I’ve been lukewarm on the whole Olympics thing for a while. I’m not a huge fan of large crowds or sports, so the idea of the whole world descending on my fair city wasn’t very appealing. Then in the fall, while I was finishing Create Your Own Blog, I took on writing Using WordPress, which I would need to finish in early March (ssshhh, yes I know it’s a month away) so I had an even better reason to stay in my home-office hidey hole for the duration of the Games.
Then Dave Olson came to talk to my BCIT class last night.
Dammit Dave, you keep frigging inspiring me to do better, write better, chronicle better. I was at the original True North Media House meetings, but felt I had to stay at arms length from it. I was working with folks trying to get social media work with VANOC and I didn’t think it wise to jeopardize that. Like many things in life, hindsight is 20/20 and I was wrong. I should have stayed involved. Not that I had a lot of time to spare to help, but I could have a least helped a little.
That was then, this is now and I’ve added my name to the True North Media House list, working on my media badge and excited to do something during the games. Will I wander the streets in the evening? Maybe. Maybe I’ll just wander down to Holy Rosary where Vancouver Opera will be rehearsing Nixon in China so I can walk back with Sheila and other members of the Opera Chorus. I think I might also just park myself at various coffee places I like and people watch. I like to write with people around, so that should be fun.
Oh and not only did Dave inspire me, I think better than half of the students in the class are newly inspired to do something during the Games. Leaving class, my students and I were talking about photowalks and just being a part of the whole amazing time.
Yeah, just another standard, run-of-the-mill talk by Dave. Inspire 30 people to do more, write more, contribute more. Nothing much.
Thank you Dave.
Tris Hussey is a writer, teacher, blogger, and speaker on all facets of Internet life, WordPress, and social media. He is the author of Create Your Own Blog: 6 Easy Blogging Projects to Start Blogging Like a Pro and Using WordPress.
