Chocolate Helps Prevent Cavities!!!!

That's right, folks. It's Halloween and I've noticed the news on tv & radio is obsessed with 2 things in particular: Parents letting their kids dress like skanks & Massive quanitites of candy rotting our teeth away. I don't want to digress too much so here's a quick note on the 'skank' issue. One news show had the author Celia Rivenbark on their program to discuss her book 'Stop dressing your six-year old like a skank : and other words of delicate Southern wisdom". We currently have 2 copies in our library and I plan on checking one out. Interesting topic.

Now, back to the chocolate!
On the news this morning they were discussing all the Halloween candy and some dental person actually said if you're gonna let your kids have candy, make it chocolate. I of course had to investigate this so started Googling right away. Here's a snippet of what I found........

September 24, 2007
Chocolate helps prevent cavities
Posted under: Articles— Aalam Samsavar @ 10:04 am
Chocolate could leave you cavity free!
This is due to the benefits of tannic acid or tannins found in a variety of food like chocolate. Tannins are naturally occurring Polyphenols and prevent cavities. Polyphenols are what make wine and many other fruits astringent and make variety of flowers and autumn leaves colorful. Polyphenols also cause precipitation of proteins. What that means is that it prevents bacteria from sticking to the teeth.

http://www.drsamsavar.com/blog/?p=411

Yes!!! Bring on the chocolate!
=)

30 Days of Night

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/30daysofnight/

i rarely go to the movie theater but this movie seemed promising enough that we shelled out the dough. we just got back an hour ago. it was dark out already and i walked very briskly to the house waiting for the hubster to open the door so i could rush in. i've finally shaken off the heeby-jeebies. i say that now but will probably be looking over my shoulder, under the bed, and on rooftops for at least a month!

i've been so let down by vampire movies for quite a while now and this one was worth the money to go see. of course no movie is perfect and we all have different tastes but this movie worked for me. we were both creeped out during the movie, jumped many times, gasped, and i even pointed at the screen at one moment cuz one of the freaky vampires was sneaking into view. there were awesome shots that gave such a desolated feeling and overall sense of helplessness.

the basic jist of the movie is this......small town in middle of nowhere alaska, no sun for 30 days, all communication & means of escape have been disabled, vampires come to town & the massacre begins......

more info?? they weren't the pretty romantic vampires (don't get me wrong, they have their place in movies, books, etc) but the straight on monster vampires which at one point you realize actually have some intelligence behind their plans. that usually creeps me out more. anyhoo, if you're like me and have been disappointed in vampire movies for a long time go check this one out!!!!!!!!! i'd love to hear what others think about it.

Week 3: Tagging: Friend or Foe?

Well, this has been an interesting assignment. If nothing else, I found out how out of control my 'Favorites' had become on my computer.

After setting up my del.icio.us account I chose the option of transferring the list of favorites from my computer into my del.icio.us account. It seemed like it was taking awhile. When it finally completed the task I saw that over time I'd collected 348 favorites onto my computer. OH MY! What was even scarier was seeing some of the sites I'd marked. Sure the sites themselves were fine (well, most of 'em) but I realized that in at least one way I've become my mother! I spent my childhood picking on her about her obsession with shoes. What happened to me??? Is it hereditary??

Sorry, I digress. Anyway.............
I'm kinda having fun going through all my old favorites and giving them tags. I really think it will make it easier to search through them all. It was always a bit difficult to figure out which folder to put a site into when it seemed to fall under various categories. For instance: do I put the 30 different candy sites under BUY or CANDY or FOOD? Yes, I have all those folders. As time went on I started putting folders in folders in folders....confusing and time-consuming to track things down again.

There's still too much information to digest for me to come up with useful ideas on implementing this at work. It will be fun to look at other's blogs to see what they say.

Question for ya concerning the assignment for this week. Here's a quote from the training about tagging:

"As you save sites into your account, notice who else has saved them and the
tags they use. Remember you can use their tags or create your own. You can also
explore their sites to see what else you have in common. "

SO this is how I was doing it. Let me know if it's correct or if there's an easier way.
Click on the drop arrow next to the del.icio.us button on the toolbar
Choose 'more about this page'
Click on one of the entries in the 'common tags' section to view similar sites

Time for sleep. I must get nestled, all snug in my bed, while visions of tags dance through my head.

What is the point?

Really, I wanna know. I'm totally willing to learn new stuff and even enjoy it but sometimes my brain can't grasp certain things that seem like they should be easy. What the heck is the point of a blog? Is it really what I hinted at in my first posting? Is it really just a way to tell the world "Here I am!"?

I can understand keeping a journal of your thoughts...ok keep a journal. I can understand email...keeping connected by easier means than snail mail or even the phone sounds good to me. I can even understand setting up something in MySpace to try and meet up with long lost friends.

What the heck am I missing here??
Eagerly awaiting enlightenment......................

What about those Articles, Podcasts and Videos

The training has begun for krl2pt0 and so far it hasn't been too painful. Phew!
Week One
Task 1: set up a new email account....done.
Task 2: put my new info in the official 'Tracking Log'...done.
Task 3: check out a couple of the offered links to read and/or watch...done.

That brings us to Week Two: THE BLOG. (oh, just had one of those ominous announcer voices say it in my head like it was a horror movie. scary.)

Assignments: I've done them all except talking (writing) about the links that I checked out in Week One.
I chose wikipedia article: Library 2.0, pdf: Do Libraries Matter?, & video podcast: 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners.

Thoughts based on the articles:
New technology is whirling around us everyday non-stop and there's no way we can know all of it all the time. Thank goodness we're being given the chance to at least learn some of it. The articles were a good way to kick-off this learning since they gave me an overview of what our goals are and what's out there to investigate.
Libraries are awesome and I can see how many people don't grasp their value. It's also very valid that we could lose our important place in the community if we don't keep up with the technology around us. Score one for our library! We're on our way. We do matter.
We need to be aware of our surroundings and take the initiative to learn about them.

Starting Over

So, I spent 4 hours working on my first blog and was pretty happy with the results. Unfortunately I'm a bit concerned that my ongoing blog will not fit with what we're supposed to be doing for work. Just to be safe I've started another blog here to make sure I follow all the rules. I've kept the other blog for personal use so I can let the creative juices flow with no barriers. I'll begin this new blog with the first post from my first blog and go from there.........
My attitude about learning all this cool stuff:
to quote Spongebob "I'm ready!".........


"What should I write?"

"What's the point of doing a blog when there are millions out there? I'll just be another drop in the endless sea, to be lost with all the others."

"Don't people put themselves on the web just so they can hear (see) themselves talk or perhaps to try and make others listen? Hey, look at me!"

I asked myself those questions and many others, urging my brain to find a starting point on my new journey. The thought that popped in my noggin most was this..... The deepest part of me is shy and it took years to prod myself into being braver and more comfortably social. Sure, I've become much better at speaking up when needed or talking about nothing during those awkward social gatherings that scream for noise to fill the silence. Regardless, I'm still that shy girl who has to talk herself into going to the gatherings where I won't know everyone. And banish the thought that I would show up late. That would mean walking into a room of unknowns! What this all boils down to is that I have a brain full of thoughts but that doesn't mean that everyone needs to know about them. Just because we have the technology to be connected 24/7 doesn't mean that we should be.

My ongoing goal with this new project is to find a balance between being connected and still keeping a part of my being just for myself. The place I work at now has encouraged us to explore a whole list of new technologies including the almighty blog. So, let the adventure begin!