Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Last Thing!

Whew, finally done.

Well, I'm supposed to share my thoughts on this whole project, so here goes. All in all, it was a rather enjoyable trip, though not without some potholes and blowouts along the way. On the plus side, I got to look at and try out a bunch of things that I never would have, left to my own devices. Heck, a bunch of 'em I'd never even heard of before! The online productivity tools (word processor, etc.) were great and really useful.

My gut feeling, though, is that many of the sites are more "flavor of the month" rather than useful: examples would be delicious (gack), flickr, and that avatar generator. The last two were somewhat entertaining, but not something I'll ever have need of again. Yes, I know some of this is supposed to be play, but still.

I'm also a bit peeved that no mention was made of discussion forums, which can actually be useful. I belong to a couple of them myself, having joined long before Internet 2.0 was invented. The purpose of this exercise was to--and I quote--"learn about the new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today" yet where were My Space and Facebook? Seems to me that everyone in the whole world (except me, natch) belongs to one or both of those. I've still never visited either site and probably won't unless some compelling reason to arises. I can't for the life of me think of what that compelling reason might be...

Also, shouldn't we have at least touched on online gaming? Considering that's what 90% of the people using our public computers are doing, it'd be nice to know what the heck they're up to.

I'd have covered online chat, as well.

But that's all water under the bridge. I'm done, and am looking forward to my 1.8 CEUs. On the off chance that I should win a Wii or a Zune out of this, I have one word:

Ebay.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Things 21 and 22!

Woohoo! Coming down to the wire on this little project.

Okay, #21: Podcasts. Yeah, they're pretty cool, 'specially because I'm a fan of radio programs, which they're kind of like. (Whoa! Did you pick up the crappy syntax in that sentence?) Unfortunately, I didn't find anything I liked--one site had just too many choices and the descriptions weren't very lucid; the other site had some stuff with potential but I couldn't get any of them to actually run. Frustrated, I decided to forgo checking Yahoo Podcasts.
I am glad to report that I discovered by my ownself--without aid of this 23 Things project--that "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!" is available as a podcast (http://www.waitwait.npr.org).
For those of you who are as slow on the uptake as I, this is like the only thing worth listening to on broadcast radio. It's funny as you-know-what.
Number 22: Downloadable audio books. Hmmm. Well, to be honest, downloadable audios and I have a long history that left a bad taste in my mouth (along with a lot of other people, I might add.) Overdrive did have two books I'd be willing to listen to (though one is a craft/cookbook, and I'm wondering how that translates to audio. But I digress.) Neither book was actually available so.... I think I'll continue taking my books in paper form, thank you.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Is it just me?


Or does Paris Hilton look like a hillbilly?

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Leftover Chinese


That'll be the name of my rock band when I form one. Not that I have any intention of ever actually forming a band--no musical talent, you know--but if I ever do, isn't that a great name?

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Too Delicious!

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

I found out today that around the system, a few people have discovered my little chunk o' the Blogosphere and dubbed it a "Must Read", couldyoudie? You know what that means, don't you? Two words:

Cult. Following.

Who'da thunk it? Forced to participate and used only for my own personal rants, I never imagined anyone would actually read this. Now it turns out I'm kind of like Ed Wood.

Or peyote.

Read on, people! Your king is pleased.

Woo Hoo! Fun Stuff!

Geez, finally got around to doing some fun stuff, namely YouTube. Did I like it? Oh, you betcha. I could troll for interesting videos all day and night. Really, there's something for everyone here and I only barely scratched the surface.
Not that it's new to me. I actually posted a couple of videos more than a year ago. Here's one, of a cool sign my friend has in his basement.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Today's post is brought to you by the letter E

Flickr. Mappr. Montagr.

What the hell happened to the letter e? It's a perfectly good letter, and my personal favorite vowel.

Whn did popl dcid to stop using it?

Because really, it just looks stupid.

I think the cell phone companies started it--first there was the Razr. Then came the Cruzr. Then the Oystr. Now the Marbl. Whr will it all nd?

Hmm. This is making me think of something, to wit: which is most annoying, the Missing E, the use of Z as a pluralizer, or internal capitalization? I think I'll post a poll, see if anyone votes.

