27 Things Roundup

I enjoyed doing the 27 Things. I learned:

1. about SPL staff and that we have similarities and share similar experiences
2. that a blog is a user-friendly website
3. that there was a lot I didn't know, a lot that I knew, and a lot to still learn
4. that I still have questions about image-usage rights
5. that I can play a tennis tournament with a blog widget

And I'm done! Yeah!

Home Buying through SPL/Twitter

I found money.gov looking for money saving advice on the Sacramento Public website. Once there, I clicked on Home Ownership Resources, and ended up finding nine steps to buying a home. A facet of Step 1 was figuring out "How much home can you afford?" I did the form, quickly and haphazardly, and it indicated that I could afford a $180,000 home if I were married with two dependents.

My take on Twitter is summed up by the graphic on Harsimar's blog, http://elkgrovebranch.blogspot.com/

Thingfo and Mango

Thingfo

They're in the process of creating a new version, and I was not allowed to create a new account. I read its description, and for me it would be overkill.

Mango

Here at NHI there are a lot of Ukrainian and Russian patrons, so I learned some Russian. Mango is great for working on pronunciation; it is easy to listen to phrases repeatedly, and practice saying them. I feel like my pronunciation of "Hello. How are you?" is solid, and it's about time to practice with a community member.

Podcasts and I Robot

My instructor for LIS 451 Intro to Network Systems gave us podcast lectures in addition to the live lectures and labs. They served their purpose of filling us in on stuff that he didn't squeeze into the classes, and they were more fun than a handout.

I saw a Bollywood movie last night called Kambakkht Ishq (tame despite being produced by "Eros Entertainment"), so I looked for a podcast having to do with Bollywood and found one called Pod India : Bollywood - Indian News - Desi Celebrities - Hindi Cinema.

Speaking of cinema, I downloaded the e-audiobook, I Robot. (My first audiobook experience was listening to Grapes of Wrath on cassettes, a book that I didn't get through in physical form.) It started out with the president of US Robotics stepping down after 50 years. She was being interviewed by a reporter from the Intergalactic Press, and it was hard to differentiate her voice from the male voice she was interacting with! So I'm not listening to the rest of it, and I might look up the narrator of the Grapes of Wrath tapes, beacause he was great, and I still find myself quoting him/Steinbeck.

You Tube

This video takes place in a public library in Japan where comedians pull pranks on each other while attempting to stay quiet.

Music

There was a concert here a few nights ago in the meeting room featuring Aaron Curioca and his new band, Aaron 51 Project, as well as local musician Paul Laughlin. Aaron 51 Project led off with rock/metal, and then Paul sang and played acoustic with Aaron accompanying him.

When Aaron introduced Paul, he mentioned that Paul was in a band called Colma. The Web 2.0 award-winning site Last "...recommends music, video, and concerts based on what you listen to." So I typed in "Colma," which brought up some of their videos. The most similar band was Buckethead, listed as having "SUPER SIMILARITY to Colma" (opposed to medium similarity, or lower similarity).

Zoho

I thought that Zoho Writer was a Google-less alternate to Google Docs, but if you want to work offline with Zoho you have to install the Google Gears plug-in...more evidence that Google is planning to take over the world.

(This post was published to my blog through Zoho, and then I was able to edit it, adding this, with Blogger's composer.)