Dream On Little Dreamer

#84: Writer Communities & Author Websites

2010-03-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

I must say that I have neverr contacted a favorite author or any author. I have noticed that alot of authors have their websites underneath their photo on the back inside cover or just underneath the breif info. of that peticular author. I have always been satisfied with knowing just that small piece of information about them. If I like their writing then that is all I need to know. The idea of a book being published based on popular vote does not make me have less faith in the material, but does make me question it a bit. If it still sounds interesting to me then by all means I would still read it. I have read books before that many people would tell me how excellent the story was and then when I read it I find it to be very boring. I have also read many books by the same author and have found many of them to be excellent and then some that I can't even finish reading because the story is not holding my interest.

# 83: Paper to Pixels (or e-ink)

2010-03-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

I totally prefer paper over pixels. There is just something comforting about have the book in hand while reading a story. I can totally put myself into the book when I am reading it, verse's through some other device. For some reason it just doesn't work for me. I have tried and can never finish reading the entire story. As for, price or availability I would rather wait a little longer for the requested material then to pay more for sooner and I would not pay the same price for a digital book as I would for a paper copy. Once again, it is about having that book in my hand.

I visited iFiction and I do like the idea of previewing before I pay. That way I know if it is something that I would really be interested in or not. I would be more likely to make the purchase knowing that it would be something that I would like to read. BUT...........I still like the real thing, call me old fashion : )

#82: Print on Demand

2010-03-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

After visiting the sites I found that some of the books can be cheaper and some are about the same. I liked what Xlibris had to offer especially the "take a look inside". It gave you a sneak preview of the contents of the book. I must say that I have never read any of books from either of the sites and I don't think that I ever would. I say that because my time is linited to how much I can read ever day, therefore I would prefer not taking my chances on something that has not gone through the traditional route of a company's financial backing.

I did enjoy what Lulu had to offer with publishing your own calendars, cookbooks, & photo books. NOW..........that is something that I would like to do. I also, thought that POD (print on demand) would be the way to go cost wise (especiallly if you where just starting out).

#81: Get Out Your Crystal Ball

2010-02-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

I don't agree that 3D will be like the switch to color. I personally do not care to wear the glasses and have found that watching something in 3D will cause me to get a severe headache and has also made me nauseated. I do think that the younger generation will adapt to it quickly.

I am not that quick to adapt to some of the new gadgets. A few years back my husband and I purchased our first flat screen HD television and now less then 3 years later we have noticed that there is an imagine that has burned into the screen. It is very annoying when they show a person's face where the image is burned, because it puts a shadow on the persons face. We also own a television (tube television) that is over 20 years old and it still has a crystal clear picture. So, much for new technology :( My favorite new gadget is my DVR, I have only had it now for 5 months and I do not know what I ever did without it : )

# 80: Movies

2010-02-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

I have watched an entire film on my computer before, but found that it is not something that I would do again. First of all I find it more comfortable form my sofa and it still allows me to do other things at the same time. Second, of all when I watch a movie I usually have one or more of my family members with me.

I viewed some of the sites for trailers on upcoming film, but I found that I would not use them, simply because my inter-net provider has the trailer viewing on the home page. It is very convenient.

We have satelite television and prefer buying the movies through pay per view. I think the only time that I would use one of these free based services would be to search for movie trailers.

#79: Television

2010-02-12T15:45:00.000-08:00

I have never used Hulu.com before, but after watching a couple of my favorite show on it, I became hooked. I must say that I prefer watching them on abc.com only because most of the shows that I watch are on abc. I was able to watch full episodes on both sites.

I have not ever watched a t.v. show on my cell phone only because the phone that I have now is not capable of that. In the future should I purchase such a phone I don't think that it would be something that I would do. Although I do see the advantages of having the option to do so, especially if you are waiting in a doctors office or the bus ride to work. I have never posted video's to a site.

#69 Database Researching

2010-01-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

REMINDER: #70 Genealogy is on blog prior to #67.

I used Ancestry.com for my search. The subject that I used was my father-in-law, from when he was in the military. He served in the U.S. World War 11. When he enlisted in the Army he was first stationed at Fort Hayes. It was interesting to find out that prior to his enlistment he was a skilled brick and stone mason, and tile setter. This was a piece of info that I never knew about my father-in-law.

#68: Detective Work

2010-01-31T12:59:00.000-08:00

I researched a few different oral history records from Texas. It was interesting to read some of the biographical notes. A few that I researched where Sam Houston, Houston Ship Channel, and Galveston Island (1915 Hurricane).

