Mr Gover in San Jose 2010

29^th July The sessions with the AEl’s were great and they all worked very hard to give us their ideas, knowledge and perspective on what they were doing at their school or university... heaps of ideas to come back to school and implement there

Also the sessions we had on Thursday with the video – from After Effects CS5 – (GOTTA GET THAT INSTALLED PROPERLY – watch out EDTECH!) and the Adobe Story were great – something I can again use at school

There is always more things we could do so look out – here we come ! The day finished with going to the TECH MUSEUM – a bit like MOTAT but on a grander scale but with less large buses and planes – all inside and very interactive – right down to an earthquake simulator..... and an astronauts rocket pack where you were timed to get a red dots to 3 specific locations – not easy...

BUT BUT BUT – the highlight was the SEGWAYS – i always wanted to ride one and I – still now – would love one – i ended up having 4 rides – it was like back at rainbows end lining up for an activity with a bunch of over excited kids – no -  adults – we had great fun and I have video to prove it too – I filmed Scott – my roomy – he was good ! over the course of the evening some of the AEL’s went 5 – 6 – 7 times

Great fun and a great experience

I wonder if school would buy one for me so i can get round school – i do 5-10 km a day sometimes backwards and forwards round the classes – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ! –

Just like those billboards eh  - YEAH RIGHT

Cool experience and a cool night – even had some karaoke as well – some good singers in the AEL’s and some ??? – well ????

Went back to the hotel and packed for Fridays departure and on the way back there was a big event going on in the square right opposite the hotel – a free music session with a local band – the whole square was all blocked off and there were HEAPS of people there...

When i got back to the hotel there was a line a mile long outside the bathroom in the lobby – the locals were using the bathroom – i wonder what management were thinking ???

Friday 30^th is the last day and I am sitting in the room pre typing this up – ready to post to the blog... I will put pictures in the blog when I get back – i have so many so will sort a few and edit some video out as well.. we have breakfast then a resources session then the AEL meeting then the windup – we finish by 12 as people have flights and connecting stuff to get to – they are all on holiday here so it makes it hard getting back into school mode after all the things I have seen, heard and experienced.... all I know is I am coming back with heaps of ideas and knowledge to introduce everyone to when i get back to school

My flight is this evening and I arrive back in NZ at 6 on Sunday morning ! and there is school on Monday.. I will check in my bags and find a comfy spot to plug power into the laptop and finish the MVTV script ready for Mondays show – and maybe do a bit of picture sorting and video dumping.. sounds a bit like schools back !

A big special thanks to school for letting me go – its been a great experience and I have learnt heaps – the BEST BEST PD I could ever have - !!!!!!!

And to ADOBE for making this happen – its so good to see all the other AEL’s – knowing they too experience the same problems – successes and failures I do so I am not alone ! – I have made new friends – new contacts and new connections for collaborative projects all over the world – and we will do that too... Thanks to “THE LISA’s” for their organisation each day and especially to Daniela for sorting my laptop – at least my family knows i am alive !

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic week !

DAY 5 Tuesday July 28^th

We headed for the Mothership for a day of listen talk and interact – meet some of the people in Adobe – listen to what’s happening and where Adobe is going – the most exciting thing for me that day was hearing about the guy who had probes on his head and using his thoughts to move the block round the screen – really great and yes its being done NOW !!!!

We had a great day – nice lunch and afternoon – we headed for the hotel to be ready for tea – so meet at the lobby at 6 to catch the bus to the venue – we played boucce – which is an italian version of bowls – they are round and 6 balls for each team.. the rules are easy and we all had fun playing it before tea.... tea was nice and when we finished we had some more games – Scott – my roomy and I trashed one of the teams and did really well – a great game and Scott wants to make a court at his home as its a game for everyone.. they have several courts here in San Jose and San fran’ and there are lots of people who play – he said its great watching the old Italian guys swear at each other as they play – its all about strategy and some pure good luck combined with sklill a cross between bowls and bowling –We were back by 10:30 and off to sleep

Day 6 July 29^th

The day started at 6:30 and I was down at the Adobe headquarters at 7:20 – we can get a voucher and have breakfast then Daniela Birch from Adobe helped me get my computer sorted to work on the internet here.. after 2 hours and not having access to internet since getting here we finally worked out with the techs that my wireless card just did not like the adobe wireless and they wouldn’t talk to each other so we reverted to the good old wire connection.....

