Info Diva's Reverie

Twitter and Celebrities

2011-08-08T11:43:00.001-05:00

I came across this the other day:
http://www.happyplace.com/4173/the-best-responses-to-celebrities-on-twitter

Hilarious. :-) Fun to spout off at some of the empty headed celebrity tweets.

Dead Teen Songs

2010-01-20T19:08:00.002-06:00

Yes, Dead Teen Songs. Like "Leader of the Pack" (Watch out!) and Last Kiss (last done by Pearl Jam.) I had no idea there were so many of these songs, but here they are; even conveniently split into "modes of death." Evidently they've been popular, since there are still some written recently.
I suppose some of them are a stretch - Old Shep (Elvis) is here. Old Shep is about a dog, but he could be an old dog...The commentary is hilarious....

"The girlfriend is begging him to give up drag racing. No doubt a song or two later he will end up going around Dead Man's Curve or no longer be the Leader of the Pack."

"Drinking lots and then driving around Dead Man's Curve. That's not going to end well."

Plus, as a bonus, he lists a bunch of possibilities at the bottom that he hasn't gotten to yet.

Lovely Listings

2009-09-25T11:30:00.002-05:00

Funny website - who could think that some of these pictures could possibly sell a house??

http://lovelylisting.com/

Evaluation

2009-06-01T11:58:00.004-05:00

Again, I enjoyed the "things on a stick." I found out about some new things, and got to play around with things I hadn't used much. This is a nice incentive to experiment with various applications to see how well they fit in with what I need.

I was resistant to Twitter in the first round, but I decided to play around with it this time, thinking that I'd probably drop it after a few weeks. Ha - I should have known better. Twitter is a lot of fun - even when self appointed "Library Theorists" (aka DLK) don't approve of what you say. Of course, if he worked in a real library, he'd perhaps find a semblance of a clue. I had never really heard of this guy before the reading for thing 34, and have seen nothing from him that's worth the time it takes to read it. Self promoting, ignorant blowhard. Other than this, I'm really enjoying Twitter.

That being said, the rest of the things were fun. It's great to have an excuse to do scrapbooking at work, and to see Lutefisk working on one too. (He is an artsy guy, after all.) I've decided I prefer last.fm to Pandora, since I've discovered new artists there. And, of course, I'm always up for LOL cats.

Even if I don't use all the "things" on a daily basis, I like knowing they're out there; you never know when something will come in handy.

46 Web Junction

2009-06-01T10:44:00.002-05:00

I've looked at this before, but didn't really use it. For this thing, I looked at it again, found a few friends...but really don't see much else to do. For example, some of the discussions that looked interesting didn't have any activity for a year or so. I found the main page most useful for news and updates. I think it does have potential - especially in a time when budgets are being tightened, the training modules could be used instead of a system having to reinvent the wheel.
I'll keep this in the back of my mind for future reference.

45 I really don't know clouds...at all...

2009-05-19T13:28:00.002-05:00

Well, actually, I do - I just thought that was a catchy title. Most of us who use the internet use cloud computing, whether we know it or not. I haven't used online "OS" and probably won't in the near future, but it is useful for those who need it. I use flickr, google docs occasionally, library thing occasionally, I've saved pictures on facebook, I listen to music and various programs online, email, delicious, etc. etc.

I save important things like pictures to flashdrives, as a backup to online storage and the card in the camera. I hate it when I lose pictures, so I stash them in more than one place. But it's so convenient to be able to log onto one of my accounts to show someone pictures., or to use a document when I'm not at "my" computer. One of our fellow "thingers" commented that some schools are encouraging the use of Google docs so the "my printer stopped working" excuse will be obsolete. The student could just log onto google docs and print the document - but of course, the "printer broke" excuse usually meant the student hadn't done the work. :-)

There can be problems - security can be an issue, and there are always trolls. Even when something is set to private, there are ways around it. I wouldn't be comfortable having private data stored in the cloud - it's too easy to get to if someone is determined. I'm also a bit concerned about ownership issues - (in fact, facebook just started using creative commons.) Some sites claim any content stored becomes their property rather than yours, so user beware. :-) What if the "cloud" you're using starts charging - will you be able to retrieve your data?

But for some things, the convenience of using cloud computing is unbeatable.

44 It's the Economy....

2009-05-13T13:40:00.006-05:00

I've been doing online banking for a long time for many of our bills. I tend to go in as soon as I get the bill and set the time for it to be paid, so I can just forget about it. The trick is, of course, to have the money in the account at that time. :-) Fortunately I manage to time that correctly.

I did check fuel economy when I bought my last car, but the predictions aren't necessarily all that accurate. One site I like to use to check gas prices is http://www.twincitiesgasprices.com/. It's pretty surprising that there would be that much difference in price in the same metro area. I usually put gas in near my work - it can be as much as 15 cents a gallon cheaper than the stations by my house.

Along with Craigslist and Freecycle, another source that's available is http://www.twincitiesfreemarket.org/. It's an open list that one can read/post to without having to subscribe. That's something I didn't like aboutFreecycle -I had subscribed some time ago, but there wasn't much activity so I stopped following it. I love Craigslist, and have gotten several things this way. Plus I reunited someone with their dog the a while ago because I noticed a Lost ad, and a found ad a few days apart, and wrote to one of them. It was their dog! Woof!

I follow a few Deals/freebie sites on Twitter, but haven't done much with those. I did like looking through Wise Bread. Frugal Dad was ok, but nothing really new. I'll probably browse through some of the other frugal bloggers on occasion. I do shop at thrift stores sometimes- it's fun to just browse because you'll never know what you'll find. I even found some of our Noritake stoneware at Valu Village and it was certainly much cheaper than we got married!

The lifehacker article was good - I'm going to check some of these out. One site I've used for years is http://www.pricegrabber.com/ . It's pretty interesting to see how much prices can vary for the same item.

43 TV and beyond

2009-05-12T15:55:00.002-05:00

I've used Hulu before and like it. Joost seems pretty similar. I've also used surfthechannel.com and like that as well; I've been able to find things there that weren't available elsewhere. Many of the things I searched for weren't available, or just were promo clips. My husband travels a lot for work and will miss episodes of shows he likes, so we've been known to just go to the network website and watch catch up on the episodes that way. I watched a short clip of Henry Cho (a comedian I like) on the Craig Ferguson show via Hulu (searching Joost brought up no results). It took forever at work - everything seems to be running slow today.

While I like these services, I don't know that they'll replace network/cable tv in the near future, but it's a convenient alternative for those who have the equipment to utilize this. Some problems at this time include being tech savvy enough to use/troubleshoot this services. One also needs a computer and connection that is capable of streaming these types of casts - higher bandwidth, RAM, etc. You'd want a larger monitor, too- many people are bothered by the smaller screen. I didn't mind that so much. There's also the issue of hosting that type of website - could get pretty spendy.

I mainly tend to use this to catch up on something I miss, and I don't even do that too often - I don't watch much tv, I guess. And usually if I miss something, I catch the rerun. :-) For me, it isn't going to affect broadcast tv/cable, and it's still hit or miss finding something to watch. Netflix is considering not using DVDs anymore, just streaming. (I still prefer DVDs, myself). I don't know that it will be soon, but eventually I would think more entities will follow suit, or at least make it an attractive option.

Pundits

2009-05-11T14:30:00.002-05:00

I find it very interesting that some of the so-called library theorists have no room for differing opinions. Their idea of "discussion" involves them snapping out orders and expecting you to comply. I'm so not interested. I work in a real library, not in a theoretical one. Going after someone in a blog and elsewhere when you didn't "win" the discussion is petty and childish. These are the people who think they have something to say about the future of libraries? One of these guys in particular hasn't worked an in-person reference desk in over 15 years, and he thinks he knows what's going on? Why are we listening to these people? Do other professions listen to theorists who have no real world experience? No, they don't, and we shouldn't listen to these self-promoting windbags either.

The sky is not falling; we're seeing more traffic than ever. While libraries continue to evolve and change, many things stay the same. These pundits are always saying libraries need to be like bookstores. Sure, Barnes and Noble may have WiFi, but will a bookseller help someone format a resume? Import images to a powerpoint presentation? Upload or save pictures?? Let them walk out of the store with a book, Cd, DVD in hand that they didn't have to pay for? With the trust that they'll bring it back? Can they find archived magazine articles at Borders? Libraries always have had places for people to look at books, magazines, listen to cds, etc. The bookstores learned that from US, not the other way around.

Sure, web 2.0 is great, and I and my colleagues use many of the tools all the time. But not all of it translates well to direct patron service, which is what we do. I'm tired of being told I'm "resistant to change" when I'm advocating for people I work with. I'm resistant to change that's being done "because everyone else is doing it" but adds nothing, or worse yet, detracts from what our patrons really want. I love the technology stuff, and I work with it, and share my knowledge with my colleagues and patrons on a daily basis. Don't tell me I'm resistant to change because I disagree with you - you make yourself look even more foolish.

We're expected to do more with less, we're expected to babysit, and evidently if people are rude and obnoxious it's somehow our fault. But we have people every single day who genuinely need our help, and the services we provide, and we are happy to help them. It makes my day when I see the light in someone's eyes tell me they're getting the hang of this computer stuff - that they can do an attachment! Or when someone tells me they loved the book I recommended, and wonders if there are more?? Or need help finding an article, and are happy to find out they can do it from home. It's wonderful when someone I've been helping with email, attachments, and job websites comes in to tell me they've gotten a job and they want to thank me for my help. These pundits have no idea what that's like - they're so busy trying to tell us our imaginary shortcomings that they couldn't care less about the multitude of things we're doing right. I feel rather sorry for them.

When you're a pundit, if someone in an email/or reference chat is rude, they can just delete it. When someone is rude or threatening here, we have to deal with it. I wonder how many of these pundits have been threatened with bodily harm because all the computers were in use? Or because someone isn't allowed to look at porn with a child sitting beside them? How many of these guys have taken a frightened toddler by the hand and walked with them through the library to find Mommy or Daddy? How many have had their cars trashed? I would bet none.

Yet they sit in their cushy offices, with a secretary to do most of the real work. They answer an occasional online reference question, maybe, maybe not, and pat themselves on the back and tell themselves how smart they are. They travel around pretending they have something valuable to share, and the more gullible in our profession lap it up. Meanwhile, the rest of us are working with real people, with real needs, in real life. Oooh - someone somewhere may have said a patron was rude. How "terrible" we are.

Get real. Get a clue. Or go away.

42 Music

2009-05-10T10:14:00.002-05:00

I've been listening to music online for years. I listen to music all day long - at home, in the car, at work....I log on when I'm at my desk, and listen while I'm working on other things. I used to listen to specific radio stations, such as KFOG from San Francisco (the station I listened to most when we lived there.) I have XM in the house, and a player in my car, and our pickup has XM as well.

Comparing Pandora to Last, Last.fm seems to play more variety, Pandora plays more of the artists you specify. For example, if I ask for Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Pandora plays a lot of his songs, (which is good, because that's what I said!) but repeats a lot of the same artists, too...lots of Jeff Healey, Stevie Ray Vaughan...which is fine, since I like them too, but part of the reason I like online radio is that I want to hear things I don't know, or a wider variety than on commercial radio. Last.fm played a lot of different artists, even a few tracks I didn't know. They both played Natalie Merchant for Aimee Mann - yuck. I don't dare ask for Tricia Yearwood or Mary Chapin Carpenter, since they would probably play Reba McEntire, which would ruin my entire day. I may use the player option as a quick way to add things to my Zen.

I've used Hype-Machine off and on for a few years - I hadn't looked at it lately, and the interface is much different. I like HM for new music, especially. I listen to XM online, as well, as long as I still don't have to pay for it. And i've listened to MPR/NPR online for years, especially for classical. My husband and I play "ID that composer" sometimes. :-) I listen to the Current as well - depends on who the DJ is though. :-)

I added the "Recently Played" widget from Last.fm - it will be interesting to see what changes as I create stations.

41 LIfe Mash

2009-05-10T09:37:00.002-05:00

I looked through the mashups, but haven't much interest in them. I don't use so many social networking sites that I need another site to keep track of them . I don't want to spend all my life on my computer, so no thanks. Besides, I'm more interested in the Music stuff, which is next.

40 Web Mashup

2009-05-08T09:49:00.004-05:00

I played around with the two music mashups, but I don't see much use for me. I prefer to just listen - not repeating songs, saving them, etc. I create a station and listen - I'll skip or "dislike" a song, but tend not to save them since I'm interested in hearing new things.

I might use Lazy Library occasionally - we get people all the time who have to do a lst minute book report, or who just might want a quick read. I would like more results, but it can at least be a "mind jogger" when you draw a blank. BookTour might be handy if it didn't call for a download...:-)

Libworm was interesting. I liked just clicking on a tag and seeing what comes up. I didn't set up rss feeds, but that is a convenient option if there was a topic I wanted to track in more depth.

I like the idea of Lunchbox, but it's got a long way to go. :-) It didn't find much around the zip codes I entered, even though I know of other places in those areas. Wheel of Food is a fun idea, but has the same basic problem. Functionality was a but limited, too - tried "spin again" and that doesn't work.

According to WalkScore, we're a 38/100; car dependent. It would be somewhat useful if I were househunting, perhaps. It is handy to see exactly how far away Walgreen's is, since I tend to walk there. :- ) Crime reports was pretty limiting for me, since my city isn't listed. It's a good idea, although you can usually get crime reports from the police if you're interested, or google it.

