Gift of Love

Here is a poem I thought might be nice to post for Christmas.

Games and Gaming # 38

Most of my experience on a gaming console was with the classic NES when I was a teenager. As far as the latest model consoles go, they tend to be quite expensive. On the other hand that would be a good reson to have them in a library. The games tend to be around $30.00 when new. However some stores specializing in gaming supplies will buy, sell, and trade used games and systems. I have a sister who is an avid gamer. She bought a Nintedo Wii. She did so thinking she would have access to some of her favorite classic NES games. She found out that a subscription to certain websites would be nessecary. It had dissapointed her at the time. I think it really depends on what system is popular in the area and what sort of games are wanted. Many games require good reading skills, strong hand-eye coordination, and the ability to make quick decisions. I also think that there will be some people who'll end up checking out books as long as they're already at the library and some who won't. It just depends on the person.

Games and Gaming # 37

Video games are everywhere! In gaming consoles in peoples homes, on hand held gaming devices, on PCs, on line, and even on cell phones. After triying one of the Carnegie Mellon games, I think it could help patrons understand libraries better. Books, movies, CDs, and internet access are already being provided. So it really isn't too surprising that gaming would work its way into libraries. I think that gaming in the library would be hard to avoid just from the fact that so many games can be found on the internet. I think it shows how much of an impact technology has on modern society. I also think that gaming and the behavior of gamers will continue to be debated for as long as there are video games.

Games and Gaming # 36

Designing a character for Runescape was easy and fun. My character is a female with lite blue hair, a green tank top, a pair of wrist bands, and a skirt that has a blue pattern on a grey background. The tutorial for playing Runscape isn't hard to use. It can be challenging to find quest items. I couldn't find a way to get a screenshot of my character. I think you have a subscription to do that. I believe the art and music in each area for the game are very complimentary to the theme.

Games and Gaming #35

In this exercise, I tried WordSplay but didn't like the format that was used. I liked the Free Rice game better. I found that the Free Rice game was easy to learn and fun to play. Some of the vocabulary words were familiar and quite a few weren't. It was also fascinating that the points earned for giving the correct answer also earned "Free Rice" for people in need. I think it's a good combination of helping people, vocabulary expansion, and having fun.

Maps #34 Geocoding and Geocaching

The name of the location for the Geocach I choose is El Camino St. The coordinates for the Geocach are N 29° 41.195 W 095° 23.018. The url is http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c04d689f-3e24-4669-b35d-bea4cea28a61 and I think it's at a FedEX building. I don't have a GPS though, so I probably won't go looking for it. I think that it's a cool concept anyway.

Maps #33 Relocating

For me this module is mostly going over what I did in February. During that month I had to look for an apartment that would be closer to the HCPL ADM bulding, and I needed it before the 25th. I had used the same sites that are in this exercise at that time. I had been living by the 45 and 1960. Now I'm living by the 610 and Main near Relyant Park. I was an Evens temp at BB and now I'm a processing assistant at ADM. The things I looked for in an appartment were: washer/dryer connections, reasonable rent, close to work, and be avalable before my first day at my new job. I was able to get all of these. I moved in on the 23rd of the month with help from relatives and friends. I think that the Apartment Finder was the easyest for finding the location of an apartment, but the other sites also had better navigation menues. Ultimatly, once I found the complex that met all my criteria, I still ended up using Map Quest to get my directions. I do like my new apartment. I even have about the same amount of travel time to and from work that I had when I was living at my old place.

Maps #32 Current Events

For the first activity, I thought the third suggestion on the list of "100 Things To Do With Google Maps" would be a good topic. My hypothetical question would be "Where can I find WiFi hot spots or connections in Houston?" A good answer for that would be: Go to hotspotr at http://hotspotr.com/wifi/map/30-houston-tx you can also customise your search criteria at the site by clicking on certain buttons while your there.

For the second activity, I decided to go with National Atlas. I liked the volcanic maps and the link http://nationalatlas.gov/dynamic/dyn_vol-hi.html is for a volcanic map of Hawaii. I learned that most of the maps at the National Atlas site are inter active to some degree. It was an interesting site.

