Happy Birthday, Mills Learning Commons!

The following story will appear in the upcoming e-newsletter Perspectives. I am leaving Perspectives to concentrate my writing efforts on the McMaster Libraries Staff Newsletter (to be given a new name later in the year..!)

Photo: left to right: Chad Fullerton, Alireza Akbari, Ali Al-Tahan, Neethan Kanthasamy, Piragath Mahalingam, Kumaran Sivakumaran, and Mehran Reza

This seemed like a good opportunity to show my appreciation to all the hardworking individuals (especially the Student Consultants) who make this McMaster community space thrive. The Learning Commons wouldn't be the success it is without them.

One of my favourite places in the library is the Mills Learning Commons. It is now 2 years old and continues to improve and evolve with the changing library landscape. The Commons is located within the McLay Reading Room (named after Walter Scott William McLay). McMaster Libraries held an Open House for this new space on October 6, 2006. Since then, the Learning Commons Project has received the McMaster Students Union's Rudy Heinzl Award of Excellence. The award "recognizes an outstanding one year achievement which improves the lives of McMaster students." This year, the Learning Commons was recognized by the Project Management Institute as GovSIG Project of the Year.

This unique area of Mills provides students with a space to continue the process of learning that begins in the classroom; they come to learn individually or in groups with access to expert help when and how they need it. It was funded by the Refining Directions fund and a generous gift fromMcMaster alumni Alan and Brenda Wong. McMaster University Libraries played a large part to bring the Learning Commons to life, but they also partnered with the Centre for Leadership in Learning, the Centre for Student Development, University Technology Services and Facility Services (previously known as Physical Plant).

Over the past two years, I have watched this area evolve and increase in popularity with McMaster students. One of the most important factors contributing to its continuing success is the staff of approximately twenty students who work on the IT Help Desk in the centre of McLay. It can be easy to overlook and under appreciate the important service support we receive from dedicated and enthusiastic McMaster students who join our team (as well as other teams and departments all across campus). Their time at McMaster is devoted to excelling in their studies, and yet, a select group of individuals also choose to be employees of the university.

The Student Consultants and Senior Student Consultants (staff who answer questions at the IT Help desk) are hired and managed by Michael Curwin, University Technology Services. Many students choose to stay in the job for the duration of their degree. A Consultant’s superior computer skills are extremely useful in what is rapidly becoming a much more sophisticated technological environment. Students seeking help from peers have a comfort level they may not have with staff at a more authoritarian level (real or perceived). When I have a technology dilemma, I‘ll often consult them first. (Having been born within the X Generation, I can’t help but feel envious of the technology fluency of the Millennial, or Net/Y Generation!)

The efficaciousness, competence and level of commitment routinely displayed by the SCs is as equally impressive as their knowledge of computers. One of the most satisfying aspects of my involvement with Mills Learning Commons is the opportunity to work with these outstanding individuals. I applaud them for their hard work over the last two years.


References / Partners

Learning Commons Daily News article (1.)

Learning Commons Daily News article (2.)

McMaster’s Online Student Career and Recruitment site (OSCAR)

University Technology Services

Centre for Student Development

Centre for Leadership and Learning

Facility Services

Suggested Reading

Salkowitz, R. Generation Blend: Managing Across the Technology Age Gap
Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2008.

(ebook available to McMaster University Library users)

New Look: Same Great Content!

I've converted my blog to a new template and colour scheme ~ easier to read than neon green against black. ;-)

Enjoy!

The boy on the left is Damiao Fernandes Dos Santos of Recife, Brazil.
I've been sponsoring him (with World Vision) since August.

I finally sat down the other day and wrote him a brief letter. It would be really cool to hear back from him. :-D

It's 11:00pm now and I've been playing with this blog for 2 hours.
Lights out...zzzzzzzz

