Thing 47: Evaluation

Well, it's over again and I'm a little sad. It was quite fun learning all the new tools. I have been back to 23 Things on a Stick many times since it ended and I'm sure I'll be using More Things on a Stick as a reference tool, too. I'm all done though, and I had a great time!

Thing 46: Library Junction

I am a member of Library Junction and find it very intriguing. I haven't used it a lot since I am only a substitute librarian and really don't work many hours - so I don't have much use for a lot of Web Junction - but it is fun to browse around in.

Thing 45: Cloud Computing

I was curious to find out what on earth "Cloud Computing" was, and I guess I use it all the time. I have all kinds of files and pictures and information online, so that I can access them from work or on vacation (sad to say) or at home. Anywhere! I find it really does help my productivity. The internet is a fabulous tool!

Thing 44: The Economy

I find the internet to be both helpful and disastrous for my own personal economy... I have looked at a lot of the webpages listed, and I use Yodlee quite a bit and my bank's website. I don't even write many checks any more - I do all my banking and billpaying on line, which I really like. I really like Dave Ramsey's books and website and someday I'll take his course. But the downside of the internet is that it brings impulse buying to a whole new level! Even living out in the rural area like I do with even the nearest Walmart 22 miles away, I can buy literally almost anything on earth for anywhere on earth in a matter of seconds! It's wonderful, fun and scary. It's good to have all this information at my fingertips. Now if I could just put it to good use and not find so many wonderful things out there there I didn't even know existed! I enjoy using FreeCycle and Craig's List, but my favorite site is really eBay where I sell things that I no longer need - and can't believe what some people will pay for my old junk sometimes.

Thing 43: Online TV and Video

My daughter has been using online TV for a while now, PBS has a number of shows online, and we saw a few episodes of "Me or the Dog." It's nice to know the option is out there, but I really don't watch TV or very many movies, so it's not something I'll be using much. It's good to know though, for those who do have to miss an episode, so I can get their cooperation and assistance without them having to miss their shows. ;-) I will stick to my computer work and my Wii!

New Deadline

I'm a little disappointed in the new deadline. I was racing to get this all done before I leave town on May 18th, and now I don't have to race. That probably means in one month I'll be racing again because I will have put it off till the deadline loomed once again. I understand the rationale in moving the deadline, but still it's a frustrating thing to have deadlines that aren't! I am however, truly enjoying More Things on a Stick! I'm learning so much and really having a fun time doing it.

Thing 42: Music 2.0

I use Pandora all the time and have a couple of stations there. It's a little frustrating because they put on music that they think I'll like when what I really want is music that I know I'll like, but it's not too bad. Better than using a radio, especially out here in the boonies where we live! I love being able to listen to the rest of an NPR broadcast when I hear part of one when I'm up in town shopping. My kids use a lot more music options on the internet than I ever will, so it's good to come up to speed on some of the choices out there. We are a family who loves music!

Thing 41: Mashup Your Life

I signed up for LifeStream and that looks like a fun site. I am using "Feed My Inbox" but it's not very timely. We'll see if LifeStream is any more prompt! It does get to be a little time consuming to be checking all the different urls and sites that I like to check on - when I remember. Maybe this will make things more concise. I have to add friends though, which I am loathe to do!

Thing 40: Mashup the Web

For this Thing I looked at the mashups that I have explored a little bit before and watched a few videos about mashups. Something I need to explore a little more I guess, before I figure out exactly what I would use most of them for. BigHugeLabs is pretty fun. And I did do the Pipes, and made a Libraries Pipe with Flikr and Google. That was interesting. (It's over on the left.)

Thing 39: Digital Storytelling

Thing 38: Screencasting

I downloaded both Skitch and Jing. I haven't figured Skitch out yet, but Jing is a lot of fun and I used it on my other blog - for my Mother's Day post. This is what I did with Jing...

And down below is what I did with ScreenCast - once I figured it out, it was fun!







The end.

Thing 37: Photo Tales

I played around with a slide show maker and that was kind of fun. It's down on the bottom of the page called the Thompson Bridge. I will be trying a few more of these websites out too, down the road a bit. Right now I have to get moving on my More Things because I'll be in AR visiting my parents during the end deadline!

Thing 36: Comic Relief

Thing 35: Books 2.0

For me, electronic books in any form will never be as good as a printed book I can curl up on the couch in front of the fireplace with. I can't listen to ebooks because I get way too distracted. I tried that when driving home with my kids from Arkansas and ended up 150 miles too far east. We did have a fun time trying to get back to the interstate we belonged on via country roads, but listening while I drive, or do things around the house just doesn't work for me. I suppose a Kindle might be nice but if it's anything like a computer screen, I would rather not try to read on that. I don't enjoy reading much on the computer either. It's a lot harder on my eyes than a book!

