Greg's On the Road Version

I've just gone into a new stage of my Internet Life. I noticed that every now and then I make a very interesting discoveries and changes. However, they are mostly in the virtual world - in the world of internet. My real life is a bit of mess (confession). OK.

So what's new? ;)

1. I got to dislike Internet Explorer  though I still use it because of Maxthon (it's just the best) and the speed of loading (Firefox load slower). But I understood why people prefer Firefox - it's just more normal browser (not antiquated).
2. CMS - I put my website on CMS Mambo and I'm very pleased. It looks much better now (www.angielski.szczotka.net - be careful - it's in Polish)
3. Online Courses (Moodle, ATutor) - I set up both of them and Moodle looks much better. I will do a lot of courses in the future
4. Another blog - I set up my private blog (using Nucleus CMS) - www.szczotka.net (it's in English ;))
5. Bluejacking - I tried it and I succeeded but the experiment wasn't reproduced anymore ;)
6. My Granny is 80  Happy Birthday, My Granny!
7. Web positioning - it's really hard work. I'm not even in google. I try to have a link to my page on pages with good google's pageranks (any volunteers? ;))
8. I joined Polish internet social net (community group)
9. I made some new contacts online
10. I passed the exam
11. I'm working on my site
12. I was in different city

A content management system (or CMS) is a system used to organize and facilitate collaborative content creation. Recently, the term has been associated with programs for managing the content of web sites. Web content management (WCM) is also used to refer to these programs. The modern content management system is a computerized tool born of less technical sources (address books, encyclopedias, rolodex, etc.). The idea is to take information and organize it so that it's easily retrievable, updatable, flexible in how it can be reformatted and retransmitted, and searchable. Today's content management systems are elaborate software/database applications designed to store and process large amounts of complex information. Any application which manages information could technically be considered a CMS, such as Help Desk software, Address/contact management systems, web blogs, etc. However a classic content management system is generally regarded as a framework of tools that are less application or data-specific. A well-designed CMS should be like a computer: able to be "programmed" with different rules and perform different types of processes and manage different applications and related data. (Wikipedia)

A Managed Learning Environment (MLE), Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Learning Management System (LMS), Course Management System (CMS), orLearning Support System (LSS) is a software system designed to facilitate management and student involvement in e-learning. The terms "virtual learning environment" or "managed learning environment" are favored in the United Kingdom and many other European countries, while "course management system" is more prevalent in the United States. Although, frequently used interchangeably with "course management system" or "virtual learning environment," the term "learning management system" is more frequently associated (at least in the United States) with software for managing corporating training programs rather than courses in traditional education institutions. All of these terms describe a wide range of systems that organize and provide access to online education services for students, teachers, and administrators. These services usually include access control, provision of learning content, communication tools, and administration of user groups. (Wikipedia)

ONLINE / VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS - site with many interesting links (also about blogging)

Bluejacking is the sending of unsolicited messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers. Bluetooth has a very limited range, usually around 10 meters on cellular phones, but laptops can reach up to 100 meters with powerful transmitters. The name originated with a user named ajack on esato.com. Jack was in a bank, searching for other BT enabled devices. When he found a Nokia 7650, he sent the owner a message saying "Buy Ericsson". He called it bluejacking, and it stuck ever since. Some people think that the term bluejacking comes from Bluetooth and hijacking. While that certainly sounds logical, a bluejacker doesn't hijack anything: he merely uses a feature on his and the recipient's device. Both parties remain in absolute control over their devices, and a bluejacker will not be able to take over your phone or steal your personal information. Bluejacking is quite harmless, but because bluejacked people don't know what is happening, they think their phone caught a virus or it is in serious need of an exorcist. Usually, a bluejacker will only send a text message, but with modern phones it's possible to send images or sounds as well.But with the increase in the availability of bluetooth enabled devices , these devices have become vulnarable to virus attacks and even complete take over of devices through a trojan horse program. (Wikipedia)

Another intersting Pocket PC program that I've found. It's designed to learn foreign vocabulary. They offer a good choice of languages. This program allows you to play language games. You can add your own words. They also offer free The LingvoSoft FlashCards Builder.

