Baby Sitting

3 more sleeps. Then off they go back to their mother.

10 days of mayhem. At the same time as looking after two little grand daughters aged 3 & 5 I am trying to learn and practice for a humorous speech competition on Sunday 12th October.

I like to practice in front of a video camera - As soon as I start practicing my grand daughters - ask - Are you practicing your speech? They know that they have got 7 minutes for mayhem. Off they go in different directions, on Monday the three year old took a jar of honey off the table and it got spilt on her bed when the 5 year old was jumping on the bed. On Tuesday a banana milk shake was spilt on the floor. I am not sure if I want to practice my speech today.

Thank goodness for the movie "Barbie & the Diamond castle" they watch it twice aday.

Have to go now they want me to put on the movie again.

Not much time for reading. I am too tired at night to read more than a few pages.

Books I am Reading

I have just finished reading The household guide to dying a novel by Debra Adelaide. I really enjoyed this book and read it really fast. It is about an author and domestic advice columnist who is dying from breast cancer and her quest to tie up loose ends before she dies.

Another book I finished a few days ago was also about dying but being able to come back at an earlier time and change things so that your life has a happier ending it is called Will you be there? by Guillaume Musso.

I loved reading Geraldine Brooks novel People of the book. I loved the concept of the history of the book and all the people who had a hand in writing the book and protecting it over hundreds of years.

Rustic Theme

Today I found an interesting blog.
http://www.dustedbywhimsy.blogspot.com/
It is interesting because last Saturday 7th June 2008 I took some photographs of my toes. I was trying to get a rustic theme - a picture of my toes (I really need a manicure and should remove the old chipped nail polish) and a picture of my rustic old clothes trolley under the clothes line. The wheel keeps falling off the trolley and my husband keeps saying he should put new wheels on it but never gets around to it.

There is a lot of history behind this trolley.

The wheels came off the pram we bought in 1979 for our first baby. I pushed the pram which later converted into a stroller for three years then again for another three years with second son.

When our children no longer needed to be pushed around in pram or stroller we put the wheels to good use on the clothes trolley.

The basket has just about had it. I have been looking for a new basket but have not yet found one that I want.

The peg bag was made by my sister in law. I gave her the material and she made a peg bag for herself and one for me. When the bag was first in use the dark blue material kept running every time it was left out in the rain and I kept getting blue hands when I picked up the pegs.

But sadly its still hanging in and serving a useful purpose just like my toes.

Now the bike in this picture has a lot of history. We got the bike from my grandmother in 1982.

It was really old then and we fixed it up for our children. It was yellow and red then. It got a lot of rough treatment for years and then got hung up in the shed for a few years. A few years ago we got it down and re-painted it and now it gets a run around every few weeks when our granddaughters come to stay. The front tyre keeps falling off and has to be put back on.

Every time I see the bike I think of all the children who have enjoyed riding it.

Shoe Story

In March I wore the above shoe hat to a Mad Hatters Tea Party. I was supposed to be the dormouse for the evening so I thought a shoe on my head would be appropriate.

The party was a themed night for the Toastmasters Club that I am in.

An Interesting Blog

I have been wasting time searching different blogs and came across a very interesting blog. That I thought I might share.

http://chriskong57.blogspot.com/2008/06/shoe-boxa-touching-story.html


Today my husband is making a display cupboard for me. I will put some of my favorite books in it and on the three top shelves I will display my shoe collection.

I love reading about shoe stories, and collecting tiny shoes.

I am not about to start crocheting tiny shoes although I do have a some very easy instructions somewhere in one of my cupboards for crocheted baby bootees. I made some when my I was having my first son - 29 years ago.

Yesterday I tried to make a fabric dolls shoe using instructions for leather but it did not quite work out the way it was supposed to. It is very fiddly and I do not think I will waste my money buying the leather.

More Dream Houses

A Dream House

I saw this house recently while on holidays at Tamborine Mountain.

A perfect dream house for children.

Dreamhouse For Chooks

This is our finished Dream house for our chooks. It has a veranda and a finial on the pitched roof.
Our chooks love their home. Our rooster crows every morning at 6am.

PICT0189
Originally uploaded by my dreamhouse

Building a dream house for chooks

Building work in progress.

