Are we done yet?

I have finally made my way through all of the lessons. Now I remember the gut wrenching feeling of trying to get homework done on time. Not something I like. It would have been less stressful if I weren't working full time and having to spend the rest of December shoveling.

The lessons on tagging and wikis were, for me right now, reading about and looking. I can see there would be applications for the library. Even though it was a cursory look it gave me a grounding in what they were.

I really loved the Librarything. I will be able to use that a lot. I will probably also use the Facebook account just to keep up with "friends" and family, although lots of posts seem rather superficial. Blogging may be something I will continue also, since I like to rant and rave about various things.

All in all I'm glad the boss "made" us do this.

Facebook - fun and fear

I did get a Facebook page and actually have more "friends" than I thought I would. My son is nervous since I can now see what he's up to and today my nephew's wife popped up as wanting me as a friend. Amazing. I orginally didn't think I would keep up with this once the lessons were done, but this may be a way for family and friends to keep in contact, since none of us write letters anymore!

It's scary, however, that everyone's information is available too see. Plus all the pictures and details of your life are right out there. Seems no one under 40 thinks this is could be a bad thing.

This is an interesting video from MSNBC on use of libraries during hard economic times.
Maybe once we get these people here we can keep them through the good times too.

way behind

The faster I go the behinder I get. Seems I will never get caught up on these lessons. I have done podcasting (is that a word?) and have used them on my ipod when running. It's great. Never have to miss Prairie Home Campanion and Click and Clack again.

Google docs is interesting and I can see how it would be helpful in our library. We have a newsletter that several people write for and edit. This would be a great use of Google Docs. The library is currently working on strategic planning and the documents that come out of that work would also be useful in Google Docs.

So onward to the next lessons. Can anyone spare me some time?

time?

How is everyone finding time to do all this stuff? So far it seems like it takes more time than I have. I realize that there is a plethora of stuff to download, upload, listen to and look at but overload seems to be my most common state. I am glad to be aware of Flickr, podcasts, facebook etc. but I doubt that I will either personally or professionally use them very much. Guess I'll go live with the dinosaurs!

In looking at the Flickr stuff I'm not sure why I would want pictures of a certain color but it was fun to look at. Still not sure about what a "mash up" is -- frankly I think I'll use the term only when it involves potatoes.

children

ok, ok, when is it that as a parent you get to stop worrying about your kids? My son is 41 and he ran in the Chicago Marathon last weekend. We were to receive split times on our email. Well, we received the first 3 but weren't getting a finish time. Where was he? What happened??? Finally he called and was ok and had finished (even though it was very hot). We never received that final email. My blood pressure is now back to normal but I keep thinking that there should be a law where we can be exempted from worrying about our kids after they're 30.

3 day weekend and other rantings

Hurray! 3 days without working (at least in the library). There's always plenty of stuff to do at home. I always say I'm going to mend my ways after I finally get my house clean (a relative term) and keep on top of the clutter and dust. Never happens. I play a game with the housework -- For every hour of housework I get a half hour of reading (which sometimes magically turns into a couple of hours). I somehow missed out on that "cleaning gene", even though my mother thought I could learn it through repetition.

I just finished a wonderful book by Thrity Umigar called Bombay Times. The story centers on the people in an apartment complex in Bombay who are all invited to a wedding of one of the resident's sons. Each story of each resident is complete unto itself but as a whole makes a wonderful read. Highly recommend any of her books.

Anyone else have the exercising blues? Anyone have motivational ideas? It was so cold, windy and dark this morning all I wanted to do was huddle back in the covers. Unfortunately I still eat like I've run 5 miles a day.

After reviewing the 7 1/2 life long learning habits, I think the hardest one for me is habit 4: confidence in yourself as an effective learner. Being of a certain age, online stuff is not in the genes as it seems to be for anyone 30 and under. I need to see it done and practice, practice practice. The easiest is the 1/2 - PLAY. I think the boss will regret letting us do this as she may have created a monster! This is more fun than work but, after all, it is part of an assignment.

no such thing as getting old

I had the opportunity to see Hal Holbrook doing Mark Twain in Sioux Falls last night. At 83 he still does a remarkable job. Although the shuffle across the stage is probably not "acting" anymore. But he's out there doing stuff! Makes me feel like old age might not be such a bad deal if you keep movin'.

I did it!

I did it -- got a blog set up and running. I'm new at this stuff so will probably be a lot of learning by trial and error along the way. I was kind of nervous about this when the boss said we ALL had to do this, but I think this might be a lot of fun.