39 Scrapbook

2009-05-06T19:05:00.004-05:00

I used Scrapblog to whip up a couple pages - it was easy and kind of fun, and simple to upload the pictures from flickr. It was a bit limiting, but since it's free I'm not going to complain very much. For the one of the cats, there was a neat music background I wanted to use but the stickers colors didn't work. (They are named Fermata and Fantasia, after all.) It was quite user friendly, and fairly intuitive. The second page is a few shots we took in Scotland.

These could be fun to use for programming - take snaps of an event at the library and scrap it online. It would be fun for staff events, too. Home use could be even more fun. I'm sure everyone has embarrassing pictures of family members they're dying to use!

37 Photo Tales

2009-05-05T09:10:00.010-05:00

I've been using flickr for quite awhile, and after we went to Scotland/Ireland I went ahead and got a pro account. I didn't want to put music to the slides, because it would mean I'd have to use a of slides to make it synchronize. We did a slideshow on Powerpoint for my Dad's funeral, using George Strait's "Love without End, Amen" and it was an awesome way to pay him tribute. But I wanted to keep this one simple. I have used Animoto before and like it. I like some of the other slide ideas, and will play around with them another time.

I decided to use Pictobrowser, and, so that it wouldn't be so large, used the pictures I'd tagged Comayo, for County Mayo, Ireland. It's added to the bottom of my blog. Kathleen in the pictures is my third cousin once removed. We didn't know about each other until probably a month before we went over. Who knew genealogy would be so much fun?

Pictobrowser was very easy to use - it only took me a few minutes. It would be easy to make various shows using different tags or sets; it would probably take more time to do the tagging or making the sets than it takes to use Pictobrowser itself. It's easy to add to the blog, too - just use Edit Html and add the code.

I posted an lolcat in the last thing, but one can never have too many lolcats. I used roflbot, but also have used the uploader at Icanhascheezburger.com. (This is Fantasia, by the way.)
I've played around with Piknik but didn't like anything well enough to upload it. Generally, by the time you enlarge your picture enough to see it, it's so blurry that there's not too much to be done. :-/ I wasn't able to try splashup due to computer restrictions at work, but it looked like it could be interesting.

I guess if I'm stretching it I could call my pictobrowser a story - no?

36 Comic Relief

2009-05-02T16:08:00.007-05:00

I probably spent too much time on this one - I enjoy playing around with these. I made a few of the various signs/posters etc. I'll go back when I have more time and create another slideshow - I did a zoho slideshow in the first things, so I have an idea how they work. (plus I've done a million powerpoints...)

A few of the sites that looked interesting were down. It looks like they may be back in the future, so I'll check occasionally. I've used both of the citation sites, and have recommended them to friends and others who may need them. I really enjoyed the Label maker, and will use that again. I've also played around a lot with the LOL cats:

I didn't do this one, but it's one of my favorites. Possibly because it's so true!!

This is one of my nieces, Kathryn and Shorty the cat. Anyway, these are a lot of fun and could be used for kids programs, etc. Children especially like these kinds of things, with their faces and their friends on them.

What's especially nice about many of these generators is their ease of use. Just plug in your details, and off you go. This is a quick and easy way to whip up some last minute publicity, or even make up a little souvenir for kids at a program. It would be easy to make up magnets, stickers, buttons or the like with these generators, especially since you can save them and reuse them if you like.

I didn't make a comic, although I did explore the sites and read quite a few. Some are definitely beter than others. One I usually read is Shelf Check by Poesy Galore: http://shelfcheck.blogspot.com/

Comics could be used for programming, library tours (just whip up a quick strip or two featuring whoever is coming for the tour) and the like. I have some Boy Scouts coming next week - maybe I'll make a few strips about how to search for the city's history. :-)

35 Books 2.0 part deux

2009-04-24T13:00:00.003-05:00

I've used Reader's Choices and Reader's Group Guides quite a bit when helping people with book clubs. They've been around for awhile and are a nice "one stop shop" for bookclubs to get ideas about what to read, and discussion questions. Booksprouts wasn't very interesting to me - but it might be useful if I wanted to run a bookclub. Didn't check the other two.

Open Culture looks pretty interesting - I think that's one I'll spend some time playing with later. Someday when I'm more organized, Book Mooch could come in very handy. I almost prefer Paperback Swap - I liked the way you can browse. Book Mooch didn't have a separate category for mysteries, which was sad. :-( I might just use Swaptree if I want to get rid of some of my cds - of course, I'm sure I'll find just as many I'd like to get...

I don't think the book is going away any time soon. Even with the convenience of handheld readers, people of all ages still seem to prefer the paper format. Online or books in other mediums are a great option for classrooms, though. I'll read journals online in a spare moment.

35 Books 2.0

2009-04-23T13:24:00.003-05:00

I have an account with LibraryThing, and enjoy using it when I think of it. :-) I don't worry too much about cataloging my own books, but I do like to keep note of what I've read and what I thought about it. I have a large notebook at work that I jot down what I'm interested in and what I thought when/if I finally read it; partially because I like the feel of handwriting it. :-)

I didn't care for lib.rario.us very much - when I do catalog my own things, I want more control over what I'm doing. We have an extensive music collection, for example, (probably 1500+ by now - I lost count some time ago) and "rock" isn't descriptive enough. There's southern rock, indie rock, alternative...etc. I had at one time a spreadsheet of everything - mainly so I didn't buy duplicates at Cheapo. For me, that's one main reason to keep track of what we have, and the spreadsheet served that purpose quite well. Itrackmine looked interesting - I plan on playing around more with that one. I know I've lost track of things I've loaned to people - this might help me remember to get them back!

So far I've not been very interested in reading on my phone - I read so fast that so far none of the electronic sources keep up with me - I can turn pages much faster. I do think Twitterlit is fun, and use that. I don't have twitter updates sent to my phone, but read them through the internet.

I just checked out Bookcalendar, and they've just added Twitter. I'm their first follower! Yay me. :-) Anyway, I love reader's advisory tools. When the Uncle Edgar's newsletter comes, I grab my highlighter and am busy for awhile. I also like that I can get a feel for a book without having to read it - very helpful for reader's advisory. I've used the "what's next" database before, but not lately - this was a timely reminder. I wasn't so impressed with the results from "What Should I read next?" - the searches I did turned up some strange results.

More Travel - 33

2009-04-08T19:27:00.005-05:00

I love the idea of user driven travel sites - who better to get the real scoop from than someone who has been there? I've had the experience of thinking a place looked really interesting, and then being disappointed when I got there. (For example, my husband and I both thought that if someone had planned an entire trip around the Alamo, they would have been very disappointed!) I played around with a few of the sites, using places I'd been as examples - San Francisco (lived there) and Scotland. The sites I spent the most time on were Boo, Gusto and Igougo.
I liked the guides on Boo - there was even one for Helensburgh, the town where my niece and nephew live. There were quite a few pictures that looked similar to ours. :-) I think all men take a picture of John Logie Baird, one of the inventors of television...Of course, there will be more information for the larger cities, but that's to be expected. I did have more luck in the Travel guides rather than trying keyword searches.
I didn't think Gusto had as many places to choose from, but I did like the individual travel guides created by members.
I tend to use flickr or facebook more as a travel journal - post the pictures and add commentary to them as I go. For the next trip I take, I may use Vicarious or My life of travel.

32 Google Maps

2009-03-26T15:22:00.009-05:00

I read through the Google Mashups article, and found several that I thought would be useful. Mapness looked very interesting, although I didn't play with it. Maybe I'll use it to document our trip to Scotland and Ireland. Then, when we go back I could use the AA Route planner, London Knowledge, and/or Tube J/P to plan where we'll go in England. (Although I must recommend getting a GPS - I think we'd still be trying to find our way out of the Dublin airport without one!) I reconstructed our Dublin Bus route (from St Margaret's to Parnell St.) using the Dublin Transport mashup. The idea is similar to the Metro transit calculators here in Mpls, but it's more visual; and you can drag the map to find where it is you're trying to go.
I played with Broadway 2day and liked it quite a bit. It lists Broadway shows, shows their location, and amenities (with reviews and comments) near each theatre. I'll definitely use this if/when we go back to New York.
DriveScore was interesting - I put my address in, and it shows "stars/celebrities" who live nearby. One result was that Eric Barton lives near me. I have no idea who this is, but I guess he's a football player? I have seen Bill Brown (Former Viking) around quite a bit - he's not far from us. I'm not sure why that's important to know, but someone must think it is!

I created a quick map of some of the locations we visited in Scotland, and linked some to a picture.

View Larger Map

31 More Twitter

2009-03-16T15:00:00.003-05:00

I'll confess - I'm enjoying Twitter a lot more than I expected to. As of today, I'm following 248 and 126 are following me. (oops - make that 127.) Most of these are unknown to me, and many are following me because I follow them.
I haven't played around much with the new apps, although I have been reading about and looking at some. Many of them need to be downloaded, and I can't do that at work and haven't done it at home. I do use my phone to update both facebook and twitter, although I don't have notices sent to my phone. I did bite the bullet and get the unlimited text and data (only $30 a month. When I first started using FB, I had the updates sent, but as I was on it longer and had more going on - it got to be annoying.
I did add the twitter badge to my blog, and added myself to "We're following" and "Just Tweet it." I've also used both of those to find people to follow. I've tried to look at most of the other participant's blogs, and added them if they seemed to be using Twitter. I'm also following Mr Tweet, and look at the page occasionally. I've used Twitter karma, and found it interesting.
Looking at the various Twitter apps, I see some that look interesting and may try some of them in the future. Big Tweet might be interesting; Twitpics will be useful if I post a picture...Maybe one of my sister in law's kitten! Group Tweet might come in handy for planning activities, etc. with others using Twitter. Twitter Alerts seems like blog or google alerts, alerting you if your search/name is mentioned. I didn't find Twellow or TwitterTroll particularly useful.

Thing 30

2009-03-02T10:48:00.004-06:00

I'm back! Anyway - looking through the possibilities, the two that piqued my interest the most were Feed my Inbox and Feed my Search. I still use bloglines, but I don't log in often enough to get benefit from calendar alerts, or filters via RSS. (That's what my phone is for!)
I set up a few sites to come to my inbox, and so far I've been finding that useful. I haven't done much with feed my search since I couldn't think of a search I do often, but it would certainly be convenient for research, etc. It seems similar to Google Alerts, just going to a reader instead of email.
I am still using delicious occasionally. They've changed the browse function - it seems to limit the results to one page instead of being able to scroll through more than one page of new/popular bookmarks. I tend to like to browse through various bookmarks, saving ones that are interesting. Popcaular's fun - I usually check at least a few of the links to see if I'm interested in them. I've also used the tag search a few times when I'm interested in a particular topic.
I've loosely organized Bloglines into rough categories for my feeds, and tag sites in delicious according to how I'd think to look for them later. Both of these tools could be useful for classes - an instructor could set up an account for the class, or share links/feeds of interest with students.

Google Tools

2009-02-16T12:12:00.003-06:00

I've played around with some of these off and on for awhile. I've been using google "text" on my phone for some time - for example, I'll text weather minneapolis to 466453 and it will text me back with the weather for Mpls. I'm still trying to resist getting a data plan on my phone - I'm on the computer much of the day as it is. GPS would be handy though.

I set up a few google alerts - Franken, my last name, and the name of my blog. When I set it up for the blog, I didn't use quotes, so I'm getting some interesting results. I may just keep using this; changing or adding alerts as something strikes my fancy. I do have a gmail account, but don't use it very much.

I have a calendar set up in google that I did some time ago. I'll confess I haven't used it much because I tend to use Outlook calendars for work related things, a print calendar on the side of the fridge (so my husband can see it too!) and my cell phone calendar to sound off to remind me of things: "Don't forget the cat food!" It could be useful for collaboration, I just haven't needed it for such a thing.

Sites could come in handy for projects - maybe if I get ambitious, I could set up a genealogy site for all my Irish relatives to contribute to. If Jim ever gets going on my Swedish genealogy I could do one for that too. :-)

Thing 28

2009-01-30T14:02:00.005-06:00

I set up a page using iGoogle during the 23 things. I tend to look for what I'm interested in at the time I want it, rather than using a collection of things in one place, so I don't use it daily. I so use it occasionally, mainly to read comics. It's convenient to be able to read them backwards, instead of being limited to just one day. I enjoy looking through the various widgets/gadgets, and I had fun (earlier) choosing different skins for the various pages I set up. I like using igoogle for google reader - I can just go ahead and click what I want to see. I did like the layout better when they had the tabs along the top rather than just the tabs on the side.
I looked briefly at the others - I also have a page in yahoo but don't really use it. I didn't see any compelling reason to sign up for any of them. Some of the widgets I added include Pet of the day, various comics strips via Custom Comics, Daily Puppy, Hangman, Bonehead of the day...Obviously I seem to have chosen more recreational things than "useful"...I think I'll still fool around with widgets, just because they're kind of fun.