Apart from FlashCards program they have a lot of dictionaries so their site  is a must visit for any language learner

There are a few things that I want to achieve this year. I want to pass two important exams: driving license and Cambridge Proficiency (English). I would like to study abroad - England or the USA. I want to give up smoking and keep fit more regularly. I want to have good grades at my studies. I would like to improve psychologically, socially and spiritually.

I chose English as my main language of writing in the net. It is not my mother tongue. Neither did I graduate in English studies. Therefore a problem of being understood arises. I don't yet have this comfort during writing that everything that I write is properly formulated and understood by the reader. Sometimes I am not completely sure if what I want to express
will sound good in English. Sometimes my sentences may seem awkward. Apart from linguistic differences there are many cultural differences that may hinder my communication with you. For example, my writing may seam bleak or expressionless. It may sometimes be incorrect in some social way. That is why I ask you for your feedback and. If you notice that I wrote something that sounds unnatural, please let me know. Otherwise I will keep making the
same mistake for ever.

So it's my first entry from my new Bluetooth hp keyboard. Writing on it is quite convenient though iPAQ can’t' be positioned in the landscape view. Well, it can be but the keyboard is not adapted to it. It's really great that I can write so fast on my PDA. It's just as convenient as with regular keyboard. I am positively surprised. The difference is that you can put your whole computer into your pocket. I hope that it will give me a great boost to my  moblogging. And I will stay in touch with you writing on my BT keyboard. Thank you my sponsors - Mammy and Granny ;) I'm also going to take notes of my lectures. I will definitely stand out by doing it but I have heard of students doing the same thing. I guess in the States it's more popular. Still, I will feel a little embarrassed.

So it comes that 2004 has ended. I would like to share with you a few of my recollections and particularly things that I achieved in 2004. I am in the fourth year of my studies which means that in a year and half I will be graduating. This means of course some hard work but I don't think it's beyond my power. I passed an international English exam - Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English with the best grade A. I was an interpreter at the conference with an American psychologist. I met the most famous psychologist in the world - Philip Zimbardo. I visited London and my friends in Norwich. I was living with a genuine Englishman - Fred. I set up my own net domain, my web page and blog. I bought the best Pocket PC - HP iPAQ hx4700, case for it, memory card and Bluetooth foldable keyboard. I was given a digital camera at my birthday. I moved back to my parents after five years of living alone. I was working as a teacher of English in secondary and high schools. I upgraded my computer including DVD-recorded, fast hard drive and graphics card. That's in general my year 2004. Much happened and not everything is so easy to name as buying a new piece of hardware or passing and exam. Not everything can be said openly in the web. But it was an interesting year. I think that it gave me a lot of directions for my professional future as well as things that I would like to get down to in 2005.

At last I got an invitation for a Gmail account. I've been waiting for it for so long. You can write to me: greg606 (at) gmail dot com. It's a wonderful Christmas gift. Thanks Hal Cardona and Scot Logan. Automatically I can send 4 invitations so if you want one, just let me know.

Manybooks.net  gives you an opportunity to choose from among over 10,000 e-books. These are said to be formatted for your PDA's. Go and check it out .
via Pocket Pc Thoughts

These are other great programs for your learing using the Pocket PC. They are all flash cards programs but you can use them to learn everything not only vocab.
HandyCards - many testing modes, Pocket Flash Cards, Learn Words

Supermemo is one of the programs for students based on the old concept of "flash cards" - Questions and Anwers pairs. This method is very widerspread not only in electronical form. SuperMemo thanks to an advanced spaced repetition algorithm gives you an advantage to repeat only critical information, namely, exactly this which you are about to forget. Supermemo is the most known and the most sophisticated flashcard program ever but not the only one. This site reviews many similiar flashcards programs and gives you a chance to find one which suits your needs.

