P.P.S. I forgot to blog about Lifelong Learning!

Lifelong Learning: I'm GREAT at play, but I have a lot of trouble seeing challenges/problems in a positive light. I'm more likely to say "I can't do this!" and give up and go play some more.

P.S. The Sandbox

I went back and added my blog to the favorite blogs page. It's the only blog there right now, and that freaks me out a little, but I did it, and I'm really done. Really.

Thing 23: I'm outta here!

Wow, I'm done! What a fun experience it's been. There have been great parts, like discovering Boing Boing and playing with Pandora, both of which I'll continue to use daily. And my iGoogle page has gotten a lot of much-needed attention lately, and that's good. And there have been not-so-great parts, like Del.icio.us, which is still somewhat lost on me. But honestly, I feel like I'm better able to help my customers as a result of this training, and I'm feeling very Web 2.0 savvy right now. Would I do a similar training in the future? (Web 3.0?) Absolutely!

Thing 22: Audiobooks

So I played around with Project Gutenberg and found out that their #1 downloaded eBook yesterday was a surgical manual from 1921. That scares the you-know-what out of me. I truly hope that those people are collectors and not do-it-yourselfers. Anyway, I've never really considered eBooks before, but Gutenberg was fun. I was surprised by the number of titles that were available. I'm seriously contemplating "Pride and Prejudice." Will I really do it? I don't know...I'm still one of those people that likes holding a book, turning a page, sitting in a comfy chair, not staring at the computer.

Thing 21: Podcast Found

I just searched Yahoo! Podcasts for beekeeping. Voila! I found Honey Bee Man! I've added the feed to my iGoogle page, and now I can watch beekeeping videos on pithy topics like how not to get stung (yeah, right) and why it's important to buy local honey. Very cool.

Thing 20: You Tube

You know what's so great about You Tube? Sit back, I'm gonna tell you. I can be in my office with the boys and say something like this: "Remember that episode of Friends? The one with the cheesecake?" And then they'll say "Yeah--that was awesome!" And then we don't just have to rely on our aging minds to enjoy that episode--we can actually pull the relevant scenes up on You Tube and watch them and laugh hysterically for 5 minutes. I'm sure that there are other more scholarly uses for it, but personally, I like mine better. The Lyle Lovett video is here for 2 reasons: first, because I've got a horrible crush on him, and second, because my Texan husband thinks it's cute to serenade me with this particular song.

Thing 19: Pandora

I lurve Pandora. I've been listening with my office mates for months now, and I finally set up my own account. I gave it one of my favorite songs, Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison, and Pandora is feeding me all kinds of similar songs--some I like, some I don't. But the cool thing is that I get to choose. Right now I'm listening to the Stones. Good stuff.

PS Just for the record, Tupelo Honey was one of my favorite songs long before I became a beekeeper's wife. :)

Thing 18: Google Docs

I've had a Google Docs account for a few months now. (Can I take a moment to say again how much I lurve Google?) One of the things I love is that if you're working on a group document, all members of the group can log in and make edits/comments etc. The other cool thing is that your stuff is always there--you don't have to worry about your thumb drive or floppy that you left in the car or your other purse. Beautiful.

Thing 17: In the Sandbox

I'm trying to play in the sandbox, but for some reason, it's not working. I'm frustrated like a 2-year-old high on M&Ms and in need of a nap. Perhaps I'll come back to this one later.

Thing 16: The Wiki Tiki Monster (for all you Scooby Doo fans)

I'd like to begin with a quote from Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia:

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Wikis give us a place where anyone who is kind, thoughtful and intelligent can come and join us in building a better and more rational world.

And yeah, I got that quote off a Starbucks cup, but it's profound. I love Wikis for the same reason Jimmy does. Wikis are romantic (in the philosophic sense), imperfect, and democratic. They are grounded in the same spirit that fueled the US Constitution, the same spirit that made John Lennon so controversial. I use wikis all the time, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Web 2.0 and Librarians 2.0 are all about leaving behind that "us and them" concept of information provision--now it's all just "us."

PS LURVED the Book Lover's Wiki! What a great idea--fabulous for book people and the clubs they belong to.

Baby Pandas Revisited

OMG! From Boing Boing, a chair made just for me! I think it will work well in my new living room.

PS Really, Rosie, I can quit anytime.

Thing 15: Library 2.0

After reading all the material on Library 2.0, I have to say I think most of us are already there, or at least on the highway. At the root of it all, be it technology or materials, it's all about customer service. Are we Librarians 2.0 anticipating customers' needs and trying to meet and exceed them? Yes, absolutely. I particularly liked this quote from "Into a New World of Librarianship" by Michael Stephens:

This librarian asks what new technologies or new materials users need. This librarian proposes building projects and involves users in designing those places. This librarian does not create policies and procedures that impede users’ access to the library. This librarian tells users how resources and funds will be expended. Decisions and plans are discussed in open forums and comments are answered. This makes the library transparent.

