We went to see the New York Dolls last month and it was so great. They were great; the crowd loved them; and, it was just wonderful. There was a nice homage to Johnny Thunders leading into Planet Boy which choked me up and, overall, their performance of this song was a high point. It was just sooo great to see and hear them and to see Johannsen and Silvain so happy. Live music is harder to come by these days and, seeing The Dolls, just made me realize how much I miss doing this.
The Christmas holidays are quickly approaching. I find I have to brace myself for them every year since I’m not into the whole commercial experience, and neither am I religious.
Top 10 for Christmas 2007
10. Accept it. Christmas comes every year, and it’s not going to go away.
9. Try not to get too sentimental. I find myself thinking of those loved ones I’ve lost –I can’t help it.
8. We decided to go for a big family gift this year, using Christmas as the excuse to make the purchase. It worked and we’re all happy.
7. Forget all the tedious present wrapping. Bags and tissue are the way to go.
6. I like to bake, and Christmas is a great occasion for it. I reserve some recipes only for this time of year.
5. The decorations look great. I’m just a little beat from all the cleaning that goes with decorating.
4. The Mastercard bill will arrive in January. It’s okay.
3. Don’t obsess about the rich foods. Enjoy them but remember moderation….
2. Don’t get too stressed. I’d be kidding myself to think it a stress-free holiday.
1. Have fun with the family, and enjoy the downtime that follows Christmas day.
My brother’s birthday is coming up in a few days and he’s one of those guys who has everything and does pretty much everything –travel, athletics, etc. He’s a baby boomer in the strict sense and, if you’ve ever read articles on trends among this group of the population, he’s usually partaking in that collective experience. He is very dear.
Anyway, what do you buy someone who has just about everything (everything but “time” I should add)? CROCS. I don’t know what possessed me but I think he actually doesn’t have a pair and may actually like them. I chose a neutral brown. I told my sister, who is in the same boat when it comes to his birthday. She might add a Croc charm to her gift.
Overall, don’t we all like getting presents for our birthday? I think we do.
Since the Learning 2.0 programme, related topics keep coming up through listservs, newspaper articles, etc. I don’t think this is a coincidence, rather the nature of trends and the growing awareness of them. I just glanced over an article comparing LibraryThing with similar products, Shelfari and Gurulib. I tried to access Shelfari but experienced difficulties loading the site. I could open Gurulib but have yet to play with it.
On another note, when reading posts about LibraryThing, mention was made of another list called NGC4Lib (Next Generation Catalogs for Libraries). Apparently, the creator of LibraryThing is a subscriber and contributor. I just subscribed. I’m wondering how conventional or unconventional the discussion may be.
We had a surprise visit –a blast from the past– from my husband’s old band mate, the bass player, along with his girlfriend. The D_____ existed what feels like a lifetime ago (first generation punk). I’d met the singer years ago but never any of the other members. My husband still gets royalty cheques for the song but, aside from that, it’s history.
It was a fun night. He and his girlfriend are really nice, and they live a life totally unlike my own. They own a house in a trendy neighbourhood, downtown, in a big city, have cool jobs, no kids, and drive an impressive vehicle. It was fun to reminisce and update each other on old friends and acquaintances, but I can’t help but think about the differences between us. I’m sure we all shared these thoughts.
I can’t believe we’ve come to the end of the Learning 2.0 programme. I almost miss the weekly assignments. Some were difficult, some not, but all were worth exploring, and much of this exploring was done with colleagues. Which is great.
My favourites: del.icio.us, facebook, blogging
Comfort level: Learning 2.0 increased my comfort level with new technologies. The assignments seemed to get easier over time and I credit that to the programme.
Outcomes: some tools/applications (e.g. del.icio.us, blogs) are useful in the workplace. Some are fun too.
The Programme: I was pleased with it, and I was fortunate to have a great team leader (Alex). I appreciated the attention he gave to the blogs, posting comments on them and such.
Would I be interested in another programme? Yes. It’s for my own good. I was a skeptic starting the programme but I enjoyed working through it and, as I stated earlier, I enjoyed the collegiality that came with it.
Today I worked with browser tools, beginning with Firefox add-ons. Firefox resides on my system already so I just needed some extensions. These are the ones I added: del.icio.us; adblock plus; 123 travel search; and, all-in-one search. I particularly wanted access to my del.icio.us account since I work at different computer stations on various workdays.
All went well except for the all-in-one search. According to my extension menu, it has been installed but I can’t find an icon, search box or whatever else residing anywhere.
Later I went to the MORRIS bookmarklets page and installed a subject keyword search to my Internet Explorer favorites. I was impressed by how this worked. When doing a subject search in Classification Web of “animal feeding”, I highlighted the phrase, clicked my bookmarklet, and was taken to a total of 9 search results within the library catalogue. That’s good. I may add more to my favorites.
This past week the Learning 2.0 programme focused on gaming. I’d been exposed to electronic gaming through my children with Nintendo 64 and Gamecube (e.g. Mario Kart, Mario Kart Double Dash, and Tony Hawk), and more recently with Webkinz. I never sought out anything beyond this.
I began this week’s assignment by attending one of the sessions offered by the ETG group which was quite good –thank you, Kelly. From there I tried Internet Solitaire, Pop Cap Games (Bejeweled Zuma) and wrapped up the week with IMVU. The first two were fun. The few short minutes I planned to spend with Bejeweled Zuma turned into a much longer stint.
I had some difficulty with IMVU. I joined the membership, created an avatar, but was unable to download when required. Regardless, I did receive 4 messages: 2 standard messages from IMVU Inc. and 2 from members, Charm and Lucky. These last 2 messages seemed staged to help me move along and circulate with others. When I clicked on Charm and Lucky’s “visit me” invitations, I saw their friends, etc. It was interesting to momentarily explore, but this type of social networking isn’t for me.
I like playing board games or card games like scrabble or euchre. So much of my time is spent on a computer at work that I seek out alternative environments when I’m not working. Now that spring is here, I just want to get outside.
