Ronaldo and TESOL 2008

Attending my first TESOL Convention, going sightseeing in New York and meeting some of the Webheads in Action f2f for the first time are all experiences I'll never forget!

You can check out all my NYC pictures here, or take a look at this album, which has webheads photos:

NYC + CTJ and Webheads

I have also blogged about this experience.

Post-TESOL Reflections - The Ginga Movement

I finally could write my reflections on the thrilling experience of meeting the Webheads again and getting to know f2f some others. New York with the Webheads could only be full of Ginga!

Here's my post about the Ginga Movement.

My photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlaarena/sets/72157604412851519/

I also made a very short video during the Electronic Village so the ones who were not there could have an idea what it looks like.

Getting ready for TESOL

While EVOnline was happening, I couldn't focus on TESOL at all. Now, suddenly it's less than 2 weeks away! I realized I had to figure out how to get there. Nobody I know is driving up from DC. It's not far, but where do you park once you get there? Nobody wants to be burdened with a car in Manhattan. They just get broken into anyway! Years ago there were exactly 4 choices to get from DC to NY: fly "the shuttle," take the train (the "Metroliner", now called "Acela"), or take the bus: Greyhound or Trailways. Now, there are many more bus choices, although Trailways has vanished. There's the Vamoose Bus which leaves from downtown Bethesda (good), the Chinatown bus which is supposed to be very cheap, and today I found out about the Bolt Bus, a new company which supposedly offers fares for as low as $1. Well, not today for April 2 they don't, but I did find one $7 fare. I must make some decisions and book the tickets. I will go up Wednesday and come back Sunday. Already, the only Bolt Bus available for the return on Sunday is too late, so I will have to take a different bus to come back.

I printed out 2 different webheads logos from the wiki, in 2 different sizes, to stick in my badge. What a great idea! This will help us webheads to recognize each other more easily if we have not already met f2f.

I am trying to think how I can borrow a laptop to take up with me, so I will be able to post to the blog while I am there.

where to eat

My sister Margot says that restaurants are very expensive in midtown and in general it's worth subway fare to go down to the Village or Chinatown where the cheap restaurants are.

If you do stay midtown, though, she says, walk west to get to all the good restaurants. She mentioned an Ethiopian place, which seems to be off the map, and also the Sushi-Ann which seems to be closer. Actually if I read this right, there are over 3000 of them in midtown west alone.

Looking forward to seeing the webheads! tom-

What TAG should we use, dear tesol2008webheads?

When planning any kind of collaborative event among distributed participants, it's wise to establish a tag early on. May I suggest tesol2008webheads?

Once we've fixed on a tag, we'll want to use that tag with all posts made here (along with webheadsinaction, another productive tag, and perhaps tesol2008 to fit in with the larger TESOL picture.

Then we'll want to register the tag at hitchikr and use it for flickr photos and tag everything imaginable, slideshares, etc with this tag.

tesol2008webheads sound ok?

Facebook Group

At risk of overdoing things, I've just created a wia-in-nyc group in Facebook and sent invitations to all the webheads, TESOLers and WATESOLers in my Facebook contacts. It's an open group, so feel free to join up. You can post your convention photos and videos there.