okay, maybe I *can* be a superhero....

of course this made my night.

i must train more tho.....I'm definitely not in this guy's league. but you go man! get this dude a cape~

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/18436604.html

i hope the link works.....

~jd

three weeks from today. biggest race ever for me. in terms of everything. biggest number of runners. biggest number of spectators. biggest team participation for my Lifetime Run Club. we are *all* going. we are *all* running. either the full of the half. we all is about 12 or 13 of us.i sincerely think that weekend will be one of the best experiences of my life.

tomorrow i will do one more mile than last week. 12 miles. 9am. Ford Parkway Bridge. despite the fact that it'll be maybe 30 degrees :( despite the fact that i seem to be coming down with the bug that everyone else has seemed to have had lately :( because i have not invested 10 solid months of training to be taken down before a big race in 3 weeks.
no way, maynard.

they say redheads are stubborn. um yeah, that's putting it mildly... i prefer 'driven'. but to each their own ;) at least i know my dh has come to accept me and love me for it. not sure why, but he has....he loves to tell folks that sometimes i'll say i'm 'thinking about' doing something and that's code for 'it's a done deal'. yep. pretty much ;)

so lots of rest, lots of fluids, and one more day of training to get me towards my goal.
and i am very glad to actually have a Saturday night off. this never happens....peace, ~jd

seriously...

how many of us have *not* felt this way when trying to order something from Seattle's coffee conglomerate? (and i still love rat...genius writing i tell you...)

today i learned to play with the wiki at work. i also got to hang out with about a dozen adorable toddlers @ storytime for lil ones...at which point i had 3 kids come willingly and on their own at diff times to sit in my lap while reading. can i say that just melted a part of me? *those* experiences are some of the best perks to my job...

finished the day by running 7.5 miles with my team on an awesomely gorgeous day. (this is my blog. if i want to make up words, so be it). came home, had some of my own breakfast burrito creativeness whilest watching Top Chef. and then pined for the days of high school when friends & I would hit Second City often as a fun night out. I'm a big fan of Jennifer regardless. i am not a fan of Andrew...and Richard or Dale are gonna take it all is my prediction...hmmm, is this my blog or is this Facebook? :) maybe i'm mixing up my social outlets...so sorry. peace and back to the 50s (in terms of temperatures) after today. grrrrrr.... ~jd

year of the rat...

i love Pearls Before Swine.

and i felt this was worth posting :)

not sure that i consider myself a loser, but yes, i like blogging.

archives can be found embedded within the photo....

happy week~

notable weekend....

for a variety of reasons....

*Birthdays. 3 favorites of mine turning TWO :)
April 19th....
-Madalyn Mills Noll, our next door 'baby neighba' is officially a toddler! :) Maddie, you've been such an adorable lil thing to see grow from the get-go in your mom to becoming a walking talking waving-at-me cutie :) We look forward to years of you on the other side of our fence and all of the adventures of becoming *your* friends as you grow...and we love your parents and your dogs as well of course :)

-Ella Marie & Zoe Dianne, fraternal cuties are also turning two the same day as Maddie! Ella & Zoe had a more unexpected start in the world back in 2006....you see, they were not due until June 26th!!! So they came in litttttle teeny tiny babes, and are precocious, adorable, healthy toddlers now! I love seeing them when they and their momma Jeremi come to my storytimes :) Jeremi and I go way back to my first job out of college in an elementary school library in a building where J taught Kindergarten, and is, to this day, one of my all time favorite teacher colleagues...

*Major Marathon~...my friends Ryan and Lisa are running the Boston Marathon on Monday!!! I can't wait to scope them out online on Monday watching live results and footage! Safe travels, safe running and way to go for even qualifying! Kick some booty!

*and lastly, it's full moon on Sunday. I'm all about the moon phases. No idea why really. Just that it's such a beautifully cool thing to see change each month. It's one of those things I notice almost every month without really even thinking about it....And when the full moon is first rising over the horizon on a dusky evening, it's hard to not find that just mesmerizing...

have a good weekend....peace, happy birthdays, cool runnings, and bless the full moon, ~jd

rock on! to a very full day....

so this pic makes it look like i'm leading a big ol' line of runners. in fact there are about as many in front of me that you can't see as there are behind ;) i'm a humble and honest soul, so i'm not gonna make it seem like i'm leading the pack or anything untrue. (this is from the Dam Hill Workout with about 125 Lifetime Fitness Run Club members 2 weeks ago near the Ford plant in St Paul). My running partner, Claudia, is right behind me. She's one of my VIPs on the road to training for 2 half marathons...along with the rest of my team...

running has taught me much in the 2 short years I've been doing it. a) it's given me a whole heap of self confidence i never used to have. b) it's taught me dedication, discipline and hard work totally pay off. c) it's made me love a challenge. and it's helped me learn to step outside of my comfort zone and, once in a while, think outside of that proverbial box.... Today was no exception...

