Hooray for me!!

Well, here we are at the end, but where to start...

Well, first of all, why are there so many website missing the letter "e?" tumblr, flickr, do they hate the fact that it's the most widely used letter in the english language they felt they had to punish it, or did the creators fail remedial english?

But I digress.

Over the past few months, I have found quite a few useful tools, (loving bloglines, facebook and this bloggin' is pretty ok) and some that I wish I'd never wasted my time trying (thanks for nothing, technorati.) More than anything, though, it has given me the opportunity to check out some new technologies that I otherwise would not have spent the time learning. I discovered that I kind of like this blogging thing, and will probably delete this so that I can keep using the name of the blog for my own personal nerdiliness. It was fun, educational and useful to have the training, and I really liked the self guided aspect. Thanks,

20 more minutes lost

A large percentage of the budget for Monty Python and the Holy Grail was donated by members of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Unable to prevent the use of the word “spam” to represent unwanted email messages, the Hormel company now uses all-capital letters in referencing its canned pork product.

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE stupid trivial tidbits of information, which is why have been hooked on Mental Floss' Amazing Fact Generator. I can't even stop long enough to write about it.

Tried some of the other generators, and the only one I really liked was the trading card generator that I already played around with. Art projects really aren't my cup of meat. They bore me.

overall, while the generators are quirky and fun to play with, I don't see any way to bring them into being a useful communication tool. Fun, yes. Useful no.

wiki- wiki- wik

Let me start be saying that if I have just watched the common craft show about the wikis, I would probably not ever use them. I Google Docs rocks just as hard for collaboration, and I have used it for that purpose many times. Luckily, though, I am an open minded person that has ventured out into the world to peruse wikis of all sorts of sizes and shapes. While I am a HUGE fan of Wikipedia, it scares me how much people trust it as the absolute truth. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can claim to have expertise and edit information on it. I realize that there is a very active wikipedia community that keeps an eye out for bogus posts, but they can't catch everyone...

Then I come across wikihow. Maybe should call it wikiwow! It's like a collaborative instructables with a more eye friendly format. Maybe I'll add some of my knowledge to it....

No instant gratification

That's what I think of Twitter. I could just as easily text message everyone in my phone, or send an email to everyone I have addresses for and feel that I made more of a connection that when I use twitter. It may be due to the fact that I only know one other person using twitter and he never logs in... Twitter to me seems like a instant messaging that limits you to a certain amount of characters.

Tumblr seems to have a little more potential for me, but I will have to flesh out what it can do for me in the coming days. It may be that it is just shinier and thus more likely for me to look at.

worse than crack

Youtube is worse than crack. At least there are rehab centers to help you with a crack addiction. Youtube will just slowly eat your life away until all you have are distant memories of your family, while waiting for Chris Crocker's new post.

I've been playing Portal at home (part of the Orange Box for xbox) and have found numerous fan videos about the game and its quirky characters. I found this video that follows a day in the life of a gun turret. I realize that this has nothing to do with the library, but it was fun nonetheless. Oops. I guess that I didn't quite listen to this earlier. Sorry. it's gone now. Phew!

As for applications in the library, I believe that youtube could be used as a fairly powerful training tool. I'm not sure how long a video can be, but say in 10-15 minute segments one could put together a sort of "Welcome to FVRL, and here's a brief overview of what to expect" video. It may save quite a bit of time in the long run. I'm not saying to replace the system we have now, but in addition to it.

Sam's one minute critic is a good example of how we can use youtube in the library. I wonder if our performers would allow us to record their shows during summer reading and post them...

podcasting

First time I heard about podcasts, I remember thinking how stupid it sounds. We already have enough talk show hosts milking their 15 minutes as it is, now everyone can do it. While I still feel a bit like this, I am starting to soften ever since I discovered coverville. Sorry, but I came close to nodding off listening to the library feeds that I had to find something to wake me up, and super-wow I am in love. All cover songs, updated about twice a week, as the podcaster fills the time. I'll try again to find some more "professional" podcasts soon, but until then, I'm filling my ipod with some of the oddest cover songs that one could ever hear.

Triple Nerd Score

I love scrabble. For me, it's not just putting a bingo on the triple word score, but also part bluffing. If I could convince someone that "qwijybo" actually is a large, stupid, north american balding ape, my life would be complete. Until then, I can play numerous games at the same time through facebook to quench my nerdly word thirst. Just waiting for Megan to finish her time so I can place my bingo...

Every year, usually near the beginning of summer, 3 friends and I take part of a contest/treasure hunt. There are 100 questions that need to be answered using whatever resources available, and the winning team wins a million dollars to split, and a week at a ranch to relax. This last year, I wanted to have some real time way to track who was answering which question, cite their sources and allow the others in the group to vote on how strong we thought the answer was. I thought a spreadsheet would be the perfect example, poked around online and found google docs. We were all able to see each other's answers, comment on them, vote on them, and it really made things much easier than email or phone calls, as we had done in the past. We didn't win, but it made working together a hell of a lot easier that in the years before, and I did win a portable chessboard that I can pack on my motorcycle. Google docs is a very effective way to share documents with others that can then edit, comment etc. on them, all while saving space on your hard drive!

musics

I've been using Pandora for quite some time, and I'm always interested in new (free) music sites. While I like Pandora, it seems the main point of it is to broaden one's musical horizon, but I don't always want that. I want to hear a particular song, and when I type the song title in Pandora, I get a message:

Our music licenses do not allow us to let you replay or rewind a specific song, or to play a particular song or artist on demand.

This is also why you cannot have more than one station seeded by a particular artist.

