How's this for a network experience?

I arrived in St. George, Utah (about a 4.5 hr. drive from home) this morning. I am in St. George to do a couple of workshops for this group tomorrow. When I finally was able to get into the motel room this afternoon I checked Twitter and tweeted about where I was. About 2 hours away in Las Vegas, Cory Plough was monitoring Twitter and noticed I was in St. George and responded about being a couple hours away. I replied and told him what I was doing and told him he should drive up and present with me in the morning. Now the offer was genuine, but I wasn't holding out hope that he would be available and willing. Turns out he was both and Cory will be driving up to present with me in the morning. Want to know the power of the network, as Bill Engvall would say, "Here's Your Sign!"

A Rant of My Own

This one has been festering for a few days. It has been said to me that one of my best qualities is that I don't jump to conclusions. I listen and let things simmer before reacting. One of the problems that I find with having people tell me this is that I now do it more consciously and I think that has hurt the process for me. But the formulation of this post has been more natural as I have thought about events starting with EdubloggerCon on Satuday.

I am not going to spend time stating and restating the different points of view that arose on Saturday. Although, I will admit that initially my reactions went in different directions and were pretty extreme. I even said a few things to others that I wish I wouldn't have said. I don't like saying things on first reaction but I did. For that I am sorry.

However the feelings and conversation that arose from that and during the week got to me a bit. The indirect conversation throughout the week seemed to be all about status. The A list, B list C list, etc. as it relates to the educational blogging community. Is there really a class division going on here. Maybe, maybe not. What I do see is people being in this community for different things, different reasons. I don't care about that either. The fact is that all that choose to be in this community are here. I can choose to take from and give to the community what I want and no one in the community has ever asked about my legitimacy. So I am choosing not to see those in this community as A or Z listers.

What I am choosing to see are the people and my opinion in this regard is that they are all A listers. Everyone of us out there busting our butts to try and make things better for the kids and others we work for and with. I personally did not have an interaction with anyone this week that was not respectful and friendly. In you the community this week I saw many "Pay it forward" moments this week. On Tuesday morning I had the opportunity to help someone out. Tuesday afternoon I got the same treatment from others in my crisis situation. I was constantly greeted with a "Hi, how is the conference going for you." Even when busy in other conversations, people would stop and say hi.

This week I got to spend time with distant friends, many whom I had not met face to face before. Yet I feel like I have known them for years. that was the power of this year's conference for me. It was amazing to sit on a panel with several other people, of which last year at this time I only really knew 2 of them. Again everyone of them "A listers" as far as I am concerned not because of technorati ranking or groupies or whatever, but because that's who they are by nature. They share with me constantly in their writing and their actions.

I am grateful for the time I got to spend physically in my personal learning network this week. It will keep me going for another year. The likelihood of me going to NECC next year is probably not great. But the avenues of attending virtually have been opened and I know that I will be able to still get a lot out of the conference even if I can't attend physically. So for all of those made it happen for others this year, and that will make that happen next year and for all of you in my network I say thank you.

See You in a Few!