My 23 Things

Pot Luck #57: TXT U L8R - Texting

2009-03-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am not an avid texter. My husband and I do not have a texting plan on our phone. I do text every once in a while though. My best friends and I found it quite useful during the last hurricane. We all sent texts back and forth about house damage and I think I still have the text from one announcing the birth of her daughter three days post-Ike. It would have been difficult for us to communicate by talking since network service was spotty from the jams of people trying to let family member know they were safe. I do not use text lingo. I'm not that great at texting and since it's a dollar a text no matter how long, I don't worry about learning all the lingo. I can usually read a text full of lingo though.

I refuse to text and drive. I do talk and drive and I admit it is a horrible habit and I should stop. Texting and driving seems to be worse though. At least while you are talking you can keep your eyes on the road and at least one hand on the wheel. When you text it is helpful to hold the phone in one hand and push the buttons with the other. Also, it is helpful to watch what you are doing so you don't end up texting gobbly gook! For those reason, I only text when I am standing, sitting, or being led around by my husband.

Pot Luck #55: Getting the Most Out of Facebook

2009-03-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

I personally LOVE Facebook. I joined in 2007 during the first iHCPL. Things really picked up on my account about six months later when I first really figured out what I could do with my page. I graduated from a private high school in Norway and now literally know people all over the world. I am up to 111 friends and the number just keeps growing as former school mate whom I haven't seen in 15 years keep getting online. In fact, Facebook has helped my husband (another graduate from the same high school) and I plan our summer vacation. We are doing a roadtrip up to Indianapolis and Chicago and will now visit about half a dozen fellow alumni along the way. They are people we haven't seen in 10-15 years and just got back in touch with thanks to Facebook.

I have quite a few favorite applications on Facebook. The ones I probably use most often are (Lil) Greenpatch and Live Gifts. My husband gave me a virtual goldfish about 9 months ago and I'm determined not to let Goldie die. I like the Greenpatch because of the donation to save the rainforest. I recently tried Virtual Bookshelf and I really like it. I look forward to seeing what it will recommend for me as soon as I FINALLY finish my current reading list... if I ever finish it. As soon as it is working probably it will possibly become my favorite application.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #54 Social Networking Through Books

2009-03-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

I am currently a member of the Afternoon Book Club at the Maud Marks Library. We read a little of everything. This month we read The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. On April 9 we will be discussing The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I am a lowtech person (despite my job and how much I actually use technology) and therefore like to do things the old fashioned way. An in-person book club is the best for me.

Our library already has 2 book clubs. My boss is a member of our Evening Book Club and I am a member of the Afternoon Book Club. We have discussed starting a Mystery Book Club which we would take turns moderating but the current book clubs keep us pretty busy. There is one website that we use for book suggestions and discussion questions that is not on the list and is rather surprising to me. At the Maud Marks Library, we use a site called LitLovers. They provide summaries and discussion questions for hundreds of books. For our Mystery Book Club we could start with The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith . The big thing with a book club is making sure everyone has their say. My book club starts with a thumbs up/down approach so everyone is able to give an opinion of a book.

I just signed myself on to Visual Bookshelf on Facebook. It was interesting to see some of the books that it generated for me. Some of the suggestions were either ones I had read or ones that I wanted to read anyway. I have rather eclectic reading tastes. I like the classics but I generally will read anything I can get my hands on and rarely do I find a book I don't like. I was surprised that Visual Bookshelf was able to read me so well. I was able to use it for nearly an hour before it went ballistic on me. (I think I was too excited when adding titles!) It stopped working before I could look up One for the Money by Janet Evanovich but people (including me) really seemed to love the Stephanie Plum series. On Shelfari it seems people either loved or hated the book. It is probably the same for the entire series.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #53 Finding Books Online

2009-03-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

I used Mapquest to first find Maud Marks and then did a "search nearby" for bookstores. The first one that popped up was Kumon Central Katy. I thought this was a tutoring place. There is no online presence. The second place that popped up was Marismith Books. I had never heard of them either and they have no online presence. Finally a place I had at least heard of, Bookworm Shop. I have passed this place several times in my drives around the Cinco Ranch area, although I had never gone in. There is a website too! You actually have to go there to buy something though. They do not sell anything through their website.

I went to Katy Budget Books to look up One for the Money by Janet Evanovich. It sold for $7.99.

I couldn't find a copy of this one as an audio online. It is not owned as an electronic audio book by Harris County (Although we have many others by Janet Evanovich as audio books!) and it is too new to be in the public domain yet.

I downloaded "An Affair With a Princess" by Michelle Celmer. I'm not a read fan of electronic books. It's kind of hard to curl up with your computer. I do have a friend who prefers reading books in that way though. (He is a computer person.) I suppose I do see the appeal though. A library does not have room for everything customers need now a days. It is easy for a library to expand their collections using the computers. I think it would be helpful if there was no other way to get the book.

Books, Readers and Beyond: #52 What to Read

2009-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

I did a general search on Janet Evanovich's novels. I love her Stephanie Plum series. I looked at Novelist, Morton Grove Public Library's Webrary, and What Should I Read Next? I found the results pretty close to the same Some authors were on at least 2 of the three lists. I even found one I might be interested. I'm going to try the first book in the Bubbles series by Sarah Strohmeyer.

Using Novelist the two books appropriate for a fouth grade girl who likes animals are Bunnicula by James Howe and The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. The thirteen year old brother might be interested in Kit's Wilderness by David Almond and The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh.

For the customer who has read everything by Dean Koontz, I would recommend John Saul, Charles Grant (Novelist) or Robert Louis Stevenson (What Should I Read Next?).

According to Mid-Continent Public Library, the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce includes Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant.

Potluck #51: Holidays and Cooking and Recipes - Oh My!

2009-03-23T12:02:00.001-07:00

Farikal- A Norwegian Mutton and Cabbage Recipe

This is a recipe from Allrecipes.com for 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
8 ounces sliced lamb meat
1 head cabbage, cored and sliced
2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
Arrange a layer of sliced lamb in the bottom of a Dutch oven or soup pot. Top with a layer of cabbage. Repeat layering as many times as you can. Tie the peppercorns into a small piece of cheesecloth, and place them in the center of the casserole. Pour the water over all, and cover with a lid.
Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Remove the package of peppercorns before serving.

