Games & Gaming #38

I visited the arcade retro website and I played Ms. Pacman. I used to play Pacman & Ms. Pacman on my Atari when I was very young, so playing it brought back many good memories. I have never played this video game on a computer and I thought that using the keyboard instead of a joystick was more challenging.

I think that the console game system that is best suitable for library purposes is the Nintendo Wii. This video game is suitable for every age group and it could be used by adults as well as children. The children can have fun playing the Wii Deca Sports. It contains a bundle of different sports such as soccer, skateboarding, ice skating, volleyball, and basketball. The adults who happen to be health conscious can enjoy a great workout using the Wii Fit. This game offers different exercises such as aerobics, yoga, and strength training exercises. The elderly can also benefit from this game system. I read an article a few weeks ago that mentioned that the Nintendo Wii was being offered at a veteran physical therapy rehabilitation site, in order to get the joints and muscles of disbaled veterans moving. The veterans played different sports by using the Wii, such as baseball, and they were improving their health and having fun at the same time. I thought that was a great story!

I think that players would come to the libary for the game, but also stay for the books and other available resources that the library offers. I think if the library promotes the books in conjunction with a certain video game, then my theory would be more valid. For example, a display of books featuring biographies of famous baseball players would catch the eye of a player who is playing baseball on the Nintendo Wii. Also, a display of healthy cookbooks would interest the adults that are working out using the Wii Fit.

Games & Gaming #37

I read the NYTBS article on the topic of gaming in the library and it was very informative. The article focused on the New York Public Library and its Friday afternoon game sessions. The library claims to own 2,500 copies of 92 different games, that are available for circulation during one-week intervals. I think having games available at the library is a smart way to increase youth participation at the library. The games will attract kids who normally would not want to hang out at a "boring old library", and this may cause them to venture over to the other resources that the library offers, such as magazines, CD's, or even a book! I played the "I'll Get It" game that was on the Carnegie Mellon University Library's website. The object of the game was to help your peers find research tools for a certain question. This cartoon figure would pick up a piece of paper from one of his peers and take it over to the catalog. The catalog displayed different available resources that could help answer the question. I had to choose between looking in the books, periodicals, or electronic database section. It was fun once I got the hang of it!

Games & Gaming #36

I visited Runescape, registered with the site, and created my own avatar. My avatar had light brown skin, black short hair, medium build, and small feet. She was wearing a blue long sleeved shirt, blue pants, and black boots. I wasn't sure how to take a screenshot of the avatar, so I did not post it on here. I did not find it easy to get around the Runescape site. Once the game started, I was basically stuck inside the house that the avatar was originally in, because I was not sure how to get her out of there. I could not find an exit door, and there were two other avatars in there that looked at me like I was crazy! I only knew how to point my mouse to a specific location on the computer, and the avatar would walk in that direction. If I had more time, I could possibly figure out how to play the game. If I get bored at home, I might solve this mystery.

Games & Gaming #35

I visited the website, http://www.freerice.com/, and I really enjoyed it! It is a site that allows you to enhance your vocabulary skills by playing a game where you have to choose the best definition for a certain word. The best part about it is that the site donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for every correct answer that you get. I enjoyed playing the game and I actually donated 2,520 grains of rice! That makes me feel very, very good! The sponsors listed at the bottom of the page within that site, are the ones who donate the money to pay for the rice. This site actually accomplishes two things at one time: enhance people's vocabulary & feed the hungry. What a wonderful website, I will recommend it to all of my friends!

Maps #34

1. I discovered the GPS coordinates for the HCPL ADM building (8080 El Rio Street Houston, TX 77054) to be +29° 41’ 8.89”, -95° 23’ 20.19”.

2. The geocache that I would be interested in finding (if I had a GPS tracker), would be the following: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c04d689f-3e24-4669-b35d-bea4cea28a61. The GPS corrdinates for this find are N 29° 41.195 W 095° 23.018.

3. Unitl today, I had never heard of this geocaching "hobby" that a lot of people around the world seem to be participating in. I think the whole idea of this treasure hunt is quite amusing. Some of the geocachers profiles state that they have been to many different states and countries, just to go look for these hidden treasures. If I had a GPS tracker, I would probably go find the item that is listed on the link above, just because it is located close to my job (somewhere between Holly Hall & El Camino). The hint that the person who hid the treasure gave was that it was "under square, above circle". They don't disclose what type of item it is, they just display the GPS coordinates to find it. This could be a fun hobby, if I had the spare time to actually go look for the stuff!

Maps #33

Activity 1:

I visited the website, http://www.har.com/, and I searched for a 4+ bedroom/2+ bathroom home in the Northwest area. The house that caught my eye contained 4 bedrooms & 2 1/2 bathrooms. It also contained marble floors, granite countertops, fireplace, sprinkler system, area pool, & a satellite dish. The only negative things that I did not like about the house was that it was built in 1993 (I want a newer home) and one of the rooms was painted green & yellow (not my taste in wall colors, but I could always re-paint them).

Activity 2:

I did not like the website, http://www.discoverourtown.com/, because it did not have a feature that would let you search by a certain area of town. It basically contained a map of Texas, and I selected Houston, TX, and it gave me a ton of listings for stores, restaurants, etc. However, I could not narrow down my search by a certain address or zip code. On the other hand, I really liked the website, http://www.walkscore.com/. I typed in my potential new home's address and it gave me a couple of listings of what was nearby. The closest restaurant was Koi Japanese Restaurant, closest library was HCPL Northwest Library, & the closest clothing store was Retro Chic. The only thing to watch out for when typing in the home's address at this site, is that it is best to type in the city and state as well. At first, I did not include Houston, TX, and my first search included sites in California (apparently California has the same exact address as the home here in Houston).

