EduGlu Sandbox

It was a bob dylan morning this morning as a i drove to work. fellow fans will recognise the title of this post as a line from Maggie’s Farm, and as i heard it it rang true for me!

For the last couple of weeks i’ve been mostly commuting to london for various types of training. I escaped London a few years ago now and although i go back a lot to see friends it’s always confirmed my view that it’s a great place to visit. It really surprised me to find that I was actually enjoying the commute (just think, dedicated time twice a day when the only thing there is to do is read! the joy!) and really enjoyed being in london again. It helped that i was in farringdon which (if i have one) is my spiritual home in london (my mum’s side of the family are from Whitechapel, Smithfield area going back a long time) and it’s the place i first moved to when I arrive there.

Anyway, I digress. I’ve been learning MySQL and PHP over the last couple of weeks and it’s been great. Over the last 9 months or so I’ve been trying to teach myself from books in the evenings / weekends, but it’s just not the same as spending some good quality time trying to wrap your head around them. My background is theology and philosophy so i’m not naturally predisposed to ‘get’ this stuff (although I do appreciate the logic) and it strikes me that learning the syntax etc is a lot like a baby learning how to talk. What I’ve been doing (metaphorically) is experimenting in how to make sounds with my mouth and tongue, the scary bit is knowing that i then have to put these sounds together to make words, sting words together to make sentences, and then join the sentences to make something worthwhile! My PHP tutor was a true expert, but did hold up (metaphorically again) a copy of Ulysses rather too often and scare the life out of me! To complete the baby analogy, I’m currently sat in the corner with a soiled nappy muttering `dada’ to myself quietly and repeatedly.

So, i’ve got all this swimming about in my head, i’ve been getting to grips with Drupal, and am spending my evenings working on my CIPR dissertation (the changing role of the PR practitioner in light of social media / social recommendation - or something along those lines). I completely chuffed that Chris Brogan and Muhammed Saleem have both agreed to help me out with my research and I’m hoping to have another couple of my social media heroes on board too

My head is completely full of ideas and stuff i need to do. If i wake up during the night that’s it - no chance of getting back to sleep. I’m writing down ideas and putting together todo lists! I’m actually looking forward to Christmas this year!

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