There's a light...

Well, the time has come. I have completed all the 23 exercises of my Learning 2.0 Training. I have really learned a lot during these past six weeks or so, and I really think that I'm going to be able to apply a lot of this to my life outside of the library. The most beneficial thing I've gained was my change in opinion on how I regarded blogging. I always used to scoff at it thinking that it was dumb and pointless, just a way for people to spew their thoughts out and hope someone would read them. Rather, I've learned that it's more for fun than anything else. I've really valued getting to know my friends at the library a lot better, and you can't put a price tag on that. Tear.... :'(

But it's not all bad! Let's have some more fun!

To celebrate the completion of my Learning 2.0 Training, join me in singing the Llama Song!



Llama llama duck!

Or if you are embarrassed by your singing voice, you can always dance the Time Warp with me! It's just a jump to the left...



I'll miss you all! It's been golden!

Truthiness on my iPod

Overdrive is amazing! I can't believe that they have Stephen Colbert's I am America! (And So Can You!) available for download. I'm truly in awe. I really think that Overdrive could be huge if we get the word out. We wouldn't have to disappoint customers by telling them that we don't have the book on the shelf. We could just tell them to download it and listen to it or read it on their computers. I can't wait to download Colbert's book!

Podcasts, Schmodcasts

Podcasts are, in my opinion, one of the most revolutionary things to come from Web 2.0. I love how diverse and opinionated they can be. I surfed through some of the directories to see if I could settle on one to listen to.

I decided to subscribe to the Lou Dobbs Podcast. I love to watch his show on CNN because I love to watch him get all bent out of shape over something the federal government has done. Watch him in action in the clip below where he has some not so nice things to say about economists.



But, now with the Daylight Savings Time change, his show is on one hour earlier, at 4pm instead of 5pm. So now, I can only watch half of his show before Jeopardy! comes on. You're crazy if you think I'm going to miss Jeopardy! I have my priorities you know. The Lou Dobbs Podcast is the perfect way to catch up on what I missed. Plus, I can get a little bit more of his tirades that they don't put on the air. It's glorious!

The Farecast calls for sun, with a high in the....

As a man who reads travel guides for fun and buys them even if I've never visited the place, I definitely have to check out Farecast.com. This site is supposed to be able to predict whether or not the price of an airfare will rise or fall over the next seven days. I decided to give it a try. I'm thinking of going to New York in November for Veteran's Day weekend so I figured I'd see what the going rate for a plane ticket is right now. According to Farecast, the best fare is about $350 right now. I take a look at the "7-Day Low Fare Prediction". It's telling me to wait to buy and that there's an 80% probability that fares will drop. I remember checking a few weeks ago on Orbitz and the fares were in the $400s, which means fares are dropping. Farecast must be right! How cool is that? So easy, so fun, and so useful, especially when my money is on the line.

Farecast seems to me like it would be more useful than Priceline, but Farecast doesn't have...WILLIAM SHATNER!



P.S. How on Earth did Technorati win for Best Blog Guide?! That site is impossible to use! Kathy, back me up on this one!

Writely so

I really think that Google Docs and other web-based apps are the perfect solution to overcome format issues. I think it's a really novel idea. Leave it to Google!

I'm working as a research assistant for a couple of professors in the Dept. of Political Science at school. We were trying to use this spreadsheet in Excel to enter some data, but the file was made with Excel 2007. All of the assistants, myself included, only had Excel 2003. So, of course, none of us could open the file. Needless to say, there was this whole hullabaloo over how to work around the formatting problem. If we used Google Docs, we could have avoided all that mess. THAT is innovation!

I used the Google Docs Slideshow program to create a slideshow with my favorites, some of the things that I listed in the last exercise on pbwiki. Enjoy!

Flight Attendants!!

In case you were wondering if whether or not the woman in the Delta Safety Video I posted earlier was an actress or not, she's real!!



FLIGHT ATTENDANTS ROCK!!!

I prefer jelly on my pbwiki.

Pbwiki is so much fun! I really enjoyed this exercise. It was so easy to add content to our SPLS "sandbox". That is, after looking everywhere for the password to get into the wiki, only to realize it was right there on the front page of it (Don't laugh at me, Rossan! I'm not crazy, I swear!). I can definitely understand the appeal of the wiki. I also loved getting to know the other people in the System better after reading through everyone's favorites. I had fun listing my own as well, trying to see what I have in common with the others who have listed things. I can see the point of some of this new technology, networking and being closer with the people on the internet.

On a side note, the winner of the Designing Women poll was Charlene! Thanks to everyone who voted!



How cool are these pictures?

Time for a new poll! Which dog do you like better?


The Amazing Japanese Praying Dog

OR


The Southwest Airlines Bulldog

Be sure to vote!

Happy Friday!! OMG!!!!!