Long awaited new air conditioner

coolair059
Originally uploaded by my dreamhouse

New Air Conditioner arrives at Ballina Library April 2007.

Finished

I have had a look at Facebook and Myspace. I think Facebook would only be of use for sharing information with very close friends. I do not think I would use Facebook for tracking down school friends.

My Space has a few more features that may be useful. Although I do not like the way you age is displayed. At least on face book you can hide you details.

I have really enjoyed the last few months and will keep on adding information to this Blog.

There are a lot of features that I would like to explore further and in more depth.

I have made some corrections in some of my Blogs and added further information to some,

See WOW Week three for additional information.

Dot the I's and cross the T's

Almost There

Learning new technology is not as nerve wracking as driving along the Pacific Highway near Ballina.

Just checking. What have I learnt about the 71/2 habits of learning?

Habit 1. Begin with the end in mind.
When I commenced this online course I was hoping to learn about new technology and how I could use it in my work place and for my own interests.

Habit 2. Accept responsibility for your own learning!
I have always tried to accept responsibility for my own learning. I am continually refreshing my skills and learning new skills. I see learning as a challenge and am always setting new tasks.

I am a member of ALIA and committed to continued professional development - each year when I pay my ALIA membership renewal I inform ALIA what I have been doing in the last 12 months towards my Professional Development.

Habit 3. View Problems as Challenges.
While doing this online course I have had a few problems with RSS Feeds, Flickr, YouTube, and so on but I have enjoyed the challenge of trying to find a way around each problem.

Habit 4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner.
I am confident that I if I follow provided instructions I will be able to learn how to do what is required. Also I am confident that if instructions are incomplete I am prepared to try something different to achieve the desired results.

Habit 5. Create Your Own Learning Toolbox.
When I first read about the list of 7 1/2 habits I was intrigued by habit 5. I am keen to create my own learning tool box. In it I will put all of the essential tools that I need to effectively use electronic technology to add to my own learning and to improve my skills.

Habit 6. Use Technology to Your Advantage.
I am interested in Local History and would like to be able to create a WepPage of Blog that uses photographs, videos, and podcasts to gain interest and help make people aware of recording and preserving their own local history.

Habit 7. Teach and Mentor Others.
At work I have been able to work with other staff members as we worked our way through the Learning 2 activities.

Habit 7 1/2. Play.
I have spent many hours playing and having fun using the different technology that has been available while completing this online course.

Thank you for the fun learning environment. I have really enjoyed myself and have spent a lot more than 15 minutes a day in my own time at home just having fun.

Week 12: Wrap Up; Social Networks and Catch Up

Almost finished.

I am interested in joining Facebook and Myspace all the young people I know keep talking about these social networking sites and how great they are. A friend complained that he could not find anyone on Facebook that went to his school at the same time that he was there. He is in his fifties so I guess it will take some time before older people start using social networking. But as our children are using it we will need to also go to Facebook to connect with them and their friends.



If libraries want to encourage young people to use libraries they need to advertise that there is free Internet available for members, this could be done on Facebook or Myspac

Week 11. Online Applications and Tools

I have not been able to look at the slideshow from slide share for examples of of free online productive tools - it was too slow to load on dial up. I will try at work soon.

I was able to sign up for an account at Google Docs. I created a document and shared it with nswpln@gmail.com not sure if it went through correctly. The first time I put a (.) after nsw. So I tried sharing again using correct email address but it still went to same person.

It was easy to create a document and to look at different versions of same document after corrections.

I tried adding a picture but something went wrong so I deleted the link.

After the sharing document I then tried to send it to my blog - there were a few hiccups but eventually I found the correct tab to click. The instructions in help were a little different to what I did. But eventually the document was sent to my Blog. I wonder where the other two tries went.

I shared a book review for a book I read a few weeks ago as my document for this exercise.

Book Review

Agnes and the hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

This book is about a woman with anger problems. She writes a food column and is called Cranky Agnes. Agnes is living in her dream house and will do anything to keep her house.

Agnes is preparing to cater for an important wedding. (She has a lot to lose if she doesn't hold the wedding at her house). As the wedding date gets closer things start going wrong.

Each time she solves a problem another obstacle appears. There is a few accidental killings, some shootouts and some murders.

