Thing 13 Zoho Writer sample

Ok, I am creating a document at Zoho Writer.

I am going to try to post this to my blog. Who knows if it will work! So far, Zoho is a pretty typical WP program. Simple, straight-forward document creation. Nothing too confusing about that. I like that I can access it from home or work or anywhere I else I may find myself in need of a recently created document.

However, this is me waiting for each function on Zoho!

Once again, the lament of the dial-up subscriber. Until modern technology is affordable in my neck of the woods, I will be stuck W---A---I---T---N---G for each and every little thing.

So yes, it has it's value - just don't know how useful it will be to me anytime in the near future, seeing as I can't even get AT&T voicemail where I live. Apparently I am 35,000 ft outside their service area. And we thought we had conquered every frontier!

Thing 12 Rollyo

Select...Bumpkin2007TeenReadsTop NewsParenting SitesBooks+AuthorsSearch The Web

My Search Roll from Rollyo. Hopefully this time it posts. It's finally showing up, but I keep getting html code errors every time I try to post. After a few fits and starts - namely that Rollyo doesn't force you to log in/create userID before you begin creating your personal searchrolls, so I had to go back and start over. It said my 1st roll was created by user321321321 and wouldn't let me go back and personalize anything. I really think the site should require you to register before allowing you to do anything. After that, I did find the site useful. I created a roll that will help familiarize me with teen topics in the library, book reviews, recommendations, what's next, etc. Now all I have to do is pull up my blog and type something into this toolbar and "voila" my search is over - right?

(well, whadyaknow, it actually worked exactly the way it was supposed to!)

Thing11 - LibraryThing

I actually joined LibraryThing right after hearing Angela Semifero's presentation and have found it very useful. For example, I have used it to try to find books when patrons know the idea of the story, but not the author or title, by using the tag search. I also used it just the other night when a student had misplaced his book for a school book report. He'd read the book but couldn't remember some of the details. I pulled up the title and some reviews to help him complete his assignment. I also love the idea of My Library! I have read so many wonderful books that I often don't remember those I want to recommend. I was glad to sit down and add them to my collection (http://www.librarything.com/catalog/SMAGNUSON). Now I just need a little more free time to try to find all my favorites to add to my collection, plus make a list of those I definitely need to get to. Absolutely love this Thing!

Thing10 - Library 2.0

Well I have read 3 perspectives: Away from Icebergs, Into a new world of librarianship and To more powerful ways to cooperate. They are all very interesting to read. The Ways to Cooperate article was a little too "techie" for my poor brain but I definitely agree with the ideas that are presented. I am new to the library and have grown up with the WWW link to everything and found it very difficult to be responsible for ordering J NF titles. My first thought when faced with all the choices was "why would we pay for this collection when we can find all that info, plus some, on-line, in seconds?" Of course, I understand the need for info on demand and the need for print sources on hand, and I hope the Web never fully replaces books in the search for info. But we definitely need to balance our collections and our future budgeting with the Web in mind. Rick Anderson's article says all that needs to be said about Library 2.0 - place the info in the user's preferred environment, which like it or not, is now the on-line world. More training, more user-friendly links, and maintaining updated technological resources is of the utmost importance now.

Thing9 - Library blog

I've signed up for a few book review feeds that seem interesting. I'll continue searching for feeds that deal mainly with children's lit to aid in my job as youth parapro, but found the reviews very interesting for the adult selections too.
Of course the Bloglines search tool was easiest for me, but I did like Syndic8 for it's format. I found it more useful than Topix and more user friendly. Feedster was interesting and I tried to create a widget, but apparently was not successful. Maybe I will try to host it here at Blogger instead of my Bloglines.

