Thing 23: the last Thing in the Cat's hat

My favorite challenges would have to be ListenNJ, GoogleDocs, and the Sandbox. I liked ListenNJ because instead of reading a book or renting a cassette from the library I can just go on ListenNJ.com and download it right to my computer and then transfer it to my MP3. It will be very useful when i travel because i won't have to bring all the books I want to read; just my MP3 player. i liked Googledocs because now I know that I can just write my school papers right on google and I can skip all the sidesteps I would normally do on word. From saving and attaching and sending, and then opening it up on another computer, (hoping that it reads the attachment), it gets a little frustrating. But with GoogleDocs, it doesn't matter what computer I am on, my documents will always be there ready to be edited and printed out. After all the challenges and researching i also liked the Sandbox because it was like a break to have fun; or a mini vacation playing in the sand. ;).


With all the challenges I did like, there were only a couple I did not like, including: Technorati and RSS Feeds. I did not like Technorati because when I first looked at the website there was so much going on that I got lost. Also, I am not that interested in searching blogs and even if I was i wouldn't know were to start. My least favorite out of all the challenges was RSS feeds. i can see how they can be helpful, but i really wouldn't use them. I don't go on enough websites to want to know every minute they are updated. All in all, I liked this web challenge.


I had a lot of fun doing the challenge, and it was a great break from all my school work, (not to mention a good procrastination tool..haha..only joking!) Thank you to all the people who set up this web challenge, it really was a great time! I look foward to winning that Wii! (still only joking)



Yours Truly,

YadaYada

I'm Listening (Thing #22)

The book I downloaded on ListenNJ was The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, (book number two in the Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S (Clive Staple, in case you were wondering), Lewis. the narrator of the book is Michael York. He's not bad, I happen to like narrator's with different accents, (especially if it is an English/British/Scottish one). My favorite narrator is Jim Dale, but Michael York could come up second. I like ListenNJ because it can be very very useful especially for high schoolers. Instead of going to the library and checking out the book to read, it would be just as easy to log onto the computer to download a book on cassette. I like how ListenNJ will allow you to download the book onto an MP3 player; this allows you to listen to the book whenever, and wherever you like. Unfortunately, most MP3 players today owned are IPods, which are not compatible with these downloadable books...yet. As much as I like ListenNj I don't know how much I would use it. If it was Ipod compatible I would probably download Harry Potter (which they don't have), and Chronicles of Narnia so I could listen to them when I go on trips; another reason why ListenNJ is helpful. I love to read but sometimes reading in the car or even on a plane makes me feel sick. But listening to it would be very nice and relaxing, and I would not have to worry about feeling bad when the trip ended. I am going to Florida very soon and i don't like taking books on the beach because i can never get comfortable with the book, (neck hurting from reading, trying to use the book as a sun blocker from my eyes). ListenNJ could be very useful and helpful to me.

Podcasts (Thing 21)

Owning an ipod has a lot of advantages; for one, I was not unaware of podcasts and vodcasts. I know what they are and have an idea of what to look for. however, the only place I have searched for podcasts are on itunes, and boy do they have a ton! So as I searched Podcast.com for the usual podcasts i have on my Ipod nothing came up. I was a little dissappointed at the selections. I am used to Itunes which for me is really easy. Not that podcast.com is hard, but there weren't many search results. Since my desired podcast was no where to be found it was a little difficult trying to figure out what kind of podcast I wanted to listen to, because I really had no idea where to start. Refusing to give up, I tried the site Odeo to look for my podcast. I liked this site a lot better because there were much more search results. I typed in the name of the person I wanted which was Rob Bell, (he preaches on these DVDs called NOOMA, really awesome shows!), but i could not find any of his NOOMA videos, (I suggest you look at the podcasts on Itunes), so i listened to a service he lead.

http://beta.odeo.com/episodes/18198456-Mars-Hill-All-of-You-Rob-Bell-Audio

Hey [Jude] YouTube

http://

This is one of my favorite videos on youtube. For one, I looove the song Hey Jude, and a little kid singing it is even better. This is the cutest video ever! I love how this kid doesn't only know the words, but the tune and melody as well.Of course being a teenager, (well no so much any more), I know a lot about You tube. You can find about anything on it. Type in a nonsense world, and you will find something. Youtube is very entertaining. i love finding videos that people make, so I am going to post one I found a while ago. A lot of talent went into this video and I give it so much credit. It is awesome, and makes me laugh every time!

