Rollyo

I love it! I have learned something new and I will use it! Hooray! I made a search roll for sites I use all the time as a children's librarian - craft sites, storytime sites, kids book review sites, etc. I really think I will use this search roll on a weekly, if not daily basis. So cool and very helpful in my job as I can search for something in one spot and not on 10 different websites.
Here's the link:
http://rollyo.com/jazzcats729/kids_book_sites/

Check it out!!

LibraryThing

Being a book lover, I have looked at LibraryThing, Shelfari and Goodreads. I don't really use any of them, though I have attempted to use LibraryThing in the past. I found it pretty overwhelming - and I used to be a cataloger. The only thing I would use one of these sites for is to make a list of books I want to read since I come across about 5 a day, but I already use Amazon for this. I think Shelfari is more user-friendly.
Here's the link to my LibraryThing catalog:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/jazzcats729

Image Generators

Fun, fun fun! I felt really guilty messing around with these while I'm at work! Here's my image:

Finding RSS Feeds

I'm still not really finding RSS feeds I find interesting, and I'm starting to wonder if it's because I'm boring. The 4 methods of finding feeds were all very different. I thought the bloglines search engine gave too many results, most of which were not really what I was looking for. The Syndic8 was better at finding things by topic. The Topix.net I liked because it let me sign up for an RSS feed of stories by location, so I could have a feed of Tulsa news stories. The Technorati was the most comprehensive in terms of having lots of different topics to browse, but I didn't get anywhere with the search function. I need a search function like the Amazon "If you liked this feed, try these five feeds" or "customers who subscribed to this feed also viewed these feeds." This would be more helpful to me in exploring more feeds I would find interesting. I think it's all pretty confusing, and I bet I'm missing out on some really cool blogs. Hmm, I seem to be a little pessimistic about all this today!

RSS Feeds

This one took forever!! I used to subscribe to some RSS feeds a year ago or so through my google homepage but I never really used it, so I am interested to see if I will use them this time. I had some trouble understanding stuff after the how to subscribe part - like how to use RSS as a research tool and basically everything after that. And the website he recommended to search for blogs wasn't working. I also had trouble searching for feeds by subject that weren't already listed. Anyway, I can see where RSS could be helpful in saving you some time BUT I can also see where it would waste more time because you might subscribe to and read a lot more feeds this way whereas before you just checked a few sites. I think I need to use the bloglines site for a while to see how or if I will use it.

Technology

I am thinking about technology in general and how I feel about the changes occuring with the web and web 2.0. On one hand, I find it really cool and exciting. I use myspace and facebook and post my pictures online for family and friends. I have a youtube page. I can usually help a customer when they run into a problem with the computer. My favorite web site right now is mint.com. I am obsessed with financial stuff, especially my financial stuff. Mint.com tracks my spending, investments, budget, savings accounts - even what my house is worth! I love it and I am very addicted to it. I know that is kind of weird, but to me it's a good example of one of the things I love about technology.

Here's what I don't like - I feel like I can't keep up with all the new stuff! I want to know how to use twitter and rss feeds and mashups and whatever other cool things are availble but I don't always have time to learn every new technology that comes along. So I am glad we are doing the 23 things (even though I am just now finding time to catch up - have you guys ever been to the Owasso library? I have never worked in such a busy place!) because it gives me a chance to learn some new things. But, in the future - how can I keep up with all of this new stuff???

Photo of Pompeii

I found this photo when searching the Picasa web albums.

I went to Italy in January 2007. It was my dream trip, and my favorite part was Pompeii. It was so fascinating. I could have wandered there for hours.

I actually just started using Picasa for my personal pictures because I am totally fed up with Snapfish. They now charge you to download pictures! That is crazy. They are my pictures! I will try to post some of my own Italy pictures on Picasa.

Effective Learning

This is my first experience blogging on blogger.com, but I have a blog on my myspace page. I wrote about my pregnancy with my daughter when I lived in Tallahassee so my family in Oklahoma would know what was going on in my life and with the new baby. I don't know if I would be a good blogger. I am the kind of person who starts a journal and writes in it for 3 days and then gets busy and forgets about it. I would like to keep some kind of journal about my daughter though, so maybe blogging would be a good way to do that. She's 15 months old now and I don't want to forget about all the amazing stuff she does.

The hardest thing for me of the 7 1/2 habits is to view problems as challenges. I just don't think of problems as challenges to learn from - I think of them as problems to be solved. Maybe later I might think I learned something from a challenge, but not at the time of the problem.

The easiest thing is the first step, begin with a goal. I have lots of goals. I love to make goals. But the problem is following through! I get excited about something and decide I will learn to scrapbook or make jewelry or create a budget and I will read all about it and buy supplies and do it for about 2 weeks and then I get busy and lose interest. Hmmm, seems like I need to work on completing my goals!