Books & Bread

2010 Family vacation @ Oregon Coast

2010-10-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Greatgrandma Patty playing with girls.

Lily has a horsey ride on Greatgrandma leg.

Greatgrandma Patty playing with girls in rented beach house in Oregon.

2010-10-24T01:12:00.000-07:00

Completion

2008-07-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed doing these exercises for the most part. I don't have direct public contact so a lot of these exercises don't apply directly to my job, but I can see where knowledge of these lessons would be vital in a community library.

The best part for me was getting familiar with Flickr. I've had so much fun looking through people's albums. Our adventurous friend who does a lot of vacationing posts his pictures on Flickr and has been after us for years to check out his pictures. This is a picture of his latest trip to South Carolina...I can almost smell the soft sea air on the Battery in Charleston.

I got the most out of instant messaging and Flickr. I do almost all my communicating with instant messaging at work now. No need to use oxygen talking. I had hours of fun at home looking through Flickr.

I had the hardest time with the image generating. I’m still working on that. I hope the 20 for 20 page stays up for awhile for future reference.

#19 Gaming

2008-07-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

This assignment was fun. I never realized how smart I could be when I could google every question on a crossword puzzle. Mensa here I come.

The kids games were fun, but I got extremely frustrated with Poptropica. Guess you have to be a kid to play it.

I don't have contact with the public so I don't see how I would use this in my job and I imagine my bosses would take a dim view of me playing games on the job.

I babysit my granddaughter who is three. It amazes me that she can already use a mouse as well as I can. I have Disney Playhouse bookmarked @ home for her use. http://atv.disney.go.com/playhouse/mickeymouseclubhouse/index.html

#18 Maps and Geotagging

2008-07-03T13:46:00.001-07:00

I was already pretty familiar with the internet satellite and aerial maps. I've been using MapQuest for years which has both aerial and street views.

I took a look around Google earth and it's pretty interesting. I went to addresses that I lived at one point or another. I also got some directions.

My son was working on electrical systems in remote Alaskan villages last summer. My husband and I followed him around the state using MapQuest. This is a photo of a float plane in Elfin Cove, Alaska. My son's got some stories about white knuckle flights into these remote villages, especially the flight into Elfin Cove. I don't think this is the same plane...it looks to be in too good of repair.

#17 Avatars & Second Life

2008-06-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

I had fun creating my Avatar. I especially like the skull & crossbones shirt. I didn't forget my headphones either.

I don't already live in second life and don't plan to. I don't need to add something else to do and it doesn't really apply to my work.

P.S. I found Ms. Dewey extremely annoying and when I typed in a medical term, she took me to a bunch of porn sites.

#16 Online Applications & Tools

2008-06-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

These two programs are really neat. I had no idea you could do collative document writing without sending the document back and forth. I found the Google program a little more intuitive and therefore, easier to use. I wasn’t able to find the spreadsheet program on Zoho, but I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for it. Necessity is the mother of invention and if forced, I’m sure I could find it.

I probably wouldn’t use these programs in my work. I’m kind of a control freak about my documents and spreadsheets. I don’t like to let anybody near them until they are finished and I have marked them read only.

I can see where these programs would be useful for people working collaborately in far-flung locations.

Technology is moving so fast that it is hard to keep up.

#15 Search Engines

2008-06-13T11:06:00.001-07:00

I use Google all the time for verifying RINC's. Google automatically corrects spelling errors...not that our patrons make spelling errors on titles of books or the author.

I tried the other search engines as well. To my mind, it would be nice if Rollyo had a limiter for just books. I don't think that Rollyo would be useful in my work.

Mamma.com is laid out nicely. I did some searching for just for images and it worked well. I got the idea for using a picture of a jet boat on the Snake River to remind me of last summer's vacation. This is the boat we took to go 60 miles up the Snake River. I got the picture from the website of our excursion provider, but Mamma.com gave me the idea.

I also tried Dogpile. I've used it before, but find Google better for the type of work I do. I found our Snake River Excursion provider using Dogpile. I'm a on the older side and not quite the physical specimen I once was, but the jet boat worked out fine. Once you really get up the river, there are no roads and just a few farms along the river. If you ever want to a Snake River adventure with people who really love the river, go to http://www.riverquestexcursions.com/index.htm

#14 Podcasting: something for everyone

2008-06-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

This assignment was sorta fun and not too hard.

