I MADE IT!!!!!!!!!

And let me tell you there were a couple'a rough parts there. OK. in summary, I did enjoy most of the things we did (if you check my blogs, I mostly ranted on the bad ones)and I love my blog very much. So much that I feel like scrapping it and starting over now that I know how to do it. I've followed some people and wished mine looked like theirs. Ronda says I can change it, but I am leaning toward a fresh start.
The best thing to come out of this is a noticable lessening of fear of technology in myself. I actually tried some new things on my own on my home computer and I learned how to download pictures from our branch digital camera. I had to learn how to use the camera too rather than just asking someone, "What button do I push?"
We have wikis popping up left and right here at Hilliard and I started a blog with my sunday school class. This is a life changing event, this Learn&Play and I have been changed. Would I do it again? Yes. I am always ready to learn something new. I used to look at computers and say, there's probably a lot I can learn, I just don't know where to start. Thanks for laying it all out in easy steps. And before I fade into the sunset a big thank you to my guru Ronda.

MOLDI

I actually did find something I might want to download. Unfortunately I'm not going to do it at work because its over two hours of listening. See how many things I've got to do "at home" for this learn and play. I was really bogged down by their quick tour. Quick is not a word I would use to describe it. I about fell asleep trying to make my way through all the downloading free softwares and authorizing same software.

Thank you Ronda

This is what I was trying so hard to do at work. Thank you, thank you for your help.

#21

Popcasts. Cool name. Not so cool trying to FIND one. I looked around all three directories and at least found the one I liked. Using it was another thing. Actually it was youtube all over again, except I gave up quicker. I can't justify that much off desk time going to learn and play when teacher collections are piling up, I'm behind on weeding and being slammed by programming just now. I tried. I couldn't connect the podcast to my bloglines account. I did update the account though, for what that was worth. I need a picture in my blog in the worst way. I may put one in just to vent.

youtube is a failure

I tried three times to do this entry. I had fun initially finding videos, but no one could help me embed one to this post. None of the experts ( and I asked more than one) here at the branch could help. The blog on learn & play was straightforword but when I did it the way the blog said to it didn't work either. ( I know it doesn't sound like it but I did try that first.) I find myself so frustrated that I couldn't do one of these things that I really wanted to do. I've spent too much time trying to figure it out. ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See how mad I am. What a total waste of time this was. My good mood at finding something fun couldn't sustain me through repeated failure. I sure hope podcasts don't make me this upset.

Tooling Around CML

It was easy. I found my way to the blog from the page and tried out a couple of tools. I got confident so I posted a comment but signed in using the wrong blog. Have I got too many accounts and passwords? I do believe my head is buzzing. Maybe I better eat lunch.

I did the tango with Zango

O.K. now there's too much fun. I thought everyone would do a web 2.0 on books, so I wanted to do something different. Organization, no - too necessary. I might never come out of a site. Music, no - too scary. O.K. Games? Yes. I just want to say, I was lucky to get out of there alive! Ask Linda, she kept hearing some weird sounds from over here at my computer. Zango is super!!! Maybe if they didn't have a filtered site it would be a great one to introduce to the kids. Maybe not, no one would want to get off the computers. Maybe adults could become addicted to this. I sure could. I like the awards site almost better. I have at least 15 people to show it to.

Google's a giggle

Wow something easy! And yes I can see the possibilities. Imagine easy to print out lists of books to recommend. Trading info and adding to each others doc. What a world! I've got to start filling in some of my new documents and adding people to my account. Got to run. Bye.

Sandboxes have always been my favorite.

This one I did totally and fumblingly on my own. I think I may get to like it here. The best part about this blog is that it "catches me up" to where I'm ready for the new stuff again. I know this is not a contest and there are others out there like me who need a lot of help, but just getting this far is an accomplishment. I feel really good right now. I was talking to a co-worker today about how I can now do a few tricks here and there but the depth of knowledge I have yet to learn is huge. Its like knowing how to turn on the light but not understanding anything about electricity.

wonderfully wiki

This is another idea I can really get enthused about. I got so inspired by the thought of all those people contributing to a reading list that I got shivers. Then I checked out some of the other library wikis and realized it was the air conditioning. They were a little disappointing until I remembered they were all probably still "in progress". I can't wait to see what our wiki looks like.

