Week 9, Thing 23

Wow, I cannot believe that I have finally finished. I found that the 23 things were a valuable exercise. It gave me an opportunity to explore several things that I never would have tried in the past, like bloglines and del.icio.us. I really enjoy blogging but what will I blog about now? I guess I will have to think of something. While creating avatars was fun, I found that it could be very time consuming and I don't know if I will use them to much in the future. What I really enjoyed was image generators and of course youtube. While we didn't spend a great deal of time on each thing, I believe that it was valuable to at least spend a little bit of time with them so that if were are asked about them we do not stare at our customers blankly. Would I do it again? Heck yeah, and I look forward to the next incarnation, perhaps "Maryland Learning Libraries 3.0" would be a good name, please feel free to use it with the Original Craigster's blessing. Plus it will give me new fodder for my blog.

Maybe I will blog about monkeys, I love monkeys, God bless them, with their furry little faces and their opposable thumbs, sitting in their trees, eating their bananas...

Week 9, Thing 22

I really enjoy Overdrive, and I think that it is a great service that the library provides for its patrons. I have use it occasionally and have checked out several books. It's simple to use and browse and the number of available items continues to grow. I particularly enjoy the "recently returned" list of items, I have often found items on the list that I wouldn't normally have searched for or checked out, and been pleasantly surprised by them. I must say that I an not a big fan of the ebook, yet.

Week 9, Thing 21

Podcasts are not for everyone, I myself enjoy them. A lot of people probably find it too much like listening to the radio, which it is, but the variety of items available to listen to is astounding. But you don't have to just listen, you can also watch.

One of my favorites is TV Squad Daily with Brigitte. As many of you may know my hobby is watching TV, and YES I do consider it a hobby. In this podcast, Brigitte brings current events and happenings from the world of TV, she podcasts daily and always has current topics.

Podcast could be quite useful to libraries, we could podcast a daily schedule of events, stories, reviews, book lists, and on and on.



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Now playing: Go-Go's - Head Over Heels
via FoxyTunes

Week 9, Thing 20

I am addicted to youtube and have been for a while. I am always finding new and interesting things to watch. One of my favorite activities to find video mashups, below you will find a Mashup between Fergie "London Bridge" and Britney Spears "Baby One More Time" please be warned that some of the lyrics are a little colorful.



You might recognize the tune of the next video from Staff Day or the Risk Takers Network



I also use youtube to find clips from some of my favorite TV shows. Below is a clip from "The Office."



Youtube could be an excellent resource for CCPL, we could use it to post training videos, RTN videos, story times, the possibilities seem endless.

Week 8, Thing 19

As I was perusing the Web 2.0 awards list, I thought what would be the perfect site for me, one that just screams CRAIG pick me, CRAIG I am the one for you, CRAIG your name is written all over me...well here it is, the site I chose...wait for it...


















Cocktail Builder.

I bet you thought I was going to pick Craigslist. I'm not a big fan of classified ads (cool name though) but Cocktail Builder is quite useful. I entered a few of the ingredients that I know I have and I was given a list of 9 ready to drink cocktails just waiting for me to enjoy. It is a great resource to have at parties when all the good liquor has been enjoyed and only a few odds and ends are available. I can't wait to get home and start mixing...

Oh, I may be late tomorrow.

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Now playing: Monster Magnet - Space Lord [Intergalactic 7 Remix][Multimedia Track]
via FoxyTunes

Week 8, Thing 18

I kind of dig Zoho Writer. It's a good alternative to Word and can be used on the go when I don't have access to MS Office. An added is bonus is that I can post right to my blog. I also like the strikethrough feature, so if I make a mistake decide to I can cross out anything I like. I think that I will use Zoho quite frequently. Thank you Zoho!

High flight

This is one of my favorite poems, I used Zoho writer to post to my blog.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.


Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed December 11, 1941

Week 7, Thing 17

Well I have been playing in the sandbox and I have added myself to the favorite blogs list, you should scurry on over there and check it out, I hope it is not to ostentatious. Frankly speaking I am surprised that no one else has done it. It was very easy and quick to edit. Perhaps too easy...

Week 7, Thing 16

I am already somewhat familiar with wikis due to the fact that we use them frequently here at CCPL. What I really enjoyed as I was browsing other wikis was the BookLoversWiki at Princeton Public Library. I think that our patrons would live something like this, especially our book clubs that meet regularly. That would allow them to place reviews or even ask discussion questions about the books they are reading.

Week 6, Thing 15

Library 2.0...where to begin. I must be way too cynical but as I read through the library 2.0 perspectives it made me feel like libraries have been stuck in the stone age until just recently. Suddenly we have this new fangled technology and we must now begin to change how we do things. I've got news, libraries are changing and have been changing since the first library was created. Us librarians see change coming all the time and we are already finding new and creative ways to offer our services. So I have come to the conclusion that Library 2.0 is a creative way to market ourselves to non-library users so they get their butts off the street and into our stacks.

