Renaissance Rising

Library thoughts

2011-09-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

I was online the other day, checking my email, my Amazon gift lists, my Netflix list, Facebook etc. all the paraphenalia of modern living, when I realized "I love the Sno-Isle Library!"

"What does the library have to do with all those things!?!" I hear you asking, let me expand.

1) I don't have internet at home right now. So I come in and use the free Wifi to check my email et al.

2) I search Amazon to see what are the latest releases on books and DVDs that they recommend for me according to my interests. Then I search Sno-Isles extensive inventory to see if they have any of the items I am looking for and place a hold on the ones they have available.

3)In Netflix, I get recommendations for movies and TV shows I might be interested in seeing. I head back to Sno-Isle to see which Television shows and movies I can get from them, so I only order from Netflix what Sno-Isle does not have, or what I am too impatient to wait for.

4) Add to all the above that I can check out up ten dvd's, ten music CD's, ten audiobooks, and a larger pile of books and magazines than I would care to try and haul at one time!

Did I metion that I also download audiobooks, ebooks, videos and music from Overdrive through Sno-Isle? How cool is that!

What Did the Cockney say to the dinosaur? Avatar?

2008-07-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

I originally made this Meez avatar last year on a lark. While avatars are fun, they don't really look like me no matter which one I try. Doppelme and Tek tek were so unlike me I gave up after trying to get something even close.

Meez is the closest and yet far thinner and prettier than I shall ever be. I can't even get a close hair match(grin).Those of you who know me or have at least seen me know that my hair is (bleached) blond, silver, and what ever other color feels right for the season (currently lagoon blue layering into purple under the blond).Sooo... to the right is my Meez, and on the left is the "real" me.

I have found avatars fun, I have a Mii on my Wii that I use in games that is as like me as any of the online ones, and my character on Animal Crossing (played on my Nintendo DS lite) is more like me than Doppelme or Tek tek.
Second Life looks interesting but will have to wait for broadband at home as opposed to dial-up.

Maps and Geo-tag (your it!)

2008-07-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

I use Google maps all the time to locate how to get to places I haven't been before. My husband, (who claims to NEVER like using computers) spent all afternoon recently on GoogleEarth with his best friend flying up the valleys around Darrington to check out hiking trails we want to try. On Flickr I geotagged a photo of Darrington taken last fall. I really enjoy these types of applications. The map programs like Google maps or Mapquest are improving all the time, and while they don't always show you the new routes or recent changes such as detours for construction, on the whole they're very useful.

Google-ing docs or the Mark of Zoho

2008-07-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

GoogleDocs and Zoho are both excellant applications. I have used Zoho for creating and posting to Blogger in the past, and my only quarrel with the app was that it does not directly copy links to be posted unless the html is written out in your post. I do like how many different applications Google has available online which allows one to use one sign on for many uses. Single sign in is very attractive with how many different passwords one has remember if one uses computers and the internet often.
For patrons of Sno-Isle Libraries, these apps can allow quick saving of documents and ease of access without the need for flash drives or floppy discs.

At Last! Podcasting!

2008-06-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Which library podcasts did you listen to?
I listened to A Conversation with Stephen Abrams through OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries). Stephen discusses the myriad of technologies at our fingertips now and how libraries are evolving. The discussion is thought provoking and worthwhile. To listen to Stephen click here .

Do you see podcasting as a useful tool for Sno-Isle Libraries?
I believe podcasts are super for many apps in Sno-Isle, everything from updating staff on new practices, interviews with authors, to training everyone in new applications. As far as patrons go, the availability of podcasts for every interest whether you are a student doing research; a business person staying current in their field; or a senior who wants to investigate new interests are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what can be done with this technology.

Any ideas about which topics our patrons might be interested in hearing?
The range of topics is as broad as the range of patrons who use our libraries. I listen to an assortment of podcasts, everything from: Tech Republic, Free Talk Live, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, to Common Sense with Dan Carlin. I can quickly download them to my MP3 player at lunch or on a break to listen to at my leisure at home. I think patrons would enjoy this opportunity as well.

Do you have any experience with listening to, or creating podcasts?

Podcasts are one of those things I have been listening to for about three years now. I started while in college partly because of curiosity, but also because the tech topics available were a huge help in my understanding the subjects I was studying. Some folks, and I am one of them, find it difficult to get printed information to write to their organic hard drive. The addition of audio and visual formats seems to make concepts more concrete than print alone can achieve.
Also, there are some favorite radio programs that I can’t get the normal way because I live in the mountains, so I latched on to getting them online as soon as I discovered I could. I had never signed into a reader before to collect my favorite broadcasts together though, and I am now finding the convenience of a reader a boon. This is definitely something I will use a lot.

