Wonderful and Scary (Thing #5)

Some rather large spiders have suddenly taken up residence around my house. A quick look into my field guide shows that this is the aptly named Black and Yellow Garden Spider. So far, I've noticed one out front and three around the back deck. They're quite beautiful but also frightening due to their size. I have a grudging respect for spiders, mixed with a good dose of fear. I'm not as scared of them as I used to be, and have adopted a 'live and let live' attitude toward them, for the most part. These spiders have a weird zip zag pattern near the center of their web - very strange.

On a side note, I've finally figured out how to post an image directly from Flickr into a blog post. Instead of copying the url from the image link, I right click on the image itself, select 'copy image location' and then paste that into the url entry field in the blogger 'add image' option.

Jumping on the Avatar Bandwagon (Thing #7)

Can't sleep and just finished a book and not in the mood to start another one right now, so figured now was as good a time as any to play around with the Yahoo Avatar feature. So, heeeere's (drum roll, please) ... Library Gal!


This was a fun diversion. It reminded me of those paper dolls I used to play with as a kid.

As far as technology goes, sometimes it seems like it moves to fast to even keep up with it. Just when you get used to something, it's changed. But that can be exciting, too.

The Internet is arguably one of the greatest developments in modern technology. One of the greatest things I personally get out of the Internet is a sense of community. I maintain a book blog, and have since found so many other people who also keep similar blogs. We've shared book recommendations, read each other's reviews, and chatted about other book-related stuff. I've discovered several new authors, some great books I wouldn't have known about otherwise, and have had some really interesting discussions with others in the online world.

Fun with Flickr (Thing #6)

I hopped onto Flickr today to check it out for the first time. Wow! What a lot of stuff - we could spend the entire challenge just exploring Flickr and all its uses. I started out by uploading a few of my personal photos and then since I thought the Spell with Flickr idea was a snazzy one, created a quick one myself:



The one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to resize that block so that it's smaller. Hmmm ...

There were a lot of great 3rd party sites, but this was my favorite. I love all the different images for the various letters, and had a fun time picking the ones I included above.

Who doesn't love a poll?

Inspired by the poll that was included in the Week 1 Recap, I created my own:

How many books do you read a month?
	Less than one
	1-2
	3-5
	6-9
	10+
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Lifelong Learning - Discovery Exercise (Thing #2)

The second exercise for the challenge entailed listening to a tutorial that discussed the 7 1/2 habits of lifelong learning. We were charged with noting which of these habits is our strongest trait and which one we find most difficult.

For me, what I find easiest is #5 ('create your own learning toolbox'), as once I decide upon learning a new activity, I tend to search for as many resources as I can find to help me in my new endeavor.

I think the habit I find most difficult is the last one - play! I tend to take myself (and others) too seriously. From time to time, I have to remind myself to lighten up!

Charlotte, NC Literary Festival - August 12th & 13th

From the Charlotte Observer:

WTVI and RealEyes Bookstore present the Charlotte Literary Festival, Saturday and Sunday at the Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St. The festival will feature Nikki Giovanni, Crystal Andrus, Omar Tyree and Patrice Gaines, 6 p.m. Saturday. Cost: $25. The festival will host more than 80 authors, "how to" workshops, poetry, live entertainment, vendors and children's activities. An array of authors will be at RealEyes Bookstore, 3306-A N. Davidson, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Details: 704-377-8989; www.realeyesbookstore.com.

And here's an Observer article with even more info. For those not familiar with Charlotte, this will take place in the artsy NoDa district.

It's a Slippery Slope

*snerk*



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Ta-Da! (Thing #3)

My first post on the new blog I've set up, all part of PLCMC's wonderful new project: Learning 2.0 Challenge.