Wednesday February 1, 2006 6:05 am Ballina NSW

A. Morning Musings

6:05 am This is the beginning of a new month. One of the tasks is to set up the Journal Index for February. Done. Now for my first sip of coffee. Reviewing my list of ToDos for February, I have 17 items with 7 in progress. A close indicates that I should be able to complete the following items while at SCU this morning:

• Literature: Locate Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" on the Web & read it.
• Birds: Update website for this visit to Australia.
• Technology: Post a message to my blog on "Self-directed Learning and the Web". I will do this as soon as I have my URL working.
• Technology: Review digital cameras and camcorders.

My various tables appear to be working. I am able to review the entire Learning plan for the month. It is worth reminding myself that all of these web sites focus on my Learning activities. They do not attempt to provide a journal of my regular life although the images on these Journal pages give one a sense of some of these activities. The Projects link at the top of each page identifies the various topics/subject areas/projects that I am trying to organize. The Chronology Tables link provides an overview of which projects receive attention, when, and how much. Such information provides the necessary information to provide a feedback loop for making adjustments as I complete activities or change my priorities. Both web pages facilitate my overall time management.

However I am not setting up a definite schedule where I timetable project activities for specific times during the day. I rarely need to set up meetings with others and thus can treat time more flexibly than when I had a regular schedule. But I still wear a wrist watch. However I don't wear a cell phone (although I have one that I plan to use when I return to Canada).

B. Plan

Chores: Obtain key for office; pick up chapters of manuscript for review; groceries.

Exercise: Exercise & Beach walk.

Mathematics: Notes for chap. 2 "Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz".

Birds: Update pages for URLs for the images using ethernet connection [SCU]

Technology: Review digital cameras (particularly Canon & Olympus) [SCU]

Literature: Reading "And On the Seventh Day."

Food, Art, History and Drawing will not be active. 6:50 am

C. Actual

6:50 am I have my coffee and am ready to make my notes for the second chapter of "Coincidences, Chaos, and All That Math Jazz". This was a fantastic hour. Hopefully my notes (see link at top of page) convey a sense of the excitement that I am still feeling. 8:00 am

10:00 am I am on campus and ready for some high-speed connectivity. I have uploaded all of my web pages and have reviewed (and corrected) many of them. I think I have it working fairly well with the links and images all functioning properly. Here is an image of one of the regular campus members:

This fellow is about 2 feet long and was taken on the sidewalk just outside the Education building. 10:45 am

10:45 am I have begun finding web sites for bird photos for the birds we saw in Sydney and Canberra last May. Done. The web site has been updated for these 12 birds. I still have 9 birds that have been added to the list on this trip. I may do this later, but now I need a change of pace. 11:45 am

11:45 am I am presently keying on the Canon Powershot S2 IS. It appears to cost about $400. US, has 12x optical zoom. The price is okay and the functionality looks good for bird watching. 1:05 PM

1:05 PM I have just updated both my Windows xp operating system as well as my Norton Anti-Virus software. It is so much quicker when I have a good connection. 1:30 PM

8:00 PM We went for our evening walk a bit earlier than usual. Here are two photos:

8:15 PM

D. Reflection

8:15 PM Another good day. I achieved my goals for Mathematics and Technology and succeeded in getting URLs for half of my remaining bird pages. One more 1-hour session at the uni should do it. I am beginning to get quite interested in digital cameras and will see what is available in Ballina tomorrow. Dinner was a chook from Mennins. This is one of our favorite take-outs. It went very well with a cold white wine from West Australia. I completed the second novel, "Veronika Decides to Die" from "And On the Seventh Day". 8:20 PM