Week Five: RSS and Feed Readers

Ughh! No time to blog. Must...read...feeds...

This week I signed up for Google Reader and specifically selected the News bundle - BBC, NYTimes, CJOnline, among many others. The result was that when I checked in this morning (less than 24 hours later) I had over 200 feeds to check out. Even skimming expanded view listings, that's going to take "forever".

Obviously, I need to spend a little time tweaking my feeds.

My other subscription was to a co-worker of my husband whose posts are always great. I usually link to her blog through my FB page, but now I know I'll never miss it!

I chose Google Reader because it seemed the newest of the selections. That was confirmed by talking to other people who formerly used Blogline, but now use Google Reader. I was also tempted to start using my Outlook RSS, but since I don't have Outlook at home, decided against that.

I knew I didn't want to use Feed My Inbox, because if my inbox got swamped, I might miss something important. Or even more likely, I would end up feeling defeated by the sheer volume and knowing me, just quit checking.

As a reluctant news reader, I think I will like this method of checking the news of the world. I can quickly see so many different sources and stories, with the convience of having them all placed "virtually" in my lap.

I haven't done so yet, but I plan on subscribing to NPR and also some music, how-to, and nature/conservation feeds. That ought to keep me busy for a good long time to come...

Week Four: Photo Sharing

Boomers French friends
Originally uploaded by Literary Allusions

Last summer I had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Britain, The Netherlands, France, and Greece. Although I was very excited about traveling overseas for the first time, I knew I was in good paws with my seasoned traveling companion, Boomer the Bear. Because while Boomer gets out and about Topeka and Shawnee county all the time, between naps at the children's desk and visits to area preschools, he's logged miles all over the world.


During our travels together I was delighted to discover that he was a wonderful way to connect with people, even when we couldn't communicate with very many words. At first, I felt pretty sheepish posing with Boomer in front of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Van Gogh's Starry Night. But as I looked around, I saw I wasn't the only one posing with a "seasoned traveling companion." And nearly everyone smiled to see me jockey for a position that would show my buddy at his best angle.


Best of all were the times we met children on the trip. Boomer is just as irresistible to Christophe or Pieter as he is to Tanner or Skyler. The children loved to pet him and hold him and before I knew it, not only were the youngsters trying to talk to me, but so were their parents. (The kids in these pictures with Boomer had their picture taken and posted on-line with the written consent of their caregivers.)


I have enjoyed setting up my Flickr account, and on a personal level, it will be an awesome tool to share pictures with my extended family. As a tool for the library, sharing photos may help forge connections, just like Boomer does. People love to read about what we're doing, but when we have a human (or perhaps ursine) face to go with it, we connect on a deeper level. Certainly it's more fun to look at pictures. And everybody's cool with connections like that.


I hope you enjoy my pictures with Boomer, and also check out these pictures taken at the most recent Amazing Animals program, featuring Jackie Hurst, some hissing cockroaches, a milk snake, a bearded dragon, and lots of happy, happy children!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Week Three: Online Meetings blogged

For my assignment this week I chose to attend an Infopeople Webinar hosted by Mary Minow called "Finding (Legally Safe) Music and Videos for Presentations, Blogs and Podcasts." The information was generally useful, even if it did leave me inner pirate cussin' like a sailor.
The host did a nice job of breaking down intellectual property rights and generalizing them enough to be understood by a person without a juris doctorate. Included was a fairly easy way to analyze whether or not you can make a good fair usage argument. She also included lots of websites where you can find legally safe video and sound clips.
It is nice to be able to attend archived sessions at your convenience. I was also glad to be able to stop the feed and review or write notes as I needed. During the live webinar, the host was able to allow audience participation and get real time feedback by asking yes/no questions that participants could respond to by clicking on a survey box. Participants were also able to interact with the host through chat/instant messaging.
The biggest technical problem during this particular session was that apparently not all participants were able to see and hear some parts of the host's presentation. Technical problems aside, it can be a little mind numbing to just sit and listen. I made good use of the time because I needed to cut out some cute little groundhogs for a library program. However, without something like that to also occupy my hands, I think it would have been a long hour...
Online meetings can be a useful tool. I feel like I learned quite a bit by watching this one. And at a time when my time is limited and travel expenses are high, the price was right. I look forward to attending a live session.
And by the way, the pirate image above was found with a Creative Commons Google search, something I learned how to do just recently.

