Thing TwentyTwo -- Tying the String Around the Finger [out of order -- #23 is below]

I am very fortunate in that (1) I am surrounded by younger librarians for whom Web 2.0 is already a daily part of their lives. I have let many of them know I was doing 23Things, and they have been generous in sharing their insights and experiences with 2.0 tools; and (2) many of the 2.0 tools are already in place here at my institution. The U Libraries is the host for the University blogs (UThink) and many of my colleagues already use blogs as a way to communicate with their users. My one regret is that we had a webmaster who use to delight in popping up now and then to show off a new web 2.0 tool that he had just discovered -- he was so good at what he does, that he has since been co-opted into the Libraries IT department and I only see him occasionally.

I do try to keep up with "things" and I was surprised at how many of the tools that were showcased in 23Things I had already known about, if not actively using them. My resolution is to go back over all of the "things" and work on how to incorporate them, if we are not already doing so, into web-pages or other areas that will connect us closer to our users. Some of the RSS feeds that I set up during 23Things covers Web/Library 2.0 topics and I may add more (but not too many -- don't want to get overwhelmed).

Thing TwentyThree -- Done!! (Pant, pant)

I did it! I finally finished.


It was the most fantastical journey(my quote). I started late, so was unable to spend the time I would have liked getting to know all of the different "things" as thoroughly as I would have liked. I think there was a great mix of Things to explore, the blog posts describing the Thing, Thing resources, examples and suggestions for use was very well thought out and I greatly appreciated the blog prompts.

I don't know how much of the Things I will end up continuing to use or explore -- not everything appeals to everyone, but there was plenty of variety to go around. I did receive lots of food for thought and have already initiated conversations with other staff members about incorporating some aspects of the Things that we are not already doing. I have even set up Web 2.0 Things for my spouse, as we had been talking about ways to expand his reach into cyberspace.

I plan to back-track my way through the Things, picking out those Things that especially appealed to me, or I just wasn't able to spend the time exploring as I would have liked. I did get frustrated at times at all the different accounts that had to be set up (afterwards web master told me that, yes, someone has designed another tool to gather up all those diverse accounts -- but I can't remember the name of it now). Time was a frustration as well, since I was playing catch-up, trying to do at least two Things per week, often on the weekends, both at work and at home.

Final word? I would do it all over again gladly. This was one of those learning experiences where I will not forget it a month after its completion. It was extremely valuable in the concepts that were introduced, the style of learning -- that was almost the best part (!), as having to write up about the experiences forced one to actually do and think about the modules, rather than give them only a token try and moving on to the next Thing. The newsletters helped with motivation, the comments to the major blog helped clear up minor difficulties.

Thanks to all who set this up -- you all are an exceptional group of people.

I am not currently a member of any social networking group -- except for now Facebook and the 23 Things On A Stick Ning. It will be interesting to see how much I will find myself participating in any of these or other online communities -- the groups I visited that are listed on the blog didn't call to me, and it just could be that I just haven't seen the online community that is a good fit for me.

If I had to guess at what type of online community might appeal, I can see one that reviews movies (I may have to go back to those listed in the blog) as I do read movie goer reviews (as posted on such sites as Internet Movie Database).

In the work arena, it might be an interesting idea to create an online community of our science librarians -- we meet quarterly for lunch, and exchange emails, but an actual online community where we could post online forums, upload video tutorials for constructive criticism and the like, might be very useful.

Thing Twenty -- Hello World

I asked around the office and found that most of my colleagues who have a presence in the social networking world use Facebook. I looked at both Facebook and MySpace and I do like the looks of Facebook much better and it seems to have a cleaner look and organization about it.

I can see where it would be useful as a way to connect with either colleagues who are scattered around the globe, with a set of students/faculty with a need to interact over a project or just as a way to network. I joined the Medical Library Association group and can see it has a very active Wall posting.

I will have to see what I can do with this.

Thing Nineteen -- Just Listen

I have listened to the occasional podcast, but had never subscribed to a feed. Like everything else, I hadn't done so because of time restraints and the fact that my work environment is not conducive to listening to audio (shhhh, I work in a library, you know). Looking around on Podcastalley.com, I did find a really interesting podcast called The Naked Scientist Naked Science Radio Show -- a tongue-in-cheek broadcast of real science with a bit of humor thrown in. For my blog, I added the podcast feed from my favorite radio station, which does lots of music artists interviews (Cities97 and Studio C).