Maps #32

Activity 1:

Out of the "100 Things to do With Google Maps", I was curious to discover where there was daylight at this time around the world. So, I clicked on that question and it took me to the website http://www.daylightmap.com/. It was a neat site to explore, since it showed the Western hemisphere in daylight and the Eastern hemisphere was blacked out.

Activity 2:

I chose the Terra Server website and I clicked on the celebrity homes link. It displayed aerial photos of celebrity homes. They included Britney Spears, John Travolta, Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, and Paris Hilton's homes. Here is a link to an aerial view of Oprah Winfrey's home:

http://www.terraserver.com/view.asp?cx=258893.856537649&cy=3813345.25186546&proj=32611&mpp=0.5&pic=-1&prov=-1&stac=-1

Maps #31

When I need to get directions from point A to point B, I always rely on yahoo maps. If for some reason I did not like the directions that the site provided me, my next choice would be to look it up on mapquest. I did visit the google maps and I really liked that site, because it has a wider array of options. I typed in my home address and I had the option of viewing the streets around my neighborhood and I also could locate stores around my area. For example, I typed in the word "pizza" and it automatically displayed the names of several pizza places (and showed their location on the map), along with their addresses and phone numbers. This tool would have been very helpful to me a month ago, when I was trying to locate the nearest Blockbuster video store.

Spring Cleaning #30

I clean out my personal Z: drive on a regular basis, so I didn't have to delete that much stuff from it for this assignment. The oldest files I had posted on there dated back to 2003, and they were Spanish translations. I have saved them for this long, just in case I ever needed to refer back to them, but I realized that this can take up valuable space. So, I printed them out, and have created a manila folder for them to keep at my desk.

Spring Cleaning #29

I always try to keep my e-mail account clutter free. I either respond, save, or delete and e-mail once it is sent to me. If I respond, I go back and delete that original e-mail that was sent to me (unless it is very important). If it is very important, I leave it in my inbox for future use. I haven't gotten to the point where I have to create folders to categorize my inbox e-mails, I usually have less than 10 e-mails sitting in my inbox, so I think that is a reasonable amount. If I delete an e-mail that was sent to me, I also make sure to delete it from the delete items trash bin. I also delete any sent items that are not important from the sent items and deleted items sections. I do this process a few times throughout the day in order to be as organized as possible.

Spring Cleaning #28

I consider myself to be a very organized person. I try to keep my desk clutter free, this is a little difficult to do when I am very busy and have a lot of paperwork to deal with, but I keep the stacks as neat as possible. I also do not clutter my e-mail account with e-mails that I have either sent or received. I make it a habit to delete those e-mails if I no longer have use for them. If it is something important, I print it out, and save it for later use. I also clean out my Z: drive on a monthly basis. I organize my documents into folders for easy access and to make space. I signed up for the Ta-Da List and it was a super fast 10 second sign-up. I could create different lists under a topic, such as "Things I Need to Do Today", and then list the activities that needed to be done for that day. When the task was accomplished, I had to go back into my Ta- Da List account and check off the activity that had been completed (ex: Go to the post office). I usually keep stickies around my desk and these are my "reminders" on the things that I need to do. I have been using the stickie method successfully for many years now, so I don't think the Ta-Da List is something that I will be using anytime soon.

Sound #26

I signed up on both the Mog and Imeem websites, and I actually liked Imeem the best. I never got a confirmation e-mail from Mog (even though the site said that they would e-mail it to me within 3 minutes) & Imeem had automatic sign in. Imeem features songs that you can listen to and also videos that you can watch on your computer. I watched a Pepsi video that was on the top videos recommended site. I didn't see this video feature on the Mog website though. Imeem also had a better selection of the music that I like to listen to. What I did like about Mog was that you can actually peek at a moggers profile and see what songs they recommend. I entered a moggers profile that was from Belfast, Northern Ireland (so it must be a popular worldwide site). I also created my own song on JamStudio. I had to pick the chords (Em, Fm, Bm, etc) and add them to a score sheet, then choose the mixer and type of sounds that I wanted. Since I do not play any instruments or know how to read a score page, I basically just picked everything at random.

Sound #25

It was a little difficult to figure out how to download a song onto a CD, but I managed to do it. I do listen to CD's on my computer and in my CD player. I think sharing free music online is a good way for musicians to share their works and gain popularity. However, I am not sure if they are gaining any financial profits due to the free and open sharing. I am sure the strict copyright protections laws help them keep their finanical situation gains under control.

Sound #24

The sound of music brings pleasure to my ears...... Listening to music is relaxing, it takes your mind off of your problems, & is very enjoyable. It is great to be able to listen to music on your computer if you are tired of the same old CD's that you own. I enjoyed listening to the Shakira song, "Don't Bother", from the music.download.com website. That site has many, many songs to choose from and it is free, it can't get better than that! I compared Napster to Yahoo! and it seems that Napster is a more expensive site ($12.95/mth) compared to Yahoo! ($5.99/mth if paying a yearly fee of $71.88 OR $8.99/mth if paying monthly).