Bibliocommons

Well... it's gonna take some time for me to feel comfortable with this new catalog... mostly b/c of being so very busy with constant interruptions at the CIRC desk. But I will say that I like being able to make lists and I have already started to re-create my reading list.. one that I keep on my Notepad at Yahoo. The nice thing about the lists function is being able to point others to books... however.. I would like to know how to find my friends and others ... b/c unless they are a "recent contributor" then I cannot find them.. or their comments... or their book lists. The pictures of the book covers are nice.. and I suppose we are becoming more and more visual on the web.. but since book covers change.. I don't know if I really like this feature. It's more important to me to remember the title and author. Don't ya just hate it when a patron tells you they are looking for "that" book they read that had a red cover and can you help me find it?

Unit Six...

This IS my all time favorite video from YouTube!!! You've all probably seen it, but I just betcha I saw it first... b/c my husband found out about it on Twitter before it hit the news... he has oodles of friends all on Twitter .. and they send each other cool links... and he did show this to me as soon as he got it. These people are sooooo happy... I love it <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

RSS Feeds... my picks!

I do love gardening so I chose one RSS feed that has to do with gardening:

This one is from the Old Farmer's Almanac. I need it b/c for the first time in I can't remember how long... I don't have a calendar for the new year... and we all know.. a good calendar has the moon phases on it... and as all good gardeners know.. ya gotta know what the mooooon's doing when it comes to planting time - which is just around the corner! : -)

http://www.almanac.com/moon

I am a closet demographer.. in case you didn't know it.. I do love numbers better than letters! I've been doing some work for the Bureau of the Census.. so of course, I had to choose the RSS feed about the 2010 Census! Get ready to be counted, everybody!!!

http://blogs.census.gov/2010census/

This next one is a nifty website... for portable apps. I use the Mozilla Firefox portable app and some addons with it.. so if I want things to look just like they do on my home computer.. I use it! Wonderful Bliss!

http://portableapps.com/

Flickr - My Web 2.0 Award Winner :)

I chose Flickr as the tool I want to talk about. I actually use Flickr.. and transferred into it when Yahoo Photos discontinued. I am a looooong time user of Yahoo.. and at first I was pretty upset that I had to make this change.. b/c I like using all the features of Yahoo..... and I've been a loyal Yahoo user for some 12+ years!

Flicker lets me upload photos easily.. from my hard drive or directly from my camera (using the cable). Editing the photos is easy.. you can edit them in ways much like with an expensive photo software program.. but without the cost.. it's free!

I can organize photos into sets or collections of my choosing, add tags, descriptions, and dates. I also can order printed photos easily and then pick up at Target.. fast service there!

I like being able to send the Flickr link to my family members and friends - they can easily view my photo collection.

There is a limit of 200 photos.. for the free version.. but I like it so much that I went Pro!

Not Happy Greg

Greg sends along this DIY - FYI:

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take my fake man down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories.

But two things made me take it down. First, the police advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost crashed when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 35kg ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was only one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

Katio.. my hiking partner!

This is my fabulous daughter. I am so proud of her.. getting in shape by jogging. She started out just using the treadmill at the "Y" during the winter months, made some friends there, who in the spring asked her to join them when the weather warmed.. for jogging outside. She didn't know it at the time, but they were training her to run with them later in the spring at the St Louis Marathon & Half Marathon. She joined them running 3 days/wk about 5 miles each time and after about a month, they asked her to join them for their early morning Saturday run... it was looooonger! She also started attending "boot camp" sessions 2x/wk at her local Y .. this was excellent strength training for the run later in the spring. I've been one of her biggest fans and this pic is from her second Half Marathon in Nashville, Tennesee. I just love that she has done this!

Now it is time for me to get in shape.. for the long hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro... 80 kilometers = 50 miles... in a week! So I've started walking, walking, walking.. and this past Saturday, 21 November 2009, Katio joined me at my very first 5k.. the 5th annual Fulton Turkey Trot. We wore our newly purchased hiking boots - gotta break em in - and I did finish - I found out they do give t-shirts to participants... even when they finish last! It was a great time for me.. and I had the nice companionship of my bestest daughter! <3

Review

1. Begin with an end in mind.
2. Accept responsibility for your own learning.
3. View problems as challenges.
4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.
5. Create your own learning toolbox.
6. Use technology to your advantage.
7. Teach mentor others.
7 1/2. Plaaaaaay.

Just a little recap here.. b/c I do need to take a look see at the list and comment on which is the easiest and which is the most difficult. Hmm.. I consider the easiest to be step #4.. I do have confidence in my ability to learn... and I've figured out where my strengths and weakness are when it comes to learning new things.. so I do tend to know what works best for me.. when learning new things.. and basically I learn by doing.. I think that is called a visual learner... or something like that. I need to write things down in order for them to be burned into my memory. Just reading about a thing is not gonna cut the mustard for me.
Now.. the hardest.. well that has to be 7 1/2 - the play part of learning.. but I'm trying to be better at this... really, I am! <3