I decided to up it to 6 servings. Using That's My Home Recipe Converter I found out I needed to multiply the recipe by 1.5.

Recipe Adjustment Factor is 1.5 Times Original Amounts (Original Amounts in parentheses.)

Farikal

12 ounces lamb
1.5 heads cabbage
3 cups water
2 tablespoons + 3/4 teaspoon peppercorn

DIRECTIONS

Arrange a layer of sliced lamb in the bottom of a Dutch oven or soup pot. Top with a layer of cabbage. Repeat layering as many times as you can. Tie the peppercorns into a small piece of cheesecloth, and place them in the center of the casserole. Pour the water over all, and cover with a lid.
Bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Remove the package of peppercorns before serving.

Potluck #50: Global Nation

2009-03-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

O.K. I wasn't quite able to plan any dream vacation with these websites. We're going on a road trip this summer to Chicago and back so I thought I would use Simpatigo to find things on my way. The problem was the map was too big and when I tried breaking it up, there really is nothing to see between here and Hot Springs Village, AR (our first stop).

So, I decided to leave that trip alone since it will be more about seeing people than sseeingn sights.

I then tried Tripbase. I liked this sight quite a bit. However, the big European trip my husband and I are planning next year to Geneva and possibly Brussels didn't come up either. I suppose it was because I set the budget amount to low. Really we aren't planning on spending a huge amount of money for hotels. You see, we have friends in both cities begging us to come and visit. We have places to stay so really transportation would be our big expenses.

I did find out that we could afford a trip to Copenhagen or Stockholm. It's funny, I've seen most of Denmark and used to know the Kobenhavn airport like the back of my hand, but I've never actually been in the city itself. The Copenhagen card sounds like fun and I'd love to take the train for a day trip into Sweden. We would probably spend a lot of time exploring all the castles in the area, oh and the gardens. Even just a walk through downtown always proves to be colorful with all the buildings around. We would probably go in June, right after he finishes the school year, the rain in that area usually start up again around the end of July but May and June are usually gorgeous in that part of the world. Perhaps during the trip we could actually even spend a few days in Sweden since I've never been there either. Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun!

Potluck #49: L'amore di lingue - Love of Languages

2009-03-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

After looking them all over, Mangolanguages seems to fit me best. It is self-paced and completely individual. I'm not one for social online learning. If I learn a language in a social setting, I want to do it in an old-fashioned classroom, not online.

When it comes to languages, I decided I wanted to pick a fun one for me, Norsk. Since I already have a background from living in Norway, I thought I would pick it up again. Problem... there were no "classes" available on LiveMocha. It isn't my learning style anyway.

I set myself up an account with the library's version of Mangolanguages. Norwegian was not a languaged offered but I did try the Spanish, and I think I might try the German if I ever have time. It is slow, considering I remember a little from high school but I'm thinking it will eventually pick up.

As for Wikibooks... well... its put out by Wikipedia, 'nough said. (I really don't mind wikipedia as it could be a good jumping off point but I don't see Wikibooks as being a "jumping off point.")

I will definitely be showing this to patrons if they ask and will probably try it myself to improve my Spanish, something I DEFINITELY need!

#46 Movie Maker Basics: You Oughta be in Pictures- or Making Them!

2009-03-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

O.K. So my husband and I are starting to get into this whole videos from a digital still camera thing. I recently took the "You Oughta be in Pictures" training and got inspired. The next weekend, my handbell choir played an original piece written by a high school senior at our church at a regional handbell festival. My husband had a little problem with figuring out recording, but managed to get the final climatic minute (the best part) of the piece on the camera.

That next week, I figured out how to downnload it onto my home computer, convert it to .wmv and imported to Windows Movie Maker. I added a title screen and then figured out how to get the video to fade into the rolling credits. It was really cool if I say so myself.

When I was done, I went to upload the final project to YouTube so that I could link it to my Facebook account and share it with all of my friends. Oops... it wouldn't upload. I guess I need to go to the next post to figure out what I was doing wrong.

#45 Making a Video: An Overview

2009-03-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

O.K. I have decided that I definitely do not like Animoto. It might be "easy" to use for some but I definitely do not see it. I was able to upload the pictures that I wanted to use and choose music. Then, when I pressed play, it did nothing... nothing! It didn't even try flipping through my pictures. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

I do like Windows Movie Maker. I'm sure it's a lot more challenging to use, but I think the options of adding video and pictures together as well as putting the music where I want it is a little more freeing. I have fun playing around with Windows Movie Maker as I add titles and credits. I have great plans for using it again in the future. I will not be returning to Animoto anytime soon.

A Consumer's How To # 44: How To & Make

2009-03-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

I found these websites very interesting. Among my favorites was HowStuffWorks. I found it quite philisophical. One of the first articles I found was called "How Barack Obama Works". They also had one titled "Did a U.S. President Rewrite a Bible?" My favorite was "How the Grim Reaper Works."

I found WikiHow extremely helpful. I especially liked the article "How to Cat Proof Your Christmas Tree." http://www.wikihow.com/Cat-Proof-Your-Christmas-Tree We have 4 cats at home. Three of these cats just think the Christmas tree is a really cool place to hide; not a big deal. One cat, however, thinks the Christmas tree looks a lot like Mount Everest. We have to keep him locked up 24/7 during the Christmas season and it really bugs me. I think I will try the Bitter Apple spray the next time. I also like the idea of Orange peels around the Christmas tree. The problem is, our cats are very strange. We have one cat that doesn't like the smell of oranges but 2 that don't mind it. I can remember if the Christmas tree climbing cat hates citrus or not. I may have to try that next Christmas as well.

A Consumer's How To # 43: Buying & Selling Online

2009-03-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm not one for buying from online auction sites. I really just use the Internet to buy from Amazon.com and plane tickets from various travel websites. I have used Craigslist before to find a lawn guy. He ended up being extremely rude and obnoxious. I was unable to find a way to comment on his ad and have not really trusted Craigslist since.

I think Half.com might be an interesting site to find music and movies. However, with today's dominate digital media (CDs and DVD) I have discovered that when used in many different machines, some not as well maintained as others, the disk tends to get scratched and is unreadable very quickly. Therefore, I do not trust previously used media and would not buy anything from this website for that reason.

