I just noticed that my last post was about goals for 2010 (and also that it was from JANUARY, and it is now MARCH), so I thought I'd see how well I've been keeping to those goals. Ahem:
1. I've technically read more than one book a month, but I can (and should) do better. I'm still waiting until the last minute to read my book club selection, which I need to stop doing. However, I'm working on finishing some unfinished books, so that's good. I'll get to the end of you one of these days, Dracula!
2. Working out? Um... yeah. I haven't been as active as I'd like. Now that the weather is warming up, Jared and I are planning to walk/hike more often.
3. I'm working on getting back into Final Fantasy 3 on my DS, so I would consider this as a good start for playing more video games. I honestly don't know what's holding me back from playing Dragon Age, though. I WANT to play it, but when I have free time I never do. What's wrong with me?!
4. I finally finished organizing all of my files, which feels wonderful. I still have plenty of craft projects to finish, but I feel good knowing a big project is completed that has been nagging me for quite some time. Progress!
5. Like I said before, this one's easy. Done! I have my certificate and the bride and I have already met to discuss the ceremony in detail. Now I just need to get a website up and running!
So, plenty still to do if I want to really say that I'm meeting my goals, but at least I haven't ignored them completely. Maybe I should have made a goal to update my blog more!
Speaking of the blog - I haven't decided what the future of Ridiculology is. Maybe I'll keep it going as-is, just updating when I have something interesting to share. Or maybe it will morph into another project. What do you think, loyal readers?
Checking in
Goals for 2010
Well, I didn't end up making any resolutions for this year - although I do like the idea of picking up a bad habit instead of starting a good one! Instead, I think I'm going to copy Jessica's idea and create a list of goals for 2010. She did ten, but I'm going to be a little less motivated and list five. Perhaps one of them will be a bad habit that I'd like to indulge in!
1. Read more than one book per month. Right now, I'm in a book club that meets about once a month, and I've been good about getting my book read before our meetings (even if that means some marathon reading the day before). However, I'd like to up that a bit, and start really reading for pleasure again. To start, I'm going to try to finish a few books that I've started and forgotten about, like this one and this one.
2. Work out at least once a week. This sounds pathetic, but really - I hardly ever really "work out," even if I am in colorguard part of the year and randomly dance around the house when I'm cleaning or cooking dinner. I know that I should be working out at least three times a week, but let's be honest - I'm not going to leap headfirst into an active lifestyle after being a lazy ass for pretty much my entire adult life. So let's start small and see how things go, shall we?
3. Play more video games. It sounds simple enough, but I'm very much the kind of person that avoids doing fun things at home because I'm too busy worrying about the chores I haven't done yet, and video games usually end up being last on my list of things that are okay to do. But I just got Dragon Age: Origins for Christmas and I have other games I've been meaning to finish, so I need to get playing!
4. Finish some freakin' projects. Be honest - we all have those projects that we've been meaning to finish for YEARS and keep putting off. This year I want to get some of them done and out of my mind. This will also help me feel less guilty about completing goal #3. Specifically, I'd like to finish organizing my files (preferably before tax day) and get a fairly large cross-stitch project done that was supposed to be a gift for a friend, oh, in 2008. Oops.
5. Become a wedding officiant. This one's easy because I already know that I'm doing it - a coworker asked me to officiate her wedding, and I just sent in my paperwork to the Ohio Secretary of State today! Luckily for me and my coworker, I got myself ordained online through the Universal Life Church back in 2004, so I'm totally qualified. Hilarious, right? But I've always been a little wedding obsessed (okay, a LOT wedding obsessed) so this seemed like a fun way to be involved in weddings, help people out, and make a little extra money on the side without trying to become a full-fledged wedding planner. As long as my first wedding goes well this year, I'm going to start advertising myself and try to get a little side business going. My focus will be on non-religious weddings - I would cater to people who, like me, don't want to get married in a church or by a religious official, but also don't want some totally informal courthouse thing either. So if you're in that situation too and need someone to marry you, I'd be glad to do it!
Do you have any goals or resolutions that you've decided on for 2010?
A resolution to resolve
As promised, here's our Christmas photo:
Isn't it awesome?! That's our cardboard cutout of Captain James T. Kirk in the background, and I made the pie and apron myself. Jared's holding a collection of Christmas stories by Charles Dickens, and he added the lens flare for effect. We went all out for this one!
I'm still working on getting everything transferred to the laptop, so no new pictures yet. But soon! I promise!
Also, I wanted to share an update to a previous post. Remember Gueek Bkead Fay? Well, I was telling some friends about it and stumbled upon a sort-of explanation here. So, it sounds like it just means "holiday decoration" in Hindi, and specifically refers to a Christmas decoration. Not as exciting of a meaning as I'd hoped for, but it makes sense. But if I find out anything else I'll be sure to post it here!
So, 2010 is almost upon us! Have you decided on a New Year's resolution yet? I haven't yet, and I'm open to suggestions! Let me know what you think I should resolve to do (or not do) in the coming year, and maybe I'll pick your idea. Or maybe I'll come up with something else. Or... maybe I'll resolve to do nothing, which could be fun. WE'LL SEE!
Autumn is for not blogging
Hello friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? Seems that I decided to take an autumn break from blogging. I've been so busy doing all sorts of fun things, but never took the time to write about them! I have pictures but I haven't been able to upload them yet - we upgraded my laptop to Windows 7 this week, and I'm still in the process of transferring files and downloading programs and all that fun stuff. So hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures soon!
The biggest thing that happened recently was at work - I was transferred to the Hilltop Branch! At first it was very hard to leave my fabulous coworkers at the Main Library, but Hilltop has been wonderful. The staff there have made me feel incredibly welcome, and most of the customers are really friendly and fun to talk to. Even some of the teens come up to the desk and chat with me, which makes me feel cool and hip. Sad but true.
The holidays are fast approaching, and I'm trying to get motivated to start some crafts. I think once we pick out the tree and start decorating, I'll be ready to make things! Jared and I have some great ideas for a Christmas photo this year that I'm sure I'll post for everyone to see - I think it's going to be amazing!
What are you doing to get yourself into the holiday spirit?
Crazy on Twitter
Hey guys, remember back when I posted in January about @astrospace, the guy who freaked on Twitter? Well, he's still around - and still pissing people off! Thanks to an anonymous commenter, I learned of a petition to get the guy removed from Twitter altogether for abusive behavior. Not only is he rude and slanderous, he's actually stalked and purposefully harassed people. He's obsessed with having large amounts of followers, and he deletes the bad things he says to try and cover his tracks.
You can (and should!) read all about him here. He used the name @astronautics for a while, and now goes by @spaceastro.
So what do we do about this idiot? Well, there's the petition, which I tweeted about earlier tonight. I don't know how much it will do since he has so many accounts and aliases, but it certainly can't hurt to try. I hope that the women he called and harassed are seeing legal advice on what (if anything) they can do.
If you're curious, here's a posting that has the text of the blog post he deleted from his site that I mentioned in my first post about him - the one where he goes off about Twitter. You can tell by his writing that there is something seriously wrong with this guy.
I'm all about people trying to make a name for themselves online - but don't do it by pretending that you're an authoritative news source (when you aren't) or by hurting others with the awful things you say and do.