Finding a podcast in the directory was a bit frustrating at first, as I couldn't tell until I looked at the entries whether or not it was active or not (found many that looked interesting, but had ceased adding new content). I also tried adding a vodcast -- a Nova series, only to find that my browser lacked the most current plug-in to play the video.

At my library, we have done something similar to podcasts -- we have been recording workshops using Breeze (Macromedia/Adobe) and posting them to our web. Breeze is closer to vodcasting, in that it is a recording of live presentations with powerpoint. The limitations of this, of course, is that it is not part of a feed, so whenever we add new content, no one gets notified (however, the web page does have a furl/del.icio.us tag capabilities).

This is something that our instruction department should revisit in the very near future and see where we can increase our presence in the podcast/vodcast world.

Thing Eighteen -- Smile, You Are On Candid Camera!

I Love YouTube! While I am aware of all of the copyright issues for many of the clips that are uploaded, I have found it a fascinating place to go if I want to find a clip from an old TV show, a music video, old commercials or funny videos about libraries or librarians. The clip I chose is perhaps not of the best quality, but I like it because it is a mash-up of all sorts of library/librarians videos, many of which I have viewed and enjoyed.



Here is a little mini-video that I shot with my digital camera. Thanks for introducing me to Jumpcut. I had been looking for a way to edit and post mini-vidoes.



Now that I know how easy it can be (oh, as easy as anything is, once you figure out how to use the editing tools and find that really cool audio file), just creating mini library tours or short tutorials that star library staff can be a really interesting public relations tool.

Thing Seventeen -- The Mighty ELM

I have mixed feelings about the productivity tools show-cased here. For some of the productivity tools, I already use similar products to do similar things, so I couldn't get very enthusiastic about the ones available via ELM. That being said, I can see the usefulness of some of the tools. The "create a web" function allows librarians to create subject web-pages or tutorials or similar finding aids when they do not have access to like functions within their library. The same could be said of RSS feeds from subject searches. I myself use the "auto-alerts" function of many databases -- the precursor to RSS feeds. For those, it all depends on how you want to receive your information -- via email or through an RSS feed. I had the same problem as many of the other 23thinger's -- couldn't get the Gale/Cengage Learning RSS feed to play nicely with the Google Reader.

I was able to create a web-page in Academic Search Premier, added all of those nice features and have emailed it myself -- for some reason, when I went through the download function, I never got any of the instructions, so I rather doubt if it ever did.

I can see where adding notes, etc. to such items as ebooks can be useful, though you are limited to the fact that in order to review those notes, you need to go back into the book -- they are not stored somewhere separate where the person can just go and review notes from several different. For myself, I couldn't get it to work -- created the personal account, found a book, viewed some pages, but never did see a tab (except on the home page) that allowed me to add notes. This could be a function of my browser -- and if so, makes such tools questionable if they only work within certain browsers

Thing Sixteen -- Paper is Due Tomorrow!

Assignment Calculator and the Research Project Calculator -- as a University of Minnesota librarian, I am very familiar with the Assignment Calculator. In fact, there is an in-joke with the Assignment Calculator -- just try putting in the next day as the due date for the assignment -- and see what the Calculator has to say to you! (And I just discovered that the Research Project Calculator has the same pithy comment). There is even a Dissertation Calculator (http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/disscalc/) in case you work with graduate level students.

I always point out the Assignment Calculator in my library orientations with undergraduate students. I think it is a great way to help students get organized, with links to web-pages and handouts that can get them over those hurdles that so often pop up. I wasn't familiar with the Research Project Calculator, but in browsing the support materials, there is a great bunch of resources there -- I will have to remember it.

Thing Fifteen -- Re-Incarnation

I mentioned in my last post that I had not yet had a chance to try out Second Life. Well, I took the plunge, created an avatar and now am wandering around in a vast amazing world -- and I haven't even made it to the mainland yet! I plan to explore Second Life at least long enough to visit InfoIsland (I think that is what it is called) -- the place when the Second Life library resides. So far, I have learned how to alter my appearance, move around in the world and how to chat and respond to other "residents". I am currently exploring Help Island, learning all I can so that I can function effectively when I move over to the main areas of activity. It has been interesting exploring both the orientation island and now the Help island. Aside from the social networking aspect of Second Life, it is chock full of all sorts of tutorials to help the newbie work their way into society. It is an excellent example of point-of-need information.

