princess helen's blog-a-log

The End

2008-06-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Well this is it. I really enjoyed the training even though at first I had a hard time with it. I loved Goodreads, the Flickr toys, and the podcasts. It feels really good to know that I can learn to do new things with technology and there are coworkers to help when I get stuck. It's also nice to see what other people all over are doing online. The best was when I was able to help a coworker with one of their Things that I had a rough time doing myself. I like blogging but I don't know if I'll keep up with it. Maybe I'll get a computer and go crazy as a famous blogger. You just nevah, evah know! Thanks Sarah for working so hard on this and making it a great training. Thanks for helping me too! I love your video, can I get an autograph? A black and white glossy headshot made out to Princess Patty will be fine...

NetLibrary

2008-06-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

I have successfully downloaded a book from NetLibrary and I'm listening to it right now. I couldn't find a lot by my favorite authors but I doubt NetLibrary has a lot of fluffy chick lit. It seems pretty easy to use and I didn't have any problems searching or downloading. It's okay to have if you like cdbooks or really like to read off a computer screen which I'm not big on. This cdbook is cracking me up because the book I downloaded is about a New York socialite but the narrator is speaking with a British accent. Very weird. Anyway, NetLibrary is cool for what it is.

Podcasts!!!

2008-06-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm cheating a little on this Thing because I'm not going to add a podcast to my GoogleReader account. I never check it and I wasn't very into it any way so adding to it seems to be a waste. The podcast I pulled up and reviewed is The Masthead with Marie Claire. I enjoy reading Marie Claire and always see mentions about The Masthead in the magazine so I thought this would be the perfect excuse to check out their podcast. I wanted to be a fashion editor for a long time and The Masthead is all about behind-the-scenes at a magazine so that's probably why I enjoyed it. Podcasts seem to be a step up from youtube videos in that you can have a website devoted solely to your podcast and what it's all about. The Masthead is pretty fancy but that's because they are constantly plugging sponsors so I'm sure it's being paid for with big bucks. It's all about Dove products! A library could have a lot of fun with podcasts and reach a lot of people meaning potential patrons. We could do informative podcasts about services we offer, interviews with librarians, authors and programs we have could be podcast,etc. I personally would love to have short reality TV casts or a library news cast called something like "News...behind the Desk". We could have our own version of The View! Ideas are formulating so I guess now I need to read the articles on how to do all this.....look out world, a star is born!

2008-06-04T09:04:00.001-07:00

here's another one

thing 20

2008-06-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is awesome so have a listen!
I love YouTube and I think it's great that libraries are using it to make commercials and advertise what they are offering.

Thing 19

2008-06-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

I just played with HairMixer and had a blast! I don't know how this site could help with library stuff except maybe to have a few laughs. We can't underestimate the value of laughter though so maybe it's okay. I liked being able to choose from a lot of topics and that there were runner-up websites along with the top three. Handy dandy. I'm going to go play some more!

Google doc Thing

2008-06-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

I like the Google doc thingie so you don't have to worry about keeping up with a floppy or flash drive. It's pretty cool that you could access important documents from any computer at any time. This was one of those brillant ideas someone woke up in the middle of the night super excited about. Why couldn't it have been me you ask? Well, I was too busy spending my dream millions in some exotic locale and couldn't be bothered with it. My great dream ideas usually are about important things such as food and my fabulousity quotient (some days it is high, some not so much). Anyway-good stuff and I'm sure it could be used in many ways in liberry's but I'm too tired to think of any right now and I have to go be on the desk. "Just another Manic Monday...whoa-oh-whoa..." another music interlude for your pleasure.

Wiki wiki ha ha

2008-06-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

That was an interesting experience. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was what but I did manage to add my blog to the favorites and add two books to the favorite books section. I had a hard time with the link on the second book. The first link did fine but the second about caused a minor seizure. You will all just have to live with the fact that the book title and author are both underlined instead of just the book title. I really don't care if it means correct form or my sanity. I was extremely pleased with myself when I figured out the link thing to amazon by my own self. In other news I got a free mp3 player from Blue Cross and have downloaded songs to it all on my own. Michelle told me the procedure and then I DID IT! Quite headline news worthy. "Can't nobody hold me down-I got to keep on movin'.." (Music interlude) Onwards and upwards....