I started my day like any other Wednesday. With my Baby & Me storytime at 9:30. Reading to and with babies and their caregivers from the ages of 10 months to 2 years....everything after that hour was far from the norm. 10:30 I went to a preschool at a local church to do a storytime for 30 4 & 5 year olds. Lunch at 11am due to a short staffed reference team...desk time from noon til 1pm. met with architects and VIPs about our renovation/remodel project 1-2:30. Reference services to kids & parents from 3-5. and from 5:30-8pm, I filled in for a sick friend and colleague & taught a class at one of our branch libraries about using the many aspects of email to 7 adults ranging in age from probably 50-75 or so. Taught 'em how to make folders. How to clean and organize their email inbox. How to create a signature. And of course, the big huge important thing. how to use color text and smily icons 8-) (sorry, JL, I had to...making it fun and all that... ;) I also got through the rest of what I was supposed to teach them as well...

So this librarian has had an incredibly long but fulfilling day with one adventure and teaching/learning experience after another. Oh, and the craze of my last post about 'where in the world have you been?' with the Trip Advisor map has been a blast to see my colleagues take part in :)

Spring is here, the weather is finally warm and I can't wait to get the deck furniture out this weekend....along with running my last race on Sunday (a 5K in celebration of Earth Day) before the Big Dance in Fargo on May 17. peace ~ jd

from facebook to blogger...

from monkeying around more on facebook, i found some people had this little map to fill out. so much of the world to see yet....apparently, I need to go below the equator :) I want to see a few of my colleagues fill one of these out. (hint, HM & Camping Queen). their maps would be super-pinned up! my paternal grandparents have a globe at home with pins in it. Before my grandfather died almost 3 years ago, they spent their entire time during the golden years traveling. I'm trying to start young (through the luck of being married to an early music singer & his peeps travels of late) and build up to their level of places visited ;) and i'm still working on packing lighter...i've gotten better & better each trip...

What i can say from the travels I've been fortunate to take in the past few years to Europe with Rose is this luggage might be meant for canoe trips into the wilderness, but it works amazingly well overseas, no where near a canoe or the woods. it's durable. rugged. and will last *forever*. and carrying your stuff makes going through subways, trains, stairways, old cobblestone streets, etc, *so* much easier than rolling anything... journey on...wishes on where i want to go include Australia, New Zealand and absolutely postively on an African safari in a wildlife refuge...oh yeah, and that Harley ride ;) there's a first time for everything....~jd

1. Zarautz, Spain


2. Kenmare, Ireland


3. Okinawa, Japan


4. Bantry, Ireland


5. Regensburg, Germany

• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Visit TripAdvisor.com

paying it forward...

wow. this site is wonderfully fun & addicting to play with...I found out about this last weekend from a friend who is wicked good at knowing or finding cool websites. i sat here for over 45 minutes tonight just listening, finding artists to put into my stations, and then remembering 'oh, what about _____? must put them in too!' the way this site works is pretty simple, and i'm still learning about it, but basically you put in artists that you like (or songs or genres) and it builds a live stream radio station for you based on your picks. and mixes in like artists that you may or may not know as well. like surprise personal shuffle service. no commercials. free. sigh. pretty dang cool....

i have hugely varied tastes in music. and i strongly believe in the power of Shuffle ~when the CD came out and i discovered shuffle, i was totally like, "what? I can mix up the order I want to hear things??! really?!? " and now iTunes and downloading and having your own music on your computer or on your arm or as your ringtone is the norm....