Thing Fifteen -- Got Me Sea Legs

Rather nice to have a legitimate excuse to play games. Getting started with Puzzle Pirates was relatively easy (pirate name: Librarykate). I took to bilge pumping like an old pro -- I had played a similar game and so had a skill set to bring to the game. Carpentry was bit more difficult -- but I got a few "good jobs" out of it. I earned money, learned how to barter, and right from the start, was asked to become a "hearty" with someone else and won and lost a sword match. I didn't have much time to spend on exploring interacting with other characters -- such as going on a long sea voyage or pillaging with other pirates. It was rather fascinating to watch all the other characters that were not part of the stock players wandering around on either the ship or on the island. More intricate play of the game involves collaboration with other players to get more loot or earn more money.

I will have to comment later on Second Life. I had heard lots about it, but had never signed up to create an avatar. I know about the libraries that exist there, especially the medical library. Just the idea of creating a library presence in a virtual world -- which is many ways we are trying to do anyway, as more and more patrons are accessing information and library resources via the web rather than coming in and using them in a physical library -- is exciting.

Thing Fourteen -- LIbrary Thing

I learned about LibraryThing some time ago and had created an account, added about three titles -- and then never got back to it again. So thanks for reminding me about it. We have a student, that as part of a intern project, was asked to help create a "catalog" for charter-type school that didn't have a formal library. One of our staff suggested to her to use LibraryThing as a way to easily create a library catalog that was web-accessible.

I can see using LibraryThing as a way interesting way to add new book titles lists, lists on various topics for classes or just "an interesting read" for the week/month.

Oh, and once I got back into my LIbraryThing account, it didn't take me long to hit the 200 book limit -- I think for myself I may upgrade my account -- I had planned for ages to catalog my personal collection sometime and have yet to get around to it -- now maybe I can!

Thing Thirteen -- i(m)Google(ing)

I opted to go with iGoogle -- it seemed logical with all the other Google features I was using (and it kept the accounts to a minimum). I very much enjoyed building the iGoogle page, especially since I could get down to small town level with it -- I live outside a very small town and ten miles away from a small town. So to be able to pull together weather, local news and movie times for events/area within a 15 mile radius of my home was a great find. I also liked being able to added (and search for) new "gadgets" to add -- and delete if they didn't turn out to work or look quite the way I wanted them to.

I looked at the various calendars available and am using the Google calendar (again for convenience). At work we already use a collaborative calendar that can be viewed by anyone with a login for the network. You can view others calendars, invite them to meetings, send emails when meetings are changed or updated, make meetings/events as private or public and even color-code. Being able to view other colleagues schedules has been a great time saver and productivity promoter. We even have conference rooms, teaching classrooms on the calendar system, so booking of rooms is easy.

I didn't get around to checking out some of the other things on the list -- the list makers, or Backpack (didn't want to get into the whole 30 day free trial thing). However, our institution does use Basecamp and I have found that a very useful collaborative tool. It allows for the posting of common documents, the collaborative editing of documents, to-do lists, the sending and archiving of email messages and other features that are extremely useful for project use. We use it as the center for projects and as I am frequently on several projects at once, it has proved to be a great one-stop to keep on top of what is happening in various projects.

As with some of the other Things, I may come back/re-visit to those things that I skipped over the first time.

Thing Twelve -- Nothing But The News

Okay, I fudged this one -- I visited the various different social news sites (I like the set-up of Mixx the best), but when it came to the "sharing" part, where I would have had to create accounts for each site, I balked. How does everyone keep track of all the accounts they make for each social/Web 2.0 thing? Do they just use the same username and password over and over and over and over again? I am writing everything down in a notebook just to keep track of all the accounts, etc. Its why I am leaning on Google so much, because I can just add another feature to my already existing account.

I can see where this is important, in that it is a gauge of what is in the popular interest -- depending on which site you visit. I just went a tour of all four, checking different categories (science / technology / entertainment / fun) and none of them -- none -- had exactly the same stories in the top listings. Does make you think.

Thing Eleven -- Tag, You're It

I can see the immediate advantage to having access to your own bookmarks, no matter which computer you are sitting at. Up until this point, if it was a work networked machine, I could just log into the network and create my own personal preferences -- bookmarks included. But that did mean that I had to re-create those bookmarks in more than one place. I knew about del.icio.us, but had never thought of it in that context.

I can see the research implications too, where if there is more than one person working on a project and they have a shared del.icio.us account, bookmarks to important/significant web-pages/online documents, etc. makes it easier to share and also not lose that reference, which often happens when good stuff is emailed (and you end up spending time searching your email when you try to remember which web-page or document it was.)