Culinary adventures
Chicken breast (I used the kind in the pouch that you find in the tuna section; any cubed chicken breast will do)
Bacon pieces
Wraps (I used sun dried tomato and basil, yum)
Spinach (lettuce will do if you're not a spinach fan)
Cheese (Shane's uses Swiss, but I prefer provolone or muenster)
Tomatoes
Red onions
Dijon mustard
Ranch (Optional)
Everything is chopped and cubed, and put in the wrap:
Since I'd fryed up the bacon, I had some bacon grease left over - and I really didn't want to just get rid of it. So I sliced up some potatoes and fryed them in the grease. Yes, I know, not the healthiest thing in the world. But I've tried this before with butter and always burnt the potatoes, so I wanted to see if this method worked out better - and it was delicious!
I wish I'd taken some pictures of the tortilla crusted fish I made last week as well - Jared said it was really good, and that's saying a lot since he doesn't usually like fish. You'll just have to trust me that it was awesome. It was just some tilapia with lime juice and seasoning, coated in crushed up tortilla chips with a little butter topping. I got the idea from a Lean Cuisine that I really like - but I think my version is better (but probably much more fattening).
Do you have any culinary creations that you're particularly proud of? Any recommendations for meals that a newbie like me should try?
Gueek Bkead Fay
Back in 2004, Jared visited me in New Philadelphia for the first time over winter break. He only stayed one day, so I had limited time to show him what NP had to offer. Naturally, I took him to New Towne Mall, and then to Hog Heaven for dinner. While at the mall, we strolled through a crappy dollar store and found this strange holiday decoration:
Gueek Bkead Fay? What the crap does THAT mean?! Jared and I were at a loss. At first, I thought maybe it was some strange mistranslation of "Greek Bread Day." But if so, then both the U and K would have to be R's, which doesn't make sense. Besides, there does not seem to be any kind of Greek Bread Day that I can find a reference to. And what's with the reindeer? Are they an integral part of Gueek Bkead Fay activities?
So what does it really mean? It seems that we aren't the only ones wondering. Jared recently found this posting on a translation website about the phrase. There are suggestions that it might be Turkish or even Hindi, but nobody seems to agree or know for sure. The only other mention of it is in this blog posting - but again, there seems to be no explanation of what it means. The author of the blog later posted this message, stating that people had tried emailing him about the meaning of the phrase, and that he didn't know what it meant. Of course, it still makes me wonder why he USED the phrase in a post to begin with, if he honestly has no idea what it means. He must have heard it somewhere, right?
So it seems for now that the mystery continues. If anyone has any insights on the origins of Gueek Bkead Fay, please let me know!
RIP Billy Mays and library funding
I've had a lot on my mind lately, but no inspiration to post anything here until now. Truth be told, I've been busy with two other blogs this summer for our Adult Summer Reading Club and for our Main Library Staff Summer Reading Club. So poor little Ridiculology has been neglected - nothing new though, right?
Things in my world have been a little crazy as of late - and not always in a good way. It's been hard to try to not worry about the governor's proposed $220 million cut to the Public Library Fund. It depresses me to think about what kind of impact that would have on libraries across the state, and especially at CML. At the same time, it's been amazing to see the support that the public has been giving to libraries over the past two weeks. From organizing rallies, to sending emails to legislators and calling the governor's office, Ohioans are coming out in record numbers in support of their public libraries. I hope it helps - the decision on the budget is being delayed through July 7th, but hopefully we'll know something then.
So if I lost my job as librarian (which I certainly hope won't happen), what do you guys think my second career choice should be? Wedding planner tops my list - with all of the weddings I've attended and helped plan over the years, I think it would be a good fit. Just in the past two weeks, I've been in one wedding and attended two others! Check out my Flickr page for photos.
Or, maybe I could become a pitchwoman, and take over for my dearly departed Billy Mays. Somehow I don't think that would suit me very well, but it certainly would be fun to get paid to yell at people all of the time. Speaking of Billy Mays, I have to confess that I am very, very saddened by his death. This statement by the Discovery Channel and his partner Anthony Sullivan just breaks my heart. He was a great man, and one hell of a salesman. I wore blue yesterday in honor of him.
So, what else could I do? Rodeo clown? Underwater basket weaver? ASTRONAUT?! I need a backup plan, people!
What I've been busy doing
If you want to know what I've been up to lately, check out this post on our staff Summer Reading Club blog: http://mainsrc.blogspot.com/2009/06/main-staff-src-dessert-potluck.html
I recorded and edited the video myself - it's not great, but it's not bad for a first-timer, right? At the very least, I hope people get a kick out of it!
Stuck in a reading rut
It's time for me to admit the truth: I'm a librarian, and I don't read.
Alright... that's not entirely true. I flip through craft books and cookbooks all of the time, but it's not the same as sitting down and reading a book - at least it doesn't feel that way. I love books, I really do, but at some point in college I stopped finding the time to read books for pleasure, and it's been a difficult habit to get myself back into.
I know this might sound like blasphemy to many of my friends. But whenever I log into my Goodreads account, I'm reminded of how little I've read in my lifetime, and it's kind of depressing. Granted, I'm not listing the 60+ Babysitter's Club books on Goodreads that I read as a kid, but still. There's only a little over 100 other books that I can recall reading, and that's just not enough.
And if that weren't enough, I recently attended a Reader's Advisory training at work where staff were throwing out names of authors I didn't know, talking about books I'd never heard of, and generally having a wonderfully intellectual discussion about books and reading that I couldn't participate in. Sure, I know that I don't have to read everything to do my job, but it still made me feel very inadequate.
So how do I fit reading back into my life? Well, I joined a book club - I figure that's a good start. We're reading Dracula this month, which is a book I've always wanted to read. And to give myself an extra challenge, I'm reading it on my iPhone! I've never really tried reading an ebook, and there's a "Classics" iPhone app (only 99 cents!) that includes Dracula, so I'm giving it a chance.
What are you reading right now? Does anyone else have trouble finding time to read too?
Things on my mind
Haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd share what's on my mind today:
1. Pepsi Throwback - it's good, but makes you realize how much sugar you're really drinking with it's distinct pure sugar aftertaste. I like it though.
2. I need a vacation, stat! I'm really looking forward to my upcoming trip to New Jersey to be in Julie and Paul's wedding, and maybe a trip to Chicago again this fall.
3. I love getting myself too involved - either at work, or with activities on my own time. I enjoy everything I do, but sometimes I wish I could hold myself back more. I guess maybe I wouldn't have as much fun.
4. Swine Flu - everyone needs to get the f over it. The regular flu kills way more people. So does pneumonia. And if we're talking about pandemics, don't forget about AIDS. Nobody seems worried about that anymore. But if you're looking for a good laugh, follow @the_swine_flu on Twitter.
5. I want to see a tornado. I don't want to be sucked up in a tornado, or killed by one, and I don't really want it to touch down. I just want to see a funnel cloud in the sky before I die. Is that too much to ask?
What's on YOUR mind today?
What else is there to think about on Saturday afternoon?
I was talking to a coworker today (Jim) about my favorite xkcd comic:
This was from Spring of 2007 - 2 years ago. It's still awesome, but I wonder what it would look like today? Twitter isn't even on there, and Facebook would have a much bigger space now. I wonder what other newer communities would make the map? And where would Cory Doctorow's balloon be now?!
Ada Lovelace Day
I wanted to sneak in my Ada Lovelace Day post before today is over, so here we go! If you don't already know about Ada Lovelace, find out more here.
There are so many amazing women in science and technology that I could go on and on about, but I ultimately decided to talk about Danica McKeller (widely known as Winnie from The Wonder Years). But Danica more than just an actress - she has a degree in mathematics, and is a published writer! Danica is incredibly intelligent, and she's making a point to let young girls know that it's cool to be smart. Her books to date are Math Doesn't Suck and Kiss My Math.