After going to Find A Grave the cemetery that I chose was Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum. It is the cemetery where Judy Garland is buried. The oldest burial that I found was 1931. The person was Lya DE Putti b. Jan. 10, 1896 Hungary, d. Nov. 27, 1931 New York. She was a actress of international silent films. Died of pneumonia following surgery to remove a chicken bone from her throat. Some of her credits in both Germany and America (1922) "Burning Soil", "Phantom", and "Othello". The arrival of sound ended her holly wood career. The photo to the right is of Lya De Putti.

# 67: Genealogy Genesis

2010-01-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

First, let me start out by saying that I accidentlly started with the #70 post first. Therefore, when you are reading my blog you will see that it goes from #70 to #67, #68, and then #69.

I have never studied my genealogy in the past, but have always been curious about doing so. My grand parents on my father side died before I was ever born and I have always wanted to know more about them. Several, years ago I came across some very old photo's in an old cedar chest of my parents. I discovered them after my father had passed away and my mother was never able to tell me who the people where, only that they where from my fathers side of the family. I am hoping in the next few modules I will be able to learn a way to research these photo's.

The first step that I would take would be visiting the library, I know from working there that we have many helpful books. Researching my last name and creating a family tree would be my second step and looking into obituaries and cemeteries would be the third.

Genealogy # 70: Genealogy 2.0

2010-01-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

I have set up an account with My Heritage and have made a celebrity collage, but when I try to post it to my blog it either says login failed or that I need to set up a blog. I will keep trying.

Well what do you know I was finally able to post the collage to my blog. I was entering the wrong info. into the blog user name. NOW..............that was fun, I am not sure that I agree with some of the celebrity match ups that was matched to my photo. With the exception of one, Linda Hamilton. In my younger years she starred on a show called Beauty and the Beast and I had alot of my family and friends tell me that we looked alike. So, that was a big surprise to see her photo matched with mine.

The Footnote page was pretty neat. I was amazed at what people are doing with footnote. Posting photos of news clips, letters, and even grave stones. I even discovered Jack Kerouac's famous scroll On the Road. I will definetly have to let my brother know about this site, as he is a big historical nut.

#78: Video

2010-01-22T15:54:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed both Truveo and Blinkx, but I preferred watching the videos on Truveo. Blinkx had more categories to choose from, I especially liked the one for kids. I have grand children and found that it would be a nice place to search for different games.

As someone who works in the library I have discovered that many of our patrons have difficulty with the on line catalog. I thought that would be a idea of actually having the video on the online catalog when a patron is trying to research it.

#77 : Images

2010-01-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

When I used ALLFREECLIPART I had to click 5 times in order to get to a color Santa, but it would have counted as 6 if I where to count the click to get to Christmas. I have enjoyed using Flickr, I was introduced to it for the first time when we did the very first blog of 21 things. I find it to be very user friendly when having to edit photo's. I also, thought that Photo Rogue was quite interesting. I was amazed by the idea that you could request for a photo of anything and they would try and make it happen. There where two on the home page that I thought to be spectacular, Jewelry and Crystal 029 and blainybackyard.

The illustration that I found from the clip art program was of a birthday cake, because we just celebrated the 5th birthday of our branch.

http://downloads.clipart.com/20380401jpg?t=ba43090639246189ef527ec7092bc4f9

#76: Sound Effects

2010-01-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

http://kessels.com/CatSounds/kitten2.wav

http://nhest.org/mdove.wav

http://www.worldtune.com/audio/treefrogs.au

http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/WAV_files/...20th_century_fox.wav

http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/WAV_files/...chevrolet.wav

http://simplythebest.net/sounds/WAV/WAV_files/...candy_bar.wav

#75: Google and Beyond

2010-01-08T15:33:00.000-08:00

I do think this will affect how I search in the future, even though the search for my 3rd choice was almost identical (Google & Yahoo). I was very surprised to see that all three of my queries ended up being Yahoo!, when the one I use most of the time is Google. I think I will try it again with three more queries, just to see if it comes out the same. Got me curious, now!!!

The #1 search engine on Hitwise (week ending 01/02/10) was google.com @ 72.25%. I did not find that to be surprising because I find that Google is very user friendly.

After, exploring the three different search engines I found that my favorite is still Google. I also discovered that they have a place called Sport Scores, all you have to do is put in the name of your favorite team and it brings up all the scores (my husband and I are big pro-football fans). BUT........ my biggest discovery was a place called Fill In The Blank. With this you can ask any question and then by adding an asterisk in the blank part of the question it will give you the answer to your question. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

#66: Knitting and Crocheting

2009-07-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to knit and crochet, I even checked out several books on both topics (the ones for dummies). I purchased everything that I needed and made several attempts at it, but with little success. I have a friend who has promised to help with getting started, but we have not set up a time for it as yet. I found the About.com:Knitting site very helpful. It has a site that shows knitting for starters, the About.com:crocheting site was not as helpful, but I sure would like to learn how to make the necklace they show on the home page.

