Sunday, May 25, 2008

More Dream Houses

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


A perfect dream house for children.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

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.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

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.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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

Sunday, April 6, 2008

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.