IM at the library -from bad to good

The bad:
Instant Messaging has really improved since I started working at the library in 1999. At that time, the standard IM products such as MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger or AIM (AOL) required software downloads. MSN messenger seemed to be the popular choice and it would "sit" in the system tray waiting for a user. Unfortunately for the public environment, the default setting was "log in when Windows was started" and patrons would also tend to tell the computer to remember them so it didn't really log out or they would simply leave and not log out. The next person would sit down and, to their surprise, a little message window would pop up and the first person's friend would try to start a conversation, thinking their friend was still there. The worst case we encountered was when the online friend would start writing obscenities if the second person attempted to write something in the message window. NOT GOOD! And of course, people didn't want to leave when their time was up because they were in the middle of an "important" conversation. The decision was made to get rid of messenger because of the problems.
Getting Better:
Meebo made the situation better because computer users could go to Meebo, log into the IM accounts and when they closed the Internet, the conversations would go away. No problems for the non-IM-savvy patrons who didn't want messages to keep popping up, and we didn't have to play with settings.
Even Better: We have a shortcut on the desktop labeled Meebo IM to direct our patrons directly to that website.
My Preference: I like Yahoo because I can be in my Inbox page and see which of my contacts are online and click on their name without downloading any software. Gmail works the same.

More about blogs

I got distracted by the Settings tab when I started this posting. I haven't done much with the settings since I started this blog. I need to explore these as well as layout choices, but time is flying by tonight.

7 1/2 Habits of HIghly Successful Lifelong Learners

I'd like to think of myself as a lifelong learner. There is always something out there to be discovered. We were asked to think about the 7 1/2 habits in terms of what was easiest and hardest for us. For me, the easiest would be #7: teach/mentor others. Once I learn a new skill well, I like to share the knowledge with others. I use that now as a computer class instructor, but in my past life, I was a 4-H leader, teaching cooking and baking skills. My 4-H demonstration skills led to another section of my teaching life-I had a 5-10 minute TV spot, eventually named "Cooking with Terri". For 12 years, I faithfully drove up to the North Platte TV station on Tuesday mornings, my car packed with food ingredients and cooking utensils to be a regular guest on the station's noontime "Newsmakers." Unfortunately, I wasn't paid like Julia Child so I can't say I did it for the money. I think I kept doing it for the people who would tell me how much they liked making the recipes I prepared on the show.

My hardest is Habit #3: View problems as challenges. I'm a born worrier so problems kick in my worry mode. I'm working on this one.

Library 2.0 Nebraska-style

I started this blog in May 2007 when I was working my way through the original 23 things from another institution. I stalled out when I was experimenting with image generators. I found one that let you create book cover images similar to the For Dummies series. I tried to follow the instructions to either link to the image I created or copy it so I could show it off. I obviously did the wrong thing because my image changed to a book cover that basically called me a dummie in less than polite terms. Hmmm..I didn't do very well about making that problem a challenge, did I?

So here I am again. I did start blogging again this summer and two nieces, both avid bloggers encouraged me. I want to start adding pictures or at least links to my online pictures this time.

Starting countdown to Vacation

In two weeks, Tim and I will be in the air on the first leg of our trip to Germany. I have so much to get done before we leave that isn't even related to the trip. I think our dog, Zoe, suspects something is coming up because she has been demanding lots of attention. She really misses moving the cows into the milking parlor twice a day. Most days, Mulberry comes up on her own so no chasing involved. Tim says Mulberry isn't quite as eager this month so I guess she is definitely ready for her "vacation!" We'll dry her up right before we leave in preparation for her calving date in mid-October. The garden is yielding large numbers of big tomatoes. This morning we canned 11 pints of salsa. I can't do the HOT HOT salsa anymore so I used more tomatoes to jalapeno peppers. I'm hoping it will make a nice tasting salsa. My regular peppers quit producing during the super hot weather and then cool days so are just starting up again with little peppers. We still have green beans producing so we will enjoy those until we leave.

We start computer classes September 2nd so I have to have the class handouts ready before I leave. I've put together new material since our upgrade to Office 2007 so hopefully, I've balanced the material amount to the 2-hour class time. There are two of us who teach so Carolyn will have to do all of the classes while I'm gone. I have to get the practice exercises organized and get press releases out to the media this week. Back to the grindstone.

Olympics or Sleep?

Tim and I have been watching the Olympics every night, trying to squeeze in some DVDs on Germany when we can. I really enjoy watching the Olympics but am not quite enthused with all of the USA commentary. If we're watching events with lots of stuff in-between, we play scrabble at the same time. Our scores vary alot, but we've regularly got scores over 300 this year. Sometimes it's hard to resist playing a cool word even though the points aren't great. Twice last week, I was able to use all seven tiles in one turn, scoring over 70 points each time.

Tim picked a purple pepper in the garden. I think we will have to eat that tonight to see if this variety tastes any different. The plants quit producing during the extremely hot spell but have bounced back a little this past week.

It's finally a little cooler

Although I'm not complaining since it is after all, summer, I'm relieved that the temperature has dropped at least 10 degrees since the weekend. Luckily most of our Saturday "to do" list was working in our basement so we could avoid the 100 + degrees outside. We really appreciate the lack of cement on our farm as we saw the temperature at the North Platte airport was 107 degrees.

The library computer center was incredibly busy yesterday. Not only were our 12 computers in use most of the day, but we had a higher than normal number of people needing assistance with what they were doing on the computers. I do enjoy the busyness of helping people but did it all have to come at once? If I wasn't assisting someone in person, I was on the phone helping people find phone numbers. It is frustrating that several companies will not provide telephone numbers in the contact information on their websites.

Today, the computer center is slow. I'm assuming that people are enjoying being outside since the weather service is reporting 76 degrees. This gives me a breather and time to work further on our computer class materials. Our computer classes will start again in September. Since we pay a subscription to Custom Guide, we are trying to adapt their materials to teach our classes, rather than writing the classes from scratch. Microsoft Office 2007's ribbon has certainly been a challenge to adjust to after using the menus of previous versions.

Back to the grindstone