2.0

When talking about Web or Library 2.0, a lot of people use the words as nouns: as if it were something solid you could point to. I think its more of a concept, rather than software or hardware. And yet as I read the Wikipedia entry I got bogged down in all the words I don't know. Every other word was blue and I'm clicking to find definitions of types of platforms and "perpetual beta" and "rich media". Boy is there a lot I don't know.
I did enjoy the articles I read about it though. The Library of the Future, I want to be there.

Tag rags

Oh boy is this exercise for me! I especially love what HFAR is doing with the Readers sites. I could get lost in there for days. I will play around more with this one for sure to see if I want to make my own account.
Oh by the way, I almost went blind trying to view the Otter Group tutorial. Tell me there is a way to increase the size of the picture and I might view it again. Or not.

A Dozen is Halfway to the finish!

O.K. I have a twitter account. Ask me why it took so long to figure out how to follow the Learn & Play account, but only when I'm in the mood for a good laugh. I am not enamored of this exercise. I know I am supposed to post my twitter user name but at this point it would be a disservice to the reader. I didn't put much effort in it. I need some time at home to really play around and see if I will change my mind.

Up to Heaven

I believe I mentioned the Library Thing earlier. I already DO have an account. How easy is this one going to be! I have not linked it to my blog because I have a shelfari account linked here. I don't probably need them both but I'm still trying everything out. Love those books!

Dime

Image generators=addicting. At least once you sort through the stuff you can't figure out how to do! I personally loved the little sticky notes on the Generator log. I will add the link if I remember how to. Wish me luck.
Here it is http://wigflip.com/superstickies/

#9,#9,#9

I just knew there was too much stuff out there. Ever wonder how the world even functions? I have been so insulated in spite of newspapers, TV and Radio. Needless to say on this exercise I aproached information overload. Syndica8.com took forever to load, Topix.net was pretty cool after I got into the tabs and Technorati was no fun. End of discussion.

Finally!!!!!! #8

This has truly been the worst one to do. Not only is my time being crunched into little pieces, I couldn't figure out how to add feeds. Then we've been having computer problems and presto, I'm a week behind. I don't know how I am going to keep up if the assignments don't get easier as promised. Oh well, still hanging in there with 10 feeds in my account.

btw to view my bloglines go to http://www.bloglines.com/public/vofeed

To post or not to post

I have been visiting some of the participant blogs that I know the owners of (and some that just truly caught my eye) and have discovered that I like more meat in a comment to a blog. "Nice" and "cool" don't cut it for me. What is so "nice" ? Why is it "cool"? So I really have to have something to say before I comment on a blog (that being said, I already have made several comments).
I really wanted to play around more with #5 this week, but it would have meant a) learning how to use our digital camera, b)learning how to download pictures onto a computer and then c) actually posting one to fulfill the requirement. Since I was out of the building 2 1/2 days I couldn't find all that time to play and still do my job.
I've discovered Library Thing! How addicting.

Ice age

Ice age
Originally uploaded by video586

When I was exploring the different options I found my self drawn to Colr Pickr because you choose the photos by the color in them, not necessarily a tag. Sometimes that suits my mood alot more than certain words. See if you like it too.

http://krazydad.com/colrpickr/

Big Sky Country

Big Sky Country
Originally uploaded by Joel Delano

I love star trail pictures. I thought this one was different because of the sunset colors.

Hard or Easy

We are supposed to post a paragraph about which of the 7 1/2 Habits we find hardest and which is easiest. I'm thinking everyone including me is saying play is the easiest. It is for me too but only when I schedule the time. Otherwise sometimes days go by without play. The hardest habit is to have confidence in myself but only because its in relation to technology. I do have confidence that I can do my job, that I'm a good parent and other things in my life but sometimes the new technology is scary because there is so much to learn. I am trying to learn Spanish and not progressing very fast because I convinced myself I couldn't learn languages. So not only do I have to overcome the language barrier, I have to convince myself I can also.

bookcase

I thought I would take a suitcase on my travels, but since mine would be full of books, guess what? Yup, there's the bookcase I'm traveling with. Items in the book case are things I've read or am reading currently.

There's a first time for everything?

With very hesitant footsteps/keystrokes I walk across this very bare canvas. All learning has to start somewhere, no?