Twitter and I, part 2.

After my meltdown detailed in the previous posting, I sat down to read the almost 1,000 pages of Ken Follett's Fall of Giants. I knew that until I read it I would be incapable of doing any kind of productive work, so I sat for long hours and devoured it. It was vintage Follett, lots of details and historical information, good stories, interesting characters, some sprinkling of sex, and some not believable coincidences...but it was good.  
After that I went back to the real world as a new class started last Monday. And I also went back to the social media, Twitter included.
Something has changed, though. The laptop remains in the common home office, which lacks the view of my desk and it is also colder. I sit here and work, and occasionally check Twitter. But I have learned to close the tabs when I REALLY have to work. 
I started to play with several new tools, first of all Prezi. I signed up  to make a Professional Development Week presentation about social media (particularly Twitter) in education  in 2 weeks. I noticed that somebody else is making a presentation on Twitter...I am still pondering if I should attend it to avoid duplications or if I should jut go ahead with whatever my ideas are. I did decide that whatever I present I will do it with Prezi. I just love the way phrases fly my way and bounce around. 
Then I tested Polleverywhere and loved it. It was for a simple task, figuring out the extent of my students' microscopy experience. I projected the question while finishing the setup of the lab, and when I looked up the results were there. I am planning to incorporate them as substitutes of clickers.
Then there is Quora. I still have not figured it really out, but I found a couple of answers to some of my less important questions in life ("When will Verizon sell the iPhone?"- not that I care, I am waiting for my Nexus S to arrive) and answered a couple of questions that I felt confident about. 
However, the moment came when I had to go back to my desk and start thinking. I have been planning for quite a while to develop case studies based on those of The New England Journal of Medicine for my Microbiology classes. I have been using others' case studies but few combine the clinical part with more basic biology knowledge, like the ELVIS Meltdown case study does. I use it in combination with the microbial structure and metabolism lectures, and it works great. So I moved back to my desk and read a great case study about a cat bite and tularemia, and started setting up a simpler outline (intended for my microbiology audience, which are mainly pre-nursing students). My mind settled in its normal productive pace, and I was focused for a long time. It was nice to have some mental space away from all distractions. 
I think we have figured it out, Twitter and I.