Google Docs

In the continuing Blue 2.0 work toward learning about Web 2.0 applications, I’ve done some work with Google Docs. In fact, this blog entry was created in Google Docs and then posted directly to technology180. It was very easy. The interface is familiar (no different really than most word processing packages I’ve worked with), but the difference is that it is completely web-based and is accessible from any computer (requiring only a browser and Internet access). I can save it, I can share it with others, I can post it to my blog, etc. The only catch is, of course, that you must have a free Google account.

Google Docs does make it very easy to share documents for editing. Here at UKy we also have SharePoint, which is probably preferable for my work-related shared documents. Google Docs does, though, give me other options for sharing with friends, volunteer groups, and social groups.

ser.ious.ly add.ict.ive

OMG. As part of Blue 2.0 I have learned how to use del.icio.us and I am now addicted. My assignment was to create a free account and tag five websites. Okay, so I tagged 39. That doesn’t mean I have some kind of problem. I mean, I can stop at anytime. Really, I can. So, del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site. You can share your bookmarks with anyone, see how many other people have bookmarked that site, find lists that exhibit shared interests and find more more more cool sites. Send help, please.

My del.icio.us account is at http://del.icio.us/patsycat01. I’m embarrassed, 39 sites are all I could really add in 20 minutes. Attempting … not … to … go … back … .

In my previous job, before I moved to Lexington, one of my major responsibilities was to build partnerships both internally for my organization and externally with other nonprofits, educational institutions and businesses. Have you ever heard the phrase “herding cats”? At times, no one agrees. At times everyone agrees but no one knows how to move forward. At times you’re the odd one out … the Juror #8 in Twelve Angry Men. Or maybe you’re not that righteous … maybe you’re more like Juror #3. The jury really isn’t a good analogy, though. In partnerships, whether you are right or not, or whether you think you are right or not, it’s the give and take as well as the support for each other that furthers the relationship. Not everybody gets that. I spent more than one afternoon marveling over “partnership” meetings with people who didn’t get that at all. Sometimes you have to give a little something, and the next time you might get a little something … but you really can’t count on that. You have to do it because it’s good for the partnership. What got me started on this line of thought today? I have no idea. Random blogging.

Here’s to Dad

January 17 is always a day of mixed feelings for me now. It’s my birthday, which is nice. I get well-wishes and offers of dessert and of course the obligatory cake made by my children, and I know they’ve repeatedly stuck their fingers in it to taste. But on this date 13 years ago, my dad died. It was my 31st birthday, and my husband and I, late bloomers, were still practically newlyweds (about three weeks away from our first anniversary). We were just sitting down to a steak dinner at home when the call came. That’s a steak I never finished. It’s not as unusual as it sounds. I know other people who have lost parents, grandparents or another family member on their birthday. But it is rather awful. Besides the obvious reasons it’s awful, people also look at you surrepticiously and you can tell they are wondering how you feel about it. But they won’t ask. After a couple of years of being less than enthusiastic about re-embracing my birthday, I found a reason to to celebrate again: my husband suggested that instead of being sad, I should choose to recognize my birthday as a day that I can always remember my dad and all the things I liked about him (which are numerous). So here’s to my dad and his life, our fishing expeditions, our family camping trips, his storytelling skills, his ability to fix or build anything (when I was born he built an addition onto our farmhouse – I mean he BUILT it himself), and his pride in his children and their children. I wish wish wish that my kids had gotten to meet him, but it will have to do to pass on a few of his favorite things to them. Among my favorite things is this photograph (above, left), taken for a newspaper article several years before I was born, in which he poses with the results of a raid on a bootlegger (Dad was a Ky state policeman for 31 years).  He looks so serious, but he was a bit of a ham, so I’m sure he enjoyed the posed picture. It makes me smile every time.

