Library Thing #16 LibraryWorm #117

LibWorm - I've had this as part of my professional bookmarks since it was started and use it as a source when looking for library information.

Library Thing I love you! It's hard to keep up with favorite authors and books when you read constantly, don't own the books and your library record is wiped clean every time you return a book. I was just having a conversation with two other librarians and none of us can tell you the title of the particular book we happen to be reading, the author yes, the plot yes, the subject matter, yes, but not the title. My problem is compunded when I'm reading a book and listening to another. Not only do I forget the titles, but am confounded for a moment or two when I start reading or listening expecting the thread of whatever I last heard or read.

I read about a book a week, yet could only remember about a dozen I'd read recently when entering titles into LibraryThing. The recommendations in LibraryThing following a book title reminded me of other books I have read and authors I love.

Can't wait to go home and add more titles. On to the next thing.

# 10, 11,12,13,14,15 Ning, IM, Twitter, Tags, Delicious and Digg

Digg - not for me. I'd rather filter my own news and information than have others do it for me. I would have been more interested if it was only recommendations for news and periodical sites. To add everything from the web including blogs and videos diluted the site too much for me.

Delicious is great - it's similar to Backflip which I joined years ago when changing jobs. It's interesting that I didn't keep using Backflip in the new job but instead reverted back to Internet Explorer's favorites (I think it was because of the slowness of connecting). I definitely will keep using Delicious since I'm retiring and want to be able to see my bookmarks from any place in the world. It will take awhile to tag the bookmarks I transferred from Explorer. http://delicious.com/sallymctravel

I joined Ning 2 years ago, formed a group for managers which none of us ever used. The concept is great - finding time to do it is problematic. How many things can one person keep up with realistically?

IM I have google talk at home - won't load at work. I keep waiting to try it with my daughter who is in Bucharest but since it's 8 hours later there we haven't connected yet.

Twitter is intriguing but so far I've just wasted time on it. I searched using the hashtag #ALA2009 and waded through everyone's comments but only found 2 entries out of 20 helpful professionally. I'm following mainly news sources now and don't see the advantage of tweets over having the news sent directly to my e-mail as I do now. When I upgrade to a better cell phone I can see more value in receiving these on a mobile phone. I'll have to spend more time searching for meaningful tweets. I did read the following articles that convinced me to keep trying. Update: I am now following Mary Ellen Bates, Research Buzz and Lance Ulanoff from PC Magazine. More useful.

All A Twitter: Want to Try Microblogging?
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6573999.html

Mary Ellen Bate's May 2009 InfoTip: Twitter on Context
http://www.batesinfo.com/may-2009-infotip.html

I have saved Unshelved's comic strip about microblogging in my e-mail since March and it still makes me laugh http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20090311

Tags are with us whether we want them or not; it's similar to keyword searching of databases - I like the concept of graphical tags or tag clouds explained very well in another post by Mary Ellen Bates http://www.batesinfo.com/march-2009-infotip.html.

One of millions

Took the plunge this week and joined Facebook - not only am I one of millions (thank goodness it's not as big as the national debt) BUT the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is women over 55 - there are now nearly 1.5 million of us active on Facebook each month. It is still a small percentage (3%) of users overall but still impressive.



I was just relieved that a few people (under 1.5 million) answered my plea to be a friend. It felt like begging and the old fear of being snubbed from elementary, middle & high schools reared it's ugly head.

Also had to get over the yuck factor from years of observing creepy people in the library viewing strangers' photos on the social network sites. The last altercation I had was a family looking in horror at "creepy fedora man" talking on his cell phone to a woman on a web camera. Who knows what he was saying - I told him to hang up but I really wanted to yell at the woman - what are you thinking??? Why don't these women realize that they are talking to jobless, possibly homeless men that have time to look at these sites all day long.

So far I like blogging on this site a lot more than messing with Facebook but that might change with time and having more time when I retire.

Don't talk to strangers!

