Thing #13 Podcasts

Podcasts, aren't they the actors from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers?"

No?

Although I'm a regular NPR listener and love their talk shows, I find that I cannot listen to talk without doing something else.  That is probably why I usually only listen when driving. Podcasts, though, are a good way to catch up on shows that you missed or had to stop listening to because you reached your destination. (Called "driveway moments" during Public Radio Pledge Week, because those are shows you had to stay in your car to listen until the end.)

I was disappointed to find that my favorite NPR show, Prarie Home Companion doesn't offer Podcasts except for the Lake Woebegon monolog, because of licensing requirements.  I can usually only catch the whole show when on a long weekend car trip, with some pleading because my husband hates NPR.

For Thing #13 I browsed the New York Times podcasts and listened to some book reviews. They were well done and professionally made with a good reader. 

One place I can see podcasts being useful is for people with vision problems.  They could keep up with the latest news and features on their own computer at their own time.

Although I don't see myself using podcasts as a resource - mainly because I can't figure out how to get them on my off-brand MPP-3 player.  I can see where they would be great for a commuter as well.

It's Thursday!

It's amazing - I finally got my husband to join Facebook. (He still thinks it's stupid, though.)  I like it because I keep up with my kids who live across the country and my many friends who live across the world.

Enough of that.  I'm STILL enjoying more than anything, working as a Reference Librarian.  My daughter and her husband are going to spend a lot of money on an aptitude test to find out where their talents lie. (http://www.jocrf.org/.)  I know that I'm born to be a librarian.

I'm actually a third-generation librarian.  My mother was a fine-arts librarian at the Baltimore Public Library before she met my dad.  She still complains that when she went to Drexel for her library degree it was only an Associates.  She was a bit jealous when I got my job. She can't quite understand that at 90, she probably would not be able to work all day.

My Great-Aunt May (who raised my mom) was the first librarian in the family.  She went to library school at the turn of the last century in Albany, New York (also where I went to library school).  One of her professors was Melville Dewey and he was apparently quite a womanizer.  The girls were told to be careful around him.  Aunt May was a librarian for the War Department during World War I and set up libraries at Navy and Army bases around the country.  She went home to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania when my mother's parents died in the 1920's and became a college librarian at Wilson College.

So you can see, it's in my blood or genes.  Ask me a question - I just love to find answers!

Thing#12 YouTube or Time Vampire?

Ah, You Tube such a Time Vampire!

I get on the site thinking, "I'll just look at this cute video of kitties", and two hours later...

My real problem is that I love looking at and listening to Arabic pop music videos.  I lived in the middle east for 6 years, I love to belly dance, and I don't get Arabic t.v. here in the U.S. 

In Kuwait we had satellite T.V. with at least 4 channels which showed music videos exclusively. Arabic music videos are like the ones they used to show in the U.S. long ago.  They usually have a story, the music is catchy, and they aren't raunchy.  Since I don't speak Arabic, I liked that you could get the story even without understanding the words.  Aftr all, haf they time they're saying "habibi" anyway!   A big plus with Youtube is that some enterprising bilingual people have posted my favorite videos with subtitles!

Which ones of my favorites shall I post? Nancy Ajram is one of my favorite singers - both because she is cute, sings well, has good videos, and we share a name.  As the spokesperson for Cocoa Cola and Lebanon's #1 pop star, she is well known all over the Middle East.  Whenever I had to show my i.d. to guards in Kuwait they would look at my name, give me the eye and say, "Ohhh, Nancy!" Sexiness conferred by a name...

Here's a cute video by Nancy - It's all about how her boyfriend keeps looking at other girls.

Here's my favorite - the most romantic video in the world...

As said, it's a Time Vampire.  I've just spent the last 30 minutes looking for the latest Amr Diab video.  Step away from the keyboard, Nancy.

Kindle fun

I'm having fun figuring out my new Kindle (Christmas gift).  It's WAY too easy to buy and download books on this thing.  At least I've found the free ones and have downloaded some classics that I've always wanted to read.

Currently I'm 3/4 of the way through the new Fannie Flagg book, I've Always Dreamed of You (or something like that).  It's very pleasant reading and somewhat humorous, as are all of Fannie's books.  I have had fun changing the font size up and down and using or not using my glassses.  The only problem with the large font is that you have to turn the pages all the time.  You have to do that with large-type books as well, though.  I"m wondering if I will find it easy to remember what the book looks like when I go to recommend it to folks at the library since I have no interaction with the cover.  I think my mind does use the color and picture as a memory device.

I still feel like a bit of a library traitor, but have found that reading the Kindle is very easy on the eyesight.  Next - trying the reading out loud feature...

Nancy

Thing #11

The image manipulation was kind of fun.  I especially liked Letter James.com.  Here is an image I made that might make a sign for a book display or a title or image for a reading list or bookmark.

BCL23Things Thing #10 FlickR

It's the after-New Year's break and I'm trying to catch up on my 23 Things. I've downloaded Christmas and library photos into FlickR and hope my security settings are not too high to share the photos on this blog.

Well, I couldn't figure out how to get the address on FlickR to copy for the photo above, but you could find it there.  The photo is from the Cocoa Beach Library's Staff Parking Lot.  It's probably the only library around with two staff members (both in reference) who both drive electric-blue Mini Cooper S's.
Let's see if I can link to my FlickR site......Nancy's FlickR site.  I think I have the privacy setting high on the family photos, but open for the library photos.  Tell me in the comments if you only see the library photos, or if you see the christmas photos, as well.