Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn
This series started with Night Train to Rigel and I've enjoyed all of the entries so far. This one started with our hero, Frank Compton, being greeted in his own apartment by a girl aiming one of his own guns at him. She wants his help but she's going about it all wrong. He's tired from a long journey and just wants to sleep. He throws her out and is awakened four hours later by the police because she's been killed with his gun. When he's bailed out, he's back in the race against the group mind known as the Modhri along with his sometime partner McMicking and Frank's gal pal Bayta. It's a long rail trip against the bad guys and it ends up pretty obvious that there's another book on the way.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews
Oh, how I love Donna Andrews mysteries. This one came at the right time and hit just the right note with me. A Holiday Parade - PC - no Christmas Parade, this Parade will include the Twelve Days of Christmas, A Christmas Carol, elephants for the Dwali aspect and camels for the Three Wise men. Meg Langslow has agreed to organize the annual parade to help her husband. His chairman of his college tenure committee was the person asking and Meg couldn't say no. The parade starts at her home and goes to the campus where Santa will distribute gifts to the children. Trouble is, Santa is killed and it looks as if one of the Six Geese was the one who did the deed. Meg has to save the parade, protect the children, find a new Santa and find the killer - all of this with a major snow storm and power outage.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Some geeky things
I have several sites that I visit periodically and today I discovered that one of them had a link to this site: http://crazeegeekchick.com/blog/25-must-have-thumb-drive-apps-for-geeks/ Who'd have thought that I'd ever find this interesting? Then I found this site mentioned at the above site: http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/9771/ - a watch that doubles as a thumb drive! How James Bond is that?
The more I wander around the web the more amazed I become.
The more I wander around the web the more amazed I become.
Friday, November 14, 2008
A Question of Death by Kerry Greenwood
I hope Kerry Greenwood just keeps writing and writing. I love both of her mystery series and when I've finished reading one of them, I want to listen to the cd. These are the best way to be calm on my drive to and from work. The readers are fantastic. Just the right voices for each character.
Phryne Fisher is a very hip, independent 1920s woman. She grew up poor, her father inherited a British title and money so that Phyrne attended good schools. She was an ambulance driver for the French forces during the Great War and traveled to Australia to investigate a young woman's husband for a friend of her father's, liked it there and stayed. She wrangled a very lovely Hispano-Suiza from the mechanic who had restored it - money does talk. She's adopted two daughters, has a cook and a butler, adopted a stray kitten and a stray dog.
This book is short stories which I generally don't care for but I loved these. They were just the right length for my time inhaling on my nebulizer.
More Kerry, please.
Phryne Fisher is a very hip, independent 1920s woman. She grew up poor, her father inherited a British title and money so that Phyrne attended good schools. She was an ambulance driver for the French forces during the Great War and traveled to Australia to investigate a young woman's husband for a friend of her father's, liked it there and stayed. She wrangled a very lovely Hispano-Suiza from the mechanic who had restored it - money does talk. She's adopted two daughters, has a cook and a butler, adopted a stray kitten and a stray dog.
This book is short stories which I generally don't care for but I loved these. They were just the right length for my time inhaling on my nebulizer.
More Kerry, please.
Thing 23
It's hard to believe that I've made it through this process and lived to tell about it! More than that - I enjoyed several of the exercises. The Generator was fun but I don't know that there is any serious application for this for me. Thanks to Jason Kaspar, I was already using Delicious but I've found more items to add to it. I think the Google Docs is a great, free tool and it could be very useful for the public. Wish I'd know about it when people wanted Word before we added Office to all of our computers.
I was pretty adament in my thinking that I did not want a blog because I didn't want that much about me floating out there in the ether. Silly me, I enjoy my blog. I can add my pictures - thanks to Flickr, add my book reviews and keep up with the world.
