Not such a hot dog after all...

Dietz & Watson franks billboards: Dietz & Watson franks billboards - mcall.com

So, this article appeared in our local paper this morning and I couldn't help but post it on here since it's all about copyright. I drive past this billboard at least twice each day and, contrary to the woman in the article who blew the horn on the whole campaign, it doesn't make me think any less of Frank Zappa, Frank Lloyd Wright, or any other name they put on it -- it just makes me really hungry for a hot dog. Isn't that the point of the campaign? I think this woman took it way out of proportion, even if it is copyright infringement and is indeed allowing the company to make a profit when someone, like myself, buys a Dietz & Watson frank because the billboard made me hungry. This is an instance where creativity was thwarted for the sake of people who aren't among the living anymore. Granted, the estate of the two Franks would never had agreed to being a part of the campaign, which is just one reason why we have copyright laws, but I honestly don't see anything wrong with it. Thank goodness Benjamin Franklin is in the public domain now, so the campaign just may continue on...

I did it!!!!

I did it!!  I did it!!  Yay!!  Portfolio is done, complete with links to Jing video, blog, RSS for blog, Omeka link, Koha screen capture, and 'da Dickens.  Whew!  It took me a while and I had to play around a bit (and thank my lucky stars for my hero Tim and his CSS code share that I tweaked!), but it is finally complete!  I viewed the code on the website and my stylesheets are linked in, so we're good to go!  Hope I get full credit on this project -- I worked hard!  Here it is, in case anyone is interested.  Good luck, everyone!

CSS is not my friend!

I'm disowning kompozer and CSS, that's it!  I just can't seem to get them to work together!  I create the CSS exactly as THREE different tutorials say to, and the CSS overrides all of my pages' previous formats, however it does not apply the format I specified in the CSS!  I'm lost!!  Where's the life preserver!  I'll be so lucky if I can manage to finish with a "B".  Sigh... And the semester started off so well!

On a happier side note, I scheduled my wedding dress fittings!  Yay!  So excited!  I'm taking my bridesmaids and mother-in-law-to-be to a nice restaurant for Brunch on Sunday, August 8th, and then we're going to Alfred Angelo's to try on gowns.  Can't wait!

And the week just gets worse...

So, I just got a 16 out of 20 on my copyright essay for LIS 2000.  While this isn't bad, per se, I disagree with the grading on it and felt compelled to write the T.A. a very polite email asking for clarification.  I legitimately don't understand how my thesis of the need for change in copyright laws in order to keep libraries functioning to the best of their ability for their patrons does not apply to “the effects that copyright and other intellectual property laws might have on future library services.”  I seriously need this cleared up.  I'm gonna lose sleep.  No lie.  I've been working so hard all semester and now, between this and what will surely be a horrible LIS 2600 quiz grade, I feel like I'm losing it all.  The balls are starting to drop...   :(

Self-Deprecation

Okay, it's time for a bit of beating myself up here.  I was looking over my answers to the last quiz and realized that I totally bombed one of the questions.  An easy one, mind you.  I'm such an idiot!  And I KNEW what the question was asking but because I was so flustered not having known much about the first two questions and feeling like my answers weren't good enough for them, I rushed through this question in order to look up a bit more about the first two.  UGH!!!  I think I totally blew this quiz.  I'm so upset with myself!  What a rookie mistake!!

And now I'm all stressed out because I saw in LIS 2000 that we need at least a B (84-86) in both LIS 2000 and 2600.  I'm slightly worried about LIS 2000 just because I only got a 24/30 on my quiz, even though I have perfect scores on everything else, so I just hope I did well on the last essay.  Copyright is not my strong point (is it anyone's?!) and I am worried that I might have used a less formal tone in my paper to convey that, which Dr. Tomer might not appreciate.  (He's the one grading it.)  But I'm much more stressed about 2600 because I currently have a 91% (my only downfall was getting a 90.3% on the first quiz), so if I completely bombed this quiz, I might be in trouble.  I did the math but the points don't all add up correctly, so I'm not sure what I would end up with in "worst case scenario"-land.  Sigh...

My fiance keeps insisting that I not let this ruin my weekend, but I just don't know when to let go sometimes.  It's like in the movie Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (just watched it again this weekend -- LOVE IT!), "I chew on a problem until all the flavor runs out, and then I put it in my hair."  That's me, alright!

I blew it

Yep, I really did it this time.  I totally did terribly on the quiz for LIS 2600.  I was not as prepared as I should have been, which is completely all my fault.  And let me tell you, it's not easy putting technospeak in your own words.  I need to focus and keep my head in the game -- we're not quite done with the semester yet!  Sigh...  Just gotta keep being the "little engine that could"...

