Ten Random Things about Me

1. I love to sing, even though I cannot sing well. My dream would be to sing like Dolly Parton. Love her.
2. I am allergic to milk.
3. Number 2 reminds me of this: our milk cow got out of the barn during a thunderstorm and hit by lightning when I was little, and she burned up right there in front of us. Good thing I was forced to drink soy milk due to my allergy to cow's milk.
4. I have always felt like an outsider everywhere I've ever lived or worked. Never really belonged anywhere.
5. I am quite shy, and I get embarrassed pretty easily.
6. I am insanely private, something that irritates the fire out of Nils.
7. I keep my car perfectly messy; it's a trash can on wheels to me.
8. As a child, I used to be obsessive about correct grammar and grammar rules.
9. I have an irrational fear of the phone. I just know it's going to be bad, bad news.
10. My precious Lydia is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life, hands-down. She is exquisite.

Thing #23 Learn & Play finale

So here is the end of Learn & Play. I doubt I have anything new to say on the whole experience, but here goes. This is by far the best thing CML has done for staff, besides our CLASS training. Helen Blowers is considered a rock star in library world, so CML is fortunate to have her. As for my own experience with 23 Things, I had already experimented with most of the 23 things, but hadn't mastered many of them. Not to say that I mastered all of them, but this experience forced me to learn more about them, especially Delicious and blogger. I hope CML does another 23 things--advanced version, maybe? Maybe we could practice making our own podcasts, videos, etc. and uploading them. That would be useful, I think. One of the best parts of L&P is getting to know my friends at CML better via their blogs. I didn't venture out to read other non-friend blogs (who has the time for that?), but I loved having a glimpse into my friends' lives via their blogs. Now a pic of my favorite way to learn and play: my dearest Lydia, taken by former CML staffer, Jessi . Check out her blog, too.

Thing #22: MOLDI or digital books

MOLDI is not a service I've used personally before now. I like to listen to books on CD or books on tape in my car, but other than that, I like to have my mind wander or to have silence. So I am not the kind to listen to digital books very often. As for this service, searching was cumbersome, and the downloading of the books was time-consuming--but maybe it was the time of day I did this exercise. Here are the two books I checked out. Customers could use this service for classic titles, esp. when the hard copies are all checked out.

Thing #21 Podcasts

Podcasts are huge; they're advertised on NPR all the time. I have occasionally listened to an NPR show via a podcast when I've missed the original airing on the radio. The technology is so customer-focused; I love the idea behind the name: personal, on-demand, "broad"casting. I found a couple of libraries that use podcasts in basic, but useful and effective ways. Pierce county library uses Podcasts to advertise books and to educate parents and caregivers on Ready to Read skills. So 2.0! I'm surprised that CML doesn't do anything with podcasts. A cheap (read FREE) way to connect to customers.

Thing #20: YouTube, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"

There's nothing original I can say about YouTube that hasn't already been said. It's revolutionized the way people express themselves, watch movies and tv shows, and entertain themselves. My husband wastes more time on YouTube than I want to admit. I get restless watching YouTube, but I'll occasionally watch something that I hear about spreading in the pop cultural realm. I will say that YouTube gives easy access to a huge archive of media in pop culture. And it comes in handy when I explain where my precious Lydia got her name. Wonder what she'll think of her parents when she's older?

Thing #19: CML Power Tools

Here is the list of power tools on CML's website. The ones I used the most are the Google search box and the CML homepage search box. Handy, handy! Of course, I already use gmail, Twitter, Firefox, and Worldcat. Creative Commons is one I have only recently used, and I really like their teaching videos.

Thing #18: Web 2.0 Awards

So many to choose from this list! I like the idea of Yelp. The reason I like it is because you could possibly find like-minded people via Yelp. My husband and I are always wondering if there are people who are similar to us in my hometown of Elizabethtown, KY, and this website might could give us some connections. I also want to comment on another website from this list---reddit.com. Any time I try to tell Nils something that I have read or heard about, he already knows about it. When I ask him, "How?," his answer is always "reddit." The man lives on that website; he's obsessed with it. One more website from this list; Mango Languages might be a great way to learn some basic phrases in another language. Could use it to help communicate with the Mexican workers on our farm in KY. I'll tell my brothers about it. But now, here's the real award winner: my little Lydia!