Week 6 #13 - TAG You're It!

De.li.cios ... well, I've opened my account and added some links, but I really think the site likes Firefox better, 'cause you can do more stuff. However, I can see this would be way more useful than having my bookmarks at work, then my bookmarks on two different computers at home, not to mention when I'm over at a friend's house on their computer! My only caveat is that what happens if the Web goes Poof? (This is a deep down anxiety of mine, fueled by apocalyptic media like "What If It Happened Tomorrow?" on the Weather Channel.) My anxiety is only partially alleviated by the fact that the Internet was built to work during a ballistic missle attack by the Soviet Union. However, then there's the whole other electricity conundrum - since my batteries only last 3 hours. (Quick time out while I look for solar powered computers, which of course, will not work during nuclear winter ... sigh.)

I've been using the tags of other people's accounts, however, so that I can look for their favorite stuff that might be like my favorite stuff. Someday I may find everything I want to know, but it won't happen any too soon. My favorite thing in my own account is the list of suggested tags, which let's me use what's left of my brain for other things than thinking up what to tag things.

Checking out hcpl's de.li.cios page led me to some sites I hadn't known about, but most of it is familiar from my own reference bookmark list, i.e. Librarian's Guide to the Internet, etc. But I was pleased to find a bibliography generator for my brother who is in agony over APA cited sources for his bibliographies!

Week 5, #11 - The Thing About Library Thing

The Thing About Library Thing is that it could just suck you down in a black hole of adding stuff when you have as many books as I do. It does irritate me that I haven't found a way yet to bring up an author and just check off all the books by that author and add them all at once - when you are a completist and you buy everything by an author it gets damn repetitive. Maybe I've just missed an easier way to do this. I do think I'll keep playing with this, because it scratches my list-making obsession beautifully. And because it would be nice to know what I have. I've been known to end up with multiple copies, because (a) I don't remember it (which, shudder, happens too frequently these days,) or (b)I can't find it. Or it's in a box somewhere in the closet.

Week 5 #12 Elves!

Well, I signed up with Library Elf last week, but am just getting to blogging about the experience.

Welcome Cynthia
Help

Account ID: clockwoo@hcpl.net

Elf user since: Dec 12, 2007


Notices Total
Total emails sent 1
- Advance notices 0
- Overdue notices 1
- Holds ready for pickup 1
- Holds about to expire 1
- Other notices 0

I really like the layout of the page - it makes it easy to see everything at a glance, and is easy to print out (unlike Horizon.) What I particularly like is that I can nag myself with daily reminders about books that are due - and that's what it takes to make me look through the piles of books in my office or in my car or beside the sofa for the library books amidst the piles of books I order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Half com and Ebay. (There's a reason this blog is called Maxed Out with Books.) I also like having my holds status shown on the same page. The suggested book section and the calendars (I never know what day it is) are also helpful.

Of course, the best part is that once you set it up, it keeps going by itself! So a big thumbs up from me!

Happy Holidays!

This is the new pupster, Connor. And he is just as hyper as he looks in this Meez picture!

Week 5 #10 - Dressing for Christmas

Here is a festive avatar for the season. Not enough or too many choices at Yahoo Avatar. I would have liked to have layered some of the choices, such as having more cats and dogs for a truer representation. I also wanted to decorate the cat, although some might think that way too twee! And when I copy the code to post all the movement disappears!

Meez on the other hand, was neat, and since it lets you export directly to your blog on Blogger, all the movement stays, though the avatar is somewhat diminished when it is directly loaded as an avatar. I think there's a way to fix that back on the Meez page, and I'll try that later. Later ... hmmm, well the image is full but now it's in its own post and one of the other meez's is in the avatar slot. I dunno. Later, again.

Week 4 #9 THE NEWS DEALERS

I'm not sure an information junkie like me should have access to something that pushes info ... I might just overdose, and there's no antagonist to inject for news overdose. Of the sites suggested for the dealers, well ... Feedster is not working as it is rolling out some new something and I don't have time to watch that space, I'm not fond of the display for syndic8.com - which left Topix and Technorati. What surprised me was that there was such a difference in what they showcase, using both doesn't really overlap to the point it's not worth visiting both. I don't think I'll join either one, just visit as needed in case my current fix of news doesn't meet the need. I like the Topix layout better, since I still like my info laid out like a newspaper, but Technorati does cover some interesting ground.

Of course, now I'm up to 26 Feeds and it's all ihcpl's fault.

Week 4, #8 RSS Feeds - Intray of the Mind

This assignment is much more to my taste than dealing with pictures. Maybe too much so, since once I created my Bloglines account, BooksinChaos, I went crazy adding feeds. I've got feeds to weather sites, earthquakes, news, librarian blogs, ihcpl blogs (though I'm so far behind there's not much popping up from there in my updates)and tons of stuff that allow me to check in on my favorite magazines headlines without having to track down the actual paper copy. It does, however, create a time sucking info whirlpool that I need to make an effort to plug. So I played around with the display setups so that only the subject lines show up and I have to actually click on something to read it. That does allow me to filter things out for time allotment - allowing me to at least slot things into "later I'll read that if I have more time - " and "I'm really, really interested in this."not ....

Of course, that means I'm selecting my info flow for tasty treats rather than veggies, but it mimics the way I've been reading the newspapers for some time. I sometimes miss the leisurely reading every word of everything, but there's just too much information, and I only have so much room on the intray of my mind. My blogroll is up to 22 feeds ... and counting.