371.33 Blog Anniversary: Three & almost 2/12 Years & Counting

Yes, this anny post is WAY overdue...any post on this blog is now way overdue. I hadn't meant to let things go this long. I REALLY meant to post my anny review post during the Thanksgiving weekend as usual. I had several postings I wanted to share that now will remain forever locked in my brain because I let too much time and brain cells escape to make sense out of what I wanted to share.

I really can't point anything in particular that lead to ignoring my little piece of the blogging world. I still have 24 hours in every day like always. My job is still as busy as ever and not really any more demanding that it always has been at its high points. My family issues remain the same and their long distance relationships haven't gotten any longer or farther. My dog continues to demand his meals at the same rate as always and his outdoor visits no more than normal. And I still mange to sleep 6-7 hours a day, whether it is on my couch or in my bed.

So, let's see what else could have steered me in another direction the last few months...

the transformation of our libraries has occupied a lot of thinking time...we deployed (the district's term, not ours) lots of MacBooks and iTouches to our 39 campuses...have been fielding lots of questions and sharing how-tos because it is has been a long while since Apple products were part of our resources. I was re-learning right along with everyone else.

Part of my "free" time was taken up with Facebook. The district opened it up last Spring and we initiated some professional development opportunities for librarians, teachers, and others. I have a small group of friends and family and I continue to explore the finer points with them...admittedly a little more since Daughter #1's wedding this summer...used Facebook to share adventures and have continued playing around with the tool more than I thought I would.

And I have techno addiction that HAS robbed some of my free time...I have always played a few word games on the computer, but I got hooked on online Scrabble and I do know it did use some of the time I used for blogging! I guess I could say that it is a technology application that I have gained knowledge of, but really and truly it has just become an obsession. I am working on cutting back...I really am! Hey, I'm writing this blog post and I have not played one game of scrabble this evening or checked FB...in the last hour or so. :-)

Ok, enough ramblings. As with my other anny posts, let me quickly review some of the high points I found in my little corner of the tech world.

Animoto continues to amaze me...with the new pieces it adds and the various productions people in my circle create with it.

The new fun thing in my world is Glogster...if anything can bring about the demise of posterboard projects, this glitzy, colorful, razz-a-matazz, cool tool could be the one to do it! It is a great way to bring lots of things together in one place and the structure prevents the "death-by-PPT" syndrome of a presenter reading too much text and boring an audience to "death."

Clay Sharky's TED presentation "How Social Media Can Make History" is worth 17 minutes of your time, maybe more than once!

I wonder what the next year will bring!

Photo credit: Flickr CC by Pink Sherbet Photography D Sharon Pruitt