Actual donkey beads....

Here's picture of Dolly in her latest finery. My cousin brought these donkey beads especially for Dolly all the way from Hawaii! Doesn't she look grand?

Family Reunion

What a fantastic weekend I just had! We celebrated my aunt's 90th birthday with a big family party in Orange County, NY. Cousins I hadn't seen in 40 years came from Canada and Virginia. We came from as far away as Hawaii and Michigan to share memories, pictures, and food. I even got to see the group STARZ my late brother used to play with. They were doing a gig about 15 miles away so my cousin drove me down. It was quite moving (and loud!!!). The only people missing were my brother from Seattle and my mother from Tampa who just began chemotherapy. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Week 9 1/2 Thing 23

Wow, I can't believe I made it to the end. This has been an interesting adventure. There have been times when I was SO frustrated I was ready to kill my computer. Creating innumberable log-ins and passwords got me in such a tizzy, then I calmed down and resorted to paper and pen to keep track...

I enjoyed del.icio.us immensely and use it at home and work. Zoho Writer offers lots of possibilities and I've used it several times already. Flickr toys were great fun and Library Thing offers incredible RA opportunities as well as potential for organizing my TBR pile! I have already shared some Things with customers and family. Not sure if they were all dutifully impressed with all my new found knowledge!

I was amazed at the amount of time it took to 'play' online but this adventure has given me the confidence to just go with it! Sharing what works and doesn't with other Thing Adventurers was helpful, especially when I just didn't "get it." I have always felt personally responsibility for my own lifelong learning...and now it's been enhanced by technology! Some of the Things we looked at didn't make much sense to me or I didn't see their value but I plan to revisit some of them to learn more about them.

How to do it better? I would like to have had a tip about Thing 2 and the permalink thing before getting to Thing 4 where it's explained.

I would definitely participate in another discovery program like this...as a matter of fact, I've looked at the next group of Things.....

This has been a challenging, frustrating, exciting, illuminating adventure, one I'm so very glad I took! Thank you, MD23Things and CCPL, for a great ride!

Week 9 Thing 22 Audiobooks

I remember trying Overdrive when it first came out but was frustrated because we only had a dial-up Internet connection at home. Things, if I could get connected, took f o r e v e r. I took the Overdrive tour and saw that there were lots of new things...including videos (although the videos were not!!) I will try again at home because we have gone to a high-speed (relatively) connection. I did download the first three chapters of an audio version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The voice was British and easy to understand. I could control the volume....however I couldn't go back the reread the last page when my mind wandered!! I also forgot my knitting. Seems I can't just sit and listen without my hands being busy. In school, I was taking notes; now I need to knit...or spin. I am looking forward to receiving my reward for completing 23 Things...maybe then I'll download some music or audiobooks to listen to while I keep my hands busy (but not eating!!!!!!)

Week 9 Thing 21 Podcasts....

I used the suggested podcasts directories but found Yahoo easiest to use. I think I subscribed to LibVibe...only time will tell. I was intrigued by possibly being able to listen to old radio programs. Personally, I don't enjoy listening to talk radio while driving. I have a hard time with audio books as well. I prefer listening to music and not just any music. I don't want lyrics! That intrudes on my own thoughts and musings since I use driving time to plan projects. I can see how downloading instrumental music on my soon-to-be-had MP3 player will be fun and maybe a few podcasts to listen to while I'm mowing the fields or spinning on the back porch or weaving a simple pattern or knitting a pair of socks or doing some other mindless activity.

Week 9 YouTube

Thought some of you might like to view the video of my brother who was the bass player as well as the writer of this song for the 70s hard rock band, STARZ. Gotta love that logo!

Week 8 Thing 19 Web 2.0 Award Winners

I looked at the list of winners and honorable mentions and saw that we've already expolored a few of them. Nice to know we are working with the "elite!" I ran down the list and since I'm not really a techie sort, chose Zillow.com in the Real Estate area. It was neat to look at a geographic area, select from the properties on the market, and see what's available, recently sold, etc. Clicking on a little flag brought up more information about the property. Now. To find the perfect place to retire.

I also looked at Etsy.com That was one I'd heard about...even have a friend who is marketing her yarns there. It makes an easy place to locate craftsmen who for one reason or another, don't have a dedicated website (yet!) I saw some lovely items that might be the perfect thing for a special gift.

I'll have to come back and explore the list more...there's just way too much to digest! I know I want to look at ColorBlocker in more depth....

Week 8 Thing 18 Online productivity continued

Had a good time looking at the pages of templates for use in Zoho Writer. Good starting point. I can see using Zoho in a variety ways both at work and at home....

Week 8 Thing 18 Online productivity

I find the idea of having my documents, drivel, ramblings, whatever available wherever I can access a computer quite intriguing!  No more will I have to remember where on earth I've left my 'brain' (travel drive or removable storage device...whatever.) 

