Week 3, Assignment 7

Miss Darla Has the Power of Chuck, originally uploaded by ata4ya.

For SRP 2007, we did a Subversive Sewing class. The teens "helped" me create this fabulous Chuck Norris t. I just had to macro it.

BTW, if there are any Doctor Who fans out there, there is a macro community on LiveJournal called "I Can Haz a Tardis". I think that's the name. If you can't find it let me know and I'll double check the name of the community.

Week 3, #6 Assignment Flickr Mashups and Apps

I love mashups! My favorite tool is the trading card generator. I could definitely use that in a YA program!

LOLsecretz!

You've laughed over LOLCats. You've been inspired by Postsecret. Now I present LOLsecretz! (For all the newbies to blogging, just click on the colored word for the links.)

TMI Alert: Blogging Sick

It will be two weeks on Thursday that I was diagnosed as being on the verge of insulin resistance. I have 6 months to get my diet and exercise program pulled together and my blood sugar lowered or I will start having to take medicine. My doctor told me that once that starts it's pretty much a downhill slide to diabetes.

I have the exercise down pat. I am training for the Houston marathon in January and I've been pretty good about sticking to my training plan. It's just the food that has gotten to me.

So I started over again. No white bread, no white rice, no potatoes, and the least amount of sugar possible. We cleaned out the cabinets (you would be shocked at the "healthy", "organic" products that aren't made with whole wheat) and started from scratch. I've been pretty good to stick with it and I've even lost 3 pounds in less than 2 weeks.

Then my body starting going through "detox". I am not about to describe it, but let's just say that Eric's going-away Spiderman cake is no longer in my system. Pretty much nothing is in my system right now. Just conjure up the urban legend about John Wayne's death. That's not going to be me by a long shot.

As a result, I missed work today. I'm feeling much better now. I decided to check my e-mail and complete my assignment for today.

Week 3, #5 Teen Tech Week Display

Teen Tech Week Display, originally uploaded by ata4ya.

Here's a photo from my ata4ya flickr account. It was my 2007 Teen Tech Week Display. (And yes, that is a real mouse and headphones taped to the poster!)

Long before HCPL converted to flickr, I started this account. The main reason I started it is a wonderful community called 365 Library Days. You can either post a photo per day or 365 photos in a year. So far, I'm running behind due to summer reading. Once I get all those posted, I should be up to speed.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Another Cookie, Another Contest

So Janet won the first cookie for finding out that my blog title was taken from Margaret Cho.

Here's my next question:

Who are my two favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters? One is pretty obscure. If you can guess them, you get a cookie!

Ramble: Blogging, It's a Good Thing

One of the things I love about this training is the employee interaction that it has spawned. We are swapping stories, books, videos, photos and knowledge. Everyone who always hears me say, "I am putting this in my blog tonight!" is learning how wonderful it feels to have a blog. I've also become an unofficial blog guru.

I started blogging in January 2004 but I had been lurking for 2 years before that date. As e-mail lists and forums slowed down, I realized that all the communities that I loved to participate in were moving to blogs. I lurked for a long time before I finally took the plunge.

I think this is a wonderful tool for staff communication. It's so hard to find time to get to know one another during our busy day. It's fun to sit down and check out the blogs and learn about my coworkers. It's also fun to play, "Guess the Blog Owner" since most of us are semi-anonymous.

So staff blogging, it's a good thing.

It's What's For Breakfast!

Online Safety

The truth is your information is out there and if someone is internet savvy, they can find it. I've been on the internet since the days of BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and even I'm shocked that I've let information slip.



For example, Google your home phone number. If you have a land line, you are probably going to find your address, a Google map to your house, and even a nice photo. The good news is that you can contact Google to have it removed. They removed my information within 24 hours.



The bad news is nothing ever really disappears from the internet. In fact, there is a movement toward internet archiving. Check out http://www.archive.org/index.php. Ever had a website that you loved, but it went belly up? If you still have the URL, you might be able to find it here.



I know this sounds dirty but I think it's a good idea to google yourself everyone once in a while.

How I Learn

I tend to learn best by just playing around with things. I like to experiment and see what I can do with technology. I prefer a hands-on approach to learning rather than just a dry lecture.

I think so many people are afraid of technology because they are afraid that they will "ruin" their computer or document. When I gave my Mom my old Mac G3 a few years ago, she barely used it. I finally walked her through the basics of e-mail and desktop publishing. It took a lot of convincing but after a while, she began to experiment with other media. Now, she's my go-to-gal when it comes to graphic design and photo editing. She creates custom mailing labels, photo greeting cards, etc.

So, I love to play.

My YA Blog

Just in case you are interested, I have a YA blog for ATA here: http://360.yahoo.com/ata4ya. Most of the time, I use it to get information out to the teens, but I want to get them more involved with the content of the blog.

I'm Here!

Okay, I could have used the other 11 blogs that I have but this one was languishing on Blogger so I thought I would use it for the 23 Things experience.

BTW, you get a cookie if you can identify the source of my journal title? And finish the phrase, "My name is Gwen and I'm here to...."

More later.