Badge of honor

Finally to Facebook

And I'm not sure why I waited so long. What a fun way to touch on many overlapping worlds. I'm enjoying some reconnections and especially enjoying the fact that my daughter is now independent enough to want me as a Facebook friend. That being said, I have to admit that looking at Hennepin County's MySpace page, I couldn't get past the feeling that they are trying too hard. I suppose the more jump-off points one has out there the better, but squeezing an institution into a personal profile doesn't work for me. I joined Librarians and Facebook because I thought it would match my participation level best. My daughter will probably be my best prompt in developing my page as she already has suggestions for me in terms of how to share books, etc. As soon as I finish the 23 things, I think I will follow her suggestions.

Podcasts

I listened to several podcasts from the MPR site. I particularly liked The Current Song of the Day. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/tools/podcasts/song_of_the_day.xml I linked Nancy Pearl;s book podcast to my bloglines account. I definitely would like to explore this more with my Ipod.

You tube

I really like the second song on this you tube video of Linda and Richard Thompson. I don't think you can have teenaged children and not be familiar with you tube. I think it has taken over from gathering around the family piano for entertainment (okay there might have been a few things inbetween.

Ebsco

So I was willing to create a webpage in EBSCO, but since I am on the MP public library computers and I didn't bring my jump drive, I'll have no way to save. I get it anyway. I'm quite familiar with all of the EBSCO databases and what access they provide so I'm moving on.

Project calculators

This looks pretty helpful, I found the Assignment Calculator to be more detailed and better for younger students as you would expect based on their focus. I would encourage my high school junior and my college freshman to try this. It is very easy to use and can't hurt as a tool. A link from our website for teenagers would be great.

Games

I wanted to do second life but today I am working from the MP library computers while at inservice and there were too many accounts created from here. I will probably look into this from home when I've worked through the rest of the stuff. I've heard a lot about Second Life and would like to try it. That being said, I took the booby prize and tried Puzzle Pirates. All I can say is I hate games. I do not like them on a board, I do not like them moving for'wd (as in computers). I don't know why I do not like to employ my mind in this way, but it remains a fact. I think I am inherently lazy. I looked at the Teen Second Life presentation and the Ohio University presentation on how Second Life is valuable to an intellectual community. I will definitely look at Second Life more, as the idea of moving beyond the usual practical bounds to open up intellectual pursuits is interesting.