Myspace Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

Halloween Candy

Cockroach Clusters 12 ounces chocolate chips 1 teaspoon grated chocolate 1 cup raisins 2 cups thin pretzel sticks, broken into 1-inch pieces Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 2 minutes. Stir. Continue microwaving in 15-second increments until chocolate is almost completely melted. Remove from microwave and stir grated chocolate into melted chocolate. Stir in raisins and pretzels. Drop mixture by tablespoons onto wax paper. Let stand until firm. Makes about 35 clusters.

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Enjoy Time Warp

Cattle Dogs and Dingoes

Photobucket Album

Thing 29

I had a lot of fun doing this-no messy paste, easy editing and manipulation of images... I think it's bringing out a bit of creativity that I didn't know I had. Definitely going to use this one.Used Photobucket and also posted to flickr. I had another one with birds and flowers but I accidentally deleted it. I'm having a problem posting a new one that I did directly to my blog from scrapblog. I've had to upload the photos to flickr and post from there. Anyone else having a problem?

Ricky Gervais --Comic Genius

Ricky Gervais and David Bowie David Brent Office Dance Ricky Gervais Comic Relief

Thing 3 Habits of Lifelong Learning

I listened to the tutorial in the beginning but forgot to blog about it because I wanted to get started. All of the habits are important but to me the most essential is a positive attitude. I learned that years ago from observing my mom who was unafraid to tackle anything and I try to emulate her. One of the reasons I enjoy being a librarian is because I am able to constantly learn new things just by helping patrons. It's the best of both worlds. The best way to learn is to teach and by helping patrons learn to use library resources I become more proficient myself.The great thing about learning is that one thing leads to another and you end up learning a lot more than you intended. For example, because of all the downloading I've been doing, I've learned the importance of a good spyware program and anti virus program.

Get Funny Pictures at pYzam.com

Thing 26 The widgets are coming!

Everytime I log on to my blog a new widget appears. They are multiplying and threatening to take over my blog if not the world. They are like blog weeds and I must learn to control them for the health of the rest of my blog. It won't be easy because they are so darn cute but I must be strong. Any suggestions are welcome.

My first attempt at scrapbloging

Between you and I, I could care less

I hope you cringed when you read the title of this post because those two phrases are among the most misused by supposedly educated people. Since this is my blog, I decided it's a good place to air a few pet peeves. The correct phrase is "between you and me". I tried to come up with a mnemonic to remember the correct phrase but I couldn't, so just repeat it 10 times and it's yours forever. (That's what the nuns told me.)I did come up with a rhyme to remember to use "I couldn't care less" instead of "I could care less". Here goes: I could care less means I care a bit I couldn't care less means I don't give a ___. Since this is a Library blog you can fill in the blank. Between you and me, I hope this helps but I couldn't care less.

Three Cheers for Mr. Bookman!

Thing 24

Since I didn't have a doc to convert to PDF, I copied one , saved it to Word, downloaded Acrobat Adobe, and voila Zamzar did the rest. I also converted a Youtube video, also quite easy. Added the convert button to my links and I'm good to go. Two thumbs up-- useful and easy to use.

Thing 22

For months I've been meaning to download an audio book on my home computer so that I could be more knowledgeable in explaining to patrons how the process works. Unfortunately Once I got home it completely slipped my mind. Now thanks to #22 I've finally done it and it was quite painless. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many people are taking advantage of the service...several of the titles I wanted to try were unavailable. I haven't transferred the book to my MP3 player because my player is loaded. A second one will come in handy. I also downloaded an e-book for practice even though I personally prefer reading in bed. This exercise has been a motivator in more ways than one.

Thing 23

I've used more resources and explored more websites in the past few weeks than I have in the past five years and it's been a joy. I feel enriched not only professionally but personally. I'm now able to do things that I wasn't even aware of before. I thought tag was a kid's game,flickr... an eye movement, RSS feed...say what? I was of course aware of blogs and wikis but hadn't a clue as to how to create them. I also have developed a lot more self-confidence because I was able to complete tasks that were often intimidating at first glance. In doing the various exercises I also became acquainted with a number of other resources that I want to explore. The most important single thing that I've learned is that the more I learn the more there is out there to learn. I also have to mention how inspired I was by reading the blogs of my co-workers and thank them for the clever ideas that I incorporated into my blog. I'll take responsibility for the corny ones but it was always the process that concerned me most. I'm now going to continue working on the rest of the tasks and perfecting the skills that I've acquired. I've noticed that I'm spontaneously using many tools now when searching the net... technorati1, del.icio.us, furl, RSS feeds and flickr, to name a few. Adding buttons to my web page for the various sites makes it so simple to utilize the resources. I have no doubt that this experience will increase my ability to help our library patrons use technology. I'm looking forward to participating in Library 2.1.

