Google is providing free WiFi in some of the larger airports around the country this holiday season. While this is obviously a marketing effort, it is one that is both good and worthwhile. Providing convenience as a tool of CRM (customer relationship management) is positive; everyone, consumers and enterprise alike, benefits. In addition, this endeavor is in lock-step with Google’s efforts to provide the public with government sponsored high speed bandwidth, another advantageous and appropriately fitting contrivance. This approach should be encompassed worldwide.

No doubt many will decry this deed as self serving for Google and its affiliates, but welcome to the real world. Lunch is never free. The very linchpin of free content-laden media access is advertising. Folks need to understand that the bill must be paid, and when corporate pays it, they want a desirable ROI (return on investment). This is the basis of business bravura in an unfettered society.

Commercial affairs concerning endorsements are in the end user’s best interest. We would be hard pressed to know about the things we purchase and then find we cannot live without were it not for promulgation.

October is breast cancer awareness month, but breast cancer awareness should be throughout the year, not just for a single tide. I make this post so that it may be remembered that breast cancer knows no timetable. Much information exists at BreastCancer.org and at The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Web sites, as well as many others. Breast cancer is a terrible affliction affecting the lives of not only stricken women, but their families and friends as well. This is just one more example of an ailing prostration that we can eliminate. It is difficult to find someone who has not known or whose life has not been touched by an unfortunate sufferer of this insidious malady. Like all other infirmities that have been conquered, this is another that can, should, and hopefully will be. Let us all be enlightened and informed. And to all women, please be alert to your body, do self-checks on a regular basis, obtain professional exams, and, when age appropriate, have a yearly mammogram. Let’s end breast cancer now. Think pink all year ’round!

…was asked by television programming magnate Joss Wedon, who queried, “Why can’t everyone love it like I do?” This seems to me to be the consumate lack of understanding between us all. We love something, why can’t everyone else? It stems from our fundamental belief that each of us is right minded in our thinking, whether that is accepted by the populace or not. And so we wonder, if we love it, why can’t everyone else?

I have the firm belief that the best educators remember what is was like to be a student. They were students once themselves, had to be to get where they are, and now they dedicate their lives to perpetuating that grand tradition of learning. By keeping in mind what is was like when they were undergoing what their students now endure, they keep an appreciation, a sympathy, and an empathy. In doing so, I submit that they enhance the learning experience by avoiding what did not work for them and providing what did, or at least what would have. Teachers are among the most self-sacrificing of all professions. They immortalize for all of mankind that which is required for the imparting of skill and understanding of our world. There can be little of greater sacrifice. Here is to teachers everywhere. Every person that has ever learned owes you a debt of gratitude and thanks. Please remember when you were where we are now, and help us to move through these times successfully as you did.

To me, the use of Twitter and my blog go hand in hand. Twitter’s incredible rise to spectacular heights of usage makes it an efficacious delivery vehicle for my headline, and then by adding my blog link, I am afforded the opportunity to have my voice heard world wide via my site at Edublogs.org. And what is of particular note is that both of these services are free of charge!

I am new to the SNS purview. I spread my interests over a variety of posting sites. I find I can network with other (in my current state, future) professionals on LinkedIn.com. I trend my wellness efforts at Limeade.com. I frolic on one of the Internet playgrounds at MySpace.com. And as previously stated, I orate on Twitter.com and Edublogs.org.

I was an early adopter to the Internet and the World Wide Web back in 1993. Little was available in the way of content in those days of information infancy. But as time moved inexorably forward, the mighty admonition autobahn grew exponentially. Unfortunately, due to untimely illness and finacial hardship, I was forced to give up my online access. For ten long years, I subsisted in a dissuasion deprived vacuum.

My delivery arrived in the form of formal education. At the tender age of 55, I went back to school. I did so in an effort to rid myself of the yoke of disability. I decided I still had something to contribute, that I was not through living, that I could find a new career in this brave new world, and not only survive, but thrive!

One of the first things that happened to me on my matriculation ingress was the use of the Web 2.0 augmentations. I had heard of social networking, but thought it pedantic and sophmoric. Imagine my delightful surprise to find that where my previous use of the ‘Net was to do simple research on subjects of interest, I could now interact with others on the same quests as I!

This has led to my being here, now, as a student blogger. An old man in an apprenticeship, but then, what greater joys can there be than in learning something new? Few for myself. Having been a  person of passionate persuasion throughout my life, I now can share those affectivities. I can blog. I can tweet. I can interactively communicate!

My path towards excellence in this endeavor will be long, but I find myself improving not only my mind, but my body as well. I have begun to take the reins of my health firmly in grip, and I exercise regularly, I eat nutritionally, and I take time to enjoy my life. I share all of these experiences. I do so by blogging and tweeting.

I know my regenerations of psyche and soma will reward me with a long and happy life, and while I live it, I’ll happily apportion with like-minded others. I can do so from the comfort of my home, extending my reach planet wide. I am on a great adventure!