So this lil site is great fun to mess with. Especially if you happen to love some more obscure artists that you won't hear on mainstream radio. For me that includes amazing singer/songwriters like Patty Griffin, A Fine Frenzy, Lori McKenna and others. (and yes you can add those big deal acts too like Madonna & JT's latest single that I can *not* get enough of while running...)

so happy listening to all ya'll...click the icon to start the fun :)....have a great weekend. I think I'm gonna break from bloggin' til next week. Work & running are the mandates of the weekend....oh, and if anybody knows that season called Spring? PLEASE tell her to come back!! pronto. peace ~ J

what if ???

the biggest open ended question of life.

what if it wasn't sleety/thunder/rainy/grossness out right now? (I wouldn't have bailed on my training run today, that's fer sure. but I did. and had a blast out with a friend in place of it...)

what if I had never moved to MN? where would I be living? what library would I be working at?

what if we picked up and moved in a month to a small rural town in upstate Minnesota?

what if I want to try skydiving?

what if that guy I would have asked out years ago had said yes? Would I be with him still? (yes, I love my spouse a great deal, but girls think questions like this once in a while...)

what if something I never saw coming happens in the next 3 months? 6 months? year? How would I handle it?

what if that curb dh hit tonight did screw up his truck? (fingers crossed, it's fine).

big or little, it's amazing how if you really let your mind go, it has the ability to fly away with so many possibilites....which sometimes can be a nice diversion and sometimes it can just drive one batty. as it's almost impossible to turn off things like the heart or mind when they really don't want to be silenced.....some things in life are for you to control (grades, speed limits, things like that). But most of it otherwise? not so much. You just go through life, one hour, one day, one month at a time and see what dishes up for you...and as my posts have shown this week, life can be super short, or shorter than you might expect sometimes. So work hard. Play harder. And live each day as it could be your last.....to the fullest.

I swear, the 5th tattoo is not that far away....I have a total new ink craving.....peace...~jd

Thing 23.....appreciating the finish...briefly...

Meeting of the Racers...by John Mottern, c1989.


So one of the best things about starting a project, race (even animal racers), or to-do list, is *to finish*.

Until there is another project, race, or to-do list (which is pretty much instantaneous, but work with me here.....)

The 23 Things, for me, is officially complete. I'm not sure if anyone will continue to follow my blog (oh yes, that will remain at the same URL. I am hooked on this blogging phenom) tho' there will likely be a modified title coming soon....

I've learned 143% more than I thought I would, and am very glad that I started this, kept with it, and finished it as well. Is there a free t-shirt? Because any runner will tell you....it's all about the free t-shirt at the end of a race, esp if it's a high quality wicking shirt ;) and believe me, this 23 Things, learning/brain wise, definitely was at least a 5K race. That happened to take 2 months to complete, and every Thing worked towards my goal of continual life long learning....

okay Top Chef is ending. Must see who gets to pack up their knives tonight....and, just to tie it all together, I love that it's the BACON that won it for the challenger. love thy bacon! until the next post, peace ~jd

Thing 22....the final push...

Straight from the 23 Things site for Thing 22: What Did I Learn Today?
* "It really doesn’t take that much time."
hmmm, depends on who you ask on this. in the big picture of life? no. but in terms of having FT work, another job and that thing called life on the outside, it kinda does. I feel like it took quite a bit of time to complete this task. however, I feel that it was well worth the time. Kinda like college...(much less partying with the 23 Things however...)

* "You know you can do it." yes, yes I can. Seeing as I'm a runner too, I'm a huge believer in you can do anything you set your mind to. You cannot make someone do something unless they want to on their own. Just sayin'....

* "It's fun to know and use these tools." overall, yep, it is. Some were more fun than others (YouTube, Facebook, etc). But seeing as lots of the public know about them, it's really nice to be informed now...

* "We need to keep informed." Most definitely. If there's ever a 23 Things part II (oh, in say, the fall) I would take part. For now, I feel kinda full up on the 'learning' curve....a little break would be divine...

*" We need the support of each other and our administrators and supervisors so we have the time and help we need to learn and stay informed. " This one hits home the most for me. And I feel like I am a salmon swimming upstream in the worst riptide possible....there is SOOOOOO much I want to do with *many* of these Things work related, and I'm doing all I can to ask politely, professionally, etc, but so far no dice. I hope this changes, and soon. I'm chompin' at the bit (so chompin'!!!) to get things up and running related to all of this....

soooo, without further ado, here comes the FINISH LINE! yeah baby!

Thing 21 ~ another day, another new account....

View my page on 23 Things on a Stick

Well, I joined Ning, one of the 3 choices given in Thing 21. The finish line is so close, but yet so far at this moment....I'm hoping this badge attaches correctly. HTML still makes me a little nervous as I'm really not sure what I'm doing...it's a lot of trial and error....and asking techie friends for help ;)

It might be shameless to admit, but I really will unlikely use Ning much after this 23 Things is completed. And come on folks, you (those 23 Things folks) just got me mildly addicted to Facebook ~ I really really don't need to be online any more than I already am....

