Systems on a Stick

Philadelphia

2011-03-30T08:41:00.002-05:00

Today I am off to Philadephia for a conference-Association of College & Research Libraries. (ACRL) I will be there until Saturday morning. We had planned to stay later in the day, but Delta switched our flight soon after we booked it.

I am planning to visit some of our electronic book vendors to see if any of them support any of the ebook readers that are so ubiquitous these days.

More later.

Au revoir, Paris

2011-03-13T15:07:00.003-05:00

When I looked up au revoir, I found that it means "until the seeing again," and decided that to use that instead of adieu (goodbye) since I hope very much to come again!

We were up early and threw the last of our things into the suitcases, drank a little coffee and ate a bite. I offered to ride down the elevator with the suitcases and stuffed myself into the tiny elevator with one foot on a suitcase and the other on the floor. I rode all the way to the ground floor and pulled the suitcases out before realizing that I had left my purse in the apartment. Rosie and Lynne (who wanted to see us off at the airport) were almost down on the stairs when I got the keys from them and rode back up to grab my purse. Lucky for me I thought of it then or I would have been running back from the Metro or worse yet, arriving at the airport without my money and travel documents. Whew!

We got through the check in process and dropped off our bags. Then we hugged Lynne goodbye and went through security. They would not let me leave my laptop in my TSA approved bag and made me dig my cell phone out of the pocket too, but I made it through without incident. Rosie, on the other hand, set off the gate and was subjected to a manual pat down. She has no clue what set it off since she claims she was wearing exactly the same thing when she went through security in Minneapolis. Oh, well. Once through the gates, we found that there was more shopping and we got rid of some remaining Euros with a few last minute souvenirs and snacks. The boarding started a full hour before the flight took off which kind of took us by surprise. We filled out our customs forms and arranged our stuff and bodies for a long flight. We took off about 20 minutes late, but food service with free wine started shortly after. Rosie and I had a small happy hour in the air. A short time later lunch was served with more wine. By the time lunch was over we were both feeling drowsy--I kept falling asleep and jerking awake with the notion that my mouth was hanging wide open. We both fell asleep during the first (of four) movies and I awoke part way through the second (Secretariat) and was awake for the rest of the flight.

They fed us quite well for lunch and then again with pizza and ice cream (I ate Rosie's ice cream in addition to mine) for a snack about an hour before landing.

We cleared customs without much trouble and found Rosie's husband waiting for us right outside the doors. By 4pm I was home again and in the familiar surroundings, it was hard to imagine where I had just been. My husband and I went to 5pm Mass and I was home in bed by 6:15pm where I slept soundly until about 1am when, apparently, it was time to get up in Paris. I forced myself to stay in bed until 7:15am (daylight savings time) and hope to back on my usual sleep and rise schedule soon.

It was a wonderful trip to say the least and I am all set to try more places again soon!

Friday, last day in Paris :-(

2011-03-13T13:43:00.002-05:00

We were up early to get to our tour of three French Chateaus--a 12 hour trip to the countryside. At the travel agency we met our traveling companions, a 30-ish couple from Italy who spoke some French so their tour was in French, our travel guide, a young Frenchwoman named Caroline who spoke French, Spanish, English and a little German. I almost think our Italian couple would have done better if the tour were in Spanish, because whenever they did not understand the French, Caroline would put it in Spanish for them. The wife sometimes explained the French to the husband, so her grasp of French was somewhat better.

We left Paris at 7:15am, fortunately heading opposite the direction of the stop and go traffic heading into Paris. I am not sure what the French call their freeways, but it was a similar to what we have (divided highway with multiple lanes) and we passed through a tollbooth soon after leaving Paris. Spring had arrived in France--they appeared to be about a month ahead of us in Minnesota. Some crops were up and we saw a few tractors in the fields from the highway. We passed through several quaint little towns on the way and I would have liked to know more about the people and what they do-something for the next trip?

It was after 10am when we arrived at our first chateau in the picturesque Loire Valley of France. Chenonceau Chateau was built over the River Cher in traditional Renaissance style, (complete with moat and towers) and is known as the Chateau des Dames (the Ladies' Castle) because of the influence of the famous women who lived there. The chateau was built in 1513 and King Henry II gave it to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers whose goal was to turn it into a showplace. Catherine de Medicis, King Henry's wife, was very jealous of it and when the King died, she ousted Diane and took it over for herself. It is a very beautiful place, fit for a queen, I would say.

The next chateau was Cheverny Castle which started out as a private home, but ownership came to Henry II who gave it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. However, she preferred Chenonceau so she sold it to the Huralt family. It has had many owners over its history but now is again owned by the Huralt family. In 1914, the owner opened the chateau to the public, one of the first to do so. The family still operates it, and Château Cheverny remains a top tourist attraction to this day, renowned for magnificent interiors and its collection of furniture, tapestries, and objets d'art. A pack of some seventy dogs are also kept on the grounds and are taken out for hunts twice weekly. We saw the dogs but missed their daily feeding when their trainer puts a line of meat through their pen and they wait for him to signal that they can eat it. When we were there, the dogs were all crowded in a small pen and the trainer was pulling some out before the feeding. There was quite a din from all those baying hounds! This castle castle is entirely surrounded by a stone wall.

Our last stop for the day was Chambord Castle. It is the largest of the Loire castles, built for King Francois 1st as a hunting lodge. The château features 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases, including a spectacular double-helix open staircase that is the centerpiece of the château. The two helixes ascend the three floors without ever meeting--it is suggested, but unconfirmed, that the staircase was designed by Leonardo da Vinci. This castle was in the poorest condition. It is just so huge and was abandoned for 80 years during its history so I don't think it has ever been full restored since then.

We spent about an hour at each castle and enjoyed our tour immensely. Rosie still loves the idea of a castle, but I think those giant stone rooms are just too darn cold for anyone to enjoy living in them!

We hit some traffic heading back into Paris but again, most of the traffic was heading out of the city, so it wasn't too bad. We noticed that the cars on the inside lane hugged the outside white line and that motorcycles roared between us in the next lane like it was their own private lane! Our tour guide was nice enough to drop us off right across from our apartment or I would have used one of Metro tickets for sure.

Back at the apartment Lynne had some wine waiting for us (surprise, surprise!) and for supper, we followed a tip from our tour guide. We had pitas and falafal from a nearby stand-very tasty but kind of odd in our eyes for Paris.

We packed and arranged our wakeup/bathroom schedule. The lady upstairs was playing music quite loud until at least midnight, but I went to bed anyway and was asleep shortly.

Thursday city bus tour

2011-03-13T10:26:00.006-05:00

I am behind on my posts as Thursday marked our 2nd to the last day in Paris with still many things left to see and do. Rosie and I consoled ourselves by saying we will save some sights to see the next time we are in Paris!

