Week 1, Thing 2 Addendum

I realized that I didn't specifically comment about the "Which habit is the easiest?" and "Which habit is the hardest?" in regards to lifelong learning. I find that habit 6 is the easiest because I love technology. Anytime that I can utilize technology to make my life more efficient the better. The hardest habit for me would be Habit 1 "Beginning with the end in mind." I tend to have many goals in mind. It sometimes might take me a little to determine the priority of a goal and when to let go of other goals.

Maryland 16 - 23, All done

I completed my learning adventure of the Maryland 23 things. Rick Anderson brought up some really valid points in the his article "Away from the Icebergs." From the Bull Run Library Wiki, I learned that wiki's can look different and I was able to find the number one song for the month that I was born "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

I figured that I would keep going through the rest of the exercises so I added my link to the Maryland Libraries Sandbox and had fun designing with a template on the Zoho Writer site. Squidoo is an interesting site that allows you to make your own web page but get paid at the same time. This one web page on children's birthday cakes was very detailed. You could tell the person really researched a lot on the Internet to gather different designs for anyone to use. You Tube I've used before but this was the first time I learned to embed one of their video files into my blog. It features one of my favorite shows "The Office."

My favorite search tool for podcasts would be Podcast Alley. I've used this one search tool before. It was really helpful for me so that I could find some sites on running tips.

I downloaded some books from Overdrive. What I found was that I kept picking titles that were not available. In the past, I've used Audible.com because mainly my books could be downloaded to my iPod.

I'm really glad that I had a chance to participate in the Maryland 23 things. The main thing that I was learned was that there is so much still to learn out there.

Maryland Thing 13, 14, and 15

I'm busy working on completing the Maryland 23 things. Del.icio.us was a fun site. This will really help in the organization of my favorites. Too often I find nice websites but then down the road I take so much time searching for them through my list of favorites. Plus, I liked the fact that I'm able to see what other sites people have recommended. Technorati showed me a new way of searching blogs. Out of the articles that I read about Web 2.0 and Library 2.0; I really enjoyed reading Rick Anderson valid points about the new direction of libraries.

Maryland Thing 11 and 12

I checked out LibraryThing. I probably will use the groups the most. It's always nice reading about others opinions on the same type of genre that I enjoy reading. I don't think that I would use the cataloging of books feature too much.

Today, I learned about Rollyo. It was actually fun trying some that had been created by celebrities. I could see this being useful when you look at the same sites under one category like travel. At the same time, I guess I tend to use Google more even though it brings up a lot of sites.

Week 5, Thing 8, 9 and 10

I'm really enjoying my RSS feeds. It saves me a lot of time from how I used to check my favorite websites for updates. Now, I can have all my favorite sites in one place.

Merlin offers alot of different features about the Maryland "library world." I think this will be really useful if I'm looking for something very library specific.

Feedster was one of my favorite search tools for find RSS feeds. I tried searching for all feeds on some of my hobbies and came up with a number of different results.

Ok, I have to admit it was alot of fun creating my Simpson's avatar from the image generator. Maybe it was because I just say the Simpson's movie. It was really funny. I like all the different image generators that are out there on the Internet. There were a few that really strange. Hope everyone enjoys my Simpson's avatar.

Week 3, Maryland Thing 5, 6, 7

I explored Flickr. It offers a lot of fun templates but since I'm used to working in Adobe Photoshop it seems like I wouldn't use this website much. I had fun making different things on Flickr and checking out the 3rd party websites.

My favorite piece of technology would be my iPod. There are so many fun things that I can do with my iPod. I enjoy listening to my weekly audio podcasts. Each week I can listen on a different subject.

The playlists are great to group different pieces of music. I have a favorite for running. Then my daughter has her favorites in one list.

The great feature of downloading videos makes the time on commutes and road trips go that much faster. People might think it's crazy to watch a show on such a small screen but I think it's just the right size.

The next feature that I want to add would be some more games to my iPod. I love playing Sudoku so my sister showed me the Sudoku that can purchased through iTunes. Then she also showed me a fun miniature golf game.

Week 2, Thing 4; Registering Blog & Tracking Progress

I registered my blog and printed out the 23 Things Tracking Log. So far, I haven't come across any problems. Everything seems very clear about the instructions.

Week 2, Thing 3; Setting Up a Blog

The process seemed really easy to setup a blog. It was nice blogger.com offers templates.

Week 1, Thing 2; Pointers from Lifelong Learners

I enjoyed the podcast about lifelong learners. It brought up some great points that learning later in life is much different than when I was sitting as a kid in a classroom. The best part is that I can take responsibility for my learning and things areas that I want to explore.

Week 1, Thing 1; About this Program

I'm looking forward to this learning adventure.

My first post

I'm trying my hand into the first posting on my blog. Regarding the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learning, I would say that using technology to my advantage is the easiest. I've always enjoyed working with technology. Anything that can make my life easier and more efficient is a plus in my mind.

The hardest habit in lifelong learning would be beginning with the end in mind. I think it can be challenging setting one specific goals. It's not the aspect of making a goal but more often in how to select one goal.