I was a little surprised at EBay, not at the site itself, but at what I was looking at. I decided to have a little fun with it and look up my favorite baseball player, Craig Biggio. I found his rookie card with a starting bid of $.99 and no bids on it yet. There was only 9 1/2 hours left on the bid. It kind of proves how undervalued he has always been just because he spent his entire career with a middle of the road MLB team. It's a shame, but I'm not going after it. I have better things to spend my money on than sports memorabilia that my children will not value someday (like saving up for that trip to Cooperstown to see him inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame!) I think of the three though, EBay was my favorite and the one I would be most likely to use.

I am a slight technophob; therefore, I don't see me using one of these sites for my own personal use. When I have something I can no longer use, I give it to Goodwill. I feel they need the money more than I do.

I think PayPal is a very good idea. I kind of like the idea that I can use it on multiple website. The problem is the stores I use most often, Amazon and Travelocity do not accept PayPal. I guess this means I need to branch out with my online shopping. Perhaps I will do my Christmas shopping for my cats online (PetSmart) next fall.

Wellness #42: Staying Well

2008-09-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

O.K., I tried the symptom checker on my hip pain. For the past week when ever I move my leg in various ways, (I haven't figured out exactly what I'm doing yet.) I've been getting this intense shooting pain up my hip. It is inconsistant and started when I slept a couple of nights in my in-laws guest bed, which is why I am going to give it another week before I go into the doctor. I personally think it is a pinched nerve. The Mayo Clinic, however, says it is a hip labral tear. As I read it, it makes sense but the pain does seem to come from the nerves not anything that is torn. Reading the treatment though, they suggest pain killers anyway which I can and have been doing on my own. If it doesn't go away by next Thursday, I will call the doctor for an appointment.

I found the MedlinePlus Go Local website harder to use than I thought it would be. I tried to find resources for thyroid cancer 10 miles from my home and came up with a VERY confusing list. I had to go by county and not distance. This is not an easy thing to do when you live at the corner of three different counties. I also didn't find much in the way of support groups in the area period. I guess it is still to rare of a disease to warrant a support group at a regional basis. (There is a nationwide group called ThyCa, but they do not have local meetings.)

I was able to create a health family tree. It would not be very useful to my descendants since my husband and I are planning to adopt. (Among other medical and genetic problems we both have, my husband's exact words were, "We're not having children of our own. We're stopping this Moran cancer gene in it's tracks!" After 4 types of cancer in 4 different generations, none of which are now fatal, I whole heartedly agree.) I am planning on saving it though for my nieces and nephews. It would be nice for them to have all that family health information in one place.

Wellness #41 - Going Green - Part 2

2008-09-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

My husband and I already do quite a bit of these suggestions. We recycle as much as we can, although we are looking into recycling more. I walk to the grocery store and Walgreen's as much as possible while he rides his bike. I bring my lunch with me to work despite the fact that I live very close. Every time we have a light burn out we try to replace it with an energy efficient one. Aah, the joys of having a leftover hippie who works in the energy sector as a father.

My husband and I are considering changing to Reliant's 100% wind energy plan. It's about a cent more a kilowatt then what we're paying now but if it reduces our carbon footprint, it would be worth it. I looked at Green Mountain Energy but their cheaper plans had a tendency to fluctuate too much.

I try to hyper-mile my car as much as possible. I try to drive the speed limit and coast as much as possible. I suppose I could do more. I drive with my cruise control on the freeway too much, I'm sure. I realize when I do that, I put my car in control of my speed and it is probably harder on it's insides then I am. I use it because I acknowledge I have a lead foot and I am trying to go the speed limit. I will try to drive without the cruise control when I go up to my in-laws next Christmas. I will also try to drive 55 the next time I get on the freeway here in town (if I can get up to that speed). I understand the need to drive slower. I allowed my sister-in-law to drive my car back to Houston from Bowie, TX the last time we went up to Oklahoma. She drove 80 nearly the entire way back, getting us to Houston an hour and a half early. She also used nearly a 1/4 of a tank more of gas than I usually use driving that same distance at 65-70. That just proved to me that hyper-miling a car is the way to go.

Wellness #41: Going Green - Part 1

2008-09-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well according to the Individual Emissions website by the EPA, my husband and I put out approximately 32,446 pounds of CO2 per year. Not bad considering he has a long commute to work. We already recycle plastic, paper, metal, and compost and produce only about 3 bags of trash every month. There doesn't seem to be a place in the Katy area to recycle glass although my sister-in-law in the Clear Lake area has Ellington Field near her. She offered to take our glass off our hands and recycle it for us. Now I just need to find a receptacle to keep it in between times that we see her.

As the lights in our study, closets, and two extra bedrooms go out, we will be replacing them with energy efficient lights. (We've already replace them in our bedroom lamps and in one in our closet. I will go scour Home Depot if I ever have the time for more energy efficient flood light bulbs. (Unfortunately, those are used in the majority of the house.)

If I get really brave, I might even turn down the heat in the winter (we already keep the house at 65). Eventually (once the house is paid off), we would like to install Energy Star windows and better insulation in the attic.

I have never been to a Farmer's Market but there is one here in Katy that I've always wanted to go to. I see they sell fish, nuts, olive oil, bread and other things I usually have to go to the grocery store to buy. Perhaps the weekend after next, my husband and I might go down there and look around. (I actually do need bread and olive oil.) It will also be good next January/February when I am on my wonderful special diet. We like supporting the little shop owner rather than the big corporate conglomerate.

Wellness #40: Fitness

2008-08-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

I messed around with a few of the "calculators". (I'm supposed to live past my 97th birthday if cancer doesn't get me first. I also have a "healthy BMI and need the average amount of calories.) I wasn't all that interested in many of the other calculators. There wasn't enough of the directions to tell me exactly how they worked and I was depressed enough anyway.

I admit I'm not as good about exercising as I should be. My mother is a certified personal trainer. (I can use her for free.) I own a tredmill which I use but not as much as I should. It's been kind of hard to motivate myself in the mornings with my husband home all day. (It's hard to exercise with him on the couch eating his cereal.) I was able to exercise this morning and will most likely get myself going in earnest again on Thursday when he starts back at work.

