Well, friends, holiday time is over at least for two days. Here’s what I listened to this morning until I hit the Stillaguamish River where my car magically hooks up with KEXP.

That’s Hazel Dickens on the left, btw, master of the high-lonesome. She’s the singer at a funeral in the John Sayles’ film Matewan.  Hazel and Alice do an amazing “Long Black Veil” as well, and they were pioneers of blue grass storytelling. If you don’t know them, and you like songs from Appalachia, then consider this my Monday gift to you. (blog title* credit for when Hazel and Alice tell speak the truth.)

Here’s a quote from my “SFwiki-Happening-teacher” and pay close attention, folks, who keep telling me I should go back to graduate school to earn a doctorate. True, I know you mean well. True, I should take it as a compliment. True, I’d rather watch ice form.

My GRE scores have expired. And I’m done with that style of learning. And last I checked, I’m still paying for my previous self to attend graduate school so please press play on “The Working Girl’s Blues.”

Here’s a bit of why I don’t have time for graduate school. I would have to miss out on cool questions like this:

SFWiki-Happening-teacher: “…having come back from Ward’s holiday party with maybe one too many London Fogs in my system (I took a taxi, don’t worry), I want to issue a challenge. Read those two links. THEN SHOW ME ANYWHERE ON THE WEB WHERE ANYTHING LIKE THIS IS HAPPENING.

I’m pretty literate in newer applications of social media. I’ve been in cMOOCs, xMOOCs, learning communities, blogging circles, tweetathons, hackathons, writeathons, Tumblr courses, online organizing, hyperlocal communities. I’ve helped teachers teach a two dozen different ways with dozen different technologies.

I have honestly never seen something this fluid and generative. Have you?”

Wiki-Student (c’est moi): 

Nope. Nada. Nowhere. I’m not as practiced in the newer applications that you mention, but I know how they work. And I can’t think of one example. In fact, I’ve got a quick analogy. See the tape deck below–yes, you read that right–my tape deck just died in my van.

One the third day of the Happening, I was freaking out about this 20th century technology finally dying in my 1987 VW Vanagon. And it got me thinking, so to speak:

The broken tape deck is the only comparison that I can think of to describe how I mostly collaborate online. If the SFWH is blue tooth streaming, then what I’m back to doing in the office is like this clapped out tape player.

Here’s what happened: We were listening to Lou Reed, and the tape did that skip back. Then it flipped. Then it skipped. Then it flipped. Remember that technology? Remember that moment of panic where you ejected your tape hoping it wasn’t eaten? Ah, the memories! Remember why you don’t have a tape deck in your car these days?

Heading back to work today, I’m right back to the tape deck. After 9 glorious days of holiday and the SFWH, I’m having a really hard time focusing. This blog post is only happening because of my lunch break, and I’ve got a few thoughts to share. I can’t go into the SFWH with so little time.

So here are some quick observations from SFWH:

1. If Maha lived close by, I would have taken another vacation day, and we’d be having tea right now.

2. Mike has clearly revealed the superiority of birds in his video on finding the Original Poster.

Below is what my dog, Elroy, looked like while I did most of SFWH work. He did not have any patience for the original poster, the edits, or any of it. Mike’s bird forked like 10 pages while Elroy snored loudly.

I also spent most of days in front of this fire, and despite loving my colleagues and my place of work, it’s really hard not to miss that fire. That dog. That time. Those books. That time. Oh, that time.

3. If you can show me a graduate professor would make a Cher reference in his lecture, then I might consider studying for the GRE again. (It’s hard to tell who is more fabulous–Cher herself or the legions of drag queens she has influenced).

4. Here’s a quick must-have-attitude for the SFWH from Mike’s latest letter. This pretty much sums up the spirit you have to have AND enjoy while working in the SFWH. (Oh, that time.)

Say it to yourself while looking the mirror:

“I crack myself up sometimes. Long live obscure nonsensical references.”