My branch library has a Sit -N- Stich that meets every week, I am not sure how much knitting they get done, but they sure have a fabulous time. I enjoy listening to them as they sit and stich, they tell such wonderful stories and laugh and laugh. I can see myself belonging to a group like that some day. AND.............if I still do not know how to knit or crochet by then I am sure they could assist me.

#63 Digital Scrapbooking

2009-07-15T14:31:00.001-07:00

I tried creating a small photo layout of 3 photos, the only problem was that only one of them appeared. I thought that I had saved them, but they simply disappeared. I was able to post my 1 photo layout to my blog, but everytime I click on it, it just says that it is loading (20 minutes later still loading). I am not sure if I did something wrong or missed something along the way, but I found it to be enjoyable at first and very frustrating in the end.

As you can see I have my layout listed as "Precious Memories", only you cannot view the photo.
Sorry, I tried and I will try it again later at another time. I am curious as to what went wrong.

Precious Memories

2009-07-14T15:11:00.001-07:00

#62: Decoupage

2009-06-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I do not have any experience with decoupage. After, checking out some of the different sites on decoupage I was surprise to see so many different items that you could decoupage. I might just give it a try with some of my plain boxes that I use to store different things that I collect in.

After looking at ETSY I found some jewelry that was decoupaged in different scenes from the Wizard of Oz they were made from scrabble tiles. I am a big time fan of that movie and have many different items in my collection. I could not resist and ordered two of the necklaces. I also found that FLICKR had a beautiful jewelry box that was decoupaged in the OZ. That inspired me to give it a try. Hopefully, I too can display my talent on one of the sites (I will have to keep my fingers crossed on that one).

#61 Craftspiration

2009-06-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

I checked out a few of the different sites and found the hour craft site to be just my cup of tea. I am not one to sit for long periods of time so I was attracted to the 1 hour craft. I found the tube scarf something that I would enjoy making for myself, family, and friends. What a wonderful craft ..........and great for gifts. I also found milk irrigation system to be very helpful, since I do have a veggie garden and it seems like we are entering a VERY DRY summer. Another, one that is helpful is the water toys for children using kitchen utensils. My grand-daughters will love that one as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Multi-Media section had some wonderful sites. I love the ETSY parchment flowers and hand made portaits: black-eyed suzie. I have been a collector of dolls for over 25 years and found her doll making and her dolls to be captivating. I have checked out her blog and have suscribed to her newsletter. I am also planning on having a custom doll made of myself and my grand-daughters by her. Her dolls are a bit high, but she does have lay-away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#60: Food, Fun,& Frugality

2009-06-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

I did watch the video and I also searched for a online recipe through Twitter and I did try to post it to my blog,but was unsuccessful. The recipe that I picked was the Tomato and Mozzarella Salad w/Basil Vinaigrette http://bit.ly/u5NUz I can't wait to try it and I think it will be a wonderful summer salad. My husband and I have planted a small veggie garden to help with the cost of purchasing fresh vegtables and one of the plants that we did plant was the cherry tomato plant. In fact we planted several of them because our grand-daughters love them so much.
Some of the other things we have done during this difficult economic time is clip coupons and buy in bulk. All three of these have helped us save $30 to $50 dollars a month.

#57: TXT U L8R - Texting

2009-04-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

I must say I have never sent a text message before, but I have received many and do know how to open them. For the most part I have always been able to translate the lingo. I have to wonder though if all the abbreviations that have to go with a text message effect the young generation with learning the correct spelling of words. I have sent pictures with a short text a few times and found that to be wonderful for special events and vacations.

I found Lingo 2 very helpful and looked up emergency and found the correct text lingo: accident and emergency to be a& e. Knowing that would be helpful in an emergency text. I believe there should be some kind of law in place for texting while driving, especially after reading the New York Times article.

#56: To Tweet Or Not To Tweet...Twitter

2009-03-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

After, brousing a few of the different Twitter profiles I choose not to tweet. For me I don't think that it is something that I would use for personal use. Although, I can see the value of it being used for different companies using it to learn from customers on feed back sites. I also found that Twitter Love (Unshelved-Book club) had an interesting way of giving you a small insight of a book by presenting it as a comic strip. Another profile that I found to be somewhat interesting was The Truth About Twitter it was fun reading some of the tweets about celebrities and some of the different TV shows that I tune into (especially Lost).