What I will be doing for the looong weekend

2008-05-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have made a meez to commemorate the up coming Memorial Day Weekend Extravaganza. I will hopefully be lounging about on a float with my friend in the Tuck beside my fab trailer. This will be on Monday b/c there's always too much going on Saturdays and Sundays. Think Madonna "Holiday", sunscreen (please don't let it rain), and hot pink floats!!! Happiness.....

Wikis or Thing 16

2008-05-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

After checking out all the wiki websites listed I have to say that the BookLovers Wiki was my favorite. I thought it was easy to navigate and I liked that you could read reviews of books, check to see if they were available, and that there was a map system to show you where to find a book in the library. I could see us having a lot of fun reviewing books and think a library wiki would be useful in that way. I think our home page is good for info like library locations and hours, the catalog, etc. but a wiki is a fun interactive tool to show case our staff picks, etc. The only downside would be the fact that mainatining a wiki could be time consuming and then there would have to be a big debate on what would go on it and who would do what. I didn't care too much for some of the other wikis but I could see that they could be useful.

Liberry 2.0

2008-04-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed reading the article A Ripple Effect and the article by Dr. Wendy Schultz BUT this whole Library 2.0 thing is horrible. It makes me think of Joe and the Volcano but without Tom Hanks overcoming his fear of leaving his house. Are we all going to become people who sit in front of computers all day and have no interaction with people face to face? Libraries have always been magical places to me and I love everything about them. What joy is to be found reading a book online? What about actually digging through lots of books to find THE ONE? I know we have to change with the times and meet our patrons needs but there is no mystery in logging on to a computer at home. One memory that remains clear to me is the 1st time I went into Hunter Library at WCU. I was in heaven. Three levels packed with books and I could read any of them I wanted. Hunter Library is not beautiful or even really comforting but at the time I didn't know a library could be sooo big and have so much to read right at my fingertips. The craftsmanship of books is already nonexistant, what happens when they aren't made at all? This makes me think of All That's Wrong In The World Today....as library people we need to be passionate about libraries, about books, about the quest for the best book ever, about the magic that is libraries. Think about a library staffed with people only interested in technology and how to get answers Right Now. That is so unbeliveably sad. I would rather be in the past with the adventure of not knowing what book was around the corner. I love learning all these new things and I know they are important but nothing will beat handing a kid an awesome book you've tracked down together and being a part of their life even if it's just for a little while. It's all about helping people but is it a crime to want to help people that have to interact with you in person instead of the phone or computer? I could go on and on about this but it comes down to this-I am passionate about books and that's why I'm here. What's your passion? If this isn't it what are you doing here? Be awesome and love what you are doing. That my friends is what it's all about.

Michelle aka ChellyBelly

2008-04-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just so you all know Michelle B Allison showed me the Meez website and told me about pageplugins.com. She wanted her kudos so HERE THEY ARE covered in Belgian chocolate. Please visit her blog at http://chelly-mallison.blogspot.com/
She's the bunny.

tech-NO-rati

2008-04-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well...I have now claimed my blog and I managed to put it and another blog as my favs. I also searched the Learning 2.0. Now I must wake up because that was BO-ring. Good news is it's done, I'm blogging about it and don't have to do it again. I like blogging just fine but I don't really have the time to search out other blogs to read. I read Straight Up and Dirty by Stephanie Klein and have read some of her blog so maybe I can add her to my Technorati if I get a wild hair and ever go back there. In other news-I have a Meez account and LOVE it. The cutie purple hair girl on my blog was created by myveryownself at Meez.com and I highly reccommend that everyone make a Meez. I want purple hair. Live vicariously thru Meez. It will make you smile. Smooch, smooch. I feel more glamourous already.

XOXO, Madame Helene

Friend life

2008-04-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

OOOOHHHH! Thirteen now!

