Last night my wife and I saw "Julie and Julia". I expected a very boring chick flick, but in fact I really liked it. As I was walking this morning, it occurred to me that I need to start a blog too. A little background information is in order....
Last week I completed the last requirement for my third masters degree. I have long considered going for a doctorate, and I even signed up for two classes over the summer, but I ended up dropping both of them. I was disappointed in the (lack of) instruction and in the (unrealistic) work load. From what I have seen, a doctorate in this particular department is a whole lot of "read these books, write some reflections, read your peers' reflections, write a literature review, and prepare a short presentation to be presented to your peers when we meet again four weeks from now."
It's not that I think research is ineffective, it's just that I find it to be a very inefficient way to learn. It has a very poor ROI; that is, return of learning on (time) invested. I can do it. But at my age (52) I guess I just don't want it bad enough.
But I need goals. I am like Julie in the movie (point of clarification: I am male.) I need to feel as though I am progressing. Standing still scares the hell out of me. So I decided I would make it a goal to spend at least one hour per day learning. And I would blog about it.
Why "The Legacy Learner"? Well, first, I was sure "The Lifelong Learner" would be taken (it was). Second, most of my learning will likely be technology oriented. I am an old mainframe programmer, and have worked on my share of "legacy" systems. I have updated my skills -- better than most of my contemporaries -- but I'm still not where I want or need to be.
I hope to add a tiny "morsel" of learning to this blog on a daily basis. " Bon apetite!"
*****
Well, this is embarrassing. I wrote that four years ago. I have since completed half of my fourth masters degree. Time to get started.
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