Maps #31 Have Map Will Travel

I decided to use Google Maps for the exercise in this module. It was a little bit different than getting driving directions, but not any harder. I think this is a cool use for on-line maps.

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Spring Cleaning: 30 Take a load off our drives

I didn't have any files on the P: drive, Z: drive, or S: drive. I was able to put a file onto the S: drive. I also successfully found and deleted it afterwards. It wasn't hard to do, but I don't normally have any files that need to go to any of the previously mentioned drives. I'm currently a processing assistant, and before that I was just a temp. Because of this I have had no need for a large file to be saved at work. However I do use flash drives at home on my PC for large files that I don't want useing up valuable space on my hard drive. Mostly photos and bit map images along with a few random things that I saved there for conviniance.

Spring cleaning: 29: Email

This was probably the easiest iHCPL exercise I've done yet. I already have personal e-mail accounts for non work use. I do regularly delete old files from my work and personal e-mails. I also empty my trash and spam folders often. For me, doing this module is just bloging about what I'm already doing. My personal e-mail usually fills up faster than my work e-mail, so I've just applied the same purging principals. I get rid of things that are either old and no longer usefull, or spam/junk mail. With my work e-mail I usually don't get spam, but I do have to periodicaly get rid of old and out dated files.

Spring cleaning: 28: Don't clutter -

The GTD article was OK but seemed to have more to do with physical things to be done. I also looked at the Google calendar. It's alright but most of the things I need to remember I have in a little planner/calendar that goes in my purse. I have it with me most of the time. When I have an important event comming up, it's usually there. While an on-line calendar can be fun, my computer is a desk top PC and can't follow me around like a lap top PC. I think that the format a person uses for there reminders really depends on individual needs. What works best for me might not be the same for someone else.

Sound 27: Creating your own podcast

I had trouble finding my e-mail comformation when I was signing up for Gabcast to do this exercise. I finally found it in my spam folder. I hadn't expected that. Fortunately I found it before emptying my spam folder. Otherwise I would have had to retry with another e-mail address. The recording itself wasn't so hard, except I didn't realy know what I was going to say. So my podcast came out sounding nervous and uncertain. My screen name at Gabcast is Fair_Wind if you want to listen to the podcast I made. You don't have to though, I don't think it's very impresive.

Sound: 26: Making (or listening to) Music Together

I signed up with MySpace for this exercise. I chose it for several resons. My sister Sheila was trying to get me to sign up. Sheila, our brother Tim, and our sister Tiffany all use MySpace. Our yongest sister Shallan uses MySpace too. Some of my friends from church had already helped me sign up with Facebook so I've got contacts for that too. I think that the differences between these services are very small. I think that the more I use these sites the more I will like them.

Sound: 25: Am I a music pirate

I found that writing perchased songs to a cd was not as hard as I thought it would be. I had some songs I'd perchased from the Rhapsody site that would not directly download to my new iPod. However I was able to write those songs to a CD-R, and from there I was able to load them to my iPod. I was very exited! I also learned that once you buy a song or album from Rhapsody or iTunes you can leagally copy it to a cd or portable device as long as it's for privet use and not intended for resale or rent. The reson being that the song or album that you perchased is now your property. I also learned that Rhapsody allows a limited form of on-line sharing. It does this by letting you send e-mail versons of your songs. The e-mail version can only be listened to from the e-mail it was sent to, but it will also ask the recipiant if that person would like to buy the songs or albums for themselves. I tested it using one of my alternate e-mail addresses just to see what would happen. I think the reson this is allowed is because it's a way for Rhapsody to advertise and get more coustomers.

Sound: 24: The Sound of Music

For this exercise I decided to use my PC at home. I found that songs on pay sites were about the same per song on each. In order to do this module properly I also had to get an MP3 player. The first time I tried a cheap one. It kept having problems, so I broke down and bought an iPod. My PC didn't have a problem with it but, the songs I perchased from Rhapsody kept freezing when I tried to load them to my iPod. However, the iTunes I already had on my PC loaded just fine. There seem to be some software isues between brands of MP3s and downlodable sites. As far as free music goes, I will usually be at my PC when I want to hear it any way. But I do like being able to select and buy individual songs without buying the whole album. With my new iPod I can listen to my favorite songs any where and any time so it should be a worthwhile perchase.