Tam

Libraries & Technologies

~Tamara's article in the September issue of the OALT newsletter

Learning 2.0 @ Mac: One Year Later…

To be truthful, it’s been longer than a year since Learning 2.0 wrapped up, culminating in May (2007) with a party to celebrate our hard work. Yes, it really all happened over 14 months ago, but I’m fond of my title, so I‘m sticking with it. (I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I inaccurately reported my facts; thank you, Stephen Glass, for the valuable lesson) The content of the 2.0 lessons was and continues to be useful and relevant to many aspects of daily work and communication in the libraries. However, I noticed that it took some time (several months beyond the end of May) before I began to notice just how many different tools were being used for different situations. Now, there are new blogs and wikis being created regularly for projects, groups or departments.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Learning 2.0 @ Mac, the following passage is taken from Amanda Etches-Johnson‘s preliminary description on the ETG blog: “Learning 2.0 @ Mac is a hands-on, immersive learning programme that provides McMaster University Libraries staff an opportunity to explore Web 2.0 tools and the impact these tools are having on libraries & library service. Learning 2.0 @ Mac is all about exploration, discovery, and play!” Amanda, McMaster’s User Experience Librarian read reports and blogs from other libraries who had conducted successful 2.0 programmes, (one example is the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) to put together a series of lessons for our staff. Before we immersed ourselves in everything 2.0, Michael Stephens paid us a visit and shared his experiences and expertise with his presentation: Library 2.0: Planning, People and Participation. (I will provide the address for Amanda, Stephen and the Emerging Technologies Group blog at the end of the article).

In twelve short weeks (with several breaks to give us time to practice and complete assignments), we covered blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and tagging, online applications and tools, browser tools, online social networks, gaming and virtual worlds. Approximately 80 staff from across the libraries at McMaster were put into 10 groups. A leader was assigned to each group. Near the end of the programme, while helping a friend with several lessons I had already been through, she questioned why we needed to know about such things as wikis, etc. At that point, although my greatest joy during the programme was writing up my 2.0 experiences on my own blog, I could relate to her question: if a tool is being presented and explored but there is no underlying example of how it is to be used in "real life", a learner may be inclined to question it. At the time of her question, I had a difficult time defending all the tools, because I had limited exposure to them in work and life. That changed as I began to pay more and more attention to these technologies. Now, I make use of a shared blog for staff working shifts on the Research Help Desk (extremely helpful).

All my favourite library blogs are added to Google Reader (RSS), which I can scan every day for new content. There is wiki for the planning committee of the Access 2008 Conference in Hamilton in October. Flickr happens to be a great place to look for photos suitable for using on our library’s website or publications (anyone with permission can post photos on our Flickr account). Every month, I check for new and interesting Mozilla add-ons (some are more fun than work: I would suggest you try Stumble!). Oh, one last thing: don’t look for me on Facebook. I tried it out for several months and didn’t find it useful or fun.

Blogroll

Emerging Technologies Group
http://macetg.wordpress.com/

Amanda Etches-Johnson
http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/

Michael Stephens
http://tametheweb.com/

McMaster University, musings by Jeffrey Trzeciak, University Librarian
http://ulatmac.wordpress.com/

Access Conference, 2008 (Hamilton, Ontario)
http://access2008.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca/

Fun with Photos

People who have been cropping and altering their digital photos for eons will probably not get as excited as I did earlier today when I learned that there are many ways to alter photos (minimally, of course). How cool is that? Improvement isn't an option for every photo, but I was thrilled just to be able to take pics and "rotate clockwise"! Wow. Imagine that! In other news, I stumbled across several websites and blogs related to the vet clinic volunteer work I did in Akumal. Lo and behold, there was even a photo of "Tita" the kitten admitted on Sunday, May 18th (minus a Mom or any siblings). Apparently, she has become rather violent (must be the feral in her). She keeps her parents up all night and bites excessively. This is the darling little kitten I wanted to bring home to Scooper. This move would have resulted in drama and disaster, sending Scoops to an early grave (or a late one, if you consider the fact that she is now 19). I would forever feel guilty for bringing this chaos and tumult into her life, whether it ultimately killed her or just seriously stressed her out. Nope, no more cats in this household.

Now, if I could just figure out how to insert images into different areas in one blog post. Why do they also get placed at the top, before the text? Odd.

Websites of interest:

Sociedad Protectura de Animales de Yucatan (SPAY)

Blah Blah Blah, Ginger! (Mimi and Jonna's blog)

Animal Rescue (page on locogringo.com)

Mexico photos

the now-infamous "Dorm 16"

CEA Lizard Killer (but mostly she ate tuna fish)

Andy, Me & Alice (hey, guys, if you're reading this blog... email me!)

