i think therefore i blog

#91 Fun With Photos

2010-07-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Online image generators and editing tools can be a lot of fun for creative people. The results are really only limited by the user's imagination. Some sites of interest are BeFunky, FotoFlexer, and BigHugeLabs.

Here's an original image:

Here's the image enhanced using BeFunky "Watercolor" effect.

And here is the image enhanced using FotoFlexer "Painting" effect.

The photo editing site which seems to have the most bells and whistles is BigHugeLabs. Here you can change your photograph into a pop art or motivational poster, create a magazine cover or trading card, make photo mosaics and jigsaw puzzles, add captions, create slide shows, generate LOLcats, and more.

FaceInHole allows you to plug your picture into a scenario such as a famous book or painting. I have to say, I had more fun with this site than any of the others. And who could pass up the opportunity to become The Queen of All Wild Things?

#90 Sharing Photos

2010-07-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

What would you do if you got a knock on your door in the middle of the night, and the police were there telling you you had ten minutes to leave? It's a horrible question to ponder, but one that might frequently occur to residents of New Orleans, the Texas Gulf Coast, or those who live in Southern California communities plagued by wildfires. Of all your possessions, what do you most fear losing?

Many people would want to save their photographs above all else. They are the visual reminders of the people, places, and events that mean the most to us. I have a rather large collection of photographs from days of yore, when pictures were taken using film, which was then sent off to be developed at a lab. It would be impossible for me to go anywhere quickly if I had to lug 20 or so albums, numerous shoeboxes, and packets of negatives with me.

Fortunately there are many ways to save pictures and back up collections. You might burn them to a CD or DVD, or copy them to a flash drive. You could also take advantage of an online photo sharing service.

Some of the most popular online photo sharing services include Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook, and Picasa.

Flickr is the service HCPL uses to store and share photos. Flickr offers simple editing, geotagging on maps, free and pro accounts, versatile sharing tools, and other features. It's a great resource for bloggers, because Flickr has an enormous public data base of images. A search can be limited to include only creative commons licensed content. Even without setting up an account, one can browse through random shots, from around the world. There is an extraordinary amount of highly creative work there, waiting for anyone who would like to see it. I feel lucky that so many professional and amateur photographers share their photographs so freely.

Photobucket is another leading photo sharing service and it is very easy to use. You get 1GB of space (enough for 10,000 photos) with a free account. There is integration with other social media sites. Slideshows are a popular feature. They are easy to embed on the web or on sites like Craigslist and eBay.

Facebook is the site I use most for sharing photos with friends and family. I am able to upload photos from my computer fairly easily (Facebook seems to have a trouble with photo uploading every so often), and instantly share them with the people in my social network. I retain control over who sees my personal photo albums too, which is nice.

For this exercise I chose to try Picasa. Picasa seems very similar to Photobucket and Flickr. I downloaded the free version of Picasa 3 on my home computer. I really like the editing tools, including Retouching. (Picnik also had that tool, which works like airbrushing, but it wasn't available with the free account.) Picasa saves your original photo along with your edited version.

Image courtesy of Jacob...K

#89 Basic Photo Editing

2010-06-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Digital cameras are so affordable, pretty much everyone uses them. With the prevalence of social networking online, it's no wonder that picture sharing is so popular, and it goes without saying that if you're sharing your pictures, you might have some incentive to make sure they go out into the World Wide Web looking their best. There are a number of online photo editing sites that can help. Some of them are Picnik, Photoshop, and Fotoflexer.

The most obvious advantage to using an online site is the price: free! While professional photographers might want (and actually use) all the features that come with expensive photo editing software packages, I would guess that for most digital camera owners, the current free technology online is sufficient.

One could spend an inordinate amount of time playing on the various sites with their numerous features and a whole plethora of options. The site I spent the most time on was Picnik. I found Picnik very easy to use and I liked the way I could select a feature and see how it would change my picture, before actually "applying" it. Perhaps Picnik designers were thinking of the fumbling or new user when they placed the "undo" button so prominently in the upper right corner of the site. It think that was good planning. Premium features are available with a subscription. (I was pretty excited at what I could do with the "airbrush", but then I discovered it's a premium feature. Rats.)

It seems to me that the editing features one prefers to use depends largely on the individual photograph and its particular strengths and/or weaknesses. I was really pleased with how Picnik's sharpness and contrast features improved an old personal photograph. I also used crop and museum mat to edit my photo:

#88 Google Wave, Buzz, and Mobile

2010-05-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so, I've been watching people drop like flies from Facebook. There's been a huge uproar on the internet over the most popular social networking site's alleged lack of concern for their over 400 million members' privacy. This is not just a matter of someone giving out TMI. In April, Facebook announced the Open Graph API, which basically means that users' information can show up on sites other than Facebook, without the user's permission and without their even being logged in. Thus, if you type in the phrase "how do I" on Google, the first option that appears is "delete my Facebook account".

If you don't mind that potentially everything you put on Facebook is public, and you don't mind that Facebook will still have your stuff even after you delete your account, and you don't mind large corporations following your Facebook presence in order to better sell you something, you probably could remain happy with Facebook, as long as you don't unwittingly compromise the privacy of anyone you've friended.

So where have all the Facebook users gone? One place you might find them is on Google Buzz. While I can't claim to know all the ins and outs of the site, Google Buzz seems similar to Facebook; it is for social networking, and it is supposed to allow the user control over whether content is public or private. I'm a bit skeptical about Google's claim about the privacy thing, especially since the company owns Doubleclick technology and probably most of the web already.

Google Wave is an interesting project being studied in Google Labs. Students, coworkers, or just about anyone who is working on a collaborative project could use Wave to share ideas, sources, and photos in real time. I wanted to try it myself, but currently it is an invitation only site, so I'm not using any collaborative tools at present.

Mobile technology is amazing and just keeps getting better. Of course Google is right there offering all kinds of products that can be used as long as you have a web-enabled phone. You can search the internet, check your Gmail, access your aggregator, and more. I don't have a mobile phone, but I think having access to Google maps or Mapquest while on the road would be a life-saver and I'd probably use those tools frequently. My absolute favorite Google phone app though, is the new Googles Translates software for smart phones. Fascinating!

Image from Time online.

#87 Google Reader

2010-05-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't be surprised to learn that Google has its own version of a feed aggregator. What I would like to know is, what exactly is all this vitally important information? Is someone monitoring the Swiss particle accelerator for impending black holes? Checking the movement of the tectonic plates in anticipation of the final dissolution of the earth's crust so they make it to the Ark on time? Afraid of losing their one and only chance to find their soul mate on Matchmaker.com because someone else was updated more quickly?

It's hard for me to imagine a situation where typing in a URL (or several), or a search keyword constitutes hardship, but I can understand trying to be organized. Taking advantage of tools to better manage one's time is certainly a respectable endeavor. I told an unemployed friend about Google Reader after I came across an interesting article. I want my friend's job search to be successful and thought using an aggregator might be helpful. It can't hurt to cast your biggest net (no pun intended), right? Besides, it could make a good impression on a potential employer if my friend said he found some leads while using a feed aggregator.

Otherwise, I signed up for Bloglines in a previous training and subscribed to a number of feeds related to books and reading, such as NPR Topics: Books, NYT Books, and Alltop, but so far I'm not really hooked on aggregators. I just don't seem to have the type of information requirements that make me feel I'm missing a whole lot by not using a feed reader more regularly. On the contrary, the sheer volume of material that materializes when I log into Bloglines is already a bit daunting. Any time I gain by having a bunch of feeds on one site is immediately canceled out as I either:

1.) get lost wading through the nonessential uninspiring stuff that gets pulled in because I decided to subscribe to a certain blog, for example, or
2.) get stuck on the computer for even more inordinate amounts of time because I got distracted by all the pretty headlines beckoning to me.

Maybe I just haven't yet found the particular feeds that would really interest me. Maybe I need an aggregator for my aggregator. Please don't tell Google I said that.

#86 Google Docs and Google Calendar

2010-04-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

Online word processing/file storage programs have been around for awhile, are great time savers and meet a variety of computing needs. There are several online word processing programs, including as ThinkFree, Zohowriter, iNetWord, gOffice, and Google Docs. I've been using Zohowriter for my written work, and I like it a lot. It's like having a notebook for work projects, personal to do lists, correspondence, and business items that I don't have to carry. It doesn't get lost, forgotten, misplaced, dropped in a snow drift, or eaten by the dog. I don't have to worry about how much I put in it. There's enough room for everything, in one place, and it doesn't clutter up my desk or home. Plus, it's free. Magnificent!

One of the things I like about Google Calendar is the ability to create tasks lists, and check them off as they are completed. My organizational needs are more along the lines of don't-forget-to-submit-the-summer-camp-physical-by-May-1st, as opposed to be-in-charge-of-the-fundraising-dinner-for-500. So I could see myself using the tasks option more than the events option.

These tools are eminently useful and convenient. I really wish they had been available years ago....which got me to thinking. I wonder if, when ancient Sumerians saw less ancient Sumerians using a cart with wheels to haul a heavy load instead of dragging it, did they have a palm slap to forehead moment?

#85 Google

2010-04-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Google, founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, is a "multinational public cloud computing and Internet search technologies corporation". The fact that I even understand what that means makes me happy. The original nickname for the search engine was "backrub", to describe the action of checking backlinks in order to prioritize search results. The amount of information the search engine was supposed to handle was a googol (number 1 followed by one hundred zeros). The googol was named for the Google, a monster created by a crazy economist. At some point, maybe during some madcap Stanford party in a college student's garage apartment, googol was misspelled, and Google was born. Or reborn. Or reincarnated. At any rate, Google is a much better name for a computer technology company than Backrub. I also like the company's unofficial slogan: "Don't be evil".

The way Google makes money is mainly by selling advertising. In 2006 the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues. It's kind of creepy the way Google can track user interests with data mining technology. Then they can position advertisements so they're relevant to a page's context and the viewer's browsing. While it may be unnerving to know your keystrokes are under surveillance a la Orwell, at the same time the notoriety of Google seems to empower the company in other surprising ways. Perhaps, due to the world-wide popularity of Google, there may come a day in the Republic of China when censorship will be essentially ineffective. That would be a pretty remarkable repercussion, I think.

Google has an amazing variety of products. I don't use half of the services they offer, but I use some of them fairly regularly, such as web search, blogger, youtube, google images, gmail, and google maps. Google's search engine seems to be the best in terms of speed, accuracy, and relevance (see post #75). These are good reasons to Google rather than Yahoo or Bing. I had fun exploring Google Books. I could definately spend more time there looking at old Life Magazines and some even older books. The advanced search feature is easy to use. It allowed me to look for specific topics and items, and to limit my search to full view (as opposed to preview). Google Books could be a resource for students if they need a book for an assignment and all of the library's copies are checked out. There are many classics that can be viewed online. I searched for Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, since it is a high demand item in my community. It was not available on Google Books, so there are some obvious drawbacks to the site.

Adventurous users may want to try Google Labs. There, one can explore Google products which are still in development and leave feedback. I liked the FastFlip Lab. Most of the Google Lab products I looked at, though, were only somewhat interesting, because I couldn't see how I'd have much practical use for many of them. Google has so many other applications already in service I'm still trying to process those. I guess I'm not geeky enough to appreciate Google Labs. Yet.

Google monster image courtesy of wikimedia.org

#81

2010-03-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

On his blog I, Cringely, technology journalist Mark Stephens maintains that in the near future (he guesses around the year 2015) television will be well on its way to morphing from a broadcast model to internet provided service. Network TV as we have known it will go belly up, like the city newspaper, and instead of being an American household mainstay it will become a museum-worthy artifact, something we gather in a special building to admire once in a while, like a pteradactyl egg fossil or a mosquito trapped in amber.

As the popular delivery models of media change, so will content. Web TV has been a reality for several years, and "midtail" content, or semiproduced/user generated videos, are a staple of the savvy viewer who would rather be glued to online streaming video than at the mercy of some old fashioned technology and stuffy TV executives (I thought TiVo largely did away with such enslavement, but anyway....). Next New Networks, the leading producer of such midtails, includes programming from a variety of sources e.g. Channel Frederator, Barely Political, ThreadBanger, and others.

