Ok, I did some pre-reading up on RSS' and newsreaders. At first this was very confusing (my eyes were crossing), but I persevered by reading and reading and (yep, you guessed it) reading some more. Finally, I had had enough and decided to bite the bullet and sign up at bloglines, figuring I would learn more by doing than by just reading.

This is definitely an exercise where too much information just hurts the brain. I got my account and signed up for a few of their options. After a few days of reading, I got rid of some of the options previously chosen and I think that I kept about 3 of the original choices (About Literature, The Shifted Librarian, USAToday.com/books). At this point, I read a little more online, and then read what was required for SPL's 2.0 and decided to wing it. So, I'm just checking out sites that I regularly visit to see if they have a rss feed.

Gah, too much!!!

Luckily, I don't mind surfing the web. And I'm being optimistic in hoping that I find some really cool pools of information (fingers fully crossed). So, I would have to say that I like this tool in that it keeps everything that I regularly like to look at in one spot, instead of going to different sites all day long, and that I can just check to see if they've put out any new information.

As to using this at work, I'm finding that the site would best be used by keeping you up todate on incoming news, gathered all in one place. But I haven't yet explored the blogs, clippings and playlists portion of bloglines, so I don't know how they would interface with the workplace. Maybe that's something to play with on another day.

For those who would like to see it, my bloglines url follows. Hopefully done correctly.
http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs

Favorite movie of mine

I found this movie a few years ago. I loved it! It took the question of "what if...?" and followed the premise of how the character's life changed and strangely stayed the same. In the movie, Helen is living with her boyfriend of 2 1/2 years, a writer named Gerry. The week-end after her birthday she wakes up late and goes to work like normal and gets fired. Then she's heading home again and misses the train.

At this point, the movie does a rewind to her running and catching the train home. Now, we watch the two life paths of Helen unfold. In one view, Helen misses the train and has to catch a cab. And as she's waiting for the cab, someone comes up to mug her, or rather attempts to mug her. And on the other path where she has caught the train, Helen talks to an exuberant stranger (James Hammerton(picture is of Helen and James on the train)) she had run into earlier, gets home early and finds her boyfriend in bed with his ex-girlfriend.

Girls World

Girls World
Originally uploaded by ladycheleus

Ooohhh this is a fun thing to play with. I've got to remember to tell my sister about it.

Thing #7 - Technology

I like to think of technology as both a tool and a toy. I've learned that makes it easier to learn about it and not be afraid to play around with it and make mistakes. 'Cause while I might have learned a few things, there's still lots out there. So, I guess that means lots more playtime, hmmm?

I like the convience of web technology. It lets me keep track of my favorite authors and what they are putting out. I'll even head over to the publishers website to see what books they have coming out this month.

I have my very own geek who tries to keep me technology oriented. So far, he has gotten me to play around (a little bit) with an IPAQ - I've a list of all my dvd's on the storage card, along with my sci-fi collection. Now, he wants me to figure out the mp3 player. And yes, I've added a few songs to it and listened. But I'm now thinking of seeing if I can add an audiobook to it. Even more reading time (hehee)!

My creation - discovering Montagr

My creation
Originally uploaded by ladycheleus

After looking through the selection of mashups, I finally decided to play with Montagr (I think that's what this is). It took me a bit of trial and error to figure out what mosaic imaging that I wanted. Then the hard part came - to find 13 photos out of the millions out on flickr. The words I used to find these beautiful pictures were: cats, bridal bouquet, bozarth mansion, "beauty and the beast", roses, Ireland, fairy, castle in the mist, australia, lightning and red rose.

I think that the next time I play with this flickr toy that I need to go into it with a theme in mind.

Fairy tale

Fairy tale
Originally uploaded by Sameli

I was looking for something, but I didn't know what kind of picture I wanted to talk about. I looked at cats and lightning, then I decided to look for something whimsical, and so I typed in "fairy tale" to the search line.

This picture spoke to me of a story waiting to be told. I don't know if the story will be scary or if it will turn into a gothic romance. But the picture of a castle hidden in the mists on the other side of a dark woods does lend itself to a fanciful tale.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thoughts on the Internet "Tips'

Just read the tips on internet safety. To me they are all common sense reminders. If you see something "yucky" - report it; if you don't want god and everyone to know about it - keep it to yourself (they're called secrets for a reason); and if someone suggests something that you are not comfortable with - say no and report it.

Anyhoo, onto the next discovery. Till next time, have lotsa fun!

I have just finished watching the 7 1/2 habits clip. The habits expressed in the clip are invigorating reminders to keep your brain lively, to play and to grow. The challenge is to decide which is the easiest and which is the hardest habit that expresses my learning curve.

For me the easiest habit would be number 1. It's easy to make a goal, such as saying I would like to learn more about photography with my camera. That's a nice broad statement.

The hard part would be making the list of how much and what I want to learn about my camera and photography; making and taking the time to learn, instead of just winging it. In short, focusing in on habit number 2.

Big ol' NEWBIE alert. So, PLEASE bear with me as I try to figure this out. And then I'll see how much and what I want to post.

If you want to try a totally irreverant comic, that is totally as "un-p.c." as you can get. Then you should take a look at "Least I could do". I'll make it easy, here's the comic's site for the first day: http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20030210

And the drawings get better.