As to my lifelong learning - I really am interested in the podcasts and the Youtube videos. I've investigated nearly all of the fellow Geeks blogs and am amazed by what everyone has accomplished. Jason is so erudite, Mary takes fantastic pictures, Mikki is very computer knowledgeable, April - both of them - love their gardens and books, Lori's boys keep her going, Manya and Amy are old pros at this and I wish I could identify several of the others. I faced this assignment with dread and left very happy with what I've learned and accomplished.
I was pretty adament in my thinking that I did not want a blog because I didn't want that much about me floating out there in the ether. Silly me, I enjoy my blog. I can add my pictures - thanks to Flickr, add my book reviews and keep up with the world.
As to my lifelong learning - I really am interested in the podcasts and the Youtube videos. I've investigated nearly all of the fellow Geeks blogs and am amazed by what everyone has accomplished. Jason is so erudite, Mary takes fantastic pictures, Mikki is very computer knowledgeable, April - both of them - love their gardens and books, Lori's boys keep her going, Manya and Amy are old pros at this and I wish I could identify several of the others. I faced this assignment with dread and left very happy with what I've learned and accomplished.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thing #22
I bought an MP3 player a couple of years ago because I thought it would be nice to have an audio book to listen to at home while I'm beading. I discovered that there is a difference in MP3 players - mine did not have bookmarking capabilities and unless I planned on listening to a long section or starting over everytime. The download time is a factor in the audio books. I can see the appeal for the Tumblebooks with the picture books available to view and read online. I miss seeing picture books, that was one of the perks of branch work.
The movie download didn't work. It's loaded at the desk but it kept saying that there was a newer version, ask about downloading that and it didn't matter if I said yes or no, I still got an error message on everything I tried to download. I'll try at home.
The movie download didn't work. It's loaded at the desk but it kept saying that there was a newer version, ask about downloading that and it didn't matter if I said yes or no, I still got an error message on everything I tried to download. I'll try at home.
Thing #21
If I thought that thing #20 was dangerous, I was wrong - this one is very dangerous. I found podcasts on books, discovered that Lansing Public Library has one with reviews and also one just for teens and another for youth that looked really interesting. I found several interesting ones on food, including one just on smoothies, my new favorite way to start the day.
This is one reason I'd like the MP3 player. My sister uses her iPod to listen to a quilting podcast and one with Garrison Keiller. She says it helps when she has to type a lot of boring information.
This is one reason I'd like the MP3 player. My sister uses her iPod to listen to a quilting podcast and one with Garrison Keiller. She says it helps when she has to type a lot of boring information.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thing #20
Oh, boy was this a dangerous exercise! I found more videos on beading than I thought was possible. So much fun, so little time. I suppose I should have searched for something a little more work related but this was too tempting. A beading friend had asked me about online videos like she finds for knitting but I hadn't thought about YouTube. Next I plan to check out cooking videos! Bad library specialist! I can't believe what all people put out for the public to access. I tried to find the peeps in the library one for Deirdre but when I googled it I found that it was no longer available. OK, on to Thing #21. I added a YouTube video a little later.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thing #19
I found the Web 2.0 awards list to be less confusing than Recipes for Success. I loved that Delicious was the #1 bookmarking site. I had used Lulu in the past. One of the email groups I belong to is about beading and one of the women has several of her books there. I liked that I could download the book instead of waiting for it to be delivered in the mail. I'm very impatient! I looked at the photo calendar possibilities here and didn't think the price was bad. My sister has a Snapfish account and did a calendar of our dog for my mom last year. I've got several ideas knocking around in my head.
I also signed up for the iFood.tv site - it's #3 in the Food category. Hey, how cool is this - Blogger has autosaved my draft three times since I started writing. iFood.tv is a great site but not one to be viewed at a public service desk since you need the sound up. I like being able to select which food I want to watch being created. I've bookmarked many food blogs with tons of photos but every now and again it's nice to see the way various cooks put things together.
It's interesting to see the way my personal life is aiding my work life.