Professor May is my Photoshop CS 4 instructor at Pellissippi State, one of their finest, and was kind enough to lend his considerable talents and precious time in helping me finalize the appearance of my header design. While the work is both original and mine, his helpful suggestions and input afforded, IMHO, an excellent end product. Won’t you, constant reader, leave a comment and let me know what you think?

I wish to thank all the fine people at edublogs for having chosen my humble blog, “The most important tips for educators starting out blogging with students”, as a winning entry in the “Share your tips – and win BIG!” contest. I am sure there were many others just as if not more deserving of the honor. I am quite honored!

My name is Gregory Stringer, and my Internet handle is Grannelle. Six weeks ago I had no idea what SNS was, or even stood for (I’m a 56 year old disabled retiree, returning to school for retraining in the hopes of going back to work). Today, I am very active on many Social Networking Sites. In addition to blogging, I also “tweet” (http://twitter.com/Grannelle), have a MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/grannelle), track my wellness odyssey on Limeade (https://limeade.com/SecureLogin.aspx), and list my professional information on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/stringergregory). I can even be found on Google (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=ie7&q=gregory+stringer&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7ACGW_enUS344US344)!

Many sites offer the ability to blog as well as network. What follows are a few of my “secrets” for successful blogging in particular and for joining in on associated SNS in general.

1. Develop a profile document – Almost every site asks for the same general information when registering for access. I have therefore found it helpful to create a document that includes information such as name, address, e-mail, and any other information that is requested on each site I am interested in joining. By keeping this information current, I can simply copy and paste whatever is needed in the required fields. This can be a great time saver, and it insures that my data is consistent.

2. Investigate which sites you want to join – Since I am very active in not only blogging, but also commenting on articles I’ve read, I find it helps to narrow the field somewhat by only registering with those sites I am most interested in visiting. These may be news sites, blogs, and so on. It is very easy to get lost when surfing the ‘Net, especially when clicking link after link. Ergo, I will bookmark a site that looks intriguing, and when I have time, return to examine what is there. If it looks like something I think I may be enticed by, I’ll take the time to register. If not, I delete the site from my bookmarks.

3. Use an auto form-fill program – I use RoboForm with IE8. This way, I don’t have to track passwords every time I log on, though I do keep a secure record of all passwords. Again, this is a time-saver, and as a student, I find my time is at a premium. With a simple click, my user name and password are entered at each site I visit.

4. Link sites to each other – I post my “headline” on Twitter, and add a link to my blog site here at Edublogs. I also will link other blog postings, i.e. MySpace, to my main blog. I find it handy to link comments I make on one site to pertinent blogs. This serves to increase my visibility across the Web.

5. Ask questions of more experienced bloggers – As a newbie, I find I must often seek advice from others, such as Ms. Sue Waters (Sue Waters Blog), who shares some terrific instruction at The Edublogger (http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/). Ms. Waters, a technophile and apparent chocolate lover, hosts a wealth of erudition for those of us just starting out.

6. A default picture to post – I currently don’t have one, but I plan to go to one of the larger discount stores that offer portrait shots at economical prices. This is handy, as it gives a face to the “voice”. People like to know a little about whom they are speaking with, and a recent picture is helpful. It also gives your postings a more professional, as well as personal, feel.

There is a contest currently being hosted at http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2009/08/11/share-your-tips-and-win-big/. For more information about effective blogging, questions posed by others new to the pursuit, and related advisement, click the above link.

I hope the reader has found something helpful here. If you have questions, or if you’d care to add to what has been said, please feel free to leave a comment. For me, blogging is a large part of my educational experience, and in any scholastic endeavor, the participation of everyone only increases the adventure. Won’t you join me in the journey for wisdom?

While this blog site started, and continues to be, a project for a class I am taking in communications and media technology, it is at the same time taking on a life of its own.

I originally logged on to the Internet back in ‘93, back in the days when most Web sites were simply text. I was active until the onset of my disablities in ‘00, when my fortunes took a downturn and was unable to maintain an ISP account. For almost a decade, I was offline.

At the beginning of this year, ‘09, I was once again Internet-enabled, thanks to the assistance of educational financial aid. Many things had changed when I got back online, not the least of which was the demise of Usenet (the first thing I desperately tried to access, and to my chagrin found was sorely lacking in todays world) and the genesis of SNS. In this past month, I have begun to embrace this brave new world of social networking, and finding I like it more and more.

I think one of the greatest advantages to receiving an education is the surprising and unexpected ways it improves and enriches my life. This school project, and in it’s larger sense, this personal communications venue, has been among the things I count as my greatest blessings. My sincere thanks to my instructor and to the wonderful people here at Edublogs. When my finances pernit, I will be upgrading to Supporter status. I would recommend that any and all others do the same.

Greetings to the virtual world! My name is Gregory, and I am a student of Web Design at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, TN. I am doing this blog page as part of an assignment for Introduction to Media Technologies, but I hope for it to grow into much more. As Confucious said, the longest journey begins with the first step. Geronimo!