I tried and tried to set up a Windows Live account all through Week 10, but with no success.  I was able to download Messenger without a hitch, but every time I tried to create my LIVE id I would be sent to a site that wanted to give me a UK address – bizarre!

I went on my 2 week vacation and tried again this week without much success.  Finally, when I was at the point of wanting to put my foot through my monitor, I succeeded this morning.  I managed a work around and finally got my Messenger window working. Yeah!

I’ve added my son (much to his chagrin I think) and a co-worker (Siobhan) who was kind enough to walk me through the steps of chatting.  I’m not sure how much I would use it, but it was pretty fun once it started working.

I had a Facebook account for several months and really didn’t enjoy it all that much. I reactivated my account for this latest assignment, but I doubt I’ll keep it active for long.

I guess I see the attraction of it for some users, but it’s not really my style. The thing I dislike the most is the data mining potential. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it!

I did take a quick look at MySpace and LinkedIn. MySpace doesn’t excite me much either, but they did have a much better search engine than Facebook as far as finding friends. LinkedIn looks like it would have potential for professionals looking to network.

I quite liked a few of them (Google Docs and Snipshot), but most of the ones I tried didn’t look all that useful to me.  I guess if I was the type of person who wanted to maintain a visually impressive blog or web page then I would have found sites like fd’s Flickr Toys and RedKid.Net more interesting.  For my purposes I don’t think they would be useful.  Last.fm was a little interesting, but I found the site too confusing – it did not give a good explanation of how it worked.  I think I’ll stick with the radio stations I already have bookmarked.

I like the concept of Google Docs.  I think it could be quite useful to our patrons who use older public machines that don’t have Word installed on them.  I see it being useful too in the public school system where they discourage the kids from bringing in files from home on disks or CD’s in case of virus contamination.  I worry a little about data mining on the part of Google, but I guess you just avoid anything sensitive.

Snipshot was another site I liked.  As a mom I saw the potential right away for how useful it would be to my kids when preparing reports for school, but the same logic applies to reports prepared at work.  I would certainly use it again.

I upgraded my browser this week to Firefox 3 and lost the Del.icio.us toolbar I had installed a few weeks ago.  Apparently Del.icio.us isn’t compatible yet with Firefox 3, but they’re ‘working on it’ at Mozilla.

By the way – I did make those zucchini yogurt multigrain muffins from 2 weeks ago.  I modified the recipe to add more whole grains to it and reduced the fat and sugar content.  It was a huge hit with everyone in my family… I’m getting hungry for one just thinking about them.

I’ve set up my Flickr account and uploaded some photos from my childhood.  There’s a small set (5) of pictures spanning my life from birth to just a few years back.  I haven’t had a chance to do much exploring this time, but I have stumbled across Flickr pictures before in various web searches.  The site is pretty cool.

I’m not sure how much use I would get out of Del.icio.us, but it was interesting to explore. The tags I tried (multigrain, muffin, muffins – can you tell I was hungry?) brought up quite relevant sites and I even found a yummy looking recipe for zucchini yogurt multigrain muffins that I’ll try out this week. I can see that it would be useful in some cases, but I tend to think I’d still stick with Google for most of my searches.

LibraryThing looks a little more interesting to me personally. I like the idea of following the tags to see find other books I might be interested in reading. I practically haunt the Public Library downtown so any source that will give me suggestions for new authors to try is welcome.

I was thinking how incredibly useful a wiki would have been in the early Spring when I was part of the George Street Middle School Grade 8 Ottawa Trip fund raiser. There were days that our group had 40 to 50 e-mails flying around trying to coordinate various events. A wiki would have simplified things so much *sigh* Well, if I get involved in another similar event I’ll know where to get started the next time!

I’ve subscribed to three feeds so far (BBC, Library 2.0 and Mary Kathryn’s blog). It’s pretty easy thanks to the step by step instructions we were given.

I’m Tina from the Government Documents, Data & Maps Department. I enjoy a few hobbies in my free time including (but not restricted to):

• reading fiction
• listening to music
• cross-stitching

Cross-stitching is something I find very soothing. It’s great for letting the mind relax and wander. It’s even better when it’s paired up with listening to music. I started cross-stitching 20 years ago this month so it seems fitting to post a video of a technique that caused me no end of grief in the beginning. If only they had YouTube around in the 80′s!