Personal Blog

So since I basically turned my personal blog into a work blog....I have no choice but to create a personal blog. :P I'll use this one for work related stuff!

Sydney

Sydney's Thoughts

First off, I think this project committed me to blogging longer than anything else has! I will continue my blog now. I had pretty much done everything on the list of 23 and many of the things I use on a regular basis. I had fun doing the projects and looking at my co-workers blogs and progress. I can't wait until the next project because I think it will make me go a little more outside my comfort zone. All in all it was worthwile and enjoyable!

Sydney

Overdrive, netlibrary and Gutenberg

Okay,

So it is not secret I'm not a fan of overdrive. They are not mac friendly. I know that they say it is an Apple problem. I don't buy that one bit. ;-) I was on a confernce call with Overdrive a few years ago and they admited to me the problem was they are co-owned by Microsoft. I think all three are very useful. I believe they got used more in my old system. I think the tech level was higher as were the commutes so folks were looking for entertainment. I have been a big supporter of gutenberg since the early days. I think I first looked at it toward the end of the 90's. I wish they were all three more user friendly. I have some difficulties with each of them and can only imagine that we loose a lot of patrons with the cumbersom directions.

Sydney

Podcasts

I love Podcasts. I must admit that most of my podcasts come directly from Itunes. I have some favorites. Now that I have my I phone I can listen to them on the go! :) There are several great wine podcasts that make my lunch hour that much more interesting. Since I can't drink wine at lunch I might as well learn how to become more of a snoob!

Sydney

P.S. I really like podcastalley

I am a You Tube addict

I have been for over a year. Then my silly husband had to make it worse by purchacing an Apple TV which makes it so I can watch it on the large TV easily. Then I had to get an IPhone, which comes with a You Tube button. :P Here is my new favorite clip. Corey just sent it to me from Israel.

Chopstix

Web 2.0 Awards

So James pointed out early on that he doubted I had as much trouble with Play as I indicated in my blog. He may be correct since the award winner I picked is http://www.onesentence.org/

Onesentence is a site where people tell their true stories in one sentence. My favorite of the day is...

I recently had some Beefaroni that was completely devoid of beef.

Online Productivity Tools

I have been using Google's tools for quite some time. Corey and I will often share lists, calenders etc. Two people can actually be on one of the shared tools editing at the same time. We have had to-do lists, budget things etc. Right now I'm trying to figure out what the best way to cordinate my work and private calenders are and keep thinking maybe I should go the online route. Not sure yet.

Sydney

Sandbox Wiki

So I added my name to the Sandbox Wiki. I think Wikis are great however, I feel like the next big thing may be around the corner. What will it be.....

Sydney

Technorati

So I claimed my blog on Technorati, which for some reason I had been hesitant to do. Not that I lead a super private life, but I hate opening myself up to goofballs. I do like using Technorati for my Favorites and Watchlists. :)

Sydney

Del.icio.us

OMG,

I was playing around on Del.icio.us and found a link to a guy who put an apple TV in is Prius. I know that Corey will totally want to do this.

check it out.

On a Del.icio.us note. I love it! I use it for bookmarking all sorts of things and have for awhile.

Sydney

Thing 12 -- Rollyo

So I find Rollyo interesting. The concept is interesting... I'm not sure when or how I would use it. I am such a Slave to Google. I find google good at almost anything and everything. I don't really know what to say about Rollyo, those of you who love it please comment and let me know why!

Sydney

Thing 11 -- Library Thing

So I must admit, I wasn't crazy about this tool. I mean I've been cataloging things in databases on my own forever..... Imagine my surprise when I logged on and figured out you can just import things to your catalog! Duh, I'm not sure why I was shocked, but I was. I mean, come on Sydney it is 2007. :) I started by adding a few of Tana's books! Fancy Nancy first of course!

Sydney

Thing 10 -- My super cool Avatar

I made a super cool avatar on Yahoo, complete with an ALA t-shirt! I just have to figure out how to share it so you can see it here!

Sydney

Thing 8 -- Bloglines & RSS

So I actually set this up a long time ago and just didn't post about it. I actually subscribe to many RSS feeds. My old library system has RSS feeds on their website for example.

I set up a Bloglines account and use it to keep track of many sites!

I'm most excited that I can get the top 10 stories everyday from SFGATE.com

:)

Sydney

Trading Card attempt -- Thing 6

Trading card

I will get the 23 things finished, however, I have an important announcement!

I now have an I PHONE! :) It rocks!

Sydney

Wikis -- Week 7

I love Wikis, I"m sure there are many ways to use them that people haven't even thought of. We used them at the gaming conference for everything. Here is the Wiki for the gaming session. See even I participated. :)Gaming Wiki

Corey has a new favorite wiki that I secretly look at. ( I wouldn't want to admit he found something super cool now would I?)

Check outWikiHow

Sydney

Library Blogger @ ALA

So I went to a session at ALA featuring Michael Stephens who writes the blog Tame the Web. He rocks! He kept talking about James' old stoping grounds in Charlotte, stating that they are the way libraries should be. I highly recommend checking out his blog as he has some great insite.

Sydney

Week 6 -- Web 2.0 Comment

So I read the entry on Web 2.0 and some perspectives. The last line stood out to me most -- But no matter which side of the debate proponents fall, both sides agree that libraries of tomorrow, even five or ten years from now, will look substantially different from libraries today.

I can't help but think back to the futures conference I attended. The information world as we know it will be pretty much non-exsistant. Many are predicting the end of the PC as we know it. Instead computers will be a part of us, in our clothes in our cars and yes, maybe in our bodies. I wonder if our profession will then become obsolete, or if we'll still be needed to navigate information.

