HAPPY NEW YEAR

I thought I had posted a Merry Christmas on my blog, but I guess I didn't. Hard to believe that it will be 2008 tomorrow. We are closer to 2010 than 2000...makes me feel even older. Wondering if there will be anything exciting happen in 2008. Last year was a very busy year for my family. My grandchild turned 1, one son graduated from college, and one son got married, and my dad turned 80..."slow down, ya move too fast...got to make the morning last...skipping down the cobblestones.........feeling groovy..."

Week 10 Post 23 The end is only the beginning...

In a way, I'm glad this is over, only because I need some time to digest it all. I have an increased understanding of how all this technological "stuff" works now. Helps me feel more comfortable talking about it with customers. However, leaving for my son's wedding and my dad's birthday in the middle of the 23 things was a little stressful, so I appreciate the additional time to complete them.
I'm glad we got to learn how to create a blog and access others. It was amazing to learn that there are soooooooo many blogs out there. Discovering the many different RSS feeds and how to subscribe to them will keep me better informed as I add or change my subscription. It was good to know that there are other options out there for Novelist, like the Library Thing. We have a lot of customers who like to listen to books and music. Learning about the downloadable media options will help me assist those people. I think Zoho was a great discovery, too. It's something I wish I would've known about sooner, but now that I know about it I can tell others.
I think my favorite thing to learn was Flickr and how to post pictures to my blog. I plan on starting a family blog at some point so I will be able to post pictures and links that will make the blog much more interesting.
I'm looking forward to customers asking me questions about this training as they embark on the journey themselves. It is a journey that may never end...because it has opened the door to the beginning of new and exciting discoveries.

Week 9 Post 22 Overdrive? Let's go!!

VRROOOOM!! I looked into HCPL's EBranch Overdrive, LibriVox, and WOWio. I like knowing I have "A World of Free Books" with WOWio and I can search on the home page for the one I'm looking for. It was visually appealing. I liked the colorful book covers. "Free Books - Free Minds" Gotta have a hook.
The LibriVox site was not as visually attractive, but I liked the straightforwardness of the links. I also liked that they allowed you to listen to sample readings of their books.
The HCPL EBranch Overdrive combined the things I liked on both sites, the straightforward links and the visual appeal. Having the list of compatible devices was important for people who want to download from their computer. When will the ipod be an option?
I'm hoping one day I will utilize this Free Book and Music feature, but have not found the need for it at this time.
GREAT JOB, HCPL EBRANCH!

Am I coming or going? Week 9

Just wondering...cuz I'm in the home stretch.

Week 9 Post 21 Podcast, Smodcast

I went to Podcastalley and searched for a podcast using the word Library in the search field. Several choices appeared, but I chose the one titled "Open Stacks". http://openstacks.net/os/index.xml
I clicked on "get podcast" and it asked for downloading a software aggregator. Which one? Well, I tried and never got anywhere. I looked at other podcast genres, but didn't try to subscribe or get any of them. I'll have to ask someone who has already done this and try again. Talk about feeling lost...but after all, Scarlet, "Tomorrow's another day."
OKAY! I went to my bloglines account and copied and pasted the url above and subscribed to the "Open Stacks" podcast...was that what I was supposed to do? Do I need to post it here...tomorrow is another day!
Today I read other people's blog for this and realized I've done what I was supposed to do. TA-DUM!

Week 9 Post 20 /You Tube, I Tube...we all Tube...

I wasn't too excited about the videos I viewed. Mostly a waste of time, but I could see how it could be a good outlet for educational videos. Learning how to play guitar, or make a craft, or even a book discussion. I suppose the comedy has its place and the animal antics always do, but I think a person could get addicted to watching these and forget how to communicate well with others.
SMILE!
The video I chose was of a guy from Tulsa doing some tumbling to music.




http://www.youtube.com/v/K1VMiTyBS6A&rel=1

ihcpl 23 things - ZOHO

I'm supposed to create a document for Ihcpl 23 things. I'm wondering why this won't go back to black. Aha! It worked! Now I need to find my way home. "Toto, there's no place like home." My 80 year-old dad is a Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland fanatic, so I just thought I'd add that quote. This is pretty cool, so far. I like the fact that it tells you how many words are in the document when you save it. Now I guess I need to try and export this document to my blog.
YEA!!! It worked. We must've done something right, Toto.
I tried Google Docs and thought I published to my blog, but I think it was set on Blogger instead of Blogspot. I may try again because it might be easier using Google Docs because I already have a gmail account with Google. I already have so many accounts and so many passwords, I'll never keep up with them all.