 

All the little icons look familiar too, well, perhaps not all of them but at least I have a vague idea of what they're capable of doing...or in the case of my typing, undoing.

 

The website was clear, as were the FAQs.  It was super easy to create...yet another account.  I can see the value of this and look forward to using in a collaborative environment.  Perhaps some of our library school students will be able to use this for their course work!

Knitters......

I stumbled on ravelry.com which is still in beta testing but check it out, fellow knitters! Looks like it could be an interesting place...

The picture is one I took after a dyeing workshop with everyones' efforts spread out. Neat, huh?

Week 7 Thing 17 Playing in the Sandbox

Well, I think I sent the Adult Services Supervisors a wiki invitation to a posting from another library in Maryland who will be participating in The Big Read. Hope it works. I also posted to a couple of the wikis in the Favorites. The whole thing worked easily. Or am I becoming more accustomed to working with these things???

Week 7 Thing 16 Wikis

Of the wiki sites I visited, I liked Library 2.0 in 15 Minutes a Day. The simplicity of some of the explanations was appreciated. Princeton's wiki hasn't been updated since Sept. 2006...and the book for the summer of 2007 is nowhere to be found. I checked out the 2007 wiki for ALA in Washington but didn't see some of the helpful comments I'd seen on previous ALA wikis...too soon? or too late??? Is Bull Run's really a wiki? I checked out some of the connections from MERLIN. It's so hard to keep all this stuff up-to-date. I've even noticed on our own wiki for teams, things sometimes lag. I'm not sure wikis are the first place people look for information nor apparently have we really used them for real interactive participation in a project as yet. Maybe in the future? If they stay around long enough to become a part of the vernacular....things come and go so quickly.....

Just got a picture of one of my new babies, Kona. She is a four-month-old Shetland/Blue-faced Leicester cross with a dark, fine fleece. She came with an older companion, Finoula, a BFL with a crooked hip; both have been tentatively accepted into the flock. Dolly only chases them from time to time!

Thing 13 continued....

I tried several times on different days to view the highly recommended Del.icio.us video tutorial only to have it unavailable. Did anyone else find this?

Week 6 Thing 15 Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

There's a lot to digest with this thing. I think CCPL is working very hard to be a 2.0 place...we are customer-oriented (internal and external), we believe in change, and 23 Things is an example of trying to become more aware of what's out there. One of the concepts that I find somewhat challenging is the idea that everything is beta! Also to get our customers be more participatory will be a challenge. I'm not sure exactly how that can be done other than asking them over and over...what did you think of X? What did you like? Not like? What will libraries be like in the future? I'm not really sure but I want to be there!

Week 6 Thing 14 Technorati

I looked at Technorati, including the little video about using its new features. My mind is boggled at all the bloggles. I found a tag search to be the most effective. Blog posts and Blog Directory brought in many items that were too remote to my search. Gee, tags work like keywords! I looked at the top faves, searches, and blogs. Techie people like to read techie things. So many of the sites/blogs were so busy I couldn't be bothered to read them. I have discovered that knitters are bloggers but not weavers. Will have to think about that...when I have time. I think a lot of this is becoming redundant...so many ways to get to the same place. Will have to pick my own fave...maybe that will be my Thing 24....

Week 6 Thing 13 del.icio.us

Lip-smacking good! Think I like Del.icio.us but will have to explore further. The idea of not being tied to a particular computer for my favorite sites is a good thing. I tried to view the tutorial but it wasn't available (too many librarians trying to access???) I looked at some of the links suggested by our 23 gurus and was able to view comments....other than the ones in foreign languages, many of the comments didn't appear to be all that enlightening. I did read about Flock which does sound interesting...at least another visit...sometime.....

Week 5 Thing 12 Rollyo

I didn't find Rollyo very interesting and only vaguely useful. It seems to be nothing more than a list of favorite sites under a particular heading. I looked at some other Rollyos but found many sites were blocked by our filtering!! Wonder what kinky things were there! I did think the Quick Quotes might be somewhat helpful but would probably use our database or Google before I'd go through the effort of Rollyo. That being said, I did create a Rollyo and if you highlight the link, you'll see what I selected.

http://www.rollyo.com/search.html?q=dyes&sid=300538

Week 5 Thing 11 LibraryThing

WOW! What an incredible place! My TBR pile just went Rocky Mountain High!!! I could probably spend the entire year just wandering through everybody's LibraryThing...There isn't a shelf big enough to hold all I want to read.... I will probably regret subscribing to LT's blog.....

Week 5 Play Week Thing 10

Carolyn had one of these on her blog and I wanted one too!

Express Yourself with Gizmoz Video Clips

Hope you enjoy this bit of silliness.

