Last summer in Boston at the Building Learning Communities conference, chatting over drinks with David Truss and a few other folks, David suggested an idea riffing off of the 365 Days meme on flickr. Now a year is a major commitment for this so we settled on one month.

Dave authoured a beautiful introduction to the idea:

For the month of March, a group of educators and lifelong learners will be picking a "Tweet of the day" and ReTweeting it with the hash tag: #gr8t
Hopefully, you will join us in doing this too.

There are a number of reasons why you might want to participate:

• To share what you value about twitter.


• To see what others value about twitter.


• To celebrate the power and wisdom of your Personal Learning Network.


• To find interesting people to follow on Twitter.

My choice for what to retweet with #gr8t will be a Tweet that I find interesting, or insightful, or humorous. It might link to something I enjoyed reading, or it might have something profound or even fortune-cookie-like that appeals to me:

There aren't really any rules to participate: Find a tweet you value, and share it via twitter! End your Great Tweet with this hash tag: #gr8t

It'll automatically show up on the Gr8Tweets wiki and on twitter searches for others to see and share.

I'm looking forward to sharing the Gr8tweets that I find, at least one daily for the month of March, and I'm hoping you will join me and share what you find.
Feel free to follow Gr8tweets on Twitter and Gr8tweets will follow you back, (this part is totally optional).

Even if you aren't on twitter or you don't want to participate, be sure to check out the Gr8Tweets wiki and see some of the reasons why so many educators are finding Twitter a valuable tool!

@everyone Looking forward to reading your great tweets! #gr8t

Photo: tweet by flickr user Helga's Lobster Stew

I've been tagged by Wes and Chris so here they are ...

First, the Rules:

    1. Post these rules before you give your facts


    2. List 8 random facts about yourself


    3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them


    4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

My Eight


    1. I like to cook Chinese food.

    2. I like to eat Chinese food even more.

    3. I put myself through University working part time as a cashier at a grocery store.

    4. I've seen Grand Canyon from the North Rim and the South Rim. Pictures don't come close to being there.

    5. Rock climbing is my favourite outdoor sport. I climb exceptionally rarely.

    6. I love Supertramp; they're kind of an English version of Harmonium. Favourite song: "Un musicien parmi tant d'autres"; brilliant lyrics.

- Harmonium Lyrics

    7. My favourite part of any meal is dessert. Boston cream pie or cannoli; I can never get enough.

    8. If I don't get my "alone time" I become a basket case.

Tagging


I'm not going to tag anyone. Some folks don't like getting tagged for these things. You never can tell who would or wouldn't like being tagged; so, if you like this idea: TAG! You're it. ;-)

This post was originally to be published on January 4, which still would have had me late to the party. Just had the last two photos I wanted done tonight. I'll try to be quicker with the newest meme about how I write blog posts. ;-)

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Vicki tagged me a while back and I've been thinking about what I would like to share. Since then I've also been tagged by John, Terry, CLykowski, Susan Ens Funk and Dan Meyer ... yikes! OK, ok, ok, here they are ... five things you wouldn't know about me from reading my blog ... before this post anyway. ;-)

(1) We had the first really big snowfall of the winter on December 30. We have a driveway on the other side of the fence you see in the "BACK" pictures. I really hate shoveling ...

(2) My oldest daughter calls me a giant blueberry whenever I wear that winter jacket. ;-)

(3) I play guitar when I can find the time; which isn't very often since having kids. ;-)

I'm playing a D chord in this picture ... because my name starts with D. ;-)

(4) A number of years ago I decided I wanted to learn a wind instrument. I've toyed with learning harp (harmonica) a la Bob Dylan. I bought two harps to start, a C harp and a G harp, but never really followed up on it. Then I decided to pick up the recorder so I bought this nice wooden soprano recorder. A couple of times each year I torture my family as I try to teach myself how to play using two excellent methods books I bought with the recorder. I've almost worked my way through the first one.

I'm playing a D note in this picture too. ;-)

(5) I'm not from Winnipeg, my wife is. I was born and raised in Montréal. I miss the city. It's beautiful; night and day.

That circular building in the middle is the faculty of medicine building on the McGill University campus; my old alma mater. I hold degrees in philosophy and education with a specialization in mathematics and moral education (in all of Canada I think Québec is the only province where you can get a specialization in moral education at the secondary level). The building in the middle, off towards the left, that has a triangular lighted roof is known as the Batman Building amongst Montrealers. If you're ever in downtown Montréal at night you'll know why. ;-)

Like John Pederson, I'm going to end the meme here and not tag anyone else, unless you want to be tagged, in which case ... TAG! You're it! ;-)