#55: Getting The Most Out Of Facebook

2009-03-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

I must admit I have never been interested in having a Facebook account, but my curiosity was sparked with this module. I did set up an account, but I put the least amount of information about myself. I then went back into my profile and was able to hide some info. I felt a little more comfortable with that. After setting up the account I decided to search for some friends, but did not have any luck finding any of them. I invited a friend that I already new was on Facebook and she was thrilled. She began sending me flairs on things that she knew I was interested in and some that she had made. I found myself actually looking for more and I have to admit it was fun. I also, checked out some of the different applications and did add the music player but did not like the fact that with each application that you add they take all the info from your profile.

Even though the account was very user friendly to sign up, I did not care for all the different pop ups that come up on whatever screen you go into. I also didn't like how they use your first name to make you think that they know you, when all they want you to do is go into their site. For that reason I don't think that it is something that I will continue to use, but I was glad for the oppurtunity to check it out.

I had to come back to this post several days later and add the following: I have a friend that I have know for 37 years and have lost contact with her in the last 9 years. I tried to find her using Facebook and to my surprise and her surprise I was able to locate her. We are now communicating back and forth and are finding that Facebook might be a great way to keep in touch (she now lives in another state) and to share photo's. My biggest thank you for this module, from me and my lost-found friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#54 Social Networking Through Books

2009-02-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

I once belonged to a book club that was with several of my friends. Our book club was simply called Friends. We would meet twice a month and for each meeting would rotate to one anothers homes. We all looked forward to it as a chance to stay in touch and share something that we all loved, reading. Unfortunatly, after about a year the group began to get smaller and smaller as friends married, had children, or moved away. I miss those days, but find my schedule not able to start another book club or join a new one. I think that the online book club might be something that I can try to look into and would accommodate my schedule.

After viewing the resources and seeing all the different book clubs available I was unable to find one on the Holocaust. That has always been something of great interest to me because I believe that it is something that generations to come should never forget. After reviewing some of the sources available I was able to find a book from Reading Group Guides. The book is intitled "A Chosen Few" by Mark Kurlansky. It is an inspiring story of people who have rebuilt their lives in the face of incomprehensible horror. It will be a must read for me.

I did search a few of the sites for the book I chose in the first post. It to is about the Holocaust, titled Echoes (only it is fiction). I checked the ratings on Library Thing and it had a three and a half star rating. I also checked on the same source for Member Reviews and it received a two to four star review. The other source checked was goodreads with an average rating of 3.90.

These past modules have been very helpful and enjoyable. I have past on many of the resources to family and friends.

#53 Finding Books Onlline

2009-02-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

The three booksellers I found that are the closest to my branch did not have online presence. I checked out a few others and none of them had online presence that I could find. I did enjoy finding all the many different sellers that Houston.com has to offer.

After, searching some of the sites for my previos book from module #52, I was able to locate the book of interest on three different sites: Barnes & Noble, Brazos Bookstore, and Katy Budget Books. I found that all three sites price's where about the same. For a hard cover $27.00 to $29.95, a paper back $7.99, and a CD $29.95. I also, was able to find a ebook as well, on Harris County Public Library.

I did not download and ebook because I have done that before and found that I don't enjoy reading a book from my computer as much as I do the actually book in my hand. There is just something about having a good book in my hand, sitting in front of a fire in my family room or sitting under a shade tree at the park reading that I find to be relaxing. Although, I can see how it would have it's advantages burning it to a CD and have it on a long road trip to listen to in the car.

#52 What to Read

2009-02-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

The author that I picked is Danielle Steel I have read many of her books, but one of my favorites was "Echoes". I searched NoveList Plus and found that it was very user friendly, once I found the author and title it gave me a brief description of the story and a read-alike spot to click onto. I was able to find similar read-allikes and found many that I have read in the past and many that I had not known about. After searching two of the other resources I found them to be much harder to navigate and found the results to be very different on both Fiction L Booklist and WhatShould I Read. I was able to find read-alike on Fiction L Booklist thru matchbook, but when I tried to find it a second time I was unable to locate it.

For the second part of the exercise I used NoveList Plus and found the following two books for a fourth grade girl: "Faces In The Forest" by Ron Hirsch and "Forest Bright, Forest Night" by Jennifer Ward. I also found two books for a 13 year old boy: "The William Ghost" by Wilma Alexander and "The Ghost In The Cellar" by Jacques Duquenny.

The sites I used for part three of the exercise are NoveList Plus and What Shall I Read Next. The similar authors I found from the first one are: John Saul, Dan Simmons, and Greg Bear. For the second one they are: Stephen White, Clive Cussler, and W.E.B. Griffin.

The resource used for exercise four, was once again, NoveList Plus. The other three remaining books in the series "Song Of The Lioness" are #2 "In The Hand Of The Goddess", #3 "The Woman Who Rides Like A Man", and #4 "Lioness Rampant.

I found this excercise to be very helpful for any one who works in a library and look forward to the remaining modules.