Oh by the way, none of the three will make it past Second Place, as The Apostrophe In Plurals wins, hands down.

Or should I say hand's down?

The 19th thing

Whew. Only 4 more things to go (and one of 'em is Youtube!)

So today I looked at the list of winners and chose a few. Okay, the first couple of them I just didn't "get", but that should be no surprise to anyone. Then I came across Biblio.com and finally found something I could use.

It's a search engine/etailer that finds used, rare, and OOP books, which is something I really like.

I'm not sure what sets it apart from Alibris or ABE Books, but if it won a Web 2.0 award, it must be good, right?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Okay, here's a hint:

Back alley abortion.

HERMIONE DIES!!!!!!

For some reason, Alibris sent my copy of the new Harry Potter book early and I read it last night.
Yep, Hermione's worm food, but I'm not going to tell you how she dies because it's pretty cool and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Allow me to introduce...


Basho.

Basho is the Japanese word for "competition" but it turns out there was a poet named Basho as well.

Say the name slowly, three times: Basho. Basho. Basho. Kinda grows on you, doesn't it?

I acquired Basho in February. I was flying to Hawaii for vacation (brag brag) and read through the Skymall catalog the airline provides. When I saw Basho's picture, my first thought was "Why don't I already own that?" I promised myself that if I had any money left over when I got home I would buy a Basho.

And so I did. He sits by my front door, standing guard over my condo. So far, no ninja attacks.

Poor Basho was also at the center of a controversy. Shortly after I put him out one of my neighbors asked me to remove him. "We don't have that kind of thing here" she said. I said that I do and I like him so he's staying. A few days later she asked me again to remove Basho as he was "ugly". I replied that if he offends one, one is cordially invited to avert one's eyes. This went on for a bit, neither of us willing to back down. I should explain that I love my neighbor, so everything was said quite nicely.

A week or so later, said neighbor returned asking me once more to remove Basho. Again, I said no. Neighbor said a petition was going around the building asking for Basho's removal and that the petition would be sent to The Board. I said fine, everyone's entitled to an opinion, that's why they make chocolate and vanilla, etc., etc.

This was in March. After hearing the story, Keith bought a teeny-tiny little leprechaun hat and put it on Basho.

Well. People were stopping me all over the place to tell me how funny it was.

At that point we decided that Basho should be accessorized for each holiday and so far he has had bunny ears, a hardhat (lots of construction going on in the building), a sombrero (for Benito Juarez's birthday), a Mother's Day bonnet, Keith's father's cowboy hat and heaven only knows whatall else--I forget a lot of stuff.

Haven't heard a word about the petition since.

Interestingly, the people who seem to like him most are the guys who come to the building to do construction and repairs. Who knew?

Hey, Ellen! I finally found something useful!

Youall can probably tell that I've not been very impressed with any of the "things" we've covered so far. That changed this afternoon.
I tried that Zoho word processor and finally--finally--found something worthwhile.
It has a number of good things going for it, not the least of which is that it's free (yay!) If you're familiar with MS Word, this'll be a snap to use. In fact, once my version of Office becomes obsolete I won't have to replace it, as Zoho seems to do everything I need.
Which is to say, not a lot. I never use any of the really exotic features of Word; for me it's basically a fancy typewriter. I'm sure Zoho lacks some of Word's features but since I probably wouldn't use 'em anyway, it doesn't matter to me.
Yep, Zoho is definitely a keeper.
Really, someone should create a blog about it...

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Egregious Taste


Okay, it's bad enough that people are becoming more rude by the day (not to mention just plain icky; on my way to the 7-11 today I walked by a young couple. The girl was popping a zit on her boyfriend's chin. On the street, forcryingoutloud.) I can remember back to the days when you actually made pleasant small talk with cashiers, salespeople, etc. Now it's every man for himself and could you keep that cash register down, it's interfering with my BlueTooth.
Now it seems that good taste has taken yet another nosedive. You know, every time I think that the collective American Taste can't get any worse, it manages to find another toilet down which to flush itself (and notice the elegant construction.)
Little girls dressed like hookers. Bratz dolls. Vacuum cleaner cozies that look like floppy-eared rabbits in aprons. Capri pants. Reality TV. It just goes on and on.
The inspiration for today's rant is a little something called "Angels with Attitude." Please look at the picture because you wouldn't believe me if I just told you. (And if you do believe me and/or think they're cute, please do me a favor and beat your head against a wall until you fall over dead. Much obliged.)