Sure you can Rollyo(ur own), and you can Dogpile em’, but for me Mamma knows best.

2008-06-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

At the Lundquist homestead, among a myriad of other hobbies, we collect plants. Right now I am looking for rhododendrons and azaleas with northwest names for a new garden.
I chose a simple search, I typed in “rhododendrons”. On Google and Yahoo, I found three sites selling rhody’s and a long list of pages with rhododendron culture, photos, and a slew of university web pages on the same.
Task #15 was the perfect chance to see if I could do better with one of the metasearch engines.
While Rollyo and Dogpile both elicited more relevant pages than Google and Yahoo, Mamma was the hands down winner in my search.
I got eight Sponsored links of nurseries, and another half-dozen more nurseries along with pages that either had pictures of rhody’s or detailed their culture. This was on my first “roll”.
I made another attempt with the same terms on all three and, surprisingly, on my second try, Dogpile had a larger list than before, Mamma seemed about the same, and Rollyo got worse, although I can’t figure out why that would happen. I have tagged Mamma to refer to in future on Del.icio.us, and I will keep testing both Dogpile and Rollyo on other searches to see what pops up.

Imag-ine Yourself Online

2008-06-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Whew! Talk about your intense experience. While the process of downloading my picture and formatting it is not that tough, trying to figure out what to do with it almost made me crazy! I am one of those folks who never goes into 31 flavors because I will spend an hour figuring out that I want Vanilla. That said, I picked one to show my husband that will make him laugh, and one for this project. I wanted a Star Wars Imperial Walker, but I couldn't find it, and the idea of having Bill Gates posing over my pic on a monitor was a wee bit too creepy. So I am now the next great X-Box 360 game. I can see how one can get quite wrapped up in the fun. Not sure there is an application for Patrons unless they need a quick, cute card frame for something.

Digital OverDrive, finally a portable book!

2008-05-20T13:40:00.001-07:00

I first tried OverDrives audio books last year. I have been using them ever since. I have found many great books that I download and listen to as I garden, sew, walk, you name it. I still read of course, but the convenience of having a book on portable media that is not as bulky or cumbersome as a CD player is wonderful. I notice that there are more new titles every month or so, and while I don't always find my favorite authors, I have found a good selection. I have helped others who live here in town learn how to download video as well as books. Those of us who have dial-up service, which is pretty much everyone outside of town, cannot avail ourselves of this service unless they can get access on the job or through an in town friend. I am hoping to see a media center available to the public for this purpose here in Darrington. If you haven't tried this service yet, jump in!
M

Del.icio.us tags

2008-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

I started using Del.icio.us for keeping track of my favorites shortly after I started work at Sno-Isle. I love having my favorites accessable from anywhere, just as my email is. The control over which tags you share and which are private is also great, as well as only having to remember only one site where all my goodies are stored. I have so many interests and hobbies that I am hard pressed to remember site names and addresses when I need them. Del.icio.us puts them at my fingertips.

WikiMania

2008-05-16T14:46:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to get to the wiki task. Up here in Darrington we are getting ready to move out of the building into temporary digs while our remodel happens. There is a distinct air of controlled chaos that is hard for my AD/HD wired brain to wrap around, but I am working on it.
I LOVE the wiki-thingie! I used Wetpaint to create mine and I am setting it up for my family to use and post to. My children and my siblings are all over the country and we all seem to have a hard time keeping in touch even though we yak like crazy when we do. Sooooo... I am going to put this to the test and see if this format will work for us. To see the start of my wiki click here.
Cheers! M

Tube-mania or what's the Hulu all about?

2008-05-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

I am one of those odd creatures who does not have TV at home. We have a television set, but we use it for DVD's and gaming. Our periodic adventures into broadcast media ended when I realized that it was a major contributor to my inablity to focus on tasks at hand (or even conversations at hand).
That said, I have been loving YouTube for at least the last three years. The incredible range of talented/outrageous/or just plain weird videos is fun to watch and fun to share. When we were asked to look for videos about libraries I found a couple I decided to save and share, the Seneca Library Holiday Song by Mikey Mike and the Library Bunch is perhaps my favorite for it's 80's romantic pop style, while The Library Rap by DashHowler538 had me giggling. I can picture sharing this one with a teen group.
Hulu and Fancast are both user friendly easy to search sites that I would recommend to anyone who has fast enough internet and wants to see their favorite show without having to subscribe to something.
When it comes to libraries using these sites I think it would be nice if folks who wanted to could use their computer time this way. I think we already have a wireless user or two doing just that up here in Darrington. The hardest part of this assignment was getting the time to really check out the sites.