More Twitter

2009-01-28T18:46:00.009-06:00

I forgot to add my twitter name - Jeannebr.
I finally got the phone updates to work, but made sure to turn off the auto messages, since I only get 300 messages a month. :-) The fb2twitter works really well - you add them as a friend on Facebook, and when you update your Facebook status it updates Twitter as well.
I added a feed to my blog, too- I ended up copying the code and adding it that way; the auto option put it in a weird spot. The template I'm using has room for widgets all over, and put it on top.
I've read some more of the various articles, and find some of the apps/writings to be quite silly. A Tweet plan? So not happening here. I'm not going to use Twitterific since I don't have an iphone. Instead of Tweetscan I'll just use search.twitter.com and search there. Twitterholic could be fun - seeing who uses twitter the most. Barack Obama came up as number one today, but I haven't gotten one yet. Should I be insulted?!? This could also be a way to find more tweets to follow.
There are some apps that could be useful were I inclined to use them. Twizon bills itself as Twitter meets Amazon, and seems to tweet about things found on Amazon. Buy Later lets you know when something comes back into stock at Amazon. Remember the Milk is a twitter app now - wasn't something like that on the earlier 23 things? I tend to use my phone calendar for that, but it could be handy if I had updated enabled. Twittercal meshes your google calendar with Twitter.
It seems to me that many of them are for hard-core users, which I probably won't be. I do enjoy reading tweets, for the most part, so I may keep it up. Plus it will be another background design thing that I can tweak and play around with.

Thing 27 Twitter

2009-01-27T14:48:00.003-06:00

I've signed up for Twitter, read some of the info, and send a few tweets. I found a background that I liked and changed the standard background. (I have as much fun figuring out or designing backgrounds as I do posting on the various social networks.) I'm still fooling around with the apps, and was trying to sych my phone sms so that I can send updates via text messages. So far that doesn't seem to be working too well. I do updates that way for Facebook a lot. For some reason, I've been synced but my messages don't show up. So I added fb2twitter, and that's working really well so far.
I'm following 39 so far, and have 10 myself. I'm thinking both numbers will increase as more people get to this thing. Except for Jim the curmudgeon, that is..:-)
I like going into the twitter search (www.search.twitter.com) and popping in a term and reading the tweets on them - for example library. People going to the library, working in the library, eating in the library... The live stream is fun to read too. I like the short blurbs - I still read reddit and mixx just for the heck of it, too.

Thing 26 Ning

2009-01-24T12:56:00.003-06:00

I joined the 23 Things Ning in the first round, but didn't use it too much. I tended to comment via blog comments if I had a question or comment. I did upload a few pictures and joined an Irish ancestry group for the heck of it. Maybe I'll join a few for crafts or genealogy or something, too.
I think a Ning could be useful in a classroom setting - set up a ning for the class and people can participate in activities that way. Teachers could post discussion questions, students could ask questions, etc. and it would be a convenient way for everyone to be involved.
While a Ning could have use for a far-flung family, I'm finding that Facebook works better for that. It's much easier to keep track of what everyone's doing that way, plus I can see when they're on and have a chat.

Thing 25

2009-01-22T14:14:00.006-06:00

I've already done a few of these, and tried and deleted others, but I'm spending some more time looking at them. I've been using statcounter for awhile, and wanted to add the map function, but wasn't sure how to do that. I added clustrmaps instead, although at present it doesn't show anything nearly as interesting as the statcounter map does. (Beijing, anyone?)
I was surprised at how accurate the Typealyzer was yesterday - it showed me as ESFP/Performer. I've done a few of the Meyers-Briggs and I come out as a cross between ENFP/Champion and ESFP. Jim thought his was pretty accurate yesterday, too. But I did it this morning, and it came up as ESTP. Verrrry interesting. I'm guessing it must change depending on what you post at various times.

I'm not interested at all in having my blog talk... but I did go ahead and re-add the Meebo widget. I'm using Meebo a little more now since they added the Myspace chat. Myspace always wanted me to download which I can't do at work. :-)

I still have the links for the slideshow I did for the first 23 things. Maybe I'll do another one of the trip to Scotland and Ireland. I could just do a flickrshow, but there are four albums with 50 pics each...

I may just keep coming back to and playing around with these things throughout these things.

More Things 24

2009-01-21T14:11:00.006-06:00

Looking at the "Do" list, I've already completed quite a bit. I have been blogging off and on, (sometimes more off than on, but...) and have changed my blog around for the third time. I used one of the standard templates first, then switched to one from http://candytemplates.blogspot.com/. I liked that one (called Icy Blue) but got antsy to find one that I could make fit the whole "diva thing."
I've looked around at a lot of sites for blog templates, but didn't find just the right one. The one I'm using now is from http://www.ourblogtemplates.com/ and I just made up my own header, and deleted a widget or two, (or maybe three...) One thing I like about this site is it tells you how large the blog header needs to be if you want to make your own. I just used Paint to do the one I made up - it was pretty easy.

I didn't feel like redoing an avatar - but put a small pic up instead. Maybe I'll change it out every so often - it's kind of fun looking around at and fooling around with icons and avatars.

2009-01-05T10:38:00.000-06:00

99 Things

2009-01-05T09:44:00.004-06:00

THE 99 THINGS MEME (via Blue Skunk)

Things you’ve already done: bold

Things you want to do: italicize

Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.

2. Slept under the stars.

3. Played in a band.

4. Visited Hawaii.

5. Watched a meteor shower.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity. (OK, I feel guilty about this one...)

7. Been to Disneyland/world.

8. Climbed a mountain. I've been to the Turtle Mountains in North Dakota....

9. Held a praying mantis.

10. Sang a solo. Probably a bazillion times...

11. Bungee jumped. No - do I look stupid to you???

12. Visited Paris.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. I'm working on knitting and crocheting - taught my self cross-stitch and design.

15. Adopted a child.

16. Had food poisoning. Not that I wanted to, mind you...

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.

18. Grown your own vegetables.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.

20. Slept on an overnight train.

21. Had a pillow fight.

22. Hitch hiked. Never in a million years.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. Haven't we all? I prefer to call it "mental health day."

24. Built a snow fort. I am from Minnesota, after all. :-)

25. Held a lamb. My husband's family raises sheep. Baaaah!

26. Gone skinny dipping.

27. Run a marathon. Nope. Don't wanna, either.

28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.

29. Seen a total eclipse.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.

31. Hit a home run.

32. Been on a cruise.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. For some...just saw where my great grandmother was born in Ireland, went to Scotland but didn't go to a specific site...

35. Seen an Amish community. I don't think so. The closest I've been is the Amana Colony in Iowa, but they aren't Amish.

36. Taught yourself a new language.

37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.

39. Gone rock climbing. Absolutely no interest.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.

41. Sung Karaoke. lots and lots!

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.

43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

44. Visited Africa. We have a friend from Kenya so may just do this one of these days!

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.

46. Been transported in an ambulance. Don't want to, either!

47. Had your portrait painted.

48. Gone deep sea fishing. My husband has done this - cod off the coast of Iceland.

49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling. Darce has done this too.

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater.

55. Been in a movie. Not that I know of...:-)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China.

57. Started a business.

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia.

60. Served at a soup kitchen.

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies. Mom and Dad sold them too! lol

62. Gone whale watching. I'm almost the only one in my family that hasn't, so I'd better get on this!

63. Gotten flowers for no reason.

64. Donated blood. I haven't since the melanoma, but I've given a few pints in my day!

65. Gone sky diving. Nope - one of my best friends broke her back doing that. :-/ She's fine now.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.

67. Bounced a check.

68. Flown in a helicopter.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.

71. Eaten Caviar. Ish, no.

72. Pieced a quilt.

73. Stood in Times Square.

74. Toured the Everglades.

75. Been fired from a job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London. I want to go to London, but I'm don't care if we do this or not.

77. Broken a bone.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.

80. Published a book.

81. Visited the Vatican.

82. Bought a brand new car.

83. Walked in Jerusalem.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper.

85. Read the entire Bible.

86. Visited the White House.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox.

89. Saved someone’s life.

90. Sat on a jury.

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club. I have enough trouble finding time to read the things I want to, let alone stuff I'm assigned!

93. Lost a loved one. many times.

94. Had a baby.

95. Seen the Alamo in person. It's over-rated - don't plan a trip around it.

96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.

97. Been involved in a law suit.

98. Owned a cell phone. A few - my latest is a pink Katana DLX. :-)

99. Been stung by a bee.

Billboard Top 100

2009-01-02T10:28:00.002-06:00

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-10.shtml

Okay, just looking at the first page, I can see I won't agree with a lot of this.
Unbreak my Heart - Toni Braxton is number 10?? yech. We belong Together - Mariah Carey number 9? Double yech. Leann Rimes' version of How Do I Live??? Okay - this must be satire, right?? Ugh. If I took out everything I disagree with, this would be a much shorter list. Ebony and Ivory??? I need to stop looking now.

Check them out

2009-01-02T10:13:00.003-06:00

A blog dedicated to newborn zoo animals! Too cute.

http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/

Cat Haiku

http://www.willbraden.com/cat_haiku.html

and of course, Cute Overload.

http://www.cuteoverload.com

Resolutions? Nah.

2009-01-01T18:29:00.003-06:00

I think resolutions are a great idea, but as far as that goes, I try not to make them at New Year's. I seem to feel compelled to be very ambitious to keep up with what everyone else is resolving, and resolve things I probably won't manage. So, since I finally seem to have figured that out, I prefer to resolve something as it strikes me. "Hmmm - that seems like a good idea - maybe I'll try that!"
I could resolve to write more here - but all my brilliant ideas come when I'm not around a computer. So, perhaps I should resolve to always carry a laptop. Or not.
I want to pick up where I left off in learning to knit/crochet - I have tons of yarn and need to use it. When Dad was sick, I bought tons of yarn for him to wind into balls for me - he used to do it when Mom crocheted, and it gave him something to do. He once commented to my sister in law that I must be knitting a cover for my house! Knitting seems to be a little less complicated so I'll probably start that first. I also should start quilting - I've been interested in that for awhile too.
But, I suppose, before I start any of that, I should finish getting the house in order! I have too many clothes and things I don't wear (although I prefer to say I don't have enough closet space) and really need to get the "office" organized. Ugh. PLus paperwork all over the place, although most of it is my husband's. I think I'll make the resolution for him that he'll finally go through all that stuff!

This and That

2008-11-15T12:38:00.003-06:00

We're very happy about the election results for the most part. For some reason, my area elected Erik "Whackjob" Paulsen over Ashwin Madia, which was pretty annoying. And it seems to me that Coleman is making such a fuss because he knows the votes aren't really there for him.

When we were in Ireland, once people heard our accents, they wanted to talk to us about the election. Once we hastily reassured people that we hadn't voted for Bush, (either of them) they were very happy to talk with us. :-) Everyone wanted to make sure we would do the right thing and "put Mr. Obama in." And, of course, since they get real news in the UK, everyone was well aware that Bush wasn't legitimately elected either time. As my cousin said "It was bloody obvious!" Yes, it was.

One older gentleman in Ballyhaunis shared with me that he had known my Great-Grandmother's family, and evidently one of my great (Or great great?) uncles was able to cure cancer. He had a special concoction that he mixed up, but unfortunately the secret died with him. Who knows? Chemotherapy is concoctions, when you think about it...

I will recommend having crutches when you're traveling by air. It got us to the head of the lines, I got rides in the airports...if I had had to walk in the Amsterdam airport, I'd STILL be trying to get to the gate a month later. Schipol is a humungous airport - we landed, and then taxied about a half hour to get to our gate. (Well, maybe not a full half hour, but at least 20 minutes.) We were joking that we got to see half of Amsterdam just out the window of our plane.

I am down to one crutch now - but am still doing PT and such. Even a month later, I still have a good sized goose egg on my shin, (and a dent, even) and all the other fun things that go with "injuring everything in the knee that you can injure." I guess I tore everything, but didn't totally tear anything. So hopefully I won't need surgery. Well, as I told the Doc "I don't like doing things halfway, y'know." He started laughing and told me that my dad had "said the same thing when he tore his shoulder all to hell." Like father, like daughter!

Scotland part 3 in which I fall down and go boom!

2008-10-24T16:24:00.003-05:00

Wednesday I fell on the stairs as I was heading down. It was in the morning, so no, I hadn't had too much! I bruised my left ankle and foot and hurt my left knee (kind of bent back behind me at a funny angle). I scratched and bruised my right arm, too. It could have been a lot worse...

Andy and Kristina and Frankie and Aiden and Darce and I all jumped into two cars (Andy kept the "car for hire," a nice little Volkswagen Polo another day) and drove to Glasgow.

We really enjoy the scenery here. All the highways are paved, but there are no wide ditches like we have in the States, and in fact, no shoulders, so the roads are very narrow, with rock walls or bushes or houses or fences and five to twenty cattle or sheep right up next to the highway. We drove through rolling pretty hills again with lots of sheep and cows, though we got on a busier wider highway once we got closer to Glasgow.

We went to a big museum called the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. I was pretty sore, but hobbled along and took elevators rather than stairs. We really enjoyed it, it had such a variety of objects to view. It wasn't your standard "art" museum or "history" museum, but had a bit of everything - dinosaurs, paintings, sculpture, ancient scottish animals...The first floor was like a natural history museum and/or science museum, with lots of big stuffed animals and many "hands on" displays. Other exhibits included "people and society" displays, such as historical violence against women, Glasgow cowboys and line dancing clubs, an Egyptian display with stella and real mummies, etc. There was a huge pipe organ in the main hall, and a concert at 1:00. Frankie danced to the tunes. We recognized many of the songs and they kept going through our heads the rest of the afternoon.

We ate a nice lunch in the museum restaurant. Kristina and I had fish and chips, (we both thought it was kind of flavorless) Andy had the chicken of the day dish, and Darcy had Scottish rump steak with a haggis stuffed portabella mushroom (and "chips" of course -- almost every meal here has french fries, even with spaghetti and Chinese!). It was all good.

The upper 2 floors were more traditional art, paintings and sculptures (with Medieval armor and other odd items mixed in). We really liked some of the paintings. The Glasgow Boys gallery (painters from Scotland) was especially good; we'd happily hang any one of those paintings in our house. Darcy liked the French Impressionist gallery, too but I didn't go up there.