There is a secret room, a missing 5 million dollars and lots of secrets.

It all starts when a picture of her dog wearing a necklace appears in the local newspaper.

All the way through the book Agnes keeps cooking delicious meals for her friends and anyone else who happens to call in to her house, especially at breakfast time.

As well as the delicious meals, Agnes finds time to spice up her love life.

I really enjoyed this book. There were a lot of surprises, some of the situations were a bit unbelievable but so funny.

Mashups - Calendar

This is a favorite beach that I sometimes go to.

Patrons using the library often ask to use a calendar. This type of Mashup could be used to make calendars with local scenic photographs or some local historic photographs and placed around the library. Or made available as requested. Monthly calendars could be put on computer desktops so users can quickly access a calendar.

Week 10. Mashups

I tried making a jig saw with one of my photographs but I did not like it.

Then I tried Hockneizing a photo of a cubby house I recently saw - when it was Hockneized it looked a bit like the house that Jack built. I liked it so I saved it.

Then I made a calendar of my favorite beach scene.

Mashups could be used in libraries to showcase activities and events held in the library.

They could be used in a display to advertise new books.

Week 9. Podcasts and Audio

I looked at some of the podcasts. Some of the book talks were interesting. A nice small snippet of information.

British Library podcasts were easy to listen to and very informative. Lists of podcasts arranged by year.



ABC Online had some interesting podcasts.



I did listen to some of this podcast. Click here to listen EdPod 2008_0410 Thursday 10 April 2008 Popular Podcasts EdPod Radio National.

It is easy to link to a podcast. Just right click and copy shortcut. Go to your blog write your blog highlight some text to click then click the ling option (near left align button) and right click and select past and add URL for the podcast.

Libraries could use Podcasts to feature guest speakers on their Webpage to advertise Book Talks, Youth Activities, and other special activities. Maybe story telling for children and oral history interviews from the Libraries Local History Collection to let patrons know what is available.

Week 8. Answer boards and Social Searching

I looked at http://www.taste.com.au/ and did their recipe search for spring rolls - 24 results. I like the look of cha gio Vietnamese Spring Rolls. It is quick to use and has fantastic pictures.

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ was a bit slow to load so I will look at it another day when at work.

I looked at Answer Board Librarian's wiki - the librarian's gave good answers and signed their name and position titles.

There will be another 'Slamming the Boards' on Thursday 10 2008 where Librarian's are asked to answer questions on Answer Boards.

If librarian's regularly take part in 'Slamming the Boards' and advertising their library it would be good publicity and a way to inform Internet users that their local library could be a good source of information.

A type of Answer Board could be used with commonly asked questions on the local area. Staff could research their local area and provide answers. Or information about popular authors or books could be featured with book reviews.

Just Amazing

My learning so far. So amzing. Back in February when I

fist looked at what would be covered in Learning 2.0.

Chartres grass maze
Originally uploaded by tina_manthorpe

I thought it was a maze of information that I would never

be able to stumble through. But gradually over the last few

weeks I have found my way, took a few wrong turns also got side tracked on other information and activities that we are not expected to do.

I have helped some staff where I work especially when they were lost using Flickr and I have made some comments in a few blogs.

I found this picture of a maze on Flickr and I really liked Tina Manthorpe's photo of Chartres Grass Maze. After a lot of headaches I worked out how to copy a photo from Flickr to my Blog.

Library Thing

I really love Library Thing. I could spend all day on this - actually I have!

It was easy to register and then to start adding books. For some books it was hard to find the exact match too many to search through and only ten titles view at once and took too long waiting for more titles. You can add a book manually or import book.

Technorati

I looked at this site. Searched bookmobile and found 421 posts. 16 Blogs, lots of photos and plenty of videos.

bookmobile as an advanced search 51 posts.

I tried some of the options for advanced search and got a variety of results.

When I searched nswpln2008 I got No results - what am I doing wrong?

I found that Technorati is very popular for world information - I don't think people using Technorati would want to read about what I have to say on Learning.2.0.

Yummy Yummy - It's Del.icio.us

I Have set up an account. It wasn't easy finding a user name I had to try a few different ones until I found a name not being used.

