I was cleaning out my hard drive and came across this video of me being stopped by a reporter for CBS Channel 2 and asked about the McCain/Obama debate. This was during Continue reading “Interviewed on CBS”
Mr. Richardson, we’re ready for your closeup.
One of the benefits of being a professor is that you get to see how your students grow and develop over time. You are able to watch them start off as raw and untrained media enthusiasts and hopefully evolve into polished digital artists. Today was one of those days for me. I was honored to be interviewed by students in the Media and Technology programs for the upcoming Web TV channel being created at LaGuardia Community College.
The interview focused Continue reading “Mr. Richardson, we’re ready for your closeup.”
2010 NYC International Motorcycle Show
In order to dull the pain of getting rid of the Batmobile, and to hopefully head off any impeding mid-life crisis, I have decided to a buy a motorcycle. In researching cycle options I thought it would be prudent to check out the annual NYC International Motorcycle Show and see what was out there. The show is held every year at the Javits Center. I hadn’t gone to the show for a few years and was eager to see the new models.
I was shocked to see how many different brands and style of bikes are available today. The Javits center was packed with vendors from nearly every motorcycle maker and third party accessory company. I saw a bunch of attractive protective gear with reinforced Kevlar and Nomex material that looked straight out of the comic books. It caught me off guard because I remember when jeans and a leather jacket was considered sufficient gear.
Both my wife and my moms are opposed to me getting a cycle, as well Continue reading “2010 NYC International Motorcycle Show”
Playing with the Christmas Presents
Despite the economic downturn, this Christmas was pretty good for me and the family. We had a set amount of money that we agreed not to go beyond for gifts this year. Then each of us placed on the family list one thing that we really wanted. The one thing,or should I say the one gift, that would make our Christmas spectacular. I wanted a Kindle, Ski wanted a Northface jacket, Tita wanted a digital camera, and J wanted a motorcycle. Luckily, we were all able to get what we wanted. And most importantly, we had a great time playing and spending time together over the holidays.
I really love my wife and kids.
Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed!
They say that every American man has a love affair with his first car. I don’t know if that is really true but the decision to part with the Batmobile after 20 years was like deciding to shoot my horse after it broke a leg. It was something painful, but something that needed to be done. She was getting a little old and harder to maintain in these difficult economic times. I hated to part with her but that last estimate of 1500 bucks for a new ABS braking pump was the kicker. And this was after dropping 900 bucks for a new transmission sensor control. Between maintenance, garage, insurance, and gas I was spending a ton of money per month that could be better spent on other stuff. Despite all that it is not an exaggeration Continue reading “Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed!”
2009 NYC Marathon
Marathon day is here again and my wife is running in her fourth competition. She has been training for the past year and always gets a little anxiously, and therefore makes me anxious, right before the big day. To complicate matters this year, Ski was nursing a shin injury that was affecting her ability to run. Now since my wife isn’t a complainer, I knew that the injury must have been very painful if she was even talking about it. You have to understand that those darn vikings tend to be a hardy lot and whining is like a cardinal sin. I knew was gonna run the race with the injury regardless of what I said, so I said nothing and hoped for the best.
Just look at what the CAT dragged in!
In the fall of 2008, Peter Katopes Vice President of Academic Affairs at LaGuardia Community College) appointed me to the CUNY wide Committee for Academic Technology (CAT). I was asked to act as LaGuardia’s representative on all issues pertaining to the use of advanced technology in support of pedagogy. This assignment required me to attend monthly meetings and frequent sub-committee sessions to vote on issues of how technology should be adopted throughout CUNY. In addition to helping to support CUNY’s overall vision, I acted as LaGuardia’s liaison to the CAT committee to insure that LaGuardia interests were fully represented. My involvement as a member of the CAT group required me to serve as a member on the CAT sub-committees for Blackboard and ePortfolio. I would like to believe that my participation was extremely valuable on these sub-committees due to my experience as LaGuardia’s initial Director of ePortfolio and my work with vendors like Concord and Blackboard to link disparate systems to support ePortfolio.
ePortfolio System Consulting
During the spring and summer of 2009, I served as a consultant to the LaGuardia Community College Center for Teaching and Learning in the area of ePortfolio Systems selection. I assisted the members of LaGuardia’s Center for Teaching and Learning and IT department in choosing the new ePortfolio platform to accommodate growth and to replace the aging Concord system that I helped to select years ago when I served as LaGuardia’s first Director of ePortfolio. I was asked by Dean Bret Eynon to review the leading commercial and open source systems and help select three platforms to evaluate for final consideration. Because ePortfolio is a critical component in many of LaGuardia’s strategic goals, not the least of which is Institutional Assessment, helping to choose the correct platform was of vital importance to the college. Due to my extensive knowledge of technology, and my experience in selecting and negotiating the contract for the first system nearly seven years ago, I was asked to work with the current Director, Mercedes Del Rosario, and her staff to assist where needed. I provided the following assistance during this project:
- Helped to select which systems we should investigate
- Selected the hosting company to host the open source solutions
- Evaluated all of the proprietary and open source solutions
- Provided recommendations on software and hardware for the project
- Served as a technical resource on all issues related to hosting, networking, programming, and coordinating a project of this magnitude
In the final analysis, LaGuardia decided upon the system from Digication as a the new platform to support the ongoing eportfolio objectives of the college.
Final Cut Pro Training – Basic edit reel
This summer I am taking courses at a variety of design schools in the area. Here is my most recent video editing reel that I completed at the School of Visual Arts in their weekend Final Cut Pro class. While I am experienced with Final Cut (been using it since version 1.0), I figured it is a good idea to brush up on Final Cut since I have been focusing more on web design topics lately. Plus I plan on Continue reading “Final Cut Pro Training – Basic edit reel”
2009 – Summer of Code
It has been a long time since I have actually sat inside of a formal classroom as a student. I spend most of my time on the other side of the fence. However this summer has helped me better understand some of the challenges that my students must experience. Challenges with class availability. Challenges with scheduling conflicts. Challenges with learning a great deal of material in a finite amount of time. All of the things that I generally don’t have to Continue reading “2009 – Summer of Code”