Tail chasing...

I knew it was a while since my last post, but I'm alarmed to see that it's a whole 17 days since I uploaded that photo of the Lee Library entrance I'm inexplicably proud of (well, if you'd seen our family's photographic record that would go some way to explaining it!), and thus that I've had the nagging voice in my head reminding me to acknowledge that the picture appearing to the left in the draft actually appears above the accompanying text in the published blog post. (Further note to self: investigate changing proportions of blog layout.)

Of course, all that was going to be taken care of on that mythical future day after the end of term when I would set aside sufficient hours to catch up with all the 'Things' outstanding, and reflect calmly and intelligently on each in turn before typing a well-crafted blog post on each. Equally obviously, term has ended, and there is no prospect of such a day in sight. How could there be? Such lacunae of time do not exist, and I doubt I'd want to be a librarian if that's how the life was.

One of the harshest lessons this project might actually help me to learn