We decided to do a city bus tour as the most efficient way to see a lot of things in the fastest time. My American soldier seat companion from Wednesday had recommended the tour he took from a nearby travel agent, so after a morning of late arising, computing and photo editing while Lynne was in her class we set off for the travel agency. We hoped to do the bus tour immediately and then have some time at the d'Orsay Museum in late afternoon. Unfortunately, we were minutes too late for the 12:30pm bus tour and had to put it off until later in the afternoon. We rushed home to let Lynne know of our change in plans (we did not often miss our cell phones, but this is of the times it would have helped). By the time we talked to Lynne, it was time to go back for the tour. We skipped the Metro for these trips because it was only like 2 stops away--maybe 7 or 8 blocks and we hated to waste a ticket. However, at this point it was our 3rd trip and it was only the fact that we were going to sit on the bus that made it work for us.

We sat on the top of the double decker bus (and it was cold again!) but the we had headphones for the tour (you could pick your language so it was very easy to understand)and had about 50 points of interest such as the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees with all its designer shops, Pont de la Concorde (where many of the beheadings of the French Revolution took place including Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI), the Madeleine Church with its 52 Corinthian columns was quite a sight, and many other famous locations that you can see in Rosie's pictures.

When we finished the city tour, we went into the travel agency and booked a day trip for Friday to see 3 chateaus out in the French country-side. We were anxious to see a little of French life outside of Paris. The trip was to leave at 7:15am so we had an early morning start ahead of us.

Back at the apartment, Lynne had wine waiting for us and we had also invited Lynne's friend, Lucille Northenscold down for happy hour. I had promised to help her connect her laptop to the apartment's wireless network since she and her husband will occupy it for the part of the month. A few glasses of wine later, we gave up on our idea of visiting the d'Orsay--another thing to save for the next visit. Lucille had recommended her favorite French restaurant a few blocks down the street. It opened at 8pm, so a few minutes after we were off in search of its location. When we arrived, it had just opened and had only one diner seated inside. Nevertheless we went in and were seated by the waiter who brought a chalk board with the day's dishes listed. He propped it on a chair at our table and then left us to study it.

Lynne and I chose a roast pork dish and Rosie ordered a large bowl of soup (dishes not including dairy products were a constant challenge for her). The waiter was very helpful in determining what was suitable on the menu and he seemed surprised when we did not order any wine (if he had known about our happy hour, he might not have been!)Rosie's bowl of soup was quite large and she enjoyed it. Lynne and I received plates of sliced pork artfully arranged with carrots (ala Peter Rabbit Lynne thought-with a little bit of carrots tops still on)sliced potatoes and, I think, parsnips. We had forgotten our cameras or the plates would have been worth a picture. As my son, Mat, always says "presentation is everything." It was excellent and we were pleased with our choices and the restaurant itself. We felt like we had had some nice French dining that evening.

Back at the apartment, the rest of the evening was spent doing a little packing and organizing, some computing and general this and that which kept us up but didn't amount to much. Rosie & I TRIED to get to bed early because we had to be at the travel agency by 7am the next morning. So even though we were on vacation, we chose to get up around 6am!

Wednesday in Paris

2011-03-10T02:05:00.002-06:00

The weather was not as nice today, but still pleasant and no snow like the people back home have. We have not had rain at all while we have been here so none of our trips have been hampered by that.

We started our day with tours of Sainte Chapelle and the Concierge and we walked to them. Our apartment is really well situated for seeing Paris. We have a metro stop right outside our apartment building and we can actually walk to the island where Notre Dame and today's sights are located. Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful small chapel built by one of the kings whose name I can't remember at this moment. He built it to display two relics that he acquired-part of the cross of Jesus and part of his crown of thorns. It is a two level chapel-the lower level for ordinary people to use and the upper level for the king and his groups. The upper chapel has 15 huge stained glass windows, each depicting something from the bible starting with genesis. It is really beautiful and you can see pictures when Rosie gets her Flickr pictures uploaded. http://www.flickr.com/photos/12473770@N03/page3

The Concierge was a prision and court. Offenders were taken there and put through the court system and sentenced. It looked like conditions were miserable. Marie Antoninette was held and tried there as were many others during the French Revolution.

After this, Lynne went off to class and Rosie and I had lunch (schwarma at a sidewalk cafe) and then rushed off to catch a boat tour. It was cold and windy but a good view from a different direction of some of the attractions we had seen. For instance, the back of the Louvre looked extremely long! I sat next to a man who had come on the train from England-an American air force soldier (officer?) from North Carolina. I really enjoyed talking to him and he also said it was nice to see someone from back home. He pointed out a gold flame we saw on our tour which marks the tunnel where Princess Diana died. We were talking about how European countries see Americans (they mostly dislike us), but he said that they really like Barack Obama. He had gone to London when Obama was coming along with many other famous people. He said the big crowd of people watched Obama come and then left (so they had come to see Obama).

After the boat tour, we walked home to get more clothes because we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower. The guide book we had advised us to get off the Metro a stop early for a good view of the tower and it was so right. We were in a square just near the tower and the view was breathtaking. We got pictures there and then went dow to stand in line to go up. It was a long line, of course, but people watching was interesting. There was a teenage boy and his mother behind us (they were not from Paris but they were French) His English was very good and we chatted with him as we waited. I asked about the armed soldiers patrolling the area and he said there was a terrorist alert. I asked him if that made him afraid and he said no, so I decided I would not worry about it either! We bought tickets to the top. The first elevator took us to the second level where we walked around all sides and took pictures--a magnificent view. Then we took the next elevator to the top (well 900 feet out of 1000) and that was a bit freaky for me. You could see out of the elevator all the bolts and beams of the tower and the ground getting farther and farther away. Looking up through the top of the elevator, I could see that we had much farther to so to get to the top.

Once we were at the top, the first level was enclosed so not windy. We walked all around the top and then went up one more level on the stairs. There it was windy and I was glad for the extra clothes. The tower itself seemed very solid and did not feel like it was moving at all. (not that it is supposed to--it was just my impression)We walked all around and took pictures and then caught the elevator down to the first level. Going down did not bother me as much as going up! The first level was actually the most windy and the coldest. We couldn't wait to get down. It was dark by this time so the views we saw were just amazing. We walked back to the square, took more pictures, and then back on the metro to get home. By this time it was 9pm and we had a small happy hour before going out to eat. It was Rosie's birthday and I had arranged for co-workers to connect to us with Skype. I had the connection open and we heard our co-workers calling us and so Rosie had a face-to-face talk with them (and they sang happy birthday too-good job Mary and Darlene!) Then we found a wonderful Thai restaurant for dinner. We were back by 11:30pm and I was off to bed soon after that--exhausted. (12068 steps on the pedometer)
Bon jour all

Tuesday-a beautiful day in Paris

2011-03-09T01:38:00.002-06:00

Tuesday was bright, sunny and close to 60 degrees. It was a beautiful day to stroll the streets of Paris. We walked to the Hotel deVille which is not a hotel and got stamps for our postcards and mailed them--the post office is there. Lynne set off for class and Rosie and I went off to the river to see about boat tours (we will do this Wednesday) We picked up lunch at a sandwhich stand and ate it as we wandered along. (then into a patissere for dessert)Then we walked the area around Notre Dame which is on an island. We had not seen much of Notre Dame when we listened to the concert on Sunday so we walked around the inside (lit a candle for Geri). We looked into going up in the tower but the line was long so we shopped and picked up a few souvenirs. We then got into the tower line but the attendants came along and said it would be closing soon, so we left.

