Celebratory Dinner

Chrissie, Erin, Susan, Linda H.G., Suzanne, and I celebrated our completion of our Web 2.0 journey. We ate dinner at the Maddox Grill in Lynnwood. It was delicious. We really missed Rae, who could not attend.



I think we've all created a special bond between us. Now that we know we're not too old to learn, we can look forward to more celebrations!

Relax & Reflect

This has been an adventure that I didn't ever think I'd have. I'm very fortunate to have been given the opportunity and sub hours to discover some new (for me) technology. I feel much more confident and excited to learn more.

One of my favorite discoveries has been Pandora, I absolutely love this site. I listen to my own music whenever I'm on my computer at home. Face book has been fun too. I've found old friends that I haven't talked to in years and one family member I didn't know I had! YouTube is a site I now go to when I want to learn how to do something, like repair the running toilet or find a particular knitting stitch. The online applications (especially google docs) is a site I think I will use again and again. It has so many templates to choose from, it's amazing. I'm looking forward to making some address labels, recipe cards and invitations, just to name a few.

Thank goodness my coworker Chrissie and I took this journey together; it made it so much more fun. If offered, I would definately like to partake in another discovery program.

I'm hoping to play here this summer. I've been practicing for three years to become good enough to play this course. It's very expensive and very difficult. I don't want to look like an idiot and slow people down. Hopefully, this is the year!

Avatars & Second Life

DoppelMe did not let me create an account, so I quickly moved on to Tektek. It was easy to create an image and lots of items to choose from. My avatar looks a lot like me although I don't play golf in high heels! I couldn't find a hat, but I always wear one, that's why I keep my hair long enough to put in a pony tail. I have to pull it though the back of my hat to keep it on.

Second Life reminds me of an online game my son use to play. It really doesn't appeal to me although I can see why some people would like it. It's a way to express one's creativity and keep one from feeling too lonely. I don't think I would like to live in Second Life, I really don't have time!! Maybe someday when I'm older and lonely.

Maps and Geotagging

Wow, Google Earth is something else. It's just like flying and sometimes quite dizzying!

I found my address and the Lynnwood Library. Too cool.

We're planning a trip to Eastern Oregon to play golf at the Wildhorse Golf Course so I zoomed in on that, but wasn't able to get it to show me the golf course up close. I was also able to see that La Grande isn't too far away and that's where I found a place to stay on vrbo.com.

I could spend hours looking around the world, and plan on coming back when I have more time.

Today, 4/15, Chrissie and I spent an hour researching google earth and google maps again. We both liked google maps a little better because it gives you the street view. I found my old house in Media PA. It still looks the same and brings back great memories. I was unable to find my grandparent's house in Anut, MO. There probably aren't any cameras in such a little town.

Joanne told us about google maps and said that when you're on craigslist looking at rental houses, there is a link to google maps to view the house. That's pretty cool.

I can't wait to show my husband, I think he'll get a real kick out of it.

Online Applications and Tools

I really like Google Docs, it's easy to use and has quite a few templates to work with. I saw some templates that interested me especially for Christmas. Hopefully I'll use them in the future.

I created two of my favorite recipes and sent them to my friends. Chrissie sent me a recipe and some beautiful baby pictures.

I tried the Zoho site, but you have to sign up to use it and I don't like signing up for things on my home computer. It didn't appear to be as user friendly as Google Docs so I don't think I'll use it in the future.

Gaming

I must say I am very unimpressed with on-line gaming. I love crossword puzzles and solve one from the newspaper every morning. It's not the same doing it on-line. There are too many pop-ups and I feel like I'm being inundated with ads. I think I'll keep doing my puzzle every morning with my coffee and newspapaer and of course my Crossword Dictionary! It's much more relaxing than going on-line.

Podcasting

I have had no experience listening to podcasts, so this was new for me. I have never created a podcast, and I doubt I ever will!

