This is cool--I always kind of vaguely knew what RSS feeds were, but never used them at all. Now I see why this whole blogging thing is so addictive!
I didn't really care for Bloglines. It didn't really work that well for me, it kept going back to one page and not doing what I wanted it to do--so I skipped over that and went straight to Google, which does everything better than anyone else, apparently. I set up a Google Reader account, and voila, I'm good to go.
I really didn't like any of those blog search sites listed, I'm sorry to say--I got my links the more organic way: recommendations from colleagues. And colleagues' own blogs that I'd like to follow. I also went to magazines, newspapers, etc. that I already know & trust, and signed up for some of their feeds. The blog search sites were klunky, not easy to use, and very ugly. And the blog directory on one of them was ridiculously small. I will just use Google to search blogs because, as I said, they're the Company That Does Everything the Best.
I look forward to all of the great info. I've already found, through one feed on tighwaddery, a great deal on the Barbie horse & carriage which will make a perfect surprise Christmas present! (20 bucks at wal-mart online, if anyon'es interested.) Next I will try to get some feeds that are actually library-related...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Blogging: one more excuse to put off housework?
#7, Anything about technology.
I saw a colleague on a Google product the other day...dangit, can't remember the name...Google Reader, that's it. It helps manage all the blogs you're interested in following. The same colleague sent me a few links to blogs about tightwaddery, and I found these very interesting.
This is an intriguing thing that I would like to get into more. I read the papers online every day (downright obsessively during the campaign season--did anyone else spend hours on nytime's map, where you could play around with who wins which state, and what the electoral count would be? I will have so much free time now). I could see myself also checking in on favorite blogs about books, gardening, knitting, soapmaking, etc., and also friends' blogs. And library news, of course! (Since this IS a work thing we're doing here.) Another colleague mentioned that she is now completely addicted to blogging, and enjoys posting pictures of her latest sewing or knitting creations. It seems like this Google tool could make all of this blog-watching a much easier process--if I had to go and find each blog individually, I think that tiny little step would be enough to sometimes stop me from doing it.
Also, I would love to start a family blog. Since we are adopting my husband's niece, there's lots of family news to share, test scores and artwork and concerts and such. Hilarious things she says ("I was elected president of the Student Cancel!") There's also the garden, the soap, other crafty things, my husband's bees and beermaking, and our various travel experiences. What a great way to keep in touch (without actually having to call!).
However, here's the problem with all of this potential blogging: I can hardly get anything done as it is! I'm the master at piddling around and wasting time on the weekends, when I really desperately need to be getting some things done (things I don't love so much, like cleaning and laundry) so that the week is a little less chaotic. Obviously my psyche must need that down time, but still, the laundry is not going to do itself. So I'm just kind of worried that I will get sucked into this whole other thing to do on the weekends and I will never get anything done. But I also wonder if it could be cathartic, like writing in a journal, which I've never been able to keep up.
If only I could do it while driving...audio blogs? Would that be podcasts? I look forward to finding out.
P.S. I wonder if anyone else feels weird writing all of this stuff when you're not really writing TO anybody. It's like talking to myself in a way. Obviously I have plenty to say to myself!
I saw a colleague on a Google product the other day...dangit, can't remember the name...Google Reader, that's it. It helps manage all the blogs you're interested in following. The same colleague sent me a few links to blogs about tightwaddery, and I found these very interesting.
This is an intriguing thing that I would like to get into more. I read the papers online every day (downright obsessively during the campaign season--did anyone else spend hours on nytime's map, where you could play around with who wins which state, and what the electoral count would be? I will have so much free time now). I could see myself also checking in on favorite blogs about books, gardening, knitting, soapmaking, etc., and also friends' blogs. And library news, of course! (Since this IS a work thing we're doing here.) Another colleague mentioned that she is now completely addicted to blogging, and enjoys posting pictures of her latest sewing or knitting creations. It seems like this Google tool could make all of this blog-watching a much easier process--if I had to go and find each blog individually, I think that tiny little step would be enough to sometimes stop me from doing it.
Also, I would love to start a family blog. Since we are adopting my husband's niece, there's lots of family news to share, test scores and artwork and concerts and such. Hilarious things she says ("I was elected president of the Student Cancel!") There's also the garden, the soap, other crafty things, my husband's bees and beermaking, and our various travel experiences. What a great way to keep in touch (without actually having to call!).
