In the previous post about Twitter, I mentioned that I hadn't started texting until last September. It wasn't that I didn't want to text, I just didn't want extra fees on my bill. It was fortuitous that I added texting to my cell phone plan when I did, because it ended up being the only way I could communicate with people during Hurricane Ike. Now I use texting all the time. It's handy for the times when you want to tell someone something, but you can't call them. I also use it to text messages to Twitter and get Twitter updates from my friends.
I never use texting lingo. It's not that hard to type the whole word, so why would I use ridiculous abbreviations.
As for texting while driving, I don't do that, either. How irresponsible and dangerous. I'd rather not cause my own death or someone else's because I couldn't wait until I parked to send a text.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Potluck #56: Twitter
Ironically, I just started incorporating Twitter into my daily internet life a couple of weeks ago. I had tried using it last year but, at the time, I didn't have text messaging and it wasn't as fun. Now that I have texting capabilities, Twitter is a blast! I can tweet from places where I wouldn't normally be able to get on a blog. Last year I took a vacation and was at a hotel without free internet. It would have been fun to tweet from my phone occasionally and tell people about the cool things that were happening.
On my own Twitter account, I tweet about whatever comes to mind. It's nothing earth shattering, but it's my life. I also reply to friends and celebrities I follow. It makes it more like a conversation between friends and less like tweeting into the void.
I have used the search function before, but I gave it another whirl today. I did a search on Natasha Richardson to see what people were saying about her unexpected death. There were thousands of tweets on the subject, each one expressing sadness for her family and shock that such a seemingly minor accident could have caused her death.
I know some people think Twitter is a waste of time. Why would anyone want to know what's going on in someone else's life at any given moment? Personally, I think it's fun. I especially like following some of the more verbose celebrities (like Stephen Fry). It's a peek into someone else's life. I say, tweet away!
On my own Twitter account, I tweet about whatever comes to mind. It's nothing earth shattering, but it's my life. I also reply to friends and celebrities I follow. It makes it more like a conversation between friends and less like tweeting into the void.
I have used the search function before, but I gave it another whirl today. I did a search on Natasha Richardson to see what people were saying about her unexpected death. There were thousands of tweets on the subject, each one expressing sadness for her family and shock that such a seemingly minor accident could have caused her death.
I know some people think Twitter is a waste of time. Why would anyone want to know what's going on in someone else's life at any given moment? Personally, I think it's fun. I especially like following some of the more verbose celebrities (like Stephen Fry). It's a peek into someone else's life. I say, tweet away!
Potluck #55: Facebook
Ah, Facebook. I've been on Facebook since my very last semester as an undergrad. That was when it had just barely started and was only open to college students. (Sometimes I think it should have remained that way.)
I've been on Facebook for several years, but I rarely use it. It's kind of funny, really. I think that because I was leaving college right as it was beginning, I missed out on the key period of my life when having Facebook would have been crucial to my social life. ("Crucial.") My brothers are all younger than I am, and all 3 of them are addicted to Facebook. I'm not sure 2 of them could go a day without checking. I, on the other hand, log on once every couple of weeks to sort through friend requests and delete all those pesky application invites.
Based on all of that, it's not shocking that I learned a thing or two from this post. For instance, I had no idea that Twitter could connect with Facebook. I thought the Facebook statuses were something completely separate. They are, but they can also be your Twitter update. That's kind of cool. If I cared at all about Facebook, I probably would link the two.
Despite rarely getting on Facebook, I do have a few applications loaded. My favorites are definitely Flair (because who doesn't love a button?) and SuperPoke (for when you just really need to chunk a sheep at someone). Flair is kind of addictive. On the rare occasions that I do get on, I always end up sifting through flair, seeing if someone has added new flair for my favorite tv show, actor, animal, movie... It's so fun!
So I may not be the dictionary entry for an obsessive Facebook user, but I do appreciate it enough not to delete my account. I have people friend me that I haven't seen since elementary school. People I was friends with for a year before moving out of state. When someone really obscure finds me, it's fun to get a peak into the kind of life they ended up having. For that alone, I'll continue to remain on Facebook - peripherally!