Delicious

2008-04-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

I am playing around with Thing 13 which is delicious.com. I am not sure that I understand exactly what I'm doing with this but I did manage to install the buttons and bookmark a few of my favorite websites. I like that it's your favorite websites and can be accessed anywhere but it is a little overwhelming 'cause there's soooo much to look at. All I can compare it to is when you find yourself in a bookstore and can't think of a single book that you want so you have to run all over the place and look at everything. If i were a more organized person I would bring a list but alas, I am not. So I will be browsing around delicious but I think I'll use it more by pushing the buttons when I find a site I really like. I hope this has been exciting for you and as an aside-I now have 12 Friends on Goodreads. Boo-ya!

Thing 12

2008-03-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I'm glad we're getting to do this project. I feel like I've learned a lot and I'm looking forward to the other 12 Things to come. I wish I had more time to play around on all these different sites. I can see doing a lot on Flickr and goodreads. I still have a hard time with doing links but it's all good. I just realized though that I don't remember where my RSS feeds are so oops! Guess finding them will be like a treasure hunt. I'm on the desk so gotta go. I'll add some fun stuff later.

Diggin it-maybe

2008-03-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

http://plonkmedia.org/thorn/images/254/i%20question.jpg/

I don't think Digg is really my kind of thing but thanks to a suggestion from Erin I was able to find this LOLcats thingie which is pretty funny and cute. It also informed me about the weird grammar/spelling of the LOLcats stuff. I like the kitties and jokes but I always want to correct the captions. Alas, there seems to be some reasoning behind it all. Other than doing this Thing I doubt I'll be tempted to Digg much, especially since I'm all hooked on goodreads. Some of my fellow coworkers are enjoying goodreads so I guess I hooked them up via Sarah and 23Things. On to other things...

Good Reads

2008-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

my 'read' shelf:

Trying to do Thing 11 so if this link doesn't work I will try my best to fix it. I love the Good Reads website and I think it's a good resource for all of us in libraries cause we can see what other peeps all over are reading. I think it will be pretty time consuming at first but once I get lots of books entered it shouldn't take much time to keep it updated. I'm trying to be a little creative with my shelves so it will be easy for people to see genres they like to peruse. Some of the books are difficult to put in groups so I like that one book can be in different shelves. I had a hard time making new custom shelves because the page doesn't change it just kind of updates but other than that Good Reads seems pretty straightforward. I like the quotes feature and might add it to this blog since I have tons of quotes I've collected over the years. I like that we did Flickr before this since it gives us some practice with copying and pasting stuff and doing links, etc. I still get ill and irate sometimes when working with all this new stuff but I think that is mostly due to my desk location. It's a little challenging to be learning and expanding my mind when I'm interrupted every second but I'm working on it so the death count is low for now.

movie poster

2008-03-26T13:08:00.001-07:00

movie poster
Originally uploaded by hpate71

Well here it is- my movie is now showing and I am learning how to get down with Flickr and its many wonders. I can currently send pics from my cell to Flickr and play around with the fd's Flickr toys to make stuff. I made one of the mini photo albums the other day and that was fun. Lately I've just been playing around and trying to add more pics to play with cause most of these are old. It's hard to really get a lot done most days cause of my location. Peeps tend to get ornery when you're sitting around playing on the computer but since I'm a princess do I care? Umm...not so much.

Sarah is here so I DID IT!

2008-03-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

picture i stole and am now crediting to the photographer

Flickr Revived

2008-03-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have decided not to kill Flickr but that is only because of Thing #8. I played around with Delivr and loved making funny captions for the photos and sending them out to plague the inboxes of others. Once I realized how crazy I was getting with it I decided to move on to fd's Flickr Toys. There I fell in LURVV with the Warholizer and Pocket Album. I also made a cute Hottie Patrol Badge for Michelle and Dottie. Just spreading cheer like Jared spreads Subway sauces. I must learn how to use Flickr better than I am currently 'cause the projects in my mind are endless. Another golf clap to Sarah for being the best computer Yoda of all. Many cheesy songs are crashing through my head rightthisminute (you're a shooting star, you just don't know how lucky you are) but until I learn about sound clips we will all be depraved...such is life.