Changes in the way television service is delivered and in viewing habits are gaining momentum. According to Advertising Age, midtail content is the only online programming that "scores sizable audiences" and thus revenue. It's not surprising then, that Goldman Sachs is one of Next New Networks major investors. (At least some things are still predictable.)

Consumers are pretty predictable too. If it's bigger and better they pretty much have to have it. Large screen LCD TVs are now everywhere. It's ironic though, that fewer than 5 percent of the HD TVs sold in the US last year are capable of bypassing cable and satellite TV service. That's because pulling in online shows may be what people think they must have next. DVDs from Netflix are ordinary. Having a virtual video store in your living room is not. This is what you get with VUDU. VUDU's internet-ready setup is an on demand movie service that requires no monthly subscription or contract. All you need is an internet-ready TV, a fast connection, and about $150 for the VUDU box. Available since 2007, VUDU sales haven't been impressive, so last year the company stopped pushing the hardware and started making deals with manufacturers such as Samsung, Sanyo, and Sharp to build its features directly into televisions. Last month, Wal-Mart bought VUDU.

3D technology is going to have a colossal impact; I'm just not sure when that will happen. It seems to be something about which everyone is excited, but I think there are some issues that need to be resolved before consumers will sign up for another expensive television and the special glasses needed to watch it. The main problems I see are 1. there are no standards as yet for formatting (that I'm aware of) and consequently, 2. content will be limited. I wouldn't be too happy if I spent a lot of money on a new TV and then found out that, say, the show my child wanted to watch was not produced in 3D. I think there will continue to be a huge market for 3D movies that people can enjoy in an IMAX theater. Further development of this technology and its applications, especially for video games, will likely enthrall techies and trekkies for years.

VUDU could end up being the new technology that more people try at home. The viewer seems to have plenty of content choices with VUDU, along with absolute control over when to view the selected content. There is a pleasurable sense of satisfaction associated with being able to instantly fulfill a movie wish. The insipid people of Wal-Mart are involved, so proliferation is almost a given.

On the other hand, I am not one who easily embraces the newest technologies. I'm rather adverse to being on the receiving end of marketing, to rushing towards the latest phantasmagoria. It's probably not surprising then, that my favorite media gadget, and one I'm still working on comprehending, is the remote control which remains eminently handy for turning the television off.

#80 Movies

2010-02-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

On my way to work I drive by two video stores. I used to patronize one of those stores on a regular basis, but I don't think I've been inside either of them for several years now. It's amazing to me that places like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster are even open, considering how quickly the video rental business has changed.

Instead of running out to the neighborhood video store, you can now order and receive movies without ever getting out of your PJs. Netflix lets you choose films from their collection; then they are mailed to your home. You pay a monthly fee and there are no late charges. This is a great deal and very convenient. My family already uses this service. When I check my mailbox at 3 pm on Saturday, I enjoy receiving my movies and treating my neighbors to the vision of me in plaid flannel.

You can get another sweet deal by using movie sites such as Hulu or The Auteurs which provide free access to full length films. I looked for the movie version of my library's book club selection for March, The Thin Man, by Dashielle Hammitt. No luck finding it on Hulu or The Auteurs. (I couldn't figure out where to look for full length movies on IMDB.) I finally found The Thin Man on Google Videos. It's wonderful to think that so many movies are literally only a few clicks away; talk about immediate gratification. I still prefer watching movies on my TV though, as that allows me to lounge. The larger TV screen seems more condusive to watching a movie with family and friends too.

Often times I don't pay attention to trailers at the beginning of DVDs. With Hulu trailers, I can look at a trailer when I have the time, and I don't get slammed with a half dozen all at once. I also have more control over the types of trailers I view. There are certain movies I'm not remotely interested in seeing. Hulu's brief trailer description makes it easier for me to skip over the trailers for those movies altogether. Since I generally like films about dancers or dancing, I decided to watch a trailer for the documentary "Dancing Across Borders", about a talented Cambodian street dancer who comes to New York to train in classical ballet. This is the first I've heard of this movie, and now I really want to see it! It will be in theatres March 26, 2010. Look for me to be dancing to my mailbox in plaid flannel as soon as the dvd becomes available.

#79 The Future of Media: Television online

2010-02-15T14:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks to web sites such as hulu.com, tv.com, and the animation enthusiast's Joost, television has become accessable on PCs and laptops. Phone providers Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon have jumped on the demand-for-TV bandwagon by offering mobile TV services, and major network websites have some episodes of popular shows online. Isn't it wonderful that we have so many viewing options? There really is no excuse anymore for missing a single episode of Jerry Springer or WWE. We are so fortunate. Also, we can continue to shell out for the latest technology which allows us to tune in to our choice of mindless prattle, I mean distinctive entertainment, anywhere we are, anytime of day. A small monthly tithe to the wireless gods is all that stands between you and the opportunity to enrich your phone company. Goodness knows that life as we know it would end without being able to watch even more TV than we already do, and the quality of what one is able to watch on one's iPhone is worth any price. (If you have come to the conclusion that I do not own a cell phone and therefore won't be watching TV on my cell phone, you win.)

The Nielsen Company published results of research last year which showed that media consumption is increasing, and media multi-tasking is part of that trend. Jim O’Hara, President of Media Product Leadership for The Nielsen Company said, “The entire media universe is expanding so consumers are choosing to add elements to their media experience, rather than to replace them." One interesting development in our expanding media universe is that there are now more TVs per American household than people. You can read more of Nielsen's Three Screen Report here.

My acknowledged bias and I took a look around hulu. You can browse by TV and by movies. I don't really have a favorite TV show, but I noticed there is a 40th Anniversary Collection of Sesame Street clips you can watch. That sounded like fun.

The movie collection wasn't very appealing, but they did have some full length features I might enjoy, like "Inherit the Wind" with Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott or "Like Water for Chocolate." (You apparently have to create a hulu account in order to view an R rated movie.) I like that they have a documentary search feature. I was interested in Africa Unite: A Celebration of Bob Marley's 60th Birthday, but the buffering problem was terrible. There were other documentaries I would try, such as Les Paul: Chasing Sound, and Manufacturing Consent about Noam Chomsky.

Many people enjoy posting their own video productions on USTREAM. The Shiba Inu puppy streaming video is adorable. For about 3 minutes. Then I got bored. It's great seeing friends and family in the videos they post to YouTube or Facebook. Maybe some day I'll get around to making one. They say genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Not that I expect to be another Speilberg; far from it. But it's probably better that I keep my first attempts, at least, well away from the public library.

#78: Video

2010-02-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

The assignment: play around with video search engines such as Truveo and Blinkx. Be careful and try not to lose yourself in the online video vortex.

I happen to get lost easily (see post #31: Maps Are Not My Forte), so I'm not very opinionated about which video search engine I use. Since it's Groundhog's Day, I decided to look for the graduation-from-boot-camp scene in the movie "Stripes", starring Bill Murray. YouTube and Truveo worked equally well with my inquiry, finding the correct movie snippet right away. The first hit from Blinkx, though, was some sort of animation contest entry which I immediately regretted watching, followed by a number of interviews with Harold Ramis and a movie review posted in 2007 by Joe Ordinary. Also, most of the Blinkx hits on the first page of search results were YouTube videos, so I wondered why I should prefer Blinkx to YouTube. When a compelling reason occurs to me, I'll let you know.

In my opinion, the biggest frustration with online videos has nothing to do with which search engine is employed. It's the whole buffering problem. What does one do while waiting for that video to finish buffering? wikiHow suggests visiting their site and learning a new skill, such as how to become a bountyhunter or how to survive falling out of an airplane.

Harris County Public Library has a YouTube channel where there are lots of library videos. I was surprised by the variety of things to see. In addition to children's stories read by staff, branches have recorded presentations by guest speakers, special events, and more. It was interesting to browse the uploads and see everything from a Mariachi band to the Pileated Woodpecker who seems to have adopted Northwest Branch. Some of the videos are quite silly and entertaining, like The Henry Houndog Show, and How Not to Reserve a Computer.

I wonder if it would be useful to record a short video tour of our branch. Since it's rare that we have time for orientation before opening, staff from other HCPL branches might appreciate an opportunity to virtually familiarize themselves with the library, before working a Sunday shift. Or, they might prefer falling out of an airplane.

#77 Images

2010-01-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

photo by Matthew McDermott of the New York Post

Library staff and customers alike often need images to use in their work. When images are utilized to promote a web site, event, or business, it's important to insure that the owner of the original material has given permission to use it. Fastidious laws that protect the use of images may seem tiresome, but protecting the rights of creators and their creations for the most part encourages new ideas, fair trade, and sharing.

There are three main types of images that are available online: public domain images, right protected images, and royalty free images. Public domain images are free, and right protected images are purchased for a certain length of time. iStockPhoto and Fotolia are sites where you may purchase royalty-free images. Royalty free means that once you "buy" the image, it may be used indefinately and without limit.

There's a press release on the Fotolia site which states that "sales of $1 images continued to generate six-figure incomes for the world’s top photographers in 2009". That's incredible! (And it's caused me to consider sharing my images with the world.)

10 places to find free images online has more information and links to many online image banks. For example, bigphoto.com is a royalty free photo bank which offers free downloads of all pictures. To credit the photographer, the user is asked simply to provide a link back to the website. bigphoto.com is where you can find "pictures from around the world", but frankly I found the site disappointing. They had pictures from only 5 of Africa's 53 countries. 51 pictures are available for "Egypt", which seems like really slim pickings. I proceeded to look for pictures under the heading "America". Did they have a picture of Slim Pickens? Nope. In my opinion, this site was not the bomb.

(If I credit wikipedia for this picture, have I followed the rules?)

On the other hand, MorgueFile.com has an absolutely incredible collection of images. The images are free, but cannot be published "on a standalone basis". I'm not sure what that means. I don't even have to post an attribution, but I linked back to the site anyway, just because I want to acknowledge the person who is allowing me to add this butterfly to my blog. Beautiful!

I used AllFreeClipArt and found a picture of a Santa Mouse in 4 clicks. With 7 clicks I found a Santa that looked like he hadn't slept in a week. I suppose it has it's uses, but after seeing what's available on morguefile.com, the clip art wasn't very exciting.

HCPL subscribes to Schools.clipart. Staff may use this resource to create posters, flyers, bulletin boards, and other materials suitable for an educational environment. The site doesn't just contain line drawings and cartoonish pictures; it offers illustrations, photos, 3d clip art, and signart. If I was making a children's display for Chinese New Year, I might use this image of a cat.

Image courtesy of JupiterImages

#76 Sound Effects. Oh boy, a new toy!

2010-01-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

Every kid who grows up watching cartoons understands the value of sound effects. Good sound effects make any story more real, more believable, more funny. From scrambling feet to kabong!, unique sounds add punch to theatre, radio, and television. Thanks to streaming audio, file compression, and musical instrument digital interface, now sounds can even be used to spice up the written word.

An example of a site where one can search for sounds is FindSounds. Another useful resource is Simply the Best Sounds.

Here is a sample of some sounds from FindSounds:

bull moose

barred owl

camel

I was not successful in finding out what sounds a real tasmanian devil makes. The first page of search results all sounded like this.

These are from Simply the Best Sounds:
gong

evil laugh

ocean waves

#75: Google and Beyond, or Desperately Seeking Search Engine Supremacy

2010-01-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

I've been using Google as a Search Engine for quite some time, with generally good results. At least, I've always thought I was perfectly happy with Google as a Search Engine. I surely didn't give much thought to the notion that my bias for searching in a particular way could be limiting my results. Then Microsoft conducted a study which revealed that Search Engine branding has an impact on the perceived quality of results. Enter Michael Kordahi, a Microsoft employee. He created a website called "BlindSearch" in response to the study.

When you enter a search query on BlindSearch, you get results from the three most popular Search Engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo, but you don't know whose results are whose. After viewing the responses to the search, you can vote for the set which you feel best supplied the information you were seeking, and thus learn which Search Engine best served your needs.