I listened to two library podcasts. One was from ASU's Library channel news. It was very boring to me because they just talked about the spring break calendar. Then I tried Book Talks Quick and Simple and really liked it. I listened Nancy King describe two books, Heartbeat for Horses, and Attack of the Turtle. I think podcasts like this would be a great tool for Sno-Isle. My favorite podcast was from the Learn Outloud Directory. I chose Arts and Entertainment and then chose to listen to John Lennon's interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. It was very intersting. I added it to my Google Reader, which wasn't easy. I might go back to the Arts and Entertainment and look for some more podcasts when I have more time.

Playtime with Online Image Generators

Here is my Monopoly card I created. On to the next lesson!

Search Engines

I've always used either MSN search because that's my home page, or Google when I can't find something in particular. Lately I've been searching for a recipe I saw Paula Dean cook on TV. It was called Chicken Bodean and made using leftover chicken. I tried to find it using MSN, Google, Rollyo, Mamma, and Dogpile, and none of them found it! I'm starting to think they're all basically the same when it comes to searching for something. It's totally irritating!

Then I downloaded Google Earth, boy what a dizzying experience! I found our address, the library, and all my children's addresses. I could spend hours on there and can't wait to show my husband. He'll love it.

Delicious

I signed up for an account at Delicious.com then tried to download the toolbar and could not do it. My homepage is MSN and my computer will only let me put the toolbar on Internet Explorer, which I don't use. I finally gave up and decided to just keep using my Favorites. It's what I know and it's easy. I'm fighting a bad cold and don't have the patience to keep trying.

Wikis

Wikis are a good way to allow a group of people to contribute to one topic. A library could use this as a way for a team to work together on a speficic topic. I don't think I'll ever find the need, but you never know and I know better than to say never!

You Tube

You Tube is addicting! I found some library funnies. Lulu and I watched a lot of dachshund videos. I don't particularly like Hulu or Fancast because I don't like watching TV or movies on my computer. I spend enough time on the computer as it is and don't need to spend anymore. If I'm going to watch TV, I'd rather do it from the couch with Lulu on my lap.

Overdrive

Just spent an hour exploring the Overdrive feature. I checked out a book and a CD. I don't really like listening to books because I'd rather read them. I might use the music selections when I have time to download them to my Ipod. I need to explore a little more to see if there are any music CD's I'd like to check out. A co-worker showed me how to listen to an excerpt of a book, movie, or CD. I think that is a great feature to use before you check anything out. It seems a shame that our computers for the public don't allow them to use the download feature.

Facebook

I joined Facebook and downloaded a picture of myself. I found friends I haven't seen in years and found friends who work with Sno-Isle. I assume it's popular because it's easy to connect with new and old friends. I don't like the look of the site, it's not very attractive. I'll add it to the list of sites I check everyday since starting Web 2.0!

Flicker

I created a Flicker account and uploaded this picture from my computer. Here is Lulu my 4 year old dachshund waiting for me to throw her ball or give her a treat. I've spend too much time on the flicker website so she's getting impatient!

Pandora

I'm listening to the Beatles while writing this post. Pandora is so much fun. It's my favorite "thing" on Web 2.0. I'm creating my own radio station with all different artists. It's quite an eclectic mix of some oldies and some more popular artists.

RSS

This afternoon I registered to receive three RSS feeds to my gmail account. My favorite is 101 cookbook. I'm always on the look out for something new to cook. I also like keeping up to date on the news so CNN keeps me posted! Lulu's favorite is Dog reader, she especially likes anything to do with food!

Step Four

Completed step four by IMing with Suzanne and Chrissie. I sent Suzanne the URL for a Mr. Bean library video from utube and she sent me a URL about poi dancing. Chrissie sent me a URL for a utube muppet library video. We had a lot of laughs. I think we'll get a lot of use out of IM! I've never used IM before and found it very easy to set up and fun to use.

I created a meebo account and set up a widget to go to my blog.

Linda and Lulu knitting

Here's a picture of Lulu sitting on my lap while I'm knitting. She loves to get under the afghan, it keeps her nice and warm.

Getting started

Just created my blog and am looking forward to posting pictures of my dachshund Lulu. More to come....