Library Thing

This is the link to my Library Thing catalog: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Cjestme
This excites me with its potential. In LATI, Michael Gannon talked to us about Readers' Advisories and gave us notebooks to record what we read. Here, you can list what you read AND easily search, with tags you create yourself. As time allows, I'd like to build up a Library Thing library of titles to recommend to patrons, using tags that relate to typical queries. I think I'm gonna like this one!

Sometimes we get lost in the everyday, everyday, routine. Now and then, it's nice to pause and take in the effect the library has on the community and on literacy.

Thing 9

The link to my bloglines is in the previous post. Like others have posted, this is time consuming, just setting up the feeds. Trying to keep up with the feeds is going to be even more time consuming!

I found the easiest, quickest way to subscribe to feeds was to copy the URL and paste it in the search browser at blogline, then choose from the drop-down menu "subscribe to URL."

I didn't like, though, that one URL could end up with a half dozen or more feeds, with no description to tell you which feed would be of more interest. Still, if this is the hardest part of 23 things, I didn't find it all that hard, so guess that's a good thing.

RSS feed link

This links to my RSS feeds:

http://www.bloglines.com/public/Cjestme

F.Y.I.

I went exploring today, checking out some of the other participants. Harford County has some great YouTube videos clearly illuminating Web 2.0, RSS and WIKIs.

Week 4

RSS, Merlin, etc.

As a kid back in the dark ages before computers were common, I thought it would be neat to have a ham radio and be able to hear broadcasts from around the world. Now, a couple clicks and I can get anything from anywhere, instantly updated.

I am dutifully waiting for MERLIN to approve my account, but meanwhile I have set up RSS feeds on the blogline. One of my feeds is the Daily Show. I love the Daily Show and the Colbert Report!

Week 3 Photos, etc.

Week 3 Photos and Images:

Part of me likes playing with this photo technology and part of me wonders if maybe there are more important things to do. I'm reminded of a cartoon I had posted near my home computer for years. It was of kids excitedly drawing a snowman scene on their computer...while snow fell on a snowy landscape outside.

This photo technology is amazing - in a mere matter of minutes, I took photos from a disk we bought from Atlantis Submarine Tours in Hawaii, downloaded them to my computer, uploaded them to Flickr, found a link from Flickr to a photo activity page, created the activity, downloaded it to my computer and uploaded it to this blog. It's fun, and the results are great. But instead of interacting with a computer program, maybe it would be healthier to interact in the real, physical world by going for a walk and taking note of Nature's world.

BTW, the Atlantis Submarine Tour takes you 100' below the Pacific, to a coral reef. It was one of many highlights from the trip, and instead of just selling you your photo, they sell you a CD loaded with fun stuff, including a lots of photos. (Sneaks is hiding in my bag. He got to ride in the sub, but seating was too tight to take his picture.)

My avatar

What can I say, not a very exotic avatar! My husband and I love to travel and and enjoy seeing the country (USA and Canada) via camping. We have "touched wheel" in 41 states and many Canadian provinces. P.S., I like how thin the avatar is!

Weeks 1-3 Intro, Blogging, Flickr

Hi!

How is everyone progressing with 23 Things?

Of course Week 1's highlight was Thing 2 (reminds me of Dr. Seuss' Thing 1 and Thing 2!), the 7 1/2 habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.

Probably the easiest habit for me is the second one: Accept Responsibility for Your Own Learning. I've always enjoyed learning new things, and luckily married someone who also enjoys learning. When our kids were in school, we praised their grades, but emphasized understanding the concepts they were learning rather than just completing the assignments for a grade.

Habit 1 is probably the challenging one, only not so much keeping the end in mind as breaking that ending image into goals. For instance, if I'm organizing a storage space, I'm motivated throughout the project by a very mindful image of the end result. I can "see" how to make best use of the space, how the space will function once organized, and how to proceed. I encounter obstacles when it comes to setting incremental goals toward the end.

The same challenge applies to learning. I can, for example, "see" the end of the 23 Things project. I know that this project will enhance existing skills while creating new ones. I'm eager to learn all that is offered, and I can easily determine obstacles and how to overcome them, toolbox needs, etc. Setting a goal, however, for the Learning Contract, is a bit harder. I'll probably decide to go for a broader goal rather than a specific one.

The result of Week 2 Thing 3 is what you are reading. I think it is easier to set up the blog than to write in it regularly, but I will try. Week 2 Thing 4 has been done, though on a Friday night so I won't know for a few days if the registration went through. I've also downloaded the 23 Things Tracking Log to my memory stick so I can carry it to/from work and home, ELK/POR, and whatever computer is available in Childrens. I think the instructions for filling in the Tracking Log are as clear as mud. This seems odd; directions you have to read through a few times to make sense of them is a deterrent for a project designed to encourage us to explore new technology.

More fun was flirting with Week 3's activities. Flickr features amazing photographs! I only just started exploring the site, and I look forward to completing the week's activities.

Take care, and have fun!

Week 3, playing with Flickr/if you see a typo

Hi,

This isn't my cat, it is an image from Flicr, but it is what my cat likes to do. I thought I should tell you that ASAP in the event there are typos in any of my posts, or, worse, really strange posts. Incomplete posts, or those with lots of letters, dashes, dots, etc., are most likely the result of my cat.

My cat's name is Princess, a most appropriate name. She is the last survivor of a trio of cats adopted as kittens from the SPCA years ago, when my 3 kids were small. The other two, who were so close in color markings that they were probably siblings, died within months of each other. Princess enjoyed more than a decade of cuddling up with one or two other cats, and after their passing, she adopted me as their replacement.

As soon as I get home, she is next to me, hovering until I am ready to go to my room, an oversized MBR that includes my study area. She'll sleep on my desk - if I am lucky! When she wants attention, she'll walk across the keyboard and plop down on the mouse. Sometimes I have to shut her out of the room so I can finish a project. Sometimes, she is successful at so interfering with whatever I am typing that I have to start over or, to her delight, quit. So, if any of these posts seem strange, blame Princess!

Ode to a Blog

Week number one
Is almost done.
Now I'm in a fog
About this new blog.

I know what is this thing called blog,
I've not been sleeping like a log.
Just, what can I construe
Of interest to you?

I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Think of some way
Clever to write!

Or, maybe, type,
Something without hype.
Refreshing, witty, pensive too,
That's how I wish I blogged for you!

Ah well, the blog will proceed,
With 23 Things as the seed.
Words will come, whatever they be,
As we journey together, you and me.