A colleague of mine uses del.icio.us extensively, and does follow shared links to discover new, interesting linkages

When we re-did our library web-page some time ago, our web-master inserted del.icio.us links all over the web-pages, specifically the resource-rich ones -- though when I looked just now, our main page does not have a del.icio.us link!

Thing Number Nine -- Working Nicely Together

I kept my attempt at this collaboration to just using Google Docs -- which just involved adding it to my growing suite of Google features. An interesting exercise, especially when I had the chance to revisit it for writing it up for the blog and checked out the other facets -- such as the revisions tab, with its compare checked function. It did take me a while to figure out the difference between just inserting or making corrections and adding "comments."

I have participated in other collaborative document editing using Basecamp, which is covered further down on the Thing list. In that instance, the revision list is shown in another pane and viewing the revisions looked more like a Word doc that had "track changes" enabled.

It is certainly much easier for a disperse group to work on a document this way rather than sending it back and forth via email. Our library also subscribes to a bibliographic management system that is web-based, called RefWorks, that allows you to create as many separate accounts as you want. You can make the bibliography read only, or share the username and password for collaborative efforts at creating reading lists.

Thing Nine -- Big OOPS!

Intervention time here -- I started the 23 Things On A Stick about a month late -- and I have been rushing through "Things" to try and get them done in the time I had to work on them. I got to rushing so much (which included experiencing both various frustrations and excitements at mach speed), that it was only when I was blogging about Thing Number Nine (Number Nine, Number Nine -- any Beatles fans out there??), that I realized that I had actually skipped Nine and had gone right into Ten. So, consider this a time-out and reflection. My cat Ernie, who hasn't graced this blog with his presence for a while, likes to snuggle on very cold days next to a vent under our kitchen cabinets -- my husband calls it his "time-out" since it looks exactly like someone told to stand in a corner for a naughty time-out. I can't promise that I will slow down any, but I do most sincerely plan to re-visit many of the Things over and over again -- I am getting just way too many ideas for library uses not to!

Thing Ten -- Wacky Wikis

WIKIS
Okay, now this one I am at least semi-expert with -- I have been editing/updating/creating wiki pages for some time now. The University of Minnesota Libraries uses a wiki for their staff pages. I didn't know much html (okay, I know minimal html) and while you do need to know wiki-speak to get the most out of wikis, it is vastly more easier to use than coding html web-pages.

I really enjoy editing a wiki because I don't have to know lots of coding, if I see something rather neat on another U Libraries wiki page, I can login in edit mode, to see what they did so I can do something similar -- and perhaps the best part, if there is a section of a wiki that I have the updated information for it, I can just go ahead and do it right on the spot, don't have to run it through a webmaster. It does make for more collaboration among the staff, with more people responsible for keeping the wiki page information fresh and up to date.

If you want to see what I have done, wiki-wise, here is a link to one of the wiki pages I edit: https://wiki.lib.umn.edu/Staff/ResearchPublicationsCommittee

Thing Eight -- It's All About the Sharing

Sharing is a good Thing -- its basically what we do in libraries already -- sharing resources, ideas and information. These tools just provide different ways of doing that.

I had become acquainted with SlideShare nearly a year ago. I was involved in a collaborative project with an academic department where after a class presentation, we needed to post the powerpoint slides, but within context of other resources. I was extremely happy to be told about SlideShare, since it fit the bill very nicely. Here is a link to the section of the web-page, in case anyone is interested in how it was embedded.
For this post, I have uploaded different presentation -- it is very easy to do:
SlideShare

| View | Upload your own

Photo Montages
Here is a photo montage of Flexible Fred. I had hoped that I could just pull from my Flickr account, but no, had to create yet another account (they are not that difficult to do, but are piling up). Once I created the account, uploading pix and creating the montage was incredibly easy -- and very fun to do. I can see where this could be a very exciting way to post pictures from open houses or other events -- even as a way of introducing staff in an unusual way!
PictureTrail

Databases
Bombed out on this one -- couldn't get into Lazybase.com the website must be over-loaded as I tried all morning to get to the web-site and never got anywhere. I will have to come back and revisit this one.

eFolio
Here is the link to my eFolio page. Took a bit to figure it out and it appears I didn't always remember to click "finish" when I thought I was done entering/editing a section. This is something that I will have to work over several times before I can get it to look the way I want it to. It does have nice features and makes you think about your career -- where it has been and where you want it to go. I can see where you can some fun/stamp your personality on it, as well.

