Wearing Red on First Friday in February

I will be wearing red tomorrow and hope that many will take a moment to remember the importance of heart disease awareness, especially for women. In 2000 I was uninformed about this issue and failed to recognize my own symptoms which indicated congestive heart failure. They are much different from heart attack symptoms, which I believe are more commonly known. The solution for me was an artificial heart valve, and I am here today because of this implant of a small gizmo to do the job of my own badly damaged mitral valve. I am glad to be alive at a time when technology exists to provide such life-saving procedures. I am also grateful to an online support group, Valvereplacement.com, which gives support to people undergoing this surgery and their families. If you know someone who is facing open heart surgery to replace or repair a valve, do refer them to this group: http://www.valvereplacement.com
Also, think about wearing red tomorrow!

Follow-up About Testing the Web 2.0 Waters

I posted a query to EDTECH, LM_Net, and TLC related to yesterday's blog entry where I asked how people would present Web 2.0 resources to a newcomer who was entering the waters very gingerly, first dipping a toe, the steeping out knee deep, etc. I did get some very nice responses. One person suggested that a first step should be del.icio.us, which I think is a great next thing after learning about blogs. Several people reminded me of two super resources presented by The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg: Learning 2.0 Blog and Learning 2.1 Blog.
Another similar tutorial is presented by MESQUITE, TX ISD and has a great title, Learning Through Play.

As always I am grateful for everyone's tips. I am still working on my presentation, but it is up in a rough form at my wiki which has the same name as my blog, For Whom the Bell Told.

Testing Web 2.0 Waters

I grew up swimming in cold rivers and creeks. As you may know, there are two ways of getting into the water for the first time. One method is to stick in your toe, next your foot, then the other, and gradually work your way into the water. The other is to plunge right in all at once. My dad was a great plunger. He would stand tall on the dam across Cypress Creek in Wimberley, TX, stretch a little, and then dive right in. I was not always that brave, and often used the gradual technique instead. I found myself thinking about that today as an analogy of the ways to get involved with new technology, specifically Web 2.0, for the uninitiated user. The reason I am mulling this over is because I am fixin' (as we say in TX) to give a conference presentation about Web 2.0 and also to discuss it with a class. I know that a fair number of my listeners will be relative newcomers to Web 2.0 since it is so heavily blocked at so many schools.

So I asked myself...what is the equivalent of sticking one toe in the water? Before even thinking about it, I would want to know what the heck Web 2.0 was anyway. For this, I recommend the great YouTube film called The Machine is Us/Ing Us, found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE
This would be sort of like laying out your towel and applying sunscreen.I decided that first real step would be to find and follow some good educational or library related blogs. Using a blog aggregator such as Bloglines would be dipping the other toe. Next would be to learn the strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia (one foot) and YouTube (the other). Moving along with the analogy, I think that learning to use a social tagging site such as del.icio.us would be next. This might be followed by wikis and Nings. What next? If I were building a heirarchy of experiences, starting with the easiest and moving along until one is fully immersed and swimming with the big fish in the Web 2.0 waters, how would I proceed? Yep, I am asking for ideas...

Car Art! Let's hear it for the San Marcos TX Car Planter

I mentioned this example of quirky displays in the previous entry. Here is a shot of the planter/car art display in San Marcos, TX. You can see a nice rendition of Old Main at Texas State University, a portrait of Ralph the Swimming Pig (smoking pot no less), formerly of Aquarena, and a nice culinary rendition of a jalapino. Who can say this is not art???

Viva Shoe Trees!

Viva Shoe Trees!! Last week-end I was visiting my dad in our Texas Hill Country hometown, a little piece of paradise where he and I both grew up. Since he does not get out that much (gave up driving at age 94), when I am there we always go for rides around town to see what we can see. This time we were almost back to his house and something caught my eye and caused me to detour around a little drive called Bluebonnet Circle. We were just about to return to the main road when I spotted a tree up ahead that looked a bit odd. As we passed by, I realized that it was COVERED WITH SHOES! This was my first experience with SHOE TREES! I did a 360 and went back, and verified that we were indeed looking at a tree whose trunk was literally covered with shoes. I am pretty sure they were not all nailed to the poor trunk, but rather connected one to another in many cases. They extended up about 10 feet or so and trailed out at the bottom for 2-3 feet…shoes…big shoes, little ones, sneakers, brogans, pumps, oxfords, slippers, wedges, espadrilles, you name it, with some boots tastefully displayed at the very top. Wow! I said, gotta have a picture of THIS, jumped out of the car (Dad is somewhat used to me doing this) and snapped some shots with my handy iPhone.