Anyhow! Danica is my pick for Ada Lovelace Day because she is making it okay to like math. And she's gorgeous, and talented, and everything young girls want to be. She's the perfect person to be this kind of role model, and I'm so happy to see her writing books that kids can connect with.
I also feel I should mention that I used to own a shirt that said, "Algebra is for lovers." Erica = big geek. As if you didn't already know that.
Wyandotte Winery
Alright, so I didn't really do any of the things I said I was going to do yesterday. But I still feel pretty good about my day off - I relaxed (of course), did the dishes, and went out shopping with Miranda. After wandering around Target for a while, I had the great idea to go visit Wyandotte Winery. It's very close to where I live and every time I drive by, I tell Jared that I should go sometime to see what kinds of wine they have. Miranda was interested in visiting too, so we left Target and made our way over to the winery.
This place was really fun. One of the owners, Valerie, greeted us as soon as we walked in and invited us to have a wine tasting. We tasted six wines for $5 - I've never been to a wine tasting before, but this seemed very reasonable. The wines we tasted ranged from a semi-dry Riesling to a sweet apple wine (check out the whole list here), and all of them were really good! It was hard to pick a favorite. We walked out about an hour later just a little loopy and with two bottles of wine in our possession - the White Roses (a semi-sweet white wine, made from the Niagara grape) and the Sweet William (a sweet red wine, made from a mix of Niagara and Baco Noir). The wines were very reasonably priced at $9.99 to $14.99 per bottle.
For a first time wine taster, this was a very welcoming atmosphere! Both Valerie and her husband Robin were friendly and fun to talk to, and the other guests were just as laid back, talkative, and enjoyable to be around. I'll definitely go back here again to review it for Obscure Ohio, and to try some of their other wines as well!
Things left unfinished
Sometimes I think that I'm a completely different person at home than I am at work. Not my personality really, but the way I do things. At work, I'm totally organized - even to the point of being anal retentive. I can't stand to let clutter pile up at my desk. I keep to-do lists, and finish projects ahead of schedule. I am motivated and work fast. I'm... a better person overall.
At home - well, that's another story. My desk at home is a disaster. I'm a packrat, and it's hard for me to get rid of things that I don't need. I procrastinate, even on things I would enjoy doing. I have a million projects that I've started and never finished, or just never got around to starting. I'm completely unorganized in almost every way imaginable.
I want to rectify this, but I'm not sure how. I get home after work and I feel so lazy. There are so many fun things I'd like to do, but I'm overwhelmed by my options. And when I feel overwhelmed, I don't do anything. I feel good when I get something done, but I really have to force myself to be motivated.
I know I just need to pick something and go with it. Focus on that one thing, and when I get it done, pick something else. I also know that I don't need to be productive all of the time at home, but I need to get enough done so that I can enjoy the fun things, and not feel guilty about the other stuff I should be doing instead!
So today is my day off, and I'm going to try to tackle some stuff I've been meaning to do. Things like cleaning my room, donating some bags of clothes to Goodwill, getting my oil changed. I also want to start working on some crafts - March is (apparently) National Craft Month, and if I get some of my unfinished projects done I'll post pictures of them here. I haven't done any crafts since Christmas, and that's just sad!
Is there anything you're trying to work on this month?
I know I just need to pick something and go with it. Focus on that one thing, and when I get it done, pick something else. I also know that I don't need to be productive all of the time at home, but I need to get enough done so that I can enjoy the fun things, and not feel guilty about the other stuff I should be doing instead!
So today is my day off, and I'm going to try to tackle some stuff I've been meaning to do. Things like cleaning my room, donating some bags of clothes to Goodwill, getting my oil changed. I also want to start working on some crafts - March is (apparently) National Craft Month, and if I get some of my unfinished projects done I'll post pictures of them here. I haven't done any crafts since Christmas, and that's just sad!
Is there anything you're trying to work on this month?
Meeting strangers
I am no stranger to making friends online.
Back in 1995 when I got my first computer, anybody who was ANYBODY was on AOL. In fact, the door to my bedroom at my mother's house still has an AOL sticker on it that reads, "I'd rather be online." Chat rooms were all the rage, and 8th grade Erica found herself talking to people online all the time, in both AOL and MTV chat rooms. Nobody seemed to worry about sexual predators back then, and let's be honest; at that point most of them didn't know how to get online yet. I was just excited to talk to new and interesting people.
I remember the first time a boy PM'd me (PM = Personal Message). My little naive heart was all a-flutter! We agreed to meet in the same chat room again the next night at a designated time to talk again. I wrote about him in my diary and decided to email him before we talked again to tell him how much I liked him and see if he wanted to be my boyfriend. He never responded to that email, and he didn't show up the next night to the chat room to talk. I was crushed! Later I realized how freaked out he must have been when he got my email. Sorry, random AOL boy. :)
Skip ahead a few years, and I'm on my way to college. I signed up for a South Park newsletter through Comedy Central's website, and I slowly started getting to know some of the regular posters. The newsletter eventually got dropped by Comedy Central, but the members created an MSN group to keep it going and planned a South Park Convention in Colorado. I told my mom about the convention (she is also a big SP fan), and in the summer of 2003 we both flew to Colorado to meet a bunch of people I only knew through an online newsletter. It was a BLAST! Mom and I attended subsequent "mini" conventions, getting to know this group of people better and enjoying our shared love of a silly, dirty cartoon. The group eventually fizzled out, but I'm so glad I met them. In fact, two of the people I met through the South Park newsletter (and who met each other that way as well) are getting married this summer - and they've asked me to be a bridesmaid in their wedding! All because I took a chance and flew to Colorado that summer to meet some people from the internet.
Now it's even easier and more accepted to meet friends in real life that you know from online sites or groups. The same goes for couples. It used to be embarrassing to say that you met your significant other from an online dating site - now, it's commonplace. I know plenty of people that found their spouse on the internet, and are happy they made that decision.
Recently, Jared and I met two people who frequently comment on The Domestic Scientist. I found out they lived in Columbus, and started listening to their radio show, CaveRadio. When they mentioned on Twitter that they were going to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time, I tweeted back and said that I was jealous - I played D&D back in high school and would love to play again. Without hesitation, they invited me over to play that Friday night. I brought Jared and Miranda with me, and we had an amazing time!
I guess I've just never been afraid to make connections with people online, even when it wasn't accepted to do so. Meeting strangers, contrary to what we are taught as kids, doesn't always turn out bad. Sure, there are weirdos out there, but the internet is mostly full of really awesome people - and I'm so thankful that I've been able to meet some of them!
How NOT to handle yourself on Twitter
A while back I started following @astrospace on Twitter -the official account for Space and Astronautics News. This shouldn't surprise anyone - I love space! And science! Yay! However, whoever running the account almost never tweeted about space! Or science! Very disappointing. Often it was about how many followers they had, and no real news. But I kept following them anyway, mostly because I'm too lazy to unfollow people.
ANYHOW.
Last night the person behind this account had some sort of crazy emotional breakdown, and I was there to witness the whole thing. Somehow, in a short period of time, @astrospace lost 8000 followers, and FLIPPED OUT about it. They started talking about how horrible of a company Twitter was, and how they were fed up and deleting their account. @jonathanstark posted this awesome screen shot of the whole mess. Minutes after that last tweet, the account was changed over to @zx152 - as of today, this account is completely gone, and the @astrospace account only has a few tweets, with the latest one actually being about space news. But last night it linked to a blog post which they claimed "this will be syndicated internationally on major news sites" and was basically a huge post of nothing but slanderous nonsense about Twitter and how the company is "scum" and should be shut down. Not surprisingly, this post is now nowhere to be found, which leaves me to believe they are full of crap.