I've been on Facebook for several years, but I rarely use it. It's kind of funny, really. I think that because I was leaving college right as it was beginning, I missed out on the key period of my life when having Facebook would have been crucial to my social life. ("Crucial.") My brothers are all younger than I am, and all 3 of them are addicted to Facebook. I'm not sure 2 of them could go a day without checking. I, on the other hand, log on once every couple of weeks to sort through friend requests and delete all those pesky application invites.
Based on all of that, it's not shocking that I learned a thing or two from this post. For instance, I had no idea that Twitter could connect with Facebook. I thought the Facebook statuses were something completely separate. They are, but they can also be your Twitter update. That's kind of cool. If I cared at all about Facebook, I probably would link the two.
Despite rarely getting on Facebook, I do have a few applications loaded. My favorites are definitely Flair (because who doesn't love a button?) and SuperPoke (for when you just really need to chunk a sheep at someone). Flair is kind of addictive. On the rare occasions that I do get on, I always end up sifting through flair, seeing if someone has added new flair for my favorite tv show, actor, animal, movie... It's so fun!
So I may not be the dictionary entry for an obsessive Facebook user, but I do appreciate it enough not to delete my account. I have people friend me that I haven't seen since elementary school. People I was friends with for a year before moving out of state. When someone really obscure finds me, it's fun to get a peak into the kind of life they ended up having. For that alone, I'll continue to remain on Facebook - peripherally!
Books, Readers & Beyond: #54
1) I have been a member of several book clubs in the past (my membership usually ended when I moved) and run on at my library now. Of the past book clubs I have attended, only one worked really well. I stopped attending one book club after the moderator had us read half of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol one month, and the other half the next month. That book is about 100 pages long. One meeting would have sufficed.
The book club that worked was an all girls book club I attended during grad school. We were all at a similar place in life and had a fantastic time reading classics we'd missed in school and meeting to eat, discuss and gossip. This and the book club I currently run are the most successful ones I have personally attended.
In regards to online vs. in-person, I prefer an in-person book club. For one thing, I love how chaotic and noisy book clubs can be. When a good discussion (either on the book or that favorite tv show) really gets going, there are interruptions, talking over each other, cheering, and the occasionally table slap. They are fun. You don't get this same feel in an online book club.
2) As previously mentioned, I already run a book club at my branch. It has grown over the past year and has become a fairly well established club. The members get along well and even do things together outside the library. Sometimes we pick books everyone likes (good discussions), sometimes half and half (bad discussions) and sometimes everyone dislikes the book (great discussions!). No matter how we feel about the book, though, we always have fun.
I did attempt to find a title to suggest to my group using Reading Group Guides. Ironically, the teen book recommendations sent me to another site I've looked at before, teenreads.com. We have already read several books on the list and there is one on here I've been trying to get the book club to read for months: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I have had several people (and now a website) tell me this is a fantastic book club book. Maybe with these additional positive reviews, we will actually read it. (There is also a list of discussion questions for this book, which would be incredibly helpful.)
3) I searched for One for the Money by Janet Evanovich on LibraryThing, where it had an average rating of 3.98 stars out of 4, and on Goodreads, where it had an average rating of 4.07 stars out of 5. The LibraryThing rating is a tad higher, but both are comparable. I think it is safe to assume that a lot of people really, really love this book! Frankly, I don't find this surprising at all what with how popular that series is just with library patrons.
The book club that worked was an all girls book club I attended during grad school. We were all at a similar place in life and had a fantastic time reading classics we'd missed in school and meeting to eat, discuss and gossip. This and the book club I currently run are the most successful ones I have personally attended.
In regards to online vs. in-person, I prefer an in-person book club. For one thing, I love how chaotic and noisy book clubs can be. When a good discussion (either on the book or that favorite tv show) really gets going, there are interruptions, talking over each other, cheering, and the occasionally table slap. They are fun. You don't get this same feel in an online book club.
2) As previously mentioned, I already run a book club at my branch. It has grown over the past year and has become a fairly well established club. The members get along well and even do things together outside the library. Sometimes we pick books everyone likes (good discussions), sometimes half and half (bad discussions) and sometimes everyone dislikes the book (great discussions!). No matter how we feel about the book, though, we always have fun.