As we were driving home I mused…shoes…a tree…covered with…shoes…and then (yes I am a little slow on the uptake)…exclaimed OMIGOSH A SHOE TREE!!! Dad has some of the OTHER kind of shoe trees in his closet. We were delighted with this play on words, and talked about how San Marcos was such a great town where people were free to put up a shoe tree if they were so moved. We agreed it is every bit as impressive as the car art on display out on the freeway. Our chests swelled with civic pride. Good old San Marcos, home of the shoe tree!

That evening we settled in our comfy chairs for several hours of our favorite pastimes, reading, napping (Dad), and surfing the Net (me). On a whim I Googled “shoe tree” and voila! I discovered that our local display is not unique. There are shoe trees all over the place! In fact one of the first ones to come up was a shoe tree a mere 15 or so miles away in Martindale, TX, near the San Marcos River. I found other trees in Oregon, California, Missouri, and several other states. Further, and this does not come as a surprise considering their popularity, Wikipedia has an entry for shoe trees. It includes the kind I saw and also the ones where two sneakers are tied together by their laces and thrown over things like wires and trees. Also not too surprising, I am not the first person to blog about the phenomenon. Here is the blog entry describing the Martindale tree: http://fimpress.blogspot.com/2006/09/shoe-tree.html There is also a YouTube video about another tree. Big websites like Roadside America and Road Trip America share locations of trees and other fun attractions.

But why is this worth including in a blog about technology and librarianship? I think it is an example of the increased communication and connectivity we have today via the Internet. People have always enjoyed quirky yard art and other displays, such as car art, bottle trees, and other creations. In nearby Wimberley, TX, for instance, you can enjoy the bottle house, again one of many such structures. Now we can share our findings with the world! Kids could enjoy searching the Net for examples of quirky public creations, and perhaps photograph ones in their own towns.

There are even literary tie-ins. E.L. Konigsburg’s The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place tells the story of a young girl’s experiences trying to save her uncles’ creation, a wonderful sparkling tower the two brothers had assembled over many years. Some townspeople object to the structure and campaign to have it destroyed. This clash between tastes is being played out in my childhood home town over another creation, the car art planter which showed up several months ago in front of a local business. The local paper has been reporting the fight between those who would remove the “art” and those who love it. Needless to say, Dad and I want to see it stay.

I shared my online findings with Dad, who is becoming convinced that you can find ANYTHING on the Internet. He said in an aggrieved voice, “Isn’t OUR tree on the Internet? It should be up there too!” So this is for you Dad, the tree is now officially online. Not only that, I am posting a picture of the car planter located on the I-35 feeder road in San Marcos, Texas. Maybe some folks will share their local oddities here!

PS. If you are from Texas, check out John Kelso's Texas Curiosities books. I am proud to have visited a number of the locations including Texas Stonehenge, Forbidden City, Giant Pecan, Popeye Statue, The Orange Show, The Beer Can House, and others. Naturally "others" includes Luckenbach, which I do not think of as a curiosity but rather a revered landmark.

Great Day!

Like John Denver sang and yes I know he is smarmy and remembering this song dates me, "Some Days Are Diamonds..." I am having a super day! Here is why!

• I am getting a MacBook Air! Just found out I could request and get one through my dept. at work!
• The iTalk mike for my iPod came in today!
• I am finally feeling like I have my ducks in a row for my special class Saturday. It is the first class meeting for a very remarkable group, recipients of our STEP (South Texas Educational Program) Grant, which was awarded by IMLS, Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. This event comes after seeking the grant for over two years and then selecting 20 recipients from over 100 applications.
• I have gotten a number of great responses at my various online presences, including here, my WetPaint Book Lust page, and email from LM_NET, EDTECH, and TLC. and comments from my Twitter Tweets!
  
• I got an email from the dorm director that our travel study class for this summer in London is on track, and that my favorite friend there still works at the dorm desk.
  
• I found my glasses in the dirt out by the street where they fell while I was taking out trash last night.

Every now and then I am fortunate to have a day when things just fall into place, and I am grateful to be able to savor such days. Hope you are having a good one when you read this!