I tried a few queries through BlindSearch and, taking into consideration my opinion about the relevancy of the results, cast my votes. Most often, Google came up as the Search Engine I preferred. Bing was second and Yahoo was third. Performance-wise, after four tries, I didn't notice any huge differences between the Search Engines, but there were a few surprises, such as when a search for the most popular books of 2009 through what turned out to be Bing returned a link to a website for books that "explain Buddhism for a modern western audience". It was interesting to try and imagine what exactly happened to that request in cyberspace.

Trying different Search Engines, without knowing their brands ahead of time, probably won't change the way I search in the future, but it did teach me to be aware of Search Engine branding bias.

Hitwise is a website which tracks the volume of traffic to various websites and ranks them by frequency of hits. For the week ending 01/02/2010, Search Engine usage was ranked as follows: Google 64.05%, Yahoo!Search 10.96%, and Bing 8.91%. Google is the most popular Search Engine by far, which jives with my personal choice of a favorite.

It was a real eye-opener exploring Google's features. I didn't know that you could do mathematical calculations in the Google search box, automatically convert measurements (like centimeters to inches or kilometers to miles), instantly find local businesses by zip code, read a Tip of the Day, and much more. With so many ways to improve your searches, it's no wonder Google is extremely popular. I found the sheer number of features a little overwhelming; they have so much stuff to strut! The Google Search Engine reminds me of:

It is a blue-ribbon Mummer's band of Search Engines, elaborate and fancy and fun. With all there was to explore, I didn't spend as much time sifting through the features of the other Search Engines. I noticed that Bing, though, had an absolutely gorgeous home page today, displaying an exquisite photograph of a secluded beach in Greece. Maybe Bing is politely promoting the quest for Nirvana this week. They don't seem to realize that, on New Year's Day at least, some people's idea of ecstasy is being in Philadelphia, at Broad and City Hall, watching the string bands.

#60 Recession Busters

2009-06-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to want to spend less these days. Maybe Oprah was thinking of recession busting when she decided to spring for free food from KFC. Unfortunately the promotion fell flat...really really flat...because KFC didn't have enough chicken to meet the demand. And that was just the first day. But, even though the little people didn't get a free lunch, KFC and Oprah got something for free: a lot of bad publicity, which they "richly" deserved because of their incredibly poor planning.

The moral seems to be, if you want to save money cook for yourself.

Here's a recipe for chicken spaghetti that feeds a lot of people for very little money:
source

Watching Clara Cannucciari was fun and I admire her spunk, but I like Ree Drummond's receipe better because it's baked instead of fried. Her web site, ThePioneerWoman.com, is one place to look for simple and frugal recipes. I regret looking at the site today though, because she posted a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie, and now I'm craving it in a big way.

A good book about growing up during the Depression is Mildred Armstrong Kalish's "Little Heathens". Set on an Iowa farm, Kalish's memoir vividly describes the family's way of life, and helps [this reader, anyway] maintain perspective regarding the current economic "crisis". For example, Kalish writes that "the only things my grandparents spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth and kerosene." Can you imagine? Now THAT'S cutting expenses to the bone. My own grandmother at least bought raisins, so my father could take a raisin sandwich for his lunch at school. And speaking of Depression-era cuisine, the book contains recipes for making down-home dishes such as Porcupines and Cotton Tops, as well as good old fashioned comfort foods like meatloaf and apple sauce cake. The recipes may also be found online here. Check out "grandma's hiccup cure", too.

As a child born of parents who grew up during The Depression, I have deep roots in thrift; however, in today's world, "denying" one's self during difficult economic times has quite different implications. Hardship then might have meant no meat for supper, or quitting high school to help support the family. Today, I dare say you would be considered a hardship case if you couldn't afford cable TV for a while. (And just in case, you could still watch a show online at www.hulu.com.)

#59 Your Daily Bread

2009-05-14T14:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I read an infuriating news story. At a time when more and more families are forced to finance basic necessities, many of the largest banks are raising credit card rates! Why? Because the government is looking at credit card reform. And banks want to make as much money as they can, before new legislation takes effect that would limit their ability to tack on extra fees. Unbelievable.

People may say, well don't use credit then! Pay cash! I don't know anyone [my age] who doesn't have credit cards. And here's the reason. They are a necessity if you want to establish a credit history, and the history is needed in order to qualify for a mortgage. Unless you have a fairy godmother, you are required to literally buy into this system if you want to be responsible for putting a roof over your head. And you have to pay all your bills on time, or your FICA score will be adversely affected. I learned a lot by reading the article How Credit Scores Work, and got a perfect score on the credit quiz (yay!). However, PRIOR to doing the reading, I didn't realize that loan inquiries or applying for a credit card can negatively effect your credit score, or that people with less than perfect credit are charged higher insurance rates. Your scores may also determine how big a deposit you will have to pay for telephone, electricity, or natural gas service, and whether or not your application for a rental apartment is approved. One's credit history has many more implications than I ever realized, so I'm pleased this topic is being addressed as an iHCPL learning module. For people like me who would like to be better informed about personal finance, there is also an online guide from CNN money called Money 101 here.

Since I find the current credit/lending/banking situation somewhat exasperating, I have the adopted the following spending plan. It is: If you can't pay for it by the end of the month, don't buy it.

There are many web resources which explain how to develop a monthly budget. Someday, when the word "budget" doesn't immediately induce in me a dizzy spell, headache, and/or angina, perhaps I will actually access one of these resources, such as About.com's Frugal Living site. Bankrate.com's article "8 experts recall their best personal finance advise" was very informative. I liked Neale Godfrey's suggestion: "Step away from the television and the magazines. All they serve to do is show you how stupid you are because you've missed whatever they're talking about..." I also found Peter Navarro's counsel timely and astute: "Take every piece of advice you get from any investment adviser with a barrel of salt. Most are trying to sell you things that you probably don't need or want. Think for yourself."

I looked at the TCDRS web page briefly. I wanted to see my personal account, but the site told me I had to contact a TCDRS representative to get a PIN number first. I called the number listed on the site, but I haven't received my PIN number yet. Hopefully I will get "instant access" sometime soon. Not that I'm impatient or anything. I am a looooong way from retirement. And happily, my retirement fund, however much it is, is earning 7% in spite of stock market fluctuations. Now that's a blessing.

#58 Money and Finance

2009-04-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

It took me a long time before I was ready to try online banking and bill paying services. I worried about security issues and identity theft and just did not want to take the risk. Then I got socked with a few finance charges for late payments. Good motivator.

I now use these wonderfully convenient services that are always accessable, even at 11 pm when I suddenly have one of those oh-my-goodness-the-mortgage-is-due-today moments. I love that I don't have to make sure I get to the bank before it closes, stand in line, buy stamps, or listen to an automated answering service in order to take care of business.

My banks offer a variety of security safeguards to their customers. One has 3 levels of security in order to protect my financial information. They use a 128-bit encryption, automatic time out for banking sessions, and password protection. They encourage customers to change their password periodically in order to provide optimum security. Another bank I use offers a $0 Liability Guarantee against unauthorized account activity, and a SiteKey which includes an image I choose, so that I know I am visiting the bank's actual web page and not a "spoof" site. I look for the padlock icon to make sure a site is secure as well.

I'm not thrilled about linking all my bank accounts into one service, using a site such as Mint.com. I'll keep it in mind though. I noticed that the site has received the editor's choice award from PC magazine and other good recommendations; however, my finances won't be affected much by using budget management software. Basically there isn't enough money to manage. I like that on Mint there is a blog which includes tons of financial information and archived articles. There was one called "Strapped for Cash? Take a Fakecation". The writer suggests that if you are longing for a vacation in Paris, for example, but don't have the money right now, you can fake yourself out with a trip to Quebec City. Interesting idea.

I took the "Do you have a spending problem" quiz, and my results were 60. The average score for my income group was 54, and the average for MSN Money readers was 60, so I feel pretty good about my spending habits. Basically I don't do much shopping. I don't buy bottled water, and I try not to buy non-food related items at the grocery store. I use local businesses to meet most of my needs and therefore I'm not spending a lot on gas. My internet, phone, and cable are bundled, and I don't use banks that charge fees for checking or savings accounts. I frequently save 20% by using a microwave rather than a full size oven. (I didn't know that was what I was doing when I decided I'd rather nuke leftovers than cook, but hey cool.) I liked the reminders for keeping automotive costs low, such as properly inflating your tires and checking www.fueleconomy.gov for the lowest gas prices by location. I would like to save more on utilities. I already watch my thermostat, but being aware of temperature settings can only save you so much. I was surprised the Consumer Reports article didn't mention proper home insulation as a way to save on utility bills.

One thing I did as a result of this exercise was apply for a no fee credit card which gives cash back bonuses. Because I really need a Fakecation fund.

#57 TXT U L8R

2009-04-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

I am a dinosaur. I do not own a cell phone, so I've never had occasion to send a text message. A while ago I heard on the news that phone companies make more money on text messages than on phone calls. They certainly made a lot of money off Sofia Rubenstein....or rather her parents. Last month the 17 year old high school junior sent 6,807 messages, which resulted in her family receiving a wireless bill in excess of $1,100 for the month!

When the Texas Gulf Coast was devastated by hurricane Ike, people in this area were extremely thankful for texting. With spotty access to electricity and heavy cell phone use overwhelming available lines, text messaging enabled at least limited communication. In emergencies and natural disasters, hearing an actual human voice probably would have been preferable, but lacking that option, texting meant the world to many families trying to find out if their loved ones were safe.

I borrowed a coworker's cell phone to try and send a message. It was confusing. I think if I ever get my own cell phone I would become comfortable with the process fairly quickly. I'm already familiar with some of the SMS slang from visiting on line chat rooms and message boards, tyvm. Lingo2word.com looked like a good site for staying current with popular shortcuts. OnlineTextMessage.com and txt2day.com allow you to send a free text message to a mobile phone from your computer. You have to take the filters off the library computers for it to work.

According to Paul Saffo, a technology trend forecaster in Silicon Valley, "the act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points". Last year the American College of Emergency Physicians warned that they are seeing many serious accidents involving oblivious texters. The ER doctors cited reports from doctors around the country of injuries involving text-messaging pedestrians, bicyclists, even cooking accidents. Most of the injuries "involved scrapes, cuts and sprains from texters who walked into lampposts or walls or tripped over curbs". Distractions as brief as 2 seconds can cause accidents or near misses while driving a car, according to a 2006 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. I agree with the California Public Utilities Commission temporary ban on the use of all mobile devices by anyone at the controls of a moving train, and think texting should be prohibited while driving an automobile as well.

#56 To Tweet or Not To Tweet

2009-04-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

According to TwiTip, a blog that posts news and information relevant to the Twittering community, microblogging is up 964.5% this year. I've hardly gotten started with Twitter, and already I'm reading about "Twitter Fatigue", and an impending "Twipocalypse"? That's incredible! But once I started exploring Twitter, I understood. I think this whole microblogging bubble is largely the fault of Perez Hilton.

If you take a look at Celebrity Tweet, you'll find him everywhere. I saw a few posts by other celebrities such as Robin Williams and William Shatner. Ellen Degeneras tweeted that 2 tickets to her show were hidden at a bus stop between Kenwood and Maple. At least someone benefitted from that information. But there was no escaping the inanities of PH. And boy, do celebrities swear a lot! If you like swearing, and unbridled celebrity self promo, you'll love Celebrity Tweet.

I couldn't figure out how to use the topic search feature on Twitter without signing up for an account, so I did, but then I couldn't decide what topic to search. In the right hand margin was a list of popular queries; that was helpful. I decided to search haiku. Apparently, there is an Easter haiku tweeting competition happening, with the prize being a copy of "The Easter Parade" by Richard Yates, so there were a ton of tweets and a deluge of bad poetry. Other contests with give-aways are easily found...just type "contest" in the search box. Within a few minutes I saw tweets for a John Lennon Songwriting contest, a Jonas Brothers contest, Columbia River Reader's Spring Photo contest, a Logo Design contest, a Jim Beam Remake contest, a Worm Eating contest, and then I stopped refreshing the page....blecck! My innocent search for a bit of poetry literally ended up opening a can of worms.

I haven't decided whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous twits on Twitter, or to take arms against a sea of tweets, and by opposing end them.

