Wikiality Discussions

I mentioned to Tom recently that I had "gone to" a virtual seminar on using wikis as a collaborative tool and thought it could really come in handy in a number of situations. Since he didn't know what a wiki was, I explained it to him and introduced him to Wikipedia. This led to a discussion on how anyone could possibly rely on something as a reference tool when anyone could make changes to it. There has been a lot of online and media discussion about wikis recently (or maybe I've just become more aware of the discussion) and after the Steven Colbert bit on Comedy Central, wikis have become the topic in more places. Take a look at Michael Calore's blog and follow the links to the YouTube Colbert video and a response by a Wikipedia moderator:

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/index.blog?entry_id=1531623

For more on Wikipedia and how it is reviewed and updated take a look at their Help pages.

Tom Has His Masters Degree!

I can't believe that nearly a month has gone by since my last entry! We've seen a lot since then, but most importantly, we saw Tom's notification of receiving his M.S. in Education this weekend! So here he is enjoying a glass of well-deserved champagne Saturday night.

Cal-Pac Annual Conference in Redlands

Tom and I left for Redlands after work on June 21 and arrived in time to check-into our Melrose dorm room (our annual U of R "home-away-from-home"), unpack, and get a pretty good amount of sleep before we were off and running the next morning. This was a better-than-average annual conference - it was shorter, daily Leadership Circles were added to the schedule, and Marjorie Suchocki gave us great Bible study lectures. Legislative sections only met once (I joined Johan in presenting our Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry resolution to the section voting on it) and although it was removed from the Consent Calendar, it was approved at the last plenary anyway.

I volunteered on the video team again, spending time engineering and logging. Tom and I sang in the Conference choir again, and although we were small (only three altos!) we did a pretty good job singing at the Retirement and Closing services.

Summer Has Arrived!

The Summer Solstice arrived at 5:26am on the 21st, so it is fun to note that we were skiing in the Sierras the day before . . . and sweating in Redlands the day after. In between, we were home in Ventura - in "paradise" - where we often have fog at some point during the day, but where we mostly have perfectly mild and sunny weather! Even the cat, plants, and fish seem very content with life here.

Mammoth's Endless Winter 2006: June 19 & 20

It is soooo cool to be able to ski on the two days before the Summer Solstice! (And although they didn't ask us, we heartily recommend the Mammoth Mountain Inn's package. Tom, Sam, and I got lift tickets for two days and a place to stay for $82 per person - nothing like walking out the door in your socks, putting on your ski boots, and walking across the lot to the non-existent lift line!)



Sunshine and snow with my two favorite men . . . life can't get much better :-)