So what's the lesson here? Don't be a dick on Twitter - simple as that. Sure, maybe it was Twitter's fault that @astrospace lost that many followers, but come on! There is no need to be an unprofessional, whiny, ignorant dolt when you don't get your way. The idea of perpetual beta online means that sometimes things get messed up, and you need to chill and go with the flow. Twitter didn't even have a chance to respond to this jerk, and I'm glad they didn't. The kinds of mean and hateful things that @astrospace wrote in that blog post don't deserve a response. The person behind this account only made themself look like a fool to all of their followers.
Check out this posting on the Get Satisfaction customer service site, and great post about the whole mess can be found here.
Listy fun
Seven things I'm obsessed with that I probably shouldn't be:
1. Harrison Ford. We all know this obsession by now, right? But really... the man is old. I have issues.
2. The smell of gasoline. I don't know why - I just love it.
3. Cream cheese. So, so bad for me. And so, so delicious.
4. Music from the 90's. Say what you will, but that's my effin' decade, man. I do love me some 80's hair metal too, but 90's rock just makes me SO happy in ways I can't completely describe.
5. An obnoxiously bright pink bathrobe that belonged to my grandmother. It's so ugly and yet so comfy and warm. So what if I look like an old crazy woman when I wear it?
6. Cracking my elbows/fingers/toes/etc. I will probably have all sorts of joint issues or arthritis by the time I'm 30.
7. Making lists of things about me that people probably already know instead of writing a real blog post. Wait, what? :)
Reflections
Is it totally cliche of me to write a post reflecting back on the past year on New Year's Eve? If it is, too bad. I'm doing it anyway.
2008 was really a mixed bag. It wasn't a bad year, but it wasn't necessarily a good year either. I can't even remember what my resolution was for 2008, so I don't know if I kept it or not. Chances are, I did not.
The Good:
Had some awesome parties (Birthday, Halloween, etc). Got rid of the cats, who were destroying my house. Went to Chicago for the first time and absolutely loved it. Enjoyed a whole year of being a professional librarian in an organization that I am so excited to be a part of. Got awesome new stuff (TV, couch, iPhone, new DS lite, etc.). Participated in Learn & Play and became a lot closer with many of my colleagues.
The Bad:
Had some somewhat unsuccessful parties (Smash Party on the weekend of the blizzard, for example). Did not get accepted as an ALA Emerging Leader (there's always next year, right?). The new Harry Potter movie did NOT come out - total sadness. Had some nasty fights with Jared over the cats (this was, of course, later rectified).
The Ugly:
Had a weird & uncomfortable fight with my mother (things are getting better now though). Injured my foot during the summer and have had heel pain (plantar fasciitis) for well over 6 months now - have been going to an orthopaedist for it. Did not get any thinner (ha, like THAT'S anything new). Been somewhat depressed about all of the above.
What do I want for 2009? I want two things - to pay off my credit card debt, and to learn to cook. Money is the motivation for both of these. Obviously, if I can pay off my CC's, I will be SO much better off. And if I learn to cook better, I will eat at home more and save money on going out to eat. If I'm lucky, this will also help me to eat healthier as well *crosses fingers*. I know now that a lot of my frustration results from feeling like I'm in a financial rut. I can't save money for the life of me, and although I can afford things that I want, I just don't feel like I'm going anywhere or planning ahead. You might say that money can't buy happiness, but if you don't have to WORRY about money, you'll certainly be a lot happier.
So, although I had some great times this year, I will not be sad to see 2008 go. Instead I will be celebrating with those closest to me, and hoping that 2009 brings more of the good, less of the bad, and none of the ugly.
Things I love about December
1. It's acceptable (and encouraged) to eat your body weight in goodies. OMG, you're gonna have to roll me out the freakin' door, people.
2. Watching people fight in stores - either with each other or over that last toy on the shelf.
3. Last minute shopping, especially when I see lots of #2. Hehe.
4. Shrimp cocktail! In my family, it's a staple on Christmas.
5. Christmas carols FTW!
6. Wrapping gifts. I know most people hate this, but I love it. Going to spend the rest of today wrapping, actually.
7. Hanukkah - no, I'm not Jewish, but Jared and I like to celebrate as many holidays as possible. And since we really don't know how to celebrate Kwanzaa, we have a menorah up in the window by our Christmas tree. It's the celebration of light, people! Yay light!
8. Parties, especially New Year's parties. Jared and I are having one this year - YOU SHOULD COME! :D
9. Those ridiculous gifts that Target puts out just for the holidays that they don't have any other time of year. Does anyone even buy those?
10. Drinking with my family. Hey, don't judge - everyone has to get through this season somehow!
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to all of you! :D
For Betty
Today is December 1st - for most people it's just the beginning of the winter holiday season. But for me, it's the second anniversary of my grandmother's death. The loss of a grandparent is always difficult, but losing Betty (I called her by her first name for the majority of my childhood) was especially hard for me. It's been two full years now, and yet I still wish I could call up to my grandparents' house and hear her voice say hello.
My grandmother was very important in my life. She and my grandfather helped raise me while my mother worked long hours to make ends meet. I have her middle name (Louise) and her bright blue eyes. She was a beautiful woman with a classy style - and a flair for bright colors. I like to think that I've acquired some of her fashion sense over the years. I learned to love baking because of watching her so much when I was young, and I developed a love of party planning and etiquette because of her passion for those things as well. She was an amazing woman that would do anything for you, and frankly, I just wouldn't be the woman I am today without her influence in my life.
I thought a good way to remember her today would be to look at some old photographs. Here's one of her holding me when I was just a few months old:
Ha, I was a cute baby, wasn't I? I used to sleep with grandma all the time:
Oh and don't think she was just some "typical" grandma - Betty was certainly a wild woman when she wanted to be:
One of the things I am most grateful for is that I was able to spend so much time with grandma:
I only hope that I will look as good as she did as I get older:
I miss you, Betty. Thank you for being the kind of person who is irreplaceable in my life.
Dewey
Ugh, it's so early & I'm so tired... I went to a screening of Bruce Campbell's new movie last night, My Name Is Bruce (and here was actually there & did a short Q&A with us, OMG), and it was at midnight so I didn't get home until after 2am. Yikes! I feel so old - I can't stay up late & get up early like I used to.
Anyhow, I saw this on Rock Me Like A Librarian and had to see what my results were. I think they're pretty fitting, no?
Erica's Dewey Decimal Section:
620 Engineering & allied operations
Erica = 58931 = 589+31 = 620
Class:
600 Technology
Contains:
Health, agriculture, management, public relations, buildings.
What it says about you:
You are creative and inspired to make the world a better place. You can work hard on something when it catches your interest. Your friends have unique interests in common with you.
Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com
Thing #23 - Recap!
Well, here we are - the end of the Learn & Play road. Obviously, my blogging will continue, and I hope some of my colleagues will continue blogging as well. Here's my recap:
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I've enjoyed everything, but I especially enjoyed getting to know everyone better on Twitter and playing with things I hadn't used before, like the wiki sandbox and MOLDI.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I'm definitely less afraid to try new things - I know that if I just take a little time to mess around with something new, I'll figure it out! And if I don't get it right away, I have plenty of people to ask for help.
Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I have just been amazed and delighted at how much more of a "community" there is now with CML folks from all over the system. I feel much more connected to what's happening with my coworkers here at Main and in the branches. Sure, we've all learned a little bit more about technology - but we're also learning so much more about each other! It's incredible!