Things 6 & 7

In keeping with the travel theme most of the selected sites for my Google Reader are in the newly created travel folder. I also selected a word for the day, including pronunciation. In the last three days I've learned the meanings of louche (of questionable or immoral taste), sartorial (relating to a tailor) and ineffable (incapable of being expressed). In order to get more out of this exercise I will create viable sentences using these three words. After reading a recent article in the New York Times entitled "Watching Whales Watching Us" my feelings were ineffable: the interaction of the whales with humans was often not initiated by the humans but by the whales. How must the whales think of us and our sartorial styles; all they wear are barnacles and orange sea lice. How must they perceive our louche behavior as compared to their straightforward lives?

Update: I have added many RSS feeds to my Google Reader as I find them - just added one for Google Documents after doing # 19.

Cat People (#4,5)

I used this photo for mashup and image generator - I also did a peace symbol image generator but it was so lame I couldn't publish it!

Why are most librarians cat people?? This has always confounded me until I started looking for dogs and book photos on flickr. Cats are definitely the smarter animal. They rarely let themselves be photographed doing something undignified. In photos of dogs and books, the books usually met a sad demise or the dogs actually let their owners put a pair of reading glasses on them and take their photo slobbering on a book. Pathetic. Says more about the owner than the dog.

Disclaimer: I am allergic to some cats, we feed 4-6 feral cats (have had 5 fixed) (this is my husband's fault), I grew up with dogs but have had cats and dogs as an adult, I cried shamelessly at the end of Marley and Me (both the book and the movie), I don't believe a cat has ever made me cry shamelessly- wait, I just remembered Thomasina - retract last statement, I have definitely spent more money on vet bills for dogs (didn't know there were large dog surcharges until I had 2 very large dogs) and finally I am fighting the urge to have another non-feral pet.

Beach Lightning (#3)

Originally, I said this blog would be about my exciting retirement travels. The retirement has been delayed for entirely selfish reasons having to do with incentives to retire that might be forthcoming.

I do want to share my first trip even though it is preretirement and was taken not with Charley (as in Travels with Charley, the name of my blog) but in an American Airlines jet. Don't want to bore you with details - I'm adding those to the bottom of the post for my own gratification and reference guide.

One of the highlights or scarier moments of the trip was the lightning 0n the beach - I found this fantastic photo on flickr which is exactly what I witnessed while being outside! Another scary moment had to do with a transparent jellyfish floating right in front of my face mask. Didn't know such a small creature could give me such a thrill. Luckily I was on the surface and didn't suck water when I gasped.

Lauder by the Sea was an old school Florida kind of place with some low rise hotels still available and reasonable food prices especially at the diner on Commercial Blvd. The best thing about it was that a coral reef lay a little over 100 yards out to sea; an easy swim for snorkeling. The 4th of July fireworks were right off the beach next to where we were staying. They were beautiful, although I felt for the sea turtles who even thought about laying eggs in the sand that night. A small trail the next morning attested to one actually coming up on the sand only to beat a hasty retreat from all the drunken revelers. I found my perfect retirement job by the way - driving a mule along the beach looking for turtle tracks.

Hotel - High Noon Resort - great place right on the beach. Well insulated, thank God, or the Bumpusses' family reunion would have been hard to bear. Even grandad started drinking beer after or instead of breakfast.

Restaurants:

Aruba Beach Cafe- great Bimini bread and an interesting tomato based conch soup. Beautiful view of ocean

Oceans 234 - down A1A or Ocean Drive as name implies. Right on the beach in Deerfield Beach- great seafood place. Nice but casual.

Village Grill - good omelets

By-the-Sea Diner - breakfast and lunch. Booths only wide enough for 2 people. Lots of bar stools. Delicious inexpensive breakfast.

Zuckerello's & Fish Co - My son, Justin's GPS directed us to Zuckerello's after being too underdressed for Blue Moon Fish Company. Very friendly service with Italian flavored seafood.

Snorkeling highlights - turtle, parrotfish, French angelfish