Week 2: Online Communities

Like many of the other bloggers in 23 Things Kansas, I have been using Facebook for several years now. I was first introduced to it by a friend who convinced me to sign up, even though I had concerns about privacy and the vague possibility that someone would steal personal information. After setting up the account though, I didn't really use it. Later on, most of my co-workers got excited about MySpace, so I also set up a page there. However, that site didn't hold much appeal for me, so once again, I ignored it. It wasn't until a couple years after setting up my Facebook account that I really started to use it. I think the thing that got me coming back was the applications at first. Since then, I have quit most of the applications, but I was a farmer for a while, and I've probably saved several thousand feet of rain forest all by myself. ;)

One thing that keeps me coming back now is my ego, I guess. I love to get feedback on posts! I also love to get tidbits of my "friends" days. I put friends in quotes, because the term encompasses so many different levels of relationship. I'm friends with my husband and my mother, old classmates (some of whom I was closer to than others), co-workers, my neighborhood association, old mom's group friends, people from my church (that's one way to make sure your posts are tasteful), my children's teachers, and even a few people in other countries that I'll never meet. One friend in England has the cutest little girl, her posts have a wonderful British "accent", and she's a mom. Because of that, I feel comfortable with her; we have enough in common that what started out for game applications has become a real connection.

Professionally, I don't use Facebook routinely. I love to read status updates from other TSCPL "minions" (Tanya's funny, apt term). Librarians are such an eclectic, intelligent, and entertaining group! There's been a time or two that a program or story time made the library's FB page, but not because I personally posted it. I suppose the closest I come to using Facebook in the line of duty is that it's the most reliable way to communicate with my Amazing Animals partner in crime, Jackie. Sure, we use the library's email system, but we both know I check FB pretty regularly...

Wanna be my friend?

Odd links and mixed metaphors

I just want to spend some time figuring out how to incorporate links. I've seen some cool blog links [ Jackie :) ] and to tell the truth, it's killin' me that I haven't used any yet. So, here goes.

Since I was reminiscing about good times in Arizona the other day, I thought I would show you some of my favorite places there.

One of the things I remember most about living there is all the fun I had hiking with Randall. (That's him in the picture above. We had just gotten off the Thalys at Gare du Nord in Paris - but that's this whole other story.)

We hiked Camelback Mountain regularly. Those last few yards were pretty steep, but oh, what a feeling when you got there! Only to discover that the butterflies had gotten there ahead of you. So beautiful. And then to descend in a barely controlled, completely exhilarating plunge. I'll always remember it.

Neither could I forget boulder hopping and gasping for breath when I fell into the chilling water at Oak Creek Canyon. Laughing when I took the wrong trail and missed the summit at Humphrey's Peak. Watching the ocotillo in my front yard go from brown dessication to fresh, effulgent green after a rain; blooming so that the tips of the branches appeared to be on fire; finally burnished and replete when autumn came to our home in Kingman.

Arizona is where I fell in love with the man I was to marry and where our first child was born. I think in some ways, I was like that ocotillo. Arizona was the place where life and love flooded over and through me. With a gasp, I came alive and I've been immersed in the brilliance of it all ever since.

Whoa, after all that I feel a little like Keanu Reeves after his moment of deep thinking in the movie, Parenthood. I leave you with one last link...

More of week 1: blogging

I'm reading some wonderful blogs - great work, everyone! After reading them, I felt like I would like to add a little more information about myself.

My background is in Park Resource Management and at one time, I worked as a naturalist for the Phoenix Zoo in Phoenix, AZ. In many ways, my job here is a lot like what I did there - helping people access, understand, and make the most of great resources.


So now I'm a Public Service Specialist in YS at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and I love my job! I like where I work, I really like the people I work with, and what I do is always a lot of fun. There are so many creative outlets for a children's "librarian". Making props and flannel boards for story time, sharing books, singing songs, and watching those little faces light up, dreaming up new programs for older children. I'm even still sharing animals with kids in a program that Jackie Hurst and I present called Amazing Animals. (Jackie is the best and working with her rocks!) It's already pretty good gig - I think 23things is sure to make it even better!