Real Faux Pearls Sold Here

23 things comes to an end

2009-01-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

I loved doing this...who does not love fun technology. Hope everyone involved loved this as much as I did.

Time to blog about other topics.

Media & Book downloads

2009-01-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

I do like the idea of downloading books -- non-fiction that is. Fiction must be reserved for old school print. I am not going to be reading from my laptop from my bed. Bad Feng Shui!!!! But, non-fiction would is not bad. I am happy to see Dr Weil as a download -- yay!!

Now for MyLibraryDV...hmmmm. Well, I downloaded some Antiques Roadshows shows and well, here is the thing......I can also see them on hulu.com. And, I don't have to download special software. So, I wonder if anyone has done an depth comparison between the two. Hmmmmmm. All I got to say is hmmmmmm.

Podcasts

2009-01-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

I waited years, I mean years before I bought my first IPOD. I bought it last year with my last bonus check from my old job. The IPOD had evolved several generations and it was time for the big purchase. Also, I was not about to haul all my CDs across the country. So I ripped them all onto my IPOD. In addition, I ripped my friend's amazing collection of CDs and I now have about 4000 songs. I LOVE my IPOD!!! It is great company on my jogs which I hope to start up again if the temperature ever gets above 30!

So not only can I have songs galore, I also have videos, and many, many podcasts. I usually listen to NPR podcasts, but some of my other favorites include Dr. Weil, Grammar Girl, and Zencast. However, that Manya girl sure does know her podcasts, so I need to see what is on her list.

Podcasts are awesome. It is my NPR and everything else on the go!

Digital Ethnography on the YouTube!!

2009-01-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

For this exercise, we were asked to look at YouTube video and blog about it. Well, there are a LOT of YouTube videos and for me to blog about one, that has had some type of impact, is HUGE. So, I will blog about Michael Wesch Digital Ethnography YouTube videos. Each video that this dude, aka professor, has impacted me and subjected to me to deep thoughts (jack handy). Anyway, here is his list and I encourage every mofo out there to explore his profound insights:

Digital Ethnography

Web 2.0 Soup

2009-01-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

So for this exercise, I was asked to look a the following Web 2.0 site "awards" site and select only 1 site and chat about it. Seriously, that is like asking me to choose my favorite handbag. It can't be done!!!

So, since I have blogged about some of my favorite Web 2.0 apps in past blogs, I will focus on something I have not blogged about. It is CRACK for those folks who have been touched with attention deficit disorder. Love me some StumbleUpon!!! I StumbledUpon on StumbleUpon a few years ago and it is the perfect escape for those moments of just needing some interesting brain candy. I love it!!! All you need to do is check off a billion boxes of your intrests, and this nifty little feature will transport you to single web pages of your interests!!! OMG - it rocks!! And here is another thing folks, I have discovered some amazing website using this little app!!!

Stumbling on.....

Zoho and managing projects...

2009-01-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

At my old job at PQ, we were always looking to finding a better way of managing projects. In the early days, we managed all our tasks using Outlook. Developers would email us to look at changes and then we would respond with comments. It worked well in a small development environment, but as we grew, we had to find a more of a streamlined process. During that process of exploring, I took a look at Zoho and other "project mgmt" type applications. I found Zoho to be the worthiest of all out to market....and I still think they are worthy. We never adopted the Zoho application at PQ. Instead, we adopted the project mgmt process outlined by Pragmatic Marketing. Their process is specifically geared toward technology companies and their strategy also rocks. But here is the thing folks...none of this will work unless the entire system adopts the set forth project mgmt policy.

PB Wiki and the Sandbox

2009-01-19T18:45:00.000-08:00

For "thing 17" I added my blog to Learning 2.0 Wiki Sandbox. It took just a minute to do the task so I may not have much to blog about this particular exercise. However, I will blog about the "sandbox" idea, which is how I operated in deploying website changes at my old job at the big PQ. The idea of a "sandbox" is a GREAT idea. It is where all the developers can test their code before deploying to the world. It was a safety net of sorts. Before that, any change on our site would ultimately affect the masses and that was either very good or very, very bad. Usually the later. Our new website will operate on the same theory. No change will go out until it is tested and approved by the superusers -- which might be me. GREAT!

Wiki rhymes with Tiki

2009-01-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

I am a fan of Wikipedia. I like the fact that millions of folks who are the "expert" in a specific area and contribute that information to the masses. I have contributed to Wikipedia. Actually my contribution was to fix a link leading to my mama's website. I like the "idea" of Wikipedia's and I would love to see them deployed in some fashion on the OPL website. Perhaps the weblinks would be a great place to start. But, are we ready to give up control??? I am, I am just not sure if everyone else has bought into the notion that anyone can edit a page. Hmmm, maybe one day.

