So this is really cool. I am actually speaking this blog using my new copy of the Dragon software’s SpeakingNaturally. My hope is that I’ll be able to use the software to maximize my drives between Rochester and Ithaca. If everything works out I’ll use the software to write papers on the road, or atleast, the occasional blog entry.

The speech recognition is actually pretty good, and it’s supposed to get better the more they use the program. Unfortunately, the automatic punctuation needs a little work.

Today is just the day of voice recognition I also tried a new free service called Jott that allows you to call into a phone number and speak a message that will be translated to your blog or twitter feed. This morning I posted a tweet using the jot service, and it came out okay. I also tried to post an entry to the blog, but that didn’t work out - not sure why.

This is like Star Trek - “content” to just say computer, but it’s not quite that good yet (example, in that last sentance it somehow “I am tempted” turned into “content”). Still, it’s a pretty good start.

ps. points to whoever can identify what the seemingly nonsequiter subject has to do with this blog — and no googling!

So, um, yeah… I haven’t had a chance to write about the Microsoft Social Computing Symposium… Or the Renaissance Martial Arts Festival (which took place this weekend)… Or really anything at all. So to make it up to you, I present the best publishing picture evah:

Yes, that is an Optimus Prime avatar reading a copy of The Long Tail in Second Life. And yes, I’m using this in a presentation to publishing professionals.

More to come in the days that follow…

The symposium on O’Rielly Radar. I’m also tweeting the event (see sidear –>) or my twitter page.

As the title suggests, a lot of my time is being spent trying to balance my life in Ithaca and my life in Rochester. The core of this balancing act is layed out at the top of every page of this site:

PhD Student at Cornell, Researcher at RIT

Add to that husband and pet guardian, and there’s a lot to manage. And difficult decisions to make. I feel like a major ongoing life lesson that I am learning is how to say “no” to things (admittedly, its not going so hot right now). Its also leading to some tough decisions.

Up until this week, I’d be back and forth between Rochester and Ithaca, coming down for class on Monday morning, staying until afterclass on Tuesday night, returning to Rochester and working Wednesdays at RIT, travelling back to Ithaca on Thursday morning, and coming back to Rochester on Friday night. It amounted to eight hours of driving a week.

Last week, Dre and I came to the really tough decision that the commute was unsustainable. I was falling behind in my work at Cornell and bringing home way too much work on the weekend. So we made the tough decision that I’d stay in Ithaca from Monday afternoon (Monday mornings are spent at RIT) to Friday. This is the first week that I’m on the new schedule.

In many ways its good. I have more time to work and I’m rapidly getting caught up on work. By my heart is in Rochester and I miss Dre so much. These are going to be a long two years.

Some might be asking “What’s up with this post….” My PhD work is in the area of Journalism and live blogging debates is something that amateurs and pros alike have been doing this US Presidential Cycle. So, livin’ the anthropologist’s life, I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s not as easy as it looks. In fact, Twittering is much easier that trying to write anything substantive. This, believe it or not, was better than my first, unpublished attempt during the VP debate. Balancing watching, thinking, typing, and keeping watching is a lot harder than it seems. So without further adieu, my rather weak ramblings on the proceedings:

• 10.34 pm — Gotta love what happens when the candidates block the teleprompter. And we go to hand shaking…
• 10.24 pm — So much for yes or no. McCain’s “maybe” was the perfect response on that one. And we heard the audience on that one.
• 10.17 pm — For an interesting view on the debate, check out Intrade’s tracking page for the debate.
• 10.13 pm — Whelp, it’s official Brokaw should just get up and leave at this point.
• 10.11 pm — Twitter looks to be down from the traffic
• 10.03 pm — I want a doctrine! The Bernius Doctrine…
• 10.00 pm — Ok, Brokaw is absolutely toothless.
• 9.54 pm — I wonder if the audience is miked? McCain, whose cracked more jokes so far… But if there isn’t the sound of chuckles from the audience, it just sounds like the jokes are dying on the floor.
• 9.49 pm — Brokaw really needs to start cutting these guys off…
• 9.37 pm — Ballston Spa NY — Central NY Represents!
• 9.29 pm — Interesting production note — is it me or are both candidates wearing lapel mics? If so then why the hand helds? Are they even on? Or is it just for the look?
• 9.27 pm — The Hack the Vote live twittering is lagging way too far behind the debate. It’s interesting, especially since there’s a healthy amount of tweets from both sides of the aisle. But I think I’ve seen enough… let’s try some live blogging…

2 months rent down the drain, but the car is running better than ever!

I’m back in Ithaca at the Library and watching/taking part in a meeting on Social Advocacy that’s taking place in Ohio at the excellent Midtown Brews forum. After that its on to the Debate. All of this will be watched online — it’s a brave new world.