what a big world out there

the trail goes ever onward and I better get my tail in gear............I'm working on my CJRLC Tech Challenge II tasks.... (see, Amy !) which first involve getting back in touch with level I.

so I checked into Bloglines and found - surprise ! - a wealth of great hiking links waiting for me.
a small entry caught my eye and I'm linking it here (I hope). it seems that humor and hiking go together. I hope they do, anyway. and the links and pictures and logs come from everywhere - coast to coast in the US.......Denmark.....Mexico........you name it.

send your tips and links along too....

Mt. Washington !

In order to confront my 60th (aggh) birthday head-on..... I enlisted my stalwart son Sam (always ready for adventure) and we climbed Mt. Washington in New Hampshire's White Mtns. 6,288 feet of bliss ! Well, in truth, the last hour wasn't all that blissful. Despite good trail markers, we got between 2 trails in that last section and it was arduous. But ! We did it. We hope to do it again next summer as well.

Posts from climbers of any stripe are most welcome......

It's blogging time again for Tech Challenge 2

The months have whisked by........now it's time to be a serious Tech student again (well, as serious as I ever get...) I'm ready to tackle Tech Challenge 2 !

if you're in Boston......be sure to check out Mike's Bakery in the North End...and the Boston Public Library....and and USS Constitution !
not hiking per se.....but at the end of the day it can feel like you've been on a long hike indeed. well, you have, actually. just in an urban setting. spring in Boston Commons is a wonderful thing ! and the play-for-pay musicians provided the right mood indeed. one gent also had a "kite for rent" so you could gambol over the grass ..... ah spring!

more musings on 2.0

I went to the Tim O'Reilly blog that talks about the birth of 2.0 -- or rather the conceptualization of it I guess ? I felt like a babe in an alien candy store. so much to absorb. I like his diagram of it - which is good because it shows pieces of things that are part of 2.0. for instance, one says: Blogs- participation, not publishing. that I can understand. (on the other hand..."granular addressability of content is - uh - a little obscure. and I don't know what a "meme" is -- but I can look that up).

Older dog....learning new tricks

It's dawning on me, through some reading, conversations and a recent focus group that a lot of issues we've been struggling with as day-to-day challenges really are part of the "Library 2.0" thing, part of "user-centered change" as noted by Casey and Savastinul in theie 9/1/06 LJ article. our users increasingly need our pc's. many have them at home -- but many don't. or their printer is broken or whatever. many know internet basics but run aground on some technical shoals and they come in for help -- and solace. Our newer "PC Plus" is especially popular because it takes traditional limits away. the user can download...burn a cd....scan photos...move freely among various applicatons....create and mail resumes...and so on. basic security measures still apply - but the freedom of movement is a relief for them - and for us too as we don't have to watchdog quite so much.

in a recent focus group we agreed that some of our roles are dimming but others are more important than ever -- such as our role as a community center. cyberspace can be grand and well-populated, but it's hard to share a cup of tea that way.

there's a world of literature out there on the grand outdoors....in fact Outside magazine's site has a biblio list of classic adventure titles (as well as an archive of standout articles from the past. at http://outside.away.com
check out Online Favorites and within that Best Adventure Books. they also challenge you to comment on that list or add your own suggestions.

Jon Krakaur is a contributor. find his Outside article on the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster under Online Favorites also (titled like the book that followed....Into Thin Air...)

"outdoors" of course is a mighty wide subject......from backyard foraging to bagging peaks. share with us the big, the small ......tell us all
Happydog