#55 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Facebook

2009-03-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

With over 175 million active users, the social networking site Facebook is an interesting and enjoyable way to keep in touch with friends and family. I started using Facebook a few months ago, after a high school classmate suggested giving it a try. It's been fun reconnecting with people I haven't seen in many years. Some friends have expressed trepidation about using Facebook, because of privacy concerns. A friend of a friend of a friend could stumble upon your information and use it for who knows what purpose. I certainly understand these concerns. Would-be trolls, stalkers, old flames, or even potential new flames, can be foiled though. There are ways to control how much information on your Facebook page is shared, and with whom. Read about how to use Facebook privacy settings here.

This brings me to the things I don't like so much about Facebook. I think it takes a lot of time for new users to understand how the site works. Directions, such as how to change privacy settings, aren't easy to find, at least they weren't for me. I didn't even know some of the privacy options existed until I read about them in the iHCPL Next Generation blog. I'm not sure I'm really keen on the actual Facebook lay out either. It doesn't seem logical. I've also noticed that applications sometimes take FOREVER to load.

In spite of these drawbacks, I'm still planning on keeping up with friends and family via Facebook. It's pretty addicting. There are so many fun applications to explore and share. I play a game app called Scramble and so do some of my friends. We can challenge each other to games and compare scores. I really like Adopt a Reef too. With this app you can decorate your own patch of ocean with sea creatures and send things like octopi and giant kelp to your friends. Based on usage, Facebook sends a portion of advertising revenue to the Surfrider Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans. Sharing Flair is fun too. Oh SNAP! There's a Harris County Public Library flair! I could not resist adding that to my bulletin board, and sending one to a coworker. Thanks, whoever made that :D (Who did???)

#54 Social Networking Through Books

2009-02-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

I was delighted when I found out that my local library had started a book club. Opportunities to share my love of reading with other adults were rare. I still remember the first book I read after joining; it was "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon.

There are many online social networking sites where people can share their love of books, such as LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Shelfari. Facebook has added an application called Visual Bookshelf to their interest-based online community as well. I prefer face-to-face interaction with my fellow book club participants, but I also enjoy using web resources. LibraryThing has dozens of groups in which one can participate. I looked at a few of them and had to stop, because some of the posts are hilarious. (Try reading "The Person Below Me" thread on the LT group called "Off Topic". And no sniggering in the workroom.)

I like our library book club. We try to vary our reading "diet" by selecting books from many genres, and selection is driven by input from members. Once we read "My Life in France" by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme. I just found out that a movie, based on the book, is in production, and it stars Meryl Streep. I think it would be fun to invite the book club to take a field trip to [France or] go see the movie when it comes out in August. Taking the time to do something a little different, once in awhile, can spice up any bookclub; however, I won't be encouraging field trips abroad or suggesting a "Read it and eat it" based on next month's selection, "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich".

I'm not very comfortable using live book club resources to recommend books to others. Many of the sites have lists of recommended reading, or most popular books, or top books by star ratings, etc. I found a few titles that intrigued me, for example "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits", and "The Elegance of the Hedgehog". "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" came up quite a bit, as did a graphic novel entitled "The Pride of Baghdad", but I think I'd really prefer to read the book for myself, before recommending it to others.

I searched Goodreads and LibraryThing to see how their members rated "Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship". It wasn't surprising to find that almost everyone gave this appealing book about resilience and love at least 4 stars.

#53 Buy the Book, or not, Online

2009-02-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

I had to laugh when I read that the founder of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, was a precocious child who, as a toddler, attempted to dismantle his crib with a screwdriver. I, for one, am grateful that such genius was channeled into the creation of a dot-com retail business whose priority is books. Because who knows what he would have done with all that energy otherwise.

People in marketing must really love the internet. It seems so easy to sell books online! In addition to Amazon, the larger book stores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders have web sites which are available 24/7. I didn't realize that you could also check the availability of books, for a specific zip code, on these web pages. I checked Barnes & Nobel's site for my bookclub book, "The Fiction Class" by Susan Breen. Once you get to the title, there is a link and a pop up for typing in your zip code. Area stores which do not have the book in stock are displayed with a red "x", while those that do have the item earn a green checkmark. It couldn't be easier to get great customer service.

There are so many book-related sites on the internet, I can't imagine anyone not being able to find what they need. At Alibris.com, one can search for textbooks and rare items, or even purchase a signed first edition of Winston Churchill's "Thoughts and Adventures" if you have an extra $12,500 lying around. It's as easy as clicking "Add to My Cart". BookMooch looks like an interesting resource for recycling and trading books. There's an ultimate guide for the best places to get free books here.

Many libraries, including the one where I work, have added digital media to their collections, and these items are offered free to the public. Patrons can browse the collection and check out books and music to enjoy on their MP3 players, iPhones, and iPods.

How does my real world compare to my cyber world? If I search for book stores in my zipcode, google gives me a list of 16 stores. The book store closest to me is Barnes & Noble, about 6 miles away. (As already mentioned, their website is amazing.) Other nearby places which sell books are Walmart and CVS. Both are within a mile or so of my house. Walmart has an online presence, and you can search for books, but you can't tell from the webpage if the item is in stock at specific stores. From the CVS webpage, you can order "Hooked on Phonics Discover Reading - Baby Edition". From the description, this sounds like a great item. It's actually a kit that includes board books, a music CD, a DVD, a parent guide and more, but it's not available for purchase locally.

"Pompeii" by Robert Harris is available from Amazon.com for $11.16 new. Used copies start at $4.88. Alibris has used copies in paperback for $1.99. Harris County Public Library offers this title through the digital overdrive catalog, at the best price, free.

It took my really slow computer at home several minutes to download and install Windows Media Player, but it did, eventually. Then I listened to the audio version of "Pompeii", which I checked out from HCPL's digital catalog. Maybe it was because I was tethered to my desk (instead of my Zune), too many familial distractions, or some combination of these and other reasons, but I found it difficult to concentrate on the audiobook.

Nobody ever said teaching an old bibliophile new tricks would be easy.

#52 What to Read

2009-02-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

How could I NOT instantly admire a woman who, in 2003, wrote a guide to good reading called "Book Lust"? I think I've found a new literary guru in Nancy Pearl. Despite her academic background and celebrity, Pearl promotes books with the understanding that the most important aspect of reading is enjoyment. Of course, educators and others will still want people to be familiar with the classics (I recommend "The 5-Minute Iliad" by Greg Nagan for time-strapped individuals). Classics provide us with cultural bedrock and exemplary literary models, but Pearl's philosophy is simple. Serve patrons by attempting to address their needs without pretense. To me, Pearl's outlook was like discovering the Tao of Reader's Advisory. Her "Rule of 50" is simply divine. It states, "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages."

In my opinion, the best way to recommend books is to read lots and lots of them. Go to any book on Amazon.com and scroll to the "customers who bought this item also bought" section, for some surprisingly good suggestions as well. I also like Stacy Alesi's advise on providing great reader's advisory service:

Start off simply: if they're looking for a best seller that isn't on the shelf, ask if they've read other books by that author or authors who write in a similar style.
Ask them for the name of the last good book they read. This can lead you to the style or author or genre or setting that is appealing to your customer.
Always resepect a person's reading tastes. Just because you liked a book doesn't mean everyone will.
Be familiar with current and popular books and know your collection.
Ask customers to share their opinions about books they've read.

I searched for a read-alike using the NoveList data base, for "Pompeii" by Robert Harris. When submitting a request, the user can choose to narrow the search, and so I did that, restricting results to historical fiction and ancient civilizations. The results included "The Price of Victory", "Maia of Thebes", and "Dawn of Empire". I was surprised that, out of the first 20 results, I hadn't heard of any of these titles! Then I proceeded to Fiction_L Booklists, the Morton Grove Public Library's Reader's Advisory website. I searched "genre based lists" and "Historical Fiction of Different Cultures" (just because those seemed like the most appropriate options). The result was different from the NoveList search, and included authors such as Pearl Buck, Ken Follett, and James Michener. The NoveList search was faster...I simply typed the book's title....but I liked the results of the Fiction_L Booklist search better.

Then I looked for 2 books about animals for a 4th grade girl. NoveList has a link for "older children". I clicked on "recommended reads" and "animals", which took me to a linked page of animal groups. When I chose the group "horses", there were oodles of results. I decided I would recommend "Album of Horses" by Marguerite Henry, because my own daughters loved this book, and we have a copy at our branch. When looking further for a 2nd book, I suddenly remembered a book I really like called "Owen and Mzee" by Isabella Hatkoff, so although I didn't get the actual recommendation from the database, it was NoveList that jogged my memory of this lovely story.

The next challenge was to find 2 books for a 13 year old boy interested in ghost stories. I searched the Welles-Turner Memorial Library site for young adult books. Unfortunately, the link to a list of ghost stories, as well as several of the other links, didn't work. I was able to access a list of horror stories, and since I'm not familiar with this genre at all, I found the brief summaries after each title very helpful. I decided to recommend "A Fate Totally Worse Than Death" by Paul Fleischman, and "Cirque du Freak" by Darren Shan (the description told me this series is about vampires, but the Cirque books are so popular I felt I should include them in my choices). Hmmm...I think I need to read both of these!

For the patron who has read everything by Dean Koontz and wants an author read-alike, NoveList recommends Greg Bear, Dan Simmons, and Robert McCammon. The What Should I Read Next site recommends Richard Laymon, Joe McKinney, and W.E.B. Griffin. I thought Stephen King or James Patterson would come up. I wonder why they didn't?

Finding what's next in a series is a breeze with Kent District Library What's Next database. To find the book after "Alanna: the First Adventure", all you have to do is type in the author's name. There are eight series (serae?) by Tamora Pierce. "Alanna..." is the first book in the Song of the Lioness quartet. The rest of the books, in order, are "In the Hand of the Goddess", "The Woman Who Rides Like a Man", and "Lioness Rampant". Piece-O-Cake.

My hero, Nancy Pearl, has stated that the biggest challenge facing librarianship today is that "we have yet to balance the three important functions a library has in a community: information access, providing people with books and material for their recreational learning and reading, and offering quality programs for our patrons. The pendulum swung way over on the information access side and has yet to right itself. We graduate people from library schools (information schools) knowing how to build a website, but not knowing how to recommend a book to someone who comes in asking for something good to read."

Ms. Pearl obviously wasn't talking about individuals completing IHCPL training.

#50 Global Nation

2008-12-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this exercise is to become familiar with internet tools which make planning a vacation easier.

According to Tripbase.com, a travel site which suggests destinations uniquely suited to one's budget and interests, I need to plan a vacation to Florence Italy. What an astute site and a fabulous idea! Tripbase.com told me my airfare would be $1160 round trip to the aptly named "Land of Wine", and just for the sake of argument I checked the Travelocity web page as well. Prices there were similar: $1169 roundtrip on Lufthansa, and $1328 on United.

Now that I am drooling over this fantasy of leisurely indulgence, it's good to know that I can apply for a passport close to home. The web site http://travel.state.gov/passport has all the information one needs to start the process. The U.S. Department of State official application forms can be accessed through this site, and I learned I can also go to my post office to submit the paperwork.

There are tons of links on both the Tripbase.com and IgoUgo.com sites. At one point I clicked on a link which led me to http://www.guardianhomeexchange.co.uk. This is a site which enables interested parties to "house swap", so that accomodations are free! There are 3 listings of interested swappers in Florence......perfecto! And since I'm indulging in an aggrandized and really creative delusion, I'll assume the Doctor and Forensic Professor who make their home in the Florentine countryside are just aching to spend some free time getting acquainted with suburban Houston. Hey, "la vita e bella" if you're where you want to be, n'est-ce pas? So, while I enjoy the famous Galleria dell'Accademia there, my counterparts could take in, say, the National Museum of Funeral History here.

What exactly can one do that would top seeing Michaelangelo's "David" in person? On IgoUgo.com, people post travel journals describing their experiences, and these are a rich resource of ideas. I would love to go on the Segway tour of Firenze. I could also sign up for a cooking class in Tuscany, or go shopping at the Mercato Centrale, or take an Italian language course at Centro Lorenzo de Medici. I probably could spend a day sitting in the Plaza della Signoria, amazed by the statuary, history, and, from what I hear, the gelatto. It was hard to find anyone who posted anything negative about Florence, except "don't eat the street pizza", "make reservations for the museums so that you can avoid standing in line", and "the street noise of cycles and scooters is grating". I'm glad I am forewarned.

