Thing 47 Evaluation

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

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

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

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

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.