google docs rocks (and other things i love)

I am a big fan of the Google family of online productivity tools. I've used most of them. I've used Google calendar to schedule groups for meetings and deliverable due dates which was lovely in that I could send out reminders via email or text. I've used Google documents to share and seamlessly co-author papers (just like we did for our class assignment). I've also used Google spreadsheets not just for their intended Excel-like qualities, but also to keep track of copy items needed for a website I wrote for. It was really wonderful. With one person in California, another in Ohio and me in New York, we were all able to work together. Nothing fell through the cracks and we all knew what the latest and greatest version was. So I say: Say no to a million attachments and paper shuffling. Say yes to the Google (or really whatever other brand works for you) family of online productivity tools.

So, I was checking out the Web 2.0 Awards list and stumbled upon my old friend craigslist. I'm not really sure why, but for whatever reason, I never mentally lumped it in with all of the other 2.0 applications. But there it was, in its rightful place of #1 Classified/Directory. I was beginning to plan my move to the Bay Area when craigslist first came on the scene. It was only available in the SF Bay Area and it had a limited number of listing categories. I looked for apartments there; I looked for jobs there; I found my awesome formica table set there. And then it began to grow, expanding to most major and semi-major cities in the U.S. as well as other countries. And it did all of this rather quietly. Word just spread organically and now it has become a well known go-to resource. It filled a need and grew, Grew, GREW but without losing its focus: free, easy access to classifieds online. (Well, everything isn't free to the poster anymore, but the prices aren't exhorbitant either.) It became a quiet giant with a simple design and concept, but great stretch and ability. It really just integrated itself into my web library without my thinking about it as opposed to the other 2.0 apps with cutesy logos and grand aspirations. This may be why I was surprised to find it posted in the award list. But, if we were all to vote for the grand web 2.0 application to beat them all, my vote would go to craigslist, hands down.

tom foolery

Last I checked, playing around is haphazard, so off we go!

According to the fluffy kitty name directory,

My Kitten is Gregory Merryweather.
Take The fluffy kitten name generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

I could have sworn I'd asked for a girl kitty, but maybe the generator classifies Gregory as a unisex name like Leslie or Lee or Ashley.

I rocked out with the Jackson 5 on the Alphabet Soup Word Generator.



There are definitely a lot of fun generators to play with but alas, it is time to move on.

LibraryThing

OK, so, about 4 years ago, my brother-in-law and his brother pulled me into the computer room and were super excited. They said "Jenny, check this out! You're going to love it!" Pretty much, it was the beginning stages of a library cataloging application wherein you used a camera to scan in the bar code on all of your media and it would keep it all in one place. There were even tools that helped you check movies or books or cd's or whatever out to friends. This wonderous application was Delicious Library.
Then about a year ago, my boyfriend got that same excited look in his eye. Turns out Delicous Library had revamped and released Delicous Library 2. The interface is much richer and it really is fun looking now. I, um, just never scanned everything in.
This all being said, I checked out LibraryThing and liked a lot about it. I really like that it's built for networking and book clubs. I can see being excited about it. But, I still think that I'd prefer to use a system that is built to record all of my media. I'm not just a book geek after all.

Rollyo

I don't really know what to say here. Remember last week when I said that I'm a google girl. Well, I pretty much just search on google...
I think I may need to find some more search engines to rollyo on in before we can really bond.