Here is the thing I ponder. Aside from the "Wikipedia", what other wikipedias do folks use? I am very curious. I will contribute to Wikipedias that created for the moment of whatever is going on, e.g Internet Librarian wiki, but aside from that, I am not really a Wiki girl.

Library 2.0

2009-01-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

I do love the "idea" of Web 2.o. From web 2.o, every industry had jumped on the 2.0 bandwagon -- we see Library 2.0. Marketing 2.0, etc. etc. We have "talked" about it for a number of years, but I am not really sure where we are at with deploying the 2.0 technologies. I love the idea of people engaging in the process of creating. And with that, I see two areas where we will see Library 2.0 deployed:

OPAC -- We need to build a better catalog, where users can engage in the process of save, recommend, and build sub collections -- kind of like how folks use Delicious. I would love to search a library catalog and search out a user's collected genre of books in a subject area that I might be interested in. That would be cool. Yes, I think the library catalog should follow some of design behind Delicious.

Genealogy -- Now folks in this arena live 2.o. They share, collaborate, and each contributes to the mass of information on our ancestors. With our recent deployment of Flickr and the upload of OPL photos, the mass will be able to contribute to tagging and adding information of the collection.

It will be inresting to see the evolution of Library 2.0.

Technorati

2009-01-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I have rarely visited the Technorati site. I do like reading and exploring blogs, but I think I just do that exploring the old fashion route.....where I was turned on to the blog by a friend. Or, I just simply read my friend's blog.

So, I just signed up for an account on Technorati to claim my blog and my current rank in the blogosphere is: 4,748,076. I am so very important!!! So, as I write this I am exploring Technorati and I see why it would be useful, but it really is NOT making me all that excited. In fact it is making me sleepy. And, I am searching for my friend's blog and she is not coming up in the results! This disappoints me since I think she is the funniest person I know and everyone should read her blog:

A of All

mmmmm...delicious

2009-01-18T17:28:00.000-08:00

I have been using Delicious for a number of years. I have over 700 bookmarks that I probably need to go through at some point and do some heavy duty bookmark weeding. Hmmm, I will put that on my 2009 list of things to do. Anyway, I can't imagine any person who has not bought into the greatness of Delicious. Saving and tagging all your bookmarks and they are PORTABLE!!! I am all hello! Love it! In addition, if you are a FireFox user, which we all know is the superior browser, you can download an extension that will let you easily save and tag any website while surfing.

The other superb feature of Delicious is that you can explore and save the collected bookmarks of others. For example, I have a little addiction to perfume, so I have in my network the wonderful collection of bookmarks by scentedpages. She has a fabulous collection of websites devoted to all things deliciously smelly! Love it!

Rollyo can roll on by...

2009-01-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

I took a serious hiatus on blogging of the "23 things". Partly because of the holidays and partly I had no desire to write about Rollyo. In theory, creating your own search engine sounds kinda cool but, I tend not to want to limit myself to set number of websites. Also, HATE all the advertisement. Is Rollyo trying to convince me that they are my portal to the web? I am not convinced. I will stick to Google for my quick and dirty search results and StumbleUpon for my pleasant surprises.

LibraryThing

2008-11-20T10:52:00.000-08:00

LibraryThing is by far one of the greatest sites created by and for book lovers. I love books and I was really excited to catalog my collection of books about books. Wow, that just screamed NERD! I cataloged part of my collection a couple years back and I have yet to finish the task. My 'LibraryThing' project shifted to the back of the line of the many other projects that I have planned.

However, I do have an interest on the different ways that LibraryThing can enhance Library's services. Here are a couple...

1. Free book covers - upload these puppies into the library catalog
2. ThingISBN , which is LibraryThing's version of XISBN - each API find variants of the the single title book title.

On to thing 12...

The RSS Hookup

2008-11-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

RSS is a type of push technology that I believe is extremely valuable, but in which I rarely use. I was an early adopter of using RSS Readers, using FireFox's Add-on SAGE. It was an OK reader, and I would check my feeds about once a week. Not really the intended 'use case'. Problem was that I was not hooked like I am with Facebook! In addition to SAGE I have used Yahoo's RSS reader -- where I save feeds into my Yahoo Mail account. Side note, I upgraded to Yahoo pro and it is slow and cranky! Lastly, I have a Bloglines account, which again I rarely visit. So the search continues for the ultimate RSS feeder. I am re-exploring FireFox Add-ons and I may just dump yahoo all together and move over to Gmail and Google's Reader.