As for social networking sites outside of MySpace and Facebook, I am part of just a few others. Greytalk.com is, as it sounds, a networking site for all folks into greyhounds. I don't use it as often as I used to, but it's handy for medical reference, fun photos, and there are some *seriously* devoted owners on it. I have a different screen name on that site as I thought that was the thing to do 3 or 4 years ago when I signed up....you didn't use your 'real' name, you made one up...

The other site I use regularly, and unsurprisingly, is a beginner's discussion group on RunnersWorld.com. Any questions/training/topics running related are here, and the folks who post are super knowledgeable and my type of running people...of varying ages, paces, levels, etc. some are even local, which is kinda cool. I'm known by yet another alias on this board of discussions..

The end is near. I feel like the closing credits are about to scroll and I swear there's some kind of denouement score cueing up as a soundtrack...actually if I had a soundtrack to pick for this entire 23 Things process, it would SO be this..... which I do in fact have on my iPod and was a fantabulously done documentary...peace...~jd

intuition reigns sadness....

I was just talking with a friend last night about how I've had this weird strong death vibe the past week or so. No idea why, just something I had a gut feeling about. Morbid, I realize, but still true (one of my posts a few days ago alludes to it too).

I got home from work last night around 9:30 and had a message from a close friend of our's to call him and his wife. A close mutual friend of both of ours died last week via suicide. Talk about news that we weren't expecting. No note. No reason that we knew anything was wrong. And of course the 'what if's' are strong right now, but my feeling is that if this friend had that much sadness or sickness in his life that he couldn't face going on, I hope he's in a better place. I only wish I had had the chance to savor the time we were together as a group of friends to know that that was to be the last time we'd all be together in this life. You just never know when that last time will be....one of life's great mysteries.

Sorry for the sad post, but I wanted to honor the memory of my friend, while keeping his name private at the same time. He was a wonderful person with a fantastic laugh and will be greatly missed....life is short. Savor the time with your friends and loved ones while you have it. peace ~jd

through the magic of Facebook...

with great credit to an awesome photographer/singer named Dustin, I had to post this. Yes, I *am* walking on a railing...on the way back from taking some of my own shots, in Getaria, Spain last fall.

I had no idea Dustin had this pic of me until I joined Facebook. Wow. I guess I am tall :)

All the Cool Kids are Doing It....Thing 20 Facebook

alrighty, i'm a mac girl. all the way back to when I was 8 years old and was given an Apple IIE as a Christmas present. the mac folks are genius. so are their ads. And Justin Long? *hottie*. (and I've been a sucker for him since the long cancelled TV show "Ed" was on). yep, a little young for me, but meh. Not like I had a real shot anyway. And he has Drew. As in Barrymore for those that read People besides me ;) (Hi Stacy & Kelly!)

So while I usually think the world of Google, Facebook is it's own creature and appears to be the hot young stud of this popularity contest compared to MySpace (which seemed to be Homecoming King for a while (hahaha). But considering my dh and his 40-something friends, along with much younger friends as well, seem to be everywhere in Facebook, I think it appears to be "Top Dawg" lately. So this is the site I chose to sign up for.

It's crazy. I'm not sure I'm ready for this, but here I go. Finding people that I haven't seen or spoken to since high school (for anyone who cares, I graduated from John Hersey High School in 1991). Like tonight I signed up, emailed one person who came up as graduating with me that looked like a girl I've always wondered 'what happened to Michelle?' and 4 hours later I have an email from her. Crazy cool~

I do talk regularly with 3-4 friends who I know from way back in those days. All of them are out of state from me, and email has kept us in touch well. But a site like this to network with long lost friends and those of now is pretty cool (even if i continually made fun of my husband often when he first signed up' 'what are you? fourteen again??!?!' I'd say.). Words = Eaten. Point for dh. Facebook is intuitive, easy to use, doesn't ask a million questions to get you to sign up for it, and it seems like people i *never* thought I'd see on it (hi DS!!) are there~ small miracles in one website. and for the youth of today, clearly I can see how this is a huge thing for them. friends to keep tabs with, text, write on their walls, stay in contact with as they go from high school to college, and beyond....

so just do it. try it. i guarantee you'll be amazed at who you find (or who finds you). I can't compare this to MySpace as I haven't gotten to it yet. I've searched it a bit, but I do not plan to sign up. One is *plenty* for my time/brain/online habits ~ If it wasn't 10:09 on a Sunday night I'd go run. I could use it......have a great week everyone~ the finish line to this 23 Things is on the horizon, and I will do it. I'm a determined (aka stubborn or driven) girl.....~jd

