Yellow Drops

Yellow Drops
Originally uploaded by Amery Carlson

Imagine this photo on the blank space from August 27. Don't know why it disappeared. My magnetic personality probably zapped it. Happens a lot.

Technology - love it and hate it

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country and, relying on your 4 years of high school foreign language, felt certain that you could communicate with the locals with relative ease? But noooooo, it's not easy. If only your attempt at communication required the few phrases burned into your brain such as "Silencio" or "Que hora es ya?" or with luck "Como te llama?". This isn't supposed to be this hard! You got an A in Spanish! This is supposed to flow and be fun and you'll understand and be understood. It's so frustrating!

My experience is similar when I try to navigate today's technology ladden world. I'm not a techno-phobe and I'm not a complete novice using computers. So why is it so hard to use them? Why can't I speak the language? My son says the problem is not so much what I'm doing wrong, it's that the gadget makers haven't provided customers intuitive interfaces. They're building thingamajigs for themselves, not for their mothers. WELL THEY NEED TO START THINKING ABOUT THEIR MOTHERS. JUST THIS ONCE IT'S NOT ABOUT THEM, IT'S ABOUT US. AND...THEY...OWE...US! (If in doubt I'll show you the slideshow of the pregnancies and births of my sons. Anyone who turns you into a whale owes you.)

If Captain Kirk relied on me to blow the Klingons into another universe no one on the Enterprise would have had time to accumulate PTO for an intergalactic holiday. "Which button? The round thingy with the squiggle or the blinky-thing to the left of it? Wait! I have to do what first? Update the hyperdrive! Hit thi...aaarrrgh."

I was looking at Fragglereader's blog and it's so cool. She's used Mosaickr on a picture of herself and has other cool pics including a banner! A BANNER? I'm still trying to get my blog included on the list of participants (I just checked; it's still a no-show even after we received the message "All blogs should be linked"). Hmmmmm. OK, I'm blaming this glitch on my magnetic personality again.

Check this out to watch a real mom deal with technology:

My librarian trading card

My librarian trading card
Originally uploaded by infowidget

Hey! Take a look at the Flickr site that creates trading cards - fun city! I think CML should participate in creating librarian trading cards as long as we wait until I lose weight, finally like how my hair looks and my face clears up. Don't ask.

BTW, the library employee in the picture is not me. If it was I'd be more than happy to have my mug on a trading card, orange and all.

Yellow Drops

Yellow Drops
Originally uploaded by Amery Carlson

I love this pic - the colors, the slightly surreal image. The drops could be miniature self-contained worlds a la Horton Hears a Who. Looking at it engages my other senses - the clamminess of a light morning dew on my skin, a taste of spring at the back of my throat. Dive into it and make it yours.

Just a toe in

Zow!! I'm officially part of the 21st century - I'm a blogger! Perhaps a bloggette. I feel special now that I'm at the same technology level as most 9 year old's. Hallelujah!

OK, enough with the exclamation points.

About me: pretty nondescript except for my tiny obsession for audiobooks - love to listen to them, love to read reviews, love to share them. Yeah, I know...get a cat. Not going to happen so either stop reading or be prepared to listen up (figuratively speaking).

There's not enough time to list all my favorites on today's blog so here are a few titles (in no particular order) to jump start my thoughts:

Fiction:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Non-Fiction:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

OK , that's it. That's respectable.

Later...

Just a toe in

Zow!! I'm officially part of the 21st century - I'm a blogger! Perhaps a bloggette. I feel so special now that I have the same skills that most 10 year old's have. Hallelujah!

OK, enough with the exclamation points.

About me: pretty nondescript except for my tiny obsession for audiobooks - love to listen to them, love to read reviews, love to share them. Yeah, I know...get a cat. Not going to happen so either stop reading or be prepared to listen up (figuratively speaking).

There's not enough time to list all my favorites on today's blog so here are a few titles (in no particular order) to jump start my thoughts:

Fiction:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Non-Fiction:
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

OK , that's it. That's respectable. Later...