I hate TV. Well... maybe I don't hate TV but I do hate the mindless and pointless TV my children choose to watch. If you've ever watched Suite Life of Zack & Cody or Sponge Bob Square Pants you know what I mean by mindless and pointless. And yes, they roll their eyes just like I used to when my dad would tell me to turn the TV off which was usually followed by something about taking advantage of my surroundings and the "school of life." I used to tune him out the minute I heard the word "school" any where between June and September. School and summer vacation do not mix well!
At 39 and the mother of two young kids I understand (now) what he meant by "school of life" or "feed your mind." Every single day of my life I learn something new. Either by proactively educating myself because I am just interested or I'm faced with a challenge where more information is needed or through inactive learning where the information is just dumped into my lap.
One of the things I love about Twitter is the ongoing search I have on my TweetDeck for "free webinars" -- a tip I learned, by the way, from a free webinar. Before I started working for Sodexo a year and a half ago I wasn't on Twitter. Today, I can't imagine not having the access to the amount of information that flows across my desktop one tweet at a time. I am also pretty sure the number of webinars and company related online training courses I've taken has tripled if not quadrupled in the last year and a half. My every day learning has changed since I started working for Sodexo.
Yesterday for example, I attended a free webinar about blogging (that I found on Twitter) and I attended an "Ethics in the Workplace" training course through Sodexo's learning center, Sodexo University. This was the second online training course that I've taken through the learning center and I loved it! I know that may sound weird but it's true. I'm not just saying that because I work for Sodexo and write for this careers blog. I genuinely enjoy these online training courses. They are interactive, self-paced, and informative. There are fun game-show type quizes at the end of each course to test what you've learned. In addition to online training, Sodexo University also provides learning and development opportunities through self-study, instructor-led classes, and partnerships with other organizations. Next up on my training catalog is Information Security 101. Would you consider me a big geek if I said I'm really looking forward to this one?
I also learned something new from my 7 year old son yesterday. Below is just part of a conversation I had with him on our way to fall soccer evaluations last night.
Him: Mom... do you know what pennies are made out of?
Me: Ummm... I think copper.
Him: Actually, they're made out of zinc with copper on top. ("actually" and "apparently" are two of his favorite words lately)
Me: Really?
Him: They used to be made out of just copper but now the copper is just on top of the zinc and Ben Franklin made the first penny and it used to have an Indian on them and now Abe Lincoln is on them.
Me: Where'd you learn that buddy?
Him: On TV.
Hmmm... OK, so maybe all of their TV is not as mindless and pointless as I may think but I am pretty sure he did not learn this from Sponge Bob.
1 comments:
And do you know how many pennies you need to buy a crabby patty?
I also have the same problem with Bob, Cody and Zack; maybe we are just old :)
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