Thing 29! Google Tools

After a spring break trip to Washington, DC, and trying to "catch up" at work, I am back to the "Things". Google Tools are fun to explore. I added two Google Alerts, so will enjoy keeping up with them. Now I have used a Google Calendar, and hope to expand on that use. I also made some changes to my Google home page and read the articles associated with Thing 29.

The Goog 411 is a good feature, and I plan to add 1-800-GOOG-411 to my cell phone. I also enjoyed using the Google Maps.

In Google News, I enjoyed the latest news from the Newseum in Washington where we spent a whole day during spring break. In archives, it was fun to find an article from 1913 about Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, a British militant suffragette, who was not allowed to land on the pier at Ellis Island. I explored the Google Health option, and think that would be a useful addition. One could spend lots of time exploring the Google Tools! (Thanks to busiguy6 for the Tools photo on Flickr).

Thing 28! Customized Home Pages

I have had iGoogle for awhile, but had not been a recent user, so gave it a new look with lots of updates and some widgets. After doing that, I explored Pageflakes which is now my homepage. I probably like the appearance of iGoogle better, but had fun with all of the options to explore at Pageflakes. Now I have a calendar there, link to Daily Kos, and daily horoscope. I like having Facebook and Twitter available on my Pageflakes page. Maybe I should put iGoogle as my page on my home computer, and Pageflakes at work. I will continue to explore the many options available. There are so many ways to customize and personalize. I want to explore Netvibes more.

Thing 27! Twitter

I had been hearing about Twitter, and thought that it might be in the first 23 Things. A few weeks ago, the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Sunday papers both had stories on Twitter. The Pioneer Press one said that "the median age of Twitter users is 31 compared to 26 on Facebook."

The day that I joined this week, when I was driving to work I heard that WCCO Radio was now on Twitter. In the Mark Halperin site that I follow on my blog, I noticed a Twitter option. When I joined, I became a follower of them first and since have added Minnesota Gopher sports, the Pioneer Press, MPR, Minn Post and other sites to follow. The first night that I was on Twitter, Nightline broadcast a segment on it, so it was fun to follow the comments about it online while I as listening to the TV in the next room.

I spend enough time on Facebook that I do not need to do the same with Twitter. Since joining Twitter, I prefer to do searches on topics rather than find followers. The best use I found so far was to do a search on Minnesota writer Bill Holm yesterday after I knew of his death. It was interesting to read the many comments and see the sources of information about him. I also have checked out comments from the 23 Things folks. The Hibbing Library is a good example of a library using Twitter, and I will be interested to see if more libraries will embrace Twitter.

Now you can follow me on Twitter by finding the link on the sidebar near the bottom right of my blog. After a few weeks of use, I will see if I agree with author Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Work Week) who called Twitter, "Pointless email on steroids."

Thing 26! Join the 23 Things Ning

For Thing 26, I have been participating in the new MnSCU group. I have sent a few messages to members, made some comments on photos and posts, and added four of my photos. Being the "Ning Thing" is earlier in this round, I think the use will be much greater than in the first round. There are more applications to explore that I have not used yet. New groups are forming with increased interest and activity. I did check the site after finishing the 23 Things, but look forward to more interaction with More Things than with 23 Things.

I added a 23 Things Ning badge to the sidebar of the blog.

Thing 25! Bloggers' Toolkit

The first thing I did was try the Typealyze as I am interested in Myers-Briggs and had recently been referring to the book Please Understand Me by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, about the types. I am an ENFP, so thought that it was interesting that my blog was rated as ESTP. Now I want to check some other blogs!

I spent TOO many hours on all of the other options for Thing 25 with trying many gadgets and photos. I added the snow effect, star rating and a CNN news feed. After registering for the PIC APP, I explored many photos there and added a Valentine one for Thing 25. I tried clocks and calendars, but do not want too many widgets on my blog. A FLICKR photo one and several newspaper feeds are also options that I tried and may return to later. Like the girl trying to make a selection below, there are too many choices!

Later: Decided to remove the snow effect now being we are in June!

Thing 24! Refresh

Hi again!

Even though I had been using my blog since finishing 23 Things last September, I had not looked at the new "Things" until today. My blog has a new look with a different color scheme. I decided to give the avatar a new background and hairstyle. The blog has been a good place for recording information on conferences (MLA and MnPALS) that I attended. I also have added some links that I like, and check some of them almost every day. With the snow melting this week, I added a countdown clock today with the number of days left until spring.

Thing 20 (Faceback) is one that I surprised myself with by using so much! I now have more than 80 friends, and check the site most days. At first my friends were college students and the children of my friends, but now I have more relatives, classmates and people around my age. TIME magazine had an interesting page by Lev Grossman in the February 23rd issue, "Facebook is for Old People," about the baby boomers now "hijacking" Facebook.

From the "increased traffic" on the 23 Things Ning, I knew that a lot of people have "taken off' with the new Things. There are many photos posted since my sunflower was the last one. This week I was happy to find a group for MnSCU librarians, and became the third member.

Happy New Year!