It was Fat Tuesday and a number of people were wearing costumes. We thought there might be some interesting things going on in the evening, so we went back to our apartment, had some wine and snacks and then went out again to dine and see if anything was going on. We found a nice restaurant very nearby and tried to get what we thought might be fine French food. Lynne and I had a kind mushroom ravioli in a tasty rich sauce. It was delicious. After a talk with the waiter about chicken with no sauce (Rosie is lactose intolerant), the waiter reported back that the chicken was cooked in the sauce so she ordered a Thai salad with salmon. I had also ordered this in the small size. When it arrived, the salmon was uncooked :( -- neither of us was ok with. We ate the salad part and talked the waiter into sending the salmon home with us. Not very cool I know but we hated to waste it! We strolled the streets for a while, but Fat Tuesday here bears no resemblance to New Orleans, so we were in by 10 or so. My pedometer read just under 16,000 steps so I ran up the stairs to turn it over and finished the with 16,041 steps, whew!

Monday at the Louvre

2011-03-08T03:15:00.002-06:00

We did not get a very early start to the Louvre today. I saw Lynne off to class and then Rosie and I pulled ourselves together and left. We got to the line for tickets and it stretched completely around a fountain. Rather than stand in that line we followed Rick Steve's travel guide recommendation to get our tickets in the mall (a shorter line in a warm mall for a euro more, but worth it!)

After we had our tickets, we thought we should make a rest stop in case we had to stand in another line. It cost 1 euro to visit the rest room in the mall. We then entered the Louvre through the mall entrance where the line was much shorter than outside. There were scores of people, but in a place that big, the crowds were not too bad in any given area with the exception of the big attractions. The Mona Lisa, of course, had a big crowd around it, the Venus de Milo, the trois graces (a new acquisition). It was awe inspiring to see all of those famous works of art and the Louvre itself is very beautiful. We spent more than five hours there and the combination of all the walking (11086 on the pedometer) and the hard marble floors really wore us. We were dragging by the time we left.

Back at the apartment, we had a little wine and took off our shoes while we waited for Lynne to return. We went out to eat after seven and found a little restaurant where we ate meal sandwiched in at small tables in a row with Parisians on all sides. It was probably our most authentic experience, but not an example of fine cuisine. It was more like a restaurant with home cooking in the states. A man next to us struck up a conversation (using his broken English and French). He told us that the French are "proud" of Americans for electing Barack Obama. They did not like President Bush at all.

This marked the end of our 5 day pass on the Metro, but we each bought a packet of ten more trips and will see how long that lasts. Rosie and I have visted the ATM 3 times--not that we have spent that much money, but we are saving up to pay our share of the apartment at the end of the week. Unfortunately for us, the exchange rate is going up each day, but in the scheme of things, it is not that bad for a trip like this. It is 3:40am your time, so I will say bon soir.

Sunday in Paris

2011-03-05T14:50:00.006-06:00

Today we slept in and did not get going until about 11:30. By the time we were out on the street, the walks were filled with Parisians. Our first stop was the La Pere-Lachaise cemetery which we entered without a map. We jotted down some numbers for well-known people and went off in search of Jim Morrison's gravesite. It was behind a short fence with a crowd of people around it was adorned with flowers and candles. A nearby tree was covered with graffiti. We managed to find Chopin's monument with the statue of a statue of a Muse and also flower covered.

By that time, we were tired of the hills and cobblestones in the cemetery and we set off for Napoleon's tomb, keeping in mind that we wanted to get to Notre Dame to hear the organ at 4:30 and perhaps, attend a service. By the time we got to Napoleon's tomb, it was close to 2pm and we did not feel we had enough time to do the memorial justice, so we visited the gift shop and then ate our lunch on a bench in the courtyard (sharing a few morsels with a flock of pigeons).

By 3:00 we were back on the metro to Notre Dame and walked to the cathedral where we waited in another long line to enter. We sat and listened to the music, but by then it was nearing 5:30 and getting very cold again as it does when the sun goes down. We walked back through the Plaza where crowds of people watching live bands, dancing Zumba, riding carousels, and some kind of medieval re-enactment. We stopped off at our apartment to drop things off and strolled down the street looking for a good place to dine. We had a very nice oriental meal (I know--Paris) but it was very good (only had chopsticks to eat with too). Back home by 10pm with a mere 13,467 steps on the pedometer.

Tomorrow Lynne starts her French classes and will be tied up 3 mornings and 2 afternoons, so Rosie and I will be on our own part of each of our remaining days. Tomorrow is the Louvre!
Bon soir.

Saturday

2011-03-05T14:50:00.003-06:00

Our first stop today was the art market near the Bastille (Opera House). There was art of course, jewelry and other crafts. Most of the vendors spoke some English, but one spoke some Italian and I spoke Spanish and we were able to understand each other. Later in the Metro I used my Spanish again when some young men approached us while we were looking at a map. They struggled for some French words, but kept lapsing into Spanish, so I told them I spoke Spanish and then we figured out what they needed to know.

Our next step was the Basilica Sacre Coeur at Montmartre. It sits high on a hill with many steps to the top. When we got off the metro, people were lined up to use the 2 elevators and we wondered why they didn't just walk up. About 150 steps later, we had our answer. The stairs went on and on!

Near Montmartre there was a funicula to ride up the hill, but we walked. (pedometer showed a mere 6743 at the end of the day) Montmarte is a sacred hill, the mount of martyrs, where Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris (late 3rd century) and his companions were martyred. Many other saints have visited there. The current, very beautiful, basilica was constructed in the late 1800s. We then visited the artists market. It was very crowded and French people of all ages were strolling around for hours. But, gosh, it was cold. We finally had to eat in a restaurant to get warmed up. Saturday is a big day for everyone to be out and about and the metro was extremely crowded all the way home.

Lynne's friend, Lucille, came down to visit this evening to see our pictures and catch up on what we had been doing all day. Tomorrow our metro passes expire, so we plan to make full use of them. Bon soir.

