Staff contract extended 31 days at SJSU

Staff union contract extended 31 days
I first reported this as 30 days, according to a memo from the union it is 31 days! My bad...
On the last day of the existing statewide contract between between the California State University and the California State University Employees Union, both sides agreed to extend the contract for 31 days. Today was the last day of this negotiation session that has been at SJSU for the last three days. This is what the union just sent out:

"The CSUEU bargaining team reports that the contract has been extended for 31 days - up to July 31, 2006. A bargaining update will be issued early next week"

Negotiations are scheduled to resume on July 10 at San Francisco State University.

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, CSUEU, unions, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Skunks Go Away!

We have skunks
The other evening I was sitting in the back yard with Susie when I heard a rustling in the corner, then a thud, like something fell off the fence. I turned around to see three skunks running across our yard. Then, late last night Pixel, one of our Burmese, went outside. Susie went chasing him behind some bushes. She saw what she thought was him. When she approached she saw what she thought was a cat was a skunk! Thankfully the skunk had other things on its mind and ran into the neighbors yard. Today I called the County Health Department's (Skunks are major rabies carriers) "vector control" and they are going to come out and set traps.

New Media and Shield Rights

Is blogging Journalism?
Do bloggers have the same rights under California's shield law regarding shielding sources as Journalists? According to ARS Technica:

A California appeals court judge has ruled in favor of a petition filed by the EFF that frustrates Apple's attempt to force rumor sites AppleInsider and Powerpage to reveal their sources.

Fun blogger dinner in San Jose

It is SJPIZZACAST
We had a great first meetup of the San Jose Webloggers Group. There was four of us there and I was the only one from the university. Stephanie and Rich are bloggers and Action is a podcaster. We had a great conversation about a number of topics including pizza, mobile devices, blogging, podcasting, Web 2.0, and of course the Journalism 163 class at SJSU. At the end of the conversation we agreed on a tag standard to use for posting to Flicker and technorati on these geek dinner / blogger dinner / meetups in San Jose. It is sjpizzacast when referring to the group and sjpizzacast(month#+year#), so this meetup will be sjpizzacast0606. This was a lot of fun! We did not do a podcast.

Next SJPizzacast
The next Geek/Blogger dinner is 6pm on Thursday July 27th again at Tony Sopranos on San Fernando Street in San Jose. The location has free parking and is close to the light rail. They have been great about providing space for these events. As before, this dinner is a mashup with students, faculty and staff from San Jose State University mixing with folks from the area blogging community. If folks want to, we may even do a podcast!

Folks in attendance today:
Stephanie Quilao | Rich Thomas  | Action Merchant | Steve Sloan

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, j-school, geekdinner, San Jose, blogger dinner, geek dinner, ssloansjca, sjpizzacast0606, sjpizzacast

About Knight Ridder and more!

Emerging Technology and Newspapers
Peter Rip did a guest post in Silicon Beat that is very concise and pretty much sums up the situation facing Knight Ridder and all newspapers today and possibly television networks tomorrow. Rip also suggest what the future my look like. The challenge for us is, how do we prepare students for this future? To quote the lead to the story in Silicone Beat:

Knight Ridder Inc (KRI), parent company of the Mercury News, is expected to disappear tomorrow following today's approval by shareholders of its purchase by McClatchy. We asked Peter Rip, a venture capitalist with Leapfrog Ventures, for a guest post. Rip once handled Knight Ridder's investments in start-ups. Here are his thoughts.

Technorati Tags: j-school, pedagogy, ssloansjca

San Jose Blogger Dinner - Geek Dinner Tommorow

Pizzacast 3.0?
The next Geek/Blogger dinner is 6pm on June 27th at at Tony Sopranos on San Fernando Street in San Jose. The location has free parking and is close to the light rail. As before, this dinner is a mashup with students, faculty and staff from San Jose State University mixing with folks from the area blogging community. If folks want to, we may even do a podcast!

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, j-school, geekdinner, San Jose, geek dinner, pedagogy, ssloansjca, podcasting

Mobile devices much more than just phones

Cameraphone pic: Giving water to thirsty cyclists! As the intense heat and difficulty of the bike ride started taxing the ability of the support staff to get water and other aid to cyclists I could see the potential for real trouble. I used my camera phone to text out for help and then to photograph and blog the event!

Bike tour teaches me. Mobile devices are really getting there
My recent bicycle tour really taught me the power of portable devices. Using just my camera phone I was able to document and blog the event from my phone. Using the text messaging feature I was able to communicate with my son to get him to call for help, when I could not get a strong enough signal to be able to have voice communications. My family and friends were able to follow my trip on my family blog in almost real time. No, it wasn't perfect. But, it was a heck of a lot more functional than wi-fi and it all fit into my back pocket. No laptop or even tablet could do that! Mobile devices are really getting there. It is a very quiet revolution, but it is one we in education should be paying a lot more attention to.

Here is a link to posts on my family blog taken on my camera phone and posted to the Internet as the tour happened. All these photos will be in my blog's June 2006 Archive located here.