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Honestly, I really liked the format - go at your own pace, with some "catch up" time built in. The videos (I felt) were incredibly helpful too. I think additional things could be added for those people who finish early and want more to explore, kind of like the Read On option that kids get with SRC. Play On!
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate?
In a heartbeat! I had so much fun with this program, and I think as technology changes and evolves in the coming years, we'll have much more to explore. And depending on the technology, the format might have to change accordingly - only time will tell!
Thanks to all of the library people who have been reading and commenting on my blog! And to those of you non-library people out there, it'll be business as usual soon enough. Of course, if you're sick of me talking about the library, you shouldn't be reading my blog to begin with. ;)
Cheers!
Thing #22 - MOLDI
First thought - I know us librarians love our acronyms, but MOLDI? Really? Did we have to go with that?
Second thought - OMG TREASURE TROVE OF CHEESY HORROR MOVIES!!! I <3 MOLDI!
Okay, I'm done screaming now, I promise. I'm really glad that this was one of the L&P things, because I've never explored MOLDI on my own, and it was good to know what we have available. It's also good to know that they have more bad horror movies available to watch than I have free time to watch them! Seven Mummies caught my eye first, then I found the Bigfoot Terror Collection parts 1-4, The Blood Drinkers, Raiders of the Living Dead, and so many more. (PS - Best quote from an IMDB user about Raiders of the Living Dead: "This movie took an hour and a half of my life. And I want it back." I can't wait to watch it!)
Wait, what? I was supposed to be looking for books? Oh yeah - I seem to have forgotten about that! I found "Reconciliation" by Benazir Bhutto in audio book format, which is a title I've been really wanting to read. I've never been really good about listening to audio books, but I'm pretty sure that we'll be seeing more and more demand for this kind of content. I hope that MOLDI is able to provide more titles for iPods - that would definitely make it more convenient and useful for our customers.
Thing #21 - Podcasts
I've been slacking on my learning & playing, so I'm going to try to finish up today. I only have 3 things left! If I don't get all three done today... well, then definitely by the end of the week. :)
Podcasts! I don't listen to them all of the time, but the few I subscribe to I really enjoy. Of course there is This American Life, which is pretty well known. If you aren't familiar, it's a weekly radio show that they put out as a free hour long podcast. That might seem like a really long time, but the stories they tell are usually interesting enough to hold your attention. Plus you can always do other things while listening to it, which is what I normally do. I love multitasking!
I listen to one library podcast, and that's George & Joan: Thinking Out Loud. It's usually only 20ish minutes long, and I am always inspired after listening to it. George Needham and Joan Frye Williams have great ideas and thoughts about library service and the future of libraries, and the format is very natural - they are just having a conversation, and we get to listen in! I love it.
For my daily dose of techy goodness, I watch a video podcast called WebbAlert. This is hosted by my girl-crush, Morgan Webb (of G4 & X-Play fame). It's a great way to keep up with what's happening in the technology world, and is only about 3 minutes long on average. Plus it's Morgan Webb! And she's amazing! *commence totally platonic swooning*
Okay, so enough about what I already listen to. I tried out the podcast search sites - I liked Podfeed.net the best. I found a podcast from the Lunar and Planetary Institute Library in Houston, Texas, definitely right up my alley. Usually though, I find out about podcasts the same way I do about blogs - worth of mouth.
I think it would be great if CML could implement podcasting in a useful way. We could record programs or lectures so people who couldn't make it could listen to them or view them. Staff could do a weekly book review talk for different age groups that would highlight new books that the library has available to check out. Even just a general "What's new with the library" podcast might be something our customers would be interested in. However, it requires dedication and regular updates - are we willing to do that? My biggest concern/worry is that we would start something and then not follow up with it.
Hmm, this ended up being a much longer post than I thought it would be. Stay tuned for more L&P action with Things 22 and 23!
10 Random Things
Okay, so I've been meaning to respond to a meme that The Domestic Scientist tagged me with forever ago... and I never did. Because I'm a lazy blogger. Anyhow, the meme was to list 7 things that nobody knows about you. More recently, Helene challenged us CML bloggers to write a post listing 10 random things about themselves. Well, I can't pass up two different meme requests, so I'm combining them! Here is my list of 10 random things you might not know about me:
1. I am generally a very paranoid person. I worry about what people think of me just about every minute of every day. I get easily freaked out about small stuff. Somehow I can always manage to be the calm voice of reason to other people, but never to myself.
2. I have a difficult time remembering specific things about movies - even ones I've seen multiple times. Maybe that's why I like to watch movies I've seen before, cause I'll always see something new!
3. I can't stand the taste of tea. YUCK.
4. Sometimes I can completely entertain myself with only my thoughts. I have been known to sit and stare for extended periods of time and not realize it. I'm pretty sure this is why I take ridiculously long showers, and also why I love JD on Scrubs.
5. I would be barefoot all of the time if I could be. Even at work.
6. I actually kinda like that stores put out all of their Christmas stuff way early. I like to get excited about it early too!
7. I am a total control freak, and it's really hard for me to admit it. Except that I just did, so never mind.
8. I slapped a kid in the face on my first day of my freshman year of high school. Don't worry, he totally deserved it.
9. One of my earliest memories is of sitting in a high chair, playing with a rattle, and watching my grandmother vacuum the floor. It's such a random memory, and yet it's so vivid in my mind.
10. If I could pick a second career, I would be a party/wedding planner. I think I'd be good at it too! So, you know, if this librarian thing falls through, I have options. Ha!
Vote!
Today is Election Day, and I have just one thing to say to everyone reading this blog: PLEASE get out and vote today if you haven't already. As Jared pointed out, this could be the most important election in my generation's lifetime. Of course I want MY candidate to win, but I also want everyone I know, regardless of your political views, to get out and make your voice heard. It really does make a difference.
Thing #20 - YouTube
I have a confession to make. Until just now, I'd never set up an account with YouTube. In fact, I *just* realized that since I have a Google account, I practically already HAD a YouTube account. How did I stay away from the video behemoth for so long? Well, I didn't really. I watch YouTube videos all the time. But I always thought the site was too cluttered, and I prefer uploading my own videos to Vimeo. Now, however, the site looks much cleaner and easier to use than in the past. I'm having fun customizing my profile and finding all of my favorite videos!
Here's a classic that everyone can enjoy:
You can find me on YouTube and view some of my other favorite videos here.
Thing #19 - CML Power Tools
Time again for some L&P action. This was probably the easiest & fasting thing to complete. I'm already using most of the services on the Power Tools page, so I joined in the Gmail conversation on the Tooling Around blog. Gmail is the best! I'm at work right now, but I need to remember to put the library toolbar on my home computer later. Then my library geekiness will be complete!
Thing #18 - Web 2.0 tools
Two posts in one day?! Crazy.
For this exercise, we are supposed to pick a Web 2.0 tool from this list and discuss what we learned from it. The hardest part for me was finding a site I either didn't already have an account with, or finding something that didn't overlap with a service I already use!
For fun, I tried HairMixer. I uploaded a picture of myself and tried out different hairstyles. I have to be honest, they were all pretty awful. But I guess that's not the site's fault!
For something more serious (and that might have a library application), I tried out RevolutionHealth. I was surprised at how GREAT the site is! It has a clean, easy to navigate layout, and some awesome features like a symptom checker, BMI calculator, and the ability to create your own personal health record. The information on the site is from trusted sources (MayoClinic, Cleveland Clinic, Familydoctor.org) so I would definitely recommend this site to interested customers.
Thing #17 - Google Docs
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
I love Google Docs,
And so should you!
