Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What I Did During My Vacation

So I've been a little derelict in blogging lately.

Well... okay. To be accurate, it would appear that I didn't blog at all throughout 2007 and 2008!

Just to bring you, dear reader (purposely using the singular here - is anyone still tracking this feed, or did I manage to shake everybody off?), up to date, here are a few of the things I did during my vacation from blogging... in totally shuffled order:
  • Visited a few beautiful places in Quebec
  • Learned to play, reasonably well by my admittedly low standards, the 3rd movement (Presto Agitato) of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
  • Finished a basement, and built a set of stairs to get there
  • Got a job as professor of computer science here in Montreal
  • Learned a bit about caring for the well-being of a family
  • Got befriended in Twitter and Facebook by about a zillion strangers.
  • Left my position at Socialtext
  • Started putting together a French-language online course on social software.
  • Did an experiment in homeschooling (something very rare in these parts).
  • Read a big pile of - wait for it - books! Yes, books!
  • Collaborated with Stephen Downes and Daniel Lemire in an investigation of diversity in social networks (more on that later)
  • Learned to play, reasonably well by my admittedly low standards, Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire and Ray Charles' What'd I Say
  • Learned more than I would have wished about petty academic infighting (thankfully from a relatively uninvolved standpoint)
  • Worked on building wikis that support multilingual communities
  • Almost got to meet my geek idol, Jon Udell
  • Started playing rock'n'roll with my bro again
  • Discovered the inspirational FAIL blog
  • Decided to start blogging again
  • Waited some more
  • Started blogging again!
Whew. The first post is the hardest, or so say about 2,000 other bloggers. Wish me success and speed in writing the next few hundred.

Addendum: This post would never have happened if it hadn't been for the persistent encouragements of my esteemed colleague Daniel Lemire.
Posted by Sebastien at 11:45 a.m.

10 comments:

  1. SebastienFebruary 2, 2009 at 6:24 p.m.

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 8:57 p.m.

    Hi Seb -- the subscriptions remain, so please do throw things into the ether whenever you feel like it. Blog for you, it's just nice that we get to listen.

    Also, you were never "gone"... just resting :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.

    Bon retour et bon courage.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Harold JarcheFebruary 3, 2009 at 7:34 a.m.

    Good to have you back in the 'sphere.

    ReplyDelete
  5. JacquesFebruary 3, 2009 at 11:45 a.m.

    Heureux de te retrouver. Hâte de te lire!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2009 at 10:54 p.m.

    Nice to read you again, Seb.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2009 at 10:57 a.m.

    Quel plaisir de te revoir ici, parmi nous, pour ainsi dire!

    (re)bienvenue!

    ReplyDelete
  8. JeremyFebruary 13, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.

    Welcome back. Looks like you've been engaged in some good livin' in the meantime. I'd love to hear more about the homeschooling experiment if you get a chance to elaborate.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Suzana GutierrezFebruary 27, 2009 at 6:28 a.m.

    Seja bem vindo!

    abraço

    Suzana

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousApril 30, 2009 at 3:47 p.m.

    I had missed your return until you Twittered your most recent post. So happy to re-add you to my feedreader!

    ReplyDelete

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