Technorati Tags: Portable Devices, Tablet PC, blogging, ssloansjca

I am back

Overall
I am done with my ride and I am still recovering. Yesterday I slept until about mid-day and my body is still in recovery from my Sierra-to-the-Sea bicycle tour.

My Impressions?
I have another blog where I post my opinions. Everything posted there is just my opinion. To read my opinion on, and rating of, this bicycle tour, follow this link [Link].

Last post for awhile

Our Calico Tupper knows what summer is about
Time to relax and take it easy! I am getting ready to hit the road on a week long bicycle tour. I will be mostly off the grid. I will not be near power so I will have to conserve my battery powered phone. I will try to post a few messages when I can from my phone to my family blog. I will be back on the 26th.

Technorati Tags: cats

On Scoble Leaving Microsoft

The Scobles
I was pleased to hear about Robert and Maryam Scoble's decisions to leave Microsoft and go with with Podtech. I hope they are very happy and I would like to see them move closer to our area. There are several reasons why I think this is the good decision for them in terms of their careers and also their families. It will put them closer to Patrick and other family members. It seems like this is the culmination of a period of catharcism in their lives that has been going on for awhile.

A number of evil people have trolled Robert for awhile on his blog, due perhaps to his success as well as his association with Microsoft. Robert is the real deal and never deserved that. Robert, being the true believer in "the conversation" I feel that he is, was given more grief than he should have had to put up with. He stopped blogging for awhile a couple of times. This time of tribulation peaked with the period of introspection the Scobles went through after the death of Robert's mom. If you believe in a higher power then you likely also believe there is a reason for times like this. It seems to me in my life, and the lives of friends, times of trial, tribulation, introspection and even loss often come before events of life change.

For those whom do not know the Scobles I can attest: They are some of the nicest and most genuine people I know. Some folks seem to find success who do not deserve it. But, the Scobles deserve every bit of success they have. They are good people.

Technorati Tags: Scoble, scobleizer, blogging, ssloansjca

Pleasant Saturday Ball Game

Fun time at ball game with Family and Help Desk Friends
Yesterday (Saturday) we went to see a minor league baseball game with a couple of Indian staffers from the Help Desk and Jeff, Madison and Kathy. It was fun introducing my grand-daughter to them and spending time with them at their first baseball game. I enjoyed explaining the game to them as it went on. The young people who work at the Help Desk are like family to me and we all had a great time. The weather was good and the San Jose Giants won. I like going to the minor league games, they are very casual, you are right next to the players and have a very different character than big league games. I hope they can now go to a big league game and can contrast the two. If I were in India I think I would have to take in a Cricket Match.

Quote: Scoble on Second Life

"Right now I am looking at Second Life and I see all my friends there."

Lou's is closing

Camera Phone Post: Lou's Living Donut Museum & World's Best Donuts
A downtown San Jose icon, Lou's has been around as long as I have. It was founded in 1955, the year I was born. The founder is a World War Two vet who has a collection of memorablilia in the museum. It was started in another location. I have been going to Lou's off and on for about 25 of those years. I have never found donuts as good as Lou's. Sometimes there are lines out the door. It is closing this month.

666 on 6-6-06

Looks like we avoided Armageddon today
Today, after work I had dinner with Kamlesh Kudchadkar, a friend and an Indian Graduate Computer Engineering Student at SJSU. We went to a local Indian restaurant and then had a conversation that is going to be podcast. Off mike the subject of the meaning of 666 came up in conversation. So we talked about the Book of Revelations, the end times and Armageddon.

San Jose June 27 Blogger Dinner Details

Blogger / Geek Dinner Details on Meetup.com

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, j-school, geekdinner, bloggerdinner, blogger dinner, San Jose, geek dinner, ssloansjca, podcasting

Next Geek Dinner / Blogger Dinner in San Jose

Pizzacast 3.0?
Tentative date for the next Geek/Blogger dinner is 6pm on June 27th at Tony Soprano's Pizzeria in downtown San Jose. The location has free parking and is close to the light rail.

Please let me know if this is a good or a bad day or time.

~Steve

Pizzacast 2.0: Geek Dinner Conversation on New Media Class

Planning a new media journalism class at SJSU, Pizzacast 2.0
Edupodder Podcast 24, 1:00:43 duration, 55.4 MB MP3 - Posted June 04, 2006
The second of two podcasts recorded May 23, 2006:
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
At a geek dinner in San Jose, students, faculty, staff and Gabe Rivera of memeorandum fame continue a conversation about a new media class, Journalism 163, planned at SJSU. Speaking, besides Gabe, are Keith Callenberg, Evan Luine, Andrew Venegas, Joshua Marx, Cynthia McCune, Ryan Sholin, Lambert Lum, and Steve Sloan.  1:00:43 min, 55.4 MB.

Links: Keith Callenberg | Evan Luine | Andrew Venegas | Joshua Marx | Cynthia McCune | Ryan Sholin | Lambert Lum | Steve Sloan | Gabe Rivera

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, j-school, geekdinner, San Jose, geek dinner, pedagogy, ssloansjca, podcasting