I did my personal interest first and chose to listen to Bill Maher's latest broadcast. It was an hour of enjoyment. I'm not really sure if he qualifies for this assignment, but I chose him anyway.

I then looked for library podcasts. The first one I listened to was (there was also a video feed) was Trish Hull of Salt Lake County Library. She appears on a podcast with brief reviews of books that are called Reader's Choice. The listeners then leave brief reviews of these books at a website. She reviewed a book I plan to put on hold called "Camel Bookmobile" which is about library service in Africa and some of the challenges that are faced. It's fiction, but based on fact.

My second library podcast was "Library Geeks" about "Liblime and Koha Open Software". All I can say is geek is the word. I stopped listening after about 45 minutes. I guess we need people doing this, but it's not me.

#13 Playtime with Online Image Generators

2008-05-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

I did this lesson, but wasn't able to get any images to upload for the magazine cover. I really wanted to do a magazine cover of the Collection Development crew group photo on the cover of Time magazine. Oh well, I couldn't get it to work.

I did the monopoly card, but again couldn't get it to upload so I could post it on my blog. The download function was confusing.

#12 OverDrive downloads and a plea from yours truly

2008-05-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Jim McCluskey installed the Overdrive Console for me months ago, so I'm an old hand at this. I can't speak to how hard it was to install since I didn't do it.

I've mostly used the audio book section. The selection of titles is pretty good. I don't really have favorite authors, so I haven't noticed much about the author selection. I've probably listened to at least parts of 10 or 12 titles. If the title is not available @ the time you place the hold, you will be notified by E-mail when the title becomes available. It's really a no-brainer. The only downsides are that you tied to the computer to listen and my attention tends to wander from my Sno-Isle tasks when listening to an audiobook.

I am really not too into classical music, so I haven't used the music section much. I see that they have added some non classical titles recently, but I didn't recognize the artists. I'm more into classic rock and folk music...that old 60's stuff. Yes, I am a Baby Boomer.

It's also nice that they have What's New, Staff Suggestion and Recently Returned sections to help you make selections.

#11 Tag, You’re it! Social Bookmarking in Del.icio.us

2008-05-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing went right with this lesson. I signed up at Del.icio.us using my work E-mail address and waited for my E-mail verification. I waited and waited. I reapplied two more times and still it didn't come. After waiting 4 hours, I finally used my personal E-mail address and my verification came through right away.

Then I was ready to bookmark some favorites. That also didn't go well. I reread the directions many times and still couldn't install any favorites. I finally realized that I needed to bookmark from the desired site itself.

I may use this site in the future, but at this particular moment I'm full of sour grapes.

#10 Wiki Wiki Fun!

2008-05-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have been using wikipedia for some time both at home and at work. Sometimes the only way I can verify an obscure title with a obscure author is from Wikipedia. Sometimes people get their book information from Wikipedia... spelling mistakes and all. The downside to Wikipedia is that anyone can post any information right or wrong.

I checked out some of the linked Wikis and especially liked Book Lovers Wiki. After reading the review of "Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization", I think I'll pass.

Wiki looks interesting for planning events where the people involved are in different locations. It might be fun to use Wiki for planning our next pot luck.

#9 YouTube, Hulu and Fancast — streaming video

2008-05-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

I am kind of swamped with work right now and didn't have much time to explore Hulu or fancast, but they look interesting. I'll take a better look @ home when I have more time.

I'm already pretty familiar with You tube. I have Comcast at home and You Tube always plays well there. For some reason, I was having trouble getting You Tube to load today at work. It kept starting and stopping. Maybe the servers are busy.

I did try to embed a video from You Tube, but I couldn't get it to work.

Facebook, MySpace aka Friend Networks

2008-04-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

This wasn't my favorite task. I set up on Eons because I am older than dirt and it's for the over 50 set. Setting up was pretty straight forward, but I just wasn't in the mood to think of my favorite movie and book. I'm not feeling at all social this Friday morning.

I invited a lady with the same spelling of Jenifer that lives in Mount Vernon, WA to be my friend. I also invited my favorite presidential candidate to be my friend. Yes, the candidate is listed on EONS and No, I'm not telling who.

I don't have any pictures of myself on my work computer, so I used a picture from Flickr of a 1930's dust storm. I couldn't really tell if it was public domain and have kind of crossed my fingers that I didn't violate any copywrite laws.

