Amy the Audiobook Addict

As a long-time audiobook fiend, I am thrilled to be finally forced (thank you, TLC 2.0) to learn Overdrive. I guess I'd been procrastinating about it because I've been perfectly content thus far with Main Library's Books-On-CD collection for my listening pleasure. I've always liked to listen in my car during my daily commute to & from Hollwood to Ft. Lauderdale; I started out in the old cassette-deck days because I got hooked on the golden voice of George Guidall, my favorite reader. But now I see that I can also burn my very own CDs or transfer directly to my MP3 player - yea!
First, I took the Digital Media Tour, which I found to be amazingly detailed. If you cannot figure out how to access/use Overdrive after viewing that tutorial, you may as well give up on audiobooks... Next, I browsed and searched Overdrive in every possible way - by author, subject, immediate availablity, etc. Very very very easy to locate titles, but not many of the titles/authors I was seeking were included. I would have to say that the limited choice of books is the biggest drawback of Overdrive at the current time. I did select a couple of interesting titles: one is on HOLD and one is now Checked Out. (I don't think I would ever actually sit & listen at the computer, although I practiced using the Bookmark feature.) It was simple to download the Media Console, then simple to download my checked-out title, and subsequently totally simple to download it via the TRANSFER icon to my MP3!!! Listening to CDs in the car is great - but I only wish it was legal to listen on my scooter to audiobooks with headphones. And now let me leave y'all, and this great TLC 2.0 program, with a holiday audiobook video finale!

Facing Up to Facebook (I'm shy - no, really)

I joined Facebook with some trepidation, as illustrated by these weenie pics I've inserted. Where o where is that fine line between nice networking and intrusive interaction?!! But so far I am pleasantly suprised - no weirdness yet. In fact, I already had a FRIEND awaiting me when I did the initial log in; one of my stepsons had invited me to join several weeks ago but I had totally forgotton to reply, oops. That is because Facebook is like so many other 2.0 technologies: wonderful but waaaaaaay too time-consuming for a person with a job, 2.2 kids, 1.5 pets, etc. I see my sons on My Space almost every hour of every day, so it is easy to conclude that social networking is the exclusive domain of kids, teens, and single people. However, the work-oriented groups one can join in Facebook obviously have value due to the free exchange of ideas. How much I will actually use this as a professional communication tool (rather than just for big FUN) remains to be seen. I did join the group called No, I don’t look like a librarian because that name made me laugh; hopefully, I will find some amusing people there. I also added the Funwall application, so please give me a shout out there!

PODCASTS = Invasion of the Time, Mind & Body Snatchers

I have really not enjoyed this exercise at all! Trying to navigate the three recommended podcast directories made me want to curl up inside a pod just to get away from them. I had to wade through lots of junk just to find what I was looking for - and then I could not readily get anything to play. I was finally able to locate some interesting feeds on Digg Podcasts. But it is a good thing that I could send them to my Bloglines account via the RSS button since I definitely do not have time to listen and/or watch them now. Does anyone actually have that kind of time?!!! Or maybe y'all are not really librarianpeople at all - perhaps YOUR body has been snatched and subsequently replaced by a librarianclone? Better take a good long look in the mirror when you get home...

I added http://digg.com/movies to my Newsreader. I must admit it has tons of great stuff for those of us who enjoy movies almost as much as books. But again, only Amy's pod-clone might actually have the time to page through them all, since there is no realistic method of sorting. However, I can see that an instructional or advisory library podcast could be effective - just not as much FUN for our customers as You Tube

Fun with YOU TUBE

I love You Tube. I find the HOW TO & STYLE page especially useful; all you do from there is search for whatever in the whole wide world you want to learn about! I am sure you could find zillions of how-tos on any number of library related topics - but let's try disco dancing instead! After all, who doesn't want to brush up on The Hustle?! You can follow that LINK to a swell You Tube video, but I prefer to embed directly into the ol' blog since merely copying/pasting the code makes it easy. So in keeping with Main Library's "Out of This World" Holiday Party theme, here is another disco how-to for your perusal, entitled Buck Rogers Disco Dancing.


And now be sure to get one more dose of Spaced Out Disco here, all you futuristic dancing librarians!

Web 2.0 Awards: best Real Estate site

Ah, check out my ultimate dreamhouse; too bad it's only for dolls! Since I cannot move into this home, guess I'll have to use ZILLOW instead when I am really ready to find a new crib. For a nosy neighbor like me, this Real Estate site has it all. First of all, the site is totally easy to negotiate, letting me scope out all the features without even creating a log in. If I was actually in the market to buy or sell a home, I would definitely register. Even if you are not on the verge of selling, you just might receive an offer you can't refuse using the MAKE ME MOVE feature. It is also helpful as a prospective seller to see how much $$$ houses in your own area are going for. First you can look at the cool hybrid view, then limit by price, number of bedrooms, desired sale dates, etc. When you zero in on a property, you can click on ZESTIMATE to get the realistic scoop - it even graphs changes in the Market Value of the property over the prior ten years. I can certainly see why this swell site won 1st place in the 2007 Web 2.0 awards!

Testing Zoho Boring Paragraph

Blog Entry WARNING for the aimless babbling below: I did not write this in my blog - instead I wrote it directly into ZOHO and then "published" it right to my blog. Pretty cool.

This is my first ZOHO document; it is strictly a testing device.

This is because I really have no time to write even one measly paragraph. I just want to test how to save, insert, colorize, etc. my documents in ZOHO. I will also be testing the Import function, since I have about a zillion already-created documents. (It worked - yea! And after I imported the document, I exported it as a PDF!!!) I have been meaning to try out Google Docs & Spreadsheets for a long time, but that nasty old time issue delayed even a cursory try. The reason I want to try is simple: collaboration! My colleagues and I are constantly editing mutual documents, attaching and re-attaching them to cumbersome emails, so this will be much more efficient. I also imported my spreadsheet from the prior fiscal year into ZOHO SHEETS and wanted to publish it below via the proscribed code, rather than publish it to a separate blog post, but it was waaaaayyy too big.

P.S. I see a ZOHO toolbar icon for INSERT LAYER; anybody know what that means? Also, I see FAQs here in Zoho but I do not see a general HELP/search for dummies like me. Yikes.

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