Many people expressed sadness that their vacation in Florence had to end. It's a good thing I found www.crownblueline.co.uk, where you can arrange to hire a boat and cruise the canals and inland waterways of Europe. Planning another trip will hopefully ease the transition from one dream realized to another flight of fancy.

#43 Buying and Selling Online

2008-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Guinness World Record for the most successful internet trade belongs to Kyle MacDonald. On July 12 2005, MacDonald used a free online classified service called Craigslist, to post about his desire to trade one red paperclip for something bigger and better. MacDonald pursued this bartering chain for approximately one year, and ultimately traded a movie role for a two story house in Saskatchewan.

Online buying and selling sites are so convenient and easy to use, they have flourished. Almost everyone I work with has made a purchase from eBay, the online auction and shopping site. PayPal is a business (owned by eBay) which makes transfers of money over the internet secure.

One of the things I like about eBay is the Advanced Search feature. With this tool, you can refine your search by price range, catagory, specific seller, location, or listings ending within a certain time period. I used this option to select listings within 25 miles of my zip code when I wanted to buy a cabinet. I was able to locate an item, win an auction, and pick it up right away without having to worry about shipping. I also used a local yard sales site to sell my car. There was no charge for me to post my advertisement, and I quickly found a buyer. It was wonderfully simple and painless.

It was not wonderfully simple and painless to view the "What is PayPal?" video. I could not find this video anywhere on PayPal's web page. Many online stores accept the PayPal form of payment, such as The Sharper Image, Omaha Steaks, Barnes and Noble, 1-800-Flowers, etc., but my favorite store, Amazon, does not. They will, however, accept a "PayPal debit card".

#44 A Fine How Do You Do (That)

2008-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Online "How To" sites are fun to explore, but I'm not sure just how seriously one can take them. I enjoyed looking at a few topics on eHow, such as "How to Add Solar on a Tight Budget", and "How to Survive Tough Economic Times With Your Dog", and while the instructions were amusing I came away a bit dissatisfied with the content. One subject, "How to Properly Inflate Your Tires", said it featured a video. "Now this could be useful," I thought as I skipped off to learn how to do that job correctly, once and for all. Unfortunately, I was not happy with the video. In fact, I felt like a victim of bait and switch marketing. I clicked on that story particularly because I wanted to see a video of proper inflation technique, but instead of enlightenment I was subjected to an extremely short clip of someone's radio controlled car navigating their driveway. Ummm....huh?

I did like that you can choose to write for eHow and earn cash for articles. I also signed up to receive the "eHow of the day" email. Some examples of the email alerts I've received thus far include: "How to Vote Conscientiously" on 11/2, "How to Get a Ride to the Polling Stations" on 11/4, and "How to Deal With Your Presidential Candidate Losing" on 11/5.

Other "how to" sites include WikkiHow, HowStuffWorks, Instructables, Quamat, ExpertVillage and VideoJug. At HowStuffWorks.com, I enjoyed watching 5 year old Emilien Combaret solve the Rubik's cube in less than 2 minutes but I didn't learn the protegy's secret, because the video was more like a news report than it was instructive. Instructables.com had such a wide variety of information, including How to Make a Senegalese Style Drum, and How to Build a Sarcophagus, I found it a bit intimidating. I began to think that probably the only thing you wouldn't find posted there is how to build a nuclear bomb. Actually I checked. And I was shocked to find an article. It turned out to be a joke though, involving protecting oneself with some lead, building a rocket, and procuring a quantity of beans.

So far, the video I've liked the best was one I found on VideoJug.com.

General Etiquette:The Fist Bump: America's Handshake

I think that covered Fist-Bump etiquette very well, thank you.

Now I'm off to further explore the virtual cornucopia of learning on "How To" sites. I absolutely HAVE to find out "How To Use Tree Spirits for Self Transformation".

#38 Console Gaming

2008-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have fond memories of the arcade games I played as a kid. Every summer my family would pack up the car for a week in Cape May, New Jersey, to relax and enjoy lazy days at the beach. We would take our chairs, towels, and a picnic lunch and spend the day making sand castles, swimming, digging for clams, and exploring the stone jetties. We always put our beach umbrella up next to Frank's Playland, an arcade on the boardwalk. There you could buy refreshments and fritter away quarters (doled out sparingly by my parents) on skee ball, pin ball, poker, and many other games. As the years passed, I spent less and less time on the beach, and more and more time playing pinball. I had a favorite machine, called Mibs.

I never really caught the Pac Man craze, but when Pong came out, my friends and I were fascinated. The idea that computers were not just for geeks collecting data, and that you could actually have one in your home, was exciting! Pong was not sophisticated enough to create many passionate players that I know of, but Nintendo was another story. Nintendo systems were hugely popular in the 1980's. At arcaderetro.com you can still play my favorite Nintendo game, Duck Hunt. Duck Hunt was my introduction to sight alignment and foresight focus, skills needed to accurately shoot the Nintendo Zapper Light Guns and also real firearms.

The successful marketing and popularity of Nintendo home gaming systems created a huge demand among consumers for more sophisticated graphics and games. Today's gamers can choose to purchase Microsoft's Xbox 360 ($250), a Sony Playstation 3 ($400), and Nintendo's Wii ($350), among other game systems. Which of these systems is best for library purposes? I have no idea. An interesting blog, called Library Garden, also posed this question. The opinions expressed there leaned toward endorsements of Nintendo's Wii, for several reasons: the availability of games geared towards both genders, the ability to download classic games, the symplicity of controllers, and an interactive system which enhances social opportunities.

But I would still like one of these:

#37 Get Your Game On @ The Library

2008-09-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Whether or not games and gaming belong in a library is still a controversial subject. Statistics show that introducing video, console, and web-based games into library settings promotes interest in other traditional services libraries provide; however, there are still many who are not quite convinced that libraries should move in this direction.

The New York Times published an article on 3/22/08 called "Taking Play Seriously at the Public Library with Young Video Gamers". Jack Martin, the assistant coordinator for young adult services at a New York Public Library branch, states that "in addition to simply helping bring kids into the library...games have the potential to be a great teaching tool."

At the web site of the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, there is even an online games page featuring two educational, arcade style games. The first is called "I'll Get It!" and involves helping patrons find a variety of research materials. The faster and more accurately you respond to requests, the more points scored. The second game is called "Within Range". In this game, the player must correctly shelve books according to their Library of Congress classifications. I played both games and rather enjoyed them for oh, about 10 minutes. Tops.

The evolution of our libraries is a national phenomenon. No longer quiet places to read or study, libraries are quickly becoming dynamic multi-purpose community centers where resources are concentrated and accessible to the public. Computer games and gaming programs are not only ways to make learning fun, they are marketing tools that help libraries promote a teen-friendly image and encourage young adults to become more familiar with library services which may be of interest to them.

Harris County residents are fortunate to have access to a wonderful system of public libraries. Special programs directed at teens are one way libraries are making a positive contribution to the communities they serve. Gaming programs may be what motivates young people to walk in the door, but the impact on participants seems to be much broader than merely creating multitudes of new Guitar Heroes.

#36 Online Role Playing Games

2008-09-10T08:45:00.001-07:00

1. Although I know it is very popular among young people, I didn't enjoy playing Runescape. As a novice, I found it difficult to get around, plus I burned an awful lot of shrimp!
2. Where are the directions for taking and posting a screenshot of my avatar?

# 35 I'm Game, Moderately

2008-05-10T13:23:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, when library employees started the original iHCPL program, one of the first tasks assigned was to think about the ways we learn. By doing this, and by reading the blogs of other program participants, I became more conscious of the variety of ways people learn. It was through blogging that I realized how much of a kinesthetic learner I am. A tactile/kinesthetic learner learns best by doing and from hands on experiences, role plays, and other methods that physically involve them in the learning process.

Playing games is a kinesthetic learning experience, but of course games appeal to other kinds of learners as well. Not only do games have built-in motivators (fun!), but they seem to enhance learning and retention. Eli Neiburger spoke about the benefits of "gaming" at the Texas Library Association's 2008 annual conference. He pointed out that games are already a huge segment of the entertainment industry in the United States (second only to books in media sales), and that this popular media is helping, rather than hindering learning. In "Everything Bad is Good for You", writer Steven Johnson argues that because playing video games requires a variety of cognitive skills, the mental exercise is highly beneficial and actually improves IQ. There is undoubtably much evidence to support the value of video games as teaching and learning tools.

I tried the games FreeRice and WordSplay, and they were okay, but I prefer Pogo.com for recreational games. A Pogo subscription is not expensive. Members can choose from a tremendous variety of games with great graphics. Prizes and other goodies such as badges are offered as incentives. (Well, the prizes and incentives are kind of ... meh ....but the games are still great.) In your game room there is a chat feature, so if you have a question or comment about the game, you can post and get an immediate response from another player. You can invite your friends to come out and play with you, too. I have improved my Scrabble game tremendously by playing against some very competative opponents on Pogo. For what that's worth.

Computer games took a giant leap forward with Nintendo's Wii game console and its wireless controller that is able to detect movement in three dimensions. It's as if a room full of engineers, salesmen, and marketing people sat down and tried to come up with an idea to put that infuriating "video games are too sedentary" argument to rest. The new WiiFit goes on sale on May 19th for $90.00. According to studies though, the fact that Wii players use more energy than users of other game systems does not mean these games can substitute for regular exercise. (Enthusiastic Wii gamers can still develop tennis elbow, appropriately called "wiiitis", if they wish, by playing the video version of the sport.)

I like games. I also like Aristotle. Once upon a time, he advised moderation in all things.

#34 Geocoding and Geocaching

2008-05-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

1. Washington D.C. is a great place to visit. The place abounds with history, great architecture, and has wonderful museums like the National Gallery and the Smithsonian. When I was there, there was so much to do that I missed touring the Washington Monument. Here it is, and it's coordinates are 38.888820, -77.033019.

View Larger Map

Note: I was in D.C. during the summer, and it was quite hot, so I ducked inside Union Station to get some relief from the heat. It was wonderfully cool, but I ended up staying inside a loooooong time because of the fantastic shops. It was even a browsers paradise! So ladies, and gents if you are so inclined, from the Washington Monument, follow The Mall west to the Capital, and then head north. On the map, Union Station has a blue "Metro" marker. I love those mixed maps with the satellite view and street names, and the click and drag feature.

2. There is actually a geocache or two near our library, too terribly convenient for this exercise to resist investigating. Here is the url:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=009a3107-8e42-449c-800c-a1437a3f2afd

As you can see, I still have trouble posting an actual link. :(
The GPS coordinates are N 30° 00.267 W 095° 09.288 . The cache is located near the recycling center, and is described as the traditional small box; actually it's supposed to be a waterproof match container with a log book inside. This cache was hidden by a man who, according to his profile, is a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. I always wondered what a Nuclear Medicine Technologist would do for fun. Anyway, I never did find the cache. The area is littered with trash from the recycling bins, glass, and is rife with fire ants. I poked at some stuff on the ground with a big stick, which I carried in order to defend myself against hostile insects, potential snakes, and lethal germs. I did find a small waterproof container, but it was a chewing tobacco tin with actual chewing tobacco still in it. Ewwwww! I concluded that, while I like the idea of a treasure hunt, I don't think I'm cut out for the "surprises". Maybe I just haven't found the right cache to seek. One individual who posted on this particular page has already found 827 caches, so somebody is indeed having a good time playing the geocaching game. Hey, I have an idea. Maybe there are some caches hidden in Union Station!?

Postscript: I looked up caches for the 20002 zip code. No caches in Union Station.

