Friday, November 30, 2012

21st C mechanic

It is true.  I have been under the hood of my mac.  I am moving up the Adobe ladder from CS to CS6 this coming month.  Yes, yes, I can hear you all screaming in horror, but really I had to wait until it was worth the change.  And now that I have unscrewed screws and pulled things out and put other things in, can I still call myself a Luddite?  Certainly.  I have changed the RAM.  Thanks to the guys on You Tube who made it look as easy as it is.  Now I just wait for the computer to actually prove it made a difference.  And wait.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

One ping only

In the summer our library changed from Meebo (which had been successful and therefore sold and put to death) to LibraryH3lp for use as our online reference interface.  I miss Meebo's calming blue colours, LibraryH3lp is elblanco boring.  I miss the squishablity of the conversation windows that allowed me to put my conversations 'down' out of sight if the conversation has paused or stopped.  But what I missed most about Meebo was the comforting little 'pong' it made when letting me know someone was calling.  LibraryH3lp screeched.  It was painful.  It was frightening.  I had to turn my speaker way down.

Then one coffee break not too long ago I popped over to another branch and was talking to a co-worker who was doing online reference.  Screeeeech.  "Oh," she said, "my submarine is calling.  And there I was, suddenly on the bridge of the Red October, with Sean Connery asking me for 'One ping, one ping only.'  I have turned my speaker back up a bit.  And I am happy.