http://

19 is my number 1

I chose music, because, well...I looove music! The three services that won an award were Pandora, Last FM, and DiscRevolt. All of these looked interesting but I only looked up one, which happened to be the first winner; Pandora. I really did not know what to expect, but it was a pretty neat site. When I opened Pandora it took a little time to load, but not too much. It is basically an online radio station. You can search your favorite song, album, or artist. Once I searched an artist, (I searched for Plumb), I selected the most recent album. This site is really helpful because once you find what you are looking for there are a bunch of options. It allows you to: Buy the album from Itunes, Buy the CD from amazon, or Buy the MP3. (This is happens to be really convientent AND legal!) Also, something very helpful is that you can preview the songs on the album. This site gets 5 stars for me because it allows you to search random artists/songs/ablums, and gives you the option to preview to see if you like the CD. Once you preview it and decide you like it, there is a link to buy it! I'm loving this Pandora site!!

GoOoOoOogle Docs..Thing 18

I happen to have a gmail account which I use regularly, and I was surprised when I logged in to my Google Docs that I already had documents added. Most of the documents added were school essays that I sent to myself, (for printing on my main computer). I had no idea there was such thing as google docs but I can see how it can come in handy. Instead of emailing myself documents all the time, (that don't always come up on everyone's computer), I can just type my document in GoogleDocs, and I won't have to waste time saving, and attaching, and emailing. I sure wish I knew about GoogleDocs this past semester! I don't know how I would use it at work, but it would help a lot for school.

I didn't really like Zoho for only one reason: I have to sign up and make an ID and have a password. I have so many accounts it makes me crazy. Although, it does look like it provides a lot of great sources, I will definitely start using, and stick to GoogleDocs.

Playing in the Sandbox!

This was one of my favorite "things" because it was fun and let me be creative. I loved choosing lots of colors and emphasising important words. I wanted to play on it longer however, my Internet was having some trouble. I will probably go back and play with it more just for some fun.

Quiki, Quiki, it's a Wiki

Wikepidea...not a big fan of this because it always comes up while I am searching for something but I cannot use it for school. what i don't like about Wiki is that you can never tell if the information you are using is accurate, which is why I am not allowed to use it for class. anyone can update things on any topic, and who knows if kids just want to mess around and add random facts. The sad thing is, I love using Wiki because I do find a lot of information. It is usually has the most detailed information than the other sites I try to look at.

What I liked best about this exercise is the ocean county library wiki. I like how it says how many branches there are, the numbers of circulation, and the number of employees, now that is pretty interesting. The most interesting fact I found about the OCLs was that "James Brolin filmed a scene in the Bishop Library for the film The Amityville Horror." (I found that in the Trivia section of this Wiki)

Only 8 more Things to go...

That brings me to Thing 15...Library 2.0 & Web 2.0.



I did not know much about Library 2.0 until this challenge, and even now, I still know very little about it. I do believe that libraries will be very different in the future, so different that we might not even have any. The new EBooks might take the library away from us because we Americans like everything instantly at our grasp. If we can just download books online, there would be no use in having to go to the library to get and return books, which means no fines and no responsibility. Now, I am not saying this is a good thing, because if you read my blog about technology, you will know how I feel about Ebooks.

From working in the library I can already see a transformation. Patrons are not only coming to check out books, but to go on the computer. The library today might just as well be a computer lab. Patrons will sit on the computers for hours without checking out one book. I admit, that when I used to come to the library I would do the same. If my computer is broken I would use the library's, which is what a lot of people do. There is no problem with this, but as the library becomes more technologically available, the more the library transforms into a computer lab.

Let's get Technical with technorati!

"let's get technical, technical..."

