LibraryTechtonics

Benzaiten, my laptop computer, is not quite to full working order. Norton AntiVirus is doing it’s thing, the 50-odd Windows Updates seem to be completed, and I’m using Firefox as per the usual. Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative are installed (these are also programs I use on the library’s public computers), and my version of Flash is up to date. While Outlook is installed, and my .pst file has been imported, I still haven’t set up my email accounts, and am still checking email via the web (Squirrel Mail is awesome). I’m still sort of putzing around things like power and mouse/touchpad settings (I had forgotten how I had custom configured so many little things).

In a way, it’s nice to start fresh. I know a lot more now than I did 2.5 years ago when I got this computer about applications I like, configuring things to work well, how some applications interact with others, and playing with program defaults and whatnot. On the downside, it’s like moving into a new house in the middle of a snowstorm: everything’s whirring about, your boxes are everywhere and you can’t find anything, and it’s hard to remember how anything worked before.

However, somehow I’m still getting work done (if not a bit slower), probably because most of what I need is web-based. I’m finding that I wish that I had more of my files and data locked up somewhere online, or had been better about using my jump drive as My Portable My Documents. I s’pose that’s the story of Web 2.0 in a nutshell, the web and the browser working together as The One True Application, a node on a network that connects me with the world, literally. That’s how people are learning to communicate now. It’s a good way to approach the discussion the next time a librarian asks why computers at The Internets are so important to libraries, a question that continues to surprise and confuse me on a certain level, although I can see where it comes from.

Anyway, trying to balance work at the library, work at home for PLA, crazy life in general, crochet as meditation, and the little cold brewing in my nose, has been impeding my ability to really get on getting things ready for the PLA Blog for Midwinter. If you’ve volunteered, and you’re reading this, I’m sending out emails tonight, I promise. If you haven’t volunteered, but are interested in blogging for PLA at Midwinter, drop us a note and let me know, and I’ll get you set up. I’ll be arriving in Seattle Jan 19 in the afternoon, and departing Jan 23 just after lunch, so if you wanna meet up or anything, let me know.

Tags: technology