Pod/Vod/Nod-ing off

Okay, more experiences with GB Learns...and if I can stay awake, I will describe both. I listened to a podcast on Uncontrolled Vocabulary...chose one at random - Cranky People Make Good Audio. The topic was how Ask.com has announced layoffs due to a change in focus for their website and one person earmarked to go is a librarian they had on staff. So for the next 27 minutes - which I will never get back by the way - I listened to 4 people who have too much time on their hands debate how this affects "horizontal searching" (We did that in the 60's - looking up something in a volume of the encyclopedia while lying across your bed) I didn't learn much else from the podcast, oh, except - blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It was reminiscent of bad talk radio that I often had to endure while riding in the family car as a child. Or even worse - major league baseball on the radio. Who came up with that idea - baseball on tv isn't boring enough, let's just talk about it? Now before I am chastised for dissing America's past time - and who decided that! - I must tell you I have some fondness for the game. My sisters and I went to more than a few White Sox games with my Dad as kids - surely prompted by my Mother who wanted a quiet afternoon to herself. It was great, we ate all afternoon and ran up and down the bleachers and came home with stomaches and horrifying sunburns. We could never tell you the score or even if the game was actually played, but oh what fun! It'd be even more fun to go now - I could drink a few beers in the middle of the day with no judgments.

I faired better at YouTube...watched a promotional video by a Merrillville, IN librarian - she was perky and informative and not annoying. Which is quite a feat since perky often equals annoying. With the right person, GBPL could do this sort of ad. Maybe someone dressed as Gail Borden himself. He could be standing in our new cafe - when it opens - drinking a glass of milk -okay, you don't drink condensed milk for which he is noted but props are always a good idea and we really don't know what the man drank. I did see a few library videos that were purely fun - look at www.youtube.com/kimhuston - she does one with shelving to music that's amusing.

Clearly, I am a print person. I love books and paper and school supplies like folders and index cards. I love mail. I read newspapers - on paper - and magazines, and I get every known major catalog. I do love email too, Amazon.com, and banking online. It's my generation - we have a foot in each camp, choosing the best of both worlds and so far that's working for me.