Palace of Versailles

2011-03-04T16:13:00.002-06:00

Friday we spent the entire day at the Palace of Versailles and the grounds around it. We travelled about 45 minutes on the metro and a train to the outskirts of Paris where the Palace is located. There was quite a crowd there, but Lynne assured us that it was nothing compared to the crowds during tourist season. The Palace was amazing with beautiful paintings and murals on the walls and ceilings--sumptious furnishings--fit for a king, I guess. In the process we learned quite a bit of French history and we find ourselves looking things up every night when we get back to our appartment.

The grounds were still a bit bleek since the night time temperatures still fall in the 30's--it would be fun to see them later in the spring. We also visited the "petit" palace where Marie Antoinette hung out when she was tired of the main palace. My pedometer read 10,792 steps when we finally got back so we are winding down resting our feet right now at 11:30pm which is 4:25 for you back home. In fact, I am so shocked that it is 11:30 that I am now going to bed because Lynne has a big day planned for us tomorrow--something about a flea market. More later.

1st real day in Paris

2011-03-04T01:24:00.002-06:00

We got up and out around 9am and set off for Lynne's school so she could get everything settled. We bought 5 day passes for the metro and jumped on. It was rush hour and crowded, so we stood most of the time. By the end of the day we felt pretty confident that we could figure out our routes.

Rosie and I walked around the area near Lynne's school, through the Jardin Luxembourg, and then back to the school to get Lynne. After that we hiked to the Pantheon where a lot of reconstruction is going on both inside and out. It was chilly outside but inside it was frigid, but a very impressive building. We saw Foucault's pendulum, beautiful murals and statues. Then we wandered through the crypts in the lower level where famous people such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, and Louis Braille are interred. It actually seemed warmer down below. We chanced upon the Centre Cultural Irlandais and the church of St. Etienne.

By that time we were pretty worn out so we found the nearest metro and headed back to the apartment where we wined and dined at home. Thursday we plan to visit the Palace of Versailles.

Paris Update

2011-03-02T13:11:00.002-06:00

We flew through the night and arrived just before 7am Paris time. I dozed a little but did not get much sleep on the plane. We collected our bags and dragged them to train for our trip to the city. We had one train change but it took more than 1 1/2 hours to get to our metro stop. We thought our apartment was about 3 blocks away, but walked around the corner and found it within that block. The apartment building is within a gated courtyard--we enter a security code to get in the courtyard and another code to get in the door of our apartment building. We found out later that there is another gate that goes out the front and is right next to the metro stop.

We visited an ATM to get some Euros and then bought some provisions. By that time, we were tired. Rosie and Lynne were able to sleep, but I did not. Well, I should sleep tonight. Lynne has friends (who lived in Mankato for many years) who are staying for 3 months on the floor above us. They have a distant view of the Eiffel Tower from a window-we have no such view from our appartment. They invited us for dinner so we spent a pleasant evening with them and now are back in our 6th floor apartment. I did some tech support to get us connected to the wireless and now feel ready to go to bed.

I am sure we will have a full day tomorrow, so even though it is mid afternoon for you, I am off to bed.

Trip to Paris

2011-03-01T09:50:00.003-06:00

I am packed and ready but still have 2 hours before I leave for the airport for a trip to Paris. I hope I am not forgetting anything! I am traveling with 2 colleagues from work. We have a direct flight to Paris which leaves at 3:45pm today and arrives about 8 hours later (7:30am Paris time)

I have never been abroad so I don't know what to expect as far as jet lag and France. My colleague, Lynne Weber, has been to Paris more than once and will be remaining for two months. We will stay in a rented apartment which is quite near the many sites we want to see. Lynne also has some friends who are already there and are staying in the same apartment building, so we have people who can give us some help with the language and getting around. My other colleague, Rosie Mock, and I will return on March 12.

I will try to blog and Facebook my trip. It will be a good way for me to remember it and maybe some of my family and friends will enjoy reading it too.
Bon jour!

November 2010 CCYAB New Book List

2011-01-11T08:19:00.001-06:00

Open publication - Free publishing

Thing 47 Evaluation

2009-06-12T18:08:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I did not think I was going to get this done. I put "other things" aside and concentrated on these things and I am now happily done. But I am not really done because I have a list of things/places to go back to and explore some more. I never thought I would get into Facebook, but find myself in it reading what my "friends" are doing that I definitely wouldn't know if it weren't for Facebook.

We have access to so much on the internet that it is just too hard to keep up. Activities such as Things on a Stick are a great way to be exposed to new technology and see what others have found useful. I would participate again.

Thing 46 WebJunction Minnesota

2009-06-12T18:01:00.002-05:00

I have been a member of WebJunction for quite some time and my favorite part of it is the online courses. I once directed a friend who worked as a receptionist in a library to it because she wanted to get a job that was more library work related. It is also a great place to find out what is happening in the library community in Minnesota. You can find links to events, news and even job postings. I urge everyone who works in libraries in Minnesota to take advantage of this great resource.

Thing 45 Cloud Computing

2009-06-12T18:00:00.001-05:00

I have used Google docs quite a bit for my own documents and last year did a cooperative project with two others using Google docs. We put together a PowerPoint presentation online and then all met in Long Beach to show it. The main complaint we had was that it did not have the same formatting as our original PowerPoint and some of the media functions did not work at all. There are other options such as slideshow.com. One of the conferences I attended had many of the presentations available there. We all know the importance of backups and these online backups are even better, because you can get to them any time or place that you can get an Internet connection. In the end we will probably all leave a trail of data behind us on all the clouds we used for a while and then abandoned for the next thing.

Thing 44 The Economy

2009-06-12T17:59:00.001-05:00

I am at the age where if I don’t know anything about managing money, I am in big trouble. The first video was, however, a very plain explanation of how things have gone wrong in our economy and we will be paying for this for quite a while. So my investment strategies over the years are not paying at this point. I am among the ones who wonder how long to delay retirement in hopes that the economy improves.
The things that I was interested in this section are ways of not spending too much money. I already walk/bike to work and many other places to save the car, gas, and the environment. I will go to garage sales, thrift stores, and use coupons. I read through FrugalDad’s page and picked up a few more tips. I laughed about the chickens in the city sections because my town recently decided not to allow them. I grew up with chickens and am not a big fan, so I am not too heartbroken about it. I used to be afraid I was cheap, but after reading this thing, I know that the real term is frugal which means avoiding waste. I like that a lot better!

Thing 43 Online TV & Video

2009-06-12T17:51:00.003-05:00

I did not know about Hulu and Joost before I started More Things. I did know that you can watch TV programs online and it seemed like a good idea to me. You can watch them whenever you want, so if you become addicted to Desperate Housewives, you can go out and have some fun Sunday night and then catch up with the girls later. You can also save time because you don't have to watch commercials. Well, I take that back. I went to the fitness center today and watched an episode of 30Rock online while I was bicycling (they don't call it TechRec for nothing!). The episode only lasted 23 minutes, but there were a few ads right during the program, but nothing like the 3 or 4 minutes of commercials on TV these days.