Aren't I just the poet? I published that straight from Google Docs, which I (surprisingly) had never done before. It was just as easy as I expected it to be!
Now for some history. You see, Google Docs and I have been friends for a while now. In fact, before it became known as Google Docs, the word processing part of it was known as Writely. I actually became a beta tester for Writely back in 2005, and used it in library school to collaborate more easily on group projects. I still have some of those projects saved, too! I was super excited when Google bought Writely, and I love that they keep expanding it and making it better.
Yes, Google does own my life. And I think that's okay.
Autumn excitement
I have been MIA for awhile - not really sure why, but I've felt very uninspired to write anything lately. But I thought I'd break the silence and list some things I'm excited about right now:
1. Going to the Circleville Pumpkin Show tonight. I've never been to it, even though I've lived in Columbus for 3ish years now.
2. Halloween! Jared and I are having our party again this year, and I'm hoping it will be even better than previous years. Please come if you are free the night of November 1st, and don't forget to dress up!
3. Making costumes for the aforementioned Halloween Party. I ventured into the realm of costume making last year with this Princess Peach costume for Erica M., and I'm hoping that the costumes I'm making this year turn out just as good or even better! (Also, I hope I have time to finish them before the party!)
4. Being crafty. I haven't just been in a blogging rut lately, I've also been in a crafting rut! But I found some fabulous fabric at Joann's the other day, and I'm hoping to make something fun with it. I probably won't get to it until after Halloween, but I'm still excited that I'm actually inspired to make something. It's been a while.
5. Cooking! Yes, I've actually been cooking more lately, and I'm enjoying it. I always love to bake, but cooking has never been my strong point. It still isn't, but I think I'm improving. Practice makes perfect, right?
What are you excited about right now?
Thing #14 - Library 2.0
So I'm finally getting around to posting about Library 2.0. I've been putting it off for a while now - I wasn't sure what I really wanted to add to the conversation. But I've been thinking about it more lately, so here are my thoughts on the subject.
The idea of Library 2.0 has been around for quite a while now. In fact, the articles we read for this "thing" were all from 2006 - that should tell you something right there. Of course, a lot of people think we've been 2.0 all along, and that's somewhat true. But the thing that sticks out for me is the customizable part of Library 2.0, and that's where I think our challenge lies.
Now, when I say customizable, I'm not talking purely about using technology. Sure, web 2.0 tools will make it easier to customize the user experience. For instance, our users could have their own customized library web page - when they log in, all of the resources they like best would be on the front page. Maybe it could also save their reserve settings, knowing automatically which location they prefer to have items sent to. Those would be really cool, customizable things. But our non-web services should be that way, too. If someone wants to just come in, pick up their reserve, check it out themselves, and go - they can do that. But what if someone wants to come in and talk to a staff person about what they are reading that week? What if they would really prefer having a live person check their items out for them? Personally, I don't see anything wrong with that. I think we should make sure that we are still giving our customers options on what kind of experience they can have when they are in our buildings, even if the option they want is the "old fashioned" way. That doesn't mean reverting back to a card catalog - it just means making sure our customers feel like they are being taken care of when they are here. Does that make sense? For the record, I think we do a pretty good job of this already. I just don't want those that aren't ready for web 2.0 to lose out on all the wonderful things that Library 2.0 can provide.
There are plenty of other examples of ways to customize the "library experience" that I can't think of right now. Thoughts?
Things #15 & 16 - Wikis!
As you may or may not have noticed, I've skipped Thing #14. I feel like I have a lot to say about Library 2.0, but for some reason a post is just not coming to me right now. All I can think about are wikis - so that's what I'm going to talk about now. I'll get back to Library 2.0 stuff later.
I really enjoyed the wiki common craft video, and looked at some of the library wikis that are already out there. Overall, I liked what I saw, but I have to say that I'm a firm believer that wikis are not the way to go for everyone. For some reason, when people learn about them, they are like OMG BEST THING EVER and decide that they *have* to start one. In general, I think you should use what works for you - know about the rest, but don't feel like you have to use a certain tool just because it is there.
That being said, I think iwannaprize has a great idea for using wikis as subject resource pages for the public. I also think we could utilize a wiki internally to help us keep better track of resources to use for different kinds of questions, and it would be easy and quick to access when we need it. I'm remembering a question I got not long ago about bonds - we don't get these questions very often, and they are very difficult to answer. If we had a wiki set up, I could add a page about bonds and list the resources I used to find the answer. And other librarians could update it with other resources I didn't know about and/or couldn't find!
I played in the Learn & Play wiki sandbox, and had fun adding my favorite restaurants and movie. However, I found myself wanting to fix everyone's mistakes. I really must learn to control my anal-retentive perfectionist side. :)
Thing #13 - Del.icio.us
As with many of the "things" we've been doing, I've already had a del.icio.us account for a while now. And yeah, I know that I don't need to put the dots in it anymore... but I like it better that way. :)
I don't put all of my bookmarks in delicious though - I just put stuff on there that I think is cool, or funny, or worth sharing with other people. For example, I wouldn't put big sites like Flickr or Gmail on delicious. But maybe I would share a really awesome picture on Flickr or a certain YouTube video that I liked. It's stuff that I might go back sometime and look at again, but not stuff that I go to everyday. I try to make sure that the things I bookmark on delicious are different than the things I share on Google Reader. (An example: Recently, a blog post I read on Google Reader pointed me toward a fun quiz on another site. Instead of sharing the blog post, I bookmarked the quiz in delicious. Had the blog post itself been particularly noteworthy, I would have just shared it in Google Reader. Does that make sense?)
If you're interested, here's my delicious page. Enjoy!
*edit* I forgot to mention how I think delicious can be used in the library! Doh! Actually, what I wanted to say is how great it is that my division is using delicious! See our page here. I would love to see us add to this page and include other websites that we use frequently with our customers.
Just for fun
Disclaimer: I have no desire to start up any political conversations here - but this was too funny not to post, especially after playing around with image and word generators last week.
We all know by now that Sarah Palin has named her kids some very unique names. Well, now you can find out what she would have named you! My name would have been Krinkle Bearcat Palin. I have to say, having the middle name "Bearcat" would be pretty frickin' sweet. If you try it out, let me know what your new name is!
Things #11 & 12 - LibraryThing and Twitter
So I found out after my last post that the stats feature on Flickr has not only been around a while (aka, not new at all), but is only available to people with pro accounts. So... yeah. Sorry about that. But if you have a pro account and haven't seen your stats, you should really get on that.
Anyhow, THIS post is all about LibraryThing and Twitter! I'm combining them into one since I already have accounts with both services. I joined Twitter earlier this year after I finally caught up with the rest of the world and got a texting plan, but I've been on LibraryThing since 2006! In fact, I even got to meet Tim Spalding, creator of LibraryThing, at the 2007 OLC Convention & Expo. Here's my catalog on LibraryThing, and my Twitter page. Feel free to friend me/follow me on either service!
One of the features on LibraryThing that I haven't explored much (but really should!) is LibraryThing Local. What a great opportunity for libraries to advertise our events to the kinds of people that would want to come to them! Also, I just wanted to mention how I love the fact that the largest group on the site is "Librarians Who LibraryThing," with just over 5000 members! Although really, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the kinds of people who want to catalog their own books would also be the kinds of people who become librarians.
Twitter is pretty new to me still but I'm really enjoying it. I like being able to record the random thoughts I have during the day, and read all about what my friends and colleagues are doing. However, when I try to explain how it works to people that don't know anything about it, I usually get blank stares. Maybe it isn't for everyone. But I can definitely see where libraries could use this to easily post quick updates on their website, or maybe just to connect to our customers and let them know what's going on that day at the library.