It rained hard on the way to the cars, but later cleared up and was prettier than ever. K took the kids home, but Andy took us to the Glasgow Harley Davidson store. Darcy bought a T-shirt, but I didn't find one I liked. Oh well. (I tend not to like most of the women's Harley stuff.) Then he drove us on to another nice department store and entertainment area on Loch Lomond, at Balloch. The lake and the surrounding Trossachs National Park forest and mountains in the distance were beautiful. We bought more over-priced souvenirs of course, but that's okay.

We ate carry-out Chinese supper (with chips!) then just hung out. The best thing of all the walking we've done, we've had to tighten our belt a couple notches. Hope we can keep it up!.

I couldn't straighten my left knee Thursday morning and was in lots of pain, so Darcy watched the kids while Andy took the rental car back and Kristina took me to the doctor (then to pick up Andy).

I ended up on crutches. The diagnosis is possible ligament and cartilage damage to my left knee, but it's too swollen to be able to do a catscan or MRI, I told them to patch me up enough to get home. :-) I have quite a bruise on my ankle but it's not broken. So, I hung out at the house to keep Kristina and kids out of trouble.

Going to Oban, Andy and Darcy saw beautiful scenery up and back. They stopped briefly at Kilmartin to see ancient standing stones. Oban was beautiful by the water (as were multiple sights on the drive, too many to mention).

The Oban scotch whisky distillery tour was EXCELLENT; they really enjoyed it a lot. Scotch is kind of a hobby for Darce, and Oban is one of his favs, so it's neat he could go there.

Scotland /Ireland part 2

2008-10-24T15:42:00.004-05:00

It rained all day Friday in Ireland, but the weather after that was great. After the stop at the Ballyhaunis library, we drove to Knock. We couldn't find the B&B, so finally had to stop at a store and ask. The lady knew my third cousin (one removed) so called her, and she drove up to lead us. It was a really nice, new house with B&B rooms upstairs, modern with private bathrooms, very nice. My cousin, Kathleen, made us tea and biscuits. She's a nice woman in her fifties, very friendly as if we had known her for years. It's interesting - she's only 5 years older than me, but a generation ahead. I suppose the Minnesota Hoban's had to find some way to occupy themselves...After settling in, we had a light sandwich and a beer at a local pub.

Saturday morning started with a full traditional Irish breakfast (cereal and tea, then eggs, link sausages," bacon" more like thin ham, broiled tomatoes, "black pudding" sausage with blood/liver/oats (white pudding has no blood but more livery spicy flavor), breads and toast and jams).

Kathleen led us back to Ballyhaunis to see the church where my great grandmother was baptized, (beautiful stained glass windows) then out to their original farm in the countryside, and met her brother, John. We browsed some shops afterwards then drove west towards the coast to Castlebar, where we looked through the Irish National Museum of Country Life. We loved it, really well done and very interesting. We headed back to the B&B for lasagna and salad, then watched the British version of American Idol in her nice sitting room. Darcy also went for a long after-dark walk around Knock (famous for its Catholic basilica pilgrimages because of an appearance there by the Virgin Mary in the late 1800's -- there are many shops selling Catholic statues and rosaries, etc.; the Pope even visited in the 1980's). He must have looked like he knew where he was going because a couple of people asked him for directions. :-)

Sunday morning started with the same big breakfast, then the three of us drove back to Ballyhaunis for Mass. (We aren't Catholic but the cousins there are) Several more cousins met us after the service. We eventually drove on to Strokestown to see another third cousin. Jim is a retired astrophysicist professor, was born in the US but has dual citizenship so lives half a year in California and the other in Ireland. He and his wife Grace rent a nice apartment in a beautiful park that used to be an English estate.(They're the ones I first wrote to when I was trying to figure out where Ggrandma was born.)

We strolled through the beautiful formal gardens (with a cute kitten chasing after us the whole way. You KNOW I was trying to figure out how to get that kitten back to the States!) Organic vegetables are grown there now for an on-grounds restaurant; the flowers and bushes were beautiful. They were also super-friendly as if we had known them for years. Nice! We drove on to Dublin to our next B&B, recommended by Jim and Grace. In fact, Grace programmed the coordinates in the GPS for us, or we might not have found it! After checking in with tea and cakes, we ate at a nearby pub (Irish corned beef and a burger and Bulmer's hard cider). We later shared a bottle of wine with the lady Patricia, who ran the B&B before hitting the sack.

Monday started again with the identical full Irish breakfast, then we caught a double-decker bus downtown. We strolled thtough Trinity College and toured the Book of Kells exhibit( famous ancient illuminated Latin bible) and the Long Room library (VERY old books on display, the oldest Irish harp, busts of famous Irish). Really good. We toured the Irish National Library and a Yeats exhibit. We strolled through a pretty park, then had cider in a pub, then caught the bus back to our rental car ("car for hire" as they call it) to run to the airport. We got back to Glasgow late, but Andy was there to pick us up.

Tuesday, Andy rented a car so we'd have room in their car for Kristina, me and the kids and in the rental car for Darce, Andy and his parents. We went to Luss (without his parents) to stroll by Loch Lomond and to buy some souvenirs in a nice shop, then picked up his parents to first shop in a big outlet-type mall, followed by High Tea at Cameron House. Very nice. Tonight, we're hanging out -- did some laundry, watched some TV.

Back from Scotland part one

2008-10-22T20:00:00.004-05:00

I'm on crutches, though. I had a run-in with my niece's stairs and lost. Fortunately for me, it was toward the end of our trip, and not before! On the bright side, it did get us to the head of the lines at the airports...

Our flight over was good, up front (not first class but that's okay), 2 seats by ourselves. It's handy that Darce is an elite member - he could pick our seats. It was an 8 1/2 hour flight to Amsterdam, (Breakfast was served at 10 om Minnesota time!) We watched a movie (Get Smart- we both liked it more than we thought we would ), listened to music, read.. Breakfast was served at 10 pm Minnesota time!

Our flight from Amsterdam to Glasgow was about an hour and a half - more munchies served on that one. The Amsterdam terminal is huge, and we had to go through security again, then take a bus to our plane, then taxi forever to get to our takeoff point. Our nephew Andy was waiting for us at the airport in Glasgow and managed to get our luggage into the car. :-) I, of course, tried to get in on the driver's side - Scotland drives on the other side!

Our niece Kristina and Andy have two kids. Frankie is 3 1/2 and is fun to watch as she gets excited about little things. Aiden (6 mo) is a barrel full of SMILES, good kid. Kristina has cooked good food.

After we got there, Monday was spent walking around downtown Helensburgh with lunch out and pushing the stroller. Helensburgh is about a half hour or so from Glasgow, and is on the river Clyde. We walk down about a half hour walk, to the shops and restaurants in town along the water. We had to come back and take naps after lunch, since Scotland is 6 hours ahead.

Tuesday Darce and I walked around Helensburgh again. Wednesday, Andy drove us past his work area then on to Stirling. We walked about 10 miles straight up a hill to get to the William Wallace memorial, and then Darce walked the scary spiral staircase to the top of the Wallace monument. We then had excellent fish and chips and haggis, (well, Darcy had haggis...) then we toured Stirling castle. Some parts of it were built in the 1300s!

Thursday was a train ride, just Darce and I, to Edinburgh, again lots of walking but enjoyable. I think Andy was very sneaky - after the hill to the Wallace monument, we laughed at other hills we encountered! After getting off the train right downtown, we sat in a shopping mall to read the tour books, then of all things, ate at McDonald's! It was different though - Darce had a burger called the M and I had a chicken sandwich we don't have in the States. We went to the National Gallery of Scotland and took our time walking through a great temporary exhibit of Impressionism in Scotland. Lots of great paintings well worth the time.

We walked on to the National Library of Scotland and walked through an excellent 500 Years of Print exhibit. We WALKED a lot, taking pictures of the outside of the castle and other buildings, then ate a fantastic meal on Rose Street at the Mussel Inn. The mussels and scallops in cheese appetizer, Darcy enjoyed his huge seafood in white sauce dish and my scallops on risotto were soooooooo good!

We didn't tour Edinburgh castle, but it's pretty hard to miss! It was pretty neat to be standing outside a department store and look up to see a castle looming.

We got back LATE that night, repacked a smaller bag, got only a couple hours sleep, then got up very early to fly from Prestwick to Dublin.

We rented a nice Toyota Avensis (?) and Darcy had the thrill of sitting behind the steering wheel on the right side, driving in the left lane. Fortunately we rented a GPS - otherwise we'd still be trying to find our way out of the Dublin airport! We drove on many narrow country roads, exciting...The roads there are narrow, with little or no shoulder, and the trees, fences, stone walls are right up against the road. Lots of pastures with cows and sheep, close enough to almost touch them. (Scotland is like that too.)

We stopped at the Ballyhaunis Library (of course, since I had to go to the library). We then drove on to Knock, to find my third cousin once removed's B and B. It's about five years old, and it's really nice.

More later!

Going to Scotland

2008-09-29T11:27:00.003-05:00

Darce cashed in some of his frquent flier miles, so we're going to Scotland Oct 5-18! Our niece and her family live in Helensburgh, near Glasgow, so we'll stay with them. We're also making a side trip to Ireland Oct 10-13.

I knew my great-grandmother (Della - mom's dad's mom) was born in Ireland, but I wasn't sure where. I found them in MN censuses, but it only said Ireland as birthplace. Noodling around some of the genealogy chats, I saw a few postings about someone who turned out to be Della's aunt - her father's sister. I wrote to them, and voila - turns out he's my third cousin once removed! Della (called Delia there, plus Delia is a pet name for Bridget, which explains why some of the censuses sometimes said Bridget.)

Mom always called us Moi Cushle, which in Gaelic means "My Heart" - she said her dad had called her that. :-) I'll bet Della called Grandpa that, too. (He died before I was born.) I was pretty tickled when I figured out what it meant - it's a pretty nice thing to be called!

So, I know now that Great Grandma (who died in 1929, before Mom was born) was born in Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, Ireland. They emigrated about 1873 :-) Another third cousin once removed owns a B and B in Knock, so we'll stay there a couple of nights, driving there from Dublin. It will be a lot of fun to meet them.

I also have ancestry from Scotland and England, but they came over in the 1600s and early 1700s, so it would be pretty difficult to find a relative. Or, maybe, pretty easy - but they'd probably be 15th cousins or something like that.

Sarah Palin vs The Librarian

2008-09-11T13:21:00.000-05:00

This sums it up pretty well....

2008-09-04T16:27:00.002-05:00

Jane Smiley on Sarah Palin:

Nothing to Offer

Last night, Sarah Palin got her once in a lifetime moment, the moment where she introduced herself to the nation at large. She had a choice about how to reveal herself. We all know she could easily become president, so we were looking to see what kind of person she is, and we saw it. She's mean and shallow and aggressive. She thinks being a leader is about tearing down your rivals. She lies about her own actions and she demeans the more generous actions of others. She goes for the easy laugh, but doesn't even make up her own jokes. If there's a low road, she will take it. If she can pander, she will do it. Her performance recapitulated her actions as mayor and governor in Alaska -- holding office, for her, is about keeping as much power as possible and using it for her own selfish ends. This woman is small small small. She demonstrated that with every word she spoke.

But she inspired the base of the Republican party, all those white folks visible in the audience in St. Paul, so they must have seen themselves in her. I often wonder how, after the Bush years, anyone could be a Republican. It's an ongoing mystery, but Sarah Palin demonstrates who they are. They are small small small. They are obsessed with power. Whatever they have, they want to be sure that they keep it. They don't mind if the pie is shrinking through their own actions -- they will just employ the police state to keep their portion and get more. All other factions of the Republican party -- all the ones who once had and still have any vestiges of kindness and morality and (God forbid) altruism -- have drifted away and only the narrowest are left -- the out and out racists, the sexual opportunists, like McCain, the operatives who do it for the money, and the knee-jerk haters, the folks who leave destruction all around themselves and never even say they're sorry. It's not that they don't believe in, say, global warming. It's that they don't care about any larger issues at all as long as they get theirs.

It's obvious to everyone that Sarah Palin's life is chaos. Her record as mayor and governor is chaotic and her personal life is chaotic. Could she have orchestrated and survived two years of campaigning for the presidency with the panache, the energy, the organization, and the personal growth that the Obamas have shown? Of course not. How the campaign goes is how the administration goes. Palin is showing stress, desperation, and vindictiveness already. And speaking of that -- Obama extended respect to her and she returned contempt. Is she a mean girl? Not as harmless as that. She's more a Lady MacBeth. She IS the Republican party. She shows as clearly as anyone ever that if we as voters embrace something small, we get what we deserve.

What would you eat??

2008-08-28T16:31:00.004-05:00

I found this on my friend's blog (http://floatinglush.blogspot.com/) and thought it looked interesting. She's quite a bit braver than I am, but here goes....