Today was actually the first day I have watched an entire show online. At home, I use a wireless connection and I think it is a little too slow to view TV programs. I can see people giving up cable connections and watching online TV exclusively-well probably not so much my generation, but the younger ones for sure. It won't affect my home at all because my husband loves TV.

Thing 42 Music 2.0

2009-06-12T17:35:00.003-05:00

I know a lot of people who can't get anything done unless they have some music on, but I am not one of them. I do enjoy music and I like to have it on in the car and when I walk, but I don't take the time to put it on at work unless I am at my desk on a weekend or at night. I have looked at Pandora and have an account. It is based on the Music Genome Project. They analyzed music so when you put in a song you like, Pandora comes up with other songs like it that you will probably enjoy too. I would like to take the time and see if I really do like the other suggested songs, but for now I have found out about it.

Thing 41 Mashup Your Life

2009-06-12T17:28:00.003-05:00

When I started More Things, I downloaded the Flock browser and it took over my online world. It uses a master password to log me into my Twitter, Facebook, and blogger accounts. It also brings my feeds together on one page called My World. My World collects together all of my favorite web sites, news feeds and media. Flock will automatically update news and media feeds when new content is added. It has been very helpful for doing this project because I don't have to keep looking through my bookmarks, username and password lists. I wouldn't say it helps my productivity because it is easy to get sidetracked at work and I find myself not caring too much about some of the updates I get.

Thing 40 Mashup the Web

2009-06-12T17:15:00.003-05:00

It looks like mashups are only limited by your imagination. I tried TimeTube and did a timeline for Stephen King and the Beatles. Did Wheel of Food which is a wheel that you can spin and it has restaurants from a zip code you enter. I looked at a daily dose of interesting photos and checked the walk score for a few cities. (Buffalo is great, Niagara Falls not so great).

Since people come into libraries looking for all sorts of information, any of these could be useful to them.

Thing 39 Digital Storytelling

2009-06-12T09:16:00.006-05:00

I used Smilebox to create a slide show with pictures from a presentation I did earlier this spring on collaborative projects between the Library and the campus computing center. We developed a pamphlet and a PowerPoint slide show. The Smilebox slide show is extremely easily created and could be used by any library staff to create an interesting presentation. It could be set up on a public computer to run during demonstrations, parties, open houses and the like. I think it is a very nice tool.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thing 38 Screen Casting

2009-06-11T15:15:00.004-05:00

I have used SnagIt which is kind of Camtasia Lite. We did a usability study with about 20 students and used SnagIt to do screen capture and audio for each student. Other librarians have also done some tutorials using different screen capture programs. I actually learned something about optimizing photos in PowerPoint today that I coul have used much earlier in my career. I have also used Jing. These tools are great for making tutorials and I can see them coming into much more use in the future. If used as a tutorial, I would recommend also posting a text version because if you forget one step of a process, it is annoying to have to go back through a video to find the information you need.

Thing 37A Photo Tales...

2009-06-11T15:12:00.002-05:00

Thing 37 Photo Tales

2009-06-11T14:54:00.007-05:00

I have used Flickr in the past and recently started using Picasso. I did some very basic editing in Picasso and also used it to make a photo montage that turned out pretty well. I have been looking for something that we can use on the Library website to display some collections of photos and I think something like PictoBrowser will work. I used free photos from FreeDigitalPhotos.net and animoto to make a music video. You can see my work of art in Thing 37 A.

Thing 36 Comic Relief--Generate Some Fun

2009-06-11T13:22:00.008-05:00

This thing is just a hodgepodge of stuff. I have never used any generators before, but it was very fun to look through them and I saw some things that might be helpful in the future. I didn't really have time to do anything with cartoon generators and am not sure, since I work with our Library website, that I would ever use any cartoons there. The Lolcats site was hilarious.

Over all, it boggles my mind what can be done with just a bit of code.

Thing 35 Books 2.0

2009-06-10T17:52:00.002-05:00

The Books 2.0 was kind of overwhelming because there was just so much to do and so many choices. I am a reader and belong to a book club so I saw a lot of sites that my club members would be interested in--many of the members find an author they like and then go back and buy all his/her books so the places to get more books cheaply are interesting. The readers advisory sites will be helpful because we are always looking for new authors. Online discussion groups look interesting and I might use those to decide what to read also.

I investigated ITrackmine to organize a dvd collection. It seems to work better for dvds than LibraryThing and also offers a loan function that I could use to keep track of who might have borrowed from me.

I am interested in electronic books and downloaded a podiobook that I hope to put on my Itouch and see if I like that. People continue to read actual books in our library, because sometimes you just want the low-tech page turning experience. Our library has a number of electronic online books and have also bought some electronic devices called playaways, preloaded digital players. The user just plugs headphones into the device and presses play.

Thing 34 Is it Competition? Online Answer Sites

2009-06-10T17:36:00.004-05:00

Because so much information is now online, today's students are less inclined to ask questions at a Reference Desk. They are so used to doing online searches that they feel confident that they can find information on their own. We all know the pitfalls of this approach with the multitude of databases many with their own unique interfaces. Lauren Pressley thinks most of the questions asked at the Reference Desk now are more technology related rather than reference. She thinks the best thing to do is focus on really good instruction. Along that line of thought, I will share a report I just read about an E-learning pilot done at the U of M. U of M Libraries offer over 100 face-to-face workshops per semester. The workshops are very popular so the Libraries launched a study and found that students were able to learn as much from an online version of the workshop as they did from the in-person version but in much less time (about 40 minutes for the online compared to a 75 minute face to face class. Here is a link to the study.

I can see a trend toward more electronic and virtual reference and other online help and I can see where some people might tend toward online questions and answers for somethings. We need to continue to educate users about information literacy so that they can get the best most accurate information when it really counts.

Thing 33 Travel 2.0

2009-06-08T16:00:00.004-05:00

Travel 2.0 is one of the Things that interests me the most. I get to do some conference travel for my job but have to make my own arrangements, so I am always looking for a bargain. Conference hotels are always expensive and it is a challenge to find a room that is close enough to the conference to make attendance easy yet at a decent nearby hotel that won't break my budget. I use sites like TripAdvisor to find out about hotels (I won't stay at any that are rated dirty and out of the way)I tried Boo.com and Gusto and read some posts from the Cranky Flier, but I really like TripAdvisor the best for its ease of use and the many comments. I use Mapquest to find out how far it is from a non-conference hotel to the conference and look at public transportation as a way to save money too. I leave for Buffalo next week, so this has been a good exercise.

I find that travel sites like Expedia and Orbitz have comparable flight prices, but sometimes one or the other will have better hotel deals. Sometimes flights are cheaper through the airlines themselves.