However, here's the problem with all of this potential blogging: I can hardly get anything done as it is! I'm the master at piddling around and wasting time on the weekends, when I really desperately need to be getting some things done (things I don't love so much, like cleaning and laundry) so that the week is a little less chaotic. Obviously my psyche must need that down time, but still, the laundry is not going to do itself. So I'm just kind of worried that I will get sucked into this whole other thing to do on the weekends and I will never get anything done. But I also wonder if it could be cathartic, like writing in a journal, which I've never been able to keep up.
If only I could do it while driving...audio blogs? Would that be podcasts? I look forward to finding out.
P.S. I wonder if anyone else feels weird writing all of this stuff when you're not really writing TO anybody. It's like talking to myself in a way. Obviously I have plenty to say to myself!
More Flickr Funr
Wow, there's some really cool stuff you can do with Flickr. I had no idea. I don't have time to just play around on it, but I love the possibilities for staying in touch with friends & family who are far away. And sending a photo from your cell phone--that's just freakin' cool.
And I like the option to create a group, so different people can upload photos of the same event.
However, once again we run into size limitations. Flickr's cool and all, but I think I'd like to compare it to Google's photo thing--Picasso or whatever it is. Photo storage in general is a problem for us. We still haven't had our pictures from trips that we took 3 years ago. Sad, I know. It would be great to store them securely digitally, because cds or dvds do break down eventually.
And I like the option to create a group, so different people can upload photos of the same event.
However, once again we run into size limitations. Flickr's cool and all, but I think I'd like to compare it to Google's photo thing--Picasso or whatever it is. Photo storage in general is a problem for us. We still haven't had our pictures from trips that we took 3 years ago. Sad, I know. It would be great to store them securely digitally, because cds or dvds do break down eventually.
Flickr Funr
Flickr's great--we already have a personal Flickr account (though I "delegate" all the technical stuff to my husband, since 1. he understands the mac better and 2. he loves to do that stuff anyway). The only problem--not enough space. A few pages of pictures from last summer was enough to fill up our account. Maybe he's not compressing the photos or something.
I love that the library has a teen flickr account--that way we can post their artwork, etc., and it's not using up our server space and I'm sure it makes liability issues easier as well, since it's not really our website. I'd like to have a teen art contest sometime, and post the winners' art on our flickr account.
Now I will figure out how to put my picture on this post. It's our 2008 Halloween Bash, which included music, storytelling, puppet shows, games, trick-or-treating--the works.
Lifelong learning on a tight schedule
Here's my blog, tra la la.
About the 7 & 1/2 habits of lifelong learners: I find it easy to do most of them, as I am interested in many things and want to learn more than I will ever possibly have time for. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be taking responsibility for my own learning. I have taught myself how to do many, many things: soapmaking, violin, gardening, knitting, woodworking, cooking, canning, puppetry, foreign languages, etc. etc. My latest: parenting, fence-building, knitting Actual Things for Gifts, and cheese-making (well, hopefully sometime soon on the last one, anyway--we have the kit all ready to go).
The one I'm worst at right now, depressingly: play. I have no time to finish the laundry and pay the bills, let alone play. The only play I got in yesterday was knitting while watching a Buffy episode at 9:30 at night. And I'm afraid I screwed it up (but I'll be able to creatively cover it up, I hope). And play can become work when you're trying to squeeze it into an overfull schedule. I love playing music with friends, but when we had our first real "gig" and had to practice once a week, it nearly killed me, even though the practice itself was fun. Ah, modern life.
About the 7 & 1/2 habits of lifelong learners: I find it easy to do most of them, as I am interested in many things and want to learn more than I will ever possibly have time for. I guess if I had to pick one, it would be taking responsibility for my own learning. I have taught myself how to do many, many things: soapmaking, violin, gardening, knitting, woodworking, cooking, canning, puppetry, foreign languages, etc. etc. My latest: parenting, fence-building, knitting Actual Things for Gifts, and cheese-making (well, hopefully sometime soon on the last one, anyway--we have the kit all ready to go).
The one I'm worst at right now, depressingly: play. I have no time to finish the laundry and pay the bills, let alone play. The only play I got in yesterday was knitting while watching a Buffy episode at 9:30 at night. And I'm afraid I screwed it up (but I'll be able to creatively cover it up, I hope). And play can become work when you're trying to squeeze it into an overfull schedule. I love playing music with friends, but when we had our first real "gig" and had to practice once a week, it nearly killed me, even though the practice itself was fun. Ah, modern life.
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