Half Moon Bay (a turtle nesting area, north of Akumal Bay)

Two mini-Scoopers

These three kittens, they lost their mittens (and their mom!)

Hey, quite takin' pictures and feed me!

ahhh... Akumal Bay

The Ruins (Tulum)

Tulum

Dawn, Akumal Bay

Ceiling Cat

Teh Ten Commanments of Ceiling Cat

1. I iz Ceiling Cat
2. Celing Cat comz 1st.
3. Don' lissen to Basement Cat
4. Don' use mai name to do eveil tings.
5. Remember Caturday in keepz it lazy.
6. Drive ur hooman az crazy as possibl.
7. Don' kil. Unless hooman makez u dressup.
8. Don' cheat n huk up wit crazy kitteh down teh street.
9. Don' lai. Unless u has to.
10 Don' steel. Jus take stuff wiffout permishun an put it back b4 they kno.

hehe (and I was just reminding Scooper this morning that tomorrow is Caturday...!) I think that LOLcats have definitely become a 'guilty pleasure' in my life. I don't think I'm the only one who fixates on cute cheezburger animals, as revealed in the responses to the poll taken yesterday on the Librarian's Guide to Etiquette:

Guilty Pleasures, Sharing Your

"Librarians often have guilty pleasures that belie their professional personas. Your unhealthy fascination with celebrity gossip magazines, World of Warcraft, hip hop music, romance novels, or prostitutes won't qualify as a guilty pleasure if you're shamelessly blogging about it at the reference desk." (Thanks J. and Sal: your blog always makes me laugh) :-D

Tam

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish

These are some of the volunteers/students (+me) who worked at CEA in May and June.
From left: Joeren, Danny, Isa, Manuel, Mona, Rodrigo, [me] and Ana.
The photo was taken in La Cueva del Pescador (after a soccer game, I think).

I'm so glad to be home in Canada.

Happy Canada Day, Everyone!

Tam

Lizard Killers & Whale Sharks

Yesterday was an amazing day. I was talking to an American woman last Saturday who told me about a boat tour to see (and swim with) whale sharks! She raved about the experience so much (she went last year with a company called Dove6) that I decided I would try to go on Monday or Tuesday. Sky (one of the owners of Dove6) got back to me right away (Sunday) to let me know he had a spot open on the boat. I almost didn´t go, due to my lingering cold (and the effects of Sunday´s dinner also made me briefly ill, but I won´t go into the details of that... it was over quickly and I got a few hours sleep). So we departed from a place called Puerto Moreles (actually, I just think it´s pretty close to there, I don't actually know for sure) and headed out to deeper seas to find whale sharks and manta rays. In June and July, these sharks come to the surface to feed on plankton. As they swim around and eat, we jump in with a snorkel, mask, fins & guide (the law prohibits more than 3 people getting in at once) and swim alongside the shark! It was really, really cool. The first few times, it was difficult to move around fast enough to get a good look, but by the fourth jump, I was actually swimming with a shark for several 100 metres. The shark was so close, I touched its side. They have funny mouths and really tiny eyes.

They didn´t seem to care that we were there, but I couldn´t help but think that we were harassing these gentle animals, chasing them through their home with a loud, polluting motor boat. But I guess that´s just the environmentalist in me: I´m still glad I had the chance to do this, after the frustration and disappointment I felt with my CEA experience. Hey, and I love Hotel Casa Tucan! It´s like being in the middle of a jungle when you walk to your room and down the path that leads to the pool. I´ve been swimming in it a few times. I was so tired after the shark trip that I slept from 6pm until 7am. I slept better than I had in weeks.

I didn´t have an underwater camera to catch close-ups of the sharks, but an American couple on the boat with me are going to email me their photos. I wish I had seen a manta ray: I was looking in the wrong direction when it jumped out of the water. The captain and guide also took us to a coral reef where we snorkeled for a half hour or so. I saw several fish I´d never seen before (although I kept thinking that there should really be a lot more fish in an area like this... I guess we've eaten them all? or because the coral is dying, this must have a direct effect on the fish) I wish that I had been in the Reef program at CEA because I would have learned about this kind of stuff. And I would have been diving for sure, which I have mixed feelings about due to my club experience in Hamilton. If I take the course again (ACUC or Padi), I'll take it in the Caribbean.

