"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something."
Huxley, T.H.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Week 9 - Thing 23 Bring on the Twinkies!:)

Well, I finally finished 23 Things. I do have to say I really enjoyed myself through this whole process. My only wish is that I had spent more time working on it all along. I loved learning all of these new tools and great sites. I have been sharing them with my family and friends as I discovered them. So, I guess really the learning extended beyond just the staff. Hopefully the people I shared the information with can share it with even more people. Spread the learning. Also real quick - Thank you to any and all who might have helped me over little speed bumps along the way.:)

Week 9 - Thing 22 Audiobooks - Galore!

I did set up my account and looked around at a few titles. I have to be honest and say I have never downloaded a book. Mostly I like the feel of holding a book and reading it. I know from my learning styles discussed during LATI that I am a very visual person. Therefore, I much prefer the written word verses the audio word. This is not to say I never listen to audio books. They do come in quite handy during long road trips and you are the one driving!

Week 9 - Thing 21 Discovering Podcasts

The sites seemed easy enough to use and it amazing how many podcasts are out there. I did find a few interesting ones for fun and some for work. One in particular mentioned teen book reviews. This seems like a great outlet to get teens involved in the library and sharing their likes and dislikes.

Week 9 - Thing 20 YouTube Fun



I loved this cartoon as a child and was thrilled to see it again. The site seemed very user friendly and I can see why it is so popular.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Week 8 - Thing 19 The fun times just keep on coming

I love looking around at this assignment. I already knew of a few favorites to search for from people who completed their assignments on time or earlier. I love Pandora. Music is one of my biggest loves and now I can find similar songs and artists. Another great site is Guess-the- Google.
This is seriously addicitve. I really liked the site breaking the other sites down by topics. It allows users to discover site and tolls they may not even know exist.

Just a fun addition! :)

Enjoy!

I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Dominick the Donkey

Week 8 - Thing 18 Zany Zoho Writer

I thought for a very long time of what I would like to post from the Zoho Writer and this song instantly came to mind. Many people are unfamiliar with song and the lyrics. So here it goes....

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don't want a doll, no dinkey tinker toys
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use a dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That's the easy thing to do

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosauruses
I only likes hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me, too

Mom says a hippo would eat me up, but then
Teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian

There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage."

I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh what joy, what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see a hippo hero standing there

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, no rhinosauruseses
I only likes hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me, too


Seriously, I like the idea of being able to save and share documents regardless of what desktop application you have installed on the computer you happen to be using at that moment in time.

Week 7 - Thing 17 Sandbox Wiki and PB Wiki

Well, I added my blog to the Favorites Blogs page. I was a little touch and go there for a minute, but I persevered. I really enjoyed the easy of use from PB Wiki Video Gallery. I'll use wiki's when they are required. I just don't think they will be the first lines of comunication that come to mind for me.

Week 7 - Thing 16 Wiki's are kind of wacky!

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of of wiki's in general. Watching the slide presentation, Wiki's: A Beginner's Look, one of the first statements summed up my dislikes.
Wiki's aren't for everyone! If control is really important to you, then a wiki probably isn't the right tool.
I did try to keep an open mind as I completed the discovery exercises and found a couple of them really easy to use. I really like the centralization of all the popular technology sites on the Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day site. And playing around on the Book Lovers Wiki was also fun. I can see the overall real beauty of a wiki working for libraries. I love the idea of sharing ideas. I just hate the idea of anyone editing your post.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Week 6 - Thing 14 Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

First of all, I can remember watching the YouTube video previously and not knowing what some of the sites or terms in the video meant. I know I most be learning something through all these assignments, because I was able to focus more on the content of the video and not get lost in trying to figure out what all the sites mean. I still find the video a little nerve wracking. I guess in my mind I like to think of the library as it was when I was a child - musty, old books and chairs all around to sit down and read. There wasn't a computer in site and everyone had what the needed. (I'm not so old computers weren't around then, our county was just that poor.) On the flip side, when Horizon was down today I missed it dearly. I guess I will just have to keep forging ahead with Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 and keep my childhood memories close to my heart.

Week 6 -Thing 14 Technorati

I looked around Technorati, especially at the 'tops' page. I'm just not sure it this was my most favorite site I've visited along this journey. I'm sure it works great for some people, but I don't think I am one of those people. Still it was good for me to look at the site and know what people are talking about when they refer to the site.

Week 6 - Thing 13 Tagging on Del.icio.us

Visiting the site was a bit overwhelming at first. So many words all jumbled on to the opening page. I stuck with it and even managed to set up an account. I do have to admit it was fun playing around with the tags and seeing what sites pop up under the same tag. I found a few really great sites I wasn't even aware of to help me prepare my storytime boxes. It was pretty cool to see how many people had saved the site to their bookmarks. I mean, if more than 30 people chose it, I should really add it to my bookmarks. I wouldn't want to miss out on any really great ideas or projects.

Week 5 -Thing 12 Rolling around with Rollyo

Well, I finally finished Thing 12. I did need a little help from a good friend to point out the potential use of my search roll. After she did there were a number of ways a search roll could become pretty handy to have at the tip of your hands. At any rate, here is my search roll:

http://rollyo.com/brokenrunningpinky/storytime_box_ideas/


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Week 5 - Thing 11 Library Thing

Yet another addictive assignment! I loved searching for the titles of my favorite books. Some of my selections might be odd, but I love all the books in my library. Again, this is great tool to share with my friends who have a large collection of titles. This also seems like a great way to keep track of the books you've already read, so you don't reread the same titles.

Week 5 - Thing 10 Avatars and more


I loved playing around with the avatars and can't wait to play some more after the deadline. I couldn't decide between the football avatar or the winter avatar. Football won out! I look forward to looking at some of the other image generating sites and playing around. Keep checking back to see more images added to my blog.

Week 4 - Thing 9 Exploring Merlin

I did add Merlin to my blogline and found a couple more to add through the feedlists. I was able to use Topix to find a newspaper close to my hometown that did have a RSS feed. I was thrilled and quickly added it to my bloglist. The possibilities of this activity are endless.

By the way my bloglist URL is : http://www.bloglines.com/public/brokenrunningpinky

Week 4- Thing 8 RSS Feeds and Bloglines

Well, I finally finished creating my blogline. I was a little frustrated some of my favorite sites do not have RSS feeds. I was however still able to find a few really great sites. Some are for work and some are just for play. One thing I really love about 23 Things is learning the new information and being able to share it with my friends and family. Even just while working on this particular assignment I shared the idea of a blogline with a few friends. Cool!

Week 3 - Thing 7 Technology blog

A few months ago I finally got a digital camera. I love it! :) I love taking photos and I take a lot of them! It is so nice being able to look at the image right away and deciding whether or not it looks the ways I hoped. If it doesn't I can always send it to the trash can immediately and try again to capture the image I wanted. Now I don't spend a ton of money developing rolls of film where only about half are really good pictures. My next purchase is some type of photo shop software. That is where the fun can really begin.

Week 3 - Thing 6 Flickr Mash-ups


Flickr mashups are great to play around with. Who knew there were so many ways to alter a picture with just the click of a few keys. I really enjoyed the 'Guess the Title' site. It was a lot of fun and it's amazing how fast time flies when you're having fun. I also enjoyed playing around with the 'Framer" site. It's a nice way to play around with pictures of the two recent additions to my household! I enjoyed this site so much is was hard to tear myself away from this assignment.