Thing 21

I checked out Podcastalley.com, Podcast.com, and Yahoo podcast and used keyword libraries on all of them. I found a few interesting ones that I added to my feeds. . On Yahoo I found Nancy Pearl book review podcasts which I added also. In general I would say there are way to many podcasts available and it's rather time consuming to separate the wheat from the chaff. On the other hand it is an important new tool to communicate with library users and potential users. Unfortunately there is still a large segment of the population that is unaware of the many services we have to offer and we need to use every means available to get the word out. As a reward for slogging through so many rather silly and boring ones, I added the Onion Radio News Report ,which at least is intentionally silly, to my blog.

Thing 19

What an interesting and informative exercise. Even though I had already become familiar with several of the award winners or nominees there were many other that I couldn't help but try. I started a web page with Findory, used furl and ma.gnolia and though I had already created a document using Zoho I decided to give google doc a try. I am actually infatuated with most things google already. It was really quite easy. My love for google grows day by day. There are a number of useful sites and I'm going to explore all of them eventually but I was really impressed with Zoho, Google Doc, and Wiki.

Thing 20

Really like youtube because it's fun, has something for everyone and it is easy to post or share videos. I've listed just a few links to start with. I prefer adding links because it doesn't take up so much space but I have added videos to my blog also. The main thing I dislike about youtube is that it's a little addictive and I must confess I'm hooked. Check out Skidboot, he is an amazing dog. Unfortunately he died recently. Bummer No cookies is the Library Skidboot Roommate Dancing Best Buy Man Dancing

UHF Conan The Librarian

FOR ALL DOG OWNERS

Funny Funny Images ItchMyStitches.com

Thing 16 & 17

I''m adding a Library staff technology wiki to my wish list. It could be used to expand the staff's knowledge of online resources by sharing information ,expertise and new ideas. Would be a good way of brainstorming about what our library needs and what we can feasibly accomplish. The wiki I got the most out of was PLCMC core competencies. So well written and so practical. I really like the fact that questions can be posed and answered and that issues can be discussed. A wiki subject guide would also be valuable. I also want to have my own wiki in the very near future. Added my two cents to the favorites wiki and added my blog. I could have added more but didn't want to be overbearing.

Thing 18 Zoho Rules!

Zoho was a great surprise and is one of my favorite new "things". It would be a useful alternative to Word for our computer users because it is easy to access and easy to use. I'v seen adults and students lose documents they labored over because they ran out of time and neglected to save their work to a disc or didn't save it properly. It takes one click to save on zoho writer . The multitude of templates are also useful. I used the recipe template to see how everything worked and it was very user friendly. Anyone familiar with Word should be able to use Zoho writer without a problem.

FROM BARB MALEK'S KITCHEN AND ZOHO

Name of the Dish: Nutty Grapes Type: Yummy Dessert

Serves: Depends on Your Willpower

Calories: You betcha

1 1/2 lbs . red grapes 1 1/2 green grapes Beat together : 1 cup sour cream (I used light because I'm in denial ) 8 oz . cream cheese (Ditto)) 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon almond extract ( If anyone needs some let me know, Fold in grapes and put in 9 x 13 pan ( or 2 smaller pans or whatever) Top with 1 cup low cal crushed pecans (ha ha) and 1/4 cup of brown sugar splenda. Refrigerate

Educational and Amusing Site

Added Urban Dictionary to my Favorite Links and am determined to use at least one word from the site daily although I may not be able to use it at work. Check out the meaning of earworm, something everyone of us had been afflicted with, and find out the remedy for it which may be worse than the original malady. I also discovered that I'm earthy-crunchy (yuk) and I know I'm not the only one on the staff who is.

