Susan Pratt

What happened to blogging?

2009-04-11T12:29:00.002-05:00

I feel like blogging. Why? I dont know. This is definitely a place I can vent or share if I have no one to talk to.
I am currently taking a Microsoft Office Applications course through IPFW as part of finishing my degree. I have really liked it. I have been wanting to go the next level with these applications and its been fun. The other day, my boss, who shall remain nameless, was creating a Powerpoint presentation and I intervened with my latest knowledged. He was slightly impressed--heehee.
A couple weekends ago, our family went to Chicago for a little retreat. We left early Saturday morning and caught the train in northern Indiana into Chicago. Fun! We ate lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp CO. which we always enjoy; the food, atmosphere and employees are great! We traveled by bus and train around the city. It was alittle difficult not being familiar with their systems. Sat afternoon we went to the Apple store and tried many gadgets. (I spent alittle time on the internet trying to figure out which bus to get back to our hotel!) My husband and I spent some time listening to a FREE lecture by one of their employees; he was talking about music, itunes, etc. The evening was enchanting as we made our way to the Cadillac Theater (in the pouring rain) and took in the wonder of Mary Poppins. Our seats were just about the furtherest from the stage but it was still magical as Mary Poppins flew up into the balcony with her flying umbrella! Sunday was spent at the Museum of Science and Industry. I had never been there before. I enjoyed the magnificence of the WWII submarine but bypassed the inside tour due to claustrophobic tendency. I became like a little girl again as I gazed upon the intricacies of Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. The Smart Green House was of interest but we decided not to pay the extra for it. I also enjoyed the displays in the Fast Forward...Inventing the Future.
I am currently reading an advance reader I got from the library called Free. It is a promotion of an economy based on getting things for free, mostly from the internet. I like free. hahaha

Moving on to Technorati---

2008-05-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

Well I liked the Del.icio.us---but I was amazed: after I bookmarked Learning 2.0, I found that only one? other person had bookmarked the Learning 2.0 page?!? Ironic.

So I have been looking at Technorati. I think the idea is good. If I was really into reading blogs and wanting to read of specific topics on such blogs, I think this is a good place. At this time in my life, I find it hard to find the time to read anything. Now, I was trying to do the exercises for learning more about Technorati and found it confusing. I wasnt sure where the search for tags and blog directory was. I found the blog directory but now a search place. I can see that this place needs some time to look around and get used to the tools that are possible. I plan on looking at it more. However, I dont plan on claiming my blog so this limits my interest.

ok more later............

HELLO I am back!

2008-05-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

Well I was just looking at my last blog and boy was that a long time ago---
I decided to take some time of of Learning 2.0. I had classes at IPFW do tend to. Now I am done with the semester and ready to proceed with the next lesson.
I am still working on the training tutorial. I want to get creative about it so it may take awhile. So I started del.icio.us. Probably the hardest part has been correctly writing it! I like del.icio.us so far. I think placing my bookmarks on a place online is excellent for me. I use the computer at work, the computer at school and the computer at home. Now I can access my bookmarks from one place--love that! I had no idea what del.icio.us was until now. Had seen it on various things but didnt know what it was.

Now speaking of computers--I just finished three one credit classes on computer subjects. One was internet communications, two was computer ethics and three was Creating a website. Well, the most interesting was actually creating code for the website creation using HTML. That was a first for me and fun. I didnt get real creative or study in depth about it but just doing the basics for code was interesting. I can now look at code and kind of understand what is going on. Now some of you may be saying "whoopee" and I may be behind some in computer knowledge but I am proud of what I have learned and hope to learn more.

And that is what LEARNING 2.0 is all about!

More later............

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T01:20:00.000-05:00

Another day off of the regular routine of life is a good thing. And of course, tomorrow starts the diet again. Watched a good movie today--the information is below under the ALL CONSUMING section of my blog.

Still working through the learning 2.0---

This past weekend I watched some football and listened to some live music at the RockNHorse. That was fun! The best game, to me, was the Patriots VS. Giants on Sat. night and the band was Southern Overdrive at the RockNHorse.

My Birthday!

