I started as an online student with the International Academy of Design & Technology in Oct. of 2007 as an AS in Web Design candidate. I have worked for a school at Northwestern University for 10 years now, and my co-workers all had snide remarks when I chose IADT Online. “What do you know about this program? Have you compared it to others? Aren’t you worried about the stigma of online education?” My replies were always very simple. IADT Online offered a ‘Web Design’ degree, which was very important to me (versus visual communications or digital media or whatever…) I felt an online degree was my only chance at going to college.

I believe in using the Web to its fullest: for communication, productivity, and of course, education. Why attend a fairly new program in the already murky waters of online education? To make an impact. There is newness all around me. I’m a new artist to a new media, a new student in a new school. There are two major ways to deal with newness: resistance, and complacency. However, I believe that all the great people of history, (and many other great people that will one day become great people of history) dealt with newness as an opportunity.

So…my first tangible effort of making an impact at IADT Online is starting the Graduation Committee, GradComm. To this effort I will be traveling to Tampa, FL, the campus that houses the Academy Online staff. The nitty gritty of GradComm is for another forum. This post is mainly to announce my trip to Tampa and a general idea of why.

Now for the fun…if you are in the Tampa area and would like to meet myself and other design minded, social media driven, fun times loving, and all around TEH AWESOME people, join us at Splitsville Lanes in Channelside Plaza, Friday March 20, around 9pm.

Listen to all the happenings of my GradComm trip online via:

	@IADT_GradComm on twitter
	TreoBenny on brightkite
	@TreoBenny on twitter
	TreoBenny on qik
	TreoBenny on viddler
	TreoBenny on seesmic

This was taken Friday. As you can see, the initial dressing has been removed. I’m due back to see the surgeon Monday. They said I’ll be dressing-free after that. I’ll tell you, I’m getting sick of being in the sling already…and I have 3 weeks left!

Moving on to a lighter subject, I’m on Spring Break from school until the 7th! The quarter technically ended Wednesday, but many instructors were allowing until Friday to submit final assignments. I needed until late Thursday and today was all play. I finally got around to cleaning the bedroom, which took most of the day since I’ve only got one arm Next on my Spring Break agenda is to establish a wireless network with this Vista notebook and my Fedora 8 Linux desktop.

By the way, Formula 1 is back!

Friday I’ll give more updates about school, my upcoming shoulder surgery, and the Mall of America.

Last night I went to bed early with the plan to get up early today and get some schoolwork done. I executed the sleep part to a tee and got up around 7. I went out to get milk for my coffee. Ironically, I don’t drink much coffee at home, but I’m known for my regular and voracious coffee drinking at work The truth is, I’m a coffee lover, not a coffee drinker. I love coffee enough to settle for a free lack-luster cup each morning, but if I’m going to take the time and energy to make coffee at home, it’s gonna be GOOD.

I bought some ground coffee from Lavazza recently (Crema Gusto something or other) and retrieved my press pot from a friend’s house just yesterday. I would normally drink cream (half & half) in brewed coffee, but I decided to try out a cappuccino-like drink this weekend. It’s not quite latte, not quite cafe au lait, not quite cappuccino, but ALL GOOD! I started with a full pot (I have an 8-cup press) of fine ground coffee. While it was brewing I put a little milk in a pot, I’d say 2 cups. Once the milk started to get mad, I poured the coffee from the press into a large mug big enough to hold all 8 cups. I washed the press and got it ready for the milk. A split second before the milk boiled, I took it off the heat and poured it in the press. Then I plunged up and down, fairly deliberately, to froth the milk. All the way to the bottom, then all the way up, back and forth.

BIV was standing there as I was doing this and noticed the milk getting higher and higher in the press. He says “How are you making the milk bigger Daddy?” He’s so cute…

I filled a cup half with coffee, half with the milk. While it’s still warm the milk and froth are in the perfect ratio and I didn’t need to use a spoon at all. The picture above is after a few sips (I couldn’t resist) and with a little nutmeg on top. All days should start this way…