(clears throat)

No I am not singing while I work..... :D

Well, let's get down to business with this Technorati. Truthfully, I did not really like this one. I searched "leaning 2.0" but so many things came up I did not know what I was looking at...Just like delicious. I'm not really interested in looking up blogs, but I did look up Lost pictures. I was trying to find pictures of the Tv show, instead I found this really neat picture. (If you look closely you will see something Lost there!)

http://flickr.com/photos/46355903@N00/224426845/

delicious....?

When I first went on del.icio.us I was very confused. i really did not know what I was looking at or what I was suppose to do. But, with the help of Kathy Lanzim, I understand. I think del.icio.us is a good site and very useful. I like how I can get my favorites from any computer just by logging on to this site. I have so many favorites on my computer that I can barely find anything because my list is so long. when I have more time I will definitely create myself an account and then delete my favorites from my computer and add them to my del.icio.us.

Something About Cats

I think WorldCat is interesting. I like how it tells you whether the library has the book, CD, cassette, or all three. I also like how it gives you information about the book without having to go get the book and realise it wasn't what you thought it was about. I also think it is a very convenient site. If you want a book subject you can refine the search by looking at different years, different types of books, such large print, braille, audio, or DVD. I don't know how often I would use WorldCat, but I definitely think it would come in handy.

thanks NetLibrary!

The topic I searched for was sign language. A lot of results came up which is good. I think NetLibrary is interesting and very helpful. It gives a description of the book, much like World cats does, (yes, I cheated and i did World Cats first, but thanks to drafting my post will be after this one). Something that is very helpful is that you can view the Ebook. This is my favorite part of NetLibrary. however, i am not sure if it actually lets you see the whole book. the one sign language book I looked at is not showing the actual signs, which would be really neat if it did because then i could just sit at my computer and learn. I actually have a sign language book but it is very hard to hold the page open and use both hands to "speak" at the same time. Ebooks would be very handy for this.
And it does. the ebooks on NetLibrary give you all the contents that are in the book. I really like NetLibrary now because I can check out books before buying them, or checking them out and realizing they were no help. Thanks NetLibrary!
I think NetLibrary is easy enough to show a customer how to use it.

Books!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/xorissacakeox <---- My library thing catalog.

I liked this challenge because it was very easy to do. Although they don't have all the books I was looking for, I found it easy to search and add. The most popular in my catalog was Harry Potter. I found an interesting review on one of the Harry Potter Books...I think it is in german! ha..I think that is cool. My favorite review I found was on Chronicles of Narnia. About the author the person wrote, "He writes for youngsters...with much to say to adults."

Tech-nol-o-gy

While reading the discovery exercise for this challenge and how it is about technology, two things popped into my mind. First, was E-books. Now, when I first saw the article about E-books in Entertainment Weekly I admit I was interested. However, that only lasted a little while. I came to my senses after my brain said, "Helloooo! You already have bad eyes, which are becoming increasingly worse, stay away from E-books!" Well, on a serious note, I do think computers have a lot to do with my bad eyes. I don't think E-Books are bad, but I like the comfort a paperback or hardcover in my hand. However, maybe since technology is such a fad in our country, (with I-Pods, I-macs, I-homes, and now E-books), kids will read more because of the convenience and popularity.
Second thing that came to mind was how technology will be the end of our world. Well, not really, it's just something I always say. We are so dependant on technology that it could very well be our end. I don't think it will be the reason for the end of our world, but I do think about it from time to time, how much our country "needs" it. Something I often fantasize about while working is an advanced technology system for the library. A futuristic library would have tubes coming from the book drop to the inside of the library. Once the books pass through the slot in which they enter the library they are automatically scanned and checked in, (of course the barcode will be on the outside of all books and movies). Then from there each book will be sorted into tubes, much like pages sort carts: Children, Juvenile, J Non-fic, Mystery, Fiction, Large Print, Non-Fic, Ya, etc. They will then go through the tubes, into their sections. Once all the books are on the shelves they are sorted alphabetically. Each book is arranged and rearranged until they are all in perfect order, (That includes author, title/number, author, title). Although this would be nice; perfect order of the library, looking all neat and, well...perfect, we would all be out of a job, and I don't think any of us would like that. :D

Thing 9...I'm a little behind

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use?
Bloglines was the easiest for me because the search came up when I clicked on the link. All I had to do was figure out what type of feeds I wanted. I also found the ones I wanted quicker than I did on the others.