Wellness #39: Nutrition

2008-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know how much I will actually use the NutritionData.com website. I really liked the unit conversion on the website and I might use it for that purpose. I put my lunch into the nutrition counter and came back all depressed. Although I don't think it is quite as high in cholesterol as the site claims (I'm not having as much corn pudding as I told the site I was.) it was still way too depressing for my taste! And of course it had to remind me about the amount of sugar in my small orange. Is anything safe to eat nowadays besides air?

For the Recipes.Sparkspeople.com website, I found a Chicken casserole recipe similar to a recipe I grew up with but no longer make (so now I don't have to feel quite so guilty). I found the Sodium content to be quite high but the recipe I used as a child contained salsa and chili peppers insead of Chicken Broth, Cream of Mushroom Soup and Velveeta. I think the one I ate as a child was healthier. The recipe I chose contained:

Chicken Breast, no skin, 30 ounces (remove)
Cream of Mushroom Soup, 1 can (10.75 oz) (remove)
Cream of Chicken Soup, 1 can (10.75 oz) (remove)
Canned Tomatoes, 1 can (remove)
*Velveeta Cheese Product, 16 oz (remove)
Swanson Chicken Broth 99% Fat Free, .5 cup (remove)
Cheddar Cheese, 8 oz (remove)
Corn Chips, 16 oz (remove)

And the Nutritional data:

Nutrition Facts

8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 767.4
Total Fat 46.1 g
Saturated Fat 17.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 10.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.7 g
Cholesterol 134.4 mg
Sodium 1,979.0 mg
Potassium 468.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 44.9 g
Dietary Fiber 3.0 g
Sugars 5.6 g
Protein 47.1 g
Vitamin A 21.7 %
Vitamin B-12 10.9 %
Vitamin B-6 38.2 %
Vitamin C 5.8 %
Vitamin D 0.9 %
Vitamin E 7.6 %
Calcium 70.6 %
Copper 13.4 %
Folate 6.0 %
Iron 15.4 %
Magnesium 21.6 %
Manganese 15.7 %
Niacin 65.6 %
Pantothenic Acid 14.2 %
Phosphorus 48.5 %
Riboflavin 19.6 %
Selenium 40.7 %
Thiamin 8.7 %
Zinc 17.8 %

Games and Gaming #38: Console Gaming

2008-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Oh, this was just too cool! I LOVE this arcade website. I'm going to have to bookmark it on my home computer. I played Duck Hunt, Tetris, and Simon. I can't wait to try Astroids and Spaced Invaders. I did have a bit of a hard time trying to figure out where the controls were on my keyboard, but it wasn't too frustrating. I felt I was improving my eye-hand coordination and memory by playing these games as a child.

The Maud Marks Library already has a couple of Sony Playstations. I think for library purposes these consoles work well for us. The kids seem to like Guitar Hero and DDR. I would love to see us get Rock Band someday if we could find the room. I think these games work better in the library setting then some of the games which use only control pads. It would also be nice to get a Nintendo Wii, simply because it promotes active involvement in the games. I understand though that these would probably be better for schools who cannot afford gym teachers though.

In the case of our kids, I think they really do just come for the games and stay for the games. This is proven by the fact that the number of teens in the library always doubles when there is a possiblility of "Fun and Fabulous Fridays". Then, when the kids see there are no games, they don't tend to stay. Perhaps there is a way to bring books into the whole gaming day? That way we can get at least a few of them to come for the games and stay for the books.

Games and Gaming #37: Get Your Game On @ The Library

2008-08-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't really like the Carnegie-Mellon games at all. I wasn't able to find any directions on how to play the games. I found the game "I'll Get It" impossible to play. I clicked on the student and then nothing happened (or so I thought). Turns out I was taking the research question from them, but a newcomer to this game would not know that! Then after taking it to the catalog, it would only tell me search complete and not tell me what to do next. Perhaps if they added a dialog box to the bottom (ALA Runescape), it would be easier to understand and figure out what the player is supposed to do. The game "Within Range" was a little easier to figure out. It still took me a little while to discover what I was supposed to do. Perhaps if they had a page of rules and directions that they showed first, I wouldn't have had such a hard time with it.

I definitely agree that games belong in the library. We have not been all about BOOKS in quite some time. Libraries have been "media centers" for a while now and I know that Fort Bend library has actually had children's computer games (for literacy purposes) on a few of it's computers for years. As a learning experience, I like the way Mr. Martin put it in the New York Times article, "'If a kid takes a test and fails, that's it. But in a game, if you fail you get to take what you've learned and try again.'" It is a progressive learning trait that will help them in the real world.

For our library it is more about survival than anything. The teenagers are going to be coming here and playing Runescape anyway. It would be nice to have even more games for our Playstations and maybe even a Wii some day. As interesting as Runescape is, it is nice to encourage the teens to interact with each other more. I also agree that it brings more teens into the library. Perhaps if ye can get them in the door, we can encourage them to check out EVERYTHING the library offers.

Games and Gaming #36: The Wide World of Online Role Playing Games

2008-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

O.K. Well, obviously, I created a female avatar, dressed rather conservatively. She is wearing a short sleeved purple shirt and a royal blue skirt. She has dark hair in a pony tail.

I found Runescape to be a very involved game. It seems to me to be a complicated version of a Nintendo game my brother used to play when we were kids, Link. In that game, you also had to move around a magical world performing tasks, collecting items, and fighting creatures. However, if memory serves me correctly, it was not nearly as involved as Runescape seems to be. I found it pretty easy to get around for the most part, although, I did have a slight problem trying to figure out how to run. One of the things I found most surprising was the fact that with many of the simpler tasks, all you have to do is point and click and the computer suddenly takes over and makes your "avatar" do the task. If I remember correcty, the games of the early 1990's force you to assist you character in doing each task. (Whether it was swinging an ax multiple times or clicking each time you wanted to shoot an arrow.) I nearly got killed at first because I wanted to tell my character where to shoot the arrow and instead, she would move in the direction I clicked my mouse.

I understand now why the teens like to play Runescape so much. I believe it is actually good for them. It takes their natural desires to play and gives them a chance to think. It isn't for me (I prefer the socializing that comes around a normal, ancient, Nintendo where both players are sitting next to each other.) but I can see why the kids like it and I would probably encourage it with our library teens in the future.

Games and Gaming #35: Games? In the Library?