Week 8 Post 19 Web-based apps: ZOHO

Not sure what happened, but I guess I posted my Zoho document to my blog before I posted this blog.

Week 8 /18b Socializing

I'm back from my trip to see my dad and siblings. I was away from internet, away from traffic, away from noise, and it was awesome. The skies were clear, the mountains had snow on 'em, and the horses ran free, literally. Beautiful, wild horses. Needless to say, they didn't want to socialize with me. I don't blame 'em. Anyway...back to the social networking....
I looked on several networks, but I think I enjoyed the dogster the most. I'll tell my daughter about it when she comes home from college for Thanksgiving. She may already know about it since she works at a kennel and a dog shelter. I haven't really gone back to Facebook to post anything because I haven't had time...and like I said, I was away from the computer the whole week I was gone. I seriously don't think anybody wants to read what I have to say anyway. However, I think I might start a family blog once I'm finished with these 23 Things. I've actually decided I will a make it my 24th Thing to do. This way the family can keep in touch. Savvy? (Pirate influenced) I looked at Ning. It seemed very user friendly. I didn't join, but may look into using that one for my family. I also forwarded the job openings to my son since he just graduated with a BS in Digital Media. Probably not what he's looking for since he'd rather be in the music industry, but ya never know. NING may fit...runNING, sunNING and swimNING. (oops) LOL

Week 8 Post 18 Social Networking

I watched what I was supposed to watch, and I read what I as supposed to read, and I joined Facebook because my kids are in the network. I haven't had the chance to look at the other social networking sites, but I will when I return and tell ya what I think. But now I will be away socializing with my dad (face-to-face) celebrating his 80th birthday with my siblings.

The Newsweek article about Facebook was interesting. I didn't realize there are 110 million active monthly users. Amazing! And maybe I should've joined My Space instead of Facebook since David Card, senior analyst for Jupiter Research seems to think "My Space is glam and Facebook is geek." Do you have an opinion?

Parade of Avatars

I added my avatar to the parade. I bet we are a great-looking bunch of characters! I look forward to watching the parade.
I will be away from computers again, out where cell phones don't work unless you stand in just the right spot. My dad is turning 80, so we are gonna party.

Week 7 Post 17 TECHNOLOGY?

We are on a fast train to somewhere and if we don't know where we're going we are gonna be lost when we get there. Is that profound, or what?

I'm glad HCPL is helping us become more technologically informed. I don't want to be left behind because I don't know what's out there. AND THERE IS SOOOOOO MUCH OUT THERE. But here's my opinion, for what it's worth: There's a lot of connecting and communicating going on, but what happened to a good 'ole fashioned face-to-face conversation? I'm thinking our young people will be less apt to "stop by" and visit someone if they grow up doing so much communicating on the web and texting on cell phones. Face-to-face relationships could become almost non-existent. And perhaps they already are for some people. Sad. Sad. Why would my kids rather order pizza on-line than to call and talk to someone? However,
I do like the fact that my kids and their cousins who live miles away from each other can communicate on My Space or FaceBook. I grew up not knowing any of my cousins because we moved away. My kids and their cousins share their lives with each other so that if and when they ever get together they will know a little bit about each other. Our society is not like it was years ago when families lived and died in the same town. Perhaps the technology that may have taken us away from each other, has also allowed us to stay in communication with each other, whether by phone, email, or photo cam.
I posted on another blog. Seems we have the same concerns about face-to-face communication with all the ipods, mp3's and laptops being used.
More later.....

Week 7 Post 16 Wiki Wiki

I had always wondered if the word "wiki" was Hawaiian. In Hawaii, the buses at the airport that take people from one airline to another are called wiki wiki's. (easy-to-catch and quick-to-get-you-there) The wiki wiki bus schedules are set. They run every 10 minutes, but where the buses stop depends on who is on the bus and where they need to go. Whoever is at the spot labeled Wiki Wiki can be picked up and taken where they need to go...as long as it's on the route. I guess that sounds like a wiki...? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
I might never have my own wiki, but it was good to know that they can be passworded. I wouldn't want just anyone editing MY stuff... I registered my blog with the iHCPL wiki today. I think wikis are good for sharing ideas and opinions, but obviously not for accurate research. Library employees can share ideas about community involvement and programming, about displays that were a hit, or about how something may have bombed. I guess the book lover's wiki would be a good one for people looking for new reading materials, or something like http://hcpl.pbwiki.com/
Wikis are for people who have a NEED to voice their ideas and opinions, and an avenue for them to let other people know what they think. Wikis are for blah-blah-blah-blog-blogging.