I installed some buttons to make it easy to add items to del.icio.us. That took a while on my PC.

I also looked at del.icio.us site recommended and looked at tag list to see how it looks as a cloud -why do we need to do this?

I looked at Sutherland Shire Libraries del.icio.us/suthlib

There were a lot of good bookmarks. I looked at Family History and clicked on Australian Cemeteries Index.

Then I looked at Cleavland Public Library Bookmarks

I liked their Special Collections - Folklore bookmarks
especially the children's stories - tongue twisters, ghost stories and creative writing.

I put some of these sites on my bookmarks at del.icio.us.

I think it would be useful to have a library blog - where staff can place bookmarks for useful information about frequently asked questions on the library or for research.

I like it because I can place my bookmarks on it and then access them from any computer that I am using.

One Step At A Time

WOW! I finally managed to get a photo in Flickr to upload to my Blog. Although it is a photo I took myself last year to illustrate a short poem.

I can not believe there are so many ways to load a photograph. You can right click on a photo and send the link to Blogger.

You can upload a photo from your own computer or you can load your blog into Flickr and then when you click to upload a photo Flickr displays your Blog Name you choose it and your photo appears in your Blog.

I did try to up load a video clip from my computer but It failed.

Two Mango Trees

2mangotrees
Originally uploaded by my dreamhouse

TWO MANGO TREES
Their spreading branches
Old and twisted now
No house, no shed
No children’s swing
Just memories
Of times once gone
I am having so much fun with Learng 2 - There is so much to learn. Time is passing by. I am starting to feel like the two mango trees.

Discover YouTube

I searched YouTube for lego and found 64,400 videos.

Searching for Liverpool Plains first time I found 27 videos. then I searched "Liverpool Plains" and found 1 video. Liverpool Plains Harvest 2006.

Searching for Kogarah I found 80 videos.

After this I looked at Explore activity.

Showcasing oral history. A nice oral history video of "Olive Riley Returns to Broken Hill" 5.18 minutes long.

Something like this could be done by Libraries for Heritage Week or ANZAC Day.

Library Building Projects. "State Library Queensland" time lapse construction video 3.


Also looked at We love our NJ libraries - good video although it kept stopping and starting. It would be a good activity to ask patrons what they think of their library.

The best video was QanANJ - "Now Your Library is Open Late Night Too" I loved this video it was just like being at a fast food outlet like McDonalds.

More Than One Way To Skin A Cat

(Not me)




I have been trying to upload a video from YouTube. I found a video by searching for Library Shelves found a lot of videos. On the 3rd page I found a short video 1 minute. It looked OK didn't stop and start too much so I tried to upload by copying the embedded information and then pasting to my Blog.

The first try it could not be done. So I tried again this time as well as checking the box to agree to terms and conditions I actually clicked on conditions and found I had to register for Google Video. After doing this I then had another go at uploading video this time it appeared on Blog but would not finish loading. The message said it could not find blogger.

So I have tried to load video by adding it as a video bar. It is the 3rd one down. I have not viewed the other 3 videos my dial up computer will not let me see them.

Videos online

I have had a quick look at YouTube and Google Video.

I hope to get some time to have a better look. There are some good videos on YouTube but they do not work very well on DialUP.

On The Lines

These are the sneakers on the power lines near where I work.

In my Blog Tecnology and Perserverance I mentioned shoes on power lines.

I used Google Blog search and found a few sites that I liked. I particularly liked Writers Plot - A Blooming good blog. A place where writers experiment. I liked Kate Flora's blog "Are they Hopping" She wrote about shoes - single shoes left along roads and in public places and also wrote about shoes on power lines. There used to be two sneakers on the power lines near the library where I work but when I went to take a photo they were gone but I was able to take a photo of two shoes on power lines a few streets away.

Wiki Wiki Wiki

Week 5.
I have looked at some of the Wikis as suggested.

Book Lovers Wiki
I liked this Wiki there is a good to Index to Star Reviews.

Montana History Wiki
This Wiki is not open for editing however comments are welcome via E-Mail.

Wookieepedia
The Star Wars Wiki. As I am not interested in Star Wars I would not use it, however it would be a good place to find out Trivia Information and patrons could be referred to this Wiki as it would be a good site for information on Star Wars.