Facebook and MySpace

2008-04-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I created my MySpace page at the request of my kids and some of their friends about three years ago. My MySpace page is primarily a way for me to check in on how my “children”, now busy adults in their twenty’s and thirties, are doing. Three of my five kids blog regularly, and another five of my “adopted kids” regularly blog and send me bulletins. Over the past year I have been pretty-ing my page up. I have added a photo background, links, and font changes. I am continually learning about CSS and how to use CSS scripts to make a better page.
Once I went back to school, one of my assignments was to set up a Facebook account. My instructor preferred to send assignments and class notices to his students using Facebook.
I have only two contacts on my Facebook currently but I am gearing up to use it more as I am getting invites from students I went to school with and long distance friends.
These “social” sites are great for family updates and keeping connected as family gets spread out across the country and sometimes around the world.
I have yet to be consistent in taking care of my own blogging and updates, but the “kids” are pretty great at it.

Flickr-ing Images

2008-04-14T17:35:00.001-07:00

Michelle
Originally uploaded by michellelafern

Flickr is easy to set up, simple to use. I mostly use photobucket for my photos because I learned about it first. I have tried a geotag on a picture of Darrington that I took last fall to see if it is successful. I am curious to hear how useful/easy others have found Flickr.

#6 Opening Pandora's Box

2008-04-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

I had never done streaming music before. At my previous job, (and when I went back to school) streaming music was discouraged by the tech dept as being bandwidth greedy. After experimenting with Finetune and Mog, I decided on Pandora, partly because I was tempted by the greek mythologic reference but mostly because I found it friendlier than the previous two.
I was never a fan of radio, (I have a very hard time with distraction from commercials, the cacaphony overwhelms me). Thus, the idea of a personal radio station had never lured me. Once again I have found something I really like and would not have tried out except for the fact that I was required to.
Streaming radio that allows me to make my own "stations" is wonderful.
As a fan of Nickle Creek I was pleased to be introduced to artists in the same "flavor", adding them to my playlist. The need for a higher speed connection is the only downside to this service. Thank you! to the Web 2.0 team.

To RSS or not to RSS that is the question

2008-04-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Ok Wow... I had not used RSS feeds before. I sort of knew what they were but having dial up at home I had not tried them out. Bloglines was easy to set up and add feeds to and I discovered with just a little effort on my part that some of my favorite sites had RSS available. I also have discovered that it takes no more time than the average page load on dial up to get them at home. I will definitely keep using this tool, at least for my personal use. The convenience of knowing right away when a favorite blogger or site has posted something new is worthwhile to me.
I haven't worked for Sno-Isle long enough to have really grasped the ways that it could be used for reference, etc.

#4 Instant Messaging

2008-03-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

This task was pretty easy as I am familiar with both MSN messenger and GoogleTalk. I used to use Trillian, but you had to download the software and that won't work in internet cafe's out of country. I used ICQ for about five years. I loved that one as the friends I had that were out of country found it easier to access, and you could have all your friends on it.

I had never tried Meebo but it was easy to set up and customize. I added my MSN and my Google accounts, then had fun with the skins. None of my buddies were online at the time I set it up, but I have sent out invites and we will see what happens.

I go through a kind of love/hate relationship with IMing. On the one hand, it IS a great way to keep up with friends and family who are far away and I am better at IM than I am at talking on the telephone.

However, if I am online at the "wrong" time of day I can spend so much time answering the IM's of some bored buddy with nothing else to do, that I get nothing else done or get too distracted to get necessary tasks done. When I was in school this last couple of years, I would keep "invisible" during finals week so I could stay on task. On my MySpace account I usually let folks know when I am online, as my family keeps in touch through their MySpace pages. With my son Lukas in the Navy and spending most of his time overseas it has sometimes been the only way I can get updates on how he is doing.

I guess overall I like IM.