Podcasting, baby! Thing 19

okay, well podcasting doesn't really shake your groove thang like this iPod graphic, but it can make life more entertaining on road trips, long running jaunts, or even in daily life once you find some favorites.

i do have an iPod, and generally use it for music, but when i realized that some of my favorite NPR programs were free downloads, and i could get them through either iTunes or the NPR website links, i was a happy girl :) Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! and Car Talk are two of those favorites, but as you can gander from my linkage, there are over six hundred podcasts through NPR alone. There's got to be something out there that you would like to try or listen to for the first time. Got speakers on your computer at work? Hook up and dive into podcasting! (maybe kinda quietly tho' so as not to bug your coworkers ;)

As this Thing mentioned, it's not necessary to have an MP3 player or iPod, but it's one the big reasons podcasts are so hugely popular and out there for the world. I looked at a few of the suggested directories mentioned (Podcastalley.com, MPR, Podcast.com- i liked the format of this one the best) and all are easy to search, easy to find feeds to, and have topics for every possible thing under the sun. And speaking of sun, it's Sunday morming, and time for my favorite show on this day. The scones I made are in the oven, the coffee is brewed and now time to watch my show and read the Sunday *paper*. (nothing will ever replace the ritual of a Sunday newspaper, not even the web imho). Peace~ jd

uh-oh.....trying to be strong....

but it's *that* time of year. Haskell's Nickel Sale. Most girls love shoe sales. shoes? pishaw! I'm all about the wine as most of you know....who wants to go shopping with me? :) Or if anyone wants to set up a nice night of drinking wine somewhere (or at my house!), please let me know. I'm all about gathering with my friends....have a great week everyone! Happy Anniversary to Jenny & Geoff ~ jd

if you could come back as anything?

what would it be?

i do believe in life after death. none of us are immortal. even superheroes. they all find their end.

i took time to walk today (yes, i really do take breaks from running; running too much leads to injuries) and noticed all of the birds are totally in spring tunage; the male goldfinches are turning bright yellow and the ice around some of the lakeshores is finally retreating. Silver maples are full of red berry looking buds (that my dog loves to eat, weirdo!), grass in areas of warmer lawns is just barely turning green, and the smell of earth and rain was a welcome scent this afternoon when the weather was wacky between sun & showers.

I set to clean some house today and found Ellie sound asleep in a ball on the bed. And then I knew...

When I come back, it's gonna hopefully be as a house cat who is given love every day, never has to go to work, or experience life's ups and downs. How peaceful could that be? Oh, and for my coworkers, who might have read the April Fool's Buzz today, I really *AM NOT* going on vacation this month. Boy, what kind of reputation have I created?? I think I'm afraid... ~jd

PS if you're in the market to adopt a pet, click Ellie's pic. It'll take you to a fabulous place..

The Rose Ensemble via Youtube...Thing 18A

This is the song that was requested over and over and over in Tolosa, Spain, after audiences in 5 cities saw them perform it. This performance was from the city of Pamplona I believe....and this song in particular brought home the first place trophy in the competition :)

A few small press items featured the news here at home... http://www.mplsobserver.com/node/1258

Another year, another stamp in the passport by following the group and my husband in the world of music~

Thing 18 ~ Youtube

wow. A local guy does well. The founder of this site hails from the town I now reside in. I kind of feel insignificant in what I do. I read to toddlers and sell wine. This guy is a gazillionaire who hooked the world into putting anything and almost everything out there on video on the web.

This is a start to this Thing, and I plan to complete it before Sunday, but in a related post up above is The Rose Ensemble (aka my way to visit Europe once a year with amazingly talented cool peeps~) from last fall's choral festival in Tolosa, Spain. A land of great food, chilled wine, and awesome awesome scenery and coffee ~ jd

Thing 17....ELM

All hail the poor elm trees of America. The suburb of Chicago that I grew up in (Arlington Heights) had these up and down the streets all around town....until the late 90's when they started falling fast and furious to Dutch Elm Disease :( So sad. And the trend has risen in the loss of these gorgeous trees every year, so much so that you can't drive around the Cities without seeing the red rings of death on those that are to come down. So call me a Treehugger. I'm okay with that....I love nature, and one of the best things about living in the upper Midwest is the change of all four seasons. And there is no better guage of knowing the season than by trees (okay and yes, temperature :) Here's my plug for Arbor Day, which falls this month. Plant a tree, folks. Let's keep our cities green and beautiful!

