#22 Suckas!!!

I'm feeling pretty righteous about this step, y'all, since I've been downloading e-books from TCCL for a few months now, and I LOVE it. I have a MP3 player from a few years ago that I never used (it was basically an expensive radio) that works really well, and I've listened to a number of great books while walking during lunch or cleaning house.

In fact, I just finished Maeve Binchy's novel "Heart and Soul" on downloadable audio. There were a zillion holds on print copies, and I got the audio version much earlier than I would have the print one. It helps that I'm fond of Binchy in audio (I love the Irish accents, and the stories are easier to follow than more "literary" fare).

Next to listen to: a P.G. Wodehouse Wooster & Jeeves, a diet book, and the YA novel "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist."

#21 Pods

I'm old friends with iTunes & listening to podcasts on my computer and iPod, so this was an easy one.

HOWEVER, I've actually had some recent issues with iTunes just this week. Our PC at home was victim to a really nasty trojan horse virus -- despite the fact that we had anti-virus software and had just downloaded the latest updates -- and died a sad, sad death. We bought a Mac, which should make things easier, right? Nope. It appears that my iTunes account, which has ALL of my music and stuff, is only authorized for our old PC and won't function on the new Mac until I authorize it. Blah blah blah. Of course it's not as easy as that -- I messed up my account in various boring ways (changing the username and password but then somehow also keeping the old username...don't ask), so I'm looking forward to (NOT) several hours with Tech Support to get it straightened out.

At any rate, despite this major pain in the arse, I think podcasts are cool, and I'd love to see librarians at TCCL do regular ones about books, technology issues, ideas... Perhaps a podcast to go along with our "Reading Addict" blog series? It seems to me that the big issue will be getting listeners, but there are ways to do that.

Yay!

Well, if at first you don't succeed, try about a billion more times. Sometimes it will actually work.

Well, crud.

I didn't really embed that video, did I?

What did I do wrong?

Hugs, not Drugs... or Cops in Denmark are WAY different

I was going to post a 10-minute walking exercise video that I sometimes play at my desk (& walk along to) during breaks throughout the day, but then I found this. 

There is something just sort of freaking beautiful about it. Instead of a stern warning, these bicyclists without helmets get hugs... and helmets.

It reminds me of a lady I used to teach with, Patty O'Neill (Patty O). Patty O had been teaching for about 30 years, and she was just amazing -- patient, funny, inspiring. But what I loved the most was how she handled misbehaving kids, particularly ones running in the halls. She would stop them, put her arm around them, and say something like, "You know Mrs. O'Neill loves you. She loves you SO much. That's why she wants you to stop [running, yelling, hurling items at other students.]"

Here's hoping my embedding works:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWF4x01MkzE&feature=player_embedded

Zillow is like pillow except it's not

So for #19, Web 2.0, I tried out Zillow.com, which won an Web 2.0 award for Real Estate. It's basically a site to find properties to purchase... or put up properties to sell... Pretty nifty, actually. You can do a search for a city, or a zip code, or a particular address, and it will bring up houses for sale in that area. It includes a satellite map, which is cool.

There are other parts of the site, including discussion boards and lists of real estate agents.

I don't know how useful this would be in the library, except to recommend to customers.

Okay, that was cool

I do think it's cool that I was able to post my GoogleDoc directly to my blog.

Chalk one up for technology.