2007-12-27T14:14:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday Dear Susan --- Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday and though I find growing old no fun I decided a long time ago to embrace my birthdays! I do not like my new age as every year passes but I love my birthday! It's all about ME ME ME on that day. The attitude toward my birthday came from my childhood. Yes, having a birthday near Christmas could be a drag. Though I am sure my parents tried to do their best for me, the memories I have for my "Christmas" birthday are not too fond. I would get the Christmas tree ice creams that were on sale and my parents would take me to Toys R Us to pick out anything I wanted---but all the cool toys were already gone!

Now the joy of Christmas only continues as I take hold of my day. I try to do all the things I have been wanting to do and can't find the time or money. And, I try to do just fun things that I know I enjoy. So far today, I went out to breakfast with the family enjoying the presence of five handsome men that lavished me with kisses, gifts and laughter.

Then it was off to get the hair done. I went cheap to Great Clips for a trim and a "deep conditioning treatment" a necessity for old hair. After the hair, I headed to the nail place to get a French manicure.I hope to stop by the tanning place too. (Yeah I do that sometimes!) Later, I will go to the YMCA and out to dinner with the hubby. (The YMCA has a hot tub!) I also want to hit a Goodwill sometime before then too. But right now I get to work on the computer for a very looonnnggg time which is a luxury for me.

And for all that want to know........I am 44! As my husband says, "well, that is rounded to 40 honey. Now next year is a different story; we will need to round UP to 50!" Thanks dear.

Still Learning

2007-12-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

Well I finished my IPFW class so I hope to have more time to work on my Learning 2.0 (oh and get ready for Christmas too!) But I am really enjoying this so it isn't a problem to find time to do this.

I did the All Consuming but couldn't get it on my blog like I wanted it. I proceeded to the MP3 step. I currently don't have an MP3 player but I have worked with one in the past. I have copied a CD onto my computer then through Media Player I placed the songs I liked on the player. Not too hard. I want to get a player soon and am looking forward to putting my favorite songs on it so I can listen while I work.

Now I am starting to work on making a training video. I am trying to figure out how to capture images from my blog. Basically, I can capture the pictures but wonder if I can/should capture the actual blogging part?!?

Just a word of encouragement for everyone--keep working on the Learning 2.0 stuff! We need to keep moving into the future for the benefit of our own lives as well as the library.

ALL CONSUMING

2007-11-08T18:29:00.001-05:00

Hey, how is everyone doing? Still plugging along with the assignments? Well I moved on to All Consuming today after fiddling with Flickr for a couple days. So I added my input of things I consumed and actually found it difficult to add a movie! I realized I haven't watched a movie recently. YIKES. But then again, I have been watching Sex in the City episodes from library DVDs. So that is kind of like watching movies. I would like to go see the Nanny Diaries at the cheap movies. I think I will look it up under All Consuming and see what people thought aboutit. A couple years ago, I read the book and loved it. I am not much of a reader but found this one entertaining.

Speaking of reading,I am joining the group that is studying the Mystery Genre of books here at the library. I don't know that I have EVER read a mystery book. Isn't that sad? So I have first chosen Janet Evanovich which seems to be a popular author. We will be discussing what makes her appealing. Fun!

Back to All Consuming--not sure I really like this site. There are so many
people, with so many opinions that I am not sure I will benefit from
this site. Plus, I am not that opinionated myself. I like things but don't have this big desire to tell the world about it. We will see.

Instant Messaging

2007-10-31T17:33:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post something about instant messaging. I already instant message on AIM and I have tried to IM on MSN but it only worked once when my son was online somewhere else. I haven't been able to IM any co-workers.

Flickr Fun!

2007-10-31T15:39:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone--
I am happy because I finally posted some pictures on Flickr! Check out my pictures under the tags: ACPL Housekeeping Security. I like my pictures. I didn't quite understand the process of uploading the pictures like I thought I would. I had loaded the pictures and then I had to load a flickr uploader?!? I succeeded but am not sure I could repeat the process easily. I think I will take some more pictures and see what happens when I go to upload them.

I am including a sample of my pictures just to add flare to my blog.

Still Working Here

2007-10-24T10:07:00.000-05:00

Well I have been off and on with this Web 2.0 work but still working on it. I really am liking it. Today, I helped my son set up his igoogle page. FUN! I plan on using our digital camera soon to use the Flickr site. I need to get in the habit of using it--for this and the sake of our family too. Just recently, we went to one of our sons events and my son said "did you bring the camera?" OOPS--bad mom! I used to take more pictures when I was scrapbooking but have slowed way down. I wouldn't mind taking pictures of the messes I have to clean at the library but that could cause some trouble. Plus, I don't have very good luck carrying around electronics while cleaning. I dropped my WIFI in a mop bucket recently. My boss just loves me!