Flickr stats
Has everyone tried out the new Flickr homepage yet? I love it. If you haven't, login to Flickr and look at the bottom of the page. You should find a link to try out the new homepage. Click on it, enjoy the music (totally serious), and explore the new page.
One of the best new things I found was an option to turn on statistics about my photos. I'm such a numbers geek, so I had to do this. It told me it might take a while to compile all of the numbers, but I checked back in a few minutes and it was ready. What I found was shocking!
I should give some back story here. When Jared and I were first looking for a place here in Columbus, I took this picture of my foot on the dashboard of my car (I like taking pictures of my feet, apparently). It's really not that exciting of a picture, but somehow it was getting way more views than my other pictures. So about a year ago, I decided to try to take a picture that would surely get more views than any of my other pictures. The result was this picture (safe for work, I promise), which I strategically named "Foot Fetish." Sure enough, it has gathered just over 2,000 views to date, and 7 people call it a favorite. But to my surprise, that is not my highest viewed picture. What picture could possibly get more views than that?
This one, apparently:
The foot fetish photo is still racking up views, but it will be a long time before it ever surpasses the cart o' Wii goodness. If you want, check out the rest of my stats here.
I'm a star!
Check out this video on Gerald 2.0 - my coworker Jim and I got to talk to Gerald about the fun we've been having with Learn & Play @CML. Surprisingly, we did the whole thing in just one take! I feel kinda famous now. And no, the glasses aren't permanent - they're the ones I wore for my Professor Trelawney costume. I also wore my now infamous green shoes (Jim's request) but we didn't get them in the video. Oh well. If you are reading this from my site and not in a feed reader, you can enjoy the picture of my shoes in the upper left of the page. :)
In other news, I had a fantastic dinner tonight at Tip Top Kitchen with Jennifer. We love our Tuesday night outings! Now it's time for some work, and as of tomorrow I'm off until next Tuesday. What will I do with all my free time, you ask? As little as possible, of course! Haha. Actually, I'm looking forward to catching up on some crafting, movie watching, and a video game I've been neglecting. Should be fun!
Thing #10 - Image Generators!
Oh man, I love these things. Here is one of my arch nemesis, Clippy:
Almost everything else I thought of him saying was completely inappropriate - be glad I spared you, haha. Seriously though... I hate Clippy so very, very much.
Next I decided to do one of something I really, really love - so check out my very own personalized My Little Pony:
Isn't she adorable?! The winged unicorns were always my favorite.
There are lots of really fun image & text generators out there. The other ones I liked were the Motivational Poster and the Alanis Morissette Random Lyric generators. I could probably play around with these all day!
Thing #9 - Finding blogs and feeds
I have to say, I don't really use any blog search websites on a regular basis. Most of the blogs I read I found because another blog that I like linked to them, so I checked them out. I'm trying to think back to when I started reading blogs, and I really can't remember how I found the first ones.
Anyhow - here are my thoughts on the search tools I looked at:
Bloglines Search Tool: If I had a Bloglines account, I might actually use this. But since I don't... well, probably not so much. It works pretty well, although I wish the blog results were right on top instead of the post results.
Topix: Looks like a decent enough news site, and I like the local content. Not sure that I would use this to find feeds though. I would just see what the top stories are, and move on.
Syndic8.com: "Hi - 1998 called, and it wants its HTML code back." Fine if you're into the stripped down IRC look - although this is probably the easiest for newbies to use.
Technorati: Other than the occasional crazy flashing ads, this is a pretty good website. It's the only one where I really get a feel for what is "happening" in the blogosphere (I kinda hate that term though).
Although this wasn't in the list, I noticed that Google Reader has a "discover" feature where it recommends feeds based on the ones you are already subscribed to. Not surprisingly, mine was filled with more library blogs... go figure! This probably wouldn't be very helpful if you are just starting out, but if you are already subscribed to a few blogs you like, this would be a great way to discover more.
Thing #8 - RSS feeds
I am a huge fan of RSS feeds - I have a Google Reader account (because, well, Google owns my life... haha) and I am currently subscribed to 100+ feeds! Some are library blogs (LibraryBytes, Tame The Web, Librarian In Black, Ohio Library News - just to name a few), some are craft/baking related (Sprite Stitch, Cake Wrecks, The Domestic Scientist, Made in a Treehouse), and some are just plain geeky and fun (BoingBoing, Bad Astronomy, TechCrunch, Neatorama). I also have plenty of friends and CML coworkers blogs on there, as well as some podcasts (This American Life, WebbAlert, Thinking Out Loud). Although Google Reader doesn't allow you to publicly share your entire reading list, I do have a link to my publicly shared items. When I find a post that I like, I can share it so others can read it too. My friends that also have a Google Reader account get these shared items sent to them automatically, and I get theirs as well. It's a great way to share interesting posts with other people and discover blogs that you didn't know about!
I have also added a widget to this blog that shows my most recently shared items from Google Reader. How fun is that? I also forgot to mention that I also subscribe to a few web comics as well, and of course Unshelved is on the list. No librarian can resist Dewey and his antics!
Thing #7 - Technology
Every time I hear the word "technology," I think of the song from the end of Napoleon Dynamite:
"I love technology, but not as much as you, you see... but I still love technology, always and forever."
Ah, technology. I almost feel like writing a totally cliche post about how technology moves so fast, and how hard it is to catch up, and how I can't believe kids these days are doing this thing instead of that thing, and how they have NO IDEA how hard it was for me when I was their age, blah blah blah. But (thankfully, for you) I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to list some cool things I'm excited about:
Google Chrome. I haven't downloaded it yet, but I will soon. I read the comic that they put out to promote it, and it sounds really awesome. I don't know that this will replace Firefox for me, but it should be fun to play around with.
The iPhone. I think I've decided that I'm going to get one, but I'm not sure when. I just think it is so cool that there is a phone that does practically anything you could want it to do. I don't really need it, but who cares? Nobody NEEDS an iPhone. I just want one! :)
Picnik. This is a site where you can edit images for free, and it's super easy to use. I don't have Photoshop or any other photo editing software, but I wanted to take a picture I had and make it into a logo for my blog. I found Picnik (which I had heard of before, but never used), and within minutes I was able to do exactly what I wanted with my photo. Sure, it's not as sophisticated as Photoshop - but it was fast, easy, and did just what I needed it to do. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much you can do online for free!
What cool things are you excited about?
Thing #6 - Playing with Flickr tools
Well, I played around with some of the mashups, tools, and third-party sites suggested - my favorites were the trading card maker and FlickrSLiDR. Here are my creations:
My librarian trading card!
I love that photo - I was dressed up as Madame Trelawney from Harry Potter for the 7th book release party at Barnes & Noble. Can you see the resemblance?A slideshow of my photos tagged "library":
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Thing #5 - Fun with Flickr!
I have to admit, I'm cheating a bit here - I took this photo over a year ago! But it's one of my favorites, so I wanted to use it for this post. Flickr is about the best thing ever, and I'm glad to see all of my coworkers discovering how wonderful it is and having fun with it. I have a pro account, and it's the only online service I actually pay money for. I've always loved to take pictures and share them with friends, but it wasn't always so easy getting someone to sit down and look through a photo album with you. Now my friends can enjoy my pictures at their leisure! Also, it's really exciting when someone you don't know finds a picture you took and either comments on it, marks it as a favorite, or uses it on their website or blog. This blog used my photo, and so did this article. Very cool!