Thing Seven -- Is Anybody Out There?

[Word of warning -- don't know why, but as my post continues with each section, the words get bigger and bigger and bigger!]
EMAIL
My library has been using email for a very long time. Besides our own personal email accounts, various departments have departmental accounts -- reference questions go to a reference account, technical services questions go to a technical services account and so on. I can't comment on whether or not it has improved productivity, as email has been around as long as I have been here -- but does it get in the way of productivity? It certainly does at times. I always semi-dread coming in after a weekend, knowing that the first hour or so of my time will be spent answering emails, deleting emails or deferring emails. I have frequently read my work email at home, just so that I can delete all the spam and irrelevant emails before going to work.
On the other hand, using email has been a more effective way of contacting people, especially when playing telephone tag. It also gives you a chance to spend some time researching an answer, that often talking on the phone does not. The email we use for reference is monitored on a rotating basis by the reference librarians. The option is always there that the email can be forwarded to another, if the question asked is out of the current monitor's subject scope. Email also allows the librarians to put a personality behind the answer (just by signing a name) that phone contact doesn't always do. I have helped patrons that will come back directly to me up to a year later because they remembered me via email, or were able to search their email for contact information.

IM
We have been using IM at the reference desk for a while now -- and we are not certain whether it is because we don't promote it enough, but it is seldom used by patrons. I believe it is because we have been hesitant enough about using it, that we did not give it a big enough push, or make it prominent enough on our web-page so that it would be noticed. It is actually used more by the staff instead of phoning to communicate more quickly for short answers. We are thinking of re-designing some of the web-pages to emphasize the IM capability more -- like adding Meebo widgets to resource pages. I liked the notion of calling it "Instant Librarian." Minor frustration level here -- I had created IM accounts when we first set up the service, and then never used them -- took awhile to figure what what I had and hadn't done before as services like Meebo wanted to know which of my IM accounts to add. One of my accounts, which will work on campus, but apparently not on Meebo is Jabber, as the University has set up its own Jabber account -- and the URL does not match the URL that Meebo has as a default (and I couldn't find a way to change it).

Text-Messaging
We don't have use staff cell phones at our library, so the whole text-messaging thing has not been explored at all. I had mentioned in an earlier post that the only time my cell phone is turned on is during emergencies, so I have never text-messaged. What else can I say?

Web Conferencing
I didn't have the time to attend any of the suggested webinars, however, I have participated in webinars before. I have attended staff meeting board meetings, vendor demonstrations and various types of training (usually on new library resources). The webinars have ranged from just the basic conference call/powerpoint demo to the type of webinar where the presenter takes over your pc remotely. For the most part, the webinars are very useful. Their biggest draw-back is usually the audio quality -- whether it is over the speaker phone or from the audio off the pc, I have yet to attend one where the sound was either loud enough, did not cut out every now and then or when it is part of a group and everyone is talking all at once.

Things Four, Five, Six -- Creating With Sticks

We had a library open house last October for Medical Librarians Month. For the open house we used the theme, based on the popular TV show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, LSI: Library Scene Investigation. I had created a semi-interactive web-based quiz-game for patrons to take that was the entry way for grand prize drawings. As part of the quiz, participants were dubbed "LSI Investigators" and I had been thrilled when I had discovered the existence of image generators. Here is the badge I used and a notebook image.



I really like the little videos that Imagechef lets you create as well. Check out the video for 23ThingsOnAStick.

Things Four, Five, Six -- Playing With Sticks

Had lots of fun playing with the different Flickr tools and other mashups. At a certain point I just had to say STOP! Here at the library we really haven't taken advantage of these tools when it comes to creating unique and fascinating marketing and outreach materials. I can see lots of applications to catch the eye of our patrons -- whether it is a Flickr presence that alerts interested people to pictures that tell our story, or using mashups to create fun stuff on our web-page that gets resources and services noticed.

Things Four, Five, Six -- Pick Up Sticks

Fred in searches the Reference Collection
Originally uploaded by CedarLakeReflections

I had been aware of Flickr for some time, just never explored it. I have on occasion, done photo shoots in the library to create images for brochures, open houses, flyers and the web-pages. I decided for this exercise to use the pix I had taken of Flexible Fred, our anatomical skeleton mascot. He is a very willing (with a little help) model.