I can't help thinking what a brillant person(s) that created Flickr. Wish I had! $$$

Look for pictures on Flickr from me tagged: ACPL or Housekeeping or Pratts

RSS--HUH?

2007-10-01T19:07:00.000-05:00

I really had no idea about RSS. WOW! very cool. I added 10 feeds from the top 200 feeds off Bloglines and then added the blogs of a few co-workers. This is fun!

Week Two Learning 2.0

2007-09-28T18:27:00.000-05:00

Am I behind? I feel I haven't looked at this Learning 2.0 for many days and I feel behind. But that is the beauty of this program. You go at your own pace. I look forward to learning new things. I have to admit this blogging thing wasn't new to me. My Comp II class in college had us blogging as part of the class. It was a great idea to get everyone caught up with technology just like Learning 2.0.

In Jest. As some of you know, David and I are getting a divorce soon. I get the truck and the cottage (TEC) but we will be sharing the big house. We will have different schedules, so sharing the big house will work. So if you see us, be aware of our situation. Thanks.

Excited About Learning 2.0

2007-09-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

Well today was an interesting day. I had seen the advertisement for Stephen Abram's presentation on the website and read the invite from Janet Hartzell. I was interested. I wanted to know what the future of libraries was looking like from a professional. In one of my recent classes at IPFW, I had to write a paper of my interest. Since I worked at the library and have always liked the library I wanted to know what changes were being forecasted. I ended up writing about digital libraries and if the actual physical library was looking at it's demise. (Side note, the physical library is not looking at it's demise.)

So Wednesday morning I dragged myself out of bed after working until 10:30 pm the night before and it was off to the library again. Stephen's presentation was very encouraging in regard to the changes that libraries should be looking at in order to keep up with the rest of the world. I liked what he had to say and was excited. I have to admit, my previous feelings of libraries was that libraries should only be about books and only books. But here I was listening and honestly not understanding some of his lingo (not because he is Canadian either). I realized that I was already falling behind in my knowledge of the "information literacy". Fortunately, I had taken a recent course called Computers in Society and was able to keep up somewhat.

Next, I read my email about the Learning 2.0 and find myself more excited because I really want to be a lifelong learner. Subsequently, maybe I'll become a "cheerleader" in our library system someday. Note: the term cheerleader is a inside joke that some of you who read this might understand.

Next Up: My Learning Contract??

Ah--Michigan

2007-05-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Well we just returned from a wonderful trip to Michigan. First stop was Ann Arbor for my son's visit to a prospective college. We saw a few friends at church on Sunday and it was off to Dad's. The weather was fine and we arrived late Sunday evening. Dad made everyone pizza--ok frozen but yummy. We played on the four-wheeler a bit and watched movies. The next day we headed up to Wolf Bay Retreat near Curtis, MI. The upper peninsula of Michigan is very beautiful.

The next few days were spent with loving friends that we met in seminary. The three bedroom, 2 bath cabin was now housing 19 people. Cozy and fun. The men folk fished every day while the woman worked on food and quilts. There were early morning walks and campfires at night. The weather just kept on co-operating.

One night as we all sat by the fire, various people kept hearing noises coming from the woods--right behind where we were sitting. I thought I heard breathing like a dog. The thoughts about the wolfs being brought back to this area as of late kept us thinking all kinds of frightening ideas. Well the noise continue and after bringing out different lights and torches we discovered the culprit. A toad. Yep--the breathing was from a toad. Ok maybe there wasn't any breathing!

On Thursday, the kids made a 1 1/2 hour trip (one way) to see the opening show of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean. The arrived back home very late around 2 am. However everyone was up because another family had come for the weekend--that makes the total now 24 living in this cabin. The floor space was actually running sparse. But everyone loved it!

We left on Friday because we had other things to do for the weekend. The trip back was good. Lake Michigan was beautiful and though it was cold, Luke asked if we could stop so he could take a dip. We did, he dipped and it was fun!

Back home, it's back to cleaning and getting ready for Luke's graduation next week.