Hooray.. Im Home!

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There are a couple of FLNW08 events left - including Linux conference events happening on jokaydia which include Alex Hayes and Bee Dieu, who will I’m sure be fabulous.

Next up for me, is a presentation for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in Second Life. Many thanks to the fabulous Kevin Jarrett aka KJ Hax for the invite to speak to such a wonderful group inworld! At this stage I’m planning a short presentation and then a field trip to jokaydia. I’ll post the event description when the jetlag haze lifts and I’ve written it up! My session is scheduled for 6pm SLT (PST) on 29th January 08.

I’ve also just started work on Koala Island - a project for Swinburne University in Victoria, Aus. So far things are shaping up well, with the terraform complete. Planning for the build, which will include some features from Swinburne’s real-life campus is now well underway…. but I’ll write more about that project soon.

And MOST exciting of all - we are opening up new rental spaces on jokaydia II this week - and beginning to welcome some new tenants to our Islands. I am madly busy working on setting up land and groups, landscaping and resources inworld… and also undertaking to finally get our jokaydia.com website up and running properly. I’ll post updates about all of that here soon too.. but if you’re interested in renting land on the Islands of jokaydia feel free to drop me an email. Spaces are going fast!

So there ya go.. a post full of updates and a list of things to blog about! I’m looking forward to 2008 which is already shaping up to be an exciting year, full of new challenges and great projects to work on. It’s a bit late for new year’s resolutions now.. but I think one of the important ones for me will be to blog more… so here’s to more ramblings and rants from me shortly!

Torchlight Procession in Edinburgh

Links for further information:

Exploring Edinburgh

Those who are following me on Flickr or Twitter already know this…… I am in Edinburgh!

I’ve come on a family holiday with my Mum and my brother Steven to visit my Dad who is working here in Scotland.

Stay tuned for more pics, which you can view in my Edinburgh Flickr Collection.

Nominated in the Edublog Awards

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We had some great news today - both the Island of jokaydia AND our Second Life in Education Wiki (Yay, Sean!!) have been nominated in the Edublog Awards 2007 - in the Best educational use of a virtual world 2007 category.

Visit the Edublog Awards 2007 site and get voting!!

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The Island of jokaydia

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Second Life in Education Wiki

Congratulations to all of the nominees in each and every category - but a special hoooooray to….

More info coming soon about the gala SL Edublog Awards Ceremony! Start planning your virtual outfit! ;)

Ya Gotta Be Happy When….

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A two day old blog makes it to the Featured Blogs page! ;)

Thanks to James and the team at Edublogs!

Keep following us over at http://eshowntell2007.edublogs.org to get updates on conference happenings over the next few days… and did you hear there is a competition! ;)

Geek for Hire!

Today was a big day!

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After a few months of lots of deliberation and just a little bit of freaking out, I submitted by resignation today.

I’ve finally quit my day job!

I’ll be leaving the safety of a full-time position at TAFE for the much riskier and also much more interesting world of freelancing starting mid-September. I am a currently full of excitement and anticipation at the prospect - but I’ll admit to being just a tinsy bit scared too! ;)

I’ve been working towards this decision for a few years now.. but after a few tough months I’ve finally decided it’s time to focus on being creative and being happy. Although there are parts of my job that I absolutely adore, I am struggling with some of the Institutional barriers I face and also just the workload of trying to juggle both a day job and the freelance projects I’ve been doing. It’s time to prioritize what’s important to me and give myself the time and freedom to accept some of the great opportunities on offer.

So what will I be doing besides sleeping in and enjoying myself you ask? Over the last few years I’ve been doing lots of bits and pieces of freelance work in a range of areas, and have decided that it’s time to consolidate that work and start focusing my energies in more interesting and creative directions. Over the next few months, I’ll be establishing my virtual worlds consultancy and my Island in Second Life, working on some web development projects, facilitating some Second Life and Web 2.0 training sessions and establishing a new work-style and lifestyle.

Cross your fingers for me… it’s gonna be a fun and challenging ride!

One thing I must do is thank the fabulous people in my life who have supported and encouraged me in coming to this decision… you know who you are! I would never have gotten the courage to follow my bliss without your encouragement, love and support!

Anyway, I’ll be posting more info about my services and availabilities on my personal wiki shortly… but if you’ve got a project happening and you need a geek, I’d love to hear from you! ;)