Oh, and a word about lizard killers. These are the kittens I helped foster for a few days. I even took them into my dorm last Saturday night because everyone was going to be out all night. Several Mexicans did not approve: kittens grow up to be cats and cats kill geckos and iguanas. Iguanas kill the mosquitos, or so they say... but I can't imagine that an iguana can survive on mosquitos... wouldn't they eat bigger bugs? Even so, I now think twice about cute, cuddly kittens (in a place like Mexico): I can totally understand why people wouldn't want them around. The vet clinic has managed to bring the population down by spaying and neutering many cats over the years. But you don´t see many full grown iguanas because they are just starting to come back again.

Tonight is my last night and I´m going to dinner with Alice, a Brit in the Reef program who I spent some time with (she fostered two of the six cats found at the same resort, but her two are from a different litter, and about a week or two older). She has been in Mexico for almost a year (only went home at Christmas). We are going to a Thai restaurant that everyone was raving about at CEA. The prices are low, so that´s good. Today I went to Subway, but it was not a very good sub. It hasn´t made me vomit though, and that´s a good thing. (-:

Tam

Dirty Laundry

Well, today was a typical day in Akumal. Nothing worked out as I had planned for the day before. It started when I took my laundry to the "pueblo" yesterday. I had heard that the rates and service were better, so I made the 'long' walk into 'town' to use their services (rather than the slightly more expensive service in Akumal 'Wonderland', as I have come to refer to it as). I wasn't that dismayed when I was told that my laundry would not be ready until the next day, after 2 pm. That's ok, I thought, I'll survive with only a few items of clothing and one towel. I needed sheets, but I asked the CEA cleaning lady (with an interpreter's help) for another set (which I got).

It is now 6:30pm, and I just got my stuff back 10 minutes ago. )-: This really bothered me, but I guess it has taught me some kind of lesson... patience? the fact that the pace is slower in other countries and no one can really be counted on to do something when they say they will? or maybe I am just grumpy because I have been attacked by mosquitoes for 2 weeks straight and I've also had quite enough of the intense heat that starts here at 8am and doesn't let up until about 7pm.

Today, I had decided to devote my entire day to trying to get some work done (taking an inventory of the books in the Reef office). But that plan was thwarted when I found out at 11:30am that they would be fumigating all the dorm rooms, including the office I was in. When this happened, the six kittens that are residing in CEA dorms all had to clear out too, so I had to give up my work plans to kitten-sit from 1pm to 4pm. It's not like I had anything else to do, and it wasn't all that bad (hey, kittens are cute and someone has to help them out, right?). The afterno0n also involved the comsumption of several alcoholic drinks because we stationed ourselves at a table at the nearby outdoor pub. I am going back to the office after this blog post because I know the combination to get into the Reef office (and I know that the a/c actually works in this dorm room). It is very, very, very hot in Akumal in June. I don't feel very good as a result, and I also seem to be fighting another cold (sore throat, cough... or could it be dengue fever or malaria? hmm) I can't wait to get back to civilization next week: my life will be boring once again, but it will be more tolerable than this.

On Sunday, I'm leaving the CEA dorms for the solitary life in a hotel in Playa del Carmen. I picked an inexpensive place ("Hotel Casa Tucan": the only perk is the 15 foot deep swimming pool... other than that, I'm not sure what I'm in for (no a/c, only a fan)... but I will be sleeping in a room by myself... ahhh, the luxury of it...not having to be woken in the middle of the night by drunken youth... I am truly astonished by how much alcohol the Mexican university students can consume: surely it is enough to kill people, under certain circumstances. And they don't just come home really late from their nocturnal activities: they come home in the morning (6am) and sleep for most of the day. It's really incredible. (or maybe I am just jealous that I can't handle such as schedule of drinking and not sleeping much? I'll have to ponder that.)

I visited Tulum last Sunday and it was really beautiful, I'm really glad I went. I have some great photos, but I'll wait until I am home to post them here. I've made friends with the Brits from the Reef program (I can speak to them in my language!) because they are caring for several of the abandoned kittens (there are 6 in total).

5 days left.