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. ~~Steak tartare~~
5. ~~Crocodile~~
6. Black pudding ( I suppose I'll have to try this in the UK)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht I've had it but that doesn't mean I had to like it.
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari I make my husband eat the parts that LOOK like calamari. :-)
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. ~~Heirloom tomatoes~~ I don't eat raw tomatoes, although I do eat them cooked, sundried, etc.
22. Fresh wild berries
23. ~~Foie gras~~ Do you know what they do to make this???
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese tasted it to say I did.
26. ~~Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper~~
27. Dulce de leche
28. ~~Oysters~~ My husband loves them, so if I don't eat them, it's more for him. I'm being very unselfish, aren't I??
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. ~~Wasabi peas~~
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl I did live in San Francisco, after all.
33. Salted lassi I've had lassi but I don't know if it was salted.
34. ~~Sauerkraut~~ Even though I have German ancestry, I don't have to eat that stuff.
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac ~~with a fat cigar~~
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. ~~Whole insects~~ Does chocolate covered ants count?
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. ~~Fugu~~ Hey - one false move by the chef and you're dead. Nope!
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut Yuck - nasty.
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. ~~Sweetbreads~~
63. Kaolin I have no idea what this is.
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. ~~Frogs’ legs~~
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis We're going to Scotland in October, so I'd better not rule this out.
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini Took a bite to say I did, so I don't have to any more.
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. (Maybe when we're in London in Oct...)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare I took one bite once, but since I had a rabbit (Shilo) I won't again. Pets are not for eating!
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. ~~Horse~~ see HARE
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab If my husband gets it ready for me....
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. ~~Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee~~ I HATE coffee. Blech.
100. ~~Snake~~ I'm scared to death of snakes, but that doesn't mean I want to eat them.

I had to look up some of these to see what they were. I guess now that I look at it, I'm braver than I thought, but picky, too. Let's call it discerning, shall we??

This is really cool.

2008-08-01T09:16:00.000-05:00

Wildlife

2008-07-30T22:12:00.002-05:00

Not mine, unfortunately! I saw a fox on my street on the way home from work tonight - I was pretty excited. There's a small pond at the end of my street, about 3 blocks up from our house, down a small hill with lots of trees. S/he was sitting in the street. I saw something in my headlights and slowed down, and saw the fox! I'm thinking s/he was fairly young, because s/he wasn't very big. Hopefully s/he he won't sit in the street so much - someone might not be as careful as me!

When we lived in CA on the Oakland Navy Hospital Base (even though we were Air Force - long story) we fed a fox every evening for awhile. We were out in the front of our house, grilling, and had the cats (Allegro and Toccata at that time) out on leashes hanging out with us. We noticed that a little fox was sitting a few feet away, watching us. I put the cats inside, since they were curious, and went back outside. I opened up a couple cans of cat food and put them on a paper plate, and she thought that was pretty good. So every night for quite awhile, she'd come by for dinner - I bought canned dog food. If we were out, she'd be waiting for us. :-) We called her Zorro, which is Spanish for fox. Gorgeous creature!

Of course, we never tried to pet her, but she'd let us get fairly close and it was fun to watch her. She'd usually clean herself a little before sauntering down the street - almost as if she didn't want to eat and run. She limped a little, so I wondered if she had trouble catching anything while her foot hurt. After awhile we didn't see her as much, since I suppose her foot got better. She'd still drop by once inawhile for old times sake.

The bunnies and squirrels seem to be enjoying the garden - if I walk out there in the morning someone is usually there. I guess I'll have to spray some of the repellent and see what that does. I do like seeing them though - maybe I won't. We have one squirrel that likes to sit in the tree outside our bedroom (second floor) and laugh at the cats. The squirrel obviously knows they can't get out the window, and the cats do not appreciate that being rubbed in!

I like having critters around - I've always thought it was pretty arrogant for people to move into a wilder area and then complain that animals are around. They were there first - either leave their habitat alone or learn to live with them. It's not like we don't have plenty of places to live already!

Ready to Mulch...

2008-07-16T16:15:00.007-05:00

I think. I still have 4 smaller, two toned hostas to plop somewhere, but overall I think I'm done - at least with the front bed...for now...lol. It looks so totally different from when I started it's hard to believe it's the same yard! If I have to work this hard every year, it's going to go back to weeds. I still have the tendinitis (that'll teach me to try to keep up with a 23 year old!) so hope that clears up. Fortunately, I'm ambidextrous!

Here's the view from the front, near the street:

Next year I most likely will move some of the front hostas further back, since they have gotten pretty big. Then the coral bells behind them will be more visible. I've used about 10 different coral bells so far in the bed (plus one the Peach Flambe, on the other side of the driveway, and another, Amethyst Mist, that I'm going to put beneath trees in the back yard.) I hope they all live, since I like the various colors and textures. I also have used campanula for some flowering, and impatiens and begonia. The begonias are mostly in pots in the front beds. I also used coleus in various spots, with mixed success.

I'll probably fool around more with the sides and back later - the south side gets more sun, so the plants on that side are doing better than the identical ones on the north side. If I get ambitious, I can move the north plants over and do something else on the side by the statue. If I don't get ambitious, it can wait until next year.

I have my favorite garden stores now, and will use them all again. Especially at sale time! I got a lot at Chaska Farm and Garden, Malmborgs, Tonkawood, and a little Farm and Garden Store called Marshall's in Eden Prairie. I also had good luck at one of the Linder's satellite stores. I was not impressed with Halla - didn't buy a thing. I ordered some perennials from Bluestone online, and nothing made it. Humbug. I'd rather buy local, anyway.

I didn't start out with a specific plan, other than the basic shape. I just bought things I liked, and thought would work, and then decided where to put them when I got them home. I just set pots around and moved them until I liked how it looked, then dug. Occasionally I had to shift a little because of all the tree roots - if I buy things next year, I'll buy them smaller so I don't have to try to dig such big holes!

Life's a Beach

2008-07-08T21:28:00.005-05:00

Just finished "Life's a Beach" by Claire Cook. She also wrote "Must Love Dogs", "Multiple Choice" and "Ready to Fall" (which I haven't read yet.) I really enjoyed it - I'll use it for the Senior Booktalks I'll do in the fall.

41 year old Ginger Walsh isn't where she thought she would be at this age - she's still living in an apartment over her parents garage, unmarried, and not sure of her career path. Her mother wants to sell the house out from under her, and is dragging a parade of "Red Hat Ladies" through for selling advice. Ginger's father isn't so sure he wants to move, though....Her longtime lover isn't necessarily ready to commit - he doesn't even use a phone much - and how mature is it anyway to throw pebbles at her window? Her married older sister is having a crisis over turning 50, and really thinks it's time Ginger got her act together.

Moviemakers come to town, (a shark is stranded in the harbor, and it's better than a fake shark!) and her nephew turns out to be a natural. Who better to chaperone than Ginger, who really hasn't got anything to do anyway? She has a chance to find herself, her path, and what she wants after all.

I liked this - I've read two of her others and enjoyed both of them. I suppose I should see "Must Love Dogs" since I liked the book, and like John Cusack and Diane Lane...although movies usually aren't as good as the book. (An exception to that rule is "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" I think it's Leonardo DiCaprio's first movie, and he's really good. Johnny Depp could read the phone book and I'd be interested, and Juliet Lewis is good as usual. And the Harry Potter movies... )

I'm watching the news and they're talking about the tornado that hit Rolla, ND. It's pronounced RAH LAH, not ROH-LAH. My husband grew up about 20 miles from there, so I know! lol. I'm sure my mom in law knows someone who was involved - no matter where we go in ND, she runs into someone she knows. (My sister in law is like that in Richfield - it's pretty fun. )

This and that

2008-06-25T19:50:00.005-05:00

Wow - it's been awhile since I wrote here. I suppose that's because I haven't had much excitement lately - and if you know me in real life, I'm quite happy about that. July 21st is the 3rd anniversary of my Mom's death, which still doesn't seem quite real to me. May 5th was 2 years since Dad died, which also is weird. The shock has worn off, and I'm getting used to not being able to pick up the phone and call them, Mom popping in to go to lunch with me, Dad and I smart-alecking each other to see who gets the last word...

It hit me Monday when I was on the escalator at Penney's at Southdale - Mom wasn't along! She and I did that kind of thing all the time - if one of us had errands to run, we often did that kind of thing together. This whole orphan thing is for the birds. I know they're happy - it was so hard for Dad to be without Mom, and they're hanging out with my brother, but I miss them.

I'm going to the Normandale Bandshell tomorrow night with my nephew - he knows the guy that's playing there so I wanted to hear what they sound like. Hopefully we won't get rained on. They're a country band, and I guess they just released a cd, although I don't know if it's on a label or self produced. So, we'll see what the diva has to say!

The garden is coming along nicely - someone in the neighborhood asked me who "did my plan" so I was very pleased. There really hasn't been a plan - I buy something I think will work, and then plop it in and hope for the best. The hostas that I moved from under the trees like it better where they are now; so much so that I may move some of them further back next year since they seem to be taller than the coral bells and cover them up. I got lots of different coral bells, and hope they all do well.

I found some things at the Linder's garden mart for half price - some of the Flame Astilbes that have burgundy and green foliage - I sure hope they do well because they're really neat. I also got a couple cute plants that have little white flowers. Can't remember what they are but I might have to get more. I've gotten a lot of campanulas, too, so hope they bloom. I guess the test will be how much of this stuff comes back next year. I have to sketch out what's where so I don't think they're weeds next year when they're just getting started!

I wasn't too impressed with what I got from Bluestone - some of it was half dead, and didn't revive, and the columbines aren't doing too great, either. I threw the scabiosa away - looked sickly and I didn't like it after all. I put another couple hosta and - surprise - more coral bells (Peach Flambe) in the side bed, with some Burgundy Glow Ajuga.

I found another garden store I liked - Marshall's in Eden Prairie. I was on the way to Halla (not worth going back to, I think) and stopped there. Lots of nice things - plus! I found the perfect statue, for a third of what it's selling for online. Is this not perfect for a librarian's garden? This picture is from a catalog, but I put some vinca vine and a few flowers by her. I put her to the left rear so we can see her when we come in the driveway.

I will admit that I'm more interested/willing to work in the garden now that I actually have something to maintain and play with. But I sure hope I don't have to work this hard next year...although there is still the back yard to do....uffda.

Getting there

2008-06-02T16:15:00.005-05:00

I've been working like a dog on the front yard - this stuff had better grow back next year! I still have a few more things to plant, and some planters to throw stuff in, but overall it's actually starting to look like I had a plan! Not that I did, mind you... I was a but intimidated by the idea of an entire garden plan, so I've been doing little "vignettes" or just planting an area at a time instead of

The coral bells are in, replanted most of the hosta I dug out, threw various coleus around, and put in some astilbes that are supposed to be more tolerant of dry/sun with a few forgetmenots to fill in the spots between. I found some yellow columbine that were on sale, so I put 4 of them in, too. I ordered some half-price perennials from Bluestone, so am waiting for them. I ordered some more columbine - really cute blue and white, and pink and white. Also some pink pincushion flowers (scabiosa - what an awful name!) to stick in the bed beside the driveway. This bed just has some weeds, a few hostas and some scilla that are done on one side, and a lot of iris and tulip that don't really bloom much - I think they need to be thinned out. I've also used various impatiens, and some begonias, etc. I've gone through 15 bags of soil, which will hopefully help keep the plants happy.

Once it's all planted I'll have to start figuring out maintenance, I suppose. My idea is that putting all this work in this year means less in the next few years. (I suppose real gardeners reading this are laughing right now!) If most of the perennials come back, I can then add more stuff if I need to, and throw annuals around. I'm even thinking of growing the coleus from cutting so I don't have to buy so many. I'm not sure where I'd put them in the house, though - the cats might think they were a tasty snack.

I rehung our birdfeeder in the back yard - we had been hanging it off the deck last year. It was a lot of fun watching the birds, and fun watching the cats watch the birds. We gave up on it, though, because a 700 pound raccoon decided that it was a great place to have a snack. He'd just knock it off the deck, and amble down the stairs to have his munchies. I hope I've outsmarted him - we'll see if the squirrel/raccoon repellant spray works! If not, I'll have to be even sneakier.

Good Start

2008-05-20T11:26:00.004-05:00

I've gotten quite a bit done - my nephew and I moved the blocks around and dug up dirt and grass last week, and my sis in law and I did more on Friday. She loves doing stuff outside so was chopping roots, moving and digging and setting the rocks, etc. She also potted the two hanging baskets for me. No one seems to want me anywhere around axes and power tools, I hear. Hmph. She even warned Brian - not that we used any power tools.

I dug up the hostas around the trees to put them somewhere else. I also dug up some Pink Pewter and White Nancy Lamium and put that around the trees instead. (I"m very impressed with myself for knowing what they are.) I haven't replanted the hostas yet, and still need to plant the coral bells and other things I've gotten, but I did get some of the planters planted. I put marigolds in the front beds, and hope they get enough sun. We plan to trim the fronts of the flowering crabs in front, so maybe the marigolds will get enough light to keep them happy. I love marigolds so hope they do okay there. I did find an astilbe that says it's more tolerant of drought and light, so will put those in too. We've always kind of wanted a bench, so if we find one that we like, I'll put it in, and scatter plants around. I also got some columbine for height, too.

I found some Rieger begonias and put them in some pots - maybe they'll be high enough up the squirrels won't notice them. (good luck with that, I suppose...) I always put coleus in the pots by the house since there isn't much light there. I'm also going to cheat and use fake plants in the basket by the door, since that gets no sun. If someone is close enough to the door to notice they're fake, they're apt to be someone I've invited, so they won't care if they're fake!

I hadn't been to Malmberg's yet, so went there Thursday. Lots of nice stuff there, so I'll add that to my list of places. It's not far from work, which is an added bonus.

