Picture Practice

Here's me and my little bro' Erik up at Great Divide last winter. He rips (on and off the slopes!).

Neil Gaiman

Here's a link:
http://flickr.com/photos/8375439@N07/510236595/in/pool-montanalibraries

I came across this picture in the MT Libraries Flickr group and it reminded me how cool it was that MLA brought Neil Gaiman to town in 2007 for the annual conference. He was such an entertaining and inspiring speaker, and his Anansi Boys is still the book I recommend most to friends.

RSS

I'm glad to have a better understanding of what RSS is and how it works. On the one hand I can see how it could save me time by bringing new and pertinent info to me instead of me having to go after it, but there are other times when I'm not sure I want to do anything that will mean more time on the computer when I want to be outside in my garden or on my bike... I realize though that by having my default homepage being the MSN one that I'm very vulnerable to only receiving the news and views that they want me to; having my homepage be someting like google reader or bloglines would allow me to get news from sources I believe to be credible, etc.

Lifelong learning

Just watched the online tutorial on the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners at http://www.plcmc.org/public/learning/player.html
as part of the Montana Library 2.0 Challenge. I'm not sure which habit comes easiest/hardest for me, but the ones that I need to be reminded of the most are:

#3--Viewing problems as challenges (or learning opportunities)
#5--Creating my own "learning toolbox"
#7 1/2--PLAY (making learning playful, like learning to ride a bike or snowboard)

I'm not sure I'll fill out a learning contract form, but I do know what some of my goals are:

• be more comfortable with Flickr and You Tube
• Figure out a way to have an online interactive component of Teen Services here at teh Library--either a blog or MySpace page...
• just generally be more aware of and comfortable with new technologies

As far as obstacles go:

• time
• commitment (maybe I should do the contract, huh?)

Lastly, whenever I think about lifelong learners, I think of my grandma who has never stopped learning, reading, writing, thinking. I wonder if courage shouldn't be one of the habits, not the courage of your convictions, but the courage to have your convictions challenged...

Am I really blogging?

It appears that I am.