The roller-coaster ride is about to begin..

Last month was interesting: I moved to Washington D.C. from Arizona to take a new job with the federal government. I got here just in time to experience several snow storms of the century; imagine that: 3 blizzards of the century in one week.

I start my doctoral studies again next week. I'm attending Fielding Graduate University's NSO (New Student Orientation) in San Diego, CA. I'm excited to begin my studies again.

My new job is okay: I'm concerned about a couple of things though. My role involves a great deal of project management; I have the experience, so it's not an issue. I'm wondering how creative I can be and how I can integrate what I am learning/researching in school (the integration of socialization into the online learning experience) in an organization that is pretty conservative and not much into socialization online. I expect to get some perspective at next week's NSO.

One thing more: the 'e' key on my notebook [mac book pro] has a bad sticking problem. Apple wants me to replace the motherboard ($1200) to fix a $.69 problem. I think I'll meet them half-way and get a 3G iPad when they ship late next month. Why do I want to do this? A. the iPad is a lot lighter than my notebook. B. the battery in an iPad is supposed to last 4X as long as the one in my notebook. C. mainly I want to get an iPad because it's cool and (apparently) easy to use. This is significant to me because I have a lot of complexity going on right now. I expect to do some cool things with it. Another strong selling point of the iPad: with a virtual keyboard the chances of a sticky 'e' key are next to nil (I hope).