Wisconsin Heritage
There is some good information in this Wiki. I will definitely have a look at the Digital Imaging Tutorial.

I can see a use for Local Governments, Family History Societies, Historical Societies and Libraries with Local History Collections having a Wiki where users could contribute historical information about their local area.

The Wiki could then refer users to their Local Library's Wiki where an index of information held in the Libraries Local History Collection could be available to be viewed.

I have contributed to nswlearning2 test wiki and answered the questions. The wiki invite key is available via E-Mail from nswlearning2 team.

It is easy to login and edit a page and change it if you do not like what you wrote. Give it a go.

Favorite RSS Feeds

Dictionary.com Word of the Day - I liked this feed it had some good information and I think I will look at it from time to time.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday

Joke of the Day - I found some good jokes. As a member of Toastmasters International I am sometimes asked to tell a joke at fortnightly meetings and some of these jokes would be suitable.

Quotes of the Day - I found a good quote tried the options to clip this Blog and also tried to right click on quote ans send to Blog but lost the quote after saving it to Draft. I can not find the quote now.

the quote I liked was from Will Durant

"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance"

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1370.html

Shifted Librarian
I found the Blog by Jenny "20080302 Solinet:JMO, HTH! Social Networking in Academic Libraries" interesting. I particularly found the line "Zero tolerance for delays" was so true - staff and members of the public are quick to complain when pages on Internet are slow to load - Everyone wants instant results.

Writers Plot A blooming good blog also makes good reading.

I also was able to ling to Powerhouse Museum Picture of the Day - although I found it a bit slow to load.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/imageservices

I love the Powerhouse Museum and the photo of the day.

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/imageservices/?p=158

This photo of the Busy Bee Cafe remind me of some of a cafe that was in Casino in the 1960's.

Tecnology and Perserverance

I have spent too much time trying to add a feed using Add a Page Element. Every time I type what I think is the feed URL I get and invalid URL message.

Using RSS and News Readers.

At first I had a lot of trouble using Bloglines and linking sites.

I searched Bloglines 200 most popular feeds and found a few useful feeds. I also found some not very useful. It took me a while to work out that I had to click onto the link at the top to see the feeds in full - so I had deleted some of my feeds thinking there was nothing there.

I used Google Blog search and found a few sites that I liked. I particularly liked Writers Plot - A Blooming good blog. A place where writers experiment. I liked Kate Flora's blog "Are they Hopping" She wrote about shoes - single shoes left along roads and in public places and also wrote about shoes on power lines. There used to be two sneakers on the power lines near the library where I work but when I went to take a photo they were gone but I was able to take a photo of two shoes on power lines a few streets away.

In Bloglines under Publish and Share I was able to right click "Post a 'Subscribe with Bloglines' on your Blog" and save to favorites which made it easier to subscribe to a web page of interest.

Google Reader is a bit different and easier to use and save favorite feeds. You can mark an item and save it as a starred item

Never Enough Time To Read

A selection of books I wanted to read last October. I only had time to read some. One of the pitfalls of working in a library, there are too many books and not enough time to read them. Since I have been doing this Learning 2.0 there has been even less time for reading.

Patrons are always wanting to talk about their favorite books or authors. Last week a woman was being really pushing and insisting that I read a book that she really loved.

Some people would really love to be able to go to a Blog where they can write comments about books they have read and communicate online with others with the same interest.

Always Learning

A few days ago when I turned on my computer a message said there were updates available. So I clicked to load updates. Internet Explorer 7 took 1 hour to load. Then I did a quick tour of changes. There were a lot. I noticed the RSS Feeds button on the tool bar.

The tour was slow to load but then I still have dial up!

Internet Explorer 7 is on computers at work but I have never been given training or had time to find out the new features. Have always found it a struggle just doing standard things like printing.

So I found the tour of changes with Internet Explorer 7 very useful.

I found some Blogs using Google Reader. Made a comment and received a comment from the person who wrote Blog.

I have tried to save the Feed to my Blog but can only get complete Blog with comments. It was very large. So I deleted it.

It takes a long time to load photographs to Flickr or Blogs using Dial UP. So I have used Microsoft Office Picture Editor to reduce size of photographs before attempting to load.

