Reader backlog & a blogging resolution

A two-week hiatus from my computer (I did not even turn on my lap top over break) means I am now digging out from my Google reader backlog; there were 1000+ feeds collected. It's taken me half an hour to weed it down to 567, now I need to go back through and find things I need to actually read, mostly job openings and library specific blog notes.

Looking back through my statcounter statistics and blog post numbers for the last three years, both have lagged significantly; actually, combined posts in 2009 and 2010 (123) don't equal the output for 2008 (169). There are a number of reasons for this lag, the most significant being an increase in my online teaching load and technology responsibilities in the library resulting in less time reading children's literature and blogging for pleasure. I hope to have both of those things under control for the upcoming spring term. Time will tell.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

New Harry Potter movie trailer

no more bloglines

I was somewhat distressed to see the above announcement regarding my Bloglines account last week. Sure I posted about downtime on more than one occasion, but I like using Bloglines and still find RSS feeds useful for following sites and other blogs. I had the account for four years, a lifetime on the web, and liked the simplicity of the layout and functionality. A statement from Bloglines was available on the Ask.com Blog post Bloglines Update (9-10-10).

With trepidation and annoyance and because I already have a Gmail account, I moved my feeds to Google Reader. I've been using Google Reader for a week; I am not particularly impressed. This is partly due to having to make the change - and a feeling that big brother is taking over the world.

It's only been a week.

September 11, 2010

Photo Credit: Public Domain Wikipedia Commons

Each year this anniversary arrives and each year it is as difficult to fathom as it was that day. As I scroll through TV channels on this bright fall-like morning, stations are marking events taking place in and around NY, the Pentagon, and PA. For me, the most difficult to watch is MSNBCs archived telecast from that day running in real-time. I'm listening to former First Lady Laura Bush's remarks at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville,PA and will pause today to pray and remember.

What happened to summer?

Today we finished week two of the new academic school year. The ease with which everyone settled back into a familiar routine of homework, meetings, and finding a favorite library work spot, makes it is almost like summer never happened. I'm once again working as an adjunct for our COE teaching sections of an online technology course, always a great opportunity for me personally and professionally.

One of the course assignments is working with emerging technology, I'm able to explore new resources and adapt them into the library online presence. In the last few weeks I've had fun working with Animoto and Screencast-O-Matic, great resources for instructional videos. There are free versions of both that are web-based, no download necessary (yeah). Though both have advertising (embedded logos) and time limits in the free version, however neither is detrimental to the finished product. Both also offer reasonable pricing for additional functions and the removal of the advertising. I've created projects and embedded them in Angel, LibGuides, and blogs (oh, my).

Week three, here we come ...

It's a book!

Blogger comments

After consistently deleting (and deleting and deleting) more spam comments today I was thrilled to see this news announcement on my blog dashboard yesterday; "We have enabled automatic spam detection for comments on some blogs. You should occasionally check the comments in your spam in-box." - Blogger Help

I am not sure how wide-spread the spam detection is, but this blog and several library profession blogs I author had the option available to use. On one blog the comment spamming was bad enough I set it to moderate, so this is a welcome update. For more information, read the Blogger Buzz post, New Comments System on Blogger (8-10-10).

Veil of Night

In Linda Howard's,Veil of Night, wedding and event planner Jaclyn Wilde is deftly juggling a series of six weddings in five days for Premier. When Carrie Edwards, a particularly difficult and demanding bride (one who puts the 'zilla" in Bridezilla, bless her heart) becomes unmanageable, Jaclyn is able to salvage her reputation and the bill - at least until the bride-to-be is murdered. One of the last people to see Carrie alive, Jaclyn becomes one of many viable suspects investigated by Detective Eric Wilde. Complicating matters, Eric and Jaclyn shared a passionate encounter the night before Carrie was murdered. As the investigation widens, Eric learns few mourn the bride's death and now the killer is focused on one potential witness - Jaclyn. Brimming with intrigue, passion, suspense and seasoned with characters who have humor and wit, this is one eventful night.

Veil of Night is what I consider vintage Linda Howard; Mr. Perfect, Open Season, Dream Man, and Killing Time, feature strong characters, humor, great dialogue, mystery and plenty of sizzle. Jaclyn's father was left a bit adrift towards the end (easy for me to say) and I was not particularly surprised by the killer's identity, but the characters make this title well worth the time and a second read is imminent.

Random thoughts ...

My netbook got a bit cranky this evening, taking a good fifteen minutes to run various updates and a bit longer to fully re-charge.  Guess that's the penalty for letting it sit inert for over ten days.

I waffle between using blogger in draft and regular blogger. I like blogger in draft for it's realistic preview option, especially in conjunction with the new templates, the stats because I just love that stuff and can compare them with feedburner, statcounter, and I especially like the 'undo' button. I like traditional blogger because I can drag image size to suit me instead of having to choose a preset size, the simpler link options are easier to use, and it loads quicker.  Guess I'll just keep alternating to suit my moods.