of boys and knives

Last night my Eagle Scout husband led our son’s Cub Scout den into an initiation of the knife: that it is not a toy, that it is to be kept sharp, that it is to be kept carefully put away most of the time, that confidence will keep you from hurting yourself and others. He had them from the first word. This rather loud and rowdy bunch of boys – a largish group because two dens have been combined – were silent as he pulled out sharpening stones and small blocks of wood. They were rapt as he told them of a foolish game of “bravery” he played once when he was a young Scout, he and friend landing their knives in the ground as close to the other’s foot as possible without either of them flinching. His friend ended up going to the hospital for stitches because he put the knife through the other boy’s foot. (He was gratified by the Cubs’ gasps.) And so they sharpened, and they carved. Two cut themselves because they weren’t listening to instruction. Not badly, fortunately … just a little nick each. And they ended the evening by cleaning their knives and taking home a project to finish. One of the parents approached my husband and said, “We’re always telling boys what they can’t do. This is good. It’s good to show them what they can do and how to do it.” I have to agree, and I would add that parents are key to nurturing the confidence it takes to face difficult tasks. Rather than protect them forever, give them little experiences that help them grow, and let them nick themselves if they aren’t listening.

countdown …

Most of my family and friends (read: my readers) know that hubby, JD, has been in Northern Kentucky in our nearly empty house, continuing to work for his company along a predetermined timeline. Well, it’s almost up! After 9 full months of just weekends, he moves to Lexington full-time on Feb. 1. I have a honey-do list nine miles long. I did promise to to restart this blog (I post in my work blog every day, but this one has lagged) once he got here, but participating in Blue 2.0 kind of jump-started that. In any case, it will be a great late birthday present to have him back!

PS: Wanna buy a house in Northern Kentucky? 😉

chatting

As part of Blue 2.0, I’ve set up a chat account with AIM, screen name patsycat01. It was a fairly simple process. I’ve also used Yahoo! chat before, so it wasn’t too difficult. I currently also use Office Communicator chat here on the University of Kentucky campus. It is in test phase right now with a limited number of users. I hope it is adopted campuswide – it’s very easy and incorporates video and meetings easily. If you are on campus and happen to be one of the testers, you can connect to me by just typing in my name in the line at the top where it says, strangely enough, “Type a name.” Type: Patsy Carruthers. If you get two choices, do NOT choose the one that says “presence unknown” beside it – that would be the wrong choice. I love IM. It’s a great way to keep up with friends, family and co-workers.

Fun with Blue 2.0

Oooh, an update to this blog! It’s been forever!! I’m having fun starting off with Blue 2.0 (see the blogroll to the right for a link). Although I’ve been blogging for a while, there are plenty of topics coming up that will be things I haven’t tried. I’m looking forward to it!

blog overload

Alas, I have spent far more time on my work blog these last weeks, and it appears that is where most of my attention will be until such time that spouse joins me here in Lexington this winter and I don’t spend all my non-work hours chasing kiddoes. I can justify working on the work blog in my office but … . 😉

In the meantime, visit me there: http://technology180.wordpress.com/

shoe trauma, she drama

Last week as I start to pull up to the school to drop off my kids, my daugher, the Kindergartener, starts whining about her shoes. She had to wear older, soft shoes because of an awful blister. It started with a low whine: “i really don’t like these shoes.” It grew, “I don’t like these shoes. I don’t like these SHOES! I DON’T LIKE THESE SHOES! I’M NOT GOING TO SCHOOL! I’M NOT GOING! I HATE THESE SHOES!” I literally had to get out of the car, walk over to her side, and pull her out, looking all the while like Mother of the Year. My son nearly died of mortification. Apparently she calmed down shortly afterward, but I’m told she let everyone know that she was only wearing those shoes because A) Mom made her and B) she had a boo-boo on her foot.

I’ve never been a shoe-obsessed person; I can’t relate to that part. The drama, though, I can definitely relate to that. I myself find calm in dealing with important work tasks and quickly approaching deadlines; however, if it’s a small thing, it may send me spiraling off into the atmosphere. Often I drag someone else with me. A dead car battery (debatable on whether that’s actually a small thing, in my book), the inability to find my keys … the wrong shoes! I can get high strung and high maintenance in record time. I marvel at people who can keep their head and not sweat the small stuff. It’s the small stuff that kills me.