2008-07-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

I played FreeRice, a crossword puzzle on the Chronicles website, and a few of the games on PBS kids. By far, my favorite was FreeRice. It was easy to learn and it really helps build vocabulary. When you miss a word it will eventually repeat giving you a chance to reinforce the definition in your mind. Sometimes it got a little annoying only because when I finally made it to a slightly difficult level, I would miss a word and then miss the next one or two knocking me back down several levels. It's great for learning vocabulary though and, of course, you help the world by donating free rice!

Maps #34: Geocoding and Geocaching

2008-04-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

I chose to look up the Maud Marks Library at 1815 Westgreen. The coordinates for it are 29.757586, -95.734183. It was kind of cool to look at it over the satellite. The building looks so tiny compared to the field nearby.

Katy's Easiest is a cache located very close to my house on Misty Cove Dr.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a76ec9a1-6823-41dd-8e33-c34816d47205
N 29° 49.467 W 095° 42.818

I don't think this would be something I would really get into. I'm more of someone who likes to go on walks and hikes but not looking for treasure. My house is already packed full of stuff; why would I want to add to that mess?

Maps #33: Relocating with Online Maps

2008-04-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Houston Association of Realtors web page has really changed over the past four years. My husband and I used it 4 years ago to find our current house. I liked the way that this time around I could separate out the forclosures out from the others. There sure are alot of forclosure right now, over 36 in the Katy area. Also, it seemed that every house had virtual tours right on the website. Four years ago, I would say only about half of them had the pictures and that was only if they were desperate to sell the house. At the time none of the forclosure had pictures; now they all have them.

Another feature I loved is that HAR has gone international. They have properties listed in Greece, Dubai, Mexico, Brazil and more. In fact I found one property in South Africa that I got a real good look at. It was a several acre property. The final picture in the tour was six lions. Were they sitting there near the house waiting for something?

I chose to look up the Walk Score for a house in the Memorial Parkway subdivision, a neighborhood very close to the library. Considering the number of strip centers and grocery stores nearby, I expected the Walk Score to be very high. I was extremely disappointed. The Walk Score was only 31. What I don't understand is that my home, just as close to other stores in a different area scored a 60. I'm not sure I trust the Walk Score anyway. I think it works on as the crow flies mentality. I happen to know my house is 3.5 miles from the library but this website is telling me it is just 2.5.

The new house would be within walking distance of all the public schools, Memorial Parkway Elementary, Memorial Parkway Junior High, and Taylor High. There are two grocery stores, a Randalls and an HEB within walking distance too. There is also at least 2 Mexican Restaurants, 3 sandwich shops. and several pizza places very close by. I would also be 3 miles closer to the library.

I liked the HAR website best. It was easiest to narrow down exactly what I wanted in a house. They had some any different ways you could narrow things down. You can get very specific as to your desires.

Maps #32: Current Events

2008-04-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Often our Caller ID gets phone calls from strange area codes and the caller information says "caller unknown". Question-- Where is area code 214 from? Answer-- Dallas according to http://www.usnaviguide.com/areacode.htm

O.K. Well, I clicked on Global Incident Map and, boy, was that interesting. I thought I might be able to find an epicenter for the earthquake this morning near San Antonio. Instead, the subtitle for this webpage is, "A Global Display of Terrorism and Other Suspicious Events". However, there was still a incident icon flashing in Texas. It turns out someone pulled up to a guard shack near the port of Texas City and claimed he had a suspicious package in his vehicle- http://globalincidentmap.com/eventdetail.php?ID=7974

On Terra Server, I looked at the various baseball fields. Miller Park in Milwaukee has an interesting roof. It looks as if the two sides open almost like a fan instead of just in one direction like Minute Maid Park.

I next went to National Atlas. I clicked on the map labled Wildlife Mortality- Avian Cholera. Although I was not able to get close to the map, it looks like Harris County might be having a problem right now.

Oh, and that EarthNow Landsat Image Viewer is pretty cool, you can watch the earth pass by underneath you and an image at the side shows exactly where on the planet you are looking.

Maps #31: Have Map, Will Travel

2008-03-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map

Well, this certainly has been an interesting lesson. I attempted to view the Google Create a Map Tutorial but did not find it very helpful. I ended up just playing around with my map and seeing what I could do. I ended up making a map with points from my past all around the Houston suburbs. I was also able to draw a line connecting the three elementary schools I went to in Missouri City and drew a shape connecting the various places I lived in the Tri-City area.

This might be fun when planning a road trip. A person can put points on a map that they are going to visit and then draw a line as they travel so everyone else can follow their progress.

Spring Cleaning #30: Take a Load Off Our Drives

2008-03-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

I post to the S:drive all the time. As programming and publicity coordinator for my library, I am continually creating fliers and posters and then transfering them to the S:drive so that they can be printed downtown.

I spent quite a bit of time deleting files from the P:drive. I found fliers that had been created before I arrived. (I've been here six years.) I deleted any flier that was so old it was not done in current HCPL format. I ended up clearing out probably 2/3 of the old fliers. I also got rid of a couple of old press releases not done on current HCPL letterhead. There were many folders where now there is only one or two things in them. It took me a while to work through the Fonts folder . I tried to be extra careful because I didn't want to get rid of any fonts we still might need.

Best of all, I finally cleared the pictures from my 2004 engagement and 2005 wedding off the P:drive. I've been meaning to do it for a while and I finally had no excuse. There were more pictures than I thought there would be. Now, though, they are on Flickr and off the P:drive. Yea!!!

I don't really have much in my Z:drive. I was able to get rid of one or two of the files there though.

Spring Cleaning #29: Email

2008-03-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have always tried to keep my e-mail pretty cleaned out. Usually, I keep it under 10% of the space used. That being said, I actually did need to clean it out when this started as I am now over 11%! And, wow, that worked big time!!! It was pretty easy to clear out enough to get the box down to 8%. I just went through and found old messages I had previously forgotten to delete. Now I just have e-mail from people regarding work events coming up.

What really surprised me though was when I was looking in my folder of e-mails I had from family. I hadn't added to it for a long time as I have been encouraging them to e-mail me at my home address. I assure them that it does get checked and only e-mail me at work if there is an emergency. However, I found several old pictures of my nieces and nephew. I hesitated purging them because they were so cute, but really, when was the last time I looked at them. So, delete, delete, delete and purge!!! And now, my box is less than 3% full. It's amazing how much unnecessary space they were taking up.