A new season of Project Runway premiered last week! It will take time for a favorite to emerge, at least for me, but I already question the judges decision to keep some of the bottom players last week.

I am really disappointed in the 'apprentice-like' look to the new season of Design Star.  I have seen two episodes and miss Clive and the overall kitchiness previous seasons featured.  It's too slick for my taste and I don't care about the designers.

Warehouse 13 and Eureka are off to great starts this season.  Last night's cross-over event was well done.  But I have to wonder, if the Eureka characters to go back in time again then return to their old reality, where does that leave the cross-over events?  The Warehouse 13 episodes happened in their new reality - Fargo even said he was running GD.

Personalizing Firefox

I spent a happy twenty minutes or so this evening fiddling with the header of my Firefox browser using their new persona option. After the automatic download of the latest version of Firefox, 3.6.8, loaded a second tab opened tempting me to personalize the look of my browser. There are a significant number of options available, including film and television, music, nature, and sports.

I quickly narrowed my search to film and tv - Despicable Me minions, Toy Story 3, and Harry Potter - and sports - most notably Pittsburgh Steelers. After applying several personas, I went with the HP book cover for Deathly Hallows. Why? I liked the colors, so many options were dark and made it difficult to locate and use browser options. This option is significantly better than the recent Google personalization because it covers only the browser header as opposed to the entire open window. Additionally, there is no lag time when Firefox opens for use. All and all, I like their persona and will probably change my mind more than once.

ALA 2010: ARCs from the Stacks

My bag of books from last year's ALA Annual in Chicago remains unread (and I promise this photo is new). This year my plan was the same, take no more than a one bag of books I would read. I was lucky enough to get two titles autographed and stuck to my plan. Of course, traveling by car made it a bit simpler as there was a serious lack of room in the trunk for our return trip home.

The autographed titles? I happened to be walking past a booth where Nikki Grimes was signing ARCs of her latest, A Girl Named Mister. and in the next aisle was Janet Mullany and her ARC Jane and the Damned. Both authors were extremely gracious with a smile and friendly word for each person in line.

Other ARC's included:

• The Clockwork Three
  by, Matthew Kirby
• Dark Song
  by, Gail Giles
• The Danger Box
  by, Blue Balliett
• Monster High
  by, Lisi Harrison
• Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirate
  by, Kim Kennedy
• Exley
  by, Brock Clarke
• You Killed Wesley Payne
  by, Sean Beaudoin

It remains to be seen how many I read, but the list is definitely more varied than ARCs from past conferences. There is one title missing, a book I read waiting for a session to begin ... if only I could remember the title.

ALA 2010: Book Cart Drill Team

A trip to ALA Annual is not complete until the Book Cart Drill Team competition! View the rest of the videos, including the opening and closing "ceremonies," on the Demco YouTube Channel.

ALA 2010: The Hotel

ALA Annual 2010, Washington DC, is here and gone; I'm still unpacking my small bag of goodies and uploading pictures. For the first time, I was able to not only stay at an official ALA hotel, but also reserve said hotel through the ALA web site.

As is often the case when preparing to attend ALA annual, my blog narrative begins with procrastination; I waited to register until I knew funds may be available from work.  I waited to find a hotel until I knew family traveling with me to the conference could finagle time off work. The chain of events worked well for registration, I got in the final day for advance registration, but not so well with my initial hotel search.

Several evenings of searching usual travel sites (Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com, AAA, and Expedia) returned single hotel rooms starting at $250 and I needed two rooms for four days.  I checked the ALA conference site for available hotels on a whim and half an hour later had reservations - two rooms, plural, at the Holiday Inn Capitol at a significantly lower conference rate. Not as grand as my hotel accommodations while at ALA Annual in 2007, this hotel was one block from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, an open air pool on the roof (pictured above), and free Internet access. Even better, the Gale shuttle bus picked up right outside the lobby doors throughout my conference stay.

Out of Beta

Both Blogger Buzz and the Official Google Blog announced the Blogger Design Template is now out of draft format: Blogger Buzz: Blogger Template Designer Now Available to Everyone and Official Google Blog: Blogger Template Designer Now Available to Everyone

"Since the launch, we fixed many bugs and added even more themes and background images. But the Blogger Template Designer has only been available on Blogger in Draft, which is why we’re excited to announce that the Blogger Template Designer is now available to everyone." -- Blogger Buzz, 6/10/2010

The change is immediately noticeable upon (first) log in as a pop-up details the design options update for users. I am a bit concerned with how videos appear after embedding, sometimes they disappear, but maybe that is one of the bugs will fix in the near future. I've spent time adjusting my blog layout using the new design template (see here, here, here, here, and here) and have to admit I am a bit tantalized by the claim they have "added even more themes and background images."

What would it hurt to just take a look?

A New Harry Potter Trailer ...

