My creation: Movie Poster

My creation: Movie Poster, originally uploaded by librarylioness8.

When I saw Movie Poster listed on the Flickr Toys site, I came up with the idea of making one based on future vacation plans. It was really fun!

Week 3: #7 Photo Editing Tools

I found the first picture on Flickr. I saved it to my picture file on Z drive, then cropped and resized it on Snipshot. So the second picture is my edited version. It shows a closer image of the topiary "Nessie" at Walt Disney World.

Week 3: #6 More Flickr Fun

I really enjoyed checking out the various Flickr mashups and tools. My favorite is the Trip Planner on Yahoo. Earlier this year I took a trip to Alabama and Georgia with a friend. Now I'm thinking how much fun it would be to create a trip on Trip Planner to share with family and friends. She bought a digital camera, so we have photos of the various cities and towns we visited, from Houston to Perry, Georgia. Trip Planner shows a map of the route taken on a trip, provides a place to post photos of each stop or highlight along the way, and allows commentary for the photos. There's the option of public or private viewing, so I could send a link to family and friends around the country. All in all, a fun way to plan and remember a vacation.

Lighthouse Trading Card

Lighthouse Trading Card, originally uploaded by librarylioness8.

My first try at creating a trading card. I think I'll try again after figuring out how to crop and center the lighthouse better.

Week 3: #5 Discover Flickr. Lightning and Rainbow

Lightning and Rainbow, originally uploaded by librarylioness8.

I found this incredible photo on The Weather Channel site. I love pictures of lightning, and the rainbow being in the shot is amazing.

Coffee With My Dad

I love coffee. I really do.

I'm not an absolute coffee fanatic, like Lorelai Gilmore on "Gilmore Girls" (may it rest in peace). Or Brent Leroy on "Corner Gas" (Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Central time on WGN - check out the official website http://www.cornergas.com/).

I usually only drink coffee at breakfast time. And I like it really hot with raw sugar and half-and-half.

Which is why I especially love percolated coffee. Drip coffee is good, but perked coffee is hot. The water actually boils.

I got my love of coffee from my parents, especially my dad. He would let me have a taste of coffee when I was a kid. Loved it from the first sip. When I grew up and got a job (at a library, of course!) and was living at home, I was usually the first one up in the mornings. By the time I got out of the shower, Daddy was up and had coffee brewing in his Revereware percolator. So that's when I really learned to love coffee. Having breakfast with my dad.

In recent years, I've fallen under the spell of Starbucks and mocha-locha-frappa-cappa-lattes. I will occassionally splurge on a "grande white mocha, no fat, no whip." And I'll buy bags of coffee to make at home. I even get the coffee ground for a percolator. My dad's Revereware one, of course. I still have it.

But my favorite coffee is from Tim Horton's, the donut/coffee shop chain in Canada (and a few lucky places in some northern states -- check out the website http://www.timhortons.com/). Tim Horton's needs to move further south! I have to depend on my friend in Canada to take pity on me and send canisters of their wonderful coffee. Coarse grind for perking.

My dad passed away 20 years ago. I don't know what he would think of the Starbucks and other designer coffees phenomenon. He'd probably like some of the fancy stuff. But he'd always return to the basics of a simple cup of coffee with sugar and half-and-half. That's my favorite, too. I am, after all, his daughter.

Internet Safety

Remember the 80s TV series "Hill Street Blues?" And the character Sgt. Phil Esterhaus who always ended morning roll call with the admonition, "Let's be careful out there!"

Anyone got any better advice for Internet users than that?

In the early days of the 'Net, it was easy to think that all was safe and private. Then we started getting very rude awakenings. Identity theft? Fake sites? And worst of all SPAM!!!!! And not just spam! Spam that infects your PC with a virus! Or a worm! (Ewwwww!!!) The sheer volume is overwhelming. Scam spam meant to steal your money. Jokes! Viral videos! Phishing! And, for me, the most annoying of all: chain email. "Send this message to at least 25 people and a zillion dollars will magically appear in your lap within the next 2 minutes!"

Enough.

Just remember that a free lunch is never free. That anything that sounds too good to be true probaby is. Check this site for some tips on recognizing phishing email. http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/phishing/identify.mspx

And when you get an email from someone claiming something extra horrible (nicotine in McDonald's hamburgers!) or something extra wonderful (Bill Gates wants to give you a million dollars!), check it out on http://www.snopes.com/

Guard your email addresses and passwords for various sites. Never use names (family, friends, pets) or personal dates (birthdays, anniversaries) for passwords or PINs.

And finally, remember that privacy on the Internet is not guaranteed, especially if using a public computer and/or Wi-Fi access. Delete browsing history. Clear caches.

Let's be careful out there.

O Canada!

As I mentioned in my 1st post, I enjoy traveling to Canada to visit friends. I've been interested in Canada since I was a kid and the Weekly Reader had an article about the then new prime minister Pierre Trudeau. I'm not sure I'd ever paid attention to the country north of us before that.

In the 1980s other things happened to renew my interest. I started reading mysteries novels by Alisa Craig, a.k.a. Charlotte MacLeod. She wrote 2 series set in Canada: The Grub and Stakers series (1st novel "The Grub and Stakers Move a Mountain") and the Madoc Rhys series (1st novel "A Pint of Murder"). The 1st is about a young woman, Dittany Henbit, living in the small town of Lobelia Falls, Ontario. The Grub and Stakers is the gardening club she belongs to, and as in most "cozy" mysteries, she's an amateur sleuth. The series is very funny and charming. The Madoc Rhys series is about a Mountie does not fit the stereotypical image and in fact looks more like a plumber's assistant. This series is a bit more serious, but Madoc is charmingly old-fashioned and fun to read.

In the late 90s, I met another cataloger -- over the Internet -- who became my closest friend. She's from Saskatchewan and we visit when we can. I love visiting the prairie. It's really beautiful. Endless skies. Fields of yellow canola and blue flax and golden wheat. Just beautiful.

Finally, I mentioned in my 1st post that I watch too much TV. Well, one of my favorite shows is a Canada sitcom titled "Corner Gas." It's set in the very small town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, and, in my opinion, one of funniest comedies on the air. My Sask friend sends me the DVDs for Christmas, so I'm pretty much caught up on all 4 seasons it's been on up there. And I'm happy to say that an American station has picked it up. WGN is starting a regular schedule for "Corner Gas" tonight at 7:00 central time. Two episodes will be on. I highly recommend it. If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy.

Learning styles

After seeing some posts about learning styles, I thought I might add my thoughts to my blog. I'm basically concrete-sequential. I like the info laid out and available for reference. Then I use the info step-by-step. Hands-on approach.

Anyone surprised that I'm a cataloger?

Where to begin?

I begin this blog as an exercise for a class. I probably would never have seriously considered a blog before that. But I hope to make the best of it by doing a kind of review/recommendation blog for movies, TV, books, etc.

Before that, I guess I should tell a little about myself. I'm a librarian. A catalog librarian. I love cataloging. It's like putting a puzzle together. Information about the library material follows an established form and in a particular order. Just like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Everything has its place.

I love to travel when I can. These days I travel mostly to the West Coast to visit family and to Canada to visit friends. I used to live in Florida and miss being able to go to Disney World two or three times a year.

I watch way too much TV and read mostly cozy mysteries. I do crossword puzzles and got hooked on sudoku.

And that's about it for now.