Library Thing

I really like Library Thing. I have heard about others keeping a journal of books they have read, and thought it was a great idea, but never took the time to create my own. I'm glad this was one of our exercises. I decided to create a journal of the teen books that I am reading. This will be a great resource for RA when teens come in and I blank out about books to recommend. Desi kindly helped my add Library Thing to my blog and showed me how to add a hyperlink directly to my "home" on Library Thing. http://www.librarything.com/home/pontje I have to admit these later "things" are really fun.

My Little Readers

Julie found the new link to ALA's Read generator, so I had some fun creating my own READ posters....

Image Generator

I did have fun with this one and can see myself playing around with it. I am disappointed because the ALA site seems to have disappeared or been relocated. Julie found it again, so I will definately go back and try it. Meanwhile here is a sign I made for kicks.

Finding Feeds

I explored the tools listed in the Learn and Play blog and found them interested. One could get lost looking at everything available. I found a local Columbus News feed through one of the tools and was inspired to find local news for Delaware, which is where I live. Since we don't subscribe to the Gazette, this will be a terrific site.

RSS Feeds

I found some interesting feeds that I hopefully will keep up with. As stated in previous posts about spending time on the PC, I don't often feel I have time to look over everything out there. I have also run into problems trying to link the required 10 feeds. Today I have spent an hour trying to subscribe to a dispatch feed without any luck. Basically it is just sitting there, so I'll need to go back and spend time on this again. Having said all this, I recognize the value of this tool, I'm just really frustrated with it not working smoothly.

Spending Time on the PC

Something that I don't understand is the obsession some people seem to have with their PC. They are constantly on it, searching the internet, playing games (even just hours of solitaire), emailing, IMing, etc. I don't get it. Yes, there are many interesting things you can find and it's a great way to keep in touch or pass on quick info through an email or share photos, but hours? I have been working on a few activities for Learn and Play and have had about enough of staring at my computer screen trying to make it come together and it has nothing to do with whether or not I'm tech savy. I believe that technology, any type, can be a great tool to help us in our daily lives, but it shouldn't become our life...When it comes down to it, we all survived just fine with a land line, a book, the outdoors, and occassionally tv. (I do recognize that some of what I mentioned is (old) technology.)

Interesting Flickr tool

The tool that allows you to edit photos seems like a useful one. There are many times when you want to crop something out or take care of that red eye. We have not purchased a software package for our home PC that would allow us to take care of this easily. Instead we have to fiddle around with what seems like a complicated tool and then, of course I get frustrated and give up. At some point I am going to check out this tool a little closer and do some editing.

2008 Teen Art Contest 004

2008 Teen Art Contest 004
Originally uploaded by jeanpontones

This year Whetstone held it's annual Teen Art Contest. We had 13 entries and 81 teens voted on their favorite picture. The image posted is the winner this year. This has been a fantastic way to engage the community's teens and provide some cool artwork for our teen area at the same time.