Getting Started

So, I have signed up to do this:CPD23 (Or 23 Things for Professional Development)

Which I stumbled upon on the web and decided it would be just the right motivator (read kick up the backside) to up my online presence.



So this is what I am about to do (please do scroll to the end if you just want to see what I have been reading this week!):

I am taking part in the course because... Well, actually I want to explore the world of blogging as so far twitter and face book have left me a bit cold. I happily admit to the fact that I am a control freak and both of those platforms are a little too open to interference for the likes of me (yes, yes I do know that you can comment below!).

I am hoping it will get me thinking in real terms about the opportunities out there for a nomadic wanderer like me as so far I can't claim to have put much career planning into every move I have made, just drifted between opportunities which look and sound interesting and suit my skills... I also want to learn as much as I can in as short a time as possible about my fellow information professionals.

note: at this point it is probably best to confess that I have no official information credentials, I don't have a library or information degree, I don't have a research background and I don't want to pursue these things either (I know, I know, my parents were just as disappointed in my lack of academic ambition as you probably are reading this, but I am a doer, and am convinced that education is not the means to an end in all cases). I am however an Information Officer and run a corporate Information Service for a fairly large company, and I really love it so hopefully I will be able to justify myself over the coming weeks.

I don't know what I am looking forward to (see above reference to nomadic state of  mind) but from passed experience it will be something I wasn't expecting to enjoy as much as I do. I would like to learn everything about blogging and ultimately entertain and amuse my readers (if I ever have any that is).

Oh, and I really, really want to get better at writing quickly and fluently without spelling errors, (but that's just between you and me right?)

Great, that seemed painless enough.

 So, here is my highlight of the days reading:

Penelope Trunk: How to spot a cheater 
First off, I have to say, I love the horse, I think I have a mini crush on Penelope and that I just love how neurotic and wrong her ideas are!

Penelope is one of my heroes and her blog is addictive reading for me. When it comes to wondering if an academic education is the only way to get ahead she was one of the people who validated the sneaking suspicion I have had about this since I was school aged. I really wonder some days if I had spent the three years I spend living life to the max at uni working then things might have turned out rather differently (and I would have a lot more money than I do by now!).

I wonder what things will be like in my Son's time and if I will actively encourage him to go to university (gasp), or indeed if a degree will still be considered a major player in the path to success, I suspect that it won't. I would like him to have a really (REALLY)  successful future and most of my motivations these days for finding out about career management and "the pathway to success" seems to stem from wanting to be able to give him the best advice when he comes asking (he is 2 right now, but pretty bright so I don't think this much forward planning is too exaggerated!).


Finally, I love how minds can connect across cultures because I am sure that if we had a lithe young twenty something living with us I would also be picking at the scab of my long suffering partners devotion and trying to catch him out with questions about whether he would fancy her if, for example, I were to die, or how about if I develop a horrific disfigurement, eh? huh, huh?

What that says about me I will leave up to you to decide.