So a big thanks to Daniela for being such a “pitball” to help get it sorted for me.. I do appreciate the time you spent with me....

I went on – let my family know I was here – was alive and yes they knew I was enjoying myself !

So thats it so far – read this and I wont have to tell anybody anything – you now know what i have been up to

I will try to post this with pictures etc before I go tonight......

Its 4;10 here so we are off to the next session till 5:00 then off to tea back here at Adobe to have tea with all the department heads and bosses – a good chance to let them know what we are doing and to let them know what we would like next.....

There is so much knowledge and expertise here and we are all learning off each other

I hope all is well back at MVS and I will see you all back in MVTV at 7:30 on Monday morning.. hint hint

DAY 1 – 23^rd July – left Auckland at 7:30 and flew over to San Francisco – 12 hour flight and through a time zone which put me into SF at 11 in the morning – during the flight over I managed to watch 3 movies and fell asleep in between so had a bit of a sleep before landing.....

I went to the BART station and got a ticket and caught the “BART” to the middle of SF. I walked up to the hotel which is 5 minutes from Union Square. I went back down town and walked around getting my bearings again.

I bought a bus ticket – it allowed you on and off travel to anywhere on the tourist route so i went for a ride right round on Friday afternoon before going back to the hotel in the evening

DAY 2 24^th July – Saturday here in SF but Sunday in NZ – time difference there..... I went back down to Union Square and hopped on the bus to go to the Saturday Market at the bottom of town – its a bit like our Saturday market with lots of stalls etc except you multiply it by 10 or so and multiply the number of people by lots more – very interesting

I decided to walk to Pier 39 so off I went – it was a very long walk but I got there – by this time it was about 1 o’clock and decided i would not go round Pier 39 as it was such a big place to see and do things. I went back to the hotel drooped off the bag and had a rest

I decided I needed to check out the way to catch the train to San Jose for Monday so went to the Information Centre and got a map of where to go as well as a map of San Jose. I walked to the Caltrain Depot – it took 15 minutes so I knew for Monday when I needed to leave...

I went to the depot and then got the info’ so i would know what to do on Monday and then walked back to town and back to the hotel

DAY 3 Sunday July 25^th – well – I found out there was a marathon running today over the Golden Gate Bridge so the traffic was dead slow as they took up 3 lanes over the bridge – even tho it was a Sunday it was still slow. I took the bus to Pier 39 and stayed there until about 2 oclock – its all about absorbing the atmosphere and the sights – seeing – and smelling the sealion – they eat little fish then fart a lot – big smell ! and noisy too.. the people – the street performers and one guy who was doing spray painting so I filmed the whole thing – 8 minutes but its worth it..

A bit like doing layers in photoshop but with a spray can instead.....

I caught the bus back to town and then decided to go for a tour bus ride and sat and listened about china town and little Italy.. after we got back I walked back to Chinatown and walked around for about an hour or so... I went back to the hotel at about 6 oclock

I packed my bags – got sorted and watched TV – found a station with Lord of the Rings and watched that

DAY 4 Monday July 26^th – of course I woke up very earl and was out the door and down town to the Caltrain depot by 6:30 – sorted out buying a ticket and got on the MINI BULLET TRAIN to San Jose at 7:15 – it took about 40 minutes as it only stopped 4 times – otherwise it stopped at EVERY station and that took over an hour and twenty minutes – so i got to San Jose and got the map out and began to walk into the city – about 15 minutes later I was there... I found the hotel and tried to book in – hoping they could hold my bags and then go for a walk around San Jose – i was in the middle of Silicon valley – there had to be something of interest here for me to look at ! YEAH RIGHT....

I turned out that my room mate booked in last night so was already there..

He had booked a car to go to Santa Cruz and asked if I wanted to go with him..

We had a great day and ended up at the amuzement park on the beach.. and of course you have to do something scarey every week so we opted to take the BIG DIPPER – a big roller coaster thats featured in lots of movies over theyears - $5 gave you a thrill ride for 3 minutes that made your stomach trun inside out ! – I wanted to film it but they made me put my video away – i could have sneaked it out but  i don’t think I could have held onto it !

We arrived back at the hotle at 5;30 and went to the meet and greet at 6 for Adobe – and thats where it all began....

Back to the hotel and bed by about 10

which is about 5 minutes down the road !

More later - they keep us very busy !