#23--It's all downhill from here!

WooHoo--the light at the end of the tunnel was NOT a freight train, but the beautiful light of an open laptop computer! Yes, all you Webolutionists, I definitely see a laptop in my future!

This whole Webolution idea has been fun, interesting, and definitely a learning experience for this over-the-hill (Hill? What hill? I didn't see any hill!) mom and grandma. I most likely would not have explored half of these things if not "forced" into it by the lure of a laptop and a chance to learn something new.

Just learning how to blog has been exciting and useful. Once my novels get published, I can see the benefit of not only having a web page, but a blog to go with it. The possibilities are endless.

I have to admit that, except for things like the ATS Wiki which allows for signing up for computer classes, I basically have no use for wikis. I see too many problems (or is that my conservative nature coming through) associated with being able to change, add, etc. to someone else's work. I doubt I'll pursue wikis much further than what I did here.

I struggled the most with Flickr and Del.icio.us. It took me a while to figure out how to add tags and organize them, but once I figured it out, WOW. Now when I'm working the ATS desk and need to access some of the ILL bookmarks that are on my office computer, I can. I have tags that are shared and tags that cannot be shared, such as my Illiad requesting sites at DU and CU.

Although I was mostly familiar with the Ebsco databases, I enjoyed that exercise. Making myself familiar with the Ebsco "family" is extremely helpful and useful with Interlibrary Loan. I have filled several article requests by using Ebsco.

I loved YouTube and Image Generator. I'd like to experiment more with Image Generator. But my very favorite, oddly enough, was the podcast. When we first started this adventure, I couldn't have told you what a podcast was. Now I have two that I've added to my bloglines account and will access them on a regular basis--not necessarily daily, but definitely weekly. One of the podcasts is a humorous NPR program that really brightens up the day. The other is a podcast on writing, with "classes" and interviews of authors, instructors, and other related subjects. I can never learn too much about writing.

When I took the challenge, my only goal was to win that laptop. Having completed all the tasks, laptop or not, I consider myself a winner. Now when someone mentions RSS feeds, podcasts, YouTube, Flickr, etc., I'll at least be able to relate and understand most of what is said.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks! Bring 'em on!