Now, all my e-mails are in folders, my inbox is completely clear, and my address book is all updated.

Spring Cleaning #28: Don’t Clutter Up Expensive Cyberspace

2008-03-25T17:16:00.000-07:00

I decided to use Remember the Milk. I liked the way I could set things to come back on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis. I can just mark things as done and they will automatically set things back with a new due date. I do not have to keep adding things back in. I was also able to tag things, another advantage. I created my very own honey-do list for my husband full of household chores and repairs he needs to take care of.

When it comes to taking care of my house, I use the FlyLady system. A year ago, a friend of mine with 3 kids told me this was how she kept her house in working order. The entire concept for this is a person can do anything for 15 minutes. If you try to go longer you can get bored, stress, etc. So you set your timer and spend 15 minutes on any one task. Then, even if it is not done, you move on to something else for 15 minutes. Every 45 minutes you take a 15 minute break. I have found this motivates me to get things done quickly and correctly. After all, if you only have 15 minutes before you have to move on, do you really want to come back to a project?

I have found the idea of Getting Things Done rather intriguing. I remember I have often written out a to-do list and then forgotten to look at what I have written down. I think what I'm going to try to do from now on is set aside 15 minutes every Sunday to log on to Remember the Milk and set my to-do list for the week. By doing this on the Internet, I can access it anywhere and therefore have no excuse but to follow through with it at 15 minute intervals at a time.

Sound: #27: Creating Your Own Podcast

2008-03-24T14:37:00.002-07:00

O.K. I have the Podcast. It is up on Gabcast. I decided to do a podcast about events happening at the library during the month of April. For now, it is just me reading the press releases I send out every month but maybe someday I can get more creative.

Problem: I can't figure out HOW to post it to my blog. I tried everything it seems. I put my blog address in three different places and no such luck. If you want to listen to it though, it is on Gabcast.com. It is called Branch Happenin's and the channel number is 18652.

Sound: #26: Making (or listening to) Music Together

2008-03-24T14:37:00.001-07:00

I knew about MySpace, but not any of the others. It seems like Qloud goes through iTunes which I have no interest in so that probably won't work at all for me. Project Playlist was really interesting. It is a music search engine with pretty new stuff. I even found whole albums listed. I found the Beatles Revolver album. I know it was the entire thing since it was over 34 minutes long. A drawback I found was that there was no way I found to browse the selections. I think Imeem was the best. It was really organized with the ability to browse as well as exact search for music. It had really new stuff too. The first page came up with Jordin Sparks.

I ended up signing up for Imeem. At first I found it extremely confusing. It was and still is having problems sending me a confirmation e-mail. (It's partially my fault, I gave it the wrong e-mail address; but when I switch the address around, it still couldn't find me.) Finally, when I gave up with that, I decided just to start creating a playlist. I had a little trouble figuring out how to do this also. They don't give real directions on their page. Finally, I was able to create a list and add a couple of Beatles and U2 songs. It's kind of cool but I don't think it's something I will ever really use.

Sound # 25: Am I a music pirate? It's hard to know...

2008-03-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Burning to a CD was easier than I thought it would be. It had taken me over an hour and a half to download my All Strings Considered file. (My husband and I still live in the 20th century with dial-up. We'll be moving forward to the turn of the century next month with DSL.) It took me a bit of finagling, but I was finally able to figure out how to burn it onto a CD. I was surprised with how fast it went. Originally, my computer told me it would take 20 minutes to burn the CD but when I went back to it 10 minutes later, the CD had been ejected and the computer told me the task was completed. I popped the CD into my CD player and sure enough, beautiful dulcimer music.

I still love my CDs. Not many people I know have made the transistion to MP3s yet. I'm sure I will have to someday but at the moment I prefer the CD player I can blast around the house while I'm cleaning. I'm not a huge fan of earphones.

I waiver between whether or not music sharing is good for the industry. I can see the one side where it is good for new artists. It allows for the exposure to more people out there and is definitely easier and probably cheaper than trying to convince radio stations to play the music. Demand feeds demand. People will possibly be willing to buy an entire CD if they like what they hear on the one song. On the other hand, since the advent of the Internet and Napster, sales in the music industry have plunged. No one wants to pay for what they can get for free. This has been a problem since cassette tapes became available and people were able to record their favorite record albums. It has become increasingly worse since file sharing became possible through the Internet.

The real problem is that technology has taken off and as a society, we are unable to keep up with all the changes. With every piece of "life simplifying" technology, life actually becomes more complicated.

Sound #24: The Sound of Music!

2008-03-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

I looked at all 5 different pay sites for the music. If I were to use one of those sites, I would probably go the Yahoo! Music. Right now they are running a free 14 day trial. They only have access to about 2 milion songs compared to Napster's 5 million but that is still quite a bit of music. You have to download the free Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The best part though is that it is only $8.99 a month or (even cheaper) at $71.88 a year. In today's struggling economy, no one has a lot of disposable income.

It took me a couple of days to figure out how to download to my home computer. I chose All Strings Considered, a Hammered Dulcimer file off the Overdrive Database. I was able to download the Overdrive software without any problem. But, the first time I tried to download the file from the database, it told me my Microsoft Player version was out of date and I needed to update it. It continued to tell me this even after I took steps to correct this problem. I walked away from it for a couple of days. When I came back to it, I was able to download it with no problem. The computer didn't even act like it had any problem at all! Now I'm able to listen to dulcimer music straight from my computer.

I do not have a MP3 player to transfer it to, but I have been able to do this multiple times over the past couple of years from work computers during other training.

I did figure out that my favorite stations, Sunny 99 and 106.9 The Point do broadcast over the Internet. I decided that I preferred Sunny's broadcast to The Point's because it connects faster. Also, The Point started with a commercial while Sunny went straight for the broadcast. This was very annoying as The Point was supposed to be playing Runaway Train (great song!) and I was watching a commercial instead. I only caught the last few seconds of Runaway Train! Annoying!

Week 10 Lesson 23: Summary

2007-11-26T08:38:00.001-08:00

Well, this has certainly been an interesting experience. I think my favorite thing was finding the handbell podcast. It has been really fun to listen to. I've also learned quite a bit about social networking sites. This was really important for me to learn about due to the fact that the junior high kids from across the street all have My Space or Facebook profiles. I have enjoyed them for myself. I was able to get in touch with friends from high school I have lost contact with. However, I don't believe I would want my own child to have a profile until they are at least 25! In the future, I'd like to learn more about gaming sites, especially Runescape. It seems all the kids around here play Runescape.