I also signed up for the iFood.tv site - it's #3 in the Food category. Hey, how cool is this - Blogger has autosaved my draft three times since I started writing. iFood.tv is a great site but not one to be viewed at a public service desk since you need the sound up. I like being able to select which food I want to watch being created. I've bookmarked many food blogs with tons of photos but every now and again it's nice to see the way various cooks put things together.
It's interesting to see the way my personal life is aiding my work life.
I'm using Google Docs to write this a...
I'm using Google Docs to write this article. I like some of the templates and tools but confess to getting rather confused about a few things - I tried the calendar template for a photo calendar but I'm not sure about all of the settings so the pages didn't all look the same. I'd like to work on that some more. I do a monthly calendar of my work schedule for my mom and my sister with phone numbers so they know how to find me during work. I'm new to spreadsheets - and that's an understatement. My sister helped me set up an excel spreadsheet for my delica beads so I know what I already have and don't buy something I don't need. I wish I'd had that when I was cross stitching for my floss. I can see where these tools would be great for people who don't want to spend the money for office - it was expensive when we bought it for home several years ago.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Thing #16
I went to the SJCPL - St. Joseph County Public Library, which I believe is in Michigan and I loved their site! Their subject site was wonderful. They had Local Authors; House History Research - which had a tutorial as well as listings of sites to check; under Crafts, they listed new craft books - all of this would be very useful for our patrons on an Omaha wiki. Local information, web sites and helpful information.
Of course, Book Lovers Wiki was interesting to me. Maybe this is something we could do with our winter reading club to make it more interesting.
These gave me an insight into the uses of wikis as they applied to libraries.
Of course, Book Lovers Wiki was interesting to me. Maybe this is something we could do with our winter reading club to make it more interesting.
These gave me an insight into the uses of wikis as they applied to libraries.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Another Book Review
Harmony by C.F. Bentley
I started checking on this author as I was halfway through the book because I was wondering how I had missed out on her. Turns out this book is the first of a new series – Huzzah!
The main characters are Jake, a human from the Confederated Star System or CSS. He’s a pilot who has lost his parents and sibling to an attack by the alien Marillon Empire and when he spots one while on a flight drill, he disobeys orders and goes after it. Instead of being happy that he’s saved the station from being rammed, he’s told that he killed a fellow pilot on a recovery mission. This turns out to be a lie so that he can be put to use by the female spymaster and turned into someone for her use as a spy, because what the CSS needs is the Badger Metal that the Harmonic Empire produces. But Harmony left Earth to be separate and just want to be left alone. On Harmony we meet the other main character, Sissy, a young woman working in a factory doing delicate work with black crystal chips in navigation units. She has a special affinity to crystals and the work she does helps her family live in two apartments that are connected. Family includes her parents, multiple siblings and both sets of grandparents. When the planet starts quaking, the priests of Harmony discover that Sissy has managed to spare her factory by bonding with the crystals. They also discover that she has all seven of the caste symbols on her face. She immediately becomes the new High Priestess and her gift of prophecy is a help to some and a burden to others. What haven’t the priests been telling people all of these years?
A bit of spy thriller, science fiction and romance, but very light in this area, this will appeal to a wide audience. I’m looking forward to the next book.
I started checking on this author as I was halfway through the book because I was wondering how I had missed out on her. Turns out this book is the first of a new series – Huzzah!
The main characters are Jake, a human from the Confederated Star System or CSS. He’s a pilot who has lost his parents and sibling to an attack by the alien Marillon Empire and when he spots one while on a flight drill, he disobeys orders and goes after it. Instead of being happy that he’s saved the station from being rammed, he’s told that he killed a fellow pilot on a recovery mission. This turns out to be a lie so that he can be put to use by the female spymaster and turned into someone for her use as a spy, because what the CSS needs is the Badger Metal that the Harmonic Empire produces. But Harmony left Earth to be separate and just want to be left alone. On Harmony we meet the other main character, Sissy, a young woman working in a factory doing delicate work with black crystal chips in navigation units. She has a special affinity to crystals and the work she does helps her family live in two apartments that are connected. Family includes her parents, multiple siblings and both sets of grandparents. When the planet starts quaking, the priests of Harmony discover that Sissy has managed to spare her factory by bonding with the crystals. They also discover that she has all seven of the caste symbols on her face. She immediately becomes the new High Priestess and her gift of prophecy is a help to some and a burden to others. What haven’t the priests been telling people all of these years?