#33 Relocating With Online Maps

2008-04-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

The world wide web makes it so easy and convenient to look for homes, it's a wonder anyone stays put. Wait a minute. Lately, it seems no one does stay put! So I'm sure these web sites get alot of use: Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder, and ApartmentGuide. I was very impressed by the Houston Association of Realtors site, or HAR.com. I would certainly recommend this site to others. It not only contained gargantuan amounts of information, but it was enormously fun to use. There are many options to narrow a search by town, school district, and property type, as well as the more conventional criteria of list price, number of bedrooms, and square footage. If there are particular amenities you like, such as a pool or proximity to a golf course, you could search by those criteria, and others as well. I looked at foreclosures in my town and 88 records were found. Listings were detailed and included not only property descriptions but also various links. You can see a map of where the home is located in the community, for example, or send an email directly to the realtor. The photo gallery is a great feature. More expensive homes have links to fantastic virtual tours. There was only one other thing that could make it easier to relocate...gobs of $$$ at my fingertips. Then I could use my favorite HAR.com feature, "add to my cart". Unfortunately, I didn't get to actually exercise that option.

Once you have found your new home, you can easily learn about area weather, recreation, restaurants, shopping, and community events at www.discoverourtown.com. (This is a convenient resource for travelers as well.) Walkscore.com calculates the "walkability" of your neighborhood based on the proximity of businesses, services, and things to do. My address scored 31 (out of 100) and was rated "not walkable", having only a few destinations within easy walking distance. As the site says, "Buying a house in a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and good for the environment." With the current price of gas, it's good for your wallet, too. This site can provide information for people who want to cut down on fuel consumption without sacrificing quality of life. Its weakness is that it does not take into account crime, traffic, and other safety considerations when computing an accessment.

#32 Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map

2008-04-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

The sheer number of google map mashups out there is amazing, and I looked at a ton of them. Some are utterly depressing, such as GlobalIncidentMap.com, "a display of terrorist acts, suspicious activity, and general terrorism news". If you can stand visiting that enlightening source, you will see a newly added blinking red button in the right hand corner of the page called "School Incidents Maps". (Yes there are so many they merit a map.) This particular map helps one become informed about all the horrible things happening in American schools, like fires, gas leaks, lock downs, and bomb threats. You can discover other trivia too, such as, according to the Waco Superintendent of area middle and high schools, a single bomb threat costs about $125,000 in lost wages and time. I was glad a link to "find a world brewery" immediately preceded all of that.

Other mashups can be quite entertaining and share useful information that doesn't drive me to [virtually] drink, make me want to cry, build a bomb shelter, or even momentarily ponder homeschooling my children. One taught me that if I walk due east from Houston, for about say 7000 miles, I will find myself in beautiful Harare Zimbabwe, another that there are no free public "facilities" in my town (guess they don't count libraries). I've used a mashup to track flights from Philadelphia to Bush when relatives are coming to visit. It's fun to watch the progress of the virtual plane containing my virtual loved ones. The zip code and world time maps are quick and easy reference tools. Photoenforced.com has maps of where all the red light cameras in the United States are located, so you can comport yourself appropiately when you know Big Brother is watching.

Activity 1, #2: I used a mashup to send an email to someone close to me who is recovering from surgery. One day this week I was wondering, "What can I do to let this person know I am thinking of her, encourage her from so far away, and maybe make her smile?" Then I got an idea. MapMSG.com lets you send custom smoke signals to anyone in your address book. I found a satellite view of my neighborhood, and wrote a few lines of encouragement in the box provided. The finished product looks like the message is emanating directly from my humble chimney. Next time I use this site, I may send crop-circle mail to a friend who enjoys reading science fiction.

Activity 2: As mentioned above, while I thought the mashup was great, I did not have a very good time exploring the global incident map. Terra Server has some interesting images, but it looks like you have to purchase one before the little colored squares blocking your view of the shot are eliminated. I like the photos on Panoramio (#36 Explore photos of the world) better. Here's one taken near Ziguinchor, Senegal of a bathing beauty:

The National Atlas has "dynamic maps". I don't sit around worrying about invasive zebra mussels or avian cholera distribution very often, but the maps are really wonderful educational tools. I explored the dynamic volcanoes maps, which are just incredible...tons of data, excellent geographic imagery, and beautiful photographs. I also went back to the main page and did a general search for St. Louis encephalitus and West Nile virus, to see if there were any maps or statistics for Houston. I was directed to a page which contained links to the CDC, the entity which is responsible for collecting and disseminating public health information; so even though the National Atlas technically didn't have such a map, I was able to easily obtain the information I sought through their highly organized and user friendly site.

Perhaps I am now completely jaded by all of these map mashups, because the LandSat Image Viewer didn't do much for me. While I was watching it, my thoughts were wandering and I remember thinking, "I wonder if that cow on the beach ever found her way home?"

# 31 Maps Are Not My Forte

2008-04-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

I have no sense of direction. Just ask my husband. This is a man who can fly to any place in the country, jump in a car, find his way to an obscure little business in the middle of nowhere, AND snag the best parking spot in the lot. It's very discouraging when he does stuff like this so effortlessly. I consistantly blunder along in my car, not knowing in what direction I am headed or where on earth I am, most of the time. I'm lucky if I don't get lost at least once a week. So it came as no great surprise to me that exploring google maps left me feeling somewhat frustrated. After watching the tutorial, I tried to create a custom map to post. No luck. I watched the tutorial again, but still could not find the necessary links, or when I did find them, they didn't work like they did in the tutorial.

Online training is great, until you have a question or a problem. I'm not afraid to ask for directions. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding the little google gas station where I can stop and get them.

#27

2008-04-07T14:07:00.002-07:00

#26

2008-04-07T14:07:00.001-07:00

Placeholder

#30 Driving in the Dark

2008-04-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

This lesson is designed to help library employees use computer storage resources more appropriately and efficiently. We have already learned that enhancing back up drives to protect stored files is not an inexpensive proposition. Because of this, it is important to move work such as photographs to public storage sites when we can. Flickr, Photobucket, and Imageshack are options to consider. It is also a good idea to make a habit of looking at stored work on the library's P, S, and Z drives from time to time to see if any files can be reorganized or deleted.

If I am unsure about whether to delete a file or not, I now know that it is reasonable to keep it for about two years. I can also save files on a CD or USB drive, and thus avoid at all costs the dreaded "to delete or not to delete" angst. The S drive is a place to temporarily park work that I would like to share with others. Those files are deleted if they remain on the drive for over 14 days.

I copied a file from the P drive, placed it on the S drive, and then deleted it. Very easy. My files stored on the P drive are fairly streamlined and organized, and I never use the Z drive, because I didn't know I could. How about that? Usually being in the dark is not advantageous, but today it saved me some work.

2008-04-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

#29 Email

2008-03-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

My email accounts overfloweth, so I'm really glad we're talking about ways to get them organized. Thanks again to iHCPL, I am learning to remedy a problem and work more efficiently at the same time. I already have separate accounts for work and personal emails, so without delay I moved on to the next exercises. I spent alot of time working on my library email account. I deleted many many old emails, and then clicked on "purge". Presto! Like magic, my "quota usage" percentile is much better!

There is something extremely satisfying about putting everything away, where it can easily be found again, all while sitting at my desk! I am continuing to work on my storage system and moving emails into folders. I cleaned up some files I frequently use on the P drive as well.

# 28 Spring Cleaning and Getting Things Done

2008-03-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Spring in Texas is a beautiful, wondrous time of year. The weather is great, and innumerable wildflowers burst forth in magnificent splendor. The world renewed seems clean and fresh. Traditionally, this has been the time for homemakers to throw open the windows, beat the dust out of carpets, and scour every surface of the house until it gleamed. In the 21st century, we must keep our "houses" of information clean as well. iHCPL pointed out that we are spending about 20K of taxpayer's money to enhance our backup drives for storage. That little tidbit of information is quite the motivator!

There are numerous resources which describe ways to organize and use time wisely in order to be more productive. GTD, or Getting Things Done, is the system David Allen writes about in his book. He promotes the idea of stress-free productivity, and believes that the first step in GTD is to move things out of the mind and record them somewhere, thereby freeing one to concentrate more fully on the task at hand. This is unlike other time management systems, which emphasize setting priorities first. (Ironically, I skipped iHCPL exercises 26 and 27 because doing the required training is my priority...haha.)

As a library employee, I feel it is important to be familiar with computer applications, but at this time I do not feel the need to use the Google calendar or the Ta-da list. I would like to use the Ta-da list, just because I find the name so amusing; however, I am a circulation assistant and my job is fairly uncomplicated. I have used an agenda to keep track of appointments and important occasions for approximately 30 years. That has served me very well. It is also highly portable, inexpensive, and energy efficient.

I looked over one of the other organization systems called Zen Habits. Most of the ideas discussed involved Mac applications. I read the article "The Zen of Tech: 12 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Online Life Simple and Peaceful", which listed many common sense techniques such as: focus on the essentials, do one thing at a time, set limits on what you do, and my personal favorite...have periods of disconnectedness. I enjoyed the post entitled "3 Ways To Claim Your Life Back - How to Step Away From Your Computer". The author recommends planning specific activities away from your computer, such as taking a walk or reading a book. Ummm.....we've become so dependent on and addicted to technology that people actually have to be reminded to do these things? I would laugh at that, but I don't think the author was joking.

There are links to popular posts, by category, at the bottom of the page. I'd like to go back and read some of them in my free, slightly better organized time.

#25 Music Pirates

2008-03-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

Dictionary.com defines the word "pirate":
1.)a person who robs or commits illegal violence at sea or on the shores of the sea
2.)a ship used by such persons
3.)any plunderer, predator, etc.
4.)a person who uses or reproduces the work or invention of another without authorization.

After clicking on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) link, I read and read and read and read. Gee there are a lot of rules, and some really harsh penalties for violating them. I did not know that duplicating copyrighted material you have purchased, even if you don't do it for financial or commercial gain, is illegal. Now more than ever I have reason to wax nostalgic about my youth, an innocent time when my friends and I shared homemade cassettes dubbed from the albums we purchased, with selfless naivite. Now if we did that we would be considered criminals! I also did not know that plaintiffs may bring claims against the parents of children who allegedly infringe on copyrights. Eeek!

I understand that it is sometimes necessary to protect copyrighted digital material from unauthorized duplication. Turning a blind eye to the street sale of bootleg CDs does not seem fair to musicians or the people who contribute to music production; however, if what I read about the RIAA is true, they seem to go overboard when it comes to defining the limits of what is and is not acceptable use of the media, and then stoop to extremes to insure "an artists' continued revenue stream". For example, because the RIAA may begin a lawsuit with no other information besides the ISP identification of a user, they have subpoenaed even a dead grandmother. When their legal fees were sharply cutting into income from settlements, the RIAA decided to direct internet "abusers" to a web site, where the alleged perpetrator can conveniently pay a fine by credit card. These practices seem greedy and underhanded, and oh, what was that third definition of a pirate..."a plunderer, or predator"? Who, according to definition, is the "pirate" now?

I think musicians and artists benefit from copyright protections, but I would like to see this issue discussed further, and current standards of legal and illegal music sharing revised. Presently Congress is considering a bill called The Artist-Museum Partnership Act, which would allow artists to deduct (on their income tax) the fair market value for their works when they are donated to a non profit organization. The IRS uses an Art Advisory Panel to set standards and review appraisals of art work, based on free market sales. If the value of a work of art can be appraised, why can't a song? Once the value is ascertained, parameters for sharing, and therefore, acceptable use could be easier to establish.

#24 Here We Go Again...or The Hills are Alive but My Patch Cord Died

2008-03-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

I am excited to begin a new training. Yay! Onward! Here I go! My first steps into "The Next Generation" training are: (swell of music, trumpet solo and...hummm) to register for Passpack Online Password Management and a free email service? (badda boom) Okay, I know this is for my own good, and even though I already registered on no less than a dozen different sites for the original iHCPL, I took care of the preliminaries. I concentrated and created a really silly password, which caused me to smile inwardly and begin to enjoy myself. (Actually that's not exactly true. I used the first phrase that came to mind, and it was an inanely silly one. It just goes to show, you don't really want to know what I'm thinking when I get that mysterious glazed expression on my face from time to time.) Then I began reading. The article on Password Strength and Security was actually very interesting and informative.

