Ciao! Adios! Au Revoir!

I have reached the end of the Blogging Trail! I actually finished several days ago but haven't done the wrap-up "thing" as I thought a bit of time and distance might serve to make the view a bit clearer. So here is what I think....

This was a good exercise if for no other reason than to, well, exercise! My brain was challenged by all of this technology and I'm sure that I will use some of it, but not all. Many of the resources that we learned about are for those who are truely gung ho about a topic---many times a job or hobby. Me, not so much!

My biggest complaint was the lack of time to really get into each "thing" and use/understand it's many different pieces. I definately felt the pressure of time---perhaps because of all of the postings about the latest finishers. Now I know that we have 'til Staff Day but "if they could do it then so could I" might be the way I am thinking. So I just plowed ahead.

I honestly don't see how anyone could have competed this challenge without doing most of the assignments at home---I've had to work on this exclusively at home and I know that most of my co-workers are doing the same. Not a good "thing". Glad that I have high speed Internet or I'd still be sitting at work---or not getting this done!

And so, thanks to all of you for putting this together--It WAS fun, frustrating, educating and amazing! I would do something like this again---but let time do it's "thing" first so that my short term memory loss can kick in!

Ciao!

Listening In

I was really looking forward to this one! It's good that audio books is part of this exercise as it is one thing that some patrons want to know about---so in I plunged! But the water was a bit shallower than expected! Finally got the hang of finding a title that was actually available and did the software download thing---until it stopped! I see that the software download completed (the icon is on my desktop) but I can't budge the actual loading of the book----I was hoping to get a taste of James Patterson's 5th Horseman.

I have had a chance to peruse the list of books that are available from each of the two services that HCPl offers and am very impressed. There is a wide range that's for sure! Today I had to disappoint a student who needed to listed to the Scarlet Letter---but I was able to point her toward the download version. I just tried to get it myself but that dratted message keep appearing (A security Upgrade is Required to Preform the Operation of this Media file). So now I have two things checked out, other people can't have them and neither can I! Just another frustrating experience that I've had during the 23 Things.

Turning 21

These "Things" are getting less confusing and much more entertaining! Podcasts are not nearly the fun that the You Tube was and I did have some trouble finding one that would play. I started with Podcast.net but all of the those that I chose were very old----I was into "investing" and the hits started with 2005. I did not scroll through very many because my thinking was that the most recent ones should be at the top and so you loose my vote Mr. Podcast.net.

Thinking that I surely would not be able to remember the listed sources I just did a Google search (what else?) for podcasts and bingo! came across lots! I learned (no, not really!) how to talk about Jaywalking in Chinese! Holy Eggroll!

I can see that these things could take the place of talking books, the radio (the what?) or chatting with the cat but, sorry guys, I still prefer my quiet.

Can't say that I'll never look for something interesting though---now I know what they are, the scope that they cover and the way to find them, and I thank you for that!

I see from the assignment that I'm supposed to do an RSS feed to my bloglines account but I sure couldn't figure out how to do that. Looked everywhere on the podcast page for that RSS logo or anything that would indicate "click here". When I tried to plug the link into the box on bloglines it told me that it was a no go. Guess all I can do is to put the link here...

http://podcasts.yahoo.com/search?p=jaywalking+chinese&c=s

Would love to put some sort of Chinese character right here but don't know how to insert except at the beginning of the page. Miles to go before I sleep still I guess! Ciao!

Sailing

Ah, YouTube! Until just a minute ago I thought that i would NEVER use it. But after all I gotta accomplish this #20 so I searched for "Sailing". What a great video and super music of a catamaran flying across the ocean! But Wait! There is now a list of other hits for "Sailing". I'd forgotten all about Rod Stewart's song of the same name (Gasp!). Click on it and now I'm sailing along with him as I write this---actually now I'm on to the next selection of Rod in concert. Bonus!

Not the best visual but I'm sure that that will improve with time. Fun to see the old Rod again---the old hairstyle was not the best. On to other old favorites....PP&M, Kingston Trio, even obscure Ian & Sylvia---whew! That was a LONG time ago but they are all there.

But I digress! I think that this would be a good training tool---just don't ask me to get up there! so I've changed my mind about YouTube somewhat. I'm really enjoying listening while I type but, again, I do think that too many people think that they are worthy of being seen by whomever and guess what? they aren't!

That's it for me from here...nope don't look for me on YouTube, I'm just enjoying a trip down memory lane and it all started with the word "sailing"!