Thing 15

A few high points for me from "Icebergs ,"Into a New World of Librarianship" and several other resources that I explored were: Eliminate the barriers between users and the information they need by providing easy to use programs and one button commands. Everyday I get asked the same questions about the catalog by people who know how to use a computer but are unable to use our system. They can't figure out without help where material is located and if it's available. The catalog should be more user friendly to computer literate users. Eliminate the "just in case collection" which becomes outdated by the time it reaches our shelves in many cases. I also find that when helping students find information for school often the only reason that I use a book is because it is required by the teacher. We have wonderfully informative databases which also are not as accessible as they might be or used as much as they could be. We really need to work on that and the first step might be to put them in a more prominent position on our web page and in some cases use more common terms. Adding an RSS feed to alert patrons to new acquisitions, library events, exhibitions, changes in hours, etc would be a major step forward. Don't use a feed with DTD because it isn't supported by IE. I found that out when I tried to access CPL's feed. The feed can also be used to connect our users to feeds that we've subscribed to that would be of interest to them. The more I read the more excited and inspired I become. The importance of the aspect of sharing in Library 2.0, especially for those of us who are novices, cannot be overstated. I've learned so much from reading the blogs of other library staff and I've incorporated some of their ideas into my blog. PLYMC is fortunate to employ so many creative, talented and motivated people. There are so many possibilities for the future and I"m really sorry I'm nearing the end of my career and not just starting out.

Presenting My Flickr of Cats- Louis, Jay and Katie

Things 13 and 14

Very del.icio.us but a little filling. Spent more time on these than any other and still have a lot more work to do to become proficient in using del.icio.us and technorati. So far though I've listened to the podcast and read the discovery sources. I've also registered for both, added buttons to my toolbar, imported my bookmarks, added several sites that interest me to del.icio.us as well as tagged 3 favorite Plymc posts. I've also experimented with tagging. I tried tagging my blog but I"m not sure it worked, If not, I'll keep trying. Wow! I just checked and it worked.

Thing 12

I created an account with Rollyo and added the rollbar to my tool bar and seach bar to my blog. Sometimes when I first read the exercises they seem overwhelming but once I start doing them things more or less fall into place although I've had my share of glitches. I also like to go back and explore more in depth once I've got the basics taken care of. I added a few searchrolls just to get started including organic gardening and poker news.

LOUISA AND AGATHA FOR BEING THERE

Thing 11

I signed on to LibraryThing and added several titles. I also added libraryThing blog to my RSS feeds. I think I will get a lot of use out of this because I'm always looking for new authors in the genres I like and I read so much it will help me keep track of what I've already read. I also added Readers Club: Mysteries.

Thing 10

This was difficult at first because I am not very creative or imaginative. Since I first posted that comment I've experimented with a number of image and text generators and been able to add several fun elements to my blog. ..

We have all heard about the magical power of beer but this is the first time I've seen it illustrated. Really enjoying the image generators. Get Funny Pictures at pYzam.com

Things 8 and 9

I enjoyed searching for and adding feeds to bloglines and somehow I added some to IE but I'm not sure how. I found an RSS for a library in New York that impressed me because links to reviews are provided in the catalog.You can view my list of feeds at http://www.bloglines.com/public/jessiebarb

Passwords

There's a program called roboform which saves 20 passwords free and also automatically logs you in and fills in forms. The only downside is that you can only use it on your home computer. I've had it for several years and couldn't function without it.

Thing 7 Why I Love Technology

It is possible that I appreciate the almost instant access to information more than those who didn't have to endure the tediousness of librarianship BT. I always hated the card catalog with its accuracy depending on the whims of who got stuck filing.Finding out what books were in the system took either many phone calls or days of waiting for written replies.A while back a patron came in with a vague description of a book he had read and wanted to reccommend to a friend. He told me it was about a man, born in Ireland who was granted immortal life on the condition that he never leave Manhattan. I found it on google in a second using a few key words and wondered if I would have been able to find it at all without my beloved google. This example may seem very basic but it made one patron and one librarian very happy.

Things 1 and 2

I forgot to list these because one of my major faults is impatience and I couldn't wait to get started on the actual blog. My biggest strengths are that I never give up and I love trying and learning new things. This is already so much fun and I've barely started.

Thing 6 Trading Card

Thing 5 Johnny Depp about to read a book I'm sure.

Johnny_Depp_16a, originally uploaded by skeme66.

This photo makes me very very happy. Could we get him to do a Read Poster? Never used Flickr before. Am I having too much fun with this?Should I serious up?

Had to try it

Just wanted to see if I could upload a picture. This is Katie one of my 5 cats.. She's been more or less in the closet for the past few years but to my delight has finally started coming out. The other cats who are apparently conservatives are not so pleased. Now I'm going out with a good book to enjoy the beautiful weather before I have to go to work.

The Beginning

For me this is the hardest part, because I don't have anything to say yet except I'm here. Most of the other bloggers, with a few exceptions,were clever and original while I am merely sarcastic. I'm really looking forward to the new experiences though.