Sleepy? or not so much?

I just finished some homework (stuff that was due at 11:59 p.m. last night....Sunday night, which to me, it still is) and submitted it to Blackboard at 11:59:38. Wow. Talk about a close call! I never got a chance, all weekend, to get around to it, and since I knew it wasn't due until tonight, I didn't feel like messing with it earlier in the week. I won't hold off that long again, though. (Part of the problem was that I didn't remember that the assignment was actually going to take some time and some thought. I not only had to write a review of a book I hadn't yet read, but I also had to create a lesson plan based off that book.) I got it done on time, though, so no worries, right?


The problem is, now it's almost 1:00 a.m., I've messed around on the computer a bit, and I'm still not tired. Why does this always happen? I feel like I'm seriously becoming a vampire. It's far less exciting than all the vampire novels make it seem. Basically, I want to sleep during the day, and at night I'm wide awake. It sucks. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't HAVE to be awake during the day. If I were single and childless, I could make this work to my advantage (y'know, get a night job, stay out dancing all night, whatever). As it is, knowing myself the way I do, if I could change things, I'd probably end up being sleepy at night and wide awake during the day. It's Murphy's Law, I guess.....

To bite an apple…

What is it about certain foods that makes them more appealing than others? More specifically, if a Gala apple tastes similar to a Red Delicious apple, why do some people prefer the Red Delicious? or the Gala? I know, for me, it’s the act of biting into the apple—especially that first bite. When I bite into a Red Delicious apple and there’s an audible *crack* as the skin breaks and juice springs forth… oh man, there is nothing like that! And likewise, there’s nothing so disappointing as biting into an old Red Delicious, or perhaps some other variety of apple, expecting that crack and juice, and finding it to be soft and mealy. Ugh! I know other people have tossed an apple after one bad bite like that, and I’ll admit, I’ve done it a few times as well. Blech! Now, if you go and just cut slices of that apple off the core and eat them as “apple chips” (as my kids call them), they’re still tasty and that mushy apple can be salvaged. But if you’ve got your heart set on the tactile pleasure of biting into a crisp apple, being let down can actually ruin the whole experience for you. At least, that’s been my experience.

I think I was in my early 20’s when I had someone explain to me that I am a tactile eater. Basically, if I understand that correctly, it means I like or dislike foods based as much on the texture and feel of the food as the taste. Some great examples I can think of are radishes and celery (again, they’re crisp when you bite into them, almost to the point of making that *crack* sound), nuts in ANYthing (ice cream, breads, cakes, cookies) are a good idea, ice cream with chunks of stuff (chocolate chips, bits of coconut, etc.), grease-soaked French fries over the crisp ones (I know this seems like the opposite of the trend I’ve set with other foods, but something about the texture of those greasy fries is so much more appealing to me than the crisp ones). I’ll always choose a candy bar with stuff in it over the non-crunchy variety: Hershey’s with almonds instead of the plain milk chocolate; Snickers instead of Milky Way; Crunch bars, Twix, Mr. Goodbar; Almond Joy over Mounds (though I do like dark chocolate, so I miss out on that by choosing the crunch of Almond Joy). My absolute favorite candy is Cinnamon Imperials/Red Hots. Those are some crunchy candies! I like Hot Tamales, too, but I prefer the crunch of Red Hots.

Anyone else out there a tactile eater? What else gets you excited about food?

Web 2.0 Tools–So Fun!

I just started using yet another Web 2.0 tool today. I LOVE these things!

First, let me explain, for anyone reading who may not be familiar with the term Web 2.0. According to Webster’s Dictionary (online version, of course—what else would I use?):

Main Entry:
web 2.0

Part of Speech:
n

Definition:
the second generation of the World Wide Web in which content is user-generated and dynamic, and software is offered that mimics desktop programs

Example:
Web 2.0 encourages collaboration and communication between users.

Etymology:
2004

Okay, so many of my classes in Library Science have focused, totally or in part, on utilizing Web 2.0 tools. It makes sense, when you think about it. Today’s modern Librarian is an Information Professional, not merely a book-pusher. Part of being an Information Professional is knowing about all forms of media, including books, but also various periodicals (magazines, newspapers), digital materials (DVD’s, CD’s, CD-ROM’s, etc.), play-aways (audio-book players), e-books, etc. There seems to be no end to the formats available for library patrons these days; and let us not forget that many patrons use their library for things other than obtaining simple reading material. A lot of people go to the library to use a computer, and we can only begin to imagine all the various computer needs people have. Therefore, an Information Professional must be fluent in as many of these formats as possible.

Lucky me! It behooves me to find more and more tools and delve into them in my spare time. One tool I learned about a few weeks ago, at the Women of Faith conference, was Pinterest. I hope to write about that sometime soon, but I’m still busy messing around with it…

In the meantime, I got busy today, finally, with something I’d heard about in one of my classes. Apparently (this should come as no surprise to me, but I just never really thought about it), there are various methods of online bookmark storage available. You know how you have your Favorites stored on your computer, within your browser? Say you use Internet Explorer (the little ‘e’ that’s probably on your desktop), or maybe even Firefox or Chrome or some other browser, to connect to the Internet. Somewhere in your browser, you have either Favorites or Bookmarks, but they’re the same thing… places you’ve been to that you know you’ll go back to, perhaps often. I’m not even going to get into the idea of dragging pages onto a new tab on your browser line… that’s something I’ve recently started doing with sites I visit nearly every day, but that’s another blog topic…. Back to Favorites/Bookmarks.

