The laundry is talking to me: Thing 22

I am embarrassed to admit that, English degree and all, I have never read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know. It's humiliating. And, should I continue to work in a library, I have to do it. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that my reading gets sandwiched in between everything else. Which is fine for books you don't have to concentrate on (I just finished A Great and Terrible Beauty). But if my mind can't hold on between the kitten knocking over yet another lamp and finding the ringing cell phone, and chaos, chaos, before my husband comes in from his run, it's not getting read. Unless it's an audio book -- which I can use to keep me from going insane while folding laundry (on my Favorite Things to Do List, folding laundry is right next to getting paper cuts and slamming my index finger in the car door). Making them download-able means less planning for me, which is also good because I generally don't plan to fold laundry. It just becomes a necessity I am shamed into when the pile becomes large enough to eat small pets.

Image: Jane models my laundry face.

Pod People: Thing 21

Because I am a nerd, I already have a favorite literary podcast. I've been listening to it for years. Although, since a certain dark wizard was defeated, I have not listened to it much at all. Being library people, I feel you won't judge me too harshly. My (used to be favorite) podcast. If you haven't heard the Christmas songs, you're in for a treat.

I'm sure there are many uses for podcasts at the library, specifically for book discussions with visiting authors, book group discussions and I would love to form a teen book podcast, produced and hosted by and for teens.

Now who wants to make me a teen associate so we can get this show on the net?

What do you mean you've never heard of Marvin Suggs? Thing 20

I knew right away what video I wanted to post. A fabulous little diddy from my childhood that far too many people have never seen. Let's see if it works.

One isn't always lonely: Thing 19

One sentence. Of the Web 2.0 Award Winners, this was (of the ones I had not previously explored) my favorite. It's the writing-major in me. I love projects like this. Create a story in one word. It appeals to the Keep It Simple Stupid method of writing that was enforced upon me by Strunk and White, my favorite English professor , and every editor I ever had.

I enjoyed reading through and wondering which ones were real. In a way, it reminded me of Overheard in New York.

Here's a few:

Francy
On especially quiet mornings I jolt awake because I am reminded of the morning I wasn't awoken by your tiny cries.

skankin' rob
My boss, who has no college degree and can barely utter a coherent syllable let alone an articulate sentence, is the supervisor of a Yale Graduate with far too much debt.

kay
prom sucked.

Killer rabbits, killer chefs: Thing 18*

Google Docs. Love it! I made a simple (we're talking Sandra Lee simple) document, saved it and, yay! Document!

Genius. I love it. I will be using this to save the knitting patterns and recipes I create and post them to my blog. Love it. If I can remember only one thing from 23 Things (and I hope I have more room in my brain than that), it will be this.

*For this header to make sense, you have to open the document. Even then, it's a stretch.

It's P.B. Wiki Time! P.B. Wiki Time!

Well, that was fun! Like answering one of those fill-in-the-blanks emails without all the ">>>>>>"s to remove and spam your friends.

I entered my favorite wine, favorite vacation spots and favorite restaurant.




I can see this being an excellent resource for reader's advisory, book groups, craft groups. My first thought was that it would be great for teen groups too -- but you never know what sort of havoc may be wreaked when you combine teen angst with an anonymous forum. Hummm........

You ARE useful, aren't you? Thing 16, wiki

My gut reaction to wiki was always an eye roll. Uttering "Wikipedia" in a room of journalists results in groans and eye rolling. It's notorious for being complete nonsense, totally unreliable. And you shouldn't so much as look at it, less ye be tainted with its filth.

So I never really thought about a wiki's uses in other forums. But of course, its weakness when fact-finding (anyone can publish their so-called "facts") is a strength when you are actually searching for opinions and suggestions.

And I've always known that -- I just didn't know that was a wiki. Poor wiki. Scandalized by it's infamous cousin "ipedia."

I love the idea of using it for lists of favorites and suggestions. For conferences? I don't know. I wouldn't want to rely on it for actual important facts like What Time Is Lunch and Where. I've known too many people who give strangers made up directions to places in a attempt to be helpful, i.e., "The bank building? Oh, yeah.....um, head up to that KFC and take a right. Then go straight. You can't miss it." (Is that a Southern Thing? Too polite to say "I dunno"?)