I love the transparent concept--wow.

Thing 14: Technorati

Okay, so I'm liking Technorati, despite the fact that every time I think or say the word, it makes me think "Nosferatu." Don't ask me why. Anyway, I shopped around for beekeeping blogs, and hey, I found some! Like this way cool one. And I checked out the most popular stuff, and Boing Boing was the most popular blog! I suppose this makes sense, because I've had to listen to one of my officemates tell me over and over for weeks now about how much he lurves Boing Boing, and now I know why--it's really cool.

Thing 13: Huh?

Del.icio.us. Not really getting it. I'm not much of a bookmarker to begin with, and this site is really lost on me. I don't see Del.icio.us as a great research tool, but I guess if you want to save your bookmarks online, well, here's the place to do it. I also don't get the whole "See what other people are bookmarking" and "connect to others" come-ons. My question is this: are people really "connecting" on sites like this, or is it just curiosity and voyeurism?

Thing 12: Shoebeedoobeedoo

So I just did the Rollyo thing, and set up my own shoe-shopping search engine, Shoebeedoobeedoo. (I dare you to say "shoe-shopping search engine Shoebeedoobeedoo" 3 times really fast.) It was fun and quick to set up, but I don't see myself using it. What if some amazing new shoe site is born and you keep missing it because you aren't aware of it, and haven't added it to your search engine? I don't want to maintain a search engine, I already have a job. That's Google's job. And THAT'S why I lurve Google.

Thing 11: Librarian Heroin

Let's just say that I really lurve LibraryThing. Like Oreos. And Colin Firth. I may require an intervention.

Comment on Thing 10

I love my Meez because she really looks like me, only it's me 10 years ago before I had children and the 25 extra pounds. AND she's doing two of my favorite things: laughing and going to order some tuna rolls from the sushi bar. And she has clogs!! She'd be absolutely perfect if she were holding a beer. ;)

Thing 10: Meez

Thing 9: Merlin

I went to Merlin and subscribed to their RSS feed--it's now on my iGoogle page. Yipee! I played around with Technorati and Feedster searching for blogs on beekeeping or honey bees, and I'm not exactly thrilled with the results. The sites cast a REALLY wide net, and I got tons of junk to wade through. Maybe I'm just a picky librarian beekeeper, but I don't have all day to stare at the computer and wade through all those results. It blows my mind that others do.

Thing 8: The Feed Thing

I have an iGoogle page, and have my feeds set up there. Like some other people I know and love doing 23 Things, I have the Jon Stewart quote of the day coming to me. I also get news, weather, the latest YouTube stuff, recipes from "Real Simple", and Bart Simpson quotes. Today's Bart quote: Your father was a loser, and his father. It's genetic, man.

Thing 7: Waxing nostalgic on technology

I just moved into a new house, and as I unpack my life from the boxes, I find myself rediscovering old treasures, finding things I thought were lost, and occasionally finding things I wish I had thrown away. The treasures I found last night were my children's baby albums. My older child has a beautiful album of photographs that document the first two years of his life. My younger child has an equally beautiful album that documents the first two months of his life. Why?? Because that's when we bought a digital camera. It's not that we didn't take pictures of our younger son, it's that they're digital, stored on the computer, emailed to faraway friends and relatives. We can remove the redeye, crop as we see fit, and we never have to set foot in the camera shop. And sure, I could print the images out and finish the album for my younger son, but I never seem to have the time to do it. Someday I'm sure I will, just because I feel a little guilty about it, but I wonder if my kids will value the albums. We're a technology-driven society, and our kids will be even more electronically-inclined than us. I wonder if my sons will someday rather have the images on a CD or flash drive or whatever the technology will be than the print I so lovingly assembled...I suppose I'll just have to wait and see.

Thing 6: The Mash Thing

I think I just found my toy of the week: the Flickr Flowers Experimental Colr Pickr. You choose a color out of the spectrum, and then it feeds you images from Flickr of flowers in the shade you've chosen. I just did reds. Way cool. I'm sure my bees would love this.

Thing 5: Flickr

So I have this thing about baby pandas. And let me tell you, if you don't look at this photo and go "Aaaaaawwwww," there's something seriously wrong with you. By the way, Flickr is a lot of fun, and I think it has pretty decent searching capability, too.

Thing 3: Settin' up the blog

Oh my God, I have a blog! Now if I only had something to write about....