My summary of the Days with "Old Dogs"

First of all, I want to say I think "Old Dogs" has been GREAT! It has been an excellent learning experience for me. I am glad I took part. And I look forward to more activities in the future.

People seem to think that just because you sit at work in front of a computer, you know everything about them. Well I sure did find out how much I needed to learn about them.

From the first day getting a blog started, I was very excited. And I never thought I would accomplish as much as I did. When that first photo downloaded to my blog I was hooked. A picture makes everything a lot better.

Another great thing about this activity was meeting more people from around the 4 county area. Gene was a definite inspiration to me. I give him a lot of credit for getting me going after reading his blog posts. From that first snowy day account and later his photos and humorous stories of his time with these lessons. And I always took time to check each and everyone on the blogroll to see what people at other Libraries were doing. I enjoyed them all. Violet even left me a comment!

I carry my NYPL card with me. I never would have thought to apply on-line for one.

I had never heard of Flickr, Picnik, RSS feeds, Delicious or image generators.
I joined Flickr. Another thing I would never have thought to do. I still want to try editing photos. That is something else to look forward to doing from these lessons.

I played around with several image generators and liked what I accomplished.

Enjoying music off the web was something I myself had never tried either. I still turn on the radio to get music. The music channels on my digital cable was a new thing to me when I got that - and I do enjoy the Classic Rock channel. But I may have to look into a CD or MP3 player soon. And I still like riding in my husband's truck with his Bose speakers and our collection of Oldies CDs. That's my way of enjoying tunes.

But I'm still not one to listen to a book. I like making a date with a book I have brought home from the Library by a favorite author.

I have been working on Delicious.com now. Have bookmarked several sites that interest me. It is similar to Favorites on my aol mail, but I like that I can bring these sites up on any computer with the account I signed up for.

I had looked for clip art before through Google but now know about the Microsoft clip art site.

YouTube was all new to me. Never have gotten into Videos on the web. Had a little trouble playing the videos on some of our computers here at the Library. Not really sure why. But had no trouble when I sat down at the public terminals.

Podcasts were fascinating. I had never experienced them either. Will probably go back and work with that some more later.

And I was eventually successful with downloading a video. I was able to view it. Send it somewhere and put it on my blog. It took me overnight to do it all. But was happy when I came to work the next day and it was waiting for me on my blog. Haven't tried it again. But maybe soon.

One very important thing I think I have learned is to take my time with each new thing I try on the web. Look at what they offer. Like "old dogs" was always advising us to do. When I am asked by a patron for help, I don't hesitate as much as I use to. I try to get them through as best as I can. Look at the screen. Do what it says. See all the options that are layed out on the screen. So I have learned to slow down when working with the computer.

My sisters may be coming to me now with questions. I feel like I now know a little more than they do. And I need to sit a little longer with my aol account. Never saw how much was there before. And I pay for that!

I am so glad I took the plunge and became an Old Dog Learning New Tricks. I never ever thought I would have so much Fun.

Thank You Pamela for all the time you put into this program. It took a lot of work and patience organizing all the weeks. I printed each week and review them all the time.

I feel like a New Dog working well with all the "tricks" of the computer.
Barb W