Etienne Wenger and I are throwing a birthday workshop in Grass Valley, California.  It's a way of sharing our work together and pushing out the envelope. And having fun at the same time.

BEtreat

In 2008 Ton threw a birthday party for Elmine in Enschede (NL) which they turned into a sort of unconference. It was an experiment in mixing of the professional and private... the way many of our lives are going.

I thought of following it up with something similar for my fiftieth in 2009.

But now it's become something even bigger and more ambitious. Time is pressing as it runs from 5th - 10th July: a state-of-the art and cutting-edge workshop culminating in a birthday celebration.

How many of us are blurring the edges of private and professional? And what does it feel like?

Developing a repertoire of tools and practices for email, phone and WIFI access while I'm in different places keeps my grey hairs growing.  

Between now and end of March my travel schedule looks like this: Brazil, New Zealand, New York, Kenya/Tanzania/South Africa, S.E. Asia (tbc), France, Slovenia. 

Meantime I'm in California where things are no better than anywhere else. Internet at the house goes down around two times an hour and there is often no signal for a mobile phone. Yesterday I arrived at Costanoa, some kilometers south of San Francisco, just in time for a phone conference I'd set up with two people in U.S. and one person in Thailand.

The location a retreat so I should have known better - but on the website they boasted high-speed internet access, so I wasn't too worried. I would use Skype or Jajah for the conference call. You can call people into a phone conference with Skype, whether or not they have a Skype account, but it turned out the internet signal was weak so that option was out.

Jajah is ideal because it cleverly uses VOIP in a way that you don't depend on internet access for the call. You set up the call through the internet to take place on mobiles and landlines, but - like magic - you can be away from your computer (which is switched off) for the call to happen. 

But here in this idyllic retreat there was no phone signal for my mobile and, despite the hotel's assurances, I wasn't able to get an incoming call on the room telephone. No-one seemed to know what the room 'phone number was. Reception tried taking the Jajah incoming call and transfering it, but it didn't work. My SkypeIn didn't work as an incoming number because the internet signal was no good.

The call didn't happen. 

I think about paying $40 / month and getting myself an account in something like HiDef Conferencing. That way people would phone in. It's 100% reliable and cheap if you live in the U.S. But it's not worth it for several reasons:

• some people I have conferences with can't phone in from their office (they can't make international calls)
• local and toll-free numbers don't exist in most of the countires I'm talking to
• international calls from many of the places I talk to are prohibitively expensive; it's much cheaper if I bring them into the call
• most can't or don't use Skype, so that's not an option

I love trying out new tools and could play all day. These would be my top ten as I enter 2010: 

Google Voice: I love Google Voice. You ring my phone number and I decide on which phone it rings. If I'm in Europe, you'll get to my SkypeIn, if I'm at home it will be the home phone, and if I'm out and about it will be my mobile. It's really annoying that Apple has rejected it for the iphone (a good reason for getting an Android?) although they (Voice Central) have got round that (almost) by creating a browser based app called the Black Swan Edition (invites with beta only)

Twitter: Twitter is my lifeline to the imaginary chitter-chatter of people in the background. With twitter I hear people talking in the corridors, the latest tips and tricks of people in my department, and the nonsense talk of people on their way out the office.  

Skype: Skype is an old friend that won't go away. I experimented with Gizmo5 (now acquired by Google) because I wanted a SIP number and Google doesn't have them. But even Skype now has SIP Open Beta, so let's see what happens.

MPEG Streamclip: I use MPEG for topping and tailing videos and then reformatting them. It has saved me hours of tedious work. Thank you to Stefano Cinque in Italy who started Squared5 and who offers, generously, MPEG Streamclip for free.

Comic Life: Comic life gives me lots of fun as I make post-cards and photos with captions for my kids. I also use it a lot in social reporting, for creating membership profiles or for creating tongue-in-cheek accounts of "what happened".

Skitch: Also from plasq I couldn't live without this elegant little tool. You take quick screenshots, mark them, drag and drop them anywhere you want. I probably use it about ten times a day, even for little reminders to myself.

TwoUp: I hump around a 17" computer all over the world with me, so that I can see more than one document or web page on the screen at once. This NEAT application perfectly positions the pages side by side or one at the top and one at the bottom.I don't know what I ever did without it.

Things: My complaint about Mac's basic to-do list brought me a suggestion for Things. It's not inexpensive and it's not perfect but it's good. I like that I can drag and drop emails and related documents into the to-do. I'm sure that being able to tag to-do's and organise them by project has improved my productivity. 

Time Machine: I've no idea what I did, but my contacts all reverted to three years ago. I was able to go back to my Time Machine and get them all back. A friend had his computer stolen at a conference in the Czech Republic. He had to buy a new computer but was able to replace every last detail of the contents and appearance through one click on the time machine.

Eagle Creek Bags and Luggage: They are expensive, but my wheeled suitcase, a "Pack-It System", a duffel bag (which acts like a Mary Poppins bag, fitting everything you try and put into it) keep me sane. They must surely have been designed by people who travel.