Week 9 Lesson 22: Downloadable Media

2007-11-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

I'm not really one for audio books. My short term memory is screwy so I cannot absorb a book that is being read to me. I am very visual and like having the book in front of me. For that reason, I didn't really like LibriVox or Wowio. Overdrive seems to be o.k. though. I was looking through the music category. There isn't a lot of music yet but it seems to be building up. I liked the Acoustic Abstracts CD. It is relaxing guitar music and heaven knows I need relaxing music right now. Better yet, it allows the music to be burned to a CD. I think I might go home, check it out and burn it to a CD. I'll be able to check out my computer's burning capabilities too.

Week 9 Lesson 21: Podcasts

2007-11-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

I looked at all three podcast directories. I think the information is starting to become overwhelming. I decided to look at the music podcasts and see if I could find any handbell podcasts. I play with my church's advanced handbell choir. We continually try to push ourselves. I thought subscribing to one might give tips on how we can continue to improve. I was able to find one. I'm listening to it right now. At first I wasn't all that impressed, it sounded like a couple of guys just hanging out. However, the longer I've listened the better it has gotten. They will be interviewing a handbell guru next week so maybe I'm willing to continue listening and hear some of her new techniques.

More YouTube

2007-11-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

O.K. I love this one and I had to post it. This Wake Up Cat video rings true to the whole cat thing.

Week 9 Lesson 20: You Tube

2007-11-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

In order to see this video click here

O.K. I'm a sucker for cats with my five at home. As I searched YouTube, I found further proof that cats are not as digified as they want you to believe. I have to admit, I was surprised at how many R and X-rated videos I found even in the pet section. I guess it's further proof that we have to watch kids because truly anyone can post anything to the Internet.

Week 8 Lesson 18: Social Networking

2007-11-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I set up a Facebook account for myself. I know I didn't HAVE to, but I've had a few friends asking when I would join them on Facebook so I figured I might as well. I thought it was quite confusing to use at first but I think I'm getting the hang of it now. I still don't have my profile quite the way I want it at the moment. I'm quite a private person and am unsure about giving out quite so much information. Even though I have a personal blog on another site, I set it so people couldn't see any more information other than my name.
I had quite a bit of fun searching for various friends. I ended up finding 3 of them so far and possibly a 4th. I sent them all messages. Maybe this will help us keep even better track of each other.
I also looked at my sister-in-law's MySpace profile. It is pretty cool. She has pictures of her kids scrolling across the bottom.

Week 8 Lesson 19: Zoho

2007-11-05T09:10:00.001-08:00

Week 8 Post 17: Zoho

Hi this is cool. Instead of e-mailing a document back and forth to myself I can do it all on different computers and save it on the Internet. I'm able to get on it any where. And look, I can do different fonts and sizes. I can highlight my work. I can change the background color or letter color. I can add different symbols ψ. The only bad thing I'm finding is that it keeps refreshing itself and moving my cursor to the beginning of the document. It is annoying. How do I make it STOP?!?!?!?!

Week 7 Lesson 17: Anything Technology

2007-10-23T18:32:00.000-07:00

We get to write about anything technology related, right?
Well, I must say, my favorite technological advance is probably e-mail. I was in high school when the entire e-mail craze started so it wasn't until college that I really caught up with the whole "new" way of communicating. But, I must say it has been really fantastic over the past 13 years. (Man, I'm getting old!) My husband and I grew up overseas and it has been a wonderful way for us to keep in touch with our old friends from high school. Now, with just a click of a mouse, we can communicate with people in Belgium, Norway, Scotland, India, and everywhere else. It's so much cheaper than picking up a phone.
More recently, I've also learned the joys of blogging. I started a personal blog (on a different provider) months ago. Now, instead of sending out individual e-mails, (something I am notoriously bad at) I just update my other blog and my friends can follow our lives with our cats and other adventures. It really is a small world after all!

Week 7 Lesson 16: Wikis

2007-10-22T08:53:00.001-07:00

I believe Wikis are a great idea. They seem to be a great way to share information between individuals who care about a certain subject and live far apart. I especially liked the Book Lovers Wiki and the best practice Wiki. Now libraries all over the country and even the world can share a program, idea, policy or other activity that worked well in their library. There is nothing like having a place to bounce ideas around. One man's success can be shared with the world.

Week 6 Lesson 15: Library 2.0

2007-10-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

What is Library 2.0? I see "Library 2.0" as bringing the library to the user. In the past, the user always had to come to the library to receive services from a certified librarian. This is no longer the case. Thanks to services from the Web 2.0, the library can be brought to the public. Library 2.0 is techology driven. Library's now have such a strong presence on the Internet, an HCPL customer can now live in California and still use our services. We now bring the library into the users home through Chat services, online registration, library blogs, digital media, and other services. Providing users with the ability to look at (although maybe not edit) a library's del.icio.us account allow the user access to librarian approved websites for their information needs.

"Library 2.0" means staying innovative. "Library 2.0" means modifying services according to library users needs. I liked Dr. Wendy Schultz's take on "Library 2.0". She sees libraries of the past as being in communities, where as now, libraries are communities. Library 1.0 was seen as a physical building and a necessary commodity within a community. Library 2.0 is now a virtual world that is user centered. Library 2.0 is not a necessity but instead a place with a product that needs to be marketed to sell.

Week 6 Lesson 14: Technorati

2007-10-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Technorati looks to be an interesting tool. However, I am not any more impressed with it than I was two weeks ago when we looked at it earlier. It seems to be difficult for the average user to search. It works the same way many other search engines work where it finds sites through electronic means. Just like all other computer based programs, it cannot think for itself. Therefore, unless the exactly correct search terms are used, it is very easy to have a result list that is either too broad or too narrow to be of any use. I found it interesting that when I did a tag search, I found 54 blogs with "Learning 2.0" as a tag. The same search under blog directory produced 57 blogs. I suppose it doesn't matter what the tag is, Technorati searches the entire blog and sends back results for all blogs about "Learning 2.0" whether they are tagged that way or not.

