About

Born and raised in Minnesota, I left the midwest to attend college in Washington, DC and even found myself in China for a semester. After graduating with a degree in International Affairs, I returned home to the midwest (a decision I question every winter). I'm an avid geek and lifelong learner, who is most often in front of a computer or behind a camera.

When not working on my plan for world domination, I can be found perusing the shelves of a library or used book store; baking chocolaty treats; exploring the outdoors; or bantering with my family. I also enjoy tinkering, repurposing, and de(con)structing.

View my LinkedIn profile for information about my education and work experience.

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EdTech

While I always loved being in school, it was not my intention to work at one after graduating from college; it was serendipity that landed me in my current position as the technology integration specialist at Orono Public Schools. However, as a geek, life-long learner, and wannabe teacher, it is the most fitting job I could have...despite having to forsake my lychnobite nature.

As a fervent supporter of career and technology education, I currently serve on the SkillsUSA Minnesota executive board - the career and tech student organization that has given me and millions of other students the skills and resources to succeed.

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Photography & Design

Photography & Design

Though my love for art in general began at an early age, I did not develop an interest in photography and design until high school, the former during a black & white film class and the latter during a drawing class that end with a single day of playing in Photoshop. Since then, digital imaging has been a constant in my life.

The Business

Shortly after the purchase of my first digital SLR, I began utilizing photography as way to feed my expensive coffee habit. I started by selling stock photography, but soon transitioned into portraiture. This led to the creation of my digital imaging business, Peregrine Imaging. I specialize in on-location portraiture, as well as photo retouching. My favorite subjects are children, particularly those who have not been taught to "say cheese".

Having trained and competed in graphic design during high school, it was only natural that my business include design services in addition to photography. Though my formal design training was completely print-based, I have since only ever done web-based projects. I prefer the web side of design due to the added challenge of functionality and interactivity - a web design can't just look pretty, it has to work too. To this end, I have managed to teach myself (x)html, css, xml, javacript, PHP, and bits (and bytes) of various other languages when necessary.

Personal Work

When I'm not photographing squirmy, unpredictable children, I can often be found photographing squirmy, unpredicatable insects, and the beautiful flowers among which they hide. It often surprises those who know of my fast-paced, divagative nature that I can sit still as long as I do when photographing bugs, but nature is so intriguing when viewed at a 1:1 macro level, it's hard not to stop and stare.

I post a lot of my personal work, gardens and otherwise, in my print galleries. My most recent work is also highlighted on my business blog, and even more pictures can be found at my photo blog

Links

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Blogs

Not Enough Coffee

Whenever I feel like sharing something longer than 140 characters, I post it to my blog: Not Enough Coffee. As the tagline (Musings from a Library-addicted Computer Geek) suggests, I post on everything from the analog to the digital, with a big emphasis on the geeky. Although not explicit on my blog, many of my post have a K12 education flavor...Yes, flavor - my posts are so juicy, you can taste them.

Twitter

I used to scorn Twitter as just another lifecaster, but was shown the light during my participation in More Things on a Stick web 2.0 program. If you tweet, I'd be happy to have you as part of my conversation. I generally follow most twits back, with the exception of spammers, bots, internet gurus, marketing experts, SEO specialists, and those with otherwise useless tweets. If you're not one of these, follow me: @CCahillMN.

Et al.

I also have a blog that chronicles my recent photography and design work, as well as a daily photo blog. Previews and RSS feeds for all of of these blogs are available on my RSS page.

Links

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iTeach

As an instructor for various community education programs in the Minneapolis area, I teach computer and photography related courses for adults, as well as summer camps for elementary and middle school students. The calendar below displays upcoming classes and links to registration. I am also available for tutoring and group trainings, either in-person or via the web.

Classes

Upcoming Classes

Previous Classes

  • Wordpress 101
  • Twitter for Professionals
  • Facebook for Parents
  • Social Media for Small Businesses
  • Getting Started with Gmail and Google Calendar
  • Basic Digital Photography
  • Special Techniques in Digital Photography
  • Basic Web Design for Small Businesses
  • Web Design for Middle School Students

Presentations & Speeches

In addition to teaching, I also enjoying speaking at conferences; below is a list of my previous presentations and speechesl. All my presentation materials are available at Phrontistery and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License, i.e. feel free to use and even modify as necessary for non-commericial purposes, but remember to credit me.

  • "Social Media in Education," TIES Education Technology Conference, December 2010 and SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, June 2010
  • "Annotate the Web with Diigo," TIES Education Technology Conference, December 2010
  • Minnesota CTSO Officer Training, December 2010
  • "Digital Toolbox," SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, June 2010 and June 2011
  • "Twitter for Professionals," TIES Education Technology Conference, December 2009 and SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, June 2010
  • "Teaching & Collaborating with Wikis," TIES Education Technology Conference, December 2009
  • SkillsUSA Minnesota Officer Training, December 2009
  • "Who Have You Helped Today," SkillsUSA Minnesota Delegate Conference, November 2008
  • "If at First You Don't Succeed, Redefine Success," SkillsUSA Minnesota Leadership Conference, October 2007

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Contact

I'd love to hear from you...unless, of course, your intentions are not nice, in which case I will send my flying monkeys after you.

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Diigo

Glimpsed

Not Enough Coffee

  • Don't pity a shelter dog...feed one!


    If you watch any TV, you've probably seen Pedigree's heart-string-tugging commercials supporting the adoption of shelter dogs. It's a beautiful montage of dogs that ends with the slogan "Don't pity a...

  • Traits of a Techie: How You Too Could Become Awesome*


    Techie /t'eki/ Term for a person who possesses greater than average interest in technology, especially the latest and greatest high-tech gadget; not to be confused with their spandex-wearing, oft...

  • Changes in Education: Strengthen VoTech Programs


    This post is part of my Critical Changes series, a collection of observations from an un-jaded newbie in education. Change 2: Strengthen Vocational and Technical Programs Call them what you will -...

  • A Different Kind of Change


    My days of wanting to believe like Fox Mulder are long gone; I'm definitely a skeptical Scully these days. When people are spooked by a ghost, I figure their imaginations have gotten the best of...

  • Changes in Education: Hire People, Not Services


    In this rapidly changing world it is critical for schools to adapt, to change in ways that will better prepare students for their future. So, the question is not whether schools should change, but...

  • Google Calender: Display Only Public Events -- EASIER WAY


    The inner-workings of my mind are quite the imbroglio, which often causes it to make things more difficult than they have to be. Take my previous post, which showed how to make a feed of public...

  • Google Calendar: Display Only Public Events


    UPDATE: See a much easier solution in my next post, Google Calender: Display Only Public Events -- EASIER WAY. I share my work calendar - showing only the free/busy details - with everyone in my...

  • iPhone: Saving Extensions


    Have an iPhone? Need to save a phone number with an extension? There's an app for that...or actually, just a button. Saving an extension on the iPhone When saving/adding a contact, there...

  • iPod Touches in Education on Google Wave


    I've started a Google Wave about using iPod Touches in education; my district is looking to buy a lab (or few, I hope) and would like some advice. If you are using iPod Touches in your school, please...

  • Lingoes: Portable Dictionary & Translation


    Lingoes is a free dictionary, text-to-speech, and translation tool that works with any selectable text found in any program, including web browsers and word-processing applications. While Lingoes is...

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Peregrine Imaging

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