Adios,

Tam

photos

Akumal Bay

Akumal Bay, looking south

CEA

hot, hotter, hottest

Yesterday I got quite a sunburn. I had sunblock on (maybe not enough?) but I think I must have forgot my left arm. Yes, my stomach and my left arm hurt most of all. I had to sleep in the dorm and not the condo because the condo only has fans and I really felt I needed the cooler temperature for my flaming skin. I'm reminded of that song about the roof being on fire (or is the room? I could never figure out whether it was the roof or the room). Well, yesterday my skin was on fire and I was quite upset with myself for allowing this to happen. I bought an aloe gel that contains lidocaine (I couldn't find Solarcaine at the convenience store). After about an hour of lying in bed last night, the pain subsided (tylenol helped too). Man, I really underestimated the intensity of the sun. I was so determined not to burn here. But everyone has such beautiful tans, even the Dutch guys!. But they've been here for almost 4 months. They must have been my colour when they got here, right?? As I sat under a beach umbrella by the pool at Club Akumal Caribe (I had the whole pool to myself!), I'm pretty sure the sun was still burning me through the umbrella (that's what I think now, but yesterday I thought I was safe). Well, I've learned some kind of lesson here. And I'm staying out of the sun for the next two or three days!

The other health problem I've encountered here is that the pompholyx rashes (on my feet and hands) that I get sometimes at home are flaring up here. I think it may be because of excessive sweating. Some of the itchy patches on my feet are probably also due to insect bites, but the itch feels more like pompholyx (and the lesion that comes up after looks particularly hideous, insect bites heal faster). I have two on my left arm that I've covered so people don't think I have so kind of strange tropical disease!

I'll have some photos posted here soon (not of my skin, don't worry). I find it's a major hassle to take the camera everywhere I go, so I don't have many pictures yet, (and it drives me crazy that the thing only stays powered up for a short period of time, even with rechargable batteries). Now that I've purchased a block of internet time, and they have a little device I can put my memory stick into, I don't think it will be a problem to get some photos up on this blog. As the Mexicans tend to say, "It's possible".

I'm going to work now. Y'all might be wondering if I actually do any work while I'm here. Well, "more or less". :- )

I'll fill you in on how I'm progressing with my "work" in another blog entry.

Cheers,

Tam

World Turtle Day

Yesterday was World Turtle Day. Groups of school children from Akumal Pueblo descended on CEA for the day to participate in several planned events beginning at 8am. The first event was a clean-up of the stretch of beach to the south, in the direction of Tulum (not that we walked all the way to Tulum... this isn't exactly possible!) The kids and volunteers picked up garbage and separated plastics from glass (the majority of waste was plastic). It was the windiest day its been since I got here May 6th. There were large white caps out in the distance and the beach "shrunk" because the sea water came further inland when it hit the shore. It was an awesome morning for a beach walk; the children really enjoyed the waves and the 'treasure' hunt. My biggest find was a green plastic lawn chair. I thought I was going to have to walk all the way back with it (about 1-2 km), but we were able to leave all the bags at the end of a laneway, to be retrieved later by truck. After the beach clean-up there was a contest to see who could build the best 'turtle' out of sand and CEA had lots of swag for the winners.

In the afternoon, I went looking for a nearby hotel that might not care if I had a little dip in their pool. Sure enough, Club Akumal Caribe had a pool I could access from the beach. There were only two tourists sunning nearby - no staff or lifeguard to be seen. One of the American women told me that this hotel does not mind if non-guests use their pool (although the posted 'rules' clearly indicated that this was not the case). I figured that I was 'good advertising' for their hotel if potential guests came by while I was swimming... the pool would obviously look so much better with someone in it! It was very refreshing, and this pool was deeper and more rectangular (=cool water and ideally shaped for laps) than the pool I was in last tuesday (north, up the road on Half Moon Bay).

Speaking of Half Moon Bay, it is also a turtle nesting area (Green turtles and Loggerheads). The Turtle Watch volunteers visit this beach every night, to watch for females coming to shore to lay their eggs. When I was there on tuesday, I saw one nest close to where we were sitting. It's really impossible to know that the nest is there, but that is one of the volunteer's tasks: if they see the turtle lay eggs, they mark the area with a little white sign. Apparently, if people walk over nests, this can pack down the sand and make it more difficult for the hatchlings to emerge later. When they do hatch, they use the light reflected off the sea from the moon to find their way into the water. Sometimes, hotels and businesses have used too much light [projected outward toward the beach]: this confuses the hatchlings and they head off in the wrong direction!