#38 Console Games

2008-05-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

After playing Pacman for 15 minutes I found it to be just as annoying as it was many years ago. My son was in love with the game and would always want me to play with him. Of course, I would, but I can honestly say I never cared for the game and of course he always beat me. I would have to say I never did acheive many skills back then and have not gained any since that time. Oh, well???

As of today I have grandchildren and they now have the WII System and have a blast with it. It is unbeliveable how gaming has evolved since then. I do think that gaming can be helpful in a educational way by introducing some of it into the library systems. It can bring in young patrons who may never have been in a public library and hopefully attract them to books, but it can also bring them in just for the game. I have seen many young people spend hours and hours playing games in the library (good and not so good).

#37 Get Your Game On

2008-05-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

The article that I read was the Shifted Librarrian and I found it to be quite interesting. After working in a library for the last 3 years I have observed how disruptive that teens can be to other patrons because their parents have dropped them off and they are bored being in a library. I would have to agree that I think gaming in the library would be a great interest to them, because it can be fun and educational at the same time. As it stated in the article, how parents would much rather have their teens doing something fun and of interest to them, then to have them out on the streets.

I did play one of the games on Carnegie Mellon and found it to be quite entertaining, but a bit confusing on the instructions. Once I figured it out I was on a roll helping patrons finding what they needed and quickly returning their books to book drop. I did manage to win in the end.

Yes, Yes, I am for gaming in the library!!!!! Especially after reading how many teens it would bring in on one night and how much more the teen books where being checked out as of a result of gaming night.

#36 Games and Gaming

2008-05-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying that I love playing games on the inter-net, but I have only played puzzle games. This module has been a new experience. I did explore Runscape and did manage to complete the turorial. I found it to be a bit confusing and fun at the same time. I really enjoyed creating my character, but was unable (after several attempts) to post a screen shot to my blog. There didn't seem to be a place to view your character so that it could be viewed.

I also tried Chore Wars briefly and was able to create an avatar her name is Dustie.

They did not have a lot of options to create something new and different. I plan on playing that more to see how far I can get with the gardening and of course the dusting, which happens to me my least favorite chore.

#35 Games? In The Library?

2008-05-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Learning can be made fun with games and I think it is a fantastic way to learn for both children and adults. I played the free rice game and was able to donate 1700 grains of rice to the hunger. Now, how cool is that!!! I found the game easy to follow and found it to be something that I would go back to again and again and also, something that I will pass on to family and friends. I also checked out some of the childrens games and found them to be helpful for my grand-daughters. I think that they will really enjoy funbrain.com. It seems to have alot to offer.

#34 Geocoding and Geocaching

2008-04-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&output=html&q=N31%C2%B024.54534%2C+W095%C2%B034.65762&btnG=Search+Maps# I was a little worried about this last module, but so far have breezed through it. The location that I picked is a favorite campsite that my husband and I visit every spring: Crockett Family Resort at 75 Dogwood Lane West, Crockett, Tx. 75835 and the GPS coordinates are at the above first line.

This last module was interesting, but I found it to be something that I would not normal use, although it could be very useful for someone who's job has them on the road. I tried going into Geocaching.com and setting up an account, but every time I tried to put my password w/validation code in it kept saying it was incorrect. I also tried emailing them and did not receive a response back.

#33 Relocating w/Online Maps

2008-04-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

I looked into a few of the sites, but found HAR to be the most helpful. I was amazed to find how many homes are in forclosure (sad). Another, reason I liked HAR was because of the map that you are able to click on and narrow down your search. I started by checking into and area that my husband and I are planning on retiring to in the future and I found it to be great place to find out about locations of shopping, parks, police stations, etc. Some other info. I thought to be very helpful was the tax record, mortgage calculator, and I loved the photo gallery. Just for fun I decided to check into the time share and found a fabulous place that I could probably only visit through this site (but, hey we can always dream.....- ML#7918165)!

I decided to look into some new homes and found the site for mapping out walking distance to be really neat. I thought it to be pretty cool to be able to put in an address and a map will appear with all of the major places within walk distance and then some. That to me seemed to be the easiest to learn because of the way you could zoom all around on the map till you found your location.

#32 Current Events

2008-04-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

After looking through 100 Things to do, I chose the one on music because it is something I often search for, especially concerts and sports events. So, say for instance you were looking for upcoming concerts to your town for Bette Midler you could go to the following web site www.buytickets247.com/concerts.cfm

I tried to explore the 3 different sites, Global Incident I found to be frightening and not very interesting and National Atlas I could not bring up at all. I did find Terra Server to be of interest because of the historic sites. The map I found of most interest was that of Ellis Island (my grandparents came to the U.S. through Ellis Island). ABOVE RIGHT is a photo that I have of Ellis Island.