Must-Haves Redux

I had a lot of fun learning what other people term must-haves in the following categories:

• Hardware/gadget
• Application/software
• Web 2.0 service/application

I also learned some things. One of the most striking things I noticed was that many people who responded via email after I posted to listservs remarked that they were not using Web 2.0 resources, or not much. Because they are such a big part of my present work and experience, it this was something of a surprise though that should not have been the case. Far too many K-12 educators have no access at work due to Draconian filtering parameters. Also, many folks are hard pressed to find time to experiment with new things because of heavy schedules, lack of support such as library aides, and mountains of paperwork. Those who did say they had dipped into social networking, mostly mentioned blogs that they followed and in some cases that they were writing.

Another interesting thing was the range of gadgets that were mentioned. I had everything from TV to the George Foreman grill named as favorite device! The two mentioned most often were the cell phone and flash drives. It was interesting how many people really must have the little drives, and helped me remember how important they were to me in the past. Now I store most things online and thus use them less.

Regarding applications, several librarians mentioned their library automation, causing me to remember how essential this was in my previous life as a junior high librarian.

For the rest of this entry, I am going to paste in responses that came to me via email rather than as blog comments. The comments are, of course, there for you to see already, and I certainly thank everyone who has already commented on my previous entry or who comments to this or to it in the future.

Soooo...here are the email comments. I am off to get a George Foreman grill!

COMMENTS FROM LISTSERV MEMBERS: LM_NET, EDTECH, TLC:

This may sound negative, but I really don't care for any of the gadgets that everybody has.

I like my life to be simple. Newspapers, books, and TV.
I think that my must have's are my plain old fashioned cell phone for emergencies only (no texting/no internet/no camera/etc), pen drive to store and carry info at work and internet for communicating. (I hate making phone calls.)

Once I leave work, I leave all technology behind. If people need to get a hold of me I am at work, at home or I don't want to be found.

1. What is your one (or maybe 2) must-have gadget/hardware/gizmo/appurtenance? My Palm TX: has my calender, task list, vital data, even a Bible reader, and more -- pretty well my life is on it in other words.
2. Same question, but for computer applications? Again top one, or maybe a couple. Email is a biggie, a primary way of communication for me (I actually don't like to talk on the phone); I have also got to say a good browser since as a librarian my work involves so much information literacy dealings
3. Ditto, for Web 2.0 services--and I am very curious about this! I would say blogs and rss feeds, helps me stay up with the news from library and tech land (and commentary on news)

Cell phone. I don't even have a home phone anymore, and neither does my
husband.

EMAIL, then a web browser. I use those two more than anything.

3. Ditto, for Web 2.0 services--and I am very curious about this!

Blogs are by far my can't live without thing. I think that reading
other teacher/librarian blogs is probably my most valuable PD. I've
"borrowed" more ideas from things people write about on blogs than
almost any other
source. After that, probably wikis. I use Wikipedia a lot, and then
I'm trying to get it together to use them more with my classes.

I’m really new to blogs and such, but I’ve recently enjoyed Beachwalks with Rox.

I find her videos with short comments (as she strolls Hawaiian beaches) so calming….almost religious but more like a nice thought for the day.

http://www.beachwalks.tv/

> 1. What is your one (or maybe 2) must-have
> gadget/hardware/gizmo/appurtenance?

I had to think about this for a while. Being an old fossil, I _can_ get
along very nicely without a lot of the electronic stuff. Here in the
library, though, the automated circulation system is the top winner for
me. At home, just having a computer is a big help.

> 2. Same question, but for computer applications? Again top one, or maybe a
> couple.

Automation system at school, general apps (email, web, word processing,
spreadsheet).

> 3. Ditto, for Web 2.0 services--and I am very curious about this!

Haven't messed with this area much. I do have a family wiki, used to
keep us informed of gift ideas. That's about it.

1. What is your one (or maybe 2) must-have gadget/hardware/gizmo/appurtenance?

When driving to new locations the GPS on my Husband’s handheld computer.

For myself, on an everyday use; I guess just my computer, I’m not a gadget kind of gal.

2. Same question, but for computer applications? Again top one, or maybe a couple.

Office Suite. I use all of it, really like Excel; I use it for all sorts of things.

3. Ditto, for Web 2.0 services--and I am very curious about this!

None, I’ve looked into them, I read a couple of different people’s blogs in the library world, but that’s about it. We tried to find a good teacher monitored blog system to use with our Jr. High students and just couldn’t find one. Will look into that again to see if something has come up yet.

For number one, at home, I guess it would have to be the desktop computer, with all it’s functions, from email to downloaded games, pictures, word processing—the whole bit. I probably don’t utilize it for everything I could, but for what I do, I’d hate to give it up! And then I’m not sure if this is what you’ve got in mind, but I’d also hate to give up my George Foreman grill! (Technology of a different ilk!)