Tab a licious

2008-11-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

I truly believe that the FireFox browser and all of their wonderful Add-ons were built specifically for me. First of all, let's just begin by saying that FireFox is the superior browser. If I ever had to revert back to using only IE, I might abandon surfing the Internet. I am not kidding. So what makes FireFox so special? Well, it's kinda of like really tasty burger, where plain, it tastes wonderful, but throw on some bacon and blue cheese, well then, you got yourself a damn good burger!

So, let's dress up FireFox:

1. Colorful Tabs - Now, if you ever looked over my shoulder, you might be a little discombobulated with the amount of tabs I have open. I usually have 3 FireFox windows open each with about 7 tabs (all in different colors). So folks, that equals to about 20-25 websites that I am monitoring. Let's just say I am not a minimalist.

2. Delicious Bookmarks - As much as I surf the Internet, I must have an easy way to bookmark and tag all my favorite sites. FireFox has a lovely little app that lets me bookmark any page to my Delicious from the toolbar. Handy freakin dandy!

3. Cooliris - Here is another nice little app that I have found very handy, and sometimes annoying. Cooliris allows you to preview webpages before you actually commit to a click. So for all you commitment phobes out there, you will love this app. Why annoying? Well, as much as my mouse runs wild on webpages, it often hovers over the icon that deploys the webpage preview, unintentionally of course, therefore annoying me. But...I do love Cooliris!

Fo Shizzle your Flickr

2008-11-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

Library Trading cards are the shiznit. They are clever little ways to market & brand who you are to the world. I would LOVE to see an actual directory of names of folks who work at OPL on our website along with their trading card. Perhaps with the website redesign scheduled for Spring 09, we can work on that.

For the Flickr assignment, I actually researched all the apps associated with Flickr....some great, some good, and some just sucked! Some of my top faves are the Warholizer, LOMO (see my fairy), and I am digging the Mappr Mashup. Of the 23 things thus far, Flickr apps is something I will continue to explore. They rock my world!

Flickr appeals to my inner paparazzi

2008-10-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

I heart my Canon Elph. I paparazzi the heck out of both animate and inanimate objects. Where did this paparazzi obsession come from? Well, back in the early 90's I lived in glorious Santa Fe where everyone was an artist of some sort. Well, I was lucky to have an abundance of friends who were photographers -- really, really, good photographers. In fact, my collection of art in my house includes some great pieces from my good friends Sara Jane, Bruno, and Andy. Each having an eye for amazing shots. So, I too picked up the camera and followed in their footsteps, not only to document my life, but also to create my own amazing pieces of art.

Where do I store all these photos? Well, I have had a flickr account for a very long time, but I have recently upgraded my free Flickr to the Flickr Pro. With the thousands of photos residing on my hard drive, I thought I better stash them in multiple places to ensure their survival. So with that, I give you my crazy collection of Flickr photos. Oh, I have just begun uploading!

You are loved Paul!

2008-09-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

O What a Geek - My 2.0 Habits

2008-09-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

I have been on the 2.0 bandwagon for quite some time. It all started when my former company created a 'Think Tank' group and one of the first projects was the creation of a personal portal for customers subscribing to our database resources. It was a pretty snazzy product, but it never made it to market. I still think the 'personal portal' is the way to go, but nothing has quite appealed to me yet. iGoogle and PageFlakes have made attempts to lure me in, but they fall short. Where do I spend all my time? Well folks facebook has become my personal portal! My new side project will be to incorporate the OPL catalog as an app into Facebook -- if Hennepin can do it -- so can we!!

Now, if this 2.0 has you a bit hooked, take a look at Michael Arrington's site TechCrunch. He blogs and reviews the latest and greatest Web 2.0 technologies. And, I love the Go2Web20 directory -- so check it out folks!

Christo and Jeanne-Claude - Permit Please!

2008-09-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending Christo & Jeanne-Claude's lecture at Kaneko in Omaha. I first heard about Christo in an Intro to Art class in college. I was completely amazed by the 'Surrounded Islands' installation in Miami, Florida.

Just look at those pretty pink islands -- who would not LOVE that!

They might be the cutest couple ever, born on the same day, and they like to wrap big things. Wrappers they are!

After the lecture, they opened the floor for questions and one person asked -- since your installation pieces are temporary, what part of the process are you most happiest? Jeanne-Claude answered:

"Getting the permit!" (they have one project which has been waiting for approval for 32 years) -- somebody needs to stamp that permit as APPROVED!

