Things 7, 9, 10, 16, 21 and (sort of) 22

I was going to quit, but nobody likes quitters. 

Plus, the deadline has been extended and 10 hours toward recertification is nothing to sneeze at.  The problem is that I’ve been stalled after Thing 6 for over a month now.  Can I finish in time?  No, probably not.  But I can at least blow through a few of these I’ve already done.  Is that cheating?  I like to think not.

Thing 7: I’ve played with Flickr, a little.  I’ve had a few family and friends post some pictures there.  I looked at them, marveled at the surprisingly good picture quality, and then went on with my life.  Does that qualify as “playing” with Flickr?  I think so.  Does that qualify as having “Flickr fun”?  Probably not.  I’ll have to come back to Thing 8 another time.

Thing 9: I’ve played with some online games from time to time.  I try not to do it too much because I like to think I have a life to lead, but I’m not a stranger to it.  My all time favorite is “Three Point Hoops” because it is so freakin’ addictive.  There are many versions of it all over the place, but one I visit most is here:   http://arcade.espn.go.com/basketball-game.htm .  Not to brag or anything, but I was once nationally ranked on this game.

   By that I mean I was listed as having the 4th highest score for that month.  Sadly, it was only January 2nd.  By the 3rd I was down to 17th.  By the 4th I was off the list completely. 

Thing 10:  I’ve been on Goodreads for six or seven months now.  All my Friends are people I know from the library.  In fact, I think about 90% of all the people on Goodreads are librarians.  I know no one outside of work who is on it.  I enjoy it, even if I sometimes get behind in updating what I’m currently reading.  At least that’s what I tell people.  That’s less embarassing than letting them realize how long it can take me to finish a book.

Thing 16:  Ahh, Facebook.  I’ve been on Facebook for less than a week but already have about 20 Friends (again, mostly library people).  I’m finding it strangely addictive.  I keep looking for people I know, but haven’t found many.  I even followed a link to view other people from my high school class and found 71 people listed.  Of those, maybe three or four are people who I would have considered friends at the time, but haven’t spoken to in years.  There were another 15 or so I remembered.  A few more who’s names ring a bell, but I can’t picture.  The other 45 or so?  I have no idea.  No recollection at all.  None.  The question now becomes, “do I want to contact any of these people?”  So far, the answer is no.

Thing 21:  I have, in fact, “discovered YouTube.”  Two or three years ago, I wasted much of an afternoon discovering YouTube.   Instead of watching things like “Monkey Washing A Cat” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6JB3riPJu8, if you’re really interested), I tried searching really obscure things and was surprised by how much I found.  I even found a bunch of stuff when searching “Cleveland Heights.”  Among them, a slide show of my old grade school Oxford Elementary set to a cheesy Michael Buble song and a rather vicious girl fight at Heights High.  Fortunately, it looks like both videos have been removed.

Thing 22: I subscribe to about 15 podcasts.  I was at 23 for a while, but dropped a few because I wasn’t listening to them.  Even with fewer subscriptions, I had 104 unplayed podcasts last time I looked.  Most of them I found through the iTunes search feature.  I know there are other ways to find them, but more podcasts are the last thing I need right now.

“River Goo Is Pond Scum”

That is the latest headline and accompanying picture from the Cincinnati Enquirer feed that I can’t get rid of.  (In case you’re wondering, the caption reads “A pencil was used to provide perspective.”)  I mention this for posterity because I have decided to say goodbye to Google Reader forever.  I signed up for Bloglines a couple weeks ago and no longer need Gmail’s bastard cousin.   Not that I have found a great need for Bloglines yet either.  I do get more useful library blogs, better articles from places Google Reader wouldn’t let me subscribe to, and also Dilbert.

 

How many of these do I actually need?  Well, the library blogs are good for articles from people who don’t like Worldcat and obits for librarians in other parts of the country.  However, I still go to the ESPN, Slate and New York Times sites on my own, and I’ve already read Dilbert in the paper by the time I see the feed.   At least I’m checking it regularly.

How am I doing with 23 Things, you ask?  Not well.  This is my first post on this blog in nearly a month and it’s not even about anything.  There simply is no time during the day to work on it.  My last couple “Things” had to be done outside of library time.  Heck, I’m writing this at 1:30 in the morning because I can’t sleep!  I think I can kiss my chances at winning one of the non-existent prizes goodbye.

Thank you, Google Reader

Horseback Fugitive Captured

Chris Crosby, the 25-year-old burglar who was on the run for weeks after jumping bail – he was even seen riding a horse through the woods in Clermont County – was caught today.

 Is this some scrap of a newspaper story from the old west?  No my friends, this is a headline from yesterday’s  Cincinnati Enquirer.  I feel like such a fool for trying to find a way to delete this feed.   Who knew things like this still go on in southern Ohio?