Sydney

Berkeley Bowl

I seriously miss theBerkeley Bowl
:(

7 1/2 Week 1 -- Catching up

Sooo,

My hardest thing would be habit 7 1/2 Play. I hardly ever make time to play. I'm always busy doing something. I should learn from my 2 year old and just have fun, and maybe on occasion drive those around me a little nutty in the process.

The easiest for me would be using technology to my advantage. If I can find a shortcut with technology I do. Technology is such a part of my everyday life, that my husband and I both laugh at each other as we are both on our laptops, while watching downloaded content from the Internet on our flat-panel television.

I constantly say to my husband...maybe we should explore Buddhism and he reminds me that we could not give up our technology.

Sydney

Technology 101...

I must admin I'm a techie by association. My husband is CRAZY, maybe because his job depends on him know all sorts of technology, but, seriously our house looks like (as someone said at LATI) an apple store. If you can name it we probably have it in our house, and we probably have for years.

Our first digital camera 1994
Our first DVD player 1998
Our first MP3 player 1998
Our first TIVO 2003
Our first Apple TV 2007


So as you can see I'm always on the cutting edge, but it isn't because of me...it is because my husband has a sickness....LOL....Actually it is very helpful in my job!

Sydney

Howdy FCPL folks. I'm finally catching up on my 23 things! I'm pretty comfortable with flickr. Corey and I have had a site for quite a while, and while it isn't up to date. It is full of images!

Check it out

McCoysplace
Sydney

Kopi Luwak Coffee

I am a self proclaimed food and wine snob....however, I draw the line below. Have you heard of this?

Kopi_Luwak

s

an observation today

Okay,

So while at the conference today. I heard a handful of people say under their breath. -- "But how will this help me do my job, what is the point of this?" Maybe they don't understand the idea behind what the conference is about. If we could predict the future and what we as librarians needed to do to respond to it, we'd already be doing it. I hope that this conference inspires me to explore how we can respond to what might happen...

off my soapbox....

s

Ray Kurzweil -- need I say more?

If you aren't familiar with Mr. Kurzweil look him up at www.kurzweilai.net.

I heard him speak a few months ago on NPR, I have since nagged my husband with what he spoke about. Mr. Kurzweil has a proven track record at predicting the future. Most of his predictions are based on the fact that technology doubles ever year. And while technology is doubling every year...the price points on that same technology are cut in half ever year. For example if you buy a computer today, it will be half the cost for one the same size/speed in a year.

He feels that global warming will cease to be an issue as the technology will allow us to make viable solar panels to run everything.

He showcased his hand held reading machine for the blind. It basically takes a picture of anything with text and on the fly presents it through speach.

He stated that technology is now more quickly adopted. For example it took the telephone 50 years to be widely adopted, the cell phone 7 years, and newer technologies are being adopted almost instantly.

Mr. Kurzweil feels computer will disappear by 2010. He feels they will be replaced with images written directly to our retinals.
We will constantly be conected to the internet.
Technology will be embeded in our environment (clothing, eye glasses, etc)


I could write all night about his speech as is is truly wonderful...All the slides from today are on the following site.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/pps/palinet/

s

Salvador Avila -- Clark County Las Vegas

Okay -- A nice gentleman from Darrell's old stoping grounds. Salvador gave a great presentation entitled "You are becoming me and I am becoming you! -- Setting record straight on Latinos being the majority population in the US."

While he gave tons of ways we should be reaching out to this community, I must say some were new to me. :) He pointed out the key differences between "Immigrant's" and Second generation Latinos. He states that we should assume that 2nd generation spanish speakers will want and need to be treated like everyone else. Immigrants he feels need to be treated differently based on their culture that they brought with them.

Avila feels that we should take on more of a social service type roles to cater to these populations. Examples of which are becoming a referal service...and moreover taking the time to talk to people about what is going on in their life.

Avila pointed that 2nd generation Latinos are becoming involved in things whites are becoming less interested in such as
Nascar
redeo
super bowl
libraries :)

We may want to market to these interests.


Most immigrants don't use Spanish. We should be alligned with the culture, but not change our ways to fit their culture, they are trying to assimilate.


I have lots of examples of things he said..... email me

S

Futures Conference

Okay, I must admit I'm a bit of a library conference junkie. However, this is the best one I've ever been to. Maybe it is because It is a topic I am very interested in, or more likely it is that most of the presenters work outside the library world. I hope to do short blog enteries on each of the speakers. If you want to talk to me more in dept about any of them, please feel free to contact me.

S

A new MacBook!

Corey bought me a new computer today... Yeah!

I'm in Atlantic City to attend the Palinet Library futures conference I'm so excited! Raymond Kurzweil is the keynote speaker.

http://www.kurzweiltech.com/aboutray.html. I hope to blog about the conference!

off to bed!
Sydney

Darfur...simply educate yourself

If you don't know about what is going on in Darfur...please educate yourself. I continue to be amazed at how little the world is doing to help.

Visit www.savedarfur.org

Goodnight....

Sydney

I've entered a new day...

This will be my thrid attempt at keeping a blog. I always have good intentions. Even before having a child my time management skills were non-exsistant now I just roll with it. I feel I need to keep some track of what is going on in my life. Even if others are not entertained, I find my life and the people in it crazy entertaining. :) I feel almost every day I have a little jewel of a story to share, and my husband gets quite sick of listing to them. :)

I just returned from the Maryland Library association conference. And while they really are the nicest group of people to ever assemble, their fashion attempts are well... scary to say the least. I swear that if there is a cat print , librarians will find it and sew it into an article of clothing, or better yet a canvas bag. :) I swear sensable footwear does not have to be horribly ugly...does it?


With that, I"m off to bed.....

S