Creating a Flickr account (yet another set of user names and passwords) was easy, as was uploading the pictures. Adding the initial tags was also easy, requiring an analysis of each photo as to what elements of it would interest a person searching the collection (do people really look for pix of measuring sticks?). Our web page software contains an imaging module that I had played with when first introduced to it, but lacked the time to go back to. This introduction to Flickr reminds me that it is available, and should be dusted off and re-examined.

Oh, and if you want to see more pixs of Fred, the Flickr account name is CedarLakeReflections (for when I have time to upload my more "picturesque" photos) and the collection is Flexible Fred.

Things Times Three -- RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds -- hmmmm -- I may have to categorized them as somewhat "evil." Not in the sense of being difficult to set up, oh no, it was very easy to do since I already had a Google account and I just added the Reader. No, it is that it is way too easy (as some have said "addictive") to add really cool sounding RSS feeds, and then come to the realization that you may end up spending your whole day doing nothing but reading all the new posts from all the multitude of feeds that you have just added. Now I, myself, am going to have to decide when I am going to find the time to read all the ones I have just added (I couldn't resist Calvin&Hobbes or LibWorm/Humor -- I already get Unshelved as a email).

Of course, on the other hand, the real reason that you would set up an RSS feed list, is that if you are already spending time hunting and pecking for information on various topics, then RSS feeds are the way to go to save all that time and effort. It IS very nice to have just one spot to go to find all the newest posts from blogs, webpages and news sites. RSS feeds can be embedded in subject/topical web-pages or used to keep on top of hot topics that will be the subject of inquires or papers/essays.

Gotta go and read all my feeds ............

Things in Twos -- Web & Library 2.0

I will start out by saying that I am a bit "old fashioned." I prefer to read books instead of blogs, rattle open a print newspaper rather than watch CNN, my cell phone is SIX YEARS old and the only thing it does is make phone calls (okay, there are a few games on it I believe) and I like big screen movies rather than watching videos on a computer monitor or a tiny screen (though I am addicted to DVD extras). However, that being said, I am not a total Luddite when it comes to Things 2.0, as while I may prefer to do something one way, that doesn't mean that if the tool fits the need or does it better, I will not try out something different.

My cat Ernie likes to sleep inside boxes -- that is his comfort zone.The purpose of this exercise, the 23 Things on a Stick is to have us think outside our "boxes." Libraries and librarians, despite stereotypes, quite often are on the cutting edge of Things. I am fortunate in having colleagues around me who find Web 2.0 exciting and are always happy to share what new Thing they have discovered that day. Through them we have incorporated some Web 2.0 tools into our everyday use and web-pages -- such as IM, blogs and RSS feeds.

For myself, up to this point I had been content to be told about each new tool, gone maybe, if I had time, to check it out -- and if I didn't have an immediate need for such a tool, to be just aware it existed. One of my goals for participating in 23 Things on a Stick, to is take this just that much farther by actually using the tools that I have heard about, and consider how the library can take better advantage of these tools in interacting with our users.

I had attended a conference about two years ago in which David Weinberger was the keynote speaker. His talk was a extremely fascinating look into how the younger generation views information seeking and gathering. One is his visuals still stays with me -- he categorized the information seeking behavior as basically gathering all the fallen leaves (information) into one big pile and then working their way through the pile looking for the items/information they wanted. This type of behavior goes against many of the ways we have been teach looking for information -- teaching specific search strategies, honing of topics, etc. Another speaker worked with high school students, and for her presentation, she had asked them to take screen shots while they were in the middle of doing assignment -- the resulting screen shots looked like collages, with multiple windows open, from the assignment itself to games, to videos to IMing and emailing friends and so on. It's wild, its crazy and it leaves you breathless at the energy.

I am looking forward to my quest to try out 23 [Different] Things on a Stick.

Thing Number One: Part Two -- The Avatar

Some time ago I had heard about avatars and this particular website Tektek.org/dream.
It's a avatar simulator for GaiaOnline and you can create the neatest anime avatars.

Better Late Than Never? Thing Number One

I admit I hadn't even considered participating in 23 Things on a Stick until the dead-line -- maybe I can get an exception for being a day late registering my blog? If not, oh well, it will be just as fun to explore the activities listed -- all of which I have heard or been aware of, but had never taken the time to fully explore.

This is my very first blog, never done my own blogging before and so this is most certainly a new experience. Did not have any trouble setting it up (once I remembered that some time ago I HAD set up a Google account). The picture on the blog is my cat Ernie, for whom this blog is dedicated to -- he takes great interest in what I do when I am on the computer. As you can see from the picture with the post, he also monitors the printer/scanner as well.