Thing8 - RSS feeds

Hey, well, that wasn't so bad. After reading some of the comments, I thought this might be pretty difficult, but I kind of liked this exercise. I actually find RSS much more useful to know about than image generators. I definitely like the idea of using the feeds to keep track of all the things I'd like to know about. As you may have noticed, my time and frustration level are very limited. I think the feeds will help me keep up with things I should know, but don't always remember to check up on. The uses at the Library are unlimited - books to recommend, news updates, just basic all around help in being the "know-it-all's" our patrons expect us to be!
Here's the link to my feeds - http://www.bloglines.com/blog/CountyBumpkin2007
I sure hope I've done all that was expected. Seeing as I found it easy, I get the feeling maybe I didn't do it right after all . . .

Thing7 - image generators

Gee, image generators are interesting. My husband often uses a certain phrase to describe new employees who at first looked like promising additions to the crew, but prove to be anything but. He calls them "Toab's" - as in "as useful as Tits on a Boar." And I'm sorry if it reflects a bad attitude on my part, but as my image might suggest, the majority of generators I "attempted" to use have proven to be "Toabs." Not all of us are lucky enough to have access to broadband, or anything close to it. And seeing as I barely have time to read my e-mail at work I do most of my 23 things at home - on my pathetically slow, out of date computer. So most of my experience with image generators has consisted of watching a small bar sssslllloooowwwwllly advance across an empty box - only to stall halfway through, or appear "Done, with errors on page."

This morning I attempted to make a virtual person; after answering a series of totally asinine questions, I played 4 games of Solitaire, 3 games of Minesweeper (expert level!), drank 2 cups of coffee, gave my dog a bath 'cuz he's rolled in something very dead, and finally came back and cancelled out of my quest because the little bar was stalled out halfway through the box.

Therefore, the result of my image experiments (from http://www.imagechef.com/) has a slightly negative tone.

Wonderful to know there are so many advanced methods of wasting time though! (Funny - I just used to read books when I wanted to do that before . . .)

Thing6 - Mashups

Librarian Trading Card
Originally uploaded by Country Bumpkin2007

Lots of fun things at FD's Flickr Toys. I loved the poster ideas from Motivatr and Movie Postrs. Lots of fun things to do for those creative souls with lots of time on their hands. Can't wait till I have free time . . . only 13 more years till all my kids leave the house :)

Thing5 - Flickr

The Library Dragon
Originally uploaded by Country Bumpkin2007
Ok, phweeewwww, I made it . . . finally. Altogether, this little post right here took 5 days and 3 computers worth of effort. My home computer is slower than slow and took forever to try to set up my Flickr account. So I signed up and created my account at my folks house. Unfortunately, I then had no pictures of the library to post for the assignment. KP has no digital camera, so I brought my own and snapped a few shots early Saturday morning as we prepared for the book/plant sale. Then I thought I would download them real quick using a public PC and my memory card. Not gonna happen! KDL computers won't read my camera's memory card for some reason, and it's too far to drive back to my folks to do it. So after an hour and 15 minutes of slow-going, bogged-down computer time, I have successfully posted my library pictures and blogged. Only 18 MORE THINGS TO GO! At this rate I may not get through every thing till Oct 2008!

Thing4 - Tracking log

I am now a blogger . . . ooooh! Took me a while to get the whole picture thing down, but I'm discovering that if I actually read all of the directions that are available to me I wouldn't run into so many roadblocks : ) Now on to the rest of the list . . .

Thing3 - Blog/Habit

Ok, apparently if I've made it this far I've completed thing #3.
As you can see from post 2, play is one of the things that comes easier to me.
Of the other habits, it's hard to choose. Beginning with the end in mind is an easy one for me - if someone gives me the deadline! However, if I am pursuing a goal of my own making, it tends to fall by the wayside when life becomes too much to handle. So I guess that is one I should work on, taking my own goals more seriously and investing more in my own success and learning adventure.

Thing2 - 71/2 habits

You will see something new.
Two Things. And I call them Thing one and Thing Two.
These Things will not bite you.
They want to have fun.
Then out of the box
Came Thing Two and Thing One!
(said the Cat in the Hat)

Thing1 - wiki

This is Thing1 - not sure what else to write.