Music has one volume - ours

2008-09-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

To impress my out of town DC friends with the delights of Omaha, I decided to take them to a restaurant called Dixie Quick's. I figured Dixie Quick's recently received national attention from The Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, would be a good place to start. On Friday morning, we arrived promptly at 9:00 am. Soon after we were seated, our waiter, Buffy and Alan bonded immediately in just a few short seconds when Alan called him "Girrrllllll". After that, we pretty much had a weekend love affair with Dixie Quick's. First breakfast, then an incredible art opening the next night, and then breakfast again!!! Rene, Rob, and Buffy -- you rock my world!

Wordle - My Blog Cloud

2008-09-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

The graphic was made using Wordle where you can create your own word cloud (as my friend Jenny did in my previous post) or, look what happens when you upload your blog:

I love my JENNY!!!

2008-09-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

Look what she sent me today!!! Jenny -- you made my day!!!

xoxoxoxoxoox

My husbands are coming to visit!

2008-09-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

My greatest friends, Alan & Andy, who I fondly refer to as my husbands and I am referred to as their wife, are coming out to visit me this week from Bethesda, MD. They are the first to come to visit my fabulous 50's ranch.

I heart Alan & Andy!!! Kisses!!!!

One more thing, the lady in the pic is my friend Jenny!!! I am visiting my Jenny in September and we are attending the the ULTRA KICK ASS VIRGINIA WINE FESTIVAL

2008-08-28T05:54:00.000-07:00

I truly LOVE the 3 day weekends!! I hope you all have a FAB Labor Day weekend!!!!

I once had a friend named Wilson

2008-08-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

Years ago when I was living in Santa Fe, I had a friend named Wilson. Wilson was a bit of a rock star in my group of friends - he proclaimed himself as either a) gay or b) bisexual -- all depending on the crowd we were in. He was increddibly fun to be around -- we would bar hop all over town, work the next morning, and then traipse down to the our favorite coffee shop Downtown Subscription and drink mochas and return to work fully caffeinated.

Wilson was fun because he was worldly, he knew a lot about art, he was friends with practically everyone in Santa Fe, and always espoused he was from money. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts and appeared to be connected to many of the known artists in Santa Fe.

Here is the thing -- Wilson's stories were always so fantastic, it was nearly impossible to tell if they were in fact, fiction. Toward the end of Wilson's stint and his stories of who he slept with (usually men who were proclaimed heterosexuals), Wilson borrowed a large sum of money from me. He convinced me that it was a good idea for me to take a loan out at 20% + interest and pay off my credit cards and to lend him a $1000. Not much after that he skipped town and not only I, my group of friends realized we had been duped!

Today my friend sent me an article from the NYT about a man named Clark Rockefeller who duped the small town of Cornish, N.H. My friend, Sara Jane had flashbacks of Wilson.

I am not sure whatever happened to Wilson -- we did reconnect briefly via MySpace, and from the looks of his profile, he still leads a fabulous life!!!

And by the way, I never got paid back the $1000.

IOUSA

2008-08-21T06:53:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of working at the Omaha Public Library is that we get invited (thanks to our director - Rivkah Sass) to major literary, film, and other artsy events. Tonight I am to see the critically-acclaimed documentary film IOUSA. It is described as:

I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens.

Hmmmmm, should be good. I owe a derrière load to the USA. Last week I scraped up change to deposit into my checking account to avoid the lovely overdraft. I am officially living from paycheck to paycheck. I cut corners where they need to be cut, but I'll be damned if I give up my ice coffee from Starbucks!!!

So tonight I see I.O.U.S.A. for FREE and afterwards, Warren Buffet, Dave Walker, and Pete Peterson will discuss the film with the audience. And now, I am off to get my ice coffee and pay the last of my bills!

"I can get you a toe"

2008-08-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I emailed a former colleague of mine asking about his thoughts on branding. He emailed back and said "I can get you a Toe". From that moment on, I have been laughing hysterically. Can you guess where that line came from folks? If you can....you have my respect....if not....you need to embrace the Coen Brothers. Although my former colleague and I, never saw eye to eye on work issues, we always agreed on the greatness of the Big Lebowski.

The Homy Inn

2008-02-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

Now this fine establishment has been around since the 50's and I drive by it everyday to work. Now get this folks.....they serve champagne on tap. I AM NOT KIDDING!. Tracy and I hit this place up on Saturday night and had a few beers -- and with the Asti on tap, they also serve up some premium beers as well. We were a bit tired from whooping it up the night before, so before we left, I bought myself a t-shit (I am a fan) and asked for book of matches which on the back prominently states "Voted top 50 bars by Esquire". I considered this suspect, so when I got home, I googled such a claim to fame, and what do you know....they stand by their word:
Esquire