Side-step for next fall

Moving in to the second week of our first summer session, the juvenile "new book" shelf is empty and awaits titles ordered via my final spending spree. Though a temporary sad sight, it is also fraught with hope since new books are coming soon. I liberated a few picture books that caught my attention to use for next fall's Mock Caldecott session. I suffered a momentary pang of guilt checking these out through September, but it's better than hoarding them in my office while patrons search the stacks in vane.

Two caught my attention immediately; Chalk is an eye-catching wordless picture book and Palazzo Inverso is an extremely clever offering that reads beginning to end and back again. Here are the five titles I pulled:

• Chalk, Bill Thomson
• Animal Crackers Fly the Coop, Kevin O'Malley
• LMNO Peas, Keith Baker
• Little Cloud and Lady Wind, Sean Qualls (illustrator)
• Palazzo Inverso, D.B. Johnson

A step in the right direction

I have not read a new children's book in some time, and this afternoon had the dreaded question put forth by one of the resource center frequent patrons. "What's the best new book you've read that would be appropriate for sixth graders?" We talked for a few minutes, I copped to my reading transgressions, and I sent her to the collection blog to peruse new titles. Neither of us fully satisfied, but understanding that was the best option available.

Chagrined, this afternoon I quickly and quietly pilfered four titles from the cart of children's books awaiting delivery to the new book shelf; two graphic novels and two general fiction:

• Bird House, by Vernon White
  The King has grown old and lonely and is ferociously hated in his Kingdom. When a servant attempts to poison him, an all-out search begins for those who resist his rule. Meanwhile, the King's only daughter despises her life in the castle. She dreams of returning to a town she once visited, but is forbidden to take one step outside of the castle walls. Her plans to escape strain her relationship with her fiance who has sworn to protect the King. Her only hope falls on an absent-minded servant hired within the castle to do construction. With his help, she hopes to recapture the freedom she so briefly felt. With a fairy-tale-like setting, combined with modern themes of isolation, obligation, and longing, Birdhouse is a magical debut graphic novel from new talent Vernon White. -- Amazon product description
  
  
• Booth, by C.C. Colbert
  In a time when brother was pitted against brother, no family was more divided than the Booths.The United States has become violently polarized. Political fanaticism divides an embittered populace. A recently elected President—an energizing symbol of change for some, and a harbinger of the downfall of America for others—stands at the center of the turmoil. It is 1865, and John Wilkes Booth is about to assassinate the President of the United States. From the pen of American historian C.C. Colbert and the brush of French comics master Tanitoc comes a thought-provoking perspective on one of the greatest villains of U.S. History: a killer who was also an actor, a lover, a doubter, and, in his own mind, a patriot. -- Amazon product description
  
  
• Once, by Morris Gleitzman
  Felix, a Jewish boy in Poland in 1942, is hiding from the Nazis in a Catholic orphanage. The only problem is that he doesn't know anything about the war, and thinks he's only in the orphanage while his parents travel and try to salvage their bookselling business. And when he thinks his parents are in danger, Felix sets off to warn them--straight into the heart of Nazi-occupied Poland. To Felix, everything is a story: Why did he get a whole carrot in his soup? It must be sign that his parents are coming to get him. Why are the Nazis burning books? They must be foreign librarians sent to clean out the orphanage's outdated library. But as Felix's journey gets increasingly dangerous, he begins to see horrors that not even stories can explain. -- Amazon product description
  


• Alchemy and Meggy Swann, by Karen Cushman
  "Fans of Karen Cushman's witty, satisfying novels will welcome Meggy Swann,newly come to London with her only friend, a goose named Louise. Meggy's mother was glad to be rid of her; her father, who sent for her, doesn't want her after all. Meggy is appalled by London,dirty and noisy, full of rogues and thieves, and difficult to get around in--not that getting around is ever easy for someone who walks with the help of two sticks.Just as her alchemist father pursues his Great Work of transforming base metal into gold, Meggy finds herself pursuing her own transformation. Earthy and colorful, Elizabethan London has its dark side, but it also has gifts in store for Meggy Swann." - Amazon product description
  

Out of curiosity I checked; I haven't posted a juvenile book review here since early October, Angry Management. I hope one of these four books changes that sad, sorry, state of affairs.

But, my blogs ...

Sure, this is pretty ... but I miss the goofy looking plumber who appears when the "pipes" are down. Now I am challenged to exercise patience and not check Bloglines every five minutes throughout the morning.

Blogging year four

Today is the four-year anniversary of my blog. I should have something thoughtful, clever, or unique to post commemorating the date, but am at a loss.

Here's a look at previous anniversary posts: Three year anniversary, Two year anniversary (date) & missed milestone, and the year one post.

This post is number 750; I like to think my writing has improved and admit I have fallen into the bad habit of posting videos if at a loss. I plan to return to book review posts in the near future and to that point have been perusing the new book shelf and preparing book orders this week. Blog on.