The Nightmare Before Christmas
I guess this is a kind of things to do list with added panic.
- Documentation (The Consolidation Of)
You see, I actually do write documentation, notes, screenshots, snippets of code etc.
I have no problem at all with this part of my job, I actually quite enjoy it (alarming I know), the problem lies with the fact that I take notes and screen dumps, probably like most people on whichever computer I happen to be on at the time, some stuff goes on an Intranet, some stuff goes on a blog, some stuff goes on Google Docs/Notes and reams of it lives in various folders marked *To Do*, *Sort This* and variations thereof.
I have many tools at my disposal that could help me correct this but the evolution of various projects causes so many changes both major and minor that makes bringing order to this documentation a daunting task. Perhaps a couple of weeks on “Project Freeze” (aside from emergencies) would help.
- A Similar Chaos Exists On My Hard Drive
You’d think I was the kind of guy that thrived on this kind of disarray.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask my family.
It’s an effort for me not to buy a box of tiny clothes hangers and line up all those Barbie outfits by colour (as well as by category.. casual, dressy).
Don’t get me started on those toys that come from cereal packets.
- Finish Those Courses
There’s a big push on getting more rich media on Moodle.
Fantastic, just the sort of thing I like to see, as well as going some way to justifying my existence it’s also, on a personal level, immensely satisfying to see people getting a rich and supportive experience from work that I’ve done whether they be staff or student or indeed, anyone.
The problem being (although it’s not really a problem when you have a team - albeit a small one - working on a solution to this) is, as always, time. So, I’m building a course chock full of tutorials on how to create rich content just from the stuff that pretty much just *appears* (or is easily and freely available) on people’s computers.. on Windows/Office, stuff like Movie Maker, Office Picture Manager, Photo Story on Mac.. marvellous things to do with the iLife suite which tends to get ignored a bit when specialist pro-apps are installed and used but iLife is often a quick and easy way of creating rich content from photo slideshows to full on bells and whistles podcasts.
Anyway, this is a nice change of scenery for me and it helps me to help them to help me to help them and all of that other circular stuff that will hopefully be a strong foundation for moving to a more open development model. Forge a stronger communication and bond between all involved in delivering course materials.. I start to get a bit happy clappy from this point so I’m going to move on.
(You should also see the system I’m trying to come up with for booking and tracking loaned equipment, it’s dead geeky and incredibly anal, you’d love it).
- Buying A Christmas Tree
It’s not that easy is it?
If I lived in Alaska or Norway or somewhere else snowy and tree-like I would pile on my bearskins (or whatever, stereotypes are allowed in fantasy worlds ok?) go out and chop one down and get my pack of tame wolves to drag it back to my cathedral like log cabin, I’d put the thing up and watch my family decorate it whilst I settled down in an astonishingly large chair with an equally large scotch and a couple of chapters of Hemingway.
As it happens we have to go to the garden centre and check that the trees are in fact “tree-tops” and not small trees pulled out of the ground and avoid artificial trees at all costs, even if the label claims that the convenience of these monstrosities genuinely will change my life for the better.
- ..And Then Some
There’s food shopping, let’s go careful, there’s a credit crunch going on and nobody really likes beetroot anyway. There’s also a whole other bunch of work stuff going on that I am at the very least going to need to be able to sit straight down with in January and crack on with.
It’s Christmas already.
Didn’t you know?