Week 6 Post 15 Library/Web 2.0

"A term used to describe a set of concepts" like a boat headed for disaster is one that discards something that works, like oars. Without a "just in case" mentality, what happens when the electricity goes out and the web cannot be accessed? On vacation I visited my home town and the power went out right in the middle of a very important email. It was out for over an hour, but what if it had been a typhoon and the power had gone out for weeks? Some things would have to come to a stand still...while others could continue as usual. Generators will become more valuable as the technology age continues to grow.
Our library has become more like a community center. Wendy Schultz stated in her article, "To a Temporary Place in Time", that "Libraries are not merely in commumities, they are communities: they preserve and promote community memories;..." We have toddler and infant times that have outgrown our parking lot, and our Teen Central has taken off like we'd hoped. Also, a lot of our patrons come in for computer usage, so for people who don't have a computer, the library can be a lifeline to family, friends, and Ebay.
http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/6.htm
I recently read a book titled, The Ice Cream Maker: an inspiring tale about making quality the key ingredient in everything you do, by Subir Chowdhury. I would recommend it. It goes right along with this idea of "meeting the customer's needs". SMILE!
http://www.librarything.com/work/1481756/recommendations

Week 6 Post 14 "Learning 2.0"

At first I was lost. Then I was found. 175,000 new blogs each day?? I believe it! Technorati is an interesting experience. When I started this session, I wasn't sure what to expect. When I looked in the advanced search for "Learning 2.0" the blog posts results were 500. "Tags only" were 105, and blog directory was 364...that's if I did it right. When I went to top tags, I found one titled "23 Things". It was posted by Teachmenow and I noticed this was from someone at HPL. Seems like there's a lot of "23 Things" going around.
I liked exploring the Popular Blogs. I was surprised to see top video and movie blogs, as well as top news blogs. Anything can be found if you know where to look.
And this web crawler thing kinda creeps me out. How long before secure sites are no longer secure?

Week 6 Post 13 Tags are Del.icio.us

I had already signed up for an account with de.licio.us, but hadn't really used it much. This session has taught me that there are a lot more choices than I knew about. I always wanted to save sights to go back to later, but didn't know how, other than My Favorites. I used to just print out whatever I wanted to read later and put it in a manila file folder. So needless to say, I have files and files of stuff. Of course I can't find what I'm looking for half the time, because I got overwhelmed with so many file folders and so much paper. Hopefully this will help me be better organized. "Time is money." RIGHT?

Week 5 Post 12

I couldn't access the Library Elf site last week. I tried several times and the server was down. DUH! I signed up with Library Elf today...only because I had to. It seems redundant because HCPL does such a great job sending me notices already. I will probably go in and delete my elf account eventually. It was really easy to sign up, and I would recommend it to anybody who doesn't have the great library system that we have.
Nov. 1, 2007: BACK-IT-UP....I got the notice from Library Elf and it has a lot more on it than I realized; and the fact that I can put all my family's accounts on it is much more helpful than having to check each individual account.

Week 5 Post 11

This Library Thing was kinda fun...sometimes it's hard to keep up with books in a series, so I was able to list them in my catalog. I didn't even know the "Light" series had a fourth book until I finished the third one. If you want to find out what it might be like to lose all electrical power, including cell phones, cars, and even water, this series by Terri Blackstock is the one to read. It reveals what people can be like when faced with losing almost everything but life itself. I'm still waiting for the 4th book in the series. Not sure if we have Dawn's Light at HCPL yet...and can't find out until the system comes back up. What happened to..."We've come a long way, baby"? I guess for now we are back where we started. Smile.

Avatar Week 5 Post 10

Here I am, back from the wedding and our vacation. Now the only problem I see is to maintain my fall color, ie TAN.
Creating an avatar was fun. I just opened my yahoo account and it was easy to create one. I needed a little help in exporting the image, but here it is...it looks just like me. LOL
Last night the CSI New York TV program was about avatars and Second Life. I remember hearing about the second life virtual world at the training I went to for HCPL. It's pretty amazing what computers can do...almost a little scary.
Fototrix was cool. It will be helpful when I do scrapbooking. I can add text to a photo before printing it out. All I can say is "We've come a long way, baby."