As for a cell phone, it would be farther down my list than you’d expect. I consider mine a convenience for me….not an appendage to my person!

2) I use word processing so much, for so many things, both professional and personal. Power Point (again, for presentations not only for school but for personal life things, like United Methodist Women, etc.) is another thing I use quite often.

3) Can’t really make any comment—I’ve never used wikis, etc. (except to READ Wikipedia, and I don’t think that counts!)

Number one hardware item, my cell phone. Don't own an Iphone but my cell will do many things that help me pull it together, voice mail, address book, notepad of recorded messages to myself, calendar. If folks really used all of the features on their cell phones they could cut down on the clutter they carry and help themselves stay better organized.

Number two hardware item, four in one fax, printer, copier, scanner unit, just a must have

Software:
email, home and work
Our library database TLC
District-wide opac that allows students access to almost 1 million titles (60+ schools, PreK-12)
Virtual Library that helps me integrate print and non-print sources, provide 24/7 student access to the library resources, etc.http://www.chesterfield.k12.va.us/Schools/Matoaca_HS/library.htm#research_project_hotlists

It is nothing fancy but it really helps our students

Web 2.0
Not using much yet, reading some blogs.

______________________________-

Mary Ann--I got an iPhone for Christmas and I LOVE it! My husband gave it to me so he could inherit my iPod Nano. The other gadget I can't do without is my flash drive!

As far as applications go, I'd say Windows Live email and chat.

Must-Haves in Today's Digital World

I am a purse-rummaging pocket patting person. The reason is I must know at all times that I have my essential stuff--billfold, camera, phone. Today I loaded my faithful canine amigo, Ringo, and struck out on a 3+ hour drive to spend a couple of nights with Dad. I stopped, as I always do, at Buckee's in Giddings, TX. If I were to pass it by, I think Ringo would revolt. That is where he gets his walk, and he recognizes the outermost outskirts of town. After we got back on the road and I was happily guzzling my Diet Coke with the best fast-food ice in Texas, I began patting around my general surroundings looking for my phone. I was not going to make a call--am trying NOT to engage in this dangerous pursuit--but rather just needed to know where it was. A cursory check did not yield my iPhone. I began to feel uneasy...looked and rummaged around more. No phone! Now I began to worry. It has fallen out of my pocket before...and I was just at Buckee's! What if it was lying in the parking lot or even in someone else's pocket by now? I pulled over into a parking lot on the edge of the next town and seriously rooted through my belongings. There was my phone, on the floor, passenger side. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and resumed my drive with a lighter heart. But the experience caused me to think. I. really. must. have. that. phone. If I leave the house without it, most times I will go back for it. This device is definitely the one item that I really feel I cannot get along without.

Thinking about other things that I feel so strongly about, I asked myself what computer application I would top my list. For me, it would still be email. I love all the other means of communication that I use, but email still reigns in my life as the one application that I value above all others. Finally I asked myself what Web 2.0 service or presence is the one you would miss the most, the one you would most hate to live without? This was my hardest question. One strong candidate would be del.icio.us, because it holds a history of my recent learning, and allows me to find things I need and reconstruct previous experiences. Other candidates would be networking sites such as Twitter, blogs, wikis, As much as I love Twitter and think it is important, I am going to demote it to highly desirable and declare a three way tie for things 2.0 that I value: social bookmarking, blogs, and wikis.

Overall, this mental exercise was interesting to me because all these things, with the exception of email, are things that I did not use or value as recently as five years ago. It is one more example of how technology has impacted and will continue to influence my life and the way I live. Wonder about everyone else's must-haves? I would love to hear from people:
1. What is your one (or maybe 2) must-have gadget/hardware/gizmo/appurtenance?
2. Same question, but for computer applications? Again top one, or maybe a couple.
3. Ditto, for Web 2.0 services--and I am very curious about this!

Fast Look Back My 2007 Knowledge Explosion

I am hard pressed to think of any year, outside of my student years, when I have learned so much. I started out in January 2007 with a fairly superficial idea about the importance and scope of Web 2.0 and social networking, and find myself one year later with so many new tools and ideas that it is hard to quantify how much things have changed for me. In January 07, I made three resolutions. Two of them I kept. They were:

1. Set up a wiki for our department
2. Launch a blog
3. Start using the gym at my university, where I have free access.

Well, two out of three. I had completed the first two goals by February 2007, which made me feel great! As to the third, uh, things happened…on the upside I have a leftover resolution to roll over into 2008, and I did achieve two out of three.

