Thing #23 - Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog

Ok, so it took me a little longer than expected to get here, but I am finally here. I really enjoyed this Learning 2.0 program. It was fun and useful. I definitely feel more savvy about social networking and some of the neat things that are out there on the web.

My favorite discoveries were probably Bloglines and Pandora. These are things that I will continue to use long after the 23 Things are over. LibraryThing is also really fun, though I don't really use it that much. Perhaps one of the most valuable things about the program was to learn that blogging and these other things are not all that exotic. Regular people like you and me can create and post to a blog. I feel somewhat less out of touch than before. Even if I am not using most of these things regularly, at least I am literate about them.

It was really challenging finding the time to do these. Some weeks, I had enough time to devote to Learning 2.0. Many weeks, though, are spent just running to stand still. It's good to have a deadline, so that people are working toward a goal. On the other hand, it seemed at times somewhat unattainable, though that may be just how I prioritize things. Obviously some folks were able to finish on time. For the most part, I felt that the structure of the program was a good one. I would definitely participate in this sort of discovery program again.

Thing #22 - Take a look at the titles available on NetLibrary and learn how to download audiobooks

I had already learned a bit about NetLibrary and downloading audiobooks from Donna and Heidi's training session. It was good, though, to return and go through it on my own. It was fairly easy, having been through the training session, and having watched PMCLC's video about it. I don't know how intuitive it would have been otherwise.

I did find an audiobook to download, H.H. The Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness at Work. However, I don't have an MP3 player (since I did not finish my 23 things in a timely fashion), so I don't know if I will actually listen to it. Still, it was an instructive exercise. Maybe I will be inspired by this to purchase an MP3 player.

Thing #21 - Discover some useful search tools for locating podcasts

It took me a very long time to find a podcast that I would actually want to subscribe to. Blogs are one thing, but actually listening to folks chatter along was not appealing. I finally found Poetry Moment. (http://poetrymoment.podomatic.com/) Some gal reading the classics. She's not a great reader, but that's probably all for the better. Why not take a moment to listen to poetry? This is an instance where I find a podcast to be better than a blog, because poetry should be read aloud. This is a good use of podcasting, in my opinion.

I found podcastalley.com to be the way to go for searching for podcasts. It was very easy to use, and brought a good assortment of results. I was not able to load podcast.net at all, and I did not care for Yahoo Podcasts. It seemed really clunky after podcastalley.com. Besides, podcastalley is a much cooler name.