Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Flickr Fun

I'm running a little behind here, but I had a lot of fun for Week 8 with Flickr. I took a couple of pictures of current displays going on at the Edgewater Branch. I have them tagged properly, but mine aren't coming up yet. I hope they are just pending for approval. Of course, for my browsing in Flickr, I looked for photos of Derek Jeter because HE IS THE MAN! Even though it doesn't seem like it right now...poor Yankees.

Moving on, I enjoy online learning. It allows you to be a little more self-paced, not to mention go over something more than once. For me, library school was half online and half face-to-face. I preferred a combination of both. Still not ready to let go completely of that human connection! There is still something to be said for a traditional classroom, although I know I would be just fine in a solely, online class environment.

I've pretty much been flying solo on my Learn 2.0 journey, but we have a few Edgers who have buddied up to help those not as techno savvy as others. It's been awesome to see coworkers learn about new technologies they wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to if not for this course.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

It's all fun and games...

All I can say about this week is that it is verrrrry dangerous! I love word and trivia games, so Blufr and The Puzzle Player were particularly addictive.

I also signed up for Dogster. I don't really like how this is laid out and is a bit confusing. I've created profiles for my angels, Moxie and Whiskey. I'll add their pictures soon and send along the link so you can see them.

I signed up for Trainco, but I'm generally not very disciplined at tracking that stuff. So I'm interested to see how I do and if it motivates me a little bit. I need it! It seems pretty easy to use, but I haven't played around with it too much. Wish me luck!

Maybe on that note I should be including healthy recipes. I'll see what I can come up with. Monday is Italian Day at Edgewater, and I'll be making baked ziti and sausage with peppers and onions. I usually use low fat ricotta and mozarella cheeses and lean ground beef. I'm also considering using multi-grain pasta instead of enriched. I'll let you know how it goes! In the meantime, check out Heart Healthy Texas Chili. This was delicious, and I loved the handful of dried lentil beans you throw in for a little extra something. It makes a huge batch so either cut it in half or have enough to freeze for two meals.

Big subway series going on in New York this weekend. Unfortunately we lost tonight, 2-0. We really need to pick it up and kick some butt for the rest of the series. We were making great strides towards closing the gap between us and Boston, and we can't afford to lose any ground. I'm a little irritated that this is the second game with Clemens pitching and it wasn't televised on regular cable. I would like to see how he is pitching. Maybe later this weekend. Go Yankees, GO!

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Library Technology

It is so interesting to see traditional library tools being used virtually for the average Joe. GuruLib is cataloging for the people! I didn't have any luck using the ISBN to add items, but I added a couple using the title, and it seemed to take some time to upload a title to my account. I also set up an account on Elf. I don't think I'd use this if it weren't for the RSS feed feature. One of the things I like about OCLS is the option to have email reminders sent. As long as patrons check their email and make sure it is not in a junk file, it can be a lifesaver! I think that III (Millennium) is supposed to be devising an RSS feature in a future upgrade. Tagging and "social bookmarking" are also layman's cataloging. But more and more libraries are looking at this as a way to catalog items. This way people are able to search using terms they relate to instead of these weird Library of Congress Subject Headings that can be misleading or obscure.

Shelfari is pretty cool. And you can add it to your MySpace page or other personal sites/pages. Neat! My friends and I have recently decided to read HP7 together, and this could be a cool way to share our progress. BookMooch is kind of interesting. I tend to donate my books to Friends of the Library, but I did like that you could donate your points to charitable organizations so they could use your points to get books.

Along the culinary homefront, I've had two successes (Hearth Healthy Texas Chili and Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Pudding). We won't talk about the disasters. I'm off to Bern's Steak House next weekend. It is on the top ten list of things to do in Tampa before you die. The cool part is the tour of the kitchen and the separate dessert rooms. Their macadamia nut ice cream rocks!

And I have to give a shout out to the Yankees who have won their last five games! They are playing some incredible ball right now, and it is fun to watch. I can't wait to see where they are when I see them play the Devil Rays in September! Pitching has improved, and players like Cano and Abreu are getting back on track with their hitting. I love Robinson Cano. I see him and Melky Cabrera being future Jeter's of the team. Gooooo Yankees!