LinkedIn

This week's assignment seems to have come at just the right time. I don't have a MySpace or Facebook page, although my son and husband both have MySpace logins that we use for keeping in touch with family. My son links up with his friends and cousins who are all over the country. A couple of days ago, an HR colleague in another library system invited me to join her on LinkedIn. If I hadn't just read this week's blog, I wouldn't have known what LinkedIn was all about. So, I've joined and just started exploring the features of LinkedIn. It will be interesting to see if I am able to connect with former colleagues, etc. I think this will have a definite use for our group of library HR professionals--we already have an email group, but I think LinkedIn might be a better path to share information with each other. We'll see how it goes.

Godzilla on YouTube

Okay, so you might be wondering why I have a post titled Godzilla on YouTube. Well, I have a child who is very into Godzilla--yes, we are talking the cheesy, dubbed Japanese movies from the 1950s. You'll see if you watch Nick's video that there are a lot of Godzilla movies and toys currently available, so there must be a following out there somewhere. And he's not the only one since there is a wealth of Godzilla videos on YouTube. Please note that my 9-year-old took it upon himself to record and narrate this video...(I know I sound like a proud mommy, but my kids constantly amaze me). Enjoy!

Dog Days

Okay, I'm going to try the picture upload thing again. Although this sweet picture is not my own lovable yellow lab Max, I just couldn't resist downloading it from Flickr. Isn't he cute? I definitely need to access this from home and get some real pictures on my blog. Are we having fun yet?

Fun with Flickr!

Okay, there are just too many pictures on Flickr! I could spend way too much time browsing and finding interesting stuff. I had planned to move some of my pictures at home to Flickr, then post here on my blog. Just didn't get that done. So, instead I used all the other technology we have and sent this picture from my cell phone to my gmail account and now posted on my blog. The kids with short hair. Both have grown it out now, so they look a little different. I use this as my wallpaper on my phone. Don't they just look thrilled that Mom was taking a picture???

More on RSS

Now that I have my courage up at trying new techno-things, I started looking at RSS Feeds folder in Outlook 2007. This seems more beneficial to me than creating a blogline that I have to log in to. I already get in to Outlook every day, so I might as well have my RSS feeds in the folder that I'm more likely to see and look at. Just follow the Help directions in Outlook to set up additional RSS feeds in the folder. If it wasn't for Web2.0, I probably wouldn't have paid any attention to this feature of Outlook.

Pandora's Box

I have to say this is a really cool feature and I'm liking it--yet another thing to "play" with when I should probably be doing other things. Of course, once it's set up, all I have to do is login and I'm good to go. I set up a Pandora radio station and added several artists to it. I like that it automatically adds in songs that are similar to what I've already selected since I was looking for a variety anyway. I'm definitely enjoying the Web 2.0 process.

RSS Feed

I set up my blogline account and added my 3 links as instructed. My frustration is that I would like to put the blogline link on my blog--can I do that? If so, someone please tell me how. I think RSS feeds can be a great timesaver, especially for information that changes on a regular basis. However, I think it can also become quite overwhelming because there are so many interesting Web sites to receive information from. I already struggle with the amount of information that crosses my desk, now I would need to manage electronic information, too? What if I miss something important? Cause I might...Breathe...okay I'll quit freaking out. Like everything else, even RSS feeds must be taken in moderation.

Book Review

In the interest of keeping on top of all this blogging--time to post more comments. In an effort to broaden my reading horizons, I have been checking out the recommended reading banner on the SIL Web site. From there, I chose the book The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. This book was a quick read; and was a touching, but tragic story. As you might have guessed from the title, one of the characters in the book is a sweet Rhodesian ridgeback dog named Lorelei. There is some tragedy and twists to the story, but the main human character Paul is just that--very human in how he deals with grief.

I don't think I'll say much more since I don't want to give away the story. (I wouldn't be very good at writing jacket copy to entice readers into a book--I'd give away too much of the story.) Overall, I'm glad I read the book for the "slice of life" it portrayed. If you've also read the book, let me know your thoughts.

I-M HR GIRL

I have successfully completed the next assignment of creating my IM presence in both Google Talk and Meebo. You'd think this one would have been a little easier since I've IM'd before, but I'm getting a little turned around with all of my screen names and logins and the like...Persistence and consistency won out and I have been successful! Woo hoo for me! Next step is to update my progress log and on to Week 5 assignment so I can "keep up" with the rest of the class.