My parents remember the times when there were no computers. They, of course, were also students. But they were more healthy. Their lives were not so computer dependent. Today I read about a man who tries to not use the computer for several days. His last record was 4 days. He is unsure if he can achieve more. Think how much a regular student is depended on PC:

·         Notes are only worthy when they are printed

·         The main source of information is internet

·         The main means of communication with his fellows students is IM and email

·         His presentations are good if they're enhanced by some kind of multimedia technology

·         His time management is effective if all his agenda is put down in Microsoft Outlook.

·         He enjoys computer games - it means hours of time spent at the computer

·         He doesn't watch TV or read newspapers because all news he gets via internet

·         His music collection is digital - thousand of mp3's

·         His photo albums are digital - thousands of photos

·         Books are cheaper in digital form.

·         His PDA and PMC allows him to have all digital information always at hand

Given these circumstances it's small wonder that a regular student spends so much time in front of the computer. This all creates a tremendous addiction because though the computer is useful it's also unhealthy. It's often hard to differentiate a normal computer use from addiction. Dr. Orzack defines computer addiction:

Computer addiction, like other addictions, is the use of computers in order to change an individual's mood. Computer use becomes abuse when it interferes with one's work or school, or disrupts personal and family relationships, and becomes increasingly necessary in order to feel good.

I remember the times when I was spending all my time playing computer games, neglecting all the reality, which caused severe psychological and health problems. But now it's not much different. I also play computer games when I'm not so happy and I spend most of my time at the computer. Beware, computer may claim all your life.

Top 10 Signs You're Addicted to the Net

10. You wake up at 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom and stop and check your e-mail on the way back to bed.

9. You get a tattoo that reads "This body best viewed with Netscape Navigator 1.1 or higher."

8. You name your children Eudora, Mozilla and Dotcom.

7. You turn off your modem and get this awful empty feeling, like you just pulled the plug on a loved one.

6. You spend half of the plane trip with your laptop on your lap...and your child in the overhead compartment.

5. You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two, just for the free Internet access.

4. You laugh at people with 2400-baud modems.

3. You start using smileys in your snail mail.

2. The last mate you picked up was a JPEG.

1. Your hard drive crashes. You haven't logged in for two hours. You start to twitch. You pick up the phone and manually dial your ISP's access number. You try to hum to communicate with the modem.

You succeed.

I love my Pocket PC. But in some ways it only reflects my dependence on the digital technology. I am aware that this approach is pretty critical and negative. But sometime it's better to face the music and give up your lovely computer for the sake of your health and happy life. Sorry guys, psychology is worried with you. It's not that you can't use computer at all. But I think that this passion is dangerous - it doesn't give you grounding in reality. It's only Cyber-reality. If you want to find out more about the psychology of cyber-reality here is the link. Are you computer or internet addict?

For those of us who are teachers, I am one after a fashion, this article will show that using Pocket PC's can be very beneficial for teachers. Using PDA by teachers of English has many advantages. In classroom:

1. You always have several dictionaries
2. You always have all the notes
3. You always have a grammar book
4. You always have your students data

You do not have the state of the art iPAQ but any Pocket PC can give you these advantages. Not to mention having photos of your family and favourite audiobooks

If you learn a foreign language or any kind of science, you wil need to remember a good number of remembering. SuperMemo allows you to remember hugn numbers of items in a flash card way but what is expetional in this method is a spaced repetion. Program will tell you when you need to review each portion of knowledge so you neet only to repeat a small fraction of your whole material. What is also worth mentioning is XML compatibility of the bases which means you can use them either on your Pocket PC or your destkop PC.
Here is the link to this version of SuperMemo
Here is the interesting article about SuperMemo CE and XML