If your computer ever crashes (which I’ve had happen—ouch!), you’ll have to go back and find as many of your old favorites as you can, right? What was the web address for Tracy’s blog? I can’t remember it…. dang. Now I have to wait for an e-mail from her…. What about the web address for the County Assessor, so I can see a picture of someone’s house by plugging in their address (sometimes that’s more helpful than using MapQuest or Google Maps)… That was in my Favorites and now it’s gone. What to do!?

There’s an answer to this problem—of course you have to do this BEFORE your computer crashes, so if you’re reading this right after a crash and you haven’t already taken these steps, I apologize… I can’t help you. Go to Delicious or Google Bookmarks or Diigo. (Click on these words—they’re highlighted here, which means I’ve turned them into “hot links”… not Little Sizzlers, which are great with pancakes and syrup, but active website links for you to just point your mouse at and click.) I haven’t used all three, so I can’t say they’re exactly the same. I’m sure they each have their perks. The point is, you can use each of these sites to save your favorites from your browser. It’s private, it’s something you use a password to get into, but not only are they saved in case your computer ever crashes, you can also access them from ANY computer, ANYwhere! Awesome, right? I actually uploaded all my favorites to Delicious and then transferred them over to Google Bookmarks, because, frankly, it was easier that way.

A Little At a Time is Okay

I was cleaning out the shower (which I HATE doing—I mean, I hate doing laundry, it’s a chore, and I’ll whine about it ‘til the day I die, but scrubbing the shower is the one household duty I completely and utterly avoid until I can’t let it go any longer—it’s the worst!), and I was thinking, “I really need to blog more.” I’ve been thinking that a lot lately, but you may have noticed, nothing has come from my thinking that…. I think I went the whole summer without a single blog entry. It’s not that I didn’t try. I think I tried one or two times to write something, and I went days with my blog open, as if having that tab open would entice me to write something. (When, in fact, it only made me feel guilty for wasting that space on my browser with a tab I knew I wasn’t going to use!)

All of a sudden, as sweat dripped down my neck and back and I was submerged in a cloud of Comet, it came to me: WHO am I writing this blog for? Is there some homework assignment I’m writing it for? (No.) Do I have thousands of fans hanging on every word I say, waiting all hours of the day and night to see new entries? (Uh, no.) Although I may have one or two faithful readers (hi Mom! hi Aunt Sue!), I don’t think anyone else ever even takes a peek at this thing. I’m writing it for ME. It’s MY blog!!!

With that realization, I decided, if I want to write something long and drawn out and fantastic, I’m certainly free to do so. But I don’t have to wait until I have something terribly important to say, because it’s MY blog. If I just have a thought that cracks me up for a moment and I want to jot it down, that’s okay, too. I don’t have to make sure I get in 500 words or more. It’s okay to drop by here quickly, make a comment or two, and take off again.

I feel so liberated! I’d been holding off on making any entries lately, because I put this stigma on myself, feeling that I had to wait to write something until I had something incredible to say. Duh! What-EVAH!!!!  

RSS Feeds

I've known about RSS feeds for probably five years, if not more. I tried subscribing to a few a couple of times, but I rarely read them and never really saw much reason for them. I just didn't get the point. I think I was searching for feeds just to be taking part in something. I wasn't really grasping the idea.

Now, nearly a month after my spring classes have ended, I would consider myself somewhat addicted to my RSS feeds. One of the assignments we had for my Teaching and Learning in a Digital Environment (TLDE) class was to check out a few blogs in our field. I found a few that were okay, but others in my class suggested a couple others that I found more interesting. In the process, though, something really cool happened. One of my two instructors pointed out the Reader feature offered by Google. Once you've got an account with Google, you can do a ton of different things, and one of those things is consolidating all the RSS feeds you subscribe to in one Reader. (Basically, just one location where you can read any updates on a daily basis--it's kind of like you create your own online newspaper, with 'articles' focusing on things you're interested in.)

For example, I've got a few different headings on my Reader setup: Cooking, Library, Family and Friends, and Spiritual. I have a number of blogs I follow or subscribe to, and I've got them organized into those different categories. The Reader automatically files the updates for me under the categories I've specified. I also follow a few other sites that don't go under any of those headings, but that also give regular updates (there's a Dilbert Daily Comic Strip, The Urban Dictionary's Word of the Day, and my daughter's middle school puts out a daily bulletin, to name a few).

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.  (If you notice, I have embedded a link into the "RSS" at the beginning of this paragraph. Click on that link to head to a Wikipedia definition and history of RSS feeds.) Many sites have daily or periodic updates that you can follow. In the top of your screen, on the right side of your browser line, if you see the symbol below, you can follow those updates just by clicking on that icon.

 

I wouldn't say that I read every single update every single day, but I do try to follow some of my updates pretty regularly. It's such a neat feature, I can't get enough of it! Google Reader is not, by far, the only way to subscribe to and/or consolidate your RSS feeds. It's one of probably hundreds, at least. However, when I was first subscribing to feeds, I didn't access them very frequently at all. I've found that the Google Reader is extremely user friendly, and I've got it saved as one of my home pages, so I can go there at the beginning of the day every day without any trouble at all. I just click on the "home" icon on my browser, and my Reader opens with all the latest updates.

If you aren't subscribing to any RSS feeds, I'd suggest you check it out. It's super cool! And if you ARE following some good feeds, feel free to message me about them. Thanks!

**Note: It seems that the RSS symbol or icon is no longer showing up in the browser line on either Internet Explorer or Firefox (I don't know about other browsers); but if you're looking at a site that has regular updates, most authors want you to have the ability to subscribe to those updates and they make that icon available as a hot link somewhere on their page. Look for that orange symbol I installed above.**