Finally!

After nearly a month of attempts to return to 23 Things which were blindsided by staff ordering crises, followups on previous orders, reports due and all the other kazillion challenges of my daily life here at HCL, with John's help and guidance I'm able to finally return to 23 Things!! Woohoo!!

I'm a bit frazzled right now, hearing my phone ringing across the way and not being able to answer it, but I believe I'm supposed to be posting about Lifelong Learning.

Personally, I found it much easier for me to turn off the sound on the video for Lifelong Learning and read the text on the left of the screen. The woman's singsong narrative was like fingernails on a blackboard to me. I felt like she was speaking to a child. For myself, I found the list of "Habits" to be somewhat in the "DUH!" category, but it's good to see them all laid out in a logical manner.

I think Habit #3 is the one that will help me the most as I learn to view problems as challenges. I tend to get overwhelmed by problems; I need to see them as challenges that I have the tools to overcome. For the most part, in my personal life I believe I am already a Lifelong Learner. Through my after-work involvement in message boards, chats, and online volunteer work for a citizen activist group I have learned a lot about blogging, posting, monitoring and moderating listgroups and chats, as well as MySpace and Imageshack.

My inspiration to be a lifelong learner comes from my parents. My mother was an avid reader who made sure our home was always filled with a variety of books and magazines and taught me to read when I was four years old. My father, who celebrates his 78th birthday this week, has been involved with computers since the early age of computer technology. To this day he is very computer-savvy. He receives donated computers from companies in South Florida who are upgrading their systems, repairs them, and subsequently donates the computers to Habitat for Humanity or public schools in lower income areas so that kids have access to computers. He feels that keeping kids up to date on technology will give them a better future than they might otherwise have had. My father's example of being a lifelong learner has greatly influenced me. One is never "too old" to learn.