A bit of spy thriller, science fiction and romance, but very light in this area, this will appeal to a wide audience. I’m looking forward to the next book.
New review: Lost Girls by George D. Shuman
I've been in one of my reading funks lately. I pick up a book, get about 40 pages into it and toss it aside. I was beginning to dispair but then I picked up this George D. Shuman book and it grabbed me and held my interest. Not the best subject matter but it was gritty and horrifyingly real.
Sherry Moore is blind, but she has the ability to touch a dead person and see the last few seconds of their lives. In "Lost Girls", she has been asked to go on a risky mission to a mountain in Alaska in the hopes that the dead man hanging off a cliff can provide some clue as to where the lost daughter of a Senator is. The Senator's son, a Navy SEAL, is along to provide help getting her on and off the mountain. They are successful in finding the daughter but Sherry also gets some horrific glimpses of scenes of sexual slavery and torture. This worries her and when she is given a chance to help out a mother looking for her lost daughter in Haiti, she agrees to help. This brings her right into the center of the whole mess.
I would read more by this author.
Sherry Moore is blind, but she has the ability to touch a dead person and see the last few seconds of their lives. In "Lost Girls", she has been asked to go on a risky mission to a mountain in Alaska in the hopes that the dead man hanging off a cliff can provide some clue as to where the lost daughter of a Senator is. The Senator's son, a Navy SEAL, is along to provide help getting her on and off the mountain. They are successful in finding the daughter but Sherry also gets some horrific glimpses of scenes of sexual slavery and torture. This worries her and when she is given a chance to help out a mother looking for her lost daughter in Haiti, she agrees to help. This brings her right into the center of the whole mess.
I would read more by this author.
Thing #15
Our directions were to blog about Library 2.0 for this exercise. I liked the idea of allowing patrons to write reviews of the books that they read on our catalog. I'm sure we'd need some sort of filter, given what I've seen on some pages as I've been passing to and from restrooms. This could be like the Amazon site with its reviews. I checked out Writely and 37signals only to discover that Google now has Writely as part of their Google docs. 37signals could bear a further exploration.
I understand about the "long tail" with readalikes and the fact that we offer patrons the ability to "Suggest a Title" for purchase. As the one purchasing the fiction, I know just how popular that link is - particularly for certain Millard patrons and retired library staff! As I process the new fiction I frequently check the holds requests and find that the majority of the requests have been placed through the web. This has been increasing lately and I expect it will continue to do so.
I understand about the "long tail" with readalikes and the fact that we offer patrons the ability to "Suggest a Title" for purchase. As the one purchasing the fiction, I know just how popular that link is - particularly for certain Millard patrons and retired library staff! As I process the new fiction I frequently check the holds requests and find that the majority of the requests have been placed through the web. This has been increasing lately and I expect it will continue to do so.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Thing #14
What a scary comment "Edit HTML". As if I'd have the least idea how to do this? Too technical for me!! I went through the process of the tags and different searches but couldn't find too much that interested me. I use tags in my delicious account and so far, that's it. I promise I'll try some more to see if I can find something for this exercise.
Keeping up to date
I can't believe that we are already into week 6! This is going faster than I thought. Thanks to Jason Kaspar I have added a RSS feed to my blog. This was especially a learning experience since I did it incorrectly to begin with and had to quickly learn how to delete. Now I just have to discover more areas of interest with RSS feeds to add.
