Technology Frustrations

Today we're supposed to blog about something technology-related, so I'm going to tell you how annoying Blogger is being right now. Amanda and I are trying to put pictures behind our headers, and it's just not working. Mostly the problem is that the picture has to be a certain length and width, but nowhere on Blogger does it tell us what those measurements are. So we've ended up with several pictures that are too short, not wide enough, not even the right format, etc.

I guess this is the LEARN part of the Learn & Play thing, though. So far I've pretty much just been able to jog through these things without too much problem, but this picture has me stymied. It has been kind of neat to be able to work with several coworkers on the problem, though. That's one thing I like about the initiative: everyone is excited, and everyone is sharing tips and hints for the different tasks.

Hopefully I'll be able to update soon with a working picture, but for now I'm going to go search the Internet for "long horizontal sunset picture."

Thomas Kincade on Endor

Thomas Kincade on Endor
Originally uploaded by Ethan Hein

I was looking around at mashups on Flickr for one of the Learn & Play @ CML projects, and this one definitely caught my eye. My mother-in-law *loves* Thomas Kincade: I can generally take or leave him. But Thomas Kincade + an Ewok? Yes!!!

Paddington check his old Haunts

Paddington check his old Haunts
Originally uploaded by BenSpark

I was browsing around Flickr for pictures about London and I found this one. Last year my husband and I went to London for our honeymoon. Our little (and I mean little!) hotel was literally right down the street from Paddington Station. I bought a tiny little Paddington Bear. The ones this size were waaay too expensive, haha.

Challenges

I've been looking at the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, and I'd have to say that the habit that is hardest for me is looking at problems as challenges. I like to feel sorry for myself sometimes, and even though I get through the problem I don't really enjoy it. I think this habit is also hard for me because I don't enjoy challenges all the time. I'm the girl who cheats on video games: when I had a ROM emulator on my laptop at college, I was hitting the instant save button every two seconds to make sure I didn't have to go all the way through the big boss fights again. I have to work on adjusting my attitude towards challenges and come to enjoy them instead of just suffer through them.

Probably the easiest habit for me is playing. I think "playing" is how my generation and those younger than us have learned so much about technology. If there's a new program or product or website that looks cool, we just play around with it until we know how it works and all the little tricks and tips to make it work better or faster or more awesome. I love playing with new things, especially web-based things. It's intuitive and it's fun for me.

Blogging @ Work

Everyone has started to get a head start on things with the Learn & Play @ CML program - even though we can't "officially" do the blogging until next week, a lot of us started this week! Today we all compared notes on how to change layouts, add friends, make comments, etc. I actually learned a thing or two - I thought I was all set on blogging, but Blogger is way different than what I'm used to with LiveJournal. Oh well - the whole point of this exercise is to get better at tech, right? And it's neat to see the staff sharing tips and tricks like this. Very fun!

Obligatory Welcome Post

Welcome! I've made this blog as a part of the Learn & Play @ CML initiative at work (http://http://columbusmetropolitanlibrary.wordpress.com/) so if you're interested in what it's all about, take a quick jaunt over and see what we're doing.

Since I really don't have too much else to blog about right now, here's a poem! I took the title of my blog from this piece by C.S. Lewis:

An Expostulation

Against too many writers of science fiction

Why did you lure us on like this,

Light-year on light-year, through the abyss,

Building (as though we cared for size!)

Empires that cover galaxies

If at the journey's end we find

The same old stuff we left behind,

Well-worn Tellurian stories of

Crooks, spies, conspirators, or love,

Whose setting might as well have been

The Bronx, Montmartre, or Bedinal Green?

Why should I leave this green-floored cell,

Roofed with blue air, in which we dwell,

Unless, outside its guarded gates,

Long, long desired, the Unearthly waits

Strangeness that moves us more than fear,

Beauty that stabs with tingling spear,

Or Wonder, laying on one's heart

That finger-tip at which we start

As if some thought too swift and shy

For reason's grasp had just gone by?