Here are a few things that changed for me in 2007

• I did indeed finally start a blog, and have felt good about that. I waited until I thought I had a focus on what I wanted to share, and also time to post. While I would like to post more often, I am pleased to have made a start that has garnered some very interesting contributions, comments, and other positive results.

• I did start one wiki, but that was far from the extent of my progress in this realm. I now consider wikis to be favored vehicles for both long and short term communication. An example of long term goals would by my LS Department wiki, which can be found at

  http://shsulibsci.pbwiki.com

  A short term example was a wiki I set up for a grant cohort group. Now that we are beginning instruction, I will move our base of operations to BlackBoard, but the wiki was nice for the interim. I now am an active user of several wikis, and have accounts with both pbwiki and WetPaint. My own wiki site has surpassed my static university website as my main base of operations: http://forwhomthebelltold.pbwiki.com/

• I am a new and enthusiastic Twitter fan, and find this environment to be especially good for learning things from people who share amazingly effectively in this 145 character per message environment.

• I continue to use Web 2.0 resources such as tadalist to try to organize my life, and even offer sessions on the topic of time management using such tools.

• Another tool I that has greatly increased in use and value to me is del.icio.us. I now do not know how I ever got along without it

• I discovered several useful nings and have learned a great deal from them.

• I increased my use of great tools like flickr, Google Docs

• I have fun with tools like Wists, Etsy, and others for social communication about less serious topics such as shopping and crafts.

• I am presenting to groups about all these great new tools. Here is a link to a presentation I made last year about this time, and which I will soon be updating: http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_mah/documents/socks2.0.html

With new tools and services evolving at such a rapid rate, I expect 2008 to be another year of exciting growth and learning. It would be interesting to hear from other readers about their evolutions during the past year.

2007 Books Read and Remembered

I am succumbing to the temptation to make end-of-year lists. I am something of a list-maker in any case, and certainly take stock of my reading from time to time. I do NOT keep a log of all books read, though. It just has never been something that resonated. So what sort of list will I make? There is no need for another “best books” list and I am not the person to make one. My field is technology and I lag behind my colleagues who teach the lit classes. Still, I want to make a list. So here is what I did: I asked myself what books I do I really remember from the past year, making the assumption that they will be the ones that for me held the most meaning. The books are largely YA, my favorites, along with a few titles that are certainly high school and up. I will attempt to tell what it is that I have taken away from each title, which I guess reflects a bit about me as well as each book. The only memory aid I have allowed myself is to look up/verify exact titles/authors. If I do not remember enough about the book to discuss it without reviewing, then it does not make the list!

I should add that when I say these are books I have read, it would be more accurate to say they are ones I have experienced. Because I have access to so many wonderful audio books, a good number of them are books I heard rather than read. I will try to remember and make note of which ones were enjoyed in which media. So, here they are, and in no particular order:

• · London Calling—This book had a lot to say about history and also about school bullying. I think it stayed in my memory particularly because of the boy’s travel to England, seeing some things that I have seen and making me want to visit other sites. It is one I heard.

• · A Thousand Splendid Suns—This one I purchased and read. I was eager to get a copy because I liked Kite Runner so much that I both read and listened to it. Certainly this is one of the standouts of my reading year. It seems impressive to me that Hosseni can portray the points of view of his women characters in such a compelling manner.

• · The Invention of Hugo Cabret—I cannot imagine that this book is out on tape for the average reader. Clearly the visual affect is a huge part of the book’s charm. I really cannot think of another book with which to compare it. Something new under the sun! I really liked the combined effect of the art and the story, and also liked the fact that I learned so much from the book.

• · Next I think I will mention two titles in the same entry: The Higher Power of Lucky and The Mailbox. They both deal with the stressful situations of children who feel alone and unwanted. They both contain a goodly amount of suspense as the reader wonders how their complicated and unique situations can be resolved. They are both top notch titles for middle readers. As for the hoo-haw over Lucky, I find it beneath contempt and only worth mentioning because it indicates the tunnel vision of those who would censor.

• · Next I will mention the two big fantasy titles getting this year’s buzz. I really liked Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am not a huge Harry fan though I certainly applaud what the books have done to get kids to read. But I thought this was one of the best. The ending, which I know failed to please everyone, worked well for me. I like having my cake and eating it too! The other big title would be The Golden Compass, which by coincidence I read this past summer. I had been meaning to read Pullman for years, and finally put the audio in my car and enjoyed it thoroughly. I was raised a strict Baptist but found nothing in this book to offend. For most readers, it just portrays the classic struggle of good and evil. And so what if the author was an atheist? Are we going to pitch out all titles written by non-believers? Scary…much more threatening than the evil forces conjured up by either Rowling or Pullman.