Public libraries have long collected travel information into vertical files so the tradition of providing this information is there. First hand accounts from travelers who have been the same place are invaluable for others.

Thing 32 Google Maps & Mashups

2009-06-08T15:54:00.003-05:00

Google mashups is a lot of fun. When I go to conferences, I never rent a car and try to rely on public transportation wherever I go. You can make a mashup of public transportation and places or destinations so you can see how far you have to go to a metro or bus stop and then where you get off to get to your destination (HotStop API). Other useful mashups are free wifi hotspots on a map, iMap Weather, and one that I thought I would enjoy a lot describes where you would end up if you dug a hole straight through the earth to the other side. When I was a kid, we dug many holes thinking we would end up in China. This mashup gave me coordinates, but i couldn't figure out what was on the other end. All very interesting.

Thing 31 More: Twitter

2009-06-08T13:26:00.003-05:00

I used a Tweeter tool to analyze my few followers and no one has dropped me, so my followers are listed as loyal. Of course, I have only done 4 tweets. I looked in Itunes to see if there is an "app" to do tweets on my Itouch. There was pages and pages of social networking apps, so I gave up on that. I just don't think I am going to take the time to get into tweeter much. Facebook has something like this where I can see little short updates from my "friends" and these I will read through. But I just don't have the time and patience to use this myself.

Thing 30 More Ways to Use RSS & Delicious

2009-06-08T08:30:00.005-05:00

One thing I will say about RSS feeds is that it has helped keep my email a little more under control because I have unsubscribed to some of the email updates and use RSS feeds to get the same information.
To prepare for More Things, I downloaded the Flock browser. I have it remembering my passwords and it has direct links into my accounts like Facebook, Flickr, Blogger, etc. See my screen print that shows the links:

The only thing is that it only works on the computer I have Flock installed on.

It is extremely interesting and useful to see the feeds and bookmarks for people in similar positions or with similar interests, but it is just so overwhelming that the best one can do is pick something and stick with it. I guess I should set aside some time to explore each week, but other responsibilities get in the way.

Thing 29 Google Tools

2009-06-08T08:25:00.002-05:00

I was experimenting with SearchWiki and was about to add a comment when I was warned that it would be a public comment linked to my Gmail username and I did not want to do that. I had thought that the comments would just be for my own use, so I probably won't do that. I would be interested in reading other people's comments, in moving the results around, and removing results that I didn't find relevant. The person who wrote the article against SearchWiki wonders why Google made it and thinks they just want to see what they can find out from it. His example shows an entry with many comments which end up taking a lot of room and many have limited usefulness. I guess it would depend on what kind of thing I was searching. I read a bunch of the comments about SearchWiki and agree with the ones who say there should be the option of keeping your comments private.

I looked at Goog-411 and think that would be pretty useful, especially since it seems everyone has a cell phone these days and use it them for everything. I read over the information on creating a Google website and it would be extremely simple and Google hosts it free. I feel like I have enough of a web presence, so I did not make one. I have used the Google toolbar for sometime and have used but uninstalled the Google desktop because I have Microsoft's desktop search. I would be reluctant to put my health information on the web, so I would not use the Google Health function. The web knows enough about us the way it is!

Thing 28 Customized Home Pages

2009-06-04T09:30:00.006-05:00

I looked at pageflakes and netvibes but have been using IGoogle for sometime now and will probably continue to do so since Google has so many related functions. I like that I have one username and password for all the things that I have done with Google--my blog, Google Analytics, Gmail, and Google Docs so far. Having to register for yet another account is a big turn off for me and I can't say how many times I have had to have usernames and passwords emailed to me so I can get back into accounts like FaceBook and Twitter. I have Google email, calendar, RSS feeds, and bookmarks for things I need to check frequently and I like that no one else can see the information on my page. It is very easy to setup, can be viewed from anywhere and also can be viewed on portable devices so I can use it as my Itouch homepage. I tried making my own gadget and it was really easy. I added a to do list which will be useful and will help do away with all the little slips of paper I keep in my pockets. I have added another gadget that I think will be useful below.

OutYard - Downloads Searchgreat free widgetsWidgetbox

Thing 27 Twitter

2009-06-04T09:18:00.002-05:00

I have a Twitter account and I have actually used it. The last conference I went to used tweets extensively and it was kind of funny to sit in a conference session and see the tweet that someone sent about the very thing I was seeing and hearing. That said, I still need to pay attention to speakers and if I am distracted by tweets or emails or anything else, I might as well stay home. I can see the use for tweets—for example if both my husband and I used them at the mall, I wouldn’t spend so much time looking for him, but at this point in my life, I will probably just wander around. If this becomes really big in the future, forget I said this.

Thing 26 Join the 23 Things Ning

2009-06-04T09:16:00.001-05:00

I joined Ning in the 1st round and posted the emblem on my page. That is pretty much where I left it. This time I went back in, updated my information, posted my picture, and responded to someone’s posting. While I can see how useful it would be to use with some ongoing group, I probably won’t use it much for this group. In the past I was part of a Yahoo study group for Milwaukee’s library school comprehensive exam. We were a cohesive group brought together by the fear of failing our final exam and wasting all the time and money put into our MLIS classes. These groups and the means of communication have very definite value in the context of the need. Otherwise, it is just another place among many to look at every day.

Thing 25 Bloggers' Toolkit

2009-05-12T10:37:00.010-05:00

Gadgets are really fascinating. These little bits of code that do so many different things. I could have spent all day looking at them. I am adding the code for the "bitty browser."

This allows anyone to do a web search right from my post. I don't know how useful it will be, but there you have it. I also considered a Wikipedia search gadget and saw another gadget that would display a video stream directly from my webcam if I had one. I would not particularly enjoy that, but I am sure some people might.

I put up and took down several widgets before I left the bitty browser because I did not like the amount of advertising in some of the code. I know it is free, but I like it simple.

Thing 24 Refresh Your Blog

2009-05-08T15:12:00.003-05:00

I have not done much with my blog since I finished Thing 23. I have blogged on other blogs and read other blogs, but don't do much with my own blog. I do see the value of blogs, but either I am not organized enough or don't care enough to do it myself. I have thought that it would be fun to have my mystery reader group blog about the our books, but that is as far as it went.

I have updated my page some and need to find out how to get the first 23 things off my front page, but I am ready to go. On to Thing 25!

Ready for 24 Things

2009-01-23T14:56:00.002-06:00

I just saw the announcement for more things and am gearing up for another round.

Thing 23

2008-04-06T20:32:00.002-05:00

The 23 Things definitely took longer than I thought they would. It was easy to get side-tracked and spend a lot of time on YouTube or just following interesting links. But it was just so much fun to actually get things to work in the blog and it helped a lot to write about what I learned. I think one of the most useful things is the file converter. People are always bringing me odd files that they can't open.

