Help! Where did my blogs go?

I had quite a shock today. During a break from the class I was teaching (another Intro to Powerpoint - will they ever end?) I tried to check my bloglines account. It was BLOCKED! Our newly installed web filter flagged it as being in the "Blog or personal web page" category and it was blocked. I tried to come here to my blog and it, too, was blocked. Every blog I tried... same thing.... blocked. THe pages that I use when doing workshops were blocked, too. (http://home.comcast.net/~jgates808/twfile.html and http://home.comcast.net/~jgates808/scfile.html) "What am I going to do?", I thought. "This is disastrous!"

It then hit me. This is how I learn. It's my constant professional development. This is how I grow professionally. It's how I find out about best practices in student blogging and student use of wikis. It's how I stay engaged and connected in the conversation of education and the role of technology. And Ohhhhh was I missing it - even in that first minute.

And then I thought, "This is how those teachers in the districts feel - many of them - when they can't access the sites that they find at home that they feel are good resources for their kids. It's no wonder that so many of them are just saying, 'To heck with this. It's not worth the aggravation.' " It's no wonder I often find it difficult to excite them about technology.

The good news is that by the time the day was over I was again able to access my bloglines account and all my favorite blogs. I just can't imagine going to work and NOT being able to access my feeds. Can you?