High Blood Pressure and Hyperlinks

I decided that I was going to learn how to include links to websites in my blog once and for all. I tried to look up a procedure, but I guess I wasn't using the correct search term. In frustration, I e-mailed my brother, who is my professional computer consultant (unpaid, at least by me). Later, via instant messaging, he sent me the steps to entering a hyperlink. HTML? What?

After about a half-hour, I finally got it right and added a hyperlink to my May 25 post.

This stuff is actually a lot of fun; I only wish it wouldn't take me so long. Hopefully, things will soon begin to click a lot more easily.

Now that it's all over, of course I can find the instructions (a shortcut!!) in Blogger Help. Unbelievable. I'm using my new skill to include them here for cohort members who might be in the same boat. The rest of you are probably slightly amused; if you're still with me at this point, thanks for reading!

"E-mail Bankruptcy"

An article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer caught my eye. (Yes, I'm one of those people who still likes to read the newspaper.) Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post discusses the concept of "e-mail bankruptcy" - deleting all old messages and starting over, taking a long break from paying any attention to it, or simply not using it at all. The former is the most common. He mentions CEOs, professors, and recording artists who are declaring "e-mail bankruptcy" or stepping back in some way. Their critics "say copping out is a reactionary and isolationist way of dealing with modern communication."

I'm not overwhelmed by e-mail. I just have a tendency to save it for no reason, like the paper files of articles I keep on hand "just in case I need them someday." I was, however, feeling a little overwhelmed during my introduction to multiple discussion boards during the past two weeks :-)

Social bookmarking - an introduction

Before I ended my study session tonight, I decided to explore a little in del.icio.us. I had never heard of it until I read the LIS 2600 syllabus. I didn't bookmark anything; I just looked around in the help section and then did a few searches.

This is so interesting! For example, the director of my library wants to begin a staff wiki. I found a best practices site on the topic. I also looked for information on library performance evaluations, which, believe it or not, have never been done in a formal way where I work.

For fun, I found sites about the guitarist Phil Keaggy. (There's an old rumor that Jimi Hendrix replied "I don't know, you'll have to ask Phil Keaggy" when he was asked on a talk show about how it felt to be the best guitarist in the world. Another variation attributes the quote to Eric Clapton. Phil Keaggy doesn't think either story is true.)

Positive outlook

After a little more sleep than I had on Tuesday night, things are looking better. I'm remembering Dr. Tomer's encouraging words in the first podcast - "...Diligence in the next couple of weeks will probably bring you up to speed with the rest of your classmates..." (those who have computing experience outside of a specific framework).

I'm excited about what I'll learn during LIS 2600 and how I'll apply what I'm learning to class assignments and to my job. Plus, thanks to the course resources, I think I'm getting a handle on the concept of RSS feeds!

Tired, tired, tired

I used vacation time last week to adjust to my return to school, and I returned to work feeling more than a little fatigued. Some staff members at other branches of our library, not knowing why I was away from work, called or e-mailed to say, "Welcome back! We missed you! Hope you had a great vacation! Where did you go?"

Well, it was a challenging vacation with an avalanche of work, that's for sure! Now comes the real test - juggling work, two online classes, and my mother's very frequent medical appointments. There's a lot of cheerleading going on for me at my library and in my family, and that means more than I can say. (Ah, then I remember the cohort members who are raising children while doing all of this, and my own situation pales in comparison!)

I need to finish configuring Firefox. It sounds like some of my classmates are so far ahead of me. I'm just trying to take this a step at a time and stay on track with the syllabus.

Beginnings

This is a time for new adventures - a return to school after 27 years and a first attempt at blogging! Please bear with me while I get the hang of this, and I'll try to make it interesting as time goes by.