#31 Have Map, Will Travel

2008-04-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

I checked out all 3 map sites, but went with Google Maps because I already have an account with google. I created a map of a place that my husband and I plan on retiring to in the future. I was amazed how I could get so much info. on one very small town. I have placed markers in several locations and I am looking forward to how many more I can put in as the years go by and to see just how many will change. Pretty cool stuff, I did not know this was available. Once again, thank you.

#30: Take A Load Off Our Drives

2008-03-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

I am pretty familiar with the S, P, & Z drives on our computer. We utilize the P drive for all of our training hours. I find it to be a fantastic place to keep track of all my required training hours. I did find out something new about the S drive, I did not know that the "S" stands for scratch drive and I did not know we were able to add files to the "S" & "Z" files. This is helpful to know for future projects at work. I enjoyed this months training because I thought that I was always well organized with all of my computer files, but now I have learned a few more organizing tips.

#29 Email

2008-03-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

At the start of My 23 Things I did create a personal e-mail account to be used just for that related purpose. I did that just to keep my work training seperate from my personal account and my work account. I would strongly encourage anyone who is just starting the training to do the same. It has been very helpful keeping them seperate. I have always been a firm believer in keeping things organized and disgarded if not needed and have always practice that on all my interactions with a computer, including work and personal accounts. I must say I did find it helpful to learn about "yousendit". I know that will be something I will use in the near future for both personal and work. I also took the Netiquette Quiz and scored a 70% (7 out of 10), I guess thats not to bad for someone who has never been in a chat room.

#28 Spring Cleaning

2008-03-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

First, let me start off by saying I was very shocked to hear that it cost the taxpayers 20 grand to store files on the library computers!!! That is a real wake up call to spring clean on our computers. I found it helpful to keep in mind the 2 minute guideline and to deal with one item at a time. I also, liked the idea of the Tickler File for organizing your paperwork (43 folders - 12 for each month and an additional 31 folders for each day). This will come in handy with all of my un-organized hard copies and also with my husbands business, which I work part time at.

I looked into all of the online calendars and even started one with google, pretty cool, I think it will be a big help with my busy, busy day's. I liked the Ta-Da- List, especially the get inspired section, where you can create your own list (books to read, bills to pay, web links to visit). ALL VERY helpul, a big thank you!!!

#27 Podcast Challenge

2008-03-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

I have not had an oppurtunity as yet to phone in for the podcast, but I am looking forward to doing it in the near future. It sounds pretty neat!!!

#26 Making Music

2008-02-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

I have looked at some of the music sites, facebook and friedster could not be viewed without setting up an account. I did look into MOG, which offered a few different items such as: browse moggers, top post w/songs, top post w/music videos, and daily picks. I also checked out Phling where you can stream your music from your pc to your phone, share music w/friends and listen to their music, find out who is listening to what, etc. I found both of those sites to be of interested to younger people. The site that did catch my interest was project Playlist. What really attracted me the most to the site was the fact that you could actually add a song from your playlist to your blog. I am going to try that at a later date when I have more time. I did enjoy creating a playlist of songs, in fact I have created a list of songs that are some of my husband and my songs and I have emailed them to him.

This excersise for me has been fantastic, because I love music and did not know that all of these different sites where available. Thank you a bunch!!!

#25 Music Pirate

2008-02-13T16:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have to confess I have burned music a few times before, but have always been concerned about whether or not it was legal. This exersise has helped by letting me know about legal sites and explanation of the laws. I will now have some comfort when burning music, a big thank you!

I am sort of torned about whether musicans benefit more from strict copy right protection or from open sharing. I think on one hand it helps them to get their music out to a wide range of people, but on the other hand they may not get as many people buying their music when they can listen to it free or burn it to a CD.

#24 The Sound of Music

2008-02-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

First of all let me begin by saying "It's GREAT to be back"!!! After looking at the different pay sites I found them all to be very similar in features, but found Yahoo to be more user friendly. With the help of my grand -daughter (who is only 8 yrs. old) I was able to download a song to her MP3 player, she loves Taylor Swift! I was really amazed to find out that you can actually listen live to one of your favorite radio stations via my computer. One of my favorite stations just so happens to be KILT 100.3 and it was very easy just clicking on the "Listen Live" and WOW there it was. Some of the other stations I had some difficulty with, such as KRBE and KUHF.

WK. 10: #23 END/BEGINNING

2007-11-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable....... what a fantastic learning experience this has been!!! I have been able to explore things that I never knew where out there. I must admit in the beginning I was concerned that I would not be able to make it through all 23 things, but each week I looked forward to the next discovery. WOW, what a amazing ride it has been!!!