Week 5 Play Week Online Image Generator

I discovered this one on The Generator Blog. Enjoy it! I did! Copy and paste this to see a special message!

http://www.paperboy.nl/?PID1=%3C%3F%25R9D%5DZ3%5C0R7V%3C4%3FFA%2FU%5EJI5150HTQ%3CK17%22%2E%5E%20%20%20%0A

I'm off to play some more.....

Week 4 Thing 8 RSS

RSS....hhhmmm, now I can group all those things I probably won't get time to read anyway!! Actually I can see the value of this when I want to follow a particular topic on a website/blog. Being alerted to a new post will keep me up-to-date. I can see how this could be a really helpful tool for libraries (or any entity) to get their messages and news out to their customers. I didn't know what RSS was before this exercise but had noticed the little symbols but will our customers be willing to experience 23 Things? We'll need to promote the whole concept...over time. I can see this being devoured by the "omnivores" but think many of our customers (possibly not savvy teens) aren't quite there yet.

Week 4 Thing 9 MERLIN

Well, this week has proven frustrating. I managed to do Thing 8 and was ready to work on Thing 9. No computers. Two days (one attending a workshop) without computers while doing 23 Things is a slight handicap. I did spend considerable time at home trying to subscribe to more feeds. The searching mechanisms for Feedster, Topix.net, Syndic8.com and Technorati didn't work that well for what I wanted. Some of the feeds didn't appear to have anything to do with my search. I think I will probably subscribe when I find an RSS feed that interests me and subscribe that way. I can understand the "convenience" of RSS feeds but now I have to find the time to check in with my feeds!

Week 3 Thing 6 3rd party sites

I had great fun rearranging Dolly's face using the Hockneysizer in Flickr toys. Also created a billboard for her as well as a magazine cover for one of my sheep. Didn't find out until later how to save/post but trust me, they were wonderful (LOL).

Some of these things would be great for kids' parties and entertaining gag gifts.

Didn't quite get the point of Mappr...maybe I need to sleep on it.....

Week 3 Thing 7 Techie Blog

Finally I've discovered something that I really like and think I will use! It's Palette Generator from Flickr's Toys. I can see it will be wonderful to take a picture and have Flickr break out the colors so I can use them in weaving, spinning, and dyeing. Carolyn showed me how to print the palette (not one of Flickr's options) so now I have a tool that I can use. Fantastic!

Week 3 Thing 5 Flickr....continued

This is the real meadow along with the true "queen" of the flock, Dolly Donkey.

Week 3 Thing 5 Flickr

Week 3 #5 Explore Flickr

http://flickr.com/photos/mylessmith/510730640/
Sheep's in the meadow.......

Want to see a gorgeous picture of sheep in a glorious locale? Check this one out! Wish my meadow looked like this one. I'm going to post this one this way....then try to insert this same picture in another.....

Week Two: Thing 4: Blogging

Well I registered my blog and have begun to fill in my tracking log. Found it really helped to print out each section of the 23 Things so I can make sure my blog titles correspond...and not rely on my memory!

Week Two: Thing Three set up blog and post

Set up my blog which was very easy and true, selecting the right name and template was the most difficult part. Posting something is also very easy....very much like composing an email. Have tried to catch up with blog/tracking mechanism....

Week Two: Thing Two

Have to admit I read this podcast too. I've noted which Habits in another post (4 and 6).

Week One: Thing One

I listened to the podcast...actually read it because I didn't like listening to the voice. I explored this site when I first read about Learning 2.0 and thought it sounded interesting. Now I'm finding out just how interesting (and frustrating) technology can be. From other reading of library-focused blogs, there seem to be lots of folks out there doing things with things I'd never heard of....Flickr, YouTube, tagging, RSS.....this opportunity will allow me to become familiar with new technologies. Whether I become a devout fan, only time will tell....

First post continued....

Guess it helps to read all the directions......I needed some help from one of my coworkers who is extremely organized to fumble my way through. I decided Habit 4 is easiest because I have confidence in my own capabilities to learn what I need to learn. Habit 6 is the hardest because I find technology frustrating and not always user-friendly (for this user anyway!) I guess I wanted this to build gracefully on each piece without having to resort to using reams of paper to follow the trail but I guess I'll have to start with complete paperwork to be able to track my bumpy progress. Now if I could only remember where I got My Learning Contract. I want to try something I read on someone else's post about removing the Write Protection from the document so I could fill it out and/or customize it.....

....first post.....

This is my first posting to my blog...but I know it won't be the last. Of the 7 1/2 Habits I find Habit 6 (use technology to my advantage) is the hardest for me at the moment...but if all goes well, after 23 Things I'll be able to change that habit! The easiest one was Habit 4 (have confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner).

Setting up the Blog was very easy and straight forward. Finding the time to post will be the hard part......