Jason was the one who taught me about delicious several months ago when I discovered that he had tons of web address on his delicious account, mainly to use for school, but I was impressed. I love the fact that I can discover a site at home, add it to my delicious and then bring it up at work - or the other way around. I'll be exploring more on the Technorati front later this week. I played with the Generator website. I could spend hours there. I love the Wordle and want to work with it a little more but I'm not sure about signing up for yet more online accounts. I have trouble remembering passwords as it is - I've got them for Crocs, Fire Mountain Gems, Amazon UK and more - I need a book!
Jason was the one who taught me about delicious several months ago when I discovered that he had tons of web address on his delicious account, mainly to use for school, but I was impressed. I love the fact that I can discover a site at home, add it to my delicious and then bring it up at work - or the other way around. I'll be exploring more on the Technorati front later this week. I played with the Generator website. I could spend hours there. I love the Wordle and want to work with it a little more but I'm not sure about signing up for yet more online accounts. I have trouble remembering passwords as it is - I've got them for Crocs, Fire Mountain Gems, Amazon UK and more - I need a book!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Rollyo
OK, I'm trying out the photos part of this exercise and I keep getting porn! What's up with that?
LibraryThing
April Earl introduced me to this site quite a while ago, then I faded out of it. I've added my newest books and did short, short reviews but now I'm up to date. My address is:http://www.librarything.com/catalog/arfie57
This was hard, thanks to Bloglines!
I've been trying for over a week to get Bloglines but they don't want to send me a confirmation email so I gave up and used the Google Reader. I used the search using the word library and found some interesting sites to add - Montana libraries, for instance. The Topix, Syndic8 and Technorati left me cold. Too much info and hard to understand. I need the KISS - keep it simple stupid approach. But, I have accomplished Thing #8 and Thing #9. Now I'm on to Thing #10 - isn't this play? Deirdre promised this was the hardest!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Let's kick some alien butt!
Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre
I loved last year's Grimspace with the very strong female heroine and was thrilled to have a new one to enjoy this weekend. I didn't like this one quite as well since it ended rather darker than I enjoy, but I can't wait until the next one - I checked, it's due out April of next year!
Sirantha Jax was busted out of prison by March, a former mercenary, in the first book. Now she's being offered the role of ambassador to an alien world and someone wants her to fail! Her ex-husband had her declared dead so he could wipe out her bank account so with no money and not really being needed as a "jumper", the person to guide a starship through grimspace, she decides to accept. Of course, things don't go well and soon she has more people depending on her. She will encounter flesh eating aliens, nasty Mafia types with their teeth into her mother, a colonial world in the middle of a civil war and more nasty humans. What next?
I loved last year's Grimspace with the very strong female heroine and was thrilled to have a new one to enjoy this weekend. I didn't like this one quite as well since it ended rather darker than I enjoy, but I can't wait until the next one - I checked, it's due out April of next year!
Sirantha Jax was busted out of prison by March, a former mercenary, in the first book. Now she's being offered the role of ambassador to an alien world and someone wants her to fail! Her ex-husband had her declared dead so he could wipe out her bank account so with no money and not really being needed as a "jumper", the person to guide a starship through grimspace, she decides to accept. Of course, things don't go well and soon she has more people depending on her. She will encounter flesh eating aliens, nasty Mafia types with their teeth into her mother, a colonial world in the middle of a civil war and more nasty humans. What next?
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thing #6 & #7
The technology thing I need to address is - don't hit the tab button after putting in the title of one's post because all you end up positing is the title!
Having worked in libraries for the past 37.5 years (but who's counting?) I know that technology is here to stay. This course we are currently on has me feeling better about my lack of knowledge and expertise is several areas. I'm not going to become as good as any of the PSAs or even the grade schoolers these days, but I can get my job done a bit better. I worry that people think we are only about computers; then I run into a student who says "No, I can't use one of your databases for my report because my teacher doesn't want more than one thing from the internet." No matter how often I explain that it's not the internet but information from books, they won't believe me. Then there are the ones who only want the internet and not books!
Now if I can only learn how to program my cell phone!