I joined the BookCrossing page and that looks very intriguing, but I'm not sure where I put my books so they will be found... Or where I look for books to find... We have tons of paperbacks at our library without barcodes, kind of for borrow or trade or whatever, so if BookCrossing catches on I can see it happening in our community. I'll have to try leaving a couple there and see what happens, I guess.

Thing 34: Is It Competition? Online Answer Sites

To be honest, I have rarely, except when I was in college, used the library as a reference source... I would order books and use the books as reference material, but not the librarian. Maybe that's because we have such a tiny library it just takes too long to get the materials in? We don't even have a separate reference section - just one lonely librarian who answers all our questions and often points us to the internet! I love having the internet and ready access to answers to any question I might have - and I use the answers with caution when need be (ie: health related) but it's a resource I find invaluable. It does not however, replace the library at all for me. It actually increases my library use because I can find more books on more subjects that I want to check out. I can even find more subjects to find books on, subjects I didn't know existed. Not many people use our library as a reference source, and that could change, but probably won't any time soon.

Thing 33: Travel 2.0

I really enjoy Google maps and use it a lot. I also use the Track Flight Status webpage fairly often and am intrigued by the Green routes site for MN, ND, SD and WI (but I can't seem to find anything in any state other than MN - is that the only state that has listings or am I doing something wrong?) I'm not really much of a traveler; I would really like to be, but finances and reality keep me at home most of the time. I can't see the point in some of the travel blogs - this blog works just fine for me that way. I used it on a really fun trip my dd and I took last year when we flew to Las Vegas and took a shuttle to AZ and then drove a car home to MN. It was such fun, and I'd like to do something like that again, but realistically, how many times in life are you given a car that needs to be picked up in AZ? (AZ is my very favorite state.) I can see where some of these urls would be handy for a few of our library patrons, but most of us around here aren't frequent travelers.

Thing 32: Google Maps and Mashups

I made my own map and put a link to it on my blog! Other than that, I'm trying to do More things on a Stick so I can worry less about the flooding....

Thing 31 - More Twitter

I'm back on Twitter, and I have signed up to follow a few of my favorite webpages and people, but so far I don't get the whole attraction. I never remember to go to Twitter and see if there are updates and I see a lot of updates on Facebook, so who needs Twitter? I am trying to sign up for Power Twitter, but that doesn't make much sense either and I don't see how it works. I think I'm just a Twitter failure....

Thing 30 - More Ways to Use RSS and Delicious

I found a few things to add to my RSS. :-) And to my iGoogle Desktop! That's always fun, although most of the time I never think to look there except when I'm doing Things on a Stick. I added a few urls to Feed My Inbox - that sounds like it might be useful. I use email more than any other web tool, so I often overlook the forums and the blogs and the other links that I like to keep up with. We'll see how that goes and if my inbox is inundated I will have to rethink this tool.

Thing 29 - Google Tools

I love Google Tools... They are a lot of fun. I added the weather widget to my computer but this time I made sure all the junk didn't come along when I added it - have to be careful what you click on! I'm an avid user of Google Calendar and Gmail. I also use Picasa, Google Earth, Google maps, and I'm trying out Google Videos. I'm excited to try out Google Notebooks, and Google Docs and Reader. Google is fun!

Thing 28 - Customized Home Pages

I have an igoogle and a MyYahoo page already, but I worked on them a bit this evening getting them tweaked a little. I added a few widgets and removed a couple. I also kind of played with Netvibes and found that I can't add both my yahoo and google mail accounts to that - which is what I'd like to do. I use them for different purposes, and rarely check them, so it would be nice to have them both on one page. I'll keep looking around, and playing with my "homepages".

Thing 27 - Twitter

I did sign up for Twitter last spring. I don't know what happened, but it was driving me crazy, so I deleted my account! I went back today to see if I can reactivate it - and they tell me it'll take about 30 days, and they will let me know when it's up again. In the meantime, I will learn more about it and see if I can Tame the Twitter and find it useful instead of frustrating.

Thing 26 - Join the 23 Things On a Stick Ning

I joined this Ning last spring when I did the original 23 Things on a Stick. I have looked at it again now, it's a lot more active than when I joined! I've been browsing around at some of the discussions and am intrigued by "What Should I Read Next?" and have signed up there, to see what recommendations they might have. Too many books, too many choices, not enough time! If somthing could help me narrow the choices a little....

Thing 25 - Blogger's Toolkit

Well, I added the snow effect to my blog and I must say - disappointing!! I kind of wanted a blizzard.


March 25th. I removed the snow. I think we've had enough this winter.

First Post

I'm doing another training - More Things on a Stick! This is my first post. I had to make a whole new blog, because my old 23 Things on a Stick blog is full of family things now a days.