Now, on to activities:
"1. Look at the different types of pay sites, comparing features and prices."
check
"2. Download a song from your computer..." skip until I get home and can borrow
daughter's MP3 player

I was thrilled to discover that my favorite radio stations DO offer listening through their web sites. That made my day!

This weekend I worked on completing the 2nd exercise. I attempted to sign up for EZTracks, a free music sharing site. In my opinion, they should change their name to IncrediblyAnnoyingAndDeeplyFrustratingTracks. After signing in to create an account, I had to wade through probably 50 surveys. After each one a message said, "Just one more step!", but for some reason, I never could reach that final page where I actually HAD an account. Wow! Was that a waste of time. I did not want to even think about opening a "Pay to Play" account after that experience, so I uploaded some favorite songs to my computer's hard drive and then...my computer would not recognize the MP3 Player! I tried several times but for some reason it did not want to work.

Maybe it was in the stars. I do believe in climbing every mountain, but today this was like dreaming the impossible dream.

Postscript: I used my library's MP3 player to practice activity #2. It was fairly painless. Thank you, helpful coworker, for walking me through the steps.

Week 10 What A Ride!

2007-11-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

While it's always nice to come home again after a trip, I usually feel a little disappointed when the adventure is over. That's how I'm feeling today. The iHCPL 23 Things Training has been an eye-opening journey of discovery for me. I didn't know much about the internet, web resources, or current technology when I started this program (and I'm still amazed at all there is to know!). It was hard to know where to even begin to try and understand it all, or which direction to take. The 23 Things Training has been like a having a map and compass to chart my way through unknown and sometimes frightening territory.

We began by creating a blog to learn how to blog. LOVE that concept. I struggled with decisions as if I were packing for an expedition to Everest. Which template is best? If I forget something can I add it later? Do I really need a widget? Thank goodness there were coworkers who, like Tenzing Norgay, provided guidance, endurance, and led the way on to Flickr, RSS, and finding feeds. Week 5 was like reaching base camp in the Himalayas. I breathed a sigh of relief and recharged by playing with image generators. Those exercises were great fun and definately a favorite. Then it was onward to new challenges: technorati, tagging, library 2.0, and wikis. Discovering Del.icio.us and Zoho was like coming across an unexpected and resplendent vista...beautiful! I can't imagine not using these invaluable web applications. Then came my personal challenges....face your fear of podcasting and digital media. Yikes! I looked around for my faithful sherpa, err...coworkers, and there they were, so we forged ahead, pressing on until, finally, we achieved The Summit. Hooray! Tally-ho! Pip Pip!

Maybe the best thing for me about this training has been that it's given me a solid foundation to build on, and knowledge of some useful tools that I can use to continue learning. Thank you! I'm ready for another adventure and the next 23 things! When can we leave?

2007-11-19T18:23:00.001-08:00

2007-11-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Downloadable Media

2007-11-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

I really needed to get the lowdown on downloadable media. Not many patrons seem to take advantage of this service, or they do so from home without any help from me, so opportunities to field questions about about how to use ebooks etc. are infrequent. Maybe like me, people are still a little intimidated by the technology, and prefer to use the library in ways they are already familiar/comfortable with. Still, this is part of my job and I'm really glad we are addressing this topic in training.

I found the Overdrive tutorial a bit lengthy, and had to watch it at home because a.there was no time at work, and b.our computers reeeeeeeeeeally do not like to load video. I downloaded the Overdrive Media Console to my home computer and looked at the Harris County digital media catalog for awhile before choosing 101 Great Orchestral Classics vol. 4. Oh! It worked! The hauntingly beautiful Clair de Lune soon filled my headphones.

Now that I have taken the plunge, I am looking forward to exploring more digital library options. Come on in! The media's great!

Podcasting

2007-11-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Whoever said, "Nostalgia aint what it used to be" was right. Why is it that listening to a podcast reminds me of listening to the radio? In the "old days" before television, Mom, Dad, little Susie, and little Tommy would gather around after supper and listen with rapt attention to their favorite programs, like "Dragnet", or "Buck Rogers". Now, through the miracle of 21st century technology, we can......hey, wait a minute! I plunked down a whole boat-load of money for a computer, wireless connection, and pay a monthly cable bill in order to listen to "streaming audio"?

Yes, indeed I did. And once I got over the future-shock, and even later, found an actual site I was interested in subscribing to, I warmed up quite nicely to the whole concept. But a whole lot of aggravation occurred before the pleasant end result:

1. Podcast.net would not load.
2. Podcastalley.com wanted me to download an "aggregator" before subscribing to a feed. Having been told many times not to download anything on library computers, I found it scary to even contemplate completing this step.
3. Yahoo wanted money.
4. I went home and tried it all again from my home computer.
5. Nothing in particular struck me as very appealing, and I yawned alot.

Earlier, a coworker had suggested I look on the BBC site, because she knew they had podcasts there. I found that, and, oh happy day, they even had a link which enabled me to grab their RSS feed and subscribe to a podcast without having to deal with the whole [to my] mind-boggling aggregator issue. I subscribed to "Digital Planet", which addresses how digital technology affects our lives. (Note to self: download binary vocabulary and jargon comprehension aggregator to increase chances of actually understanding aforementioned podcasts.) I next started my quest for library-related audio. I googled The Philadelphia Free Library's webpage (why not start with THE first public library?), and found their podcast for an "Author Event Series", complete with another RSS link. I added that to my bloglines account as well. I selected a lecture by Dr. Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion". His talk was quite lengthy, over an hour, but since I was at home, I happily played mahjong online while listening to him read excerpts and field questions from the audience.

Audience participation is where podcasting has it all over little Susie's radio. Aggregate THAT.

George Harrison - Wah Wah

2007-11-12T21:06:00.001-08:00

YouTube

2007-11-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

YouTube seems to have joined the ranks of ubiquitous web phenomenon I am aware of and use, but I can't for the life of me remember the first time I encountered it. It has quickly become a favorite place of mine to visit. At my home computer, I added a YouTube button to my toolbar. And presto! I bring The Beatles into my living room several times a week. My daughter has been watching Jeff Dunham so frequently she should be the ventriloquist's understudy by now. YouTube has wonderfully entertaining video clips, as well as incredibly crude and tasteless ones, but fortunately the user maintains control over the content he/she chooses to view.

YouTube has its serious applications as well. One very interesting YouTube category focuses on news and politics. Here you can find reports filed by "citizen journalists" whose work is free from network control, censorship, and/or spin. Wow. Although professionals are quick to note that these reports may lack the appropriate objectivity, I am intrigued and even more interested by the novelty of a news venue where the power of reporting is truely in the hands of the people. The Emmy winning Current TV operates in a similar way, airing short broadcasts created by "users". Their documentaries are some of the most informative, fascinating, and disturbing I've ever seen.

There are so many ways YouTube could be utilized by libraries. It is already being used for training purposes. How about recording storytimes in Vietnamese or Spanish or even American Sign Language? Maybe these could then be posted on the "Kids Know It All" page. A virtual tour of the branch might be a helpful orientation for new patrons, or it could be shown in classrooms at local elementary schools. Teachers could use the video-tour as a jumping off point to teach students research skills needed to complete specific homework assignments. "How To" videos on topics such as how to use the self check machines, print from library computers, or how to purchase a print card, would empower patrons and enable staff to provide better customer service. YouTube could also be used as a marketing tool to promote library programs such as book clubs and special summer reading events.

There are endless possibilities with YouTube. Me, I'm off for an appointment with George.

Zoho

2007-11-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

It took me a little while to understand Zoho. I think the actual server was having problems because at first it wouldn't save the documents I created. When I tried again later, I don't think I did anything different, but it worked. Like Del.icio.us, Zoho offers users the convenience of being able to retrieve saved work, wherever you have access to a computer with internet. I created a word-type document with a plain template for the lyrics to "The Logical Song", saved it on Zoho, and selected "publish" to post here.

The Logical Song - Supertramp

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.

There are times when all the world's asleep,
The questions run too deep for such a simple man
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd but please tell me who I am

Now watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical,
liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!

At night, when all the world's asleep,
The questions run so deep for such a simple man
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd but please tell me who I am

Week 8 Social Networking

2007-10-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

In order to learn about online social networking, I clicked on the links included in the training exercises. There are many options for networking, including MySpace, Facebook, Ning, Yahoo!360, LinkedIn, Xanga, Rate My Space, MyOpera, Dogster, and more. Whatever you're interested in talking about, there seems to be a forum where you can meet cyberpeople (or even cyberanimals) of similar tastes. I liked some places more than others; my favorite was Rate My Space because the participants seemed to be mostly adult women, like me, who hope one day to have a beautiful, organized, clean, functional home, but actually have no idea how to go about creating one. There was very little drama there, or serious work; people were not trying to climb the corporate ladder or find support to deal with a life-threatening illness. It is merely a place to relax and share opinions about colors and home accessories. Some of the personal blogs on sites like Xanga and Facebook were interesting to read; it's understandable that these applications are popular among young people and students who want to stay in touch, meet new people, and share photos. I have to say I'm impressed by the creativity with which individuals promote themselves on these sites. Some are truely artistic. Then there's My Space...the perfect spot where already at-risk latch key children can find trouble, without having to leave the comfort of their own homes. The only reason I can think of for the popularity of MySpace with teenagers is that it's currently THE cool thang. They certainly make the MySpace im page THE most offensive thang.

Week 7, # 17 Deep Thoughts

2007-10-25T12:18:00.000-07:00

Our discovery assignment is to post thoughts about technology. Since starting this training, I've been thinking alot about technology. (Especially) today we have some time to gather those thoughts, as we are unable to access the Horizon digital library in order to perform our normal circulation duties. Books to be checked in are achieving mountainous proportions, and delivery tubs sit in queues, anxiously awaiting attention. After much contemplation and hours of moody brooding, I've come to the following conclusion: Technology is good and bad.

www.comicstripgenerator.com/

Whining about Wikis

2007-10-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

Wikis are wonderful. I'm a little upset they weren't around when I was a student. Boy, doing research and group projects sure would have been alot easier. Finding a summer job between semesters could have been a breeze too. Hunting down that ellusive, cheap, off campus apartment...and travel to distant unknown lands, unencumbered by children and on a shoestring budget might have been easier with a city wiki guide to help! Professional conferences would have been more interesting/fun, and less exhausting/stressful. Whew! There are just so many uses for wikis! But nooooooo, I had to be born in the mid twentienth century when wikis weren't even close to being a glimmer in someone's imagination. Waah!

On the other hand, two words that make me smile today are: Distance Learning. Wooohooo! St. Joseph's County Public Library System has an incredible wiki. Can we have one like that? I was wowwed by the ALA Best Practices wiki as well. That would be a good one for me to bookmark on Del.icio.us because its site is loaded with so much information that I could not read it wikily (heh heh).

Poor Richard's Almanack 2.0

2007-10-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

The term library 2.0 is used to describe the way libraries are moving towards serving their patrons and communities in the 21st century. The concept is based on current trends in the use of the internet, where there is an explosion of information, in order to access collective intelligence and promote collaborative learning. Library 2.0 is a dynamic, multi-directional system that encourages users to participate and provide feedback. When information flows freely, services have the ability to constantly evolve and improve to meet individuals' needs. Free access to knowledge through books was the original purpose of public libraries, but libraries today cannot possibly house, in print form, all the information which is available on the internet.

The challenge for librarians is to eliminate the barriers between this wealth of information and those who wish to access it. In addition, communities need to support libraries so that free public access to computers is available to those who do not have PCs.

Libraries are an investment in the future. In my opinion, the health of a community is directly related to the importance it places on maintaining a vital, well-staffed library.

Week 6, # 14 Technorati

2007-10-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

Babies are amazing. They have an extraordinary capacity to absorb and process all kinds of complicated information from their environment. People frequently compare them to little sponges. On the other hand, adults often have difficulty learning new things. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it may take awhile. This weeks' discovery exercises have been a little more challenging for me, because unfortunately I am not a little sponge, and haven't been for a long time. The web sites Del.icio.us and Technorati each contain enough information and obtuse jargon, on a single page, to make my head hurt. And with our library's power failure, it is a daunting task to find time to "absorb and process", as well as play catch-up with our work routines.

