That's all folks

The L&P final post (excluding the 10 random; I'll get there). So I keep getting little pokes about whether I am finished or not. I figured I ought to take a break from work and get some playtime in. The journey, so far, has been fantastic. The results, unexpected. Going into this I figured I'd get exposed to new web tools and some old tools that I am already using. Figured it would be a couple months of playing around seeing what I liked and what I don't like. Figured I'd add some apps and bookmark some things.
Well... all of these things happened, but the BEST experience that came out of Learn&Play for me is the connections that I made. Being stuck at my desk with the volume of work that needs to be completed, it's easy to overlook the ultimate goal of my position; I am a cog in the wheel of an organization out "to promote reading and guide learning in the pursuit of information, knowledge, and wisdom." The library plays an important role in the community, and (aside from the accounting, reporting, timing, auditing, and technology differences) it's easy for me to get lost in my spreadsheetsssssssssssssssssss, and forgot where I work.
A huge THANK-YOU to the L&P team for bringing me out of my work and closer to the face of CML, the PSD staff that lives it everyday.

MOLDI

I've looked through through MOLDI's collection before, but did not find the user interface very intuitive (might just be me). With the nudge of L&P (again, thank you) I was given guided instructions and a little kick to poke around MOLDI. I went for music, and ended up finding a couple fun titles that went a head and downloaded. Then the program to read them (I wondered about the copywrite issue, think I got it now). I think I will spend some additional time looking through the MOLDI "stacks" and see if I can utilize this more fully.

PodCast

I've listened to podcasts of some of the talk radio that I used to listen to, but not for a while. I've given that up for music (again). I've found that throwing on a few of my faves in pandora can keep me occupied and productive for hours (as I look up and notice I should have gone home hours ago). I trolled through some podcast search sites looking for a quality cast on accounting (dork, I know). I think I found one that I will listen to as topics are appropriate: Dorky, I know
Although my history with podcasts has fizzled, I am hoping that my podcast future works out better.

YouTube

One video, just one? I've run into YouTube mostly from email links for ranges from religious, politics, professional presentations, and (of course) humor on all these topics and more. I lived on YouTube pre-election, mostly as a humor break, I have taken a time-out now that it's all settled. I still do check in on a comedian I picked up doing a SP impression, very funny, then moved to 236 and tamed up :( I still am enjoying her humor though. I will continue to check YouTube as it strikes as things interest me or come my way. As for embedding, I gotta go with my mean-self in:


That's some fine acting

Web 2.0 Tools

OMG How many tools are out there? I actually realized that I am fairly up on some of the more popular (award winning) sites. Mainly through others' invites, not because I am up on things myself... I have however payed it forward and gotten people to join things like Facebook, set up iGoogle, join Twitter (yeah I took a little pushing...), set up stations on Pandora (and share stations). I guess I am not as far behind as I thought. Unfortunately, I have chosen a profession that has not fully embraced web-based applications (that I've come in contact with). Many cannot see beyond the risk factors. I really think an opportunity for greater real time collaboration is being overlooked, but who knows maybe I am a leader in the trend...

CML Tools

I love the CML Power Tools page. The toolbar is sitting on all the computers that I work on regularly (4 or so) and I love the fact that IE opens my account in a new window and Firefox opens in a new tab. Power tools actually encouraged me to update my browser (on all computers) to Firefox (THANK YOU!!!) The only downfall of CML's Power Tools is how hidden they are on the main CML page. I want to see a PowerTools button across the top...

Web-Based Apps

So I played a little with Google docs. I added the app to my iGoogle account, and decided to play around. I was looking forward to some outstanding functionality as I LOVE my gmail account. Sticking to my comfort zone (MS Excel), I went to the spreadsheet functionality. I am so used to the keystrokes and formulas playing with data in Excel, that I decided to see how the functionality translates. Many formulas work the same, which I was happy with. I was unable to find filters, which is a function I cannot live without, but will continue to play with until I find it. Since I've updated to include Google docs, I will continue to play with some of the non-confidential information I come in contact with and Google docs to see how it works for me. Google docs (or some other platform) would have been really beneficial with my previous employer where information needed to be shared across the globe; would have loved that for some of the docs that I worked on across language barriers. I did love to see the import export feature. Will continue to play; look for blog posts created with Google docs.