Twitter, continued -

For two days in a row I updated my Twitter status. If this continues I may even have to update my status on Facebook. Who woulda thunk it??? I always figure that no one cares what I'm doing, so why should I update my status. However - after reading the articles about twittering I realize that there are some great reasons to update my status, and some terrific ways to do it. 

Now I just feel bad that no one reads my blog, follows my twittering, or cares what my status is. 

iGoogle wins!! Thing 28

I'm still a bit overwhelmed by all of this stuff: and by not finding ONE spot where I can bring it all together. I've tried iGoogle - and I like the way I can have my calendar, my RSS feeds, and a lot of fun widgets there all at one time. However, I still feel like there's more that I can't access there...and I just find that I'm running all over the place to get it all together. I want a service to do a little more. I wish I could find one place where I could put every single thing I use - and I'm just not finding the one thing. Everything I find or use just adds more to what I'm already doing. 

I LOVE having my calendar on iGoogle - and opening it up and viewing it. However, I use Google on too many computers and I don't want my iGoogle homepage to show up when I'm in front of a class of students. 

After trying the  Netvibes and pageflakes I saw the benefit of iGoogle being that I had that powerful Google search engine. And even though I don't encourage students to use it, I do find that it is my search engine of choice. So having it with my customized homepage is a plus. 

I get tired of widgets that are just silly. I'm sure many of them have a use for people - but those that are just "games" drive me crazy. My son loves them! (He's 17, so he can) but I think they just take up space and time. I'm kinda short on both space and time...so I like the useful ones and I don't like the silly ones. A cartoon a day? I don't need it. I don't even need a sudoku a day. If I want to play I'll go out and find the one I like. A silly character just standing there smiling at me doesn't really make me smile. However - knowing the temperature, seeing a motivational quote, being able to view my calendar and getting a quick overview of the news and my RSS feeds does make me happy.

Anyway, iGoogle wins with me.

Thing 27: Twitter

I officially joined Twitter 7 months ago...and never dared do anything but follow a few people. I guess it's time to actually tweet!

You can follow me at twitter: just look for me by name, or look for purpleloon (which is also my Delicious account).

I follow Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, David Warlick, Scott MacLeod and a few of my other heroes. (Don't tell Doug I said he was my hero: it would just go to his head!)

Still on Thing 26

I wanted to add one more comment (not that anyone reads them but just because I can) about the Doodle4Google contest. I'm really excited about it. You can register here and learn all about it: www.doodle4google.com

I also have a comment about using these tools with teachers. I think they find Delicious to be one of the most useful because they save time. It is my feeling that most teachers are just way too busy to play around with these tools unless they have a real reason to. Our younger teachers spend a lot of time on Facebook. They like the way they can communicate with old friends from the past, and the ones from across the hall. I think there is enough of a social networking aspect, and a great organizational aspect to Delicious that makes it appealing to teachers.

I also think teachers like applications like VoiceThread. They can easily publish projects and share them with parents - and that is incredibly important to them. We just need to find ways to work with them to get this done. Good luck!

Thing 26 continued

Watch the video!

I love this one. 

Thing 26

Here we are!!

Thing 25

Playing with these widgets is definitely time-consuming! Add that to the fact that this PC-user (the past 4 years anyway) has FINALLY gotten a new iMac...and I am having such fun playing! Let's see - I've spent way too many hours arranging and rearranging the items on my blog...usually putting them back where they were in the beginning. I played (and that's true - I PLAYED) way too many silly games, and I got a little frustrated with myself because I kept registering for new sites that I'll probably never use again.

I did learn a good trick for keeping track of all those annoying passwords - which I hope will work out okay. I just put them in the notes portion of my Delicious account, and set them to be hidden. So - if I log in - I can see my password reminder for the site. I'm trying to record only my password reminder and not the actual password. We'll see how it works.

It is funny how I'm finding myself running across applications I tried a year or more ago and then forgot about. One such app is the website for Ask500people. I had forgotten that I really enjoyed this one! I think it can give a person a great quick answer when they have a "how do you feel about..." type of question. It truly is like asking a bunch of friends without having to leave your desk.

I also need to update my jott account - because I remember last year that I loved using it to record my blog posts. It records just enough info to be quick and concise - and does a pretty good job of spelling everything right. Plus - people can listen to my voice if they want to. Fun!! I'll post my next one that way perhaps - just so I get it updated.

Well, I guess I'd better update that one. Jott is no longer a free service. At $3.95 a month it's probably a great deal, but at this point I don't use it enough to continue it. So, I deleted my account. Man, that was harder than I thought. My kids were always jealous because Jott was number 1 on my speed dial. No more.

Widgets everywhere!! Thing 24

Oops! Not much to say! Just a quick comment about the black hole of widgets. Whoever made that comment had probably spent far too much time playing (just like me!) 

Now excuse me while I get back to my bedazzled widget....

Thing 24

Well, it's about time I caught up to speed. I first participated in the 23 Things through the California Library 2.0 program. Since I had completed the things, I didn't participate with all my friends at CMLE. Since it's been opened up to include a whole bunch of new things I decided I'd better participate this time! However, my old blog was way out of date. I created this one and decided to move on from here.

Even though I can find about a million reasons to blog, I just can't really ever find the time. Part of my problem is that I never know who my audience is. I think I'd like to create a blog for my students, my staff, my students' families, and for media specialists - but that would be just too many to keep up with! I guess that's why my blogs never go beyond short periods of time. 

Oh well - welcome to the new blog!

Celebrating!!

Is there anything more fun than a celebration? I love celebrations of every kind: holidays, birthdays, graduations, promotions. Have a celebration and I'm there! So rather than continuing with any of my other (half-hearted) blogs, I think it's time to celebrate the web 2.0 lessons learned and create a new blog - to be used to continue the celebration! At school when I learn something new, or I hear someone else say they've learned something new, I respond "Well - congratulations! You get to go home now!" That's what this blog will be all about: celebrating the things I've learned, whether I decide to continue their use or not.



Ready? Join me in the celebration! (And let's go home...we've learned something!)