I discovered a very tasty Mexican drink this week. It's called a banderita. It is served in three shot classes, each being a 'colour' of the Mexican flag (sort of... green, white and red). You drink the 'green' first (lemon), then the 'white' (tequila) and last, the 'red' (sangrita...I think, which is a kind of spicy tomato juice). The combination takes the edge off the strong alcohol taste in the tequila. I would definitely have it again.

Today is cloudy, but I don't expect it to rain. It just doesn't feel like rain. And it just never rains here. Maybe in June it pours? I guess I'll soon find out. I have to go to Playa del Carmen this afternoon because I am completely out of pesos again and I would like to use the Scotiabank I know is across from the bus station. I could always use the bank machine in the convenience store here but the surcharges are likely to be through the roof.

I will write again in a few days.

Tam

gatos y perros

On the weekend, I had the opportunity to volunteer with a different group of people. A vet clinic was held in Akumal Pueblo for cats and dogs in the area to be spayed, neutered and vaccinated for free. (If the owners only wanted vaccinations, but not spaying or neutering, there was a charge). Vets from Meridia came to town to do the procedure for anyone who brought their animals to us for the day. It was held in two classrooms of a secondary school (which I found out is not high school, but grades 7, 8 and 9... high school is in Tulum). One classroom was the operating room and the other was the recovery room (there was supposed to be an intake room too but this wasn't made available, so intake was kind of done outside and in the recovery room). We didn't have the canopy set up until very late Saturday, so we got extremely hot working outside in the sun, registering the animals and getting them into kennels. On Sunday, everything went according to plan and it was very organized. The women that runthe clinic live nearby and I'm quite certain they are all from the U.S. originally (some live here part of the year, others make Akumal their permanent home). Four or five times a year they run clinics in different places in the Yucatan. On Saturday, I helped in the recovery room. The animals (mostly dogs... the cats were done later in the afternoon and four of us took off for a break while the cats were recovering!) needed to be monitored, ice applied to the incision area (sometimes), IVs taken out (I let the more experienced people handle this), heads stroked, ticks picked out, ears cleaned (if they were really dirty), and claws clipped.

On Saturday, my job was to tend to the kittens that were dropped off (no one really knew their story or where their mother was). One kitten was only about 2 weeks old (at most). They brought formula which I fed her from a bottle through the day (they need to be fed every 3 hours). It's kind of tricky to position the bottle/nipple just right to make sure it is going down properly and not into the cat's lungs. Three other older kittens (6 weeks maybe) were feral so Jen took them out (hissing prefusely and trying to scratch) in a small towel and put them (one at a time) on my lap. For about 3 hours, I was holding one feral cat with the littlest one. The younger one fell asleep but I'm pretty sure the feral cat never totally relaxed. One of the ferals was a beautiful calico with really cool markings. It takes several days of handling to make these kittens become used to people, but eventually they become tame. Apparently, you can adopt two cats under 8 weeks of age and take them aboard most U.S. airlines (in the passenger cabin). I can't imagine subjecting an animal to hours in a cargo hold, but some airlines have a special area set up for animals, and someone to check on them too. At the end of the day, I was convinced that I would adopt the littlest one (although there was no way I could foster it back at the dorm in a room with 7 other people!), but I have to think about Scooper and how it would affect her. I don't think it would be wise.

I finally went to town (Playa del Carmen) and bought batteries for my camera. I will take them to the office today with the charger to see if there is anywhere to plug it in and get them charged. My dorm has one outlet, but everyone has their electronic equipment plugged into it (possibly overloading the circuitry, but maybe it's ok).

There is a good chance that I will be cutting back the length of my trip by 2 or 3 weeks. I'd love to stay on and everything is going well, but now that our dorm is full, life has become more stressful. If I do catch an earlier flight home, I will spend up to a week in Playa del Carmen in a hotel room where I can unwind alone. I knew it would a challenge to share a room with other people, but now that I'm really doing it, I've discovered just how hard this situation is for me. And it isn't the people; these are the nicest bunch of university kids you'd ever want to meet (they came in from Mexico City on Sunday night). I spent the day shopping with them and they're amazing. Very intelligent and a lot of fun.