Many years ago I used a digital organiser for phone numbers and short notes. I especially liked the possibility of putting notes into it. I was putting new words, interesting quotes and facts into it. However, memory of those advices was greatly limited (128 Kb at most), and also another things prevented those from more creative use. Nowadays, most of us keep phone numbers in our mobile phones, so personal organizers became obsolete. In the meantime, technological developement allowed us to have pc in your pocket. Palmtops and Pocket PC's has bacome very popular. I also have one. And it's become my main tool for my daily student activities:
PIM
(Personal Information Management) - calendar, tasks, and contacts. Becase Pocket PC uses Pocket versions of Microsot Office applications - I keep all my data in one format but in two places - PPC and PC. And it's always very nice organized, sorted etc. I can see everything with one touch of the screen. I can immediately send an e-mail to someone, look up an address or phone number. I can see what task, activities or goals I should pursue at the moment.
Note taking  
if you have an additional keyboard you can take notes during the lecture. It's smaller than the laptop or tablet pc so it doesn't stand out so much. If you want you can record voice notes.
Reference - dictionaries, encyclopedia and Internet 
during a lecture or a class you may need some piece of information, if you study English as I had done, you will need to look up a word. For any other data you may use an encyclopedia or Internet. It's yet again fast and give you the advantage of an instant access to the knowledge.
e-books, audio books 
as a student I always want to broaden my mind. I read a lot and listen to a lot of different audio books. I can do all these on my iPAQ. e-books are cheaper and more convenient to carry (imagine 100 hundred books in your pocket ) Audio books give you the possibility to use your time to its fullest.

I ran across a very nice blog run by a student using Tablet PC. Although I don't have a Tablet PC (a way too expensive), I often visit it as this blog provides a very good articles about improving your study skills using digital technologies. It also gives a lot of advice about which programms to use, how to use it, and what to spend your money on. You have to visit it! Here is the link

Two day ago I was at the splending lecture. A lecturer Bert Hellinger was talking about his method of therapy - family constellations. Bert radiates with equanimity and realisation. It wasn't a usual lecture. It was actually more like a training or rather spiritual meeting. He did some meditations which concentrated on family. He regards a family as fundumental for our well-being. The most important thing is the relation with parents. And all problems stem from some problems with family system

Today I got my two long-awaited books:
Richard Bandler - Time for a Change
David Allen - Getting Things Done
I cannot say how chuffed I am . I've already started to read "Getting Things Done" and it's very inspiring. I talked with my friend about our plans after graduating the university. We both want to set up a company which will coach people. However, she is more inclined to Public Relations and management. I tend to be more interested in productivity and more psychological stuff (motivation, emotions, etc) I reckon trainings is what I want to do in the future. It's interesting how it's changed during my uniwersity years. At the begining I was focused on clinical psychology and psychotherapy. Now It's changed towards dealing with "normal" people or rather with people achieving success and helping them to achieve more.
This books are exactly what I'm interested in. I've been craving for them for years.
Recently I'm studying getting things done technique which can be incorporeted into daily activies, and in fact greatly enhance them. There is also a very interesting Microsoft Outlook GTD plug-in which customises Outlook for using it whit GTD methodology. You can download the trial here. Richard Bandler is the creator of NLP and DHE (much more advanced techinque) You can find out more about this extraordinary mind and personlity at his site here. He does a lot of training which are undoubtlessly worth checking out. If you are not deterred by the price, go for it!!! I recommend you many his audio programmes about DHE. Which can be bought online. I am sitting in the computer room in psychology departament of the Wroclaw University, Poland. I hope, that you will get interested in those two great minds which will guide you to a better life. I'm going to write about GTD and DHE later on.

Sleep Deprivation Therapy or Wake Therapy was accidentally discovered in 1960's.
This treatment works like this: You sleep until 1:00 AM. Then you wake up and stay awake all day. As long as you don't sleep, you feel great. You'll be tired, but you'll feel great. As soon as you go back to sleep, the depression returns. It lead to the discovery of Chronobiology (the study of how our body clocks work). Wake Therapy combined with light therapy (exposing to very intensive light that can reset our body clocks) leads to a long-lasting cure for depression
http://www.apollolight.com/pdf_files/Wake%20Therapy%20Helps%20Treat%20Depression.pdf

I've just come back from the hatha yoga class. It was wonderful. A lot of women ;) It gave me a very positive dose of energy. My yoga teacher is really great.

Melvyn Brag in a programme "In Our Times" presents the ideas of C.G. Jung. There is an mp3 to download with this programme. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime.shtml

I've been using blogger for a while but it doesn't support categories. I decided to create my space. We'll see how it will work out  I see it's wonderful. I will stick to it!