I did attempt to find a title to suggest to my group using Reading Group Guides. Ironically, the teen book recommendations sent me to another site I've looked at before, teenreads.com. We have already read several books on the list and there is one on here I've been trying to get the book club to read for months: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. I have had several people (and now a website) tell me this is a fantastic book club book. Maybe with these additional positive reviews, we will actually read it. (There is also a list of discussion questions for this book, which would be incredibly helpful.)
3) I searched for One for the Money by Janet Evanovich on LibraryThing, where it had an average rating of 3.98 stars out of 4, and on Goodreads, where it had an average rating of 4.07 stars out of 5. The LibraryThing rating is a tad higher, but both are comparable. I think it is safe to assume that a lot of people really, really love this book! Frankly, I don't find this surprising at all what with how popular that series is just with library patrons.
Books, Readers & Beyond: #53
I'm going to say this up front: I buy all of my book from Amazon (or a seller on Amazon), Barnes & Noble or Half Price Books. In my experience, independent booksellers usually can't match or beat the price a big retailer can set, so there's no point in shopping at the smaller stores.
1) The closest bookstores to my branch are, of course, the college bookstore and In & Out Textbooks. However, neither of these are mainstream book retailers, so they hardly count. (They also have no real web presence.) Another close bookstore is The Book Attic, which sells new and used books. It has a website which allows users to search books that might be available in the store and gives general trade information, etc. Because of the location of this library, there aren't really any close mainstream book retailers. The closest Borders or Barnes & Noble is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes away. (These both have extensive websites that have already been discussed in this exercise.)
2) I searched for Janet Evanovich's One for the Money and found it available at most sites. On PaperBack Swap you can get the book for the cost of one previously mailed off book. On Amazon you can buy the book for $11.16 new or as little as $3.73 used. Ironically, HCPL does not have this book as a ebook or audiobook download. (And the HCPL site crashed my internet. Nice bonus.) Because the book is not in the public domain, it won't be on any free sites. You can, however, purchase an audio download of the book on Amazon.
3) I greatly dislike ebooks. I may have a laptop, but huddling under a blanket on the couch and reading a book online is just not the same as cuddling up with a nicely worn paperback. Certainly there are some advantages. A search function could be helpful, the ability to read while unobtrusively sitting at a computer. But there are more disadvantages. You are constrained by power, for one thing. If the electricity goes out, you either go without or use up all the battery power. If the power goes out and you have candles, you can still read a book. Reading a book for an extended period of time on a computer screen also tends to strain the eyes more than reading a regular book.
I suppose there are uses for ebooks, but I prefer the good old paperback, myself.
1) The closest bookstores to my branch are, of course, the college bookstore and In & Out Textbooks. However, neither of these are mainstream book retailers, so they hardly count. (They also have no real web presence.) Another close bookstore is The Book Attic, which sells new and used books. It has a website which allows users to search books that might be available in the store and gives general trade information, etc. Because of the location of this library, there aren't really any close mainstream book retailers. The closest Borders or Barnes & Noble is anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes away. (These both have extensive websites that have already been discussed in this exercise.)
2) I searched for Janet Evanovich's One for the Money and found it available at most sites. On PaperBack Swap you can get the book for the cost of one previously mailed off book. On Amazon you can buy the book for $11.16 new or as little as $3.73 used. Ironically, HCPL does not have this book as a ebook or audiobook download. (And the HCPL site crashed my internet. Nice bonus.) Because the book is not in the public domain, it won't be on any free sites. You can, however, purchase an audio download of the book on Amazon.
3) I greatly dislike ebooks. I may have a laptop, but huddling under a blanket on the couch and reading a book online is just not the same as cuddling up with a nicely worn paperback. Certainly there are some advantages. A search function could be helpful, the ability to read while unobtrusively sitting at a computer. But there are more disadvantages. You are constrained by power, for one thing. If the electricity goes out, you either go without or use up all the battery power. If the power goes out and you have candles, you can still read a book. Reading a book for an extended period of time on a computer screen also tends to strain the eyes more than reading a regular book.
I suppose there are uses for ebooks, but I prefer the good old paperback, myself.
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