I tend to favor fairly short blog postings, so am going to bring this one to a close and take a rest. I am on a plane bound for Oregon from Houston and hoping for a snack soon. In the next posting I will wind up my list. Oh and do I recommend all the titles I am describing? Of course! I think you will find that none will disappoint. That is why they are still hanging around in my head here at the end of the year.

2007 Books Read and Remembered--Conclusion

Here follows the rest of my books remembered from the past year:

• · Twisted could easily be paired with London Calling, since both deal with bullying. But I do not think of them in the same way, because their subplots are very different. This story is one I listened to just a couple of weeks ago. It does a good job of presenting a main character that is believable and whose outsider status coupled with dreams of fitting in with the popular kids is common to so many kids. Again, I think the author does an impressive job of portraying a character of the opposite sex, this time with a woman writing from the point of view of a teenage boy.

• · I actually blogged about one of these books previously, Life as We Knew It. But it gets mentioned again since the story has really stayed with me. After a meteor hits the moon spot on, the resulting alteration of the moon’s path causes instant and ongoing catastrophic climate changes on earth. With our own concerns about climate change on the minds of many young reader, this book is a great springboard for discussion. The other post-apocalyptic title I really remember is one I listened to recently, which had a stellar cast of readers. It reads like a screenplay and the website indicates a movie is indeed in the works. This is no surprise since the author is Max Brooks, son of Mel Brooks. I am talking about World War Z. You will have to stretch your imagination and buy into the idea that plague victims turn into zombies who are out to get anything that moves. Once that bridge is crossed in your mind, you are in for a walloping ride of a story. Hear the book rather than read it, and do so before the movie. I hope the film lives up to the book!

• · The book, Bill of Wrongs, was written by a true Texas treasure, Molly Ivins. Sadly she died this summer and the book just came out around October. It was co-written with Lou Dubose, who finished it up, though he says that most of the writing was done before her death. She talks about the Bill of Rights and the controversies related to her perceived degradation of our rights in the last eight years. Again, it is an equal opportunity offender to readers. If you agree with her, you will be mad at the powers that be and the populace who have allowed us to get to where we are today. If you disagree, you will be even madder at her for the criticisms she levels at the present administration! Regardless, I believe the book will make you think.

• · The book I saved for last is a fun, delightful, light read or listen, and again I did listen to the audio. At the time I was enjoying it, my dad was in the hospital with fractured vertebrae, and I was not in the best of spirits. All the same, The Fourth Bear made me laugh out loud. Fforde’s Nursery Crime books require that you believe there really are nursery rhyme and story characters living along with “normal” people in modern England. Inspector Jack Spratt and his loyal assistant Mary Mary are back again. This time there is trouble in the forest involving bears (of course) and cucumbers. Telling more is hard to do without ruining the plot. Suffice it to say that I am waiting impatiently for the next book in the series, which I like much more than the Tuesday Next books. I am crossing my fingers for a 2008 title. If you need a lift of your spirits, try this fun read or listen, and also the first in the series, The Big Over Easy. Who knew Humpty Dumpty was such a womanizer?

I experienced many books this past year either by reading or listening, and could probably talk with enthusiasm about others that do not come readily to mind. But that was the game I made up: Only include those I could remember without looking back at my shelves or racking my brain too hard. I would love to have comments added from others who would be so kinds as to share memorable titles from the past year!

Fixin' to do...

as we say in Texas. I have been sadly remiss in posting due to holiday travel and general holiday mood. Also, I have several all but finished posts but they are on my laptop and I am on my daughter's computer instead. I am visiting her in Portland, OR. She has a great new apartment and is doing very well and I am just taking time off from thinking about serious things to be with her. Like shop! So far I have 3 new pairs of shoes and a HAT! And I may not be finished...Here are some upcoming posts:

• My Take on Wikipedia...when it is the best resource out there and when it would be best to look elsewhere, IMHO.
• Books I remember from 2006 Part 1
• Part 2 of the same
• My own experience of an explosion in learning in the past year, due to Web 2.0
• New Year's Resolutions (this one is only written in my head but I am FIXIN to firm it up)

Until I get a good chance to upload these...HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone will be following the upcoming caucuses and primaries. Interesting week ahead!