The Mother Road

2008-04-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, my Dad took us on road trips to South Carolina every 6 or 7 years. My Dad was born and raised in South Carolina and missed down-home (his words) terribly. We would load up the family station wagon and point the car toward that small South Carolina town. My parents would switch off driving duties. We would drive straight through the night on first day out. If you needed a bathroom, you would have to hold it until the car needed gas. If you just couldn’t wait, my Dad would top off the tank so we could go further before he had to stop again.

My first memory of these trips was in 1962 when I was about to enter 6th grade. We drove straight through to Santa Rosa, California and spent the night with my Aunt. After a one-day visit, we headed south to Historic Route 66 (the Mother Road). One of the original federal routes, US 66 was established on November 11, 1926 and eventually ran from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. Route 66 was made famous by the book Grapes of Wrath and a Bobby Troup song:

If you ever plan to motor west

Travel my way, the highway that's the best.

Get your kicks on Route 66!

I don’t remember crossing Death Valley…so we must have travelled at night. Cars in 1962 didn’t have air-conditioning so just like the dust bowl refugees, we travelled at night.

I remember that there were many motels, diners and neon lights along the Route 66. I remember the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. It really tickled my 11-year-old mind. I also remember seeing the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert. It was very hot in the Painted Desert and we eventually found a restaurant with air-conditioning and waited for dark to drive on.

We followed Route 66 into Oklahoma and then cut to the southeast. I love the fact that I can remember driving on old Route 66. The next time we journeyed to South Carolina, there was very little of the original Route 66 and it bypassed all those little towns, motels and diners.

This is part of a larger history that I am working on for my family. Flickr doesn't have a lot of older Photos to Illustrate a story like this. I enjoyed this assignment.

Pandora and Steaming Music

2008-04-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

I had fun with this lesson. I tried out all the links that I didn't need to register for. I think I preferred last.fm because it allowed me to skip around from song to song.

I was excitedly skipping from song to song on Pandora and I used up my ten songs in about fifteen minutes. I like the fact that both Pandora and last.fm link you to similar artists.

The only bad thing about this lesson is that I was more interested in my playlist than on concentrating on my work.

I have added both Pandora and last.fm to my favorite's bookmarks.

I am probably the only person on face of the earth who was listening to Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Johnny Cash and Toby Keith.

RSS and Feed Readers

2008-04-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have worked with RSS feeds before, but not this particular RSS reader. So far, I find the Google Reader easier to use. One thing I like about Bloglines is that it allows you to control the number of hours for each feed.

I think RSS feeds are great because they cut down on the time I used to spend checking each website for new posts or articles.

I found this lesson fairly easy.

Shout out to whoever provided the link to Unshelved. I had no idea I could get daily update from those crazy guys.

Instant Messaging

2008-04-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have studiously avoided any form of instant messaging until Web 2.0 forced me too. I messaged with a co-worker and it went O.K. There is definitely a learning curve. I think younger folks have a definite advantage on some of these lessons.

I was really missing the spellchecker when I was messaging.

Tacking Your Progress

2008-04-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

The first two lessons were really easy, but for some reason the third lesson was as clear as mud. I had trouble understanding that the log needs the permalink to each new post and not just checked off as completed. I think I have it now, but I had to read the instructions about 10 times.

Well, I'm off to try to post a real live permalink.

Hope's Boy and Banana Nut Loaf

2008-03-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading:
Hope's Boy
by Andrew Bridge
Relates the author's harrowing family circumstances that led to his placement in the equally daunting foster-case system, a challenge during which he beat the odds through high academic achievement, in an intimate account that also describes his advocacy for improved foster care.

Good firsthand account of growing up in the foster care system and graduating from Harvard Law School.

And now for a bread recipe:

MOIST BANANA BREAD

2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs
1/2 c. butter
2 tbsp. buttermilk or regular milk
1 tsp. ReaLemon
1 c. sugar
3 med. bananas
1 c. nuts (optional)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and nutmeg in a large bowl. Put eggs, butter, buttermilk, lemon juice and sugar into blender and mix until smooth. Add bananas and nuts; continue to mix. Pour into dry ingredients and mix only until flour is moistened. Pour into prepared pan and bake 45-50 minutes.

New Blog

2008-03-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Setting up was easy, but not too sure about having my words available on the internet.