I'll have to start doing things left-handed out there - I seem to have given myself "garden elbow" which is the same as "Tennis Elbow" without the tennis. That's what you get for being too enthusiastic. :-)

Here goes

2008-05-12T19:38:00.008-05:00

Well - I've gotten a bunch of plants to start planting in my yard. I got several different heuchera because of the neat colored foliage, and may end up getting more, plus impatiens, begonias, and several varieties of coleus. I figured out that I can grow them from cuttings, so hopefully I won't have to buy as many next year. I did make it to the Bloomington Garden Club sale and the Edina garden club sale last week, and went to Chaska Farm and Garden store this afternoon. I left work a little early, so I told my boss it was her fault I spent so much. But, if it turns out well, she gets some of the credit too!

My nephew and sis in law (his mom) are coming over Tuesday to help me move stuff around and plant some, so hopefully it won't rain while we're digging around out there. I have edging stones to move around, and we'll try to add more soil. Hope the hostas that are there won't mind.

The house painting turned out really well. The neighbors like it too, which is good, since they'll have to look at it for quite awhile! It's different from everyone else's, but not obnoxiously so. Anyone that's been to the house before will drive right by, it looks so different. The painters thought the cats were cute - they would try to catch the brush with their paws when the guys were doing the windows.

Brandi suggested that I post before and after pics, (good idea!) so here's the before: The house has been painted, but I haven't planted any of the new stuff. Anything growing is stuff that was there before. (Some of it may be weeds - I have to figure out which is which!)

I want to combine the ring in front with the edging in front of the house to make one big patch. Grass doesn't really grow, so I'll try something else! There are two smaller rings in front of this with the flowering crab trees, but I'll just plant annuals or something in there to go with the lamium I put in the last couple of years.

Plus, I bought two of these and the tags aren't in there, so I don't remember for sure what they are! Aaargh. Any ideas?

Florida etc.

2008-04-29T13:09:00.004-05:00

Hmph. No, I'm not the one there. My nephew, sis and bro in law, and his little girl (my nephew's step sis) are. It's 86 and sunny, and my bro in law texted me to ask "beach or pool first?" I may have to shoot him. :-)

I'm babysitting my nephew's cats, and have already spoiled them. I gave them "gushy food" on Sat, and when I went over again Monday, Jack let me know that he really would like some more of that stuff, right away, fast as I can, soon as possible. He was literally beckoning me to follow him to the kitchen. >^..^<>

One of my colleagues is getting married in August and I'm singing for them. I made sure they know "NO PAUL STOOKEY'S WEDDING SONG" I hate hate hate that thing....."oooh- goodie - 10 bars into the song I get to a new note." Blech. Plus the whole "man and wife" thing is archaic - I always just made it a triplet "husband and wife." If someone really really wanted it, I'd sing it, but I charged them an extra $30. There are a lot of songs out there that are infintely better than that dreck.

I may even make my husband sing with me. :-) You know the old saying ..."the ladies swoon for the tenor, but go home with the bass" - well, I went home with the tenor. I like to be different.

Of course this means I'll have to practice more than I have been , which is good incentive. Plus it's ooutdoors, which means acapella. I get to sing in whatever key I want to, instead of having to transpose something if I don't like it in the key it's written.

I googled Wedding Songs and one site says "Nothing Compares 2 U" is a good wedding song - um - hello - that song is about missing someone. Probably not a wedding song...Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately" is nice - people are always surprised about that one until I read them the lyrics. Bruce Springsteen wrote a really nice one, "Wait for me." Gordon Lightfoot's "Beautiful" is one of my favorites. It can be fun to think outside the box a little, and do something people don't necessarily associate with weddings.

Ari Hest

2008-04-22T09:33:00.001-05:00

I first heard this song on one of the Paste magazine samplers. I liked it so much I bought the CD.
"They're on to me."

Paint

2008-04-21T10:24:00.004-05:00

We finally decided on what colors to paint the house. It's this strange green color now, and neither of us really like it, but that's the color it was when we bought the house. We need to redo the siding someday too, but that will probably cost an arm, leg, and our first born cat, so we'll wait on that. Besides, if the house is painted gorgeously, (is that a word?) maybe it will distract from the siding! (which is only on the sides and back, anyway.) Then it will be the perfect backdrop for the wonderful garden I'm going to put in. I am determined.

This is the background color. It goes on the front of the house and garage.

This one is the trim color - around the windows, etc.

Of course, I couldn't find an uploadable sample of the other color, but it's Essex Deep Green by Pratt and Lambert, which is a really dark dark green. This one will go on the doors, and eaves. Hopefully the paint chips will be close to the real thing. My husband is going to Alaska this morning - if the weather cooperates he'll come home to a different looking house - might even drive right by, if he's not paying attention!

Airbags Rock

2008-04-12T17:06:00.003-05:00

My nephew was in an accident early this morning, and is okay. (I told my sis in law that next time she calls abut this kind of thing, to say that "he's okay" immediately after saying "I need to tell you what happened to B.) Anyway, he was working at his second job, got off at 2 am, went home to feed his cats and grab some stuff, then headed over to his mom and step dad's. He was heading east on 66th Street at Lyndale, when some moron on a cell phone, driving way too fast, T-boned him in the intersection. Fortunately there were witnesses who saw the guy run the red and saw that he was on his phone. I will confess I occasionally talk on my phone when I'm driving, but I still pay attention to my driving and what's going on around me.
The guy claimed he wasn't going "too fast", but having seen pictures of my nephew's pickup, a 4x4, extended cab, with the BENT FRAME, I would have to call him either a liar, or totally delusional. That, and the fact that the guys engine almost entered his passenger compartment, would tend to prove that he was going a TAD too fast.
I am not amused. I am quite fond of my nephew, and enjoy being his aunt. This clown (a euphemism for what I'd really like to call him) could really have messed that up. Poor B is pretty battered up and sore, and will probably be shaking airbag dust out of his hair for awhile. But he's okay. Which is what matters in the end.

Medieval Helpdesk

2008-04-07T09:12:00.001-05:00

Got this from my supervisor. :-) This is too good!

Garden plotting

2008-04-01T12:32:00.005-05:00

Plotting - get it? :-) I think I found a "plan" to build off of and fool around with in the yard. Of course, once I find/buy/plant stuff, it won't look anything like the one in the magazine, but I suppose that's half the fun. :-) We have a lot of trees in our front yard - two large maples, and 4 flowering crabs in front of the house. On the other side of the driveway there's an ash, and a red maple. Needless to say we rake a lot. Uffda.
Shade gardening is me! We bought the house nearly 5 years ago. The last few years have been rough, so hopefully I'll be able to get a start on making the yard look better. Or at least like I have something planned and in process.
A lot of garden publications say to just use ferns and hosta. I like ferns and hosta, but not enough to use them exclusively! The yard does get some afternoon sun, so I think that gives me more options anyway. I went to the Friends Garden sale last year at the fairgrounds, but by the time I got there much of what I was interested in was gone. I do like their catalog, though, so will use that to plan. There are some others I like too - Chaska Farm and Garden has some neat lists that have color, height, growing season, etc, all in one place. I got quite a bit of stuff there last year and it did well. I also tend to just buy stuff that looks neat and plop it in and hope it does well. So much for planning!
I might just plant something as a distraction for the squirrels to eat - maybe they'll leave my "expensive" plants alone. Yeah. They will!

Chez Dentist

2008-03-25T15:58:00.003-05:00

Ugh. I spent another hour and a half in the dentist's chair Monday, and I'm still not done. I would really like to get my hands on the dentist of yore who did the incomplete root canal that put me in this mess. This time she nicked a capillary when giving me the novocaine, so I look even more like a chipmunk than usual. Oh well - for as many novocaine shots as I've had this doesn't happen very often, and I can milk it for sympathy.

It's a zoo here again at the library - school is out so we have kids and teens camping out here all day. Heaven forbid someone else should get to use a computer - their sense of entitlement is annoying. I have no problem asking them to log off so someone else gets a chance, and for the most part, they go along with it. They know I'll log someone else off so they can get a chance too. It does get annoying though - I often feel as though I'm just a babysitter, and that gets old. And now we'll get to be open Sunday. Oh joy of joys.

Full Moon?!

2008-03-19T19:40:00.007-05:00

My co-worker and I are convinced there must be a full moon. Somewhere, there's gotta be a full moon. Many of our customers seem to have turned into werewolves.
"No, you can't eat your salsa and chips in the quiet study room."
"No, you can't look at porn on the word processors. Nope, not that one either. I don't care if it's research. Just.... no. Yes, I'm in charge, and....no."
"No, it's not okay to drop sunflower seed shells on the floor. No, it's no better to put them in the pencil cups."
"Sorry, you won't have time to print your airline ticket - the printer and computers shut down in less than a minute."
"Yes, the computers are working the same as they always have - I don't know that the heck you did to it. Probably hitting cancel 3 times didn't help."
"No, I'm not being mean when I ask your child to stop climbing on the shelves. You should be the one doing that, really."
"No, I won't loan you $5 to print off your myspace pictures. "
"No, we don't know where your son went after you dropped him off. We haven't seen him since, and he didn't tell US where he was going. No, that's not my responsibility."
"Sorry, we close at nine. We can't wait for you until 9:30 to pick up your hold that came in a week ago. "
"Well, if you want us to print off the whole tax instruction booklet it'll cost you ten cents a page. That would be....19.50. Thank you for blessing me with a crown of stars when I reach Heaven, but you still have to pay for your prints. "
"Oops - if you want to take a bath you can't do it here. Sorry."

One of my other co-workers would assume this was all the work of Zombies...but we haven't seen any. Or any we didn't recognize, at least. Which brings to mind a new research question....does Lutefisk ward off Zombies?? It sure scares everything else away! I'll use ELM to track my research...maybe do a podcast! :-)
On the other hand, our Children's advocate group left us cake. It's in the back room, so we can eat it THERE. Zombies and werewolves aren't allowed, so we don't have to share. We're really ready to go home.

23 Finale!

2008-03-14T10:56:00.004-05:00

I'm finished with 23 things. I don't know that anything has changed, but I really enjoyed playing around with some of the things. I was aware of some of them, but had never bothered to look at or use them, and this gave me the incentive. (Or excuse, if you'd rather!)

My favorite things were Project Playlist, playing with the image makers, and I've actually enjoyed the blogging parts more than I thought I would. I may just keep that up. I enjoyed reading other participants blogs, and I hope some of them keep it up as well. I'll miss reading them!

Some of the links didn't work when I tried them, and some weren't available anymore because of time limits. That didn't bother me, but might be something to think about next time. I would participate in another program like this - I enjoyed it. 23 Things reinforced concepts I knew, and introduced me to a few sources I wasn't aware of.

Thing 22 Keeping up

2008-03-13T12:30:00.005-05:00

I think I'll probably continue to do what I've been doing - I bookmark things of interest to look at later, and use a category "What's New" for blogs and sites that talk about new tools/things/ideas/technologies. I tend to look at things like this when I'm on the Ref Desk - I can interrupt it and come back to it later. I also like using bloglines for this purpose - I can read what I'm interested in and skip the rest, and save what I want to keep.

To be perfectly honest, I doubt that I'll do much with webinars - I can get more by reading and playing around with things on my own. I can see the value of them for long distance teaching, but I prefer other ways of picking things up if I have the choice. I already tend to keep up fairly well with what's going on, and intend to continue. It's always fun to find new toys.

In the meantime..

2008-03-12T20:29:00.006-05:00

Instead of thinking about what to say for thing 22, I've been thinking about what the heck I'm going to do in the front yard this year. We have a lot of trees, so it gets dappled (I think) sun. I also like color, so that limits me. I like begonias, but so do the neighborhood squirrels. Unfortunately begonias don't seem to rebloom, so once the squirrels have their snack, they aren't so nice.

The other thing, is that I want a garden that looks nice but isn't a lot of work. Which means perennials. So, I think primroses would work, if I could find them. I've had luck with lamium in a few spots, and I may use that as groundcover where grass isn't happy. I've pretty much decided to move some of the stones around to create a bigger "garden" in one area than the smaller ones there are now.

A problem is, though, that I get all excited and buy plants and then don't get them all planted. Or put the wrong thing in the wrong place, or plant a lot of squirrel and bunny food. Which isn't a crime - they've got to eat too - but I'd like less eating and more blooming. The squirrel that ate the begonia was actually kind of cute - she'd pick off one bloom at a time and nibble it, and pick a new one when she was finished. At least she enjoyed herself, and didn't waste her food.

Thanks to photorose for the perfect picture.

I have hosta, and they're happy. I like astilbe, but they seem to think I don't water them enough. Picky, picky. I like hanging baskets by the front door, but that area gets NO sun, so I'll try to find some fake plants that don't look obviously fake and use them. Wish me luck!

Thing 21

2008-03-11T12:43:00.007-05:00

I went ahead and joined Ning - I've been aware of it but haven't done anything with it. One thing I'd like to do is add/join different groups, and find people without having to email them. Maybe there is a way and I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe I won't bother...I did go ahead and upload a profile picture and add a badge to my blog.

I checked out Gather, and while I might not join, I do think I'll go back now and then and read what's going on there. I found a few interesting articles and read them.

So far I'm really enjoying Project Playlist. I've heard of it but never bothered to check it out. The first thing I did was read a few of the playlists, and was pretty..um...discouraged? irritated?? (How could someone put Madonna in the same playlist as Prince? What could they be thinking??) BUT - then I started looking for music that was available, and had a pretty good time. I have pretty eclectic taste, so I think I'll set up a few lists myself. Throw in some Prince to cheer me up if I'm crabby, Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" to get me ready for the drive home, some Gordon Lightfoot just because...the possibilities are endless!! Oh my gosh - there's even some Brahms. I'm set.