The only thing I want to make sure I do before I leave the area is check out Tulum and Copa (where there are ruins). Tulum is just 20 minutes away (opposite direction from Playa del Carmen). There are "colectivos" that pass by the highway outside Akumal every ten minutes and they are cheap (15 pesos to Playa)! I wish Hamilton had colectivos; the ride to work would be a dream instead of the nightmare that it is. (A colectivo is a comfy minivan with a/c that seats 10 passengers). And I've never seen so many taxis in one small place. They are not cheap, but ideal if you are sharing a ride with others.

Ok. I guess I should go to the office and do some work... oh, maybe not... I just got an invitation to go to someone's pool! (Maggie helped on the weekend, and she is also the director of the public library in Akumal). Yay! This will definitely cheer me up. :-D

Tam

Recent Akumal Photos

1. A Cenote at Selvatica & 2. Akumal Bay(photos courtesy of "Staniam's Akumal Adventure"), Akumal forum / locogringo.com

The Final Countdown

There's only 5 days left until I leave! I can't believe I'll be on Akumal Beach at this time next week. I finally pulled my MEC pack out of my closet. I also found my lucky passport pouch (it's been with me on every overseas vacation I've taken in the past 10 years... oh, and that would be Cuba, by the way!) I've decided to transport the fins in my pack... fortunately, they fit. Buffalo Niagara Intl airport rules stipulate that you're allowed one carry-on and one 'briefcase'. I don't think they make briefcases for fins, so I'm not taking any chances by just showing up with them in my arms. My snorkeling equipment is probably the most important thing I'm bringing.

I also have 500 book pockets and borrower cards ready, if CEA would like a circulation system for their collection. If they want the materials inventoried, I can use an Office program like Excel or Access. I was investigating an Open Source ILS system (made in New Zealand) called Koha, but this might be beyond what they need or want. All the same, it's good to know that there are programs out there (and that their basic versions are free!) I may not use it for CEA's collection, but it certainly might come in handy in the future. I think if I was more informed as to what they wanted (or didn't want) for the library, I could come with a more detailed plan in tow. Classes and exams have finished for the term at the university and I am basking in the peace and quiet we've had this week. I'm very glad I chose these 2 months to go there (and glad that the library agreed to this leave of absence!) Unfortunately, I will miss an important planning meeting in Toronto for the 2009 OLA Superconference, but I should be back in time for the next one (which I think will be in July or August).

I have Scooper's favourite toy ready for her to take with her. It's a stuffed, round, furry ball, peach coloured, with its rolly eyes still intact (I bought it for her at the Peach Festival in Grimsby in the early 90's). She doesn't actually play with anything much anymore, but she definitely has her playful moments. I'll miss her. I'll keep a few photos of her on my new camera.

Tam

Blog Adventurer heads South

Baby Loggerhead turtle

It's hard for me to believe that I'm leaving for Mexico in less than a month (27 days)! My flight is booked: I'm flying out of Buffalo with US Airways on Tuesday, May 6, arriving in Cancun at about 3:30pm. We make one stop-over, in Charlotte, NC (on the way back, flying with United Airlines, we stop once in Washington before heading on to Buffalo). My friend Patricia, a geologist who has been to the Akumal area several times to do water and cave research, is not actually leaving at the same time as I am, but there is always a chance she might come down later in May. I will have to rely even more on my minimal grasp of Spanish. I understand many key words and phrases but only if someone speaks to me slowly or I see it in writing. After nearly a dozen trips to Cuba, and an Intro university course, you'd think I would have picked up more, but I get lazy and don't make the effort. I'll take my mp3 player with me and listen to the Berlitz lessons I downloaded on it...

There has been no further email convo between me and Paul Sanchez-Navarro, the director of CEA (since last December), about what form my volunteer work will take, but I'm quite prepared to do administrative [office] work, or go out with the turtle volunteers at night. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I would rather be involved with the turtles themselves, despite my original hesitation (due to the fact that the work is done through the night). I was concerned about what I would store my snorkelling fins in when travelling: my large MEC backpack probably won't accomodate my long fins. But Trish suggested taping them together and bringing them on the plane as a "personal item". Problem solved. My landlord is paid up until the end of the summer, cable cancelled, bills prepaid, and I will ask a friend to pick up my mail. Scooper is going to Dundas to spend the weeks with my Mom & Dad and their cat, Tina. She's been given plenty of warning, but I think she's become even better at tuning me out in her old age. Cats. Why do I even try??