Blackboard and Barnes & Noble Partner to Streamline Access to Digital Content

Blackboard and Barnes & Noble Partner to Streamline Access to Digital Content

So, my two worlds collide again. Blackboard has just announced that they are partnering with Barnes & Noble to offer online higher education students the ability to work more seamlessly in their courses. Apparently, this new partnership will allow online students, us, to browse e-textbooks straight through Bb, which I would think would be dependent on how the facilitators are using Bb, but I guess we'll see.

I'm excited to see what this partnership will mean for our program, if anything. I am also waiting for the launch of NOOKstudy, which will allow college students to buy and browse e-textbooks on their PC or Mac, and they can make notes and highlight, among other features. Can't wait!

Insanity + school work = EXHAUSTION

Okay, so my fiance and I are pretty athletic people (although I'm terribly out of shape since we haven't worked out since April) and we are staunch advocates for the P90x program.  It really works, as long as you put in the time and effort, and make sure to alter your diet.  However, we've done the program at least three and a half times already and were looking for something else to get us motivated.

Enter Shawn T's INSANITY!  It's a crazy-hard workout -- think interval/circuit training but instead of a few minutes of hard work followed by a few minutes of rest, it's like 10-15 minutes of hard work non-stop with just a 45 second break in between.  Dang!  We did the "fit test" this afternoon and wow, was that difficult!  We made it through but it was tough!  Combine that with a full-time job and a bunch of school work and I'm bound to be exhausted!  I'd post a link to the program here so you could catch a glimpse of what it's about, but I'm worried about copyright infringement.  Hehe...  ;o)

Surprisingly easy

With just a bit of direction and some playing around, I managed to complete the fragment assignment in a mere hour.  Here's the link, in case anyone's interested:  http://www.pitt.edu/~sks55/

Good luck!

What the Dickens

Yeah, I made a lame joke, too.  I've been seeing a few funny ones around and thought I'd add my two cents.  I'm going to attempt to make the web page and Dickens fragment now, so wish me luck!

Fast Track weekend was so great and it was awesome meeting everyone!  I honestly didn't realize how important that visit would be until I was actually there.  The campus was gorgeous and, although I visited Pittsburgh many times because my mom had transplant surgery at Pitt's own UPMC so I've walked around the campus before, I had never been in the Cathedral for Learning before.  It was so beautiful!  I would love to live closer to campus so I could actually be an on-campus student.  I am liking the online program just fine, but the visit made me realize how much I miss seeing classmates and professors face-to-face.  I'll just have to settle for memories for now...  ;o)

Old School Strikes Again!

So, as I posted earlier, I had a field trip at my store yesterday with about 35 third and fourth graders.  One of the activities was a book talk where I introduced them to a bunch of neat mystery books (their day camp had a "Night at the Museum" theme and they wanted mystery incorporated into the FT).  I told them about some new stuff but I made sure to include good 'ol Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.  To my complete surprise, more than half of the students left with the "updated" Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys super mysteries!  I was so excited!  All those books to choose from and they went for the characters that have been around for longer than I have.  Sweet!

So, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm having a really hard time getting through The Wealth of Networks for LIS 2000.  Between the extremely hot weather (it was 101 degrees where I am yesterday and promises to be again today) and the fact that my house doesn't have A.C. (just window units), it was quite a struggle to get through 100 pages last night.  It is already hard to concentrate and the language the book uses make it so much harder to even get through a sentence.  I can't even tell you what I read last night -- I don't think I retained anything!  Let's hope tonight goes smoother...

Totally exhausted

...and I haven't even left yet!  Busy week:  Had 35 kids in for a field trip today and since our Children's Department lead quit last week with no notice, I was left to run the show -- good practice for becoming a school librarian; we have another field trip coming in tomorrow (gotta love summer school programs); local minor league baseball game to go to tomorrow night; packing and leaving Thursday afternoon; driving 5 and a half hours to my brother's house; then it's Fast Track weekend!  All while studying and reading in all the free minutes I can find, which unfortunately is not many.  I hope the midterm goes well.  I'm worried...

I'm excited to meet all my cohorts and professors, though.  Should be fun!  See you all soon!

Piece of cake

Well, after the immense help of a classmate and Dr. Tomer's tutorial, I managed to complete the Koha assignment.  It was really quite easy once I knew the basics of the program.  I had no idea what the z93.whatever button was for, and apparently that was the biggest piece of the puzzle.  I look forward to using programs like this once I am working in a library, now that I know how it works!

Off to watch the lecture on HTML, go to another baby shower, then a 4th of July picnic.  The rest of my 3-day weekend will be spent reading for LIS 2000.  Joy...