Between Facebook, multiple Twitter accounts, Google+, Google’s address book, and our internal CRM system for Swift Kick, I have so many different names for groupings of the people I follow, that it was getting extremely confusing to bounce between each network. I know my network is my net worth and it’s paid me back infinity+1, but that only happens when I can access the correct network at the correct time. So I set out to determine a default list of groupings that I could use across the networks. Here’s where I’m at…

PROFESSIONAL CONTACTS:

• Student Leaders
• Student Affairs Professionals
• Alumni Professionals
• Entrepreneurs
• Investors / VCs
• EO Members
• Speakers
• Education PR People
• Other Education Folk
• Other Professionals
• CrowdFunding / MicroFunding Professionals

PERSONAL CONTACTS:

• Family
• Extended Family
• Colberts
• NYC Friends
• Chicago Friends
• College Friends
• Highschool Friends
• Forum Members
• TechStars NY
• Swift Kick
• SuperCamp

ORGANIZATIONS:

• Student Affairs Accounts
• College Accounts
• Alumni Accounts
• Alumni Organizations
• SA Organizations
• CrowdFunding / MicroFunding Organizations
• Other Companies

OTHERS:

• World News / Info
• NYC Happenings
• Randoms

Spotted this resume at #ACPA11 from a grad student looking for a job. Chances are 99.99% of people who look at his resume won’t actually use the QR Code, but the simple idea of having it on the resume says a lot about him and will also help him stand out in a stack if resumes.

I haven’t seen my parents, who live in Chicago, in over six months. The national ACUI conference was held in Chicago this week so I extended my trip through the weekend to spend some time with them. It makes me happy to spend time with them as I know they are getting older and time is something I can’t ask for more of.

Tonight I went to dinner with my parents and two brothers. After we submitted our orders, my younger brother pulled out his laptop, placed it on the table, and scanned Facebook. I turned to him and told him that that’s just not something you should do in a restaurant, especially when you’re eating with other people. He’s an adult though, so he’s going to do what he wants to do and surfed for a little longer before putting it away. My mom got a call from work that she picked up and answered. She then got a call from my oldest brother in CA and put him on speaker phone for us to talk to. We all said she shouldn’t do that as there are other tables around us and that’s just not what you should do in a restaurant. My other brother at the table got a call from an automated credit card system. He picked up and listened. My dad got a call from someone that was a mistake. My younger brother pulled out his phone to do some surfing. While all this was going on, we did manage to eat our meal and have a nice conversation. But talk about distractions.

I’m pretty addicted to technology and so I’m uber conscious of being distracted by it when engaging with other people in real life. It’s not enough to say “kids now-a-days” as my older bother and parents both felt the need to pick up their phones at dinner too.

My phone is always an arms length from me. Tonight I consciously had it in my pocket so I didn’t check it until I walked to the bathroom and when we left the restaurant, but that’s a conscious choice I have to do as the urge to check it, pick it up, or surf it is always there.

My nephew, Noah, learned how to call me from ACbert’s phone. 

The graph below of total Red Rover page views shows an interesting pattern with online student engagement, in that, they don’t hang around online during the weekends. Well at least they don’t hang around their school’s Red Rover site on the weekends. It’s interesting to see how almost perfectly symmetrical it is.

Annie and I are traveling on a Megabus down to DC right now for the Rally To Restore Sanity and I can’t help but compare this bus ride to what it must have been like for my hippie parents during the 60s riding to DC to protest.

Beyond the differences in circumstances and purpose of the two rallies, I’m talking about the difference in riding the bus.

Looking down the bus aisle right now, every single person either has a smart phone, iPod, or laptop that they’re plugged into. Some are writing (like me), watching videos, surfing the web, or listening to music. And while we’re all riding the same bus, heading to the same place, and generally of like mind, we’re all absorbed in our our world. There’s no group chatter, or singing, or socializing.

It’s interesting to see how technology can both simultaneously bring us closer together and pull us apart at the same time.

Of course my idea of what the bus rides must have been like in the 60s has been romanticized many times over by hollywood so maybe they also curled up individually in their seats with a book, but somehow I doubt it.

via Alltop

Ed Cabellon of SA Collaborative, #SAchat, and On The Go fame stopped into NYC today. Originally Annie and I were going to host him at Casa de Krieglbert for the night, but instead we just enjoyed a nice dinner so he could get back to his family in Boston.

If you care about Student Affairs and Technology, Ed should be a part of your personal learning network. Beyond his passion and knowledge, my favorite trait about Ed is how genuine he is.

Hat tip to you Ed and all your upcoming success over the next three years.

A massive fire [see picture below] erupted in a building across the street from where Annie and I live. Reports online say the smoke was visible as far away as New Jersey.

Fires happen all the time, but not across the street from us. The amazing thing, and a sign of the times, is I heard about the fire first on Twitter. In fact, Twitter and CNN txt alerts are becoming more and more my first line news sources. I suspect I’m not alone either.

Photo Credit @joshspear