So that's Thing #5, and now I'm moving on to Thing #6 - playing with Flickr mashups!
So that's Thing #5, and now I'm moving on to Thing #6 - playing with Flickr mashups!
Fabulous finds
Recently I helped my mother sort through my grandmother's things. She passed away about a year and a half ago, and we are just now going through everything in her bedroom, deciding what to keep, what to donate to Hospice, and what to pitch. It's a difficult and emotional process, but also exciting - my mother and I came across some really cool stuff (click on the photos to enlarge):
I found this "recipe card," written by my grandfather, tucked away in a side pocket of one of my grandmother's old purses. It's so cute and romantic! The best part is the last line - "Bake the hell out of it!" My grandpa's a funny guy.
These little cards are so adorable! I found these in my grandmother's dresser, wrapped up in tissue paper for safekeeping. My mother said that grandma wasn't sure what she wanted to do with them, only that she really liked them and wanted to keep them nice. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, either - maybe a craft project? We'll see.
My grandmother had so many purses, most of which we decided to give to Hospice. But this particular purse caught my eye. It's a faux leather clutch, and I fell in love with it! Check out the awesome lining fabric - it really makes it stand out. It even has this cute mirror attachment on the inside. Unfortunately, the outside of the purse is starting to flake, so I have to be careful with it. I'm probably only going to use it for special occasions. Still, an awesome find!There's more pictures on my Flickr page, including one of some "interesting" turtles my grandfather gave me...
Thanks for the laugh
Fun story: Today I went to Wendy's for lunch. I pulled up to the window to pay and gave the guy my debit card. He looked at me sorta funny, ran the card, then said, "I'm sorry, your card was denied." What?! I looked at him in disbelief - there's no WAY my card should have been denied! Then he started laughing, and said, "Nah, just kidding!" I could have been mad, I guess, but instead I cracked up. He said, "See? I made you smile." You sure did, random Wendy's employee. You sure did.
And, for your amusement, here's what I would look like if I had been in high school in the 60's, courtesy of Yearbookyourself.com:
Now that's one sexy lady, am I right? :D
Things #3 and #4, and more
Things 3 and 4 were pretty easy to accomplish - start a blog and record it in the tracking log. Done and done. I'm not sure that I really even need to post about it, but I am anyway for consistency. So... yeah. There you go.
Just so this post doesn't feel like a complete waste, here is a list of some blogs/websites/comics that you all need to check out right now:
Cake Wrecks. Just do it - you'll thank me later.
The Domestic Scientist. Renee is talented & funny - check out all of her awesome creations!
The Martha Blog. Yes, that Martha. Yes, I'm serious.
Indexed. Most of you probably read this already, but did you know that Jessica Hagy is from Columbus? Well, now you do.
Xkcd. The ultimate geek web comic. If you don't read this, there is something wrong with you, and we can no longer be friends.
Lifelong Learning - Thing #2
As I mentioned in my previous post, I am participating in Learn & Play @ CML. As I go, I will be posting about each of the 23 "things" that we do, in hopes of getting cool prizes at the end. This is my first official post about one of the things - namely, Thing #2. Thing #1 was simply familiarizing myself with the program, so I didn't really need to post about that. (Hmm, this is starting to sound like a Dr. Seuss book - Thing #1 and Thing #2.) I hope even my non-library staff readers will find my posts about the "things" somewhat interesting, even if you already know all this stuff.
Anyhow, I just watched an online tutorial about lifelong learning. Ironically, I had already watched it before on my own when I first learned about the Learning 2.0 program. But I watched it again, and it got me thinking about people I help everyday at work. So many of them have just given up on learning, especially when it comes to computers. Most of the time it's people who need jobs, and employers expect them to be able to fill out a job application online even though they've never touched a computer before. Some of these people just want you to do everything for them, which can be really frustrating. How do you convince someone to learn when they don't want to? How do you make it exciting for them?
But not everyone is that way! We have so many customers that come to our technology training classes - they want to learn, and even if it's difficult for them, they are making progress. It's extremely rewarding to see people take charge of their lives and better themselves - and know that you played a small part in the process.
As for me, there are a lot of things I want to learn. Right now, I need to learn more about investing. Not only for my own financial gains, but because I deal with investment and business questions on a daily basis - I certainly don't want to be stumped when someone asks me to look up the price of a bond! Also, one of the 23 things is learning about wikis, and although I already know what a wiki IS, I am definitely curious about why and how libraries are using them.
Now for the assignment part of the project: what is easiest and hardest for me to do? Out of the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, I think it's easiest for me to teach and mentor others. I love sharing what I know with other people! On the other hand, it's hardest for me to have confidence in myself as an effective learner. I can get easily frustrated if I don't "get" something right away. That's definitely something I need to work on!
So, dear readers - what are you learning about right now, or what do you want to learn more about? Do you consider yourself a lifelong learner?
Work + Play makes Erica a happy girl
My library is finally starting Helene Blowers' Learning 2.0 program - only we're re-branding it (as we are so good at doing) to "Learn & Play @ CML" - woohoo! I've been hoping we'd do this program since before we even hired Helene, so I'm pretty excited. Of course, it won't really be hard for me to participate... I've pretty much done all of the 23 things already. But it will be really neat to see my coworkers use some of these services for the first time. I *heart* the interwebz.
Anyway, since everyone else at work is blogging about the program, I had to be sure to put in my 2 cents as well. The program starts tomorrow (with an kick off presentation by Michael Stephens, awesome), and I'll be adding this blog to the official blog roll. Hmm, I sure hope I haven't said anything on here that I'll regret... haha. :D
Trying to get away is harder than you might think
Jared and I are considering taking a mini-vacation in September/October - we were originally planning on going down to Gatlinburg, but we recently decided that it might be more cost-effective to just visit Hocking Hills for a weekend. It's closer, which would mean less money spent on gas, and even though it's not quite as breathtaking as the Smoky Mountains, it's still a very scenic place to visit. So for the past week or so I've been pricing cabins in the area, hoping to find something relatively inexpensive. This has proved to be a difficult task - most cabins range from $150-$200 a night, even in late October. Yikes! Anyhow, as I was checking the availability of cabins from a particular company, I saw this message at the bottom of their page (emphasis added):
"Please note: There is a 2 night minimum on the weekend at the weekend rates. A weekend is considered Thursday/Friday, Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday. Holiday weekends are a 3 night minimum. Lodges are 3 night minimum - Memorial Day through Labor Day.
We apologize that our rate structure is illogical and the system can not always quote your rates correctly."
Wow. Really? Can't you just... make them logical?
I think maybe we'll be camping instead. At the very least, we won't be renting a cabin from THIS company.
Weirdness, insults, and fun with words
If you have facebook, you've likely seen the ads that show up on the left side of the screen. Most of the time, they are pretty standard. But one day, I found this:
Apparently, this is an actual thing. Here's the petition, if you want to look at it. In case you're wondering, I'm not going to sign it. Now, if it were a petition to get the Bad Astronomer on Stargate, that's a whole different story. Sign me up!
Completely different but almost as random are the junk emails I've been getting at work. Here are a few recent ones I've received:
Umm, I didn't think junk mail was supposed to flat out insult you. Usually it just suggests that you might want to "increase ur size!!" or that you could really use some cheap Viagra. But to come out and just tell me that I look stupid?! How do they know how I look? Maybe I look great today, thankyouverymuch. Has anyone else seen junk mail like this?
Oh! Check out my Wordle:
I made it out of all of my tags on Delicious. Obviously, I like me some humor and libraries. But was there really any doubt about that?
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