Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Week 4, Thing 8
I watched the tutorials and informational videos about RSS feeds. I set up a Google Reader account, then subscribed to 4 or 5 RSS feeds. I was looking for something more personal and interesting to me than just some news feed. My daughter works for the Young America's Foundation, so I included a feed from one of her co-workers. I am a BIG Romney fan, so he's there, too. I also like to bicycle, and I own a '66 Mustang GT, so I was excited to find some feeds from those types of sites. Once I put all five on the log, it just took up too much space, so I whittled it down to three. What I wanted to do was post to my blog JUST the title of the feed and make it "clickable", but I couldn't figure out how to do it. So I just went in to "edit page element" and made the feed only display one article. That way, there's not a bunch of space being taken up by article titles. Anyway, this was an interesting exercise, but I think I need to explore it more to get the most out of it. Also, I can see how these feeds would help students really pinpoint a particular area of study. I am also seeing that having an active blog can take A LOT of time!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Week 3, Things 6&7
Well, I guess I've been having so much fun I've forgotten to label my posts! Sorry! So now I'm completing things 6&7.
As I posted earlier, I am having such fun with the Flickr toys. Made a cute movie poster, but didn't post it. I want to do another though, so stay tuned!
I had some trouble today because I tried to post my kitty poster on the right side of the page (as a page element, not as a post because I wanted it to be permanent like my Avatar) but the text was too small to read, and the picture was fuzzy. So then I thought, "Why does my blog template have so much unusable margin space? There's got to be a way to use more of the margins, so I can put in bigger pictures, or maybe even add a third column." That was almost the beginning of the end! I found a link to a "blog for dummies" site, and it showed me how to get into the html and fiddle with the margins. I learned just enough to get myself in trouble. I could make the body margins much wider, but could never get the right side (I know there's a tech term for that!) to be any wider. So I gave up before I did any permanent damage. Going into it, I naively thought that I could somehow just click and drag with the mouse to increase the margins! But I learned a lot along the way, and may still attempt a third column when I'm more confident. Thanks, "cheerleaders", for your encouraging posts!
As I posted earlier, I am having such fun with the Flickr toys. Made a cute movie poster, but didn't post it. I want to do another though, so stay tuned!
I had some trouble today because I tried to post my kitty poster on the right side of the page (as a page element, not as a post because I wanted it to be permanent like my Avatar) but the text was too small to read, and the picture was fuzzy. So then I thought, "Why does my blog template have so much unusable margin space? There's got to be a way to use more of the margins, so I can put in bigger pictures, or maybe even add a third column." That was almost the beginning of the end! I found a link to a "blog for dummies" site, and it showed me how to get into the html and fiddle with the margins. I learned just enough to get myself in trouble. I could make the body margins much wider, but could never get the right side (I know there's a tech term for that!) to be any wider. So I gave up before I did any permanent damage. Going into it, I naively thought that I could somehow just click and drag with the mouse to increase the margins! But I learned a lot along the way, and may still attempt a third column when I'm more confident. Thanks, "cheerleaders", for your encouraging posts!
My fd's Flickr Toys creation
OH WOW! this is such a cool site! I used a photo I took while on vacation in Cancun last summer (had to bolt out early cuz of Hurricane Dean!!)
I was wondering what the fuss was about Flickr and now I know - it's the TOYS!
I was wondering what the fuss was about Flickr and now I know - it's the TOYS!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
More spring decor
I love this "Dig into a good book" display! Found the little plastic wheelbarrow at Big Lots.
Week 3, Thing 5
Flickr made it easy to post photos, but I can't figure out why some of my photos posted with the comments and some did not include them. Then I tried to edit them to include the comments, but had trouble doing that, too. Hmmm. Also, I hope I'm not in trouble for posting pictures of famous people! I made a really cute poster on - oh dang what's the name of that site? I've been on SO MANY I can't remember! Anyway, I'm going to try to post the poster (!) to the blog. We'll see...Hey! It worked! Isn't my kitty cute? His name is Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing).
Winter foyer decor
Thought I'd include some photos of how I decorate my library for different seasons.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Week 2, Thing 3
Create your own blog & avatar, and then post it.
Boy, did I have trouble with this! I created the avatar, which was pretty easy, but then couldn't get it to upload to my blog site. That's one of the reasons I switched sites from Wordpress and created a new blog in Blogger. I think Wordpress is for business applications and is not as intuitive as I need (being a beginner). Once I switched to Blogger, it was much easier. One of my larger problems, of course is that I simply cannot remember all the passwords and user ID's!!!! And I fear writing it all down, because some Russian spy might find them and hack into all my stuff!!
Boy, did I have trouble with this! I created the avatar, which was pretty easy, but then couldn't get it to upload to my blog site. That's one of the reasons I switched sites from Wordpress and created a new blog in Blogger. I think Wordpress is for business applications and is not as intuitive as I need (being a beginner). Once I switched to Blogger, it was much easier. One of my larger problems, of course is that I simply cannot remember all the passwords and user ID's!!!! And I fear writing it all down, because some Russian spy might find them and hack into all my stuff!!
Week 1, Thing 2
Week 1, Thing 2: 7 1/2 Habits of Successful Life-long Learners
**There was no “Thing 1″ listed, so I assume it is just to read about and commit to the Web 2.0 program. Which I have done!**
Of the seven habits, #4 is the toughest for me: “Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner.” I didn’t graduate college until I was 34 (married young and had kids right away), so I’ve always felt “behind” when it comes to learning. Also, retention is difficult for me so I struggle with remembering what I’ve been taught. Ironically, it is because of this that I think the easiest “habit” for me would be #2: “Accept responsibility for your own learning.” It seems the older I get, the less I care what others think about me. I’m not afraid to ask for help, or admit I don’t know something.
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