I think I'll be okay with the food: there's lots of different types of fruit (stuff with a peel is best, otherwise it should be washed or even disinfected, someone told me), eggs, tortillas, beans, rice, advocados, salsa. mmm. My pesos are in at the bank so I'll pick them up tonight on my way home.

On locogringo.com, I found a webcam that displays a section of Akumal beach, just nearby the restaurant/beach bar named LOL-Ha (cam is set up there).

locogringo has some helpful maps:
satellite photo
Central Akumal map (aerial beach tour)

I'll write again soon...

Tam

Akumal

I've let a lot of time pass since my last post, but I refuse to berate myself for this. (And yet I really wish I could make myself write more.) There are only two months left until my leave starts. I am going south to work at CEA (Centrol Ecologico Akumal) in Mexico. I'll be volunteering (details at this point are somewhat sketchy). I'm not too concerned. If I have free time on my hands when I get there, I'll start writing my first novel. Oh sure. So at CEA they help sea turtles who make their home [nests] along the Maya coast. There are Green turtles and Loggerhead turtles and volunteers come to CEA every year from April to November to relocate their nests to safer spots and to release hatchlings. I've found out that my friend Trish is also going to Mexico in May so we should be able to share a ride to the airport and take the same flight to Cancun.

Tam

A New Year, A New Post

After May 28, 2007 it proved difficult to create new blog posts. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because our Learning/Library/Web 2.0 program ended and it was no longer mandatory for me to post my experiences with emerging technologies. Or maybe it was because, from June to December, my job did not stimulate my muse. [How do people who write daily comic strips do it? Day after day? Don't they ever wake up not having a clue what their next joke will be?] Or, the reason could be that my shoes were too tight...
Yeah, that's gotta be it. I feel better now. It's always nice to be able to find a reasonable excuse for laziness, rather than just coming forth and stating the obvious. How would I ever fill this blog space, if I didn't ramble on with excuses? By the way, it's January and my job is still not very stimulating. And there's no excuse for that.

It might pick up on January 7 when the students come back.

Yes, the students. The clientele of this fine establishment. How I miss the hustle and bustle of the Learning Commons: that crazed, hyper, busy, wired, social-hub-of-a-room, dubbed "Club Mills" by everyone who doesn't work here. Technology trumps books and anything written on paper, ladies and gentlemen, in case you haven't been paying attention. I see it every day.

Today's library buzz word is... digitization. Can you say digitization, boys and girls? Soon, thanks to Google, you'll be able to read anything written in the world from the comfort of your laptop. In English, I guess. I'm not sure they've figured out how to deal with those other languages.

Yep, rapid tech advancement is the name of the game and it's happening faster than you can shake a pen at. But people don't communicate with pens, so I should forget about altering my sayings to give them literary flair. Make that a stick, please. A carrot stick, because it's January 2 so I naturally must think about eating less and eating better (whatever that means).

On the subject of writing, with pens, or carrots, or otherwise, I'll have you know that my latest article has been published in Perspectives. You may remember when I posted on May 28, 2007 (or just look below this post for goodness sake since 7 months is too long ago for anyone to remember anything) to tell you the Summer 2007 issue was out. Finally, just before we all broke for the holidays (hmm, broke and holidays... how those two go together so very well), the winter issue of Perspectives was released. For my article, see the Mac Facts section, but not until you've read my Mom's article and the editorial (also written by Marlene Monster). Enjoy.

Oh, and a quick word about LOLcats. I luvs dem. I don't care that the english language is being defiled: that is what makes the photos (+ captions) so wonderful and thoroughly charming. I had a brief discussion about LOLcats with a librarian, (also an English major, like me) and she finds the corrupted english to be annoying. Maybe she doesn't like cats either, maybe that's her problem. Perhaps it could be that her shoes are too tight. My apologies to this librarian if she reads my post, I still luv ya ML, but I will forever worship I Can Has Cheezburger. I can't start my day without checking the new photos through my RSS feeds. As you can see, I was so inspired by one of today's LOLcats that it came before anything else. Let us end this post with one of my favourites from last year...

lol.