Love of Learning

OK, I just HAD to make a romance novel cover... available at Glass Giant

Lightning 2.0

I used the image generator at Glass Giant to create this shocking pic. It should be an animated gif, but couldn't figure out how to post it that way.

I also created an avatar...

Don't I wish I looked that good! This was created with Portrait Illustration Maker

This had more options than other avatar generators I found.

Fun Fun Fun!!!!

Finding Feeds

It was fun exploring the tools for finding feeds. I was most comfortable with Technorati, even found some staff blogs there! Topix was useful, found some intresting comments about DOPA, including someone questioning if the recent Foley scandal will fuel the DOPA fire, or make people reconsider, since the speaker is one of the sponsors. Enough politics. I also found the YALSA site and added it to my feeds. Syndic8 didn't work really well for me, I was confused as to exactly what it was searching, topics or site or blog titles? The bloglines search tool would not open for me. It's great to know these tools are available to find things beyond googling.

AARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!

OK. I consider myself fairly technically literate. OK, very literate. So imagine my surprise when it tok 2 and a half hours to complete the RSS tasks. Listened to the podcast, watched the tutorials, no problem. Signed up for a bloglines account, no problem. Located lots of blogs, including the assigned ones and several staff blogs, no problem. Then came the part about the public blog and blogrolls. You mean blog!#$$^*%G&*%^$^&% ( Don't know why this wanted to turn that garbled mess into a link???) First, the screenshot wasn't there that explained the step. It wasn't clear once I generated the script where to put it. After an hour of messing with it, I saw that there was a new BETA version of blogger. I found this by going through blogger help and Googling for bloggroll help. My very talented co-worker (OK she is on my staff and she is finished and I will probably be the last of my department to finish oh the shame but at least she knew what she was doing) said that she had switched to the beta and that it was indeed easier to "add elements" which is what adding a bloggroll is. So I switched my blog to the beta, which meant signing up for a Google account. Fine. Well the "Add Page Elements" option was not there. She even pulled up her page to show me what it should look like, but mine wasn't there. Something got lost in the translation between the regular and Beta. So, I logged off and on again, and Voila!!!! it was there! Surely my problems were over. I found the right place, added the script, and........ No feeds. I hadn't shared my profile. Huh???? So I had to figure out on which of the many screens of options on bloglines did I tell it to share. I found it. Refreshed the blog and ....it only displayed three of my 15 feeds. After a lot of looking and detective work, I realized that I actually had set up a bloglines account previously, and it was pulling those feeds. Another hour (over 2 different days) I finally fixed it all. Of course, I couldn't just delete the one bloglines account, so I had to change info and profile names, and keep updating the script element in Beta Blogger. Well, it is real purty now. Of course, I haven't had time to read all my feeds, because I have been getting this to work. My public blogroll is http://www.bloglines.com/public/vintageradiance

To end this rant, I need to comment that if I got this frustrated, it could be bad enough for others to give up. And they are exactly the ones that this wonderful program is meant for, to show them that these cool tools are not something to be afraid of, but discovered and used. I love this program. I think it is great that it is discovery based. I also think it is great how we are encouraged to utilize fellow staff to troubleshoot. However, I believe that certain things should have a little more guidance. For me it was blogrolls, but others have had trouble with other things that simply didn't work the way they were supposed to. This is basically hindsight now, but identifying after this is over what were problem areas for staff and adding "cheat sheets" for especially tough areas (or troubleshooting tips) would benefit those looking at modeling programs after Learning 2.0. This is not a criticism, simply an opinion on my experience, and the hope that this is as wonderful a discovery experience for everyone as possible. Of course, you can always chalk it all up to operator error, and leave it at that. I personally will keep plugging away, I am truly enjoying understanding all of the 23 things.

DOPA and Lampshades-Finding Your Light

Anything about technology that is interesting...hmmmm....

Well, dopey DOPA came to mind first. Looks like it might have been held in committee. It was challenging trying to find info on the bill's status, for some reason Congress isn't very good about updating information for the public. DOPA is annoying, terrifying, and yet another attempt to keep the technology light under a barrel. If it shines too brightly, well something wonderful might happen AND people might have to think for themselves. So SHHHHH!!!! don't let people know about cool technology like we are experiencing and playing with, keep them afraid! Keep them in control. And do not let individuals shine too brightly! And pick on libraries while you are at it. After all, they are beacons of knowledge, independence and wisdom.

Then, there are lampshades. I discovered this week that lampshades make an excellent light tent for digital photography. A light tent filters light to allow the true clear picture to come through, especially of pretty sparkly things. It cuts through the flash and shows clarity. Not light under a barrel, but light harnessed to garner perfection.

It's all about finding your light. That's what you do when you are on stage. When you find your light, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. It's a great feeling. Finding your light may mean cutting through the glitter or the red tape, or the opinions that others want you to take as fact. Finding your light is finding your truth.

Take a bow, and shine on!

Mashup Fun

The newest slideshow demonstrates what a creative, and funloving, staff we have at PLCMC! I played with the inspirational poster maker. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ I took a cool shot of a children's rug, and took it from there. I played with the magazine cover maker, but my picture needed editing to really work. These tools are a great way to be artistic, even when your not! And make a statement in a way so clever it disguises any insult hidden in it! Anyone can be a satirist, political cartoonist, or create a techno-image of themselves. Kudos everyone!

Techno clowning rules!!!!!

Scary Clown is a blogger!,
originally uploaded by puppettherapy.

Some people are afraid of clowns. Some people are afraid of technology. So here we have the best of both worlds. A fear defeating a fear. A win win!!!! Couldn't resist this photo by puppettherapy. This looks the way I feel most days. I have been clowning around so long I am only on flickr at the end of September! Doesn't mean I am not serious though. Just always catching up. I do hope that puppettherapy will post a pic of this clown sporting his/her beautiful new MP3 player! We can jam together, maybe even form an audiobook club (if I ever catch up to step #22!)

Difficult Habits

Read the 7 1/2 habits. I think the most difficult is seeing problems as challenges. Next would be goals. It is fun to learn new stuff, but being organized about it is a different matter. I think playing is the easiest, learning by discovery. Happy Posting!!!!!

Learning 2.0 , I am finally here

Hello! Well, I made another blog but I cannot find it. So, I am making this one so I can finally register and catch up. this should be cool!