I hope it will be easier to load photographs.

A Place to Dream

This little bridge is in my garden. I love sitting here to let my imagination run wild.

I can not believe I finnaly got this picture to upload.

I did try to send a photo I put onto to Flickr to my Blog but the message I kept getting was that Blogspot was not recognised by Flickr.

Earlier today I tried to upload this photo with no luck. Tonight I tried twice. Finally I noticed a little check box that I had to tick to acknowledge agreement.

Then the photo has sudenly appeared. I hope it is able to be seen once Blog is published. Well here goes. Wish me luck.

My Dreaming Place

Experimenting

I thought I might try something new. This is my favorite colour. Every time I wear this colour people compliment me.
Although I do like chocolate. (eating it too)

I put a photo on Flickr. But I will need to do it again. I gave it a tag but there are too many with the same tag. Next time I will give it a tag that makes it easier to find.

I still am keen to explore all there is to offer with Learning 2. The video for lesson 6 was inspiring. It made me look at a few other videos I had a bit of a laugh at some of the workplace learning videos.

WOW Week three

Wow. I really liked Flickr.
I was able to upload a photograph without any trouble.
So much easier than a few years ago when I uploaded photographs for a web page.
I had a lot of trouble using File Transfer Protocols and it all seemed to be just too hard. But Flickr certainly has made it easy to upload and share photographs.
I am still a little unsure about protecting my copyright. There is a lot to read about Creative Commons - one bit of useful information I found was how to license your work.
by following the links for Creative Commons - I was able to find out how to license my work. A simple form allow you to choose how artistic work can be used and if artistic work can be modified and the jurisdiction of your license.

I tried a searching a few items on Flickr and was able to see who else had similar interests.
I will certainly spend more than 1 hour looking at Flickr.

I found a photograph of a maze on Flickr. I was looking for a photo of Amaze 'n' Place but found Tina Manthorpe's photo of Chartres Grass Maze. See my blog Just Amazing.

17/5/2008
Somethings I forgot to mention when I originally did this blog.
Searching for Mosman Library - 287 results. 107 results tagged Mosman and Library.

Ballina Library - 9 full text, 5 results tagged ballina and library.

vegemite - 794 results tagged vegemite. Slideshow took a while to load but I eventually was able to watch it.

Lamington - 2,169 results tagged with lamington - very popular.

Bad library signs - 110 full text, 1 result tagged with bad and library and signs.

I liked the way you can see the most recent or most interesting or see thumbnails.

Use for blogs inside a library

A library could establish different blogs where the borrowers can share their reading enjoyment.

Most library patrons I talk to love to tell me about the books they are reading. By encouraging patrons to use blogs they would be able to see what others have to say about a book they like and find suggestions about other similar books.

Blogs would be useful for staff to gain feedback from patrons about the library service.

Library staff could have a regular blog to inform patrons about new books available in the library.

Thinking - Lifelong Learning

We are learning all the time. Every day there is new technology that we have to spend a lot of time reading the instructions. For many years I had a microwave that defrosted and cooked just the way I liked. It stopped working and I bought a new one. Now when ever I try to defrost it will not do it - one day I will have to read the instruction book. I also have trouble with my new DVD player. But a visiting two year old recently managed to turn off the video I was playing and inserted a DVD she wanted to watch - no trouble.

My pensioner neighbors are both using the Internet and they love receiving photographs of their grandchildren.

I use computers everyday at work and I love helping library patrons develop their skills in using the available technology. I also have a computer at home and enjoy the challenges of keeping up with the latest advances in technology.

Just starting as a Blogger

Well I have my Blog. Dream Along With Me and user name Dreamhouse. I have selected a template.

What do I hope to learn from this program?

I am really keen to learn how to use all of the different ways of using and sharing information.
Some of the topics I have never read about or used. Recently a friend sent me an E-Mail and told me he had put my name on Facebook as a guest but I did not look at the site because I did not know what Facebook was.

I have always wanted to have a go at using blogs but have never found the time.

I hope that after completing the topics available over the next 12 weeks I will gain confidence and be able to use everything. In the future I can see that library staff will need to know how all these differnt products work because library patrons will be wanting to use them and they will expext the library staff to give them assistance and training.