Yes, I’ve decided to check my Google Reader account a whole day after signing up.  I was able to log in on my first try, which already makes it better that than Frog Blogs (or whatever that other RSS service was called).  What did I find?

The Cleveland Public Library feed was a pleasant surprise.  It gets updated two or three times a week.  It’s well done, pretty to look at and has some useful information about services (some of which even have some bearing on those of us in CLEVNET).  They really seem to be putting a fair amount of work in to it.  Too bad there are only four subscribers.

I get something called Cinema Blend.  All the current posts are from the San Diego Comic Con, so I’m getting important pieces like “Terminator Sequel Might Be R Rated,” “Saw V Terrifies Even Cast” and “Five Pics of Rose McGowan as Red Sonja” as they happen!

 (Yes, that is one of the images and, yes, it is a picture someone took of a poster.)

A Librarian’s Guide to Etiquitte expands on a pet theory of mine–that there are certain character types that can be found in any library.  I would share what they came up with, but I think just posting them would get people pissed at me.  A few might even get me fired.  Forget I mentioned it.

Library Stuff is more serious in nature and has a number of well thought out posts about libraries and their place in modern society.  I think.  I didn’t really read them that closely.

Did I find anything that really matters to me?  Yes, as a matter of fact I did.  According to Yahoo Sports…Cavaliers free agent point guard Delonte West has been a 2 yr. $10 million contract to play in Russia!

 Granted, Delonte is not a “pure” point guard, but he is the closest thing the Cavs have on their roster.   The problem is, he really isn’t worth that much.  Now, it’s still just a rumor at this point, and probably not an unexpected one after the Josh Childress situation with the Hawks the other day. (Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about!)  Still, it’s something that should be watched closely.  At least that’s what I said when I first read about–on the plain old ESPN website two days ago!  I even saw an article in that supposed dinosaur the-ink-and-newsprint Plain Dealer about 12 hours ago.  Shouldn’t Web 2.0 be quicker than Web 1.0?  Or, for that matter, Newspaper 1.0?

   

  

   

I Just Don’t See The Point

Like a good 23 Thing-er, I’ve signed up for RSS feeds.  I’ve done this once before.  I was getting feeds through one of those things we had linked on our website.  I don’t remember what it was called.  Something about a turtle or a frog or a lizard.  Anyway, I checked it a few times and looked at a couple things, but quickly gave up on it.  It seemed to me that RSS feeds were for the very laziest of web users.

I mean how much energy does it take to click on a link in your favorites list?   But, in the interest of winning prizes that may not exist, I signed up for Google Reader.   I chose that over Blog Lines because I have a Gmail account and thought that would make things easier.  I was wrong.  Google reader is a mess.  You are encouraged to subscribe to “bundles” like News, Sports, “Fun” and so on.  My bundles included such useless-to-me feeds as BBC Sport, Pittsburgh Steelers News, the Cincinnati Enquirer and various “funny” video sites. 

   

Getting rid of the feeds I don’t want is not as easy to do as it should be.  Actually, I’m not even sure I can do it at all.  There must be a way, but I haven’t been able to find it. 

The selections for library feeds is rather pathetic.  There are lots for individual libraries and a few rather vague general sites.  I signed up for something called Library Stuff (I’m the 400th subscriber–maybe I’ll get prize for that), one for Cleveland Public Library (I’m only subscriber number 4???), the Librarian’s Guide to Etiquette (every bit as snarky as it sounds) and something called Dynamic Drive Library (which I picked just for the name).   I’m not sure how useful any of them will be, but the options are rather limited.

My Required Technology Post

I don’t care about most new technology.  I just don’t.  Unless it’s something I know I’m really going to use (like iTunes), or something I’m pretty sure I would use if I had it (like a DVR), or something I feel I need to get only because everyone else seems to already have it (like a FaceBook page), I have a hard time mustering any enthusiasm.   

It was because of this mindset, that I was baffled to hear my parents stood in line last week to buy one of the new iPhones.  I have a regular cell phone that I barely use.  My wife has a BlackBerry she uses constantly…but my parents???  They’re supposed to be ”late adapters.”  When I was a kid, we were the last house in the neighborhood to get cable.  They didn’t get a push button phone until the late ’90s.  What are these people doing with a new iPhone???

I suppose this is what is has come to, and I have no one to blame but myself.  I now need 23 Things to keep up with my parents.

Why is the Innovations Team not being straight with us?

Depsite earlier claims, I am now hearing we won’t all be getting cars.  In fact, I now doubt there are any prizes at all.  Nice.

When Do I Start Winning Cash and Prizes?

I am doing this for work.  We are learning 23 Things and we can win prizes if we create a blog and do other things.  I think they are giving away a car or something.  Anyway, I think I’m pretty much guaranteed to win something.   A scooter, at least.  Or maybe one of those giant keyboards, like in the movie Big.