Friday, July 6, 2007

Maryland Sandbox!

Went there. Followed instructions. Tried to add my blog.

"Error on page"

Oh, well. The title's there even if it isn't a link, which at least shows I tried.

Gosh, I just love Library 2.0!

Oh, and Wikis

By and large, I'm too much of an elitist to get excited about the whole Wiki thing. Okay, so any crackpot out there can add whatever drivel he wants to my web site?
I don't think so.
Yeah, yeah, I know there are checks and balances but why should I put myself in the position of editing not only me but everyone else in the world? No, I'd much prefer that people email me with additions or changes, etc. so I can look them over, decide my original is better and then delete delete delete.
Oh, unclench; even I'm not that bad.
No, I can see a fair amount of usefulness here, particularly if the wiki in question is based on something other than factual information (e.g. arranging meetings, sharing impressions, reviewing books, etc.) If it's something that requires a lot of fact-checking then I'll pass.
I think it's worse to pass on potentially wrong information than to squelch people's self-expression.

Thing 15

I'm just loving this. I read some of the articles on "Library 2.0" and was appalled at the grammar and punctuation of one of them (Mr. Hip Librariandude, if you need a hint) but mostly at the content.
Here's a bunch of people all agreeing that The Library has to embrace this new model (ewww, I hate that word almost as much as I hate "initiative" used as a noun) and yet nobody has anything really concrete to say. I particularly like the term "lightweight programming models" which will mean nothing to most librarians, and even fewer customers. If a customer has a question/need, the last thing he wants to hear is something about a lightweight programming model and how it might be of use to him. Sorry, y'all. He wants the book/question answered/whatever.
Which is not to say that I think The Library should stagnate and never move beyond what we are now. Nosiree. Let's just see if we can do it like normal people and not jump around and get all excited over something just because it exists.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Just so you don't think I'm a total jerk

I really like messing around with the stuff on Flickr. For more basic stuff, I like Picnik.

Thing 14

Hmm. Starting to feel a little "Dr. Seussian" here--Thing One and Thing Two, etc., etc.
Anyhoo.
I think I might have discovered what is turning me off about this whole blogging thing. Poked through Technorati as instructed and looked at some of the more popular blogs. There might have been some good information there, but how do you find it with all those freakin' ads? I go to those blogs and they all look like the kind of websites that I immediately leave because they're nothing more than advertising.
Yes, I know I could try harder, but why should I? There are lots of other places that don't make me sift through lots and lots of crap to get to the good stuff.
Call me old. Call me cranky. Spank me hard and call me Shirley.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Might as well face it

I'm addicted to Pomegranate Slurpees. I discovered these a few weeks ago while perusing my local 7-11. I'm always on the lookout for sugar-free Slurpees (who needs all the calories, right?) so when I found the Pomegranage Berry Crystal Light flavor I decided to give it a try.

Now I'm working my way up to a 200-dollar-a-day habit and there's no turning back.

Really, you ought to try 'em.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Week 6, Thing 13

I know I'm going to sound like an old coot here, but this whole del.icio.us thing failed to impress me.
First, the coy name just makes me want to throw up a little, you know?
Second--and here's the crux of the whole matter--it doesn't really do you any good unless you've bought into the whole blog thing. Which, you may deduce, I haven't.
I don't search blogs. I don't care about blogs. I don't hate them, mind you, they're just a concept that doesn't interest me in the least.
So shoot me.
Whenever I mention this to someone who's really into the whole 2.0 thing, they look at me like I told them I eat babies.
And before you say "But you're blogging right now!", yep, I sure am. But I'm doing it as an assignment and I certainly don't expect anyone to actually read this stuff. If someone sets up an RSS feed to keep track of my blog, they need some seeeeeeeerious help.
I'm old-fashioned. I like books. I like paper. I like things that don't need to be recharged or connected to a high-speed network.
Okay, that being said, I can see how del.icio.us could be useful for some people. Heck, I can even imagine that one day I might even embrace it.
But not today.