Week 6, Thing 14

Just spent a bit of time on Technocrati and I have been officially claimed. I looked around some to the top favorite blogs and quite a few were blogs that I have or currently read. Though most of them are not what I would consider personal blogs. I added a couple blogs to my favorites and I am pretty sure my blog is not going to end up as one of the top favorite blogs, I only have one fan and sadly it is me.

Week 6, Thing 13

I have used del.icio.us and it can be of great use to anyone who uses many different PCs from day to day and who want to have access to all of their favorites sites. The use of toolbar buttons makes it very easy to use as well. Tagging items was interesting, but I found that some of the tags chosen for some sites were not ones that I would have used to describe them. I probably won't use del.icio.us too much but I will keep my account up to date just in case.

Week 5, Thing 12

Did some playing around with Rollyo and found it to an interesting idea. I don't know that I would use it that much, we use many resources at the library when we are working on the desk and each of us have our own preferences as to what sources we like to use. I created a TV and Movie search for my blog, since I love both, check it out.

Week 5, Thing 11

Library thing is a lot of fun, now everyone can see all of the stuff that I read. I could spend hours on here adding books to my library. It is so easy to use and it's free, and registering is so simple. I wish other things online could be registered for just as easily. I will probably add more to it as I read, this is a great way to keep a reading list.

Week 5, Thing 10...Way too much fun

Went a little crazy having fun on the image generator:







And here is my Meez:



I loved the image generators but meez, not so much, doesn't really look like me.

Week 4, Thing 9

Merlin was interesting, especially the training calendar, it will come in handy when CEU deadlines are looming. I didn't care for the animated talking head on the main page, she was a little weird and kept staring at me.

I signed up for some rss feeds, though I am still not the impressed with bloglines, I guess it will have to grow on me. One that I like is "Tales from the Liberry", very funny, we've all had patrons like this.

I checked out the Yahoo! avatars and created one for me, if you have been reading my blog you will know why I am planning on wearing something very similar to the boardwalk when I go on vacation next year.

Week 4, Thing 8

RSS feeds are interesting, it is a great way to pull a large amount of information from many sites to one location. RSS feeds could be used for library programs and events. Patrons could easily find out what is going around CCPL and have it easily sent to their news reader. As for bloglines, I didn't care for it much. I just didn't find the look of the site appealing, I know, I am being superficial.

I prefer to use Firefox's Live Bookmark to read RSS Feeds, it is very easy on the eyes. Although some people may not care for the drop down menu style reader.





"If at first you don't succeed... So much for skydiving." - Henry Youngman.

Week 3, Thing 7

I read a very interesting article in the July 07 issue of Popular Science (yes I am also a science geek) entitle "High Dive." It is also available in the magazine database that CCPL subscribes to. The article is about two men in the aerospace industry who are designing a space suit that can be used for skydiving from orbit, also called space diving. They are designing it with two purposes in mind: 1) extreme sports; 2) safety, one of the designers wife died in the shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

The thought of skydiving doesn't interest me much nowadays, but the thought of plummeting to earth from 300,000 feet sounds exhilarating.

If you get a chance take a look at the issue because the images of the suit look awesome.





The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball

It's a conspiracy I say

My "warped" friend Christine recently posted on her blog, that she watches very little television. I find this both amazing and frightening, those of you who know me know that I watch entirely way too much television. I figure that I am just getting my monies worth, what with the cost of cable TV these days.

Then it hit me! There is a vast conspiracy against me! The conspirators include my wife, my doctor, CCPL and the Maryland State Department of Education. You all thought you were so clever but I have figured it all out. Everyone wants me to stop watching so much television.

Here is my theory: My wife Jacie (pronounced Jackie) is the ring leader of course, always plotting, she is. She is the one who coerced me into going to the doctor (I'm glad she did), and my doctor told me to start exercising. Which, of course, is a way to get me away from the TV. But, alas , there efforts were not as far reaching as they would hope, as I was able to fit exercise easily into my television schedule.

Now the plot gets more insidious as my wife and doctor included both CCPL and MSDE into their evil plans...and created...the 23 things! By creating 23 things everyone knew that I would get addicted to my blog, and by blogging at least I was being somewhat productive, and not sitting in front of the television. Well I am on to you. Very, very cunning.

Either that or I am crazy.

Week 3, Thing 6

I have been messing around with the Flickr 3rd party sites and have been having a lot of fun doing it. I checked out Retrievr where you draw a picture and it will retrieve flickr images that match you drawing. I had no luck what so ever with this none of the images matched remotely with what I drew. I also played around with the magazine cover, movie poster, motivator, and the trading card creator over at fd's Flickr Toys. I created a trading card which you can see below. I really like the idea of creating my own motivational poster, because you can make them not only motivational but you can also make ones that are ironic, funny, and cynical (not that I am like that though).

Please to be enjoying my trading card below! It is not doctored in any way...


(image created by The Original Craigster)










"The trouble with being punctual is that no body's there to appreciate it."
Franklin P. Jones