Having worked in libraries for the past 37.5 years (but who's counting?) I know that technology is here to stay. This course we are currently on has me feeling better about my lack of knowledge and expertise is several areas. I'm not going to become as good as any of the PSAs or even the grade schoolers these days, but I can get my job done a bit better. I worry that people think we are only about computers; then I run into a student who says "No, I can't use one of your databases for my report because my teacher doesn't want more than one thing from the internet." No matter how often I explain that it's not the internet but information from books, they won't believe me. Then there are the ones who only want the internet and not books!
Now if I can only learn how to program my cell phone!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Fiona Rose
Please note that she has THREE balls. One must always accompany her outside, in case someone wishes to throw it for her.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Werewolves R Us
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Of course, now that I've read this book, I discover that the set-up or start to the story is actually in an anthology On the Prowl. I just keep adding more titles to my "need to read" list. This is set in the same universe as Briggs' Mercy Thompson series which I have read and enjoyed.
Anna is a relatively new werewolf from Chicago. She has been kept subservient and brutalized by the Chicago pack until Bran, the Morrok, chief werewolf in the States, sends his son, Charles, to deal with this bad pack. Charles recognizes Anna as a rare type of werewolf, an Omega. This means she has the ability to calm a pack. When Charles returns to Montana, he takes Anna with him as his mate.
Unfortunately, there is a rogue wolf killing in the surrounding mountains and it will be up to Charles, who is still healing from being shot with silver bullets, and Anna, who doesn't know the mountains, to find and bring this rogue back to the pack.
There is some satisfactory romance and a really different take on werewolves and their world. I don't know if I enjoyed this one as much as the Mercy Thompson series but perhaps if I'd read the short story first it would have helped.
Paperback 2008
Sharon 9/18/08
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Book Review
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris
A new mystery series, this one entitled “Dirty Business” about a female, 30-something master gardener who has gotten out of television documentaries to have her own gardening business in Springfield, Connecticut, a bedroom community of New York City.
Paula has stopped by Babe’s coffee shop one morning when Babe tells her she should apply for the job of resurrecting the old Peacock mansion gardens. The last of the old ladies has died and the Springfield Historical Society has been bequeathed the house and grounds. The gardens were once spectacular and Paula is offering to make them memorable again. That’s before she’s given the job and finds the corpse of a baby in the first flower bed she starts digging into.
Soon the police are there and her work is put off for a bit. The policeman in charge is a little pudgy but he can trade her quip for quip and this gets her attention. Then there is the sexy Hispanic male who comes to help her gardening crew and eventually reveals that he’s really a wealthy man who has come north for other reasons and doesn’t need to work but he likes her so he works for her.
Paula is stalked and nearly killed but triumphs in the end and will be back for another thrill next year. (I’ve seen the list from the publisher)
Mystery 2008
Sharon 9/09/08
A new mystery series, this one entitled “Dirty Business” about a female, 30-something master gardener who has gotten out of television documentaries to have her own gardening business in Springfield, Connecticut, a bedroom community of New York City.
Paula has stopped by Babe’s coffee shop one morning when Babe tells her she should apply for the job of resurrecting the old Peacock mansion gardens. The last of the old ladies has died and the Springfield Historical Society has been bequeathed the house and grounds. The gardens were once spectacular and Paula is offering to make them memorable again. That’s before she’s given the job and finds the corpse of a baby in the first flower bed she starts digging into.
Soon the police are there and her work is put off for a bit. The policeman in charge is a little pudgy but he can trade her quip for quip and this gets her attention. Then there is the sexy Hispanic male who comes to help her gardening crew and eventually reveals that he’s really a wealthy man who has come north for other reasons and doesn’t need to work but he likes her so he works for her.
Paula is stalked and nearly killed but triumphs in the end and will be back for another thrill next year. (I’ve seen the list from the publisher)
Mystery 2008
Sharon 9/09/08
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Here's what's really new
I apparently don't know how to do this very well - as is obvious from my first post - but I'm going to try again - later!
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