As others have said, the Things made me explore things I never would have and did things I never thought I could. Thanks for a great program.

Thing 22

2008-04-06T20:21:00.003-05:00

It will be a challenge to keep up with what I have learned. My goal is to incorporate one or two Things into our library website. In addition, I bookmarked a bunch of Things that I will go back to when I am done (using Google bookmarks that I can get to from any computer). I will also use my Google Reader to keep up on news and new technology. I feel much more daring and empowered than I did before I started.

Thing 21 Other Social Networking

2008-04-06T18:26:00.001-05:00

Just before I finished library school, I joined a Yahoo group to study for my comprehensive examination. That was the smartest thing I have ever done. So even though I had done my entire degree online, I developed a close sense of community with the others in the last six months--a feeling, I am sure, born of the extreme terror of flunking the comprehensive exam and wasting two years of classes. By the time I went to Milwaukee to take the exam, I felt I knew a lot of the other students because of our shared terror. So I really like the idea of interest based groups. You start out with something in common. I have also used Web Junction which I think is a great resource for learning about all kinds of library related topics.

Ning is really easy to use and I like the interest groups it has. I have bookmarked some that I really want to delve into more deeply. I am especially interested in the Academic Libraries and Library 2.0/Web 2.0 group because it looks like it gets into some of the technical issues of Web 2.0.

Thing 20 Facebook and MySpace

2008-04-06T17:27:00.002-05:00

This is the Thing I was looking forward to the least. MySpace and Facebook always sounded like they are just for young people. It just seems so "high school" to invite friends and then wait for them to approve you. That said, I continued with the assignment.

In Facebook I joined the American Library Association Members, the Library 2.0 Interest Group, and the Librarians and Facebook Group. ALA updated their profile a week ago. Library 2.0 updated their profile 5 months ago and the Librarians and Facebook Group have not updated their profile for the last 12 months. I joined these mostly because the link was right on the 23 Things page. I have since noticed that it is easy to find groups to join, so if I were really interested, I could join some that are more meaningful to me.

I read a couple of online articles that suggest that MySpace and Facebook are losing some of their popularity due to things like being assaulted by advertisers and marketers. See
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/networking_sites_myspace_faceb.html
Others suggest that application developers have flooded Facebook with too many applications and have been bothering users with messages to try their apps. See
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/have_facebook_apps_peaked_in_popularity.php
Young people have a tendency to lose interest in things when adults show too much interest. It's like when a parent helps with a child's science project so much that the child loses all interest and the project really belongs to the parent.

I looked at a few MySpace library pages and see that they provide links to things on their library websites that they think will interest young people. One library had a catalog search on the page too. It's just another form of advertising and it goes to where the young people are, so that should be very effective.

Thing 19 Podcasts

2008-04-06T15:04:00.002-05:00

I listened to some political podcasts and then I listened to some of the ones posted on other 23 Things blogs. I really like the NPR podcasts and News from Lake Wobegon. The podcasts themselves are very easy to create and access. Having just finished an online degree, I can see many uses for them in distance education. I am not inspired to making my own podcast yet, but I will try to get some on my mp3 player.

Thing 18 YouTube

2008-04-06T14:48:00.004-05:00

One of the first videos I ever saw on YouTube was Michael Richards having a meltdown in response to some hecklers. I also remember reading a cartoon about a teenager who said he fell down in the lunchroom and spilled his tray of food all over himself. He friend replied, "yeah, I know. I saw it on YouTube." Because phone cameras are so ubiquitous these days, no one can get away with anything. I am sure everyone agrees that this is both good and bad. I enjoyed looking through the videos, old commercials and the march of the librarians. I was at ALA last year, but did not see myself nor did I recognize any of the librarians in the video.

My favorite video is also from ALA last year. It is Dewey Decimators Book Cart Drill Team - MLA 2007. I take part in a drill team here, but these guys are great! I hope you enjoy it.

Thing 17 Elm Databases

2008-04-06T14:20:00.001-05:00

The Elm databases are a great resource for Libraries and people in Minnesota. Many libraries would never be able to afford such a variety of easy to use, reliable information sources. The databases help librarians answer their users' questions. In addition, the information is available online 24/7. Features like RSS feeds, emailing capabilities, and web page creation facilitate collaboration between users. Moreover, teaching our students about these reliable information sources helps them with critical thinking. They will be less like to try Google and Wikopedia for their research if they have better options.

Thing 16 Student 2.0 Tools

2008-04-06T12:41:00.004-05:00

At the state fair last summer, I volunteered at the Minitex booth and Research Project Calculator was one of the tools that we demonstrated. Everyone who saw it was quite impressed and said they would show it to their children and students and encourage them to use it. We also have it as Assignment Calculator on our Library web site. The staff in the tutoring department on campus think that it is a very useful tool. They work with students who just don't know where to begin when they are faced with a writing assignment. The steps really help the students to approach the assignment in a methodical way and gives them resources to use at each step. This is a link to our Assignment Calculator

For myself, I am giving a presentation at a conference in August. While I have a general idea of what I am going to say, this will help me make it more complete. I have already entered my dates and signed up for email reminders. I think it is a great tool.

Thing 15 Games

2008-04-06T11:38:00.004-05:00

I tried the Pirate game, but didn't get it to load-maybe there were already too many pirates online on Sunday morning. So I turned to Second Life. I have seen several demonstrations for Second Life, one of which showed learning applications and one by someone who just played the game. The one who played the game did so for at least twenty hours a week and she was married with children, employed, and probably spent other time online doing email and other things like the rest of us. I am mindful and worried about those who spend more time in virtual interactions than in real interactions. I am always preaching moderation to my children. That said, I can see the uses for Second Life. It can be used for distance learning; classes can be presented in a virtual classroom in Second Life. I can imagine a person with disabilities attending the class and not feeling any different from other students as apposed to how different they may feel in a face to face class.
I also found an article about a free tool for educators for creating 360 virtual reality rooms in second life. The article can be found at VRR Demo

My photo is from a gathering in Second Life which imposes avatars imposed on the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago.

Thing 14 Library Thing

2008-04-05T22:17:00.002-05:00

This is very easy to use. I wish I had time to do my personal collection, but it would be great for sharing titles with reader friends and people in my book club. Libraries are using it for new book lists and reader advisory. I didn't try it, but it looks like one can import lists into Library Thing also. Here is a link to my books: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/plawre

Thing 13 Productivity Tools

2008-04-05T21:33:00.006-05:00

PageFlakes was very easy to use as were iGoogle and MyYahoo. I am already using iGoogle and MyYahoo, so I didn't set up an account on PageFlakes. We use shared Outlook calendars at work and I put my personal stuff in there too. I can see where these things would be useful for collaboration outside of work or for people who don't have something like Outlook available.
Instead of to do lists, I often flag messages to follow up and make tasks lists in Outlook. It works very well. Outlook also has a notes feature like sticky notes.
The tool I liked the best is the Zamzar site. We often have to convert file formats for students in our library. The most frequent is Microsoft Works documents to Word and .docx to .doc. It will be very useful.