I think my favorite discovery was of creating a blog. I had no idea that it could be so easy and fun. I also enjoy flickr, in fact I have been doing alot of picture taking and I also loved creating my avatar. In fact she is now included in all my emails. AND........I am not sure how I lived without finding feeds.

Thank you for this great oppurtunity to learn and have FUN!

#22 Downloadable Media

2007-11-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

I have explored Wowio, Librivox, and HCPL. I think each of these has something to offer to the public. I liked the fact that Wowio had the top books category and the book of the month and I thought that Librivox had one up on them because of the Record Chapters that is kind of neat. I thought it would be a wonderful idea for parents to be able to record their voice for their children to listen to (on children's book). I still think HCPL is the BEST because it is so user friendly. I like how all of the categories are broken down(audio, books, music. video, etc.). I also like the fact that when someone is checking out the site for the first time it has the tour, borrowing policies, and compatible devices. Another neat feature is the "first time digital media" button. I found that to be very helpful.

#21 Podcasts

2007-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.trans4mind.com/metamorphosis-podcast.xml This podcast info. I found to be very interesting and uplifting. I have added this feed to my blogline account. I found many more that I will add at a later date. This is something very new to me and I hope to explore more. I did explore a little of the NYTimes.com book review. I like how they have a new book to look at daily. I explored some other book reviews, one I enjoyed is http://rachelsreviews.libsyn.com/rss I have listed some of her book reviews in the side column.

Wk. 9: #20 YouTube

2007-11-14T14:18:00.001-08:00

A fun place to explore and view video's of interest and a great place to catch up on new events that you might have missed. One thing that I did not care for was some of the comments and responses used are offensive. I suppose that is to be expected. Everyone has a right to his/her opinion.

I love music, therefore I chose a music video to view. I adore Josh Groban the singer, my favorite song of all time is "Somewhere over the Rainbow", and my favorite movie of all time is the "Wizard of Oz". I was amazed that I was able to find all 3 in one video. The video is called "Josh Groban - Somewhere over the Rainbow". I loved how they had many scenes from the movie as a back drop behind the two singers. Another, one I checked out briefly was the Pet & Animal. I loved the Cat Talking! I have an indoor cat and a outdoor cat and they chat to each other through the window in the exact same way.

WK. 8 #19 Web- based Apps

2007-10-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have set up an account with Zoho and had a great time exploring all of the different fonts & colors. I can see how useful this tool can be for both work and pleasure. I like the fact that it can be accessed at any computer anywhere and by anyone who would need to have access to it. I am planning on trying out the publish options and posting it to my blog. This has all been new for me, but every week I look forward to another week of LEARNING and FUN!!!

WEEK 8 #18 Social Networking

2007-10-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

I have checked out a few of the sites listed and hope to check out the rest at a later date. One of the sites I did check out was My Space. I looked at some of the different blog categories, for the most part I found them to be a bit bizzare and some even a bit disturbing. The one thing that I did like about the sites blog spot was that it can be set up to private. Meaning the user must add you as a friend before you can see his/her blog.

Another, site I checked out and absolutely love was Rate My Space. I love decorating and found it to be a wonderful place to exchange and share ideas. This is a place I know that I will sign up with!!!

WK. 7 #17 Blog Technology

2007-10-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

TECHNOLOGY.........yes it has come a long way! To think back in my life (that's way back) when we only had 3 T.V. channels. Yes, 3, the locals channels were all we had and to top it off they weren't even in color. Now, with cable and satelite we are able to view over a 100 channels and some of those are now being broadcast in HD (high definition). AND...........what about cell phones??? How did we ever survive without them???

WEEK 7 #16 Wiki

2007-10-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

What I found about Wiki is that it is a great way of getting facts on a variety of subjects. The draw back to it is that people can edit entries and even delete the page all together. Therefore, I feel VERY uncomfortable about adding a comment or anything to a page. I can see some parts of it being helpful to libraries when patrons want to get information fast, but having it open to anyone to add material, makes me wonder just how accurate it is.

WK:6 #15 Library 2.0/Web 2.0

2007-10-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

It has been very interesting reading about all the new changes ahead and very exciting. I am amazed by how library patrons today (verses, say 5 yrs. ago) seem to be more interested in how to access a computer then checking out a book. What really is a surprise that it is the young and the old. I do belive that the library patrons of today are truly ready for the changes. Especially, the changes that would adopt Web Features and Open World Cat Project. I also found it interesting to read about Library 3.0 and Library 4.0. They would not be replaced, but absorbed to form the DREAM ECONOMY'S LIBRARY (the neon library of the future). It is refreshing to now know that we all have a part in it for future generatiions.

