Using Google Docs & Spreadsheets

For this week's Library 2.0 exercise, I'm trying out Google Docs. If I've done this right, I'll be able to post it to my blog and take a look at it from there. I've read through some of the Google Help screens, and it looks straight forward enough, but that's no guarantee of success. I just figured out how to sort incoming messages in Outlooks, so I'm a bit technologically behind.

As you can see, I'm trying a few more complicated options. Here's a link to my blog, for instance. I just learned that unlike in Microsoft Word, I have to reposition the link - highlighting the text for the link wasn't enough.

I've also published a small spreadsheet.

I have noticed a couple things:

• you need to watch what you label on the spreadsheet, since Google creates the title line. That means giving the sheet a name and not putting the title in the first cell.
• The title for my blog post didn't come through - when I edit the blog posting I see no title. There is what appears to be a title on the post itself, but it is slightly different.
• What I put into Google Docs was very WYSISYG in my blog, but the spreadsheet looks different in the non-edit mode.

Progress on the Green Front

We've finally moved all of the orphaned plants back into the backyard, and we're starting to fill in the new beds. I've uploaded some pictures to Flickr. Check them out at my Flickr Account.

Technorati and finding blogs

I got a little behind on my 2.0 projects and neglected to look at Technorati until today. I don't feel like I really understand what I can do with this yet, but I signed up anyway.
I was able to find my friend's blog and mark it as a favorite. I'm hoping someone else will extend the courtesy . . .
I also was able to use the popular links to find a blog about members of Congress who are trying to live on the amount of food a person can buy with a week's worth of food stamps. They're highlighting how little money that is ($21), but they haven't really talked about the other constrictions on food stamps. Not only does it have a dollar limit, but it severely limits you in terms of the types of foods you can buy. I'm not just talking about banning candy bars, but also favoring certain parts of the food guide pyramid over others. For example, you can buy vegetables at a farmer's market, but not at the grocery store. Perhaps this is one reason (beyond price) that grocery stores in poor neighborhoods have been found to carry fewer fresh, healthy foods.
At any rate, I wish the members of congress luck, since even they seem to know that they are somewhat privileged in their weeklong stint. Check out one of their blogs here: Congressional Food Stamp Challenge.

Baby African Violet

I planted the leaves way back at the end of November, and just last week I saw the first bit of new growth appear. I don't know which leaf had the baby, or if it's two babies, or even if these two leaves came from the same plant or two different ones. I guess I'll have to wait until it blooms. I also repotted the suspected parent so I could bury the neck that had formed. Let's hope it survives its trimming and root disruption.
I looked at a website today to check on what I should do about the neck, and it mentioned that rooting these can be so intoxicating that the african violet gardener ends up with a million little ones filling the house. I can totally see that happening to me. It's even more fun than rooting pothos. And now I want a pink one. Anyone want to put in an order?
Next I have to trim the bonsai, which is a lot more stressful than this.

LibraryThing

I fell a bit behind on my 23 things this week, and neglected to try LibraryThing and Rollyo. I have seen LibraryThing before, but this is my first time with an account. Here it is (and oh, so nerdy). LibraryThing

Fall & Winter

Here are my new paintings from Laura.

Laura's Paintings

Here's a painting by my best bud of ages and ages (yikes, I'm getting old!) that I took off her MN Artists webpage. It's going to have to stand in until I take some photos of the two she just delivered. Yes, after five years of waiting, I have the first two of my four seasons series.

Now I just have to get them on the wall.

A New Look . . . AGAIN!

I think I've changed the template about three times for this blog (once every two posts, I guess). I even added a picture of myself that I made using Portrait Illustration Maker. It's a pretty fabulous tool. Try it yourself: Illustration Maker.

I know, I know, I'll stop now. . . maybe.

Social Bookmarking

I've kind of skipped ahead to some bookmarking sites, thanks to the presentation at ARLD on Monday. I've signed up for CiteULike and Furl, just to see how I like them. I'm not sure how useful these will be, since CiteULike doesn't play with many of the databases we have, but we'll give 'em a whirl.
The really crazy part of it is how blank your mind goes once you have logged in for the first time. There I am with a brand new Furl account and I can't think of a single website I want to add, even though I've spent so many unhappy moments in the past wondering "whatever happened to such-and-such a site."
Perhaps I'll just give into my inner web nerd and only have a short list of extremely useful sites. I heard a report the other day about what the most popular uses of the web were. I can't remember what they were, but I'm sure it was along the lines of socializing with friends, porn, and videos (not necessarily in that order). I turned to Nick and said my favorite use of the web was banking. He didn't seem the least bit surprised . . .