Week 6 Lesson 13: Del.icio.us

2007-10-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

I set myself up a delicious account a couple of months ago. I have not added many bookmarks yet. Many of the bookmarks I have added so far are recipes I have wanted to keep track of. I have added many of my other bookmarks I had in my Yahoo! account to delicious. So far, many of my tags have remained simple such as recipes, work, libraries, etc. I see the benefit of tagging for people with hundreds of bookmarks in their account. It is a way to easily find resources at a few clicks of the mouse. There are definite advantages for reference librarians using Del.icio.us. Reference librarians are depending more and more on the Internet as reputable organizations are using the Internet to spread information. These websites are very valuable for up to date information that is not possible to read in a book. We use the Internet every day. Now we can keep track of usable websites with a few clicks of a mouse.

Week 5 Lesson 12: Library Elf

2007-10-10T14:13:00.001-07:00

I've tried out Library Elf recently and don't know if I like it or not. On the one hand, it is rather redundant. I already get e-mail notificaions about holds, due dates and overdues. On the other hand, it is rather nice having books on both my card and my husbands card listed in the same place. I can actually see what is going on with both cards at once. Better yet, they are listed in date order so I can better see which books I need to pull from my husband's classroom on any given day. I have also been told that you can renew your books straight from the e-mail Library Elf send you. That's pretty nice to not have to go through the hassle of pin numbers and such to renew books. Perhaps Library Elf will grow on me.

Week 5 Lesson 11: Library Thing

2007-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

I took a look at Library Thing over the past couple of days. I decided to start cataloging a list of books that I want to read. About a year ago, I decided to "catch up" on my books by reading from one of those 100 greatest books of all times list. I'm not that far into it. Now, though, I have a great place to keep track of those lists and whether I actually own the book. Now I can just tag a book as read. I've added a widget to the right side of the blog, click there to link to my entire list. I haven't finished adding the entire list yet, so stay tuned for more books.

Week 5 Lesson 10: Avatars

2007-10-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the ideal me on vacation. Cute!!

Yahoo! Avatars

Widget Fun

2007-10-04T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today, a member of our staff was playing around with Feedster. She was able to figure out how to add a widget to her blog. Now, we're all doing it! I did mine on Major League Baseball. I'm a huge Astros/Cubs fan. (I was raised in Houston by a member of the Cubs Nation.) We follow and root for both teams. The big question in our family is, has Next Year finally arrived? Follow the widget on my blog to find out!

Week 4 Lesson 9: News feeds

2007-10-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

I couldn't really figure out the outside tools such as Feedster or Topix. I found it was easiest to just find the blogs myself and paste them into the search subscription box. That is the easiest way to find blogs and news feeds to follow. I subscribed to one more baseball blog so I can now follow my beloved Cubs during their World Series run. I also liked the 200 most popular feeds and the quick pick subscriptions button found there. I would have loved to explore the "Newest Feeds" button but so many people are currently using Bloglines, the connection is INCREDIBLY slow. I may wait until next week when the traffic on the information superhighway lightens up.

Week 4 Lesson 8: Bloglines

2007-10-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

I actually have had a Bloglines account for about two years now. I think it's great. I've been using it to follow the hurricane season, baseball season, get recipies, and of course several library blogs. It has been rather convienient to use to follow the IHCPL blog. I see the assignments when they are posted. Just to make sure I knew what I was doing, I also signed up to follow my sister-in-laws blog. It is pretty nice to follow. There are all kinds of pictures of my nieces and nephew. I can watch them grow up, despite the fact that they live in North Carolina and I'm here in Texas.

Week 3 Lesson 7: Using Pixer

2007-09-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I used Pixer on one of my cat photos. I'm not super happy with the results. The black cat turned colors when I tried to lighten up the wood behind him. Here's the before and after shots.

Week 3 Lesson 6: Fun with Flickr Mashups

2007-09-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

O.k. Here at my library we have been having lots of fun with the Flickr mashups. We have been having the most fun with the trading card creator and "Spell with Flickr". We've been making trading cards for our various pets and putting our names and various words into Spell with Flickr until they have come out all pretty. I have tried some of the other mashups such as Tripper map and Yahoo Trip planner. I have not had much luck with Trippermap, but Trip planner has been fun. I've been trying to plan my dream vacation, a trip to Ireland. My cousins and I would love to go together on a heritage trip. We plan on going to a pub in Dublin still owned by our distant relations.

Spell with Flickr

2007-09-25T16:35:00.002-07:00

Here's one of my cats name done in cool lettering!

Trading Cards

2007-09-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ah, making a trading card was kind of fun. I was able to make one for one of my cats. She's a little Miss Priss but very lovable towards humans.

Week 3 Lesson 5: Our New Cat

2007-09-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

My husband and I just adopted a new cat. He was living in the backyard of one of my coworkers. Here are two pictures of Frankie, one from when we first got him and a second taken just last week. Look at how he's grown.

Week 2 Lesson 4: Internet Safety

2007-09-19T12:17:00.000-07:00

There is just too much information you can put on the Internet nowadays. Thinking about it though, it has been like this for well over a decade when chat rooms first hit it big. People need to understand that speaking to someone in a chat room is just as dangerous as those strangers your mother always warned you about when you were a child. Personally, I try to keep as much information off the Internet as possible. I never click on a pop up. I only enter in financial information in a secured website such as Amazon. I avoid chat rooms and other places where I don't know who I could be giving information to. I even went into Google Earth and deleted my address information. I have no child yet, but when I do, I will be glad for my slow dial-up connection at home. I hope it will discourage my child from getting on websites where they will be encouraged to pass on that information. It will make any talks we have more effective.

Week 2 Lesson 3: Strengths and Weaknesses

2007-09-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

My biggest strength, I believe is the ability to think positive. I am of a generation who grew up with computers and, therefore, should be very comfortable with technology. I have to admit, in the past, I have been one who has not liked change. However, as technology has grown, I have come to realize that it is also becoming easier to use. I have discovered how much easier it is to live with this technology. I am looking forward to learning more about the Web 2.0 as we delve deeper into this new technology.
I believe my greatest weakness is giving myself credit. I am a perfectionist and I must be able to do everything equally well. I often get discouraged at things when they do not go perfectly. I am going to need to learn that things do not have to be perfect in order to succeed.