Gina of All Trades Master of None

I can NOT believe I am DONE...

The Learn & Play experience has been overwelming and frustrating, and wonderful and fascinating. It was an assume challenge to get through all the incredible technological resources, and I can't say I didn't faulter along the way. However, I am so glad I participated. While I certainly have not mastered RSS feeds or wiki's or the like, I feel I have a working knowledge of them. Moreover, this opportunity to learn and discover has been invaluable to me professionally and personally. I will continue to explore, and I hope one day I will be able to Flickr and Twitter with the best of them!

I am very grateful to the Learn & Play team for providing this opportunity and for all their help during each step. If a similar discovery program was offered, I definitely will rise (and fall) to the challenge, again.

MOLDI Beach

Exploring MOLDI brought back great memories of my past two summer vacations. I loaded up my MP3 player with audio books and hit the OBX beaches. I am very excited to see that as of November of this year, I can by-pass my computer and MP3 player and download right to my ipod.

Overall, this initiative is a great service to the public; however, I can't help but wish there were more titles, more readily available. MidOhio does say the projects is "not intended to be a complete list of what is available to the public, but one which focuses on regional identity and what our librarians feel to be the most useful to the public."

I only hope that MOLDI will lead to other digital projects for Ohio libraries.

Travel Pod

As I think I mentioned before, I have the travel bug. I try to go abroad every other year. Therefore, I found a friend at ipodtraveller (see podcast link below). Nick Hall, like me, was desperate to share his travel experiences. He netjets around Europe for readers of The Guardian. As Apple transformed the word Podcast overnight, he found a listening audience. Since September 2005, he has bee sharing valuable travel tips through podcasts for the uber-cool iPod crowd. I am now one of his biggest fans!


http://www.ipodtraveller.net/

Who is Watching You on the Tube?

My son, now ten years old, introduced me to YouTube, because he loves to watch his shows on it, esp. Yu-Gi-Oh. I then started in on the same. I mostly check out Grey's Anatomy episodes. It is a fantastic tool, and, now, a household name. Even friends of mine who are not very computer savy, wil say "we should put this on YouTube." I also love how YouTube creates Elebrities, famous and infamous. There is truly nowhere you can hide!

I Can "Make" It!

As I looked through the Power Tools Page, the MAKE link in the Tool Box caught my eye. This was not covered in Learn & Play, and it interested me not for myself, but for my husband, Patrick. He is the ultimate "wanna-be" do-it-yourselfer," often times with dissasterous results. I can't tell you how many times he has said to me, "I can make that." MAKE claims to "bring the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life." Therefore, I felt duty bound to explore it for him. I was very impressed. This is more than just an online DIY magazine: "it's a possibility engine." A medium for a new way of thinking about DIY for the Home Depot junkie. This is, without a doubt, going to be my husband's favorite online resource for DIY projects. My only concern with it, is that he will quit his day job to gain free time to try everything he'd like to do.

Web 2.0 Travel Tool

I love to travel. And my Mom and I go abroad just about every other year. I spend hours online comparing flight, hotel and tour rates. Moreover, many library customers ask me about comparing airline ticket costs with various sights like travelocity or the airlines themselves, ie us air. So, I decided to explore the travel list of Web 2.0 Awards nominees. I choose the number one winner http://farecast.live.com/. This site is amazing, allowing you to put in one search, like a flight schedule, and jump from hotwire to travelocity to expedia to compare prices. A great time saver for those of us who know their is a cheaper ticket out there somewhere.

Documenting my Google Docs Experience

I really like Google Docs. My tactic team is looking to use Edu 2.0 to share training documents; however, I found Google Docs much easier to use. I also couldn't help but think how great this would be for our frequent computer customers. Instead of carrying around numerous flash drives, they could organize their work on Google Docs. I already know a few I'm going to mention it to the next time they ask for help attaching a document to an email.

Waiting to Wiki

Just waiting to get access to the CML wiki so I can log some of my favorites. I thought I would share some of them here while I wait...

Book: Sunshine and Shadow by Sharon and Tom Curtis
Vacation spot: Montego Bay, Jamaica
Columbus Restaurant: Anna's Greek Restaurant on Sawmill Rd North

A Quick Posting about Wiki

I loved the Princeton's Book Lover Wiki. What a great way to bring a book group into the techno age. My book group is always filtering through a ton of emails to eachother about what book to read, what day we are going to meet, who is hosting and where. I am now going to set up a wiki for my group. I can't wait to introduce it to the members!

Do I have Technolust?!

I am reading about Web 2.0, Library 2.0, OCLC's OPEN WorldCat, and I am thinking, yes, yes, bring it all on! Until, suddenly I come upon this passage...

"Librarian 2.0 controls technolust. This librarian does not buy technology for the sake of technology. “Techno-worship” does not exist here. Without a firm foundation in the mission and goals of the institution, new technologies are not implemented for the sake of coolness and status. Technology is put to the test: Does it meet the users need in a new or improved way? Does it create a useful service for putting users together with the information and experience they seek? These are some of the questions this librarian asks when planning for technology."

I word of caution, among all the techno discourse and future prophesying? I almost skimmed over it, until something made me stop. There is an important message here, and those of us who want to "skip it" are the ones who need to hear it most.

Yes, we can embrace this new library era with passion, but not without purpose.

It was delicious

Hi All - explored delicious with Christin, today. I even created an account to start linking my favorites. Took a look at CML's. It was great to see all the "23 thing" websites in one place, esp because I have spent the last hour flipping through the learn and play blog trying to find them. I wish delicious had been presented earlier! Check out my favorite sites at...
http://delicious.com/cssgina

Twitting

I am twitting. I decided to follow CNN and weatherunderground, among others. Come tweet with me at...

https://twitter.com/cssgina

LibraryThing

Played around with LibraryThing, and posted my current five reads. Check them out!


http://www.librarything.com/profile/cssgina

Image Generator

I used a sticky note image generator. I am always writing myself reminders. Now, I can create my own sticky notes!

In my search for a few useful library related blogs and/or news feeds, I found librarian.net,
which claims to be "putting the rarin back in librarian since 1999." There was a posting about when the economy is bad people go to the library. We know this. Here’s a great mention of such on The Colbert Report..., funny (Colbert).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvX1VLejk-0

Hi All - It took me awhile to understand the RSS world, but I think I finally got it. I have set up my Bloglines account, and I am looking forward, esp., to the Celebrity News... You got to love People!

My technology- related posting is about my work with Tactic Plan 2.3.1. This is to stream-line the computer training program for all of CML. I am very excited about this as I have been teaching Tech Training classes, in some capacity, for the library since 1995. This effort is in the pilot stage, and classes should begin by mid-Oct. Look for the new and improved CML Computer Training Program coming soon to a library near you.

Prawn with Chili Sauce

by Ryoko's Kitchen

I found this restaurant while exploring flickr. It is in San Francisco, and pictures off their menu where posted. Someday, I am going there, and ordering Prawn with Chili Sauce.

Here is a picture of the dolphin I played with this summer in Jamaica!

1st post for learn and play

I am finally starting learn and play! Sorry.