Poop. If I'm in the mood to hear a particular song, I need to hear that song, not one that Pandora thinks is similar in style. I go to meebo or last.fm or songza and I can search for a song and play it. Over and over if I want. It's lovely. Not quite sure how we could make use of this in the library, other than background music for a program, or having a patron on the Internets with headphones listening while checking their email and such. For me, however, it rocks. I'm listening to last.fm right now, finding songs that I've been looking for for quite a long time. If I'm aways from my computer, I still have my Ipod to save my sanity, and no-- cd's aren't dead. We still have to back up our data somehow. Cassettes. They're dead.

No.

Technorati= Crap. I utterly and completely dislike setup, search options, search results, color, font size and everything else about this site. There's just too much stuff. I'll keep searching for bligs using google. Did not like this.

Mmmm. That's del.icio.us!

I have been using del.icio.us for awhile now. I wanted to have a way to access my home bookmarks from work and vice-versa, and Mr. Sam Wallin told me about this fantastic site called del.icio.us. I now have access to all my bookmarks at all times (as long as I have Internet access) and can add, modify and view the bookmarks of others, as well as suggest some sites to others that have del.icio.us accounts. So on that note, it is super fantastic as a backup for bookmarks to be accessed anywhere. Also, it is a great way to share sites with others-- a great tool for research, much like the IS bookmarks that I believe Amy Lee set up years ago that can be accessed by anyone. Another storehouse for all the tools to live.

http://del.icio.us/nerdtothecore

Goodreads VS LibraryThing

The other day, Megan sent me a request to be her friend on Goodreads. I wasn't up to that point in the program, but oh well-- I'll skip ahead. I joined and poked around a little bit to familiarize myself with the site, and love it. It reminds me of the friends feature on Netflix (which I use constantly to find out what obscure Korean horror movie my sister is watching) and also lets me know what others that rate things similar to me are getting. Then, for giggles I created a LibraryThing account, hoping that there would be similar excitement when I started adding books. Sadly for me, there wasn't. I mean, it was ok and I probably would have used it if Goodreads wasn't there, but it is! Goodreads was easier to use, had a nicer interface and reminded me to update my Netflix queue.

Socialize Libraries

There are many ways that we can use social networking. Book discussion groups, YAAB and Tween groups, branch happenings and the like could all have accounts to send out invitations to special programs, gather ideas, and keep current with what's going on. It's easier to navigate than our website, and has all the information right there, at your disposal. Might also be a good way to promote the progress of the new building projects to the public-- maybe a Cascade Park Library MySpace for showing where we are, where we're heading and such.

meebo

I haven't ever really used IM, other than the internal Exodus thing and chatting with my friend Justin through Gmail, and I really am not impressed with it. My wife loves it and sits across the room from friends, messaging away to each other, but the allure eludes me. I tried meebo, thought the concept was cool, but then realized that I don't know anybody s messaging account, and therefore am unable to locate them. Enough about me. For the library, I think that it would work nicely to ask a quick question, an in depth reference question or make a book request, rather than make a phone call. The problem I see is in the staffing. Would one person sit at the messaging computer, writing request after request and passing it to someone else to work on while they write down another request, or would there be multiple people answering messages? Or, are the patrons like me, and never use instant messaging except to see if someone is in so that I can call them?

need an aspirin

technorati gave me a headache. Is it possible to make it any more confusing? Also, I have to search for anything on Britney Spears. That should be right out on the front page! If I truly want the news to come to me, why is it so hard to find it? I'm beginning to doubt the existence of feedster. Every time I try to connect, the connection times out. Most of the things I looked at using the sites recommended did not have an rss feed available. I think that I will just look at the address bar for the rss symbol until I am more comfortable/familiar with the feed finders.

I think I just blogged myself...

I have been using the google reader for some time now, and have been happy with it. Then Mr. Wallin came out to the branch and did some fancy pants training about new technology on the Internets, and I wanted to set up a bloglines account, but didn't. Now that it's required, I did and I love it. Gots my blogs all organized, my news feeds in alphabetical order, my celebrity news ready to go at the drop of a hat and now I'm off to find some new sites to add.

flickring

My creation
Originally uploaded by ryanjellis

Playing around with the flickr mashups was, at first, disappointing to me. I tried the retrievr, didn't like it. For one, I can't draw to save my life. For another, it seemed to look mainly for things associated with the color I was using. Spell with flickr intrigued me, as I am currently playing "The Orange Box" at home and the companion cube was featured on the opening screen of the spell with flickr site, but my excitement quickly faded. Tried the photo mosaics. At first I liked it, but again, my interest waned. Then I tried the trading card maker. Now we're talking. Can't wait to get home and make some more. But for now, I have MacGyver here to protect me from evil forces using the power of duct tape and the omnipresent Swiss Army Knife. Thanks, Angus!

deep fried cheeseburger

deep fried cheeseburger
Originally uploaded by chotda

Holy heart attack, Batman!

getbacon

getbacon
Originally uploaded by ryanjellis

Greatest. Idea. Ever.

Habits. Some good, some not

I can accept responsibility for my own learning-- I am responsible for my own actions or inactions. I can begin, proceed and finish with an open mind. I don't view problems as challenges, rather as puzzles yet to be solved. I already have what I need in my learning toolbox and feel that I am proficient enough using technology that I am familiar with that learning new technology will not be a problem-- that's where the open mind comes into play. Teaching, helping, mentoring or whatever else you want to call it-- I enjoy sharing what I know, and if I don't know what I'm asked enjoy learning what I don't so that I can share it when the next person asks. Playing. Duh-- like I have any difficulty there.
Confidence. There's the tricky one for me, believe it or not.