Ten Random Things

A collegue mentioned there was a bonus round of describing ten random things about yourself. Missed that email but here goes:
1)Grow hellebores
2)Have been obsessed with making cement leaves for the garden (some as Xmas gifts)
3)Am distantly related to Robert E. Lee and Anne Hutchinson
4)Bonnie Raitt fan
5)Have an aritifial hip
6)Have two kids - a daughter (27) and a son (23)
7)One of my favorite places in the world is Lake Crescent on the Olympic Penninsula
8)One of the best experiences ever was visiting Van Gogh Museum
9)Spent 5 months hitchhiking through Europe
10)Have a brother who is a huge Harley Davidson fan

Library Thing

Seems like ages ago I set up a Shelfari account witht the best of intentions but never did much of anything. Thanks to the nudge from Learn & Play I have been adding recent reads and hope to go back and put in lots more from further back in time!

Podcast Directories

I used podfeed.net and found HomeWizards and saw Cindy's Pond gets installed. Not much how to but lovely inspiration if you have the $ to have a team arrive for a one day installation.

Summary of Learn & Play

What an adventure this has been! The biggest challenge has been finding the time and also giving myself permission to play with "technology". I learned an incredible amount but feel like I have just scratched the surface of what's available to discover and use. I'm hoping the 23 things will stay posted so I can go back and explore some more.

Image Generator

This particular exercise made me feel tech challenged. However I found glowtxt.com which was fun and downloaded a neat birthday greeting for a friend.

CML Wiki Sandbox

Okay I'm racing to the finish line on the day before the deadline . . . just applied for access to the CML sandbox. Anyway, what fun to read about fellow staffer's book favorites-- a perfect segue to the RA tactic that will begin in the first quarter of next year. I'm in and added a few comments to the favorite books.

Bloglines & Library Blogs

I set up a bloglines account a while ago, but I'm now trying to do more with Google reader. A favorite website that I am trying to set up as an RSS feed is Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind--great mystery reviews and publishing news.

Bloglines & Library Related Blogs

Week 8 Online Productivity, Web 2.& CML's Toolbox

Whew! Took a look at Google docs--this would be incredibly useful for the training document Nancy Feick and I are working on! On Web 2.0 I explored Lulu (lots of calendars--some very weird! and Etsy which is awesome. Under CML's Tool Box was interested to read about some more tips with Firefox which I was using already but clearly not to its full potential!

Google docs

Who knew? I can see this working well for my volunteer Inniswood group as well as editing the presentation for the RA tactic.

Library 2.0

Liked the Wikipedia entry, was sorry to hear that Reno library circ had dropped 55%. Seeems like CML could have the best of both worlds --new- 2.0 & old--a responsive print collection. I'm delighted CML is exploring all the 2.0 possibilities & making the library visible far beyond our physical locations.

Twitter

Learned to tweet!! Signed up for an account. See how this would be more useful with an Iphone rather than on a computer. I hardly have time for email so I'm not sure how often I will twitter but it was fun to see what other staff were doing.

Youtube & Podcasts

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Youtube

Who knew? Found holiday shopping advice (5 megapixels on digital camera is probably good enough) and the best way to dewrinkle clothes --both on Good Housekeeping site.

Flickr & Kindle

I had fun exploring Flickr. Under Mashups I thought Flickr Color Picks was fantastic. On anything technology week, I enjoyed playing with the Department's Kindle. I was surprised how easy it was to use (intuitive as promised by my colleagues). I would happily read the NYT each morning on a Kindle.

WIKIS

Had fun learning about Wikis which was relevant since the Readers Advisory Tactic is creating a Wiki to share information and articles with staff (to be launched in 2009). Enjoyed the SJCPL wiki since it directed me to the Frederik Meijer Gradens and Sculpture Park!

MOLDI

Listened to Heidi promoting the new downloadable audio books and then successfully downloaded Big Heat by William McGivern to my pc.

Delicious

I'm having great fun with Delicious. Found two really good articles on the Readers Advisor Online Blog as I was importing my own bookmarks--The End of the Book Business and Should You Invest in the Long Tail.
Playing with Bloglines I found several new feeds that were fun including a Robot artist!

Delicious

I'm signed up for Delicious, added the toolbar, and edited my bookmarks. Whew!
The biggest challenges so far are finding time and keeping all the passwords straight! Slowly gaining some confidence but each and every assignment is something new!

Time Squeeze

Have been reading lots the background information in Play & Learn at home where I can truly explore! I am finally signed up on Shelfari and will go back and add lots of books read in the last few years! Delighted that Play & Learn has been extended since I am not progessing very quickly.
Just finished Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins--quick teen read about a reality show in an apocalyptic future where teens fight to the death. Author is clearly going to write a sequel!

Stephenie Meyer

I'm racing through Breaking Dawn & finding it the least intriquing of her four vamp titles. However I am enjoying some of the details of life as a vampire. It will be interesting to see what Meyer writes next!

Beginning

Wow! I made it this far although I would have like some wilder template choices!
Read & Weed was my choice for a blog name because of my passion for gardening and books. Looking forward to posts about what everyone is reading.
I am slogging a bit through Tana French's The Likeness--definitely a slow start and an unusual premise.