Hateful woman kills Flickr

2008-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

I'm having a hard time with the Flickr website. It says there is a button you can use to add a pic to your blog. It lies. Thankfully the Blogger website makes it easy to add pics to a blog post. I will try to learn more about Flickr but today it is all over my patience. Anyhoo- this picture was taken for Halloween as I'm sure you all can tell. I did learn how to save pics to My Pictures from a cd and from there put them on this beautiful blog. Down with Flickr, Blogger is good. I really need to break down and buy a computer so I have plenty of time to play with all these new things and not get all postal when I can't get them to work. All's well that ends well so I gots to go.

Lucky Girl

2008-03-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

I added a blog from the Lucky magazine website to my Reader page. One click and it was there-so quick and painless! Lucky is my favorite magazine of all time but I don't get to peruse the website very often so having a feed will be great. Jean Godfrey June is one of the contributers to The Beauty Dept. blog and I love her writing-she is tops! The Reader is making smiles for me! So far these are great experiences for me but now I'm feeling the need to get a computer for home and internet access. Truthfully I've seen some pink laptops that tickle my fancy so it all comes back to shopping 'cause I know nothing about buying computers. I could always do some research through my Reader thing...or maybe one of the 23 Things could be to go to a computer store and play. Just a thought...can definitely visualize me saying, "But does it come in Pink? What about handy accessories?". Visions of laptop bags and those cute flashdrives that look like other things are dancing in my head...fabulousness.

sooo....RSS feeds, eh?

2008-03-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

I went to Google Reader and did the RSS thingie. I must say it was a little intimidating at first-lots to look at on the screen and lots of buttons that do all sorts of things. It did confirm my suspicions that there are all sorts of things that I wasn't even aware of exsisting out there. I liked the Reader and of course had to subscribe to the celebrity gossip only for research purposes. My concern is that one could spend vast amounts of time reading STUFF on the internet and the Reader may put it all in one place but it doesn't actually save much time. Now I'm wanting to read everything I subscribed to on the Reader but I don't need to read any of it except the blogs of my fellow testers. Just when I had my People magazine addiction stemed now I gots me the Google Reader. If it's there to read, I will read it...got to learn to LOOK AWAY. This was a good learning experience but I'm not sure if I will keep up with my feeds b/c it seems like one more way to spend time on the internet and I don't have a computer at home so I would be doing it at work. Not good. Enjoyed reading the blogs of Deb and Oreocat! Over all, good to know this stuff and be able to use it so yet another thing conquered (sort of) by the 23 Things training.

there is only so much room on a post!

2008-02-28T08:21:00.001-08:00

I just learned that you can run out of space on a blog. Aren't you glad about that! As for the using technology to your advantage I am horrible at that because I'm afraid of messing something up. Tech stuff is usually expensive so I won't mess around with it b/c I don't have any of my own and I don't want to ruin someone else's. Getting better about that though in part b/c of the brillant 23 Things training! Sarah rocks for geting us started and being so encouraging. One day I will RULE THE WORLD b/c I will not be afraid of techie stuff and will use it to my advantage. If that doesn't strike fear into your heart then you are pretty tough and maybe we should get together to RULE THE WORLD!
I'm pretty good about the other 5 and one-half habits so I won't go into all that. I hope this has been wonderful for any readers who made it through and for those who didn't I hope they got a good little nap. Toodles and chocolate dreams for you all!

Ta-Da take 2

2008-02-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, this is take 2 because I accidentally lost take 1. It went something along the lines of "I am so excited to have created a blog, can't believe how easy it was to set up, don't really know what to write but still excited, this could be addicting, etc." That was when I killed my very first post but don't worry-I'm baaaaack! Think Energizer Bunny and Terminator. It just keeps going and has really nice guns. On to the reason for all this...7 and one-half Successful Habits of Life Long Learners blog assignment.
Of the 7 and one-half habits two stuck out as being my worst. I have a hard time viewing problems as challenges and using technology to my advantage. The older I get makes the first a little easier and the second a little harder. I've learned at church that if you pray for strength God will give you a task that will prove your strength, if you pray for courage, God will give you a chance to see how courageous you are, and so on. That's been a hard lesson but it's overflowed to all areas of my life and it does make it easier to see challenges as opposed to problems. I think a lot of that also has to do with thinking like an adult (reality vs the way we want life to be) and being optimistic instead of thinking like a kid (the world revoloves around me) in a negative way.