RSS

I signed up for a few RSS feeds at Bloglines. Bloglines is really a timesaving tool if you happen to monitor the same sites every day, several times during the day. I am still a very old-fashioned person, so I read (gasp!) the paper and don't really need to be up-to-date at all times. I get to read bad news soon enough and really, I don't greatly care about people blogging... However, I can see that for a library this could be a very good tool to inform people of new materials or events. It would be convenient to not have to search the catalog to see if a certain bestseller has arrived in the library or find out about a program happening at the library. Is there a plan to add an RSS feed to our website?

Flickr Mashups

What fun! I've just tried my hand at Retrievr - the Flickr mashup that lets you find pictures based on your sketching abilities...now, either my sketching abilities leave a lot to be desired or the mashup is not very accurate in retrieving the images...In my opinion, I drew a beautiful mouse...but instead Retrievr retrieved eyes, roses, dogs, noses...but no mouse! Oh well. I have been told that I am a terrible drawer...another mashup that I explored is Spell with Flickr. What an innovative idea! The word "Rumpelstiltskin" took on a whole different meaning. Cool. I am not quite sure if I would ever use this application but it's fun to play with. The Flickr Color Pickr is a great way to find photos that will match a scrapbooking project, for example. I can see using this for backgrounds to letters, for example. These mashups are really fun - I wish I had the creativity to come up with something so innovative!

Flickr experience

I've just spent a very pleasurable half hour poking around Flickr. Wow. So many beautiful pictures of every possible subject! What a wonderful resource. While I don't have an account yet, I will sign up shortly. It will be a great way to share my pictures with my family and friends far away.

While looking through pictures of Zuerich, Switzerland, I came across the following awesome shot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17631295@N00/1016050120

The colors are lovely, the light awesome and the perspective is amazing, but the main reason I chose this picture is because it shows my home where I grew up and where my parents still live! I am getting homesick just looking at it. What a treat to find it on Flickr!

Lifelong Learning - Blogging

So, here is my very first blog entry ever. Very weird. As if writing in my personal journal and everyone is looking over my shoulder! This will take some getting used to. Anyway, back to the assignment...the easiest and hardest of the 71/2 habits of highly successful lifelong learners. The easiest and hardest actually are the same for me: habit 71/2 - playing! I would love to continuously be reading and learning and playing but feel guilty if I do take time to do so. There is always something else "more important" that I really should be doing than reading a book on how to play poker or, for example, which I would love to do. And then, when I do take the time and read a book on how to make most delicious chocolate truffles and master the skill and have really good time doing it, then the old guilt hits and I chastise myself for not having spent my time more usefully....I guess what I am saying is: I have to get over the idea that there are "useful" and "useless" things to learn. All my goals I want to achieve are valid.