New Year, New Stuff

First of all, I'd like to once more wish everyone a very Happy New Year!  May it be one filled with health, peace, and prosperity!

If you've read my last post, you'll recall that my New Year's resolution was not to make resolutions, and I'm still holding on to that.  However, I'm all for trying out new things regardless of the calendar and expanding my mental and spiritual horizons.

So, you may ask, what new things have I tried out?  Flickr and LibraryThing.  I've known about these websites for some time but didn't take the plunge and become a member until New Year's Day (what else would a perch librarian do on a holiday besides library-related things?).

Ever since I moved to the beautiful Northwest and started exploring its various, breathtaking landscapes, I really began to make good use of the digital camera I received as a birthday gift some years back.  Now, I'm not claiming to be even an amateur photographer, just someone who likes traveling and taking pictures to remind herself of good times spent in different places (that and I need to e-mail pictures to family and friends back East to show them what I'm doing on the other side of the country).

Flickr allows you to showcase to yourself (and others, if you choose) photos that you've taken.  I've just started my page, but I'm having fun choosing and uploading pictures I really like from my different travels.  Oddly enough, it sort of gives me a sense of accomplishment to see a picture I've taken and think, "Wow, was I really there and did I really take that picture?"  And it's nice to look at other people's pages to see their pictures and learn from their picture-taking techniques.

On a similar note, LibraryThing lets you display all the books you've read, are reading, or are planning to read, among your own written reviews, favorite authors, and other interesting features.  I don't know about the rest of you avid readers out there, but I don't remember all the books I've read.  Really.  So something like a website to keep track of your books can come in handy.  And it can help connect you to other people online who share your literary interests and exchange comments on books with them, similar to an online book discussion.  Of course, I've read more books than what's revealed on my page, but I thought I'd start fresh with the New Year.

Besides LibraryThing, there are other book tracking websites like goodreads and Shelfari.  My co-worker likes goodreads and I've used Shelfari in the past before I forgot my password (there is a way to retrieve it, but I've honestly been too lazy to do this and by now I've forgotten all the books I need to add, so starting fresh seemed like the way to go for me).  There are minor differences between the websites, such as presentation, but they all do the basics, which is keep track of books and take reviews.

If you're looking for something new to do this year, joining an online social network connected to some interest you have may be the thing.  Get out there in cyberspace and explore!  You may just find that other people share an interest in that off-beat bottle cap collection you have.

Ever cyber-socially yours on the perch.