Okay, Thing 17. ELM. (seeeee the correlation? slick, huh? ;) (btw, one friend, who i'm convinced is probably one of two people who actually reads this, who's not in library work asked "is that 23 Things really "due" by April 16? Yup. so now it's pressure time to get the last seven Things finished...)

ANYWAY. We have access to most of the ELM (...that stands for Electronic Library for Minnesota) databases through the Ramsey Cty Libraries. A few we don't. It's all about funding and what our system can afford, which sadly *isn't* the entire world. Here's a link to ELM if you're that curious... http://elm4you.org/

Those that we do provide access to are used often and for patrons of all types. Younger students (elementary-high school) and post secondary, graduate, PHD folks, the average Joe or Jane, you name it. They're pretty intuitive to use to the average patron who has searching experience on a computer. For those who haven't used PCs much, we offer classes for that. Okay, here's one disclaimer I feel I should make. For now, my career is centered 95% of my time in the children's room of the Roseville Library. This means I don't help patrons nearly as much with these databases and electronic resources as those that work the adult reference desk do. And many school districts in our area have access to ELM as well and students lucky enough to retain media/information tech specialists (aka librarians) hopefully know of these and use them. So once in a while I help educate the public about them, and access them in my work for a student's research needs. But most of the time I'm pointing out great books to teach kids how to read or learn how to use the potty. True story...

I've have played with some of the 23 Things Grand Marshal's ideas, and after spending the past few hours on this off and on, I declare this Thing completed. ~jd Bring on 18~

Thing 16 ~ Student 2.0 Tools

well, this toon goes against how I was as a student. I was always done with projects early. Not wicked stupid early, but a day or two early. Get 'er done! I don't think in all 18 1/2 years of total schooling that I *ever* pulled an all nighter. You knew the stuff or you didn't. Staying up all night didn't do anything for me...it just made me cranky and tired. So I chose to sleep. Grad school was 3 years after finishing my BA in Elementary Education. It was more of a challenge to get stuff done, but had I had this or this admittedly, life would have been easier and linked well to the online life I have today. Back in the 'old' days (clears throat, I *only* graduated with my MLIS in 2001 people) I didn't use the web nearly as much as I do now for work and play.

I can see how these tools could benefit both public and academic librarians. More so the academics, having access to prof's syllabyi, rubrics (which makes me think of my friends, the Rupprechts), research students need to do etc. But we have many colleges and universities within 30 miles of our building (actual two notable universities within a mere 6 or 7 miles) and if a student needed access to their research project calculators from the library's internet or full service machines, they'd be in luck.

sidenote of the day. Today is the warmest day since my birthday (which was in November). Times are a changing. When you're given lemons (like 7" of snow 4 days ago), make lemonade. (yes a splash of hooch is okay ;) And by George, I have tomorrow off, when it's supposed to be even a little bit warmer. I'm trying to remain the glass half full girl... ~jd

Thing 15 ~ Gaming

okay, like I need another thing to get me sucked into web-land more than I already am.....so this means Gaming is one of the last things JD needs to have in her life. I'm already immersed with blogging, reading news, sharing photos, email, IM and working with the public via computer based info searching during my day job. That said, I generally perused Puzzle Pirates, and Second Life, but I didn't go all crazy and look at them in depth. Partially because of time and partially because virtual reality or role playing games just aren't my thing. I do realize, however, that they are lots of other peoples thing...I can see how Second Life would be very appealing to teens who might not really know their 'place' in the world yet, and feel like they can be their true selves in some virtual land. A place where they won't be judged by others....while they find their way along in this big game of life.....heck I don't think I really found myself til about age 30. In some ways, I'm still figuring it out in varying degrees...growing, learning, trying new things...

PLA offered a few sessions on Gaming, none of which I attended due to other sessions that interested me a bit more, but I realize that Gaming is it's own entity in the world of web offerings. And a HUGE entity at that. Our branch library is on track to undergo a major transformation next year into 2010 and I will work with our Computer Services team of folks to help design a gaming/computing specific area just for teens, as the teen population makes up a great majority of Gamers out there. Right now we do not have seperate teen computers. I look forward to the day when we do, where teens can game to their hearts content and be welcomed into a public library setting of their own...

I will admit here that a colleague of mine did mention something to me the other day about a zoo game. So after the ever-popular Google search, I found this and that sucked me in for a lovely 20 or so minutes before I had to force myself to quit playing....a self intervention if you will. Finding my inner strength. All that good stuff ... Peace and happy gaming to you all..~jd