Twitter

Who is on Twitter? I could not find anyone I knew except Tallman. So if you happen to be reading this and you need someone to twitter with, let me know.

Twitter also appeared to be having technical difficulties...I could not edit my profile, none of my pictures would load, and they were unable to compare my address book against their directory, so I was unable to see easily who was a twitter member. I will have to try again later...

Here's a link to my twitter homepage: http://twitter.com/ancientcoinguru

Second Life

Second Life is lots of fun, but I must admit I felt rather guilty playing a video game at work! But this is a wonderful way for library to reach out to gamers, and draw them into the library world. This software does require a fairly new graphic card (my home PC is a 2005 XP, and SL kept shutting down my PC, since the graphic card could not handle the software). But I liked SL so much, that I upgraded my graphics card.

Roman historical mysteries

I enjoy reading historical mysteries set in ancient Rome. A good resource for this genre is "The Detective and the Toga," at http://histmyst.org. This website aims to be the complete guide to mysteries set in ancient Roman times, and includes novels and short stories in english and foreign languages.

You will also find links on this site to guides on ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Medievel mysteries.

Second Life

I could not believe how much fun I had playing Second Life! We're talking a virtual world in 3D, where you can be anyone you want to be. You can walk or fly around while you explore what's out there, socialize, build a business, and even own real estate. Check it out at www.secondlife.com.

Warning: it is addicting!

The Power of Reading

Trading Card #2,
originally uploaded by ancientcoinsguru.

The Power of Reading

Trading Card #1,
originally uploaded by ancientcoinsguru.

I don't want it to end!!

I was very hesitant about this program because I was worried about the time committment. The first few weeks were a real struggle, as I faithfully read and explored every discovery exercise, and followed every link. After almost quitting the program, one of my younger colleagues suggested I change my learning style....just do the discovery exercise that sounds the most interesting, then jump in the assignment, and explore. Wow! Not only did this cut down the time in half, but I found I really enjoyed each exercise. And began to see more and more ways to use these new tools at work and home. The most unexpected outcome of this program...a new (and fun) learning style!

My favorite exercises: wikis, RSS feeds, Library Thing, and Facebook.

One of my goals in life is to never get too old to learn something new. So this program has certainly assisted me in reaching for that goal.

If I had to make a suggestion on how to improve this program's format, I would stretch out weeks 2-4 (or break them into smaller components). Each of these assignments took me 4-5 hours to complete. Lots of staff dropped out during this time. I think TLC was something new for most of us, and it was very difficult to keep up. Once I got into week 5, I had hit my groove, and none of the assignments took over 2 hours.

Not only will I participate in another program like this, I can't wait to start the next one!! I hope we can start the next one in January, to keep the momentum going, and so we don't forget what we learned.

My thanks to everyone on the TLC committee for offering us this program. It was a fun journey!!