Thing 12

2008-04-05T21:12:00.002-05:00

I looked at Digg, Reddit, etc. and wasted some time looking at what other people on these sites are sharing from news. I don't think I would use this for myself, but it would be interesting if I had some time to spend looking at what others have rated.
I found some great podcasts on technology that I would like to listen to, but I would be interested in them regardless of how they were rated.

Thing 9 Online Collaboration Tools

2008-04-05T20:50:00.003-05:00

I accidently skipped Thing 9, so this is out of order.

Google documents was much easier for me to use because I have used it quite a bit but just for myself. I had a bit of trouble allowing someone else to edit my document at first, but we figured it out.
I think the Founding Fathers would be shocked that other people could get in and edit their prose.

Thing 11

2008-04-05T20:03:00.003-05:00

I can definitely see uses for Del.icio.us tags and bookmarks. I am forever wishing I had my bookmarks if I am away from my computer and have some spare time to work on research. Several years ago I had a class where the instructor had us use MURL which was an early bookmarking site. It worked very well for organizing and exporting lists of bookmarks for class projects. I did not create a Del.icio.us account because I cannot bear another account and password. I intend to investigate IGoogle bookmarks since I have a Google email account, blog account, and other Google stuff.
After seeing what other libraries are doing, I am wondering if I can use it to create a site map for the web site. I am going to look into that soon.

Thing 10

2008-04-05T18:33:00.004-05:00

Wikis are a really great tool. We have one set up for our staff intranet and allow anyone to edit once they have their supervisor's permission and take a short instruction session on how to edit it and add content. Ours is restricted to on campus use and registered users.
While it is fairly easy to edit pages, setting them up and formatting them can be tricky. Wikis do not use all standard html code and users need to learn some different formatting codes. On the other hand, allowing more people to edit gives them a sense of ownership and collaboration. I think the content gets updated more frequently and is more relevant.

Thing 8 and 9

2008-04-05T18:18:00.004-05:00

I managed to miss my Thing 9 post and couldn't figure out how to get it in order. So I am adding Thing 9 to my title but my post for 9 actually appears between Thing 11 and Thing 12. Doh!

I see both personal uses for these tools and uses for libraries. Slide sharing is handy for people who travel and do presentations. I have been to conferences where the speaker forgot his/her presentation and was scrambling at the last minute trying to get it or recreate it. Slide sharing would be one more way to make sure you have your presentation when you arrive at a conference.
Picture sharing like Flickr is handy for families spread around the world. Lazybase looks like it would be very easy to post a list to a person's own website. I could make a list of DVDs that we own and share them with my kids.
One tool I have used is eFolio. It is easy to sign up for and easy to set up. I have to update my resume every year and keep track of my professional development. This site makes it extremely easy to do.
There is a huge variety of Web 2.0 tools available and something will be useful to everyone if you can take the time to look.

Thing 7

2008-04-01T17:49:00.002-05:00

There is a lot to cover under this topic.

My library uses the Outlook program for email and calendaring functions. We have set up shared calendars to schedule things like rooms and equipment. We also have shared contacts and distribution lists. We communicate so much that some days I cannot get through all my mail and just read a few sentences of some of the longer messages. So in some ways, email is very efficient, but in others, it has hampered productivity.

Our library does online or chat reference through QuestionPoint, an OCLC program. For that reason, we have never explored other ways of doing it. Instant messaging would probably not give us the transcripts we have of each session or the statistics.

I have used text messaging on my phone once at a concert. However, our campus has the ability to send text messages to our phones in case of an emergency. I have yet to set that up, but intend to do so soon. I also took a class at one time where the professor required us all to install Yahoo Instant Messenger and to use it at least once to send him a text message. It was a good way to communicate with him because I could see when he was logged in and then I could expect an immediate reply.

I have attended Minitex webinars in the past. It sure beats driving for a couple of hours to attend a workshop that can be done in one hour, so I think they are just great.

More Thing 6

2008-03-23T22:09:00.005-05:00

I used ImageChef to make a license plate-not very original but easy to do.

Thing 6

2008-03-23T21:24:00.003-05:00

I used Big Huge Labs to make a trading card out of my granddaughters.

Thing 5 Mashups

2008-03-23T20:54:00.003-05:00

I used Splashr to make a presentation of leaves from Flickr photos. It was really easy to add the code to this page and would make a fun, attractive to present my own photos. Click on the link below to see it.
Leaves

Thing 4 Flickr

2008-03-02T21:35:00.003-06:00

I have shared photos on Flickr before, so it wasn't new to me. I like the idea of sharing and saving photos online, but wonder about the long term use of it.

I love to travel in Mexico so I searched Flickr for Mexico. I looked through a lot of photos taken in New Mexico before I stumbled on this photo of Cerra de la Silla by Carlos Brava. I have actually been to Monterrey, Mexico where this is located and even climbed the mountain.

Here is the link: http://flickr.com/photos/miedo/371675469/

Thing 3 RSS Feed

2008-03-02T20:22:00.002-06:00

I have looked at RSS feeds before and found it pretty easy to set up the Google reader. I found some interesting technology feeds that led me astray for 45 minutes just now so I hope to go back and look at them more sometime. I also added some of my co-workers feeds so I can see if they update their blogs.

For a library, an RSS feed would be useful for their news page. Our library does our news that way, but we struggle to update our news often enough to make it worthwhile for our readers. RSS capabilities with the OPAC would be useful for our users-they could get an alert when the new book by their favorite author arrives.

Thing 2

2008-02-22T12:31:00.002-06:00

I enjoyed Stephen Abram's talk even though the "right in the face" video was a little distracting. He is right about finding time to do 23things--everyone can find time if they make it a priority. What I noticed about some of the 2.0 things he uses is that they are personally useful to him. For example, he uses Skype and Instant Messenger to keep in touch since he is "in the air" so much of the time. I think that is what we need to keep in mind when we think about using Library 2.0 and web 2.0 technology. If we can show how it is useful to our users, then they will use it.

First Blog Post

2008-02-06T11:24:00.000-06:00

I have my blog account and my avatar so I am ready to go. I am hoping to get a more in depth view of some of these web 2.0 technologies and see whether they might be useful in my library's setting.

Thing 1. Blog and Avatar

2008-02-05T17:41:00.002-06:00

Four of us are doing things on a stick together. So far some things are easy to do without following instructions exactly. Other things like exporting the avatar from Yahoo were not as intuitive and we had to find the link in the things instructions before we could find the Yahoo page on how to export. We are going to continue to meet and discuss the things, so I think it will be a learning activity and a team building activity.