Brain overload

I really do feel like I am on brain overload. To be very frank, I don't enjoy computers, and while it is really interesting to see what's out there and get at least a taste of things in Web 2.0, in my "free" time, I'd so much rather read a book or work on my hobbies! But I do know this is the way of the world, so I am making the best attempts I can, and I have found some things I do like. As a high school building sub, a lot of these things aren't too applicable in my day to day jobs, as I follow the directions teachers give me, but then again, things like the music sites could easily be utilized.

In those sites I've looked at, I preferred Pandora because it seemed to me to be the easiest one to work with. I could see playing some music to enhance a lesson, or use it as a reward after a lesson is completed or as soft background music during a readng time (but MY choice of music - ha ha ha!)

With my certification and past experience in English, I did find a blog that I have enjoyed, Two Writing Teachers. There have been many useful ideas and creative efforts that I have tucked away for the future, should I be lucky enough to get another long term English sub job like I had first quarter. If you do writing with your kids, check it out. Many of the ideas presented are easily adaptable to different grade levels. How cool it would be to set up a classroom blog!

At this point in time, I really have no use for Skype or DimDim either personally or professionally. Now should my daughter really move to Florida like she's thinking, I think that will be revisited!

Google reader is interesting, and I plan on making use of that. The blog I mentioned earlier feeds into it, so I'm always up to date with those writing ideas without having to actually search the blog to see the latest entries. What I REALLY like is the stream of new recipes that are coming in from Taste of Home. I love to bake and cook, and that is cool. I'm going to be putting in several more sites like that. What's neat is that I can only get recipes in certain categories, so I'm not being overwhelmed with a zillion things I don't really want. Other things of personal and professional interest will be finding their way in, as well. If I worked with the same students on a daily basis, I'd encourage them to find things appealing to them and set up such an account for their own use; however, what a valuable tool that could be if they were working on research papers or projects, instead of trying to sift through 119,700,561,432 hits on a subject on the Internet!

It was fun to design the iGoogle page. I have a joke of the day for a laugh, a Bible verse for inspiration, recipes (of course) for contemplation, a virtual aquarium for relaxation, to name some. And since it's relatively easy to get rid of and add new apps, that is a definite bonus. I don't know - it makes cyberspace a little more personal.

One thing I really don't care for is Twitter. As I said, I'm not a computer person, and while I surely can see its value, I'm not the kind of person who checks the computer several times a day (at home, if I turn it on three times a week, it's a lot). But again, I'm glad to know it's there.

Probably one of the most valuable things (thanks again for all your help, Deb) was getting the idea of downloading pix to Flickr, and then having fun with altering them (see my blog entry photo). I don't own a digital camera, but since I am the school's yearbook adviser, I have used our camera to take digital photos, but when it came to putting them on the computer, one of my editors always does it. My pleas for them to teach me how to do that and how to move pix into files, etc., falls on deaf ears, since we're always under deadline pressure. At least now I have somewhat of a clue, so I'll be brave and experiment at school.

I puttered around with Smilebox and the boookmarking sites, but haven't gotten far enough yet to report success. Next week. And I won't tell you yet about my varied opinions of Facebook. I'm not ready to be "out there"...................