Week 3, Thing 7 - Technology, like it or lump it

I experimented with type size in this post; that's something technological! I found that "smallest" is actually "too small."

As one who just doesn't own many electronic devices, I don't have much first-hand experience with the stuff other people talk about (though I can identify some of these devices when I see them!). Hmmm. I have looked at pictures on other people's cameras or phones; I have observed the changes in the Internet and the increases in the number and depth of subject-related pages that are useful or interesting; there are sites that I now check regularly, or turn to as first sources for certain kinds of questions. I'm sure that as this program progresses, I will find some of the items I explore easier to use, and may even be motivated to purchase something to tech up my life.

I have already posted comments on several other "BCPL 23" blogs - motivated either by subject matter or knowing who the blogger is!

Week 3, Thing 6 - Nifty things

I've now looked at some of the neat things one can do with photos on Flickr; as a traveller, the mappr feature looks especially interesting to me. Too bad that I don't take pictures when I travel! Maybe that will have to change from now on.
One thing I've noticed about many of these photo mashup things is that they are taking forever to appear on the screen of this computer. It's not one of the branch's newest models, I guess.

Week 3, Thing 5 - welllll...

I've looked at Flickr and taken a shot at putting one of its photos here. This appears to involve stepping out of the fun, if overwhelming in its size, pile of photos to create several more different accounts, with Flickr and Yahoo and Google and God knows who else. After spending a reasonable amount of time fiddling around with all this, trying a second computer because the first one wouldn't show me the secret word in its freaking little box, finding that every reasonably memorable name has already been chosen by someone somewhere else, I have determined to just put my selected photo's address here. So go look at flickr.com/photos/ozguuun/537753659. That last number certainly seems to indicate that Oz Bey has quite a number of snaps on the site. He also seems to respond to comments fairly quickly and graciously. And this picture's caption does sum up the subject's expression and my current frame of mind - so maybe life does get better than this!

Week 2, Thing 1 & Thing 2 - Backing up a bit...

Okay, having accomplished Things 3 and 4 by setting up and registering a blog, I can now track earlier Things here.

#1, Finding out about the program, done, and hey, it sounds great. Read the "About" page, checked the "Tips" page, which seems empty now but I expect that it will fill up as we all move along.

#2, Lifelong learning:
I like these 7 1/2 principles. The last half-principle reminds me that some time ago I heard a professor point out that you can tell that a new thing is going be really useful when people start playing with it - he was thinking of guys creating computer games in the dawn of the computer age. He also pointed out that this playing around by the rank and file usually makes those in charge mad - I'm glad to see that this uptight attitude is not going to be a part of this program!
My goal will be fairly broad, to find out more about technology as it expands and changes. I know that everything I learn will make future learning easier, because I can remember those first little Apples and how difficult computers seemed then. New computer systems aren't scary at all now. Or not nearly as much.
Major obstacles for me will be other job responsibilities and interruptions. Also, I do not personally own much new technology - may be the last person in Baltimore County to own a pantograph - so will have to do some borrowing.
Which relates to my toolbox, which will be largely borrowed. But hey, we work in a library and borrowing is what it's all about, right?
And a library has great resources - I expect that I'll be using the Internet, and calling upon co-workers, especially those who are following the same long, long trail of 23 Things at the same time as I, and, in a pinch, the always-helpful folks who work at extension 3000.
My path will be the things in this program, and I'll keep an eye on my progress during the summer through this blog. Which will get less and less vanilla, I hope.

Not templateless after all

... I almost immediately realized that my blog is not templateless, but rather, has a sort of plain vanilla, default-type template, which I expect to change soon.

This is one of my newest pals. Is she cute or what? And very intelligent, too!

Week 1, Things 3 & 4 - Templateless?

Help. I'm trapped in a templateless blog! Why, I wonder, do the tutorials offer screenshots of the most understandable, intuitive bits, while ignoring the parts that one can't figure out? It's like all the trees in the parks being labeled except the ones that you can't identify. Roll on the 21st century!