Vacation

The wedding and Maui were both beautiful. I can't wait to post some pictures. You will all be jealous!! I haven't had a chance to blog until now. I hope I can catch up with everybody who has been blogging all along. I just found the www.ihcpl.blogspot.com and then the computer started freezing up. Internet is not that great here. Guam is hot and humid...worse than south Texas. I'll be glad to get back to cooler weather. Until then...aloha and hafa adai.

Week 4 post 10 Whatsa Widget? AHA!!

Scrapbooking is one of my hobbies. I thought this would be a nice addition to my blog. Is there anybody out there who likes to scrapbook, too?

Week 4 Post 9 Finding Feeds

This has been very interesting. I actually went to Technorati first and found several blog posts I was interested in. They ranged from conservative to bizaar. Then I opened the 200 most popular feeds on the Bloglines account and that's where I found several of the ones I subscribed to. I can see how someone could sit in front of a computer all day and not even realize the time ticking away. There is so much information out there. Now I just need to find the time to read the ones on my Bloglines list. I have from top news stories to dogs, cooking and the weather, music and shopping. What more could a girl ask for?
I decided to drop the Podcasting subscription and went with the Gizmodo feed. I guess after spending some time on these I will determine which ones to keep. BTW, it's alot better than a magazine subscription since it's FREE!!

Week 4 Post 8 "Really Simple"

I'm looking forward to learning about RSS feeds so that I can introduce this feature to my adult children and show them how technologically savvy I am. (heehee) I joined www.bloglines.com today and will work on subscribing to some. I don't know how anybody has the time to read all the blogs and analyze or assimilate all that information. I feel like we are inundated with information. What a different time this is we live in...encyclopedias are definitely a thing of the past.
I have felt overwhelmed looking at what is available out there. I'll have to choose. So many blogs being posted and read....how does one keep up?

Week 3 Post 7

This scene influenced the Guam seal that appears on the Guam flag. I tried playing around with Pixer but didn't like any results other than this grayscale.

Week 3 Post 6

Week 3 Post 4

Week 3 Post 6

Week 3 Post 3

Everybody and the dog are praying that I get through this ihcpl training. JK

Week Three Post 3

Sometimes I feel like the cat......By the time I get all this ihcpl stuff figured out then I might feel like the dog. LOL The ability to use the http://www.flickr.com account will be beneficial at work and at home. This picture came to me via an email from a friend.

Live! Laugh! Learn!

Living is for a lifetime! (Smile) Laughing is for a lifetime. Learning is for a lifetime. Enjoy the life you've been given.
Since I enjoyed learning so much, I always thought I could be a college student indefinitely...but reality set in and I had to finish my degree. (with 132 credits) I was a teacher myself for awhile so I got to experience the other side of the classroom, and I didn't really like it as much as being the student. I think mostly because there were students in class who didn't really want to be there. I just don't understand that. One should take advantage of those who have knowledge and wisdom to share. It can always be discarded if it doesn't line up with your beliefs. How many of us adults have regrets about our schooling? There's a lot of blame to go around...and something to be said for maturity.
Parents and educators alike should read, The Way They Learn, by Cynthia Tobias. It opened my eyes to the different learning styles and helped me understand my own learning style as well as others'. Keep learning, keep laughing, and most of all, keep living. You have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share with others.

Privacy/Internet safety?

This is an interesting subject for a blog. I think the definition of "privacy" by Brandeis was insightful, because some people do just want to be left alone. We have the "right" to be left alone, but every time you turn around "they" are telling us to access their website for more information...like recalls, traffic alerts, and possible dangers to my children and grandchildren. And...in order to find out that information I have to go on-line to their website, ie KHOU.com, to read about it. That in itself creates a memory cache for someone to access. However, I was glad to read that there is a way to clear out our memory cache, to erase our Internet search history. YEAH!
Most of my spare time is spent with family. I am a mom for four, afterall, and now a grandmom to one. My kids are all over 21, and they do spend a lot of time on the Internet. They have all been informed of the known dangers. It's the unknown dangers that worry me. Too fast and too furious is this information age...I'm just hanging on for the ride, and having a great time.