Getting rid of Ants in the Kitchen

Last week while sitting in the lobby of a Dr's office I read in Birds & Bloom that you could use ground ginger sprinkled around your counter top to get rid of ants. This person said they used this hint when they had a picnic outside so she gave it a try when she got ants inside her house & it worked. Have not tried but the next time I have these visitors appear, I'm certainly going to try this hint.

Facebook - Benefits of Facebook

Two benefits I thought of concerning facebook was if you wanted to get a message to students, they would see it faster if you put in on their facebook rather than send an email.

Also I helped a guy in special collections Wednesday and he wanted to look at old yearbooks (1988-1992) to get some names of baseball players to try to get together with them next year. It made me think that if they all had facebook, he could probably get in tough with them and immediately be able to get a message to them.

Facebook - I need friends

I now have an official facebook and now I need friends. I'm a little uncomfortable sharing things on this site and think people can give out too much information and what they are doing for everyone to see. In this week's Arkansas Times (11/20/08) they talked about the Fear Factor (after the death of Anne Pressly) of news people. It stated Channel 4 cautioned their people to lock their sites down and suggested it might not be a good idea to have a page at all.
Even though I couldn't look at a person's profile I could look at their friends. One librarian in North Arkansas was a Harding graduate so I looked at her friends and spotted Hunter Ray and then she also had several other Monticellonian friends. It peaked my curiosity as I didn't recognize her and wondered how she knew these other people in Monticello. I can see why young people stay glued to the monitors searching and reading about others.

Week #9 - Podcasts

I listen to a couple of podcasts from the American Heart Association. One was on energy drinks and how they could pose a risk for someone with high blood pressure or heart disease. Since it was not a video involved I listened while I stripped and stamped the periodicals. I also tried Juice and selected the History Channel and chose “This Day in History”
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do
This also had a side bar where it was possible to select a particular day & choose a category. These podcasts had a video and I really found them to be interesting.

Can libraries utilize podcasts? Maybe, as a teaching guide on Library of Congress call letters or government documents, but I still think people like to talk with someone face to face so they can ask questions or get some feedback. Another thought, do interviews with different faculty/staff on what are you reading now, or favorite memories of using a library growing up, etc. This might be interesting to have a short interview every 3-4 weeks.

Self Defense Program - November 6, 2008

Yesterday in our ALPS workshop we had a presenter that did a self defense program and it was awesome. I wish every female on campus could have attended. He gave so many tips and suggestions. It takes an assailant, victim & opportunity for a crime to take place. Be a survivor - keep positive attitude & be a winner. Don't under estimate criminals. Four areas he talked about crimes occurring were: Home, workplace, car and shopping mall.

One tip I found interesting that everyone might consider, if you walk or run daily, is to carry 2 Alka Seltzers in your pocket and if you're grabbed, pretend to get sick & as you bend over put the two alka seltzers in your mouth and they will cause you to foam at the mouth & the assailant might be turned off and leave you alone.

Week #8 - Browser Tools - Firefox

I am so use to using MSN that I prefer it, but I do plan to play around with firefox some more & see the different advantages. On MSN I see everything at once when it comes up i.e., local temperature, stock market, etc. I have really enjoyed all the websites that we are learning about. Thanks LD!

Twitter

I don't think I care for Twitter. One way to utilize Twitter for library use is keeping people informed when we have book donations for the Book Exchange. We could list Title/Author & short summary of book. Frequent users of the Book Exchange could check Twitter to see what were the last books received & if they would be interested in coming by to see if they were available to get.

Twitter seems to be just like a blog except you keep entries within 140 letters.

I'm anxious to see what others think.