Top Five Blogging Highlights for 2006

Here are my top five blog experiences for 2006:

5. Fun with coworkers and the Flickr web site and especially with Flickr's Flagrant Disregard tools.

4. The Amanda Congdon/ Rocketboom break-up. I thought Amanda was the perfect host for RB with humor, wit, insight, and never ending energy.

3. The too brief use of AudioBlogger for my vacation accounts. Blogspot decided to discontinue its relationship with AudioBlogger. Fortunately, I was able to post some audio to my blog. Here are some samples from 2006:

San Juan Island Cruise Reports

NEKLS Tech Day Thoughts

St. Louis and Six Flags Trip

Amana Colonies Trip


2. Practicing with Podcasting. Here’s a podcasting sample I did with Odeo.com. Hopefully, in the near future, I will have further success with the podcast technology both at home and at work. Click here for Dave's Podcasting sample.

and

1. Embedding video pieces into my blog.

Whether It's me blabbering about Library 2.0
or
A comedian’s rant about Pachebel’s Canon,

it was fun incorporating YouTube and Google Video pieces into my blog.

More than just the online video

I had the opportunity to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tuesday night. Quite a show. I'll blog more about this as I let the memories of their performance set in. I had a good time.

They are much, much more than the famous online Christmas House video.

See the December 24 post below.

The New Traditional Christmas Light Show from TSO

Spent some time on YouTube and Google Video looking for a close competitor. Nothing tops this video, in my opinion. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Comedic rant about a famous piece of music

I laughed out loud at this comedian's rant about the world famous Canon. And you know something? He's right.

Eragon Movie Review

Eragon
Money Gone.

I wanted to limit my review to the above simple poem but now another thought has occurred:

Edward meet Hayden. Hayden this is Edward.
These two guys might be the founding members of the Bad Actors in Fantasy Movies Hall of Shame.

As I was driving home, the thought occurred to me: Peter Jackson and his LOTR movies are now the standard by which fantasy movies are to be judged--subject closed, end of story, no debate.

And Eragon (the movie) is simply a mess. You can't translate a 500 page piece of fantasy work (even if it's targeted toward teens), condense it into a less-than-two-hour major motion picture, and have its narrative make sense. This movie proves it can't be done. Because I read the book, I was expecting scenes and images that never materialized on screen.

I think this movie was 20th Century Fox's response to New Line Cinema's leap of faith in Peter Jackson and the eventual success of Lord of the Rings. The problem here is the screen writers, producers, and director did not get it right. They owe Christopher Paolini an apology.

Even more the big difference between Tolkien and Paolini's writings is Tolkien wrote LOTR with many life experiences and memories. Paolini was a pup (and still is a young pup) when he wrote Eragon. I wonder if Paolini had waited twenty years and had a more seasoned life, would his story of Eragon show more of a gained wisdom? And would his movie goers or readers be able to bond with this wisdom? We will never know: Paolini has already put pen to paper and has produced the story.

Still, I'm straying from the point: Eragon, the young adult novel, is a good read which produces vivid imagery and gives us likable (if not original) characters.

The movie is one of the worst ever made. Shame on you 20th Century Fox. Go back to something more simple and believable. Perhaps a third trilogy of Star Wars is in the offing?

Google Earth additions

I was surprised tonight that when I opened Google Earth on the reference computer, there were some new wrinkles. For example, GE has added links that bring up Wikipedia entries when you click on a location. Also, for some of the large cities, Google Earth can produce 3-D modeling of the buildings in the city. When I looked up Seattle, not only did GE give me the normal layout, but when I clicked on the 3-D option, GE gave me models of buildings that are still not represented by GE's satellite photography captures. Cool stuff!

My Christmas Elephants

Thanks to Mama Bear who added to my collection of elephants this Holiday Season.

Mama Bear knows that I collect things and her gift this year is perfect.

Christmas Gifts

If there's anything consistent about me during the holiday season, it's the fact that I can't wrap a Christmas present neatly to save my life.

Cornea Update

I delayed putting up a post about my visit to the opthamologist on Tuesday because I was quite glum after I saw the eye doctor. But here is the update:

Because of the kerataconus and its persistent nature, my cornea tissue continues to thin. To put it into perspective, the average human's cornea tissue is twice as thick as mine. It was really frustrating trying to read the eye chart. I felt that I was guessing at some of the letters. Nonetheless, the doctor says my eyesight has improved slightly.

In testing the thickness of my corneas, the doctor gave me some numbing eye drops and then used an instrument to measure the thickness. I guess what's was really sobering was the fact the doctor suggested the possibility of more corneal transplant surgery.

When I was 16 and was told I needed surgery, I responded by saying "cool."
When I was 29 and was told I needed surgery on the other eye, I responded by saying "OK."
Now that I am in my 40s, being told I need more eye surgery is not exactly thrilling. What scares me is that if I go through with surgery, I have a higher chance of tissue rejection than I did in the past. And tissue rejection probably means loss of vision. And loss of vision means I might have to give up things that are taken for granted: driving, reading, attending a sports event......

For now, my plan to address this situation is to continually take the eye medication that has been prescribed, hopefully delaying any surgical decisions I have to make.

Stay tuned.

KC Librarian's Version of the Christmas Express

This was on sale at a chain store. I could not pass it up. If you look closely, there's a group of lights out. I will have to conduct repairs later.

The Future of Library Computer Labs???

With our access management software due to be installed in less than I month, I wonder if the CPU lab has to put up with scenarios like Dewey does at the Mallville Public Library....