WK: 6 #14 Technorati

2007-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

I now understand why some people spend hours on the internet. This is another neat tool that I wish I would have more time with. Once again I amazed by all the the different things that people are interested in. In my discoveries I found one on making snow if you live in the south, pretty cool stuff. I also enjoyed the popular section on Top Movies (I love old movies). They had a site called IMDb (internet movie database) it listed all movies playing now, movie news, and tv movies. It also offers a daily television guide with all showings. Which I thought was a nice feature, since the Sunday paper no longer supplies that. I hope to check more sites out in the near future. Once again, another enjoyable week of learning and fun. Looking forward to next weeks discoveries!!!

WEEK 6: 13 Tagging/Del.icio.us

2007-10-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry...........Did not make the world go round for me. I do not believe this is something that I need. I found it very complicated and when finding a tag of interest such as Angels (I was looking for the heavenly kind) it brought up many bizarre resources. Therefore, I did not set up an account, but thanks for the oppurtunity to explore something new.

#11 Library Thing - Part 2

2007-10-11T13:53:00.000-07:00

YEAH!!! With the help of a wonderful co-worker I was able to link my books to my blog. Thanks a bunch, you know who you are. We also tried to have the covers added, but we were unsuccessful. Now that I know how to do it I am planning on adding more books and hopefully I will be able to have the covers as well.

#12 Library Elf

2007-10-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

I love that little guy, to cute and very helpful!!! I believe this service will be something that I will utilize often, I especially like the calendar with the DUE on the dates. It is a very user friendly service. WOW, another great week of learning and fun!

#11 Library Thing

2007-10-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was able to set up an account with Library Thing and I have listed 5 of my favorite recent reads. I have also tried copying and pasting the link, but for some reason I was not able to get my book titles w/author names to my blog. It is a wonderful site that I hope to use more of in the future.

Wk. 5 #10 Part 2

2007-10-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun with creating image generators, BUT the first one I created came out a bit blurry. SO..................I decided to try MEEZ. I think this one is ALOT clearer and seems more ALIVE!!!

WK. 5 #10 Part 2

2007-10-09T16:44:00.001-07:00

Week 5 #10 Image Generators

2007-10-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

FANTASTIC!!! I had so much fun creating this gal to reflect my display name. Butterfly was created by using Avatars (hope I spelled that correctly) Yahoo. I am having such a great time with this training and I look forward to discovering something new each week.

WK. 4 #9 Finding Feeds

2007-10-02T15:51:00.001-07:00

It is very interesting exploring all the knew options that blooger has to offer and I must say most of these options I would have never known where out there, if it wasn't for this training oppurtunity. Finding feeds has really been different and I am amazed at how many different things spark peoples interest. For me.........I found that Bloglines seemed to be very user friendly. It was easy finding feeds and subscribing to them. In fact I added several more. I am finding that this can be very helpful. The most confusing one for me was SYNDIC 8. It had alot to offer, therefore making it more difficult to follow. I did have fun with "THEHYPEMACHINE"!!! See if you can find it (hint-music).

Week 4: #8 RSS/Newsreader

2007-10-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

I have created my blog line and have added my feeds, but I am sorry to say that I was not really impressed with it. I am not sure that this would be something that I would use that often. ALTHOUGH.............it is nice to know that it is out there and available to use in the future.

#7 Photo Editing

2007-09-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

I had alot of fun editing and changing my photo. I loved the idea of changing the picture color scheme. I think it looks kind of COOL or should I say HOT.

#6 More Flickr

2007-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed the color wheel in COLORPICKER. In fact I spent hours just looking at all the different photos that people have taking and sent in. It was fun reading all the comments and it has really inspired me to go out and take more photos. I also saved some of the them to my favorites, but I am still working on how to view.

Adding Photo - Week #3

2007-09-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

WOW, this task was very difficult for me, but I stuck with it and can give myself a pat on the back.

Learning At Work

2007-09-20T16:39:00.000-07:00

I am always willing and excited to learn anything new at work, BUT when learning a new task I have to approach it slow. Appproaching it slow allows me to actually absorb and learn the task faster and without any stress.

Uncomfortable and not sure

2007-09-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

As you can tell from my earlier posting I am not real comfortable about talking and chatting about myself and not exactly sure how safe blogging is. Hopefully in time I will feel more comfortable with it. Until then you might find me chatting about DREAMS.

To sleep is to dream

2007-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

In dreams we live another life, where we travel to another place and another time. On our journey we can encounter all kinds of possibilities. Some fabulous and some not so fabulous. Sometimes, I wonder are our dreams trying to tell us something and is it possible that they are messages. BUT........from whom and why? What happens when we sleep and how do we dream?

2007-09-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

DREAMS can take us any where we want to go and they can also take us any where we don't want to go. We can also dream of anyone we know and of anyone we don't know. DREAMS can be magical and can be very mysterious all at the same time. We all DREAM!