A wonderful kind patient coworker pointed out to me how I can set my Del.icio.us bookmarks to "private", and thus put to rest my concerns about privacy. She also pointed out that with Del.icio.us, I can bookmark my favorite sites and easily go to them from any computer with internet access. For some reason, that concept went right over my head when I initially explored the site. Now, the whole Del.icio.us world seems much more palatable!!!

Thus reassured and enthused, I braved Technorati. Egad. This is yet another universe of labyrinthine (is that a word?) information. But I bumbled onward, on my unsteady baby feet, into the advanced search. I liked the blog directory search better than the tag search because the results seemed less overwhelming. I got sucked into an interesting blog for awhile, fought my way out, and plunged into Top "Favorited" (does anyone else take exception to the way the English Language is constantly being mangled in naming these sites?) Blogs. I looked at one: Top 10 Distraction Stoppers from LifeHackr ...gee I wonder what attracted me to that? There I found an incredible little tool, called The Chatter Blocker. It's supposed to filter out backround noise, conversation, etc. with white noise, so you can more easily concentrate while working. Ingenious! I can't wait to try it. I also want to try the "Bozo Filter", which is supposed to help you avoid spam. I am hopeful that at some point in the future this will evolve into a more sophisticated site with the capacity to filter a wider variety of bozos.

Maybe when I'm older, I'll claim my blog and tag my posts, but I think right now I'm still too young for the blogosphere.

Discerning Del.icio.us

2007-10-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

Today was not a good day for iHCPL training. No one at our branch could get the 8 minute video to load, so it was difficult for a beginner (read:ME) to get a grip on exactly what this website is all about. Also, the weather was uncooperative and our power went out! As far as I know, it's still out at the library. I am writing from my home computer where I have access to the wonderful world of electricity. A question has occurred to me: Why is a website which is supposed to help you organize and do research named for a word that makes me want to prepare snacks or run to the store for ice cream? Somehow or other, this seems like a marketing ploy, kinda like the "Juicy" clothing line, and when I feel like I'm being manipulated, I tend to resist. I really and truely want to like Del.icio.us, honest! Maybe the challenge of this exercise for me will be finding a practical use for this new site. Somehow or other, being the 691st person to bookmark the Simpson's Movie Avatar site doesn't fill me with any sense of accomplishment. Also, I'm not thrilled with the possibility that someone could "find me" through my tags, and see everything I have bookmarked. This strikes me as a potential gold mine for whoever (i.e. anyone collecting data or tracking "hits" for whatever reason) and makes me a bit leery.

Library Elf?

2007-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today I looked at Library Elf. It is a good tool for organizing checked out materials and holds for my family. I like the way you can keep track of several people's books, all on one page. I guess if I went on an organizing rampage, I could add the site to my bloglines account, too. Oh no! Mr. Spock looks like he's ready to defeat my best intentions with a Vulcan Nerve Pinch! I think I'm about to take a long naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Buffalo Billis- The Music Man

2007-10-10T14:28:00.001-07:00

Tribute to My Coworkers

2007-10-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

In "The Music Man", the Buffalo Bills combine their talents to create beautiful music. I want to thank my talented coworkers for helping me so much during this training. Together we make a pretty good team!

2007-10-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Library Thing

2007-10-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

I've had Library Thing on the sidebar of my blog for a few weeks now. The set up was easy and I had no problem adding books to my "library"; however, a coworker had to help me make the widget to post on my blog. I need to review that process a few more (thousand) times before I feel comfortable doing it on my own. The widget contains a link that takes me back to Library Thing, so I did not feel it was necessary to create another one.

I looked at the Library Thing Blog briefly. There is alot of information there... too much to read right now, but now that I know it's there, I'll look forward to looking at it again when I have time.

(The artwork is Books in Winter by Jessie Wilcox-Smith.)

Week 5

2007-10-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

OK, I think iHCPL has created at least one monster. It's getting harder and harder not to become an internet junkie here, people! And now you have to teach me about image generators??? Oh I am doomed. The Meez avatars are just amazing. I am totally spending too much time on their site looking at wardrobes, backrounds, props, and animations. What exactly does one wear whilst doing the limbo? And where can I find nice pajamas for jumping-on-the-bed animation? You see my dilemma. I also LOVE the comic strip generator site. I had to really restrain myself on that exercise. It would be waaaaaaaaaaaay too easy to go overboard and post something inappropriate. (Thank goodness we've already received training in exercising professional restraint.) I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, after I had customized my comic, I had the option of purchasing a magnet, sticker, postcard, or could even mail a free ecard to a friend. Very fun!

State of the Union

2007-10-08T21:26:00.001-07:00

president-bush-dummies-book_www-txt2pic-com
Originally uploaded by jbelle96tx

Week 5 Image Generators

2007-10-08T13:56:00.001-07:00

Meez.com is a really fun place to explore. I'll have to look around some more on my free time because there is so much to see I won't have time at work!

http://www.meez.com

Happy Happy Happy

2007-10-04T22:27:00.001-07:00

Born to Blog

2007-10-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Adding feeds to Bloglines was easy. I chose about 10 sites including MSNBC.com most viewed, New Urban Legends, and UpCheer (with KittenWars!), along with a few HCPL blogs. Maybe Bruce will change one minor word in his hit song and it could be our iHCPL training theme. He probably wouldn't mind because he is still "The Boss".

Bruce Springsteen Born to Run video

2007-10-02T17:35:00.001-07:00

Ode to a Greek Tragedy

2007-10-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

Socrates is said to have announced, "I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." As we begin week 4 of iHCPL training, the fact of my ignorance blares like a foghorn in the effluvium. It not only becomes quite obvious to me, but is also dramatically highlighted as time passes and I am exposed to an ever increasing number of web sites and tools I had no knowledge of previously. In my wildest dreams I never imagined a site like Flickr even existed, or that I could edit pictures online, create trading cards and badges, or subscribe to favorite syndicated news feeds and blogs, rather than manually search for each individually. It's not the end of the world though. The bitter hemlock of ignorance is much easier to swallow when the fog lifts and enlightenment (not to mention, bling!) ensues. Salut!

Need I Say More?

2007-09-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

2007-09-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

A Strange Bird

2007-09-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

No not me, the hammerkop! This is a small african stork. I played around with this picture on pixer. In his natural state, he does not have a blue beak, and his plumage is darker brown. Most of the other changes I could make with the editing tools were not appropriate for this image. (He looked even stranger rotated and pixelated!) I think this would be a great picture to try with lolcat, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Pixer was easy to use once I was able to upload an image.

iHCPL Week 3, # 6: More Flicker Fun

2007-09-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

For this assignment, participants are invited to learn more about Flickr mashups, and create a blog post about one that intrigues him/her. What is most intriguing to me is the sheer number and variety of "tools" on Flickr and their numerous permutations. Will week #4 be about information overload?

I did not find many mashups particularly appealing. Retrievr: ick. Tagnautica never did load. Colorpicker: why? Maybe useful for decorators? FlickrFling: ditto. Flickrball and Flickrsudoku: I'd rather spend time with my family. I actually liked the images on Spell with Flickr and could see myself using these for banners. Captioner could also be useful, for a sarcastic, dry sense of humor application. Fastr was definately the most fun game. Everyone who was in the workroom when I tried it seemed to want to try it, too. It taught me about "tags" as well. Under Flickr Tools, the place I will revisit is "worldinpictures".

I clicked on some of the additional links, which were as numerous on the site as thorns on a rose bush. Under The Essential YouTube tools tab, is The Best of YouTube Blog, the highlight (?) of which was a squeeky cabinet door that sounded remarkably like Chewbacca. I read About Digg, and looked at Digg Spy. People really do have alot of time on their hands, don't they? This was merely skimming the surface of all the applications for Flickr et al. Frankly, I'm getting really "Tird" of that omitted "e".

Mona Lisa in Light

2007-09-25T12:29:00.001-07:00

Mona Lisa in Light
Originally uploaded by Norbini

Good grief. If this photo actually makes it to my blog I will be amazed.

Flickr

2007-09-25T12:27:00.001-07:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

New at the Library!

2007-09-23T22:41:00.000-07:00

The following is quoted from an article in Wikipedia (it's ok to do that, right?):

The Concert For Bangladesh was the event title for two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at noon and at 7:00 p.m. on August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Organized for the relief of refugees in East Pakistan (now independent Bangladesh), the event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. It featured an all-star supergroup of performers that included Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Leon Russell.
An album was released later in 1971 and a concert film was released in 1972, with later releases for home video. In 2005, the film was re-issued on DVD accompanied by a new documentary.
The concert raised US$243,418.50 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Sales of the album and DVD continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.[1]

The re-issued DVD is now part of the library's collection. Check out history being made!

A Threat to Humanity

2007-09-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

If H. G. Wells were alive today, would he be writing a horror story about a hapless victim of cybercrime? The internet certainly presents countless opportunities for creative criminal minds. Phishing, credit card fraud, bank robbery, using children for pornography, scams, cyberterrorism, stalking, distribution of virusus, and hacking are just some of the frightening consequences of careless internet use. In his 1898 book, "The War of the Worlds", Wells writes, "No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's." Interesting. Today, I am more afraid of becoming a victim of an intelligent internet criminal, monitoring my computer keystrokes from afar, than a blood-sucking Martian. Fortunately, I am forewarned, and so can take steps to protect myself and my family.

Happy Birthday, H. G. Wells.

Quote for the Day

2007-09-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become."

-Gautama Siddharta

Keeping Mum

2007-09-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Beatlemania was really hard on The Beatles. George Harrison was particularly reclusive after the band broke up. This brings me to the topic of privacy. Most people don't seem to realize what a wonderful thing it is to be free from the scrutiny of strangers and simply left alone, until they lose the priviledge. So much personal information is available on the internet! Another blogger, oxyJENic, posted links on her site that enable you to look at the appraised values of your neighbors homes, just by typing in their addresses. More than reading information from the Center for Technology and Democracy, this drove home to me just how intrusive and invasive the internet can be. Now, what are we going to do about the Patriot Act??

Orchestral Favorites

2007-09-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist adding some music here. If I ever get the chance, I will go to Vienna and waltz to The Blue Danube. Well, maybe one day....(sigh). This blogging is fun and somewhat dangerous. I could spend inordinate amounts of time here. There are so many things I want to post! I've even stumbled upon a new way I learn...imitation. Being a copy cat is not exactly a flattering personality trait, but viewing examples of other blogs has given me a severe case of blogenvy. As a result, I had to discover the world of WeeMee, and take a look at Library Thing. Another way I obtain information is by asking questions. I am very grateful for all the computer savy people I work with at the library, because they have helped me IMMENSELY already.

The Blue Danube

2007-09-19T22:48:00.001-07:00

लुसिद मनिफेस्तातिओंस (Lucid Manifestations)

2007-09-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

I want to play with all of my new toys. Let's see if the Hindi type button works, and if I have uploaded a picture from the web correctly.

Brownie Points por moi?

2007-09-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

I am staying after work to post. I love Rocky, and not just for all the great Philly (city of my birth) street shots, but because he was the underdog. Being the antithesis of computer geekdom, I consider myself somewhat of an underdog as I strive to complete my iHCPL training. But no way am I gonna drink raw eggs at 5 am. Ewww!

Rocky succeeded because he had heart. He also stretched and exercised alot. I am stretching by blogging, and I am exercising my brain by pondering the question, "What is my learning style?" I learn lots by reading, and some things by listening. When those methods are not sufficient, I must do. I must do alot. On computers I definately must do. Another way I learn is by making 20 billion mistakes. Then things start to sink in. Failure is kind of embarrassing, but it is a great teacher.

Gonna fly now

2007-09-18T08:46:00.001-07:00

iHCPL Alpha Post

2007-09-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I considered myself one of the last of a dying breed...no, not a really great whangdoodle (see children's fiction, under Edwards)... but an intractable technophobe steadfast in her refusal to enter the world of artificial intelligence. Fortunately my willfull resistance was ultimately vanquished by curiosity and the enticing allure of the world wide web at my fingertips, 24/7. Thus, google, I understand. Blogging on the other hand, is quite like visiting a foreign country. I've never been here, but am looking forward to the adventure.