Not sure how to post the sailing video but thought I'd give it a try. I wish you fair seas and following winds!

Taking a Look @ Award Winners

Hmm...wondering who actually decided on the winners ( I may have skipped that detail as I was anxious to get to the sites of the winners. I've clicked here there and everywhere---lots of different catagories. Backpack, an organizing tool, looks easy to use and the examples given certainly get the thought juices going! Yes, indeed, I could use this for addresses, phone numbers, to do lists and so forth. Now all I need is one of those new phones that also have Internet access so that when I'm standing in line wondering if I have all of the ingredients to a yummy new recipe I can just bring up the list online. Much easier than having to write it all down, put the list in my pocket and then find it before checking out!

I was also interested in looking at the charity sites. Be Green calculates a persons carbon footprint and then asks you to send them money to offset the carbon that one is producing! What a racket! Think how much $ you could save yourself if you take a look at the calculator, cut back on your CO2 production and DON'T send them a donation! Makes sense to me!

Tried another site that rates different services in lots of different locales. Now this could come in handy particularly if moving to a brand new spot. There were reviews written by folks who, we must assume, actually used the services. A good site to remember---except I have already forgotten it and I'm not trying to be snarky!

You are correct in saying that there are just tons of sites on this Web 2 thing that are interesting and useful. I think that there are also way too many people who think that what they have to say is interesting when in fact it just isn't. I know that I fall into this catagory as well---but at least I know it!

: )

At the 18th Hole!

And now I have yet another account! A Google Docs account no less! I can now share with the entire world what I have to say and they can edit my thoughts to their heart's content. Yes, I actually DO think that this would be a very useful site to use if my world was a bit larger and widespread. somewhere I saw an example of a Little League spreadsheet---an excellent example of the usefulness of this type of Web 2 stuff. Wonder if they are using it over at Ripken Stadium with all those Little League World Series minipeople.

I found this very easy to use once I noticed the "help" button. Too bad there wasn't more help prior to logging on. I would have liked to see a page that compared Google with Zoho just for curiosity sake.

Created a word document because that was the easiest thing to do and at this point I'm just test driving, not learning a whole new thing like spread sheets---although I could probably slog through. At any rate, I did not take the challenge to publish my post---I feel that the world will go on without my two cents worth. I did take a look at how to publish and share though and think that it is actually quite niffty to be able to do all of this. Hooray for the "Hidden Web"...no longer hidden to 23 thingers!

After a Brief Hiatus...

And on to #17! List of my favorite places can now be found written in the sand at Maryland Sandbox. I found the exercise just a bit frustrating because the link for creating a new page was not working. Am not sure what I did to get to where I needed to go, but I'm pretty sure that I did the steps correctly. One thing is for sure, with all this wandering about through Web 2 I'm learning to just click here and there and give it the ol' college try! (wonder where that expression came from? Doesn't make much sense.)

So, at any rate, I think that this completes #17 and I must move on to the rest as time and all it's demands is really breathing down my neck here. No pressure though!

Thing 16: Shocking Dr. Seuss Who only Got to Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Wiki Wiki! Quickly now, as we are in a race against time!

Have just poked about in more than a few wikis and find them very interesting--I even created a log in for one of them and did quite a bit of spell-checking! I'm shocked, SHOCKED!, that an alleged librarian writing about the weeding process could make so many grammatical and spelling errors. Was this a test?

Who is to say that the original page was not written that way for a reason? Was it a secret code that I have now changed? Will a previously arranged rendezvous now be thwarted? Will Mom know where I am? And after all is said and done, will anyone really care?

I guess the thing that bothers me the most is that somewhere out there there is bound to be some pretty lousy information that someone will ASS-U-ME is correct. Laziness is prevalent in our society and facts are not checked. Hmmm....and if you are going to check the info in some other reputable, reliable source why not just go there in the first place!? I am surprised that there doesn't seem to be more "vandalism" but little people who are interested in messing with other people's stuff. I didn't see any of that though so perhaps that fear of mine is unfounded.

In the end I would say that nope, I don't think that wikis are the best site for getting information. I CAN see, on the other hand, that using them for the sharing of ideas, building communities and trading recipes for the best chocolate chip cookies would be just swell.

I'd be interested to see what we could do with this sort of resource in the library---Yes, Irmgarde, Annette and Maurice I DO know that HCPL already has one! I'm watching it!

Aloha!