Sukkot in New Marshfield, OH

Susie Unplugged
Is there any better way to celebrate Sukkot than with an accordion? My playing disturbed hawks, chicadees, squirrels and any number of creatures that ran for the woods in alarm. I am hoping that I did not discourage our Red Tails from making their home over the winter in the same spot as always. I have grown fond of them. The woodpeckers were undisturbed by my racket and continued hammering on the house. Cedar siding is NOT a good idea in rural areas of the Appalachian foothills.

Accordion Charity

On the eve of my birthday... or close enough to the eve of my birthday,
Someone from http://www.monkeyrivertown.com/downloads.php offered me a recording of this Jo Ann Castle album. You will not believe the sounds this woman can make on an accordion. Be still my heart! Go to this site! Look towards the top of the page to find Bumble Boogie. Check out Monkey River Town. You can't go wrong.

#23 The Discovery

I almost hate to admit that I truly enjoyed learning about podcasts. So that is what is going on with those ipod things stuck in everyones' ear canals. I thought it was only music that they were listening to. I had no idea that radio shows could be loaded. And most recently I saw another use.. lesson plans and text can be uploaded to supplement coursework.

For a photographer, the Flickr site is great, but the space is pretty limiting. Still, it is a good way to share photos. I have a friend who went to the Galapagos last winter and I so enjoyed looking at his photos at a Yahoo site. Because of file size limitations I needed to get the best shots directly from him. I have been invited to view many such photo sites of friends and family. It is much nicer than schlepping pictures around to every family event. You've been there. You know how it is to sit and look at 25 pictures of the same kid doing the same activity while trying to come up with something nice to say. This saves time.

I am glad that it is over. It has been a hectice summer and I have too much to do. On this eve of the new year, I am gld to put my formal web 2.0 learning activities behind me.

#22 Facebook! Oy Vey!

I read the articles about MySpace, watched the video, looked at some facebook sites and I can assure you that I will never be listed as a friend on anyone's space. The amount of time that it takes to look at it... the addiction that comes natuarally with computer use is cranked to a higher level. Call me old-fashioned, but I want to make contact with the person I talk to. I do not want to talk to lots of people simultaneously. There are not that many people who care about my life. I do not need to inform the world of anything.

#21 Podcasts

It is easy to find podcasts. NPR is my favorite source of news and entertainment. I can see the benefit of downloading "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!" or "CarTalk" and listening while jogging in the morning so please, let me have that ipod mp3 player.

In addition to NPR there is a great Jewish books site--Nextbook. Really, you should check it out. I often see what I can find there for my Jewish book club meetings.

#20 Adding video to Blog Marching 110

Click on The Marching 110 to see their performance at Toledo 2 years ago.

#8 and #9

So I guess I didn't realize it but I had added RSS feeds to my igoogle over a month ago. Because I have so little time, I have learned to glance there rather than taking the time to go to the old favorite news places.

I went searching for the out of the way places and found a Russian news source that I cannot read because I am reacquainting myself to the language. Hebrew is equally trying. Jerusalem Post comes in both Hebrew and English varieties. There is such a thing as too much news. Sometimes, I think it is best to just do my work and hope the world is not exploding around me. It falls into the ignorance is bliss category. But then pulling all these together is not a bad option.

# 16 #17 Posted to a Wiki

Library wikis are really boring. Let's face it. We shouldn't be trusted with open access to any web publishing venue. I put my site on our library wiki page.

#19 Award Winner

http://www.onesentence.org/
I see. A story in one sentence. Brevity was never my forte. I will not be winning any such award for my blog.

#18 Online Tools

http://writer.zoho.com/index.do

Can you believe that these things are free for anyone to use?! And how much do we pay for MSword?! I don't know, maybe we should just dismantle the place. Why spend any money on computers or software. We are so behind the curve. No institution can keep up with a bureacracy like ours can keep up. Does anyone feel like the Romonov dynasty is about to fall?

#6 Mashups

Here is my pretty lame card. I will put a better one later.. .I promise!

Library 2.0...

is nothing less than a revolution. The times they are a changin... from print collections to a few select electronic database purchases to massive user participation with myspace, Youtube, newsfeeds, every newspaper online..... It's like the whole structure has been turned on it's head. Librarians no longer select what users will read. They make that decision for themselves, Thank you very much. See OCLC newsletter, Nextspace: http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/1.htm, the article by Rick Anderson is right on target. The "just in case" model for collection management was so true only 12 years ago when I was the reference bibliographer. What questions could this book answer? How many times did I ask myself that? How big our print collection grew under my watchful scrutinizing eye! And I was the only person who knew the collection because I was the one who walked through it daily. Stacks of books. And now, the collection is a million times bigger because it is the entire web. There are no preliminary questions. There are simply responses. I think I like it....

Wikis...

and library applications. I will definitely be making a wiki for library instruction purposes. It seems so much less cumbersome than the Infotree and subject guide -- control issues are a hindrance. I like the idea of putting information up on a page by myself. Perhaps I am behaving like a two year old or or maybe just a grown-up but I like the idea of doing it myself.

Can you imagine the wiki for food management? Please check it out in the fall for Baker Center recipes... or maybe not. OK, I'll try to get the recipe for that butter laden coffee cake.. you know which cake I'm talking about.

De.li.cious or however it is spelled and Technorati

Tagging seems more like mass chaos than organizing. Who let the public lose with marc tags and no instructions? For heaven's sake someone should stop this madness before it spreads anymore. It may be too late. I am not going to add to the horror!

Technorati seems more like the early days of web searching, pulling in everything from everywhere with no filter. I cannot see ever using this except in very rare occasions. I can actually see where Delicious (where the hell do the dots go in this word?) may be useful if I could figure out how to actually pull together a list of items that I want to keep... may be a good way to organize bookmarks. This is not something I can learn in an hour or two.

Rolling with Rollyo --

So here's the catch. I find that I can use a Rollyo searching tool and add it to my google page easier than putting into a blog AND more importantly. I don't want everyone to see my searching proclivities. Say I add Raw Story or Huffpo -- doesn't that just make me a target for those who have different political inclinations? This one will be on my personal google page. Forgive me, Library People. This one is going to remain behind the scenes.

The Library Thing Page

is pretty interesting. LibraryThing allows one to catalog one's own collection. I am not sure if I would ever use this to the full extent but it's good to know that this thing is available. I do think the creative picture taking contests are entertaining and something I might do someday.

Proof I used Photo Editor

About Technology...

I would prefer to be playing accordion or going for a walk, but I know I need to know how to use blogs, share photos and be a 21st century person... even if it means that I take up smoking, drinking and excessive cursing in order to cope with all of it.

Accordion in Hi-Fi

Accordion in Hi-Fi
Originally uploaded by Monkey River Town

I am searching desperately for this album! If anyone wants to give it to me for a birthday gift... that would be fine.

Hawkweed

20070630 Hawkweed
Originally uploaded by accordionsusie

Hawkweed is a family of flowers that includes such noxious pests as dandelion. They are fine by me. I see no reason to poison them with herbicides.

How pathetic...

that I am doing a blog so that I can get an ipod which I will not use. This is a learning experience.

Please do not think that I have anything to share. In fact, if I were you, I would stop reading right now for in this environment, I could tell any sort of story that I want and you would not be the wiser.

My favorite things come and go. Perhaps it's Attention Deficit Disorder. Wildflowers, the feel of water, birdsong, the blue sky, and finding e minor on the bass side of my accordion by memory can all thrill me. I'm an ordinary person. Just an ordinary person.