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...

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.)

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.

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.