my tech stupor, I had not accounted for the downside of being super productive with cool gadgets is that the gadgets can break. Here’s the litany of problems I have tried to solve on top of learning about all my new toys:
The HotSpot charger had issues, the blog doesn’t integrate with our new website (yet!), initially the calendar wouldn’t sync (thank goodness my brother-in-law is a Mac genius), the Twitter account is currently dormant (I don’t want to tweet accidentally), I had to send the Flip Cameras off for fixing in order to create a video for YouTube, and my Macbook Air is still not happy with some of my files.
Whew. Purging is nice.
In retrospect, I think I accomplished my techy goals for the summer. What I really need at this point is someone to send me a certificate for renewal credit. I promise I earned it! Paper copy, please.