Thing #3 -Thinkin' aloud

2008-03-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

This week in the midst of working on reading and commenting on some of the other blogs I discovered what a wide range of interests and ideas are covered in the Sno-Isle group. I think that this is one of the most thoughtful, thought provoking bunches of people I have ever run into and I find that very energizing.
We (my husband and I) just celebrated our 25th anniversary. I keep trying to figure out how that much time can have possibly passed.
Glancing over some statistics I am surprised to read that the fact that this is a second marriage for both of us AND we are happily, gloriously, still glad of the fact is incredibly rare. I attribute it to regular make-out sessions.
My beloved says I need to show some of my work on this blog so I am going to take some photos and add them on this week.
It may sound a bit sappy (ok no MAY about it) but I work with some of the best folks around, on a job I love. How COOL is THAT?

Just for Web 2.0

2008-03-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hello again!
I needed to create a blog for my Web 2.0 class. I dislike the idea of making a whole new blog on another site so I am adding my Web 2.0 stuff to this one. This means someone may actually read this. Grin. So far, so good, as far as tasks for class. I look forward to what will come next. The picture you see here was taken behind my house last winter. It is the Sauk River. Yes I like it too.
Thank you Sno-Isle folks for the fun both now and in the coming weeks!

It's March Already!

2008-03-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

I really really meant to post something sooner, but came down with that icky flu, then bronchitis.
Anyway, my lovely old server that I had crafted from cast off parts finally bit the dust. The power unit went out and being as it was an old Compaq SP750 with Xeon PentIII dual CPU's it was not the easiest thing to find a PSU for. It has 2 motherboard connects one a ten and one a twenty. The only PSU I could find was $350 so I just gave up and built my first new computer from scratch. I am very pleased with it.
I realize that there are many techies out there who think nothing of this leap but I came to the game late and at 51 years old I am the oldest "Tech Diva" I know.
At my job at Sno-Isle we are starting to take the Web 2.0 class. It is looking like it will be pretty simple, which translates to a lot of fun for me since I already do most of the basics. It means I will be able to play around a lot.
If you have not seen it yet check out VodPod, it the vein of youtube, but members can save much larger files and it has a very clean look and feel. I am encouraging my son Seth to try it out for some of his music and videos that he creates.
I better get back to the "real world" Hugs, fellow travelers and more later.

A (real) Christmas Story

2007-12-25T21:04:00.000-08:00

In 1987 we had been in Olympia WA for about 10 months. We were renting one side of a duplex. In the other side there was a lovely old woman (I will call her Sadie). She was a kind neighbor. My husband was working a $5 an hour job while we tried to make ends meet. We were way too broke to even think of Christmas presents and we were hoping the kids would not notice. The boys were only 4 years old and 18 months old; but my daughters were 10 and 8 years old, they were not quite so forgiving; but there was nothing for it but to pay bills; keep warm; and be glad we were alive.
I have to admit, I was not doing a very good job of being grateful on the day Sadie came over to see how we were doing. She asked if we were keeping warm and what our plans were for Christmas. I told her we had no plans. I had just gone over to the Safeway and bought the kids their "stockings"; the prefilled kind that have some candy and cheap toys in them. That was their Christmas and I was feeling very low.
Sadie smiled and asked if she could put our names on the prayer list at church. I said yes; I am all for prayer.
Christmas Eve rolled around and Sadie pulls up into our driveway with two other friends from her church. They brought two big boxes full of gifts for our kids! Toys, new coats, clothes....then came the food!
Four boxes full of food! Goodies included, and the kind of things that a mom wants to make for a Christmas meal NOT macaroni! We were blown away, to this day I can't think of that Christmas without choking up and feeling the blessing all over again.
That was over twenty years ago...We still take every chance to bless someone else the same way. We think that is what such blessings are for; to pass on, and share, and remember.
I pray that you meet with such a chance to be grateful, and I wish you joy.

The renaissance has arrived

2007-12-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

We are in the best of times. I have heard that the Chinese say that times of struggle are times of opportunity. I believe it! I invite you to join the renaissance. To become more than can be seen by your clothes, or job, or car. Do you know that all clothes are costume? Or that college degrees are signs of insecurity? This is not to say that you should not wear the appropriate costume to get the desired outome, or that you should not go to college to acquire the degree that will get you in the door you want to open. Just that in themselves they are as substantial as smoke and mirrors and not to be trusted. If you are reading this you will be surprised perhaps that in future I will be talking about books and ideas, events, and idiocies. I am not out to change the world (another surprise?) I am out to find some good minds, to learn what there is to learn. I have twenty hobbies ( yes really) and have no time for TV or the opinion page or canned news. I read and/or listen to five to six books at a time. What is your day like? What do you think?