A Flickr photo...and the A's are still in first!

I had to ask for help from a coworker to add the image you see to the left (Snoqualmie Falls, about a mile from my house) because I wasn't able to upload it using the directions provided. We had to save the photo to my desktop, then copy the image to this blog. I tried to upload more than 5 different photos from Flickr, but all I ever got from putting the URL into the "Add image" box was an outline on the blog. So, at any rate, I found a way to make it work. That being said, Flickr is a really cool site. There were all kinds of photos covering a huge variety of subjects and I'll be using it in the future to enhance my blog.

And the A's have split the first 2 games with the Angels, so they're still tied with L.A. for first place. I have no illusions about this lasting more than afew more weeks at best, but it's great for all the young kids on the club as they're gaining confidence in themselves and their teammates, which can only be a positive for the future when reaching first place won't seem like an anomaly. Beat LA! (Oh, and I just found out that Bobby and Ratdog are gonna play Seattle on June 21st; I gotsto go!)

Streaming Music...and it's free!!

I registered for FineTune and it's fantastic! I had tried Pandora a bit last week, but I didn't like the fact that I was at the mercy of its suggestions. With FineTune, I can pick an artist and choose from a generally large catalog of songs, and because my musical tastes are all over the place (from the Dead to Tower of Power to the Texas Tornadoes to Kinky Friedman) I can have a wide variety of musical sstyles/genres to choose from. And if I don't want to hear the song that's playing, I can stop it and move on to another one. Awesome.
Not much to say about the A's after getting swept in a 2 game series by the M's...they were dominated. But hey, they had a 6-2 road trip, so they've been playing good ball recently, and the kids aare getting valuable experience. But the negatives have been injuries: Harden's on the DL again (I know, you're shocked) and so is Duscherer. So we've got even more youngsters starting than was expected. But it's April and Oaktown's only 1 game out of first, so things are a lot rosier than I figured they would be. And the A's come to town next weekend and I'm gonna be at the Sunday game...let's go Oakland!

RSS feeds and other important stuff...

I set up a Bloglines account and subscribed to the following feeds: Athletics Nation, The Grateful Dead Hour and The Cal Footbal Fan (all very closely related to library work, of course). I like the fact that I can go to one site and get updated info on these topics without having to go to each site. As far as using this technology at work, I could see subscribing to feeds that are of specific interest to librarians (although I haven't delved into it enough yet to know what they are, but I'll start looking around). And on a more important note, the A's beat the Indians last night 9-7 to take over sole possession of first place in the American League West (thanks to the Mariners for beating the Angels). I have no illusions about the A's staying in first place for more than a couple of days, but hey, it's fun right now! We beat their ace Sabathia, now on to Fausto Carmona! Let's Go A's!

I am because I M!

I was able to successfully IM a couple of cellmates here and to send a YouTube URL to one of them. It's a great tool that will definitely help with speeding up communication here at the branch, and I'm hoping it will be used by committees/small groups to deal with questions/concerns more efficiently.This was the first time I had ever used an IM program but there was nothing that really surprised me about it; it worked very smoothly. I intend to use it a lot, particularly to communicate with the branch manager.

Instant Messaging ...and the A's take 2 out of 3 from the Tribe!

I'm embarking on the Instant Messaging part of the project, which should be a challenge...but not as much of a challenge that the Oakland A's overcame this past weekend to win Friday and Saturday against Cleveland, while just barely losing a 2-1 game on Sunday. All 3 starters (Duchsherer, Eveland and Blanton) pitched really well, but the problem, as it will be all season, was run production. But hey, it's early in the season, the Boys in Green and Gold are 3-4 and are NOT in last place! So, about that Instant Messaging...

The 2.0 Project Rolls On!

I successfully posted to another's blog! I'll be moving on to IM next...but since I'me here, the A's lost 2 straight at home to the Red Sox, so they're now 1-3 (all against Boston). But the starting pitching has been excellent, so I'm hoping the Boys in Green and Gold will win at least 2 out of 3 this weekend against Cleveland at the Coliseum. Converted reliever Justin Duchscherer gets his first startof the season Friday night against Paul Byrd; let's go A's!

Chuck Berry would be proud!

I've titled my blog "The Promised Land," as that's my favorite R&R song of all time, particularly the many covers of it done by the Grateful Dead. Anyway, I'll be using my blog to track my progress on the Web 2.0 project, as well as posting thoughts on such disparate topics as the Dead, Oakland A's baseball, and Althusserianism. Until next time...play ball!