Craftster looks like it could be fun, once I get time again to start crafting. I do have to teach myself to knit (long story) so could maybe find some projects to work on. Fuzzster is fun to look at, but I won't sign up. What the girls don't know won't hurt them. >^..^<

Thing 19 Podcasts

2008-03-10T10:03:00.005-05:00

I've listened to Podcasts off and on for awhile. Usually if I'm listening to something, music is my first choice. :-) (Imagine that!) I don't care to download the software on my home computer, which is one reason I like Podcast Alley -some of them are streamed, so it's easy to just click and listen. I like using Bloglines for this reason, too. Since I already use Bloglines, I added a few casts to my account there to check out occasionally. I click on the Play button and I'm good to go. I think some of the more interesting ones are the language ones - very helpful to learn, brush up, or just get the flavor of a language. I found a great cast for one of my colleagues - unfortunately it's in Swedish.

I listened to an Italian language podcast, a few political ones, and a few comedy ones. I found Podcast Alley easy to use, and I liked Podcast.net, when I could get it to work. It was pretty slow to load, and I don't know if it was because of the site itself, or because I was going in through work. There are a lot of blogs to choose on ITunes, if you already use it. Many of those are free as well. I'll probably just keep using Bloglines, since it's easy.

I don't really have an interest in producing my own podcast, but I think it could be very handy for educators to assign casts for students to listen to, or even to put a lecture or two on a podcast for students to be able to listen to - to catch what they may have missed. (Of course, a student would NEVER skip a lecture in favor of a podcast, would they??)

Thing 20 Social Networks

2008-03-06T14:15:00.008-06:00

(I'll come back to 19 Podcasts) I joined both Facebook and MySpace some time ago. I check both daily, but if I had to choose, I think I like Facebook better - easier to use, and I like the applications you can add. I've mentioned before that I use Iread, and I also like one of the cd applications. I keep in touch with old friends, family and have made some new friends. And as they join, I've friended classmates from high school and college. With some of my younger family members, I generally either facebook or text them first when I want to get ahold of them. They like it, and I do too. It seems to me that Facebook is growing rapidly; I'm finding "new" people on it all the time. It's probably growing because it's fun and easy, and a nice way to reconnect. Besides, where else can you throw a cow at someone, and not go to jail??

I also have a MySpace account. More of my friends seem to be on Facebook than MySpace, but it's kind of fun to noodle around with the html, although there are tons of sites out there with codes you can use to bling out your page. I do check it often, but I mostly use it to send funny pictures to my friends in the comments field. (LOL cats are good for this!)

It's a good way for libraries to have a presence for teens to see - (facebook doesn't let "organizations" have a page, but they can form a group.) There are fewer limitations on what you can post on MySpace, which can be a reason for concern sometimes. As one of my teen customers said, "there are more cooties on MySpace." One is supposed to be 14 to have a MySpace account, but we all know that is easily sidestepped.

Libraries are using it to promote the library, programs, materials, and anything else the organization wants to promote. When users "friend" a library, the library is able to send bulletins to its friends alerting them to what's going on, or what's new in the library. If nothing else, it can raise awareness for the library. People like to have lots of friends, so they'll probably add the library to their list, accidentally finding out about what's going on there. :-) I will continue to use my own page as I have - to communicate and goof around with my friends and family.

Online Videos

2008-03-04T14:09:00.005-06:00

I think YouTube is a lot of fun, and can waste a lot of time looking for/at things that are posted. There are even some Library Training videos to be found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3Jud4b9ik0&feature=PlayList&p=2D6285151E99F565&index=2 I think this one should be required viewing for all library staff. Seriously, though, I did see various training materials on YouTube that could be used at work.

The library system I work for has used YouTube with Teens, and posted some of them.

I didn't see anyone from Minnesota, but I may have caught a glimpse of a librarian I knew in CA. At least it looked like her...Does that count? :-)

I'll use the next video as my "official" uploaded video - I've liked Aimee Mann a long time. This song is by Til Tuesday, (of "Voices Carry" fame ) and this is one of my favs of theirs. I also have her solo cds.

I find YouTube easy to use, and it's a fun way to noodle around. Joking around with my boss, I said that I would look for some Zombie cat videos. I was surprised at how many there are.... I was just kidding! I didn't watch any of them, but some of them looked interesting. Obviously, there's a lot of stupid stuff on YT, but I don't have to watch it, so I don't mind. Since there is so much to find, you could probably find nearly any topic you wished to share.

Making a video might be fun, but that would involve getting a camera. Being a librarian, I'd have to research all the options first, and then I'd miss the deadline for finishing, and not get my prize. What fun is that???

Thing 17 ELM

2008-03-04T08:55:00.006-06:00

I've been aware of the extra things you can do here, but hadn't done them very much. I would use the "Folder" functions to save searches I"m doing for customers, and then send the whole thing to them. The webpage idea in Academic Search is fun, but not so useful for me at this time. I didn't see a way to send the whole webpage to anyone - when I emailed it, there was the "content" part and the "page background" part, so it didn't function as a regular webpage. Any additions would have to be saved again, rather than as you're doing it. Saving it to my harddrive was easy, but it's only available within the library I'm at. I think I'm more likely to send a folder full of articles rather than construct a webpage.

The RSS function is nice for someone who is starting research more than a day in advance...:-) We do actually get some kids like that, and if they have a reader they use I'd recommend this to them. I'm not sure how many of our kids do that, though. They always are pleasantly surprised that they can find articles online....

Proquests "My Research" is very handy,(you have to click on marked items to see it) but again, I would most likely send the links in an email, or create a bibliography, rather than creating a webpage. I think the webpages would be very useful in a school setting, where students would have access to the webpage within the building. This could also be used in the work setting to share articles and information.

I've used NetLibrary, and like it. The book in the example doesn't seem to be there anymore, but I find the notes function to be pretty handy.

Thing 16 Student Tools

2008-02-29T14:54:00.004-06:00

These could come in very handy. One of my friends is in Nursing School, so I sent these to her to see what she thinks. Generally when we help students at the public library, they're more interested in the materials that they need to write their papers, rather than a time line or planning help, but I do like the explanations and further helps for each stage, and may use those. I could use them as handouts, or adapt them as handouts. I have a feeling college students may find these more useful.

Although I must say, most of the kids that come in need something, like, um, yesterday, so I don't think they would appreciate me mentioning an assignment calculator. Maybe I could stick a printout with the websites inside one of the books they get so they could keep it for future reference!

Thing 15 Gaming

2008-02-28T14:38:00.006-06:00

Hmph. I read/looked at the Second Life and Pirates stuff, and one thing that struck me right away, is that to have the full experience of a "fake" life you have to pay "real" money. As one of my colleagues says, "you have to pay real money for fake stuff." I watched Visit to Info Island, and while it was probably fun to create, it did nothing for me. (And why do they always have to use such boring music? Have they ever heard of Modulation??) I see no reason that my library should have a presence, at quite a cost, on Second Life, when they can't seem to come up with enough to pay us a decent salary, or to support a decent collection. The Pirate Puzzle might be interesting, but I prefer puzzles just for their own sake. I can't see myself paying to advance beyond cabin mate, so probably wouldn't stick around there long. This topic kind of annoys me so I'll stop here.

We don't seem to have any demand for Second Life at my library - in fact, I've never even been asked about it. We do have a lot of kids playing Runescape, and lots of the games on Nick and Disney. While they may teach some hand eye co-ordination, the jury still is out on what benefit there really is. One can find all sorts of research to support either position. We have kids here all day playing Runescape, and our internet service really slows down when school is out. I have no problem with kids using the computers, but I do have a problem with the behavior that seems to accompany a lot of the online games. "yes, you do need to let someone else have a computer now" "No, you can't call me a B...." Who knows whether it's because of the game, or just the person?

Our library has had gaming afternoons, and those have been kind of fun. Kids I know have been impressed with how good I am at Guitar Hero - (after all, I'm a music major!) and DDR looks like it would be fun, too. I haven't seen that it brings in kids that don't already come, but that may not be the case everywhere.

I do enjoy online games such as Bookworm, TriPeaks, Bejeweled, and 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, although I'm stuck on the building that looks like an anchor. And I keep wanting to organize the little Egyptian guys into their own local. I think they work too hard. :-)

Thing 14 Things about Thing

2008-02-25T16:37:00.005-06:00

I already have an account set up on LibraryThing, but I tend to use IRead on Facebook more, mainly because I use FB daily, and also because I like it. I also still like to jot down what I'd like to read in a notebook - I still like the feel of pen on paper. In fact, I just like pens and paper - I have more than I'll ever use.

I do find LT handy to use, but I'm going to have to upgrade to a paid membership soon if I keep this up. I like the tagging and headings functionality, and the ability to see reviews. I especially like the Librarians who LibraryThing messageboards - they're always fun to read.

LT would be a lot of fun to use for sharing booklists, displaying new books, and the like. Our customers here love the paper booklists I create, and it would be fun to have duplicates online as well. (It certainly would be easier to update them in a timely fashion!) I do some of the online booklists and blogs for my library and think it's a great way to highlight something I just read, or different categories within a genre. LT could be used this way as well. Then a smaller library might not have to cut a librarian position for coders. (That was something in the 2.0 readings that I thought was really silly. I mean REALLY silly. But, just wait until I post about Second Life...)

Thing 13 Productivity is me!

2008-02-23T13:36:00.005-06:00

I set up my page in igoogle and yahoo. I didn't do anything with pageflakes since I wouldn't be likely to go back to it. With yahoo or google you can do more from the page, so it seems more useful to me. I preferred igoogle, and will probably use that more. I 'm having fun looking through the gadgets you can add, and have put a few in. Quite a few, actually....I found igoogle easier to use, and I liked the functionality of setting up the tabs. This is the one I'm most likely to use.

I looked quickly at Backpack and some of the other calendars in the article. Backpack had a lot of functionality that I probably wouldn't use - and, of course, a fee if one wanted the interesting stuff. :-) One of them looked like it was pay-only now. So, I looked at google and yahoo calendars. I use Outlook extensively at work - I'll put things I want to remember to do in, and it pops up to remind me. I also make lists of tasks to complete, etc. I probably won't use the online calendars much, since I mostly use that type of thing at work, and I can do it in Outlook. I also use the calendar in my cellphone to remind me of things - appointments, something I want to remember to do tomorrow, etc.

I looked at the Stickies, and since I can't download at work, didn't try them. I did run across another similar site, Diigo.com that looked interesting. I think one can do a lot of the same things in google notebook, so I may download that at home. It would be interesting to see how the stickies work on a webpage, especially since I tend to bookmark a lot of interesting things. I have been known to change the name in a bookmark to something more descriptive of what I want to do there....

Zamzar and PDF converter and nice to use - didn't try CutePDF since I can't download anything like that at work. We get a lot of people who need to open a document that isn't supported - WP, or different versions of Word, and Excel, mainly. Zamzar could really help with this.

I don't think I'd use most of these applications much - but they're handy to be aware of to recommend them to someone who asks. The list applications are nice in theory, but it's a lot quicker to stick a note in my pocket, or write it on my hand than to bother with going online.

Thing 12 I can Digg it

2008-02-19T14:22:00.005-06:00

I've been reading on Digg and Reddit for quite awhile. I also like Fark just for the funny titles and interesting, offbeat things that turn up there. I looked at Mixx and might check that again, but I don't know that I'll use Newsvine much. I've never bothered to register for any of them, because I just like reading the submissions, but am not interested in voting up or down, etc. I've definitely read a lot of things that I might not have otherwise seen, which is both good and bad, I suppose. I tend to just copy and paste urls to send articles on via email, since most of the people I would send things to find this easier. I'd rather do that than sign up for yet another service to remember - especially since I can get what I want out of them without signing up.

It could be useful to save articles and/or websites for customers and students that are doing research - a library could set up one or more reference accounts, and students could then check the reference profile(s) to see what they've saved. Some of the services allow for blogging, and that would be useful as well.

Depending on the day, these services can be both productive and distracting. Some days there are many articles or postings I want to check out, some days none. They don't always have much to do with work, but since librarians are supposed to know what's going on, that's my excuse. :-) Let's call it cultural literacy, ok??

Thing 11 Tags!

2008-02-18T16:46:00.005-06:00

I've been using del.icio.us for quite awhile - although it's taken me almost as long to type the address properly. De.lici.ous and various combinations don't work. It seems to me that my computer(s) should realize what I MEANT to type after all this time, instead of what I did type, but no such luck. This is why book marks are so great - if I can't type that one, just think what I'd do with something REALLY complicated! I'm not always at my own computer when I want to show someone something - so I appreciate being able to log into Del. etc. and get to my links.

I use de. to keep track of things that I'm interested in, or things I come across at work that I may want to look at at home. Librarians and teachers could use it for projects - for example, a teacher could use de., furl, etc to save links and research they want their students to see and/or use. Librarians could do this as well for subject and research guides. (pathfinders, anyone?) Some of the libraries we saw link by general topic, others by Dewey categories. Personally I prefer Dewey, but it works either way.

Thing 10 Wikis

2008-02-18T13:14:00.003-06:00

I'm pretty familiar with Wikis - I'll occasionally use wikipedia as a starting point, and have seen quite a few wikis on a variety of topics - some better than others, of course. I did find some of the readings interesting, and enjoyed checking out some of the wikis mentioned. The idea of anyone being able to contribute is fun - everyone has their own expertise and it can be valuable to see more than one viewpoint about a topic. That being said, the age old question remains though - authority. This isn't such an issue for every wiki, but of course librarians are concerned about this, and rightly so. There is a lot of bad information out there, and I can understand a teacher's concern about using Wikipedia as a source. I use it as a starting point, but don't rely on its information without double checking.

