Friday, September 28, 2007

Week 4, Thing 9

Well it certainly has been interesting setting-up and learning how to create my own Bloglines newsreader account. I can't get over how many different ways of receiving information has been created. People are becoming connected who probably would have never had an opportunity to meet or share information with each other before. Its fascinating and at the same time a bit overwhelming, but I'm going to keep investigating and adding feeds that interest me as I go along. I'm not a tech savvy individual by any means, but I want to learn as much as I can. One thing that is really inspiring me is the fact that this is the way future generations will be gathering and sharing information with each other. Does this mean using phones to talk could become obsolete? Text messaging is very popular especially with today's youth. They spend a great deal of time communicating on "myspace", "facebook", etc., etc.

I searched for new RSS feeds using the "Discovery" feature that appeared on the left hand side, bottom of the page of "bloglines". It listed the most popular feeds and I just went down the list to see what interest me. I came across a few that were different, i.e., "news for nerds", "today top header for the motley fool" and "cooking for engineers". Just goes to show you that there is something out there for everybody. I added "Merlin" as one of my feeds because I liked the idea of hearing from other libraries in Maryland and their staff. It was cool to see Beth Tribe's picture on their site.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Week 3, Thing 7


I enjoyed learning about Flickr. I had fun exploring and looking at "Mashup and 3rd Party" sites. I tried a couple of those "3rd party" sites and really liked the one called "Retriever". I gave it a try to see what would happen. Retriever will find pictures submitted by others that will match yours. I picked a picture I took at Big Sur, CA of a beach, the ocean and mountains. It found pictures similar to mine from all over the world in about 30 seconds. Not only were there pictures of beaches and ocean, but also of snow covered mountains from Romania. You can also select a picture and see more photos that were taken from that particular person. People seem to be very enthusiastic about sharing their pictures and experiences. The snow covered mountains were magnificent. Flickr is definitely a fun tool.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Week 2, Thing 4

Hooray! I'm a blogger. I hope Jaye will be proud of me (most of all, I hope she received my registration for my blog). Looking forward to reading as may blogs as possible from the library. Now on to Thing 5. This "thing" thing does remind me of Dr. Seuss!

Week 2, Thing 3

This was an adventure for me. I like discovering how to do things in a different way. I did need some help with setting up my blog. I did most of the set-up at home on my laptop and waited to come to work for a little help. My co-workers have been very supportive and helpful. Its good to have them there and to get their feedback on what they did and experienced.

Week 1, Thing 2

Enjoyed the tutorial program on the 7-1/2 habits of learning. Out of the 7-1/2 habits I think I am a dead ringer for "1/2" habit. I would love to think that I possess a little of all the "7" habits, but I guess you can't have everything! I especially liked #7 - Teach/Mentor others. Now that I am older and my children older and well on their way to creating a life for themselves, I hope I can share my life experiences and "wisdom" with others. I have volunteered with the Howard County Public Schools for the past two years. I never looked at volunteering as a learning experience for myself as well as giving back to others. I truly enjoy working with the young kids (last year I worked with kindergarteners). The tutorial gave me an opportuity to look at myself and helped me to realize that I should not be afraid or not have enough confidence in myself to learn new things.

Week 1, Thing 1

Jaye's enthusiasm ( and the MP3 player) has heighten my curiosity about 23 Things. I'm looking forward to learning about all the different ways we can communicate today. I've only gotten as far as sending e-mail and sending pictures from my digital camera to family members and friends. We'll see what happens!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I'm now a Blogger

I've been called many things, but I've never been called a "blogger". It almost sounds like the british word "bugga" not the same meaing of course). Something like "he's a real blogger that one is". My husband and son watch british soccer league games on TV and some of the british commentators say some pretty funny things to describe what's going on during the game.

I'm suppose to post my comments on the tutorial of the 71/2 habits of lifelong learning. I was trying to see which of the 7-1/2 describes me. I think I'm a dead ringer for 1/2 habit although I would like to think that I'm a little of all 7. I think now that I'm older and my kids are pretty much "grown-up", I especially liked #7 - teach/mentor others. I do some volunteering with the Howard County Public Schools. I guess I never looked at volunteering as a learning experience for myself as well as giving back to others. I truly enjoy working with the young kids. The tutorial gave me an opportunity to look at myself and helped me to realize that I should not be afraid or not have enough confidence in myself to learn new things. I hope blogging will also be a way to teach and learn from others as well.