Which was more confusing?
I think Syndic8 was the most confusing. I could search for the feed easily, but when all of the feeds came up I got confused by the way they were presented.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels?
I searched for the same type of feed for all of the search tools to see which I liked better.

Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?
I didn't really find any unusual ones but I did find an exotic plants blog...

What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
I just used bloglines after I realized I liked that one best.

As Dora would say, We did it! :D (need help with your RSS feed?)

I finally got my RSS feeds to work!! What I had to do was, click the RSS feed icon (usually orange), and then it would bring up another webpage. Then, I clicked subscribe, and when it asked what file, I just hit ok. Then, I went into my favorites, (a star that should be on your browser), and Clicked feeds. Then I right clicked on the feed I wanted in my blog, clicked on properties. There you will see a web address. This is the Feed address. You want to highlight and copy that address, and then place it in your blog. For this, you go to your dashboard on your blog. Click layout, add element and in the left box you will see Feed. Click that, and then paste the address you just copied in there. :D

Still having trouble with this RSS thing

So, I am still having problems with the RSS...When I created my blogliness I put them on there. I did not realize I was suppose to put it in this blog. I have one, but the rest I can't figure out how to do. I tried adding the Unshelved one, but it doesn't give me any address to put on my blog...I have to say this is my least favorite challenge. haha

R-S-huh?

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
To be honest, I still don't really understand this RSS stuff...I love technology and am usually good with computers but for some reason I am not getting it. I made a blogliness acount and subscribed to 12 feeds, but I will probably rarely use them. I am used to searching the sites I want and the sites I do go on a lot I have in my favorites. Adding them to my favorites is easier for me because I don't even have to log on to a website, I can get to them from my home page. But I will try bloglines for a while and see how it works.

Thing 7 & A word from yada yada

Hands & Feet

This picture was from my Youth Pastor. It's kind of freaky when you first look at the hand, but I like it. I like to keep this picture around so I never forget that I am living for Jesus and to do that I must follow His word. Confession: This is not as easy as you would think it is. The hardest thing for me is when I am driving and people tailgate me or beep at me because I slow down at the yellow light. Especially when I hesitate. When I am at a green light turning left and there are a bunch of cars and the person behind me gets angry and starts beeping. I always wonder if they realize I can see them from my review window and if they know I can read their lips. It is really hard for me in that moment not to get upset with them. I get angry and impatient when people are not patient with me...isn't that ironic? However, I am getting a little better. I try to laugh or smile if this happens because I know that I should not take someone beeping at me or tailgating me personal. I always remind myself that not everybody has this same goal in mind; living for God. What yada yada wants to know is what do you do to cool down? What is something you do that holds you back from grabbing your hair and screaming? Please comment this post and tell me what sets you off and/or what calms you down. God Bless! Have a great day, and Remember, no matter what, be bubbly! :D

Trouble with Flickr

So, I uploaded the pictures from my library to Flickr and tagged it as oclwebthings. However, if I go to the previously tagged pictures for oclwebthings, mine do not show up. I'm not sure if maybe I did something wrong, or failed to do something. If you can help me, or if you see my pictures (they are in the post just before this) on flickr, please comment back. Thanks! You are greatly appriciated! :D

Lacey Library

Some of our furry friends. When the library closes they come alive; I think that's why our books are missing.

One of my favorite sections...i love those chairs!!

the attic; here's where the library keeps their secrets...

Flickr Pictr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipsmith/1574667547/in/set-72157600336040816/
This picture was taken in Africa. I love all the pictures this photographer has, but I think this might be my favorite. There are no forced or fake smiles in this picture. They are so real just like the children.


This is another great one. The intensity of the little girl's eyes are insane. I love it.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipsmith/323945309/in/set-72157600336040816/

7 and 1/2 Habits

The easiest habit for me would have to be using technology for my advantage. I love technology and most of the time I have a knack for it. I use the computer for almost anything; homework, studying, fun, doing creative things, writing, and killing time. I always learn something new when I'm on. :)

The hardest habit for me is determining a goal. I have a problem determining one goal at a time. I try to focus on many except just one, and I never get around to finishing either of them.