LAST of the Great 8

Google is amazing. While we know we can google anything and get information, it’s great to see what else Google can do easily for us. I looked at my house on Google Maps. The aerial view of my cul-de-sac was cool.  Seeing my house from that angle was great. The big old satellite dish on the roof is there and the flat roof of my addition stands out from the rest of the roof.  I also looked up my old house by the address and saw a street view. It took a few moments to realize that it looked  different because of  new windows!

I also use Google Images. It is so fast at finding an image of ANYTHING in the world. I think showing some of these quick tricks to others will make our jobs easier.

Another Lesson Completed

Well, now I know about wikis. The directions were easy to follow for setting up a page. It was easy to read the postings; everything is nice and organized, unlike me! The hardest part was remembering my recipe. I feel like I learned a lot .

Completion of #6

I did get an email stating that my question had been received , that I would receive an answer, and that I could check on the status of my question.

I received an answer from George at the Plainfield Public Library. He told me that Billboard did not record weekly music charts until the year after I was born.  And he told me to check the Chicago Tribune using the references available at the WPL (I guess he knew from my email address) for the day I was born.

It’s nice to know that the librarians work hard to answer questions as thoroughly as possible.

#6 – IMs

I wasn’t anxious to do this one because I IM all the time. I talk to my daughter at school in LA, my daughter at work in Chicago, and friends at home. It was great to have the immediate response when my daughter was abroad. We also had the webcam so we could see her too. (Great to see that she was ok when she was hit by a rubber bullet in Bilbao.) I also get requests from my daughter sometimes when she’s in class and needs a quick reference question answered or a citation from a journal article. (Nice and fast having your own personal librarian.)

I also felt guilty because I was disturbing a busy librarian who could have been helping someone else. However, I wanted to complete my task so I asked about top songs and movies from the week I was born, all those years ago. I knew I could have looked it up myself but I asked anyway.  George from Plainfield was very nice and polite in answering me. He asked for the exact date and asked me to wait a moment while he looked it up. He quickly found info on the top songs and movies of the year I was born and gave me those links. He asked if he could have my email address and send me the answer within a day or two. I said sure and  gave him my address.

As far as abbreviations, my friends and family use them all the time when IMing and text messaging. My personal favorite is LMAO, which is used when you hear something very funny. It means “laughing my a__ off.”

Podcasts

I have listened to podcasts before on the computer. (I am the only member of my family without an iPod!). For this lesson, I chose Sarah Long’s podcast, the interview about Walter Netsch. As a Chicagoan, I am well aware of his architectural designs in the area. Also, as an alum of the University of Illinois – Chicago (lovingly referred to as the concrete campus), I survived 4 years in his buildings.

http://www.librarybeat.org/longshots/play/119

I know Sarah Long has done many  interesting interviews. I’m sure we could do it here with Ellen or Betty or Lyn interviewing patrons or authors or community members who may appeal to our patrons.  YS could do podcasts of book reviews to interest our young patrons into reading, which is always our goal.

A boring day in history

For this Great8 lesson I decided to see what kinds of exciting things happened on the day I was born. I looked at the Chicago Tribune archives, expecting to see a headline like Dewey Beats Truman. I was very disappointed to see that it was just a boring, regular day. The most interesting article I found had to do with a high school girl complaining about following teen fads. So now I want to change the date of my birthday!

Baby Panda Learns to Share

I found this cute panda video on Youtube. I believe you can spend hours watching videos on every topic. This causes you to forget about things and neglect chores while being entertained. Besides watching panda videos (about 20 of them!) I also looked at some library videos. Many teen groups did films about their libraries. I watched ILA’s fashion show and ALA library cart drill teams. I’m sure we could make something to promote our library and some of our programs.

the joseph family

the joseph family

Originally uploaded by P4O4E4T

This is a picture a friend took of us at Stephanie’s 21st birthday party in Vegas last month. Hard to believe my baby is 21. Harder to believe my blue-eyed blonde at 23 is starting a new business with a friend while working full time.

I love my mommy

I love my mommy

Originally uploaded by somesai

This is one of my favorite panda pictures.

Still Trying

Still trying to squeeze it all in.  Remembering websites, logins, and passwords gets very confusing.  I need more time to do this.  I think younger people have an advantage – maybe more brain cells!  I know I ask a lot of questions.  Fortunately, others don’t seem to mind too much.  I keep thinking about the children that are growing up with computers.  Some can manipulate a mouse by the time they are 2!  When they get to school, their keyboarding skills are amazing.  I guess I’m jealous of the young ones.  Of course, I can remind myself of all the things they will probably not experience like rotary dial phones, manual typewriters, fountain pens, library catalog cards, etc.