Just finished the final NetTrek assignment on social networking. Not a problem. Thanks for all your hard work Brandy!

Bibliocommons comments...

I've just had my hour of "fun" exploring Bibliocommons. I must admit that it is extremely user-friendly. The search exercises really drove that home. With OPAC, it was hit or miss if you would find what you were looking for. Bibliocommons was right on the money with most of the searches. I noticed the biggest difference when searching by author name, in the various formats provided by our fearless leader in this journey through the land of web 2.0 and now Bibliocommons. I don't really have questions right now, nor do I have suggestions. I need more time to use the system before I can make any educated suggestions. I'm sure questions will come up as I use it more...which I'm looking forward to doing.

RSS Feeds...

The three sites I've signed up to follow are:
www.awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com
www.dbrl.org
www.nytimes.com/pages/books/bestseller

I obviously didn't follow the directions when I did this, so had to change to "library related sites" in order to conform.

2.0 Site Exploration

Imaginative title, huh? I chose to check out a travel site that I hadn't used before, Farecast. It seemed similar to Kayak, which I have used, but find convoluted and not as user friendly or straightforward as Hotwire or Priceline. I did not enjoy the fact that it opened site after site of its comparisons (like hotwire and orbitz) without my awareness. I only noticed when I glanced at the bottom of my screen. It did offer an interesting little nugget, a graph of price-comparisons of travel dates for the destination entered. This was a simple and visual (if you like that) way of determining the cheapest dates for travel. That aspect of the site was useful. I'm not sure this is a site I will use in the future.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

One of my favorites...

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A free bird leaps on the back of the wind
and floats downstream till the current ends
and dips his wing in the orange suns rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
can seldom see through his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still

and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.

- by Maya Angelou

Writer's Block

I have no idea what to write about. Who wants to read the pointless words of an insignificant human who really has nothing to say? Wow, I must really be having a bad day. Everyone knows I always have something to say. I just have nothing to WRITE. That may be due to the fact that I spend every evening helping my daughter with endless loads of homework. This homework includes incredible amounts of writing. I try to help her as best I can without actually doing the work myself, but it still feels like I'm doing it for her by the time I ask endless questions and make endless suggestions. It is exhausting! School is more difficult for me this time around. It was much easier when I was the one doing everything! Maybe I have a selective memory, but I don't recall ever having the amount of homework that is assigned now, and she is only in 8th grade!!! How am I ever going to make it through high school again???

Lifelong Learning

Learning has been a cornerstone of my life and remains so. In going through the 7 1/2 Habits exercise, I find that treating problems as challenges has been my greatest challenge! It is easy to stop me dead in my tracks with even the smallest obstacle. I do read constantly and my love of learning has found a new direction in the past few years...travel! There is no better way to learn about people, culture and history than to be in the place and breathe it all in. So, I think playing is probably the easiest of the 7 1/2 Habits.