No, not today.

Assignment update Week 5

Well, I did as I was told. I created an avatar, added a bunch of books to Library Thing, and Rolled my own web search thingie. These were some fun exercises but I can't see myself making use of any of them in the near or distant future.

Monday, June 25, 2007

When I'm In Charge

Due to the fact that I'm easily irritated, I've been thinking about some of the things I'd do if I were in charge of the world. Nothing earth-shaking (I'm lazy, after all), but just a few little things to make riding this whirling marble a little easier. To wit:

1. Get rid of the stupid .9 after gas prices. Why on earth should we calculate the price of a gallon of gas to 9/10th of a cent?

2. No more Daylight Saving Time. I've never understood the concept in the first place, and all it does is confuse people twice a year. And hellooo--here's a news flash--you don't get any more sunlight! Unless we can figure out how to add more hours to a day, the hours of sunlight remain the same.

3. Fat women and Disney sweatshirts. Once I am in charge, you will never see one wearing the other. Why is it that so many fat women are drawn to sweatshirts with pictures of Pooh and Minnie Mouse and all that crowd? I'm sorry, but when you look like that, you should be wearing clothes to blend in, not stand out. You're no Snow White, honey. Think navy blue with maybe a vertical stripe to distract the eye. Don't expect much.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Here's Honey!


My creation
Originally uploaded by I am the Sausage King
This is the picture I tried to post earlier. Ellen showed me a different way of doing it because the freaking Blogger thing didn't work.

Creepiest. Doll. Ever.

I know the whole Youtube thing doesn't come up for a while, but I thought I'd give it a try while I'm thinking about it. I've never been able to get Youtube's "embed" thing working, so this'll be pretty much a crapshoot.

Technology post

Hmmm. Something technological that interests me? That's a hard one. I have an MP3 player that I never use, my home PC is basically for ebay and porn, I like my digital camera but I'm not married to it (I'd like to have my Polaroid Swinger back), and I prefer paper and pencil to a Palm thingie.

Oooh, here's something! I love my new cellphone! This one has a camera, but unlike the last one, it actually works. Now I can take pictures of crap and email them to people immediately, thereby irritating them in real time. What a treat!

Oh, and P.S. this whole RSS thing kind of intrigues me, but you didn't hear it from me.

Flickr Disappointment!

Well, I went back to Flickr and made the coolest magazine cover but I can't upload it. I'll try again later, but for now I find it quite irksome.

Flickr Fun

Okay, I did my Flickr thing and had a bunch of fun. Maybe this whole project isn't so bad after all...

Rant du jour

Okay, I know I should be working on my "23 Things"...uh...thing, but I need to vent for just a moment. Please indulge me.

I am sick to death of opening a magazine or a catalog or something and seeing closeup pictures of:
  1. Children with cleft palates
  2. Psoriasis
  3. Toenail fungus

Could you just stop it, please?

Monday, June 11, 2007

I am official!

I have officially registered my bloggage with the People Who Need to Know of Such Things. Sure hope I win that Zune. Last thing I won at Staff Day was a CD of the speaker's program.

Yeah. Right.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

My first real post

Okay, I'm supposed to say what the easiest and hardest of the 7.5 habits are for me, so here they are:

Easiest: "Begin with an end in mind." That's pretty much the way I do everything (being a basically lazy person), so it just kind of comes naturally. I don't want to waste a whole lot of time and effort wandering around, if you know what I mean.

Hardest: "Have confidence in yourself." Having little or no confidence is pretty much the default setting for my life.

Welcome me into your hearts and tummies!

Greetings, loyal subjects! Bow in supplication, for I am The Sausage King! More than that, I am your Sausage King!

Baloney, salami, mortadella, it's all good because it's all sausage! Stick with me while we take this little journey together, won't you? For I promise it will be full of adventure.

Not to mention, pork.