It seems to me that a teacher has to be careful about limiting sources, but we are all well aware that information found out on the web sometimes must be taken with a grain of salt - if at all. That's where authority control can be important.

Wikis can be very useful for many different organizations - libraries, schools, families....One of my friends set up a wiki for family pictures, and we even taught her grandma to log in. A great way for her to be able to keep up with those grandkids! Those working on group projects might find a wiki very useful as well. Class assignments could even be done as a wiki since modifications are tracked. Each person/group could work on an aspect of a topic, and the information can be shared. The teacher could be the moderator, and update/correct as needed.

I just noodled around a little on the front page of the 23 Things wiki to see how it works. Didn't have much of interest to say! :-)

Thing 9 Sharing

2008-02-18T09:39:00.002-06:00

I played around with the document in both Zoho and Google. It was easier to just "get right to work" on the google document, but to start editing it in Zoho I had to copy the url into the search window to bring up the document. I found them both easy to use - although I found I had to do a lot of scrolling with the zoho since the display was in such a big window.

I think for ease of use I would send customers to Google - especially those who aren't experienced using word. Perhaps Zoho is more "powerful" but the average user may not need that.

I think the Founding Fathers would be rolling over in their graves, but that's a whole other post!

While I'm waiting...

2008-02-13T19:43:00.003-06:00

to get permission to play around in Google docs and Zoho - some advice, critiques, and assistance!

Thing 8 again

2008-02-13T14:05:00.003-06:00

I played around with Lazy Base and Zoho. Zoho's database looked familiar to me, so it was fairly easy to use. When I was going to LazyBase, I thought to myself, "oh, no - not another login and password to remember!" I was very pleased to see that there wasn't one. That in itself makes it worth recommending. I found that one a little more cumbersome, but certainly easy enough.
For most of my recordkeeping, I find it just as easy to use Excel to keep track of things vs setting up a database and entering information there. I can just re-sort the spreadsheet to see what I want rather than having to query a DB. For example, I've done some of our CDs on a spreadsheet - mainly to have something to take along if I go to Cheapo's or somewhere like that. Having the spreadsheet (many pages, now) helps keep me from buying something I already have. When you have well over 2000 (at last count) CDs it's hard to remember what you have. Perhaps I should weed! Now - there's a novel idea. :-)
I certainly would use Zoho or lazybase for customers. I think since Zoho has more functionality, I would recommend that first, since there generally is more need for word processing, etc, than databases here.
I think Efolio could be very useful, especially for jobseekers or artists seeking work. It's easy to just refer someone to a website so they can see what you've posted for your portfolio, resume, etc. I think some of our customers might find it too challenging. but those with a little tech savvy will feel right at home. A library could even use it to show customers what they can do there.

Cats Picture Trail

2008-02-11T16:58:00.001-06:00

Thing 8 Pic Trail

2008-02-11T16:47:00.000-06:00

I used Picture Trail to create a "peel" and will post it above. It's too large to comfortably fit on the side of my blog - that might work better on one with only two columns. Again, I used the cats. I like the result, but getting it done was a pain in the neck. When you sign up, you have to go through at least three "Offers" (which of course is why this is free, but it's still annoying). I didn't find PT particularly user friendly at first - to look at or do something in the album you save, you would think to click on albums, but it's manage pictures. Little things like that. You make an album first, and it wasn't immediately obvious to me how to just move the album over to use for the effects. Once I saw it, though, it was pretty straightforward.

Thing 8 Girlz in the House

2008-02-11T14:33:00.000-06:00

I did a quick slideshow using Zoho - of course, I used the cats. They don't need releases, for one thing! I found Zoho quite easy to use, especially for a quick presentation like this. I was able to figure out how to upload it fairly quickly, too, after I figured out that I couldn't seem to just plop it into the body of the post. I put it at the bottom, and made it a little smaller by changing the settings in the html. I was careful to keep them proportional so it wouldn't get skewed. Perhaps I'll use the same pictures and try them in Picture trail - I like the look of it on 23 Things, but am dreading the ads!

Toccata

2008-02-10T15:55:00.000-06:00

Toccata June 1, 1989 - Feb. 10 2007

He made sure those rowdy little girls would be good cats before he left. He taught them the basics such as "Bedtime" and "Gotta go to work!" means "run downstairs as fast as you can." He also taught them that flopping over on your side meant you'd get rubbed with a foot. Fermata and Fantasia soon learned that sitting politely on a chair at the table was better than jumping ON the table. We used to say that he was so smart that if he got our PIN number, we'd be in trouble; but perhaps we should have let him handle our investments - we would probably have been able to retire by now. He carried on intelligent conversations with anyone who was here, and sang duets - with a name like Toccata, you know he had perfect pitch! We know he's sitting on Buddy Holly's lap teaching him the "right" way to do "That'll be the Day." Meeowww!

Fermata, Fantasia and Toccata

Thing 7 part 1

2008-02-07T16:15:00.001-06:00

For this one, I didn't have to do much extra reading, since I've had email for over 10 years, and at present have - let's see - 4 various email accounts. I only use two for "everyday" and the Yahoo and Google basically came with the package of what else I'm doing with Yahoo and Google. I love email and use it all the time. We use it now to keep in touch with far-flung family and friends. I also use my work email to keep up on some of the listservs I belong to, and to communicate back and forth with colleagues both in my building and in other branches of my library system. My library uses email reference extensively and customers love it. We answer questions from all over the world. It saves customers time, but limits do need to be put on how many requests/questions etc can be submitted in a day.
I've been using IM for years too, and still use it almost daily. It's a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, again. We have the capability here at work, but sometimes it's easier to just shoot off an email, so I can remember what we were talking about - especially if it's planning something. Some of my library school classmates and I im regularly to keep up with each other (we also use facebook for that...) IM for reference is good for quick questions, but usually ends up being quite cumbersome for involved or lengthy questions. It also may depend on the customer's computer skills and capabilities. I haven't installed Meebo yet but probably will.
I use text messaging every day. In fact, I had to go with the 500 message option on my phone plan since I often ended up going over my initial "allotment." I use it for family and friends, but haven't used it for work.

Thing 6

2008-02-06T17:38:00.000-06:00

Well - that's what I get for not reading ahead. I created a "trading card" in step 5. Oops.

I'm having fun fooling around with these - via Big Huge Labs, I made a magazine cover using my nephew, and discovered you have to use a fairly big picture or it won't work. I suppose the cats will want their own cover now, too - and my nieces, and....

I also made a bumper sticker - and it actually looks like it could be on my car, since that's the color of my car. (Can you guess what I drive?)

These generators could come in very handy for doing presentations, handouts and the like. I do a lot of various handouts for classes, tutorials, bookmarks, and various other printed materials, and I can see myself using some of these. I do a lot of powerpoint as well and might incorporate some of these in presentations. We could make some of the badges for volunteers just for fun. I really need to stop this and get on to the next thing!

5 More Flickr Fun

2008-02-04T16:11:00.000-06:00

They weren't kidding when they said this could get addictive. Some of the mashups were fun, and I could see how they could be used in either the library or my personal life. Others were fun to play with, but I really couldn't see myself using them for much. I don't really think I'd use Clockr, and while Color Pickr was neat I don't see myself using it for much. However! I love some of the Big Huge Labs functions - I've made a few of the motivational signs and now I find myself looking for pictures I could make signs with. :-) I also made an "ID badge" and that was kind of fun. I like the Captioner from Shady Dentist too, but it looks like you need fairly large sized pictures (Or short captions) for it to work well. Plus, I couldn't figure out a good way to upload it here. Big Huge Labs captioner didn't work on my computer at all. I posted a motivational poster above.

The Motivational signs could be used to make humorous reminders about things like cell phone use, food in the library etc. They could also make funny posters for staff's enjoyment. Captioner could be used for training materials as well as for fun. Spell with Flickr would be useful for fun signage - teen or children's areas, for example. Most of the mashups could be used for something in the library! I also uploaded a trading card I made.

More on 4

2008-02-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

In the previous posting, I used Picnik to crop the left side of the picure. For the picture of Dad and me in this posting, I lightened the contrast and exposure a little. I first used the general feature to lighten both contrast and exposure. I saved that - then used that version to try the advanced feature. I highlighted the picture to about 16, to make us a little more visible. Obviously there's only so much you can do, but both of us are a little brighter. And for those of you who know me, yes, Dad's hair was black. Couldn't really make that lighter! :-)

Thing 4 Flickr

2008-01-31T14:42:00.000-06:00

I've been using Flickr for awhile and think it's kind of fun. I use it for family pictures - haven't taken many lately (lots of the kittens, of course!) but also have some I scanned from a powerpoint show my family did awhile ago. I took a picture of one of our displays and of one of my co-workers. (No, my co-worker is not the penguin.)

I also use the photo utility in Facebook and I do miss the ability in Facebook pictures to tag the elements/people in a picture. There, you can tag each person so that when you hover over someone with the mouse, that person is identified. It doesn't seem that you can do that with Flickr or Picasa.

Libraries have really started using Flickr - posting pictures of programs, winners of contests, their buildings, etc. The library system where I work has been doing that for some time.

So far I've kept my photos public because I tend not to use my entire name. Someone has to know my "alias" or, be able to guess that it's me if they come across it. If they know me well enough to guess from my alias, it's probably fine that they see the pictures. It's possible to set them to private if I wished to. I haven't posted anything that's going to damage my reputation!

I loaded some photos in Picasa to see what's different. So far, not enough to make me prefer one over the other, but that's another post. (The "Challenge" you know!)

Thing 3

2008-01-29T16:04:00.000-06:00

This one was easy - I set up a Bloglines account some time ago. I have so many feeds that I may have to invent some way to RSS my RSS. :-) I even use it to keep on on Comic strips that the Strib doesn't run. I set one up for my husband for the comics, too. It's easy to categorize the feeds, and if you open the folders you can read selected feeds within a category. It lets you know which feeds have been updated, so you don't waste time checking those.
It certainly would be handy for a teacher to set up (or have students set up) feeds for sites they want students to monitor. It could even be used instead of reserve reading lists, in some cases.
I just now set up a Google Reader for the heck of it too. My first impression - so far I prefer Bloglines. One big difference, to me, anyway, is the scarcity of blogs that are found on a keyword search in GR. If I do a keyword search on Bloglines - librarian, wine, music; I end up with many, many feeds to check out. I generally will just search for feeds - it's a fast and easy way to find new blogs I may not have seen. Google Reader, on the other hand, brought back a limited number of results when I searched. I find the search a little easier to use on Bloglines, too. I like the dropdown to limit the search to posts, feeds, etc. The search on top of GR seems to be just searching within your sunscriptions, which threw me at first. Reading the posts on each is different - I haven't decided yet if I have a preference.
In GR's favor, though, I did find editing the feeds to be a bit easier. I chose different feeds in GR, so I'll use both of them for the time being. I did notice the option to export feeds to GR from another reader, which could be very handy if someone preferred GR.

Thing 2.0

2008-01-29T09:12:00.000-06:00

It took me awhile to even decide on my opening sentence for this post. There are a lot of interesting ways that "library 2.0" can be used in libraries, but really, what is "Library 2.0?" It's hard to even really define "Library 1.0." I think each library needs to define what it means to THEM, and go with that. Not all libraries need a blog. I don't seen any need for Second Life in libraries, except of course if people use library computers to get there. I really like Facebook - I use it every day. I use Library Thing, also, although I tend to use IRead more frequently. Flickr, etc is great to share photos easily with family and friends.
Many of the proponents of Library 2.0 make it sound as if it's a "Do or die" situation for libraries. Blyberg said that "it's obvious millennials have little interest" in libraries. Except- oops- another recent study entirely contradicts that. In my experience you can find research to back up nearly any point you wish to make, so perhaps we need to take some of this with a grain of salt. San Francisco's new "state of the art" library has been redesigned twice in twelve years because, in spite of their former director's opinion, books aren't going anywhere any time soon.
Meredith Farkas believes that Library 2.0 caused some librarians to lose their way. I think in a sense that's correct - it's a lot of fun to play around with much of this technology, but trying to make it work for your library may not be as much fun. Blyberg himself just recently posted that L2 has been co-opted to some extent by those who want change merely for change's sake, rather than looking at problems that may exist and working to solve them. Voila - a wiki will solve everything!
What is fun, I think, is getting involved with how customers are using technology and building on the strengths we already have, then, incorporating what we can use into what we already do so well.

More Thing One

2008-01-26T14:11:00.000-06:00

I finally decided on a template and played around with how I wanted it to look. I've added a few blogs and websites, and added a picture of Fermata and Fantasia. I made sure to use XML templates to retain the functionality of "drop and drag" widgets, since I don't have the time or motivation to go back and review all the coding stuff I forgot. :-) I may eventually add tagging and things like that but at the moment I don't need it.

First Things Still

2008-01-23T19:48:00.000-06:00

Boy - there are a lot of templates/layouts/skins out there. Some are really neat, some not so much. If I do end up changing mine, I'd better do it before I post and customize much more, or I'll have to do it all over. I'm having fun plotting what else to add to my blogrolls, links, and other features.

First Things First

2008-01-22T16:16:00.001-06:00

Setting up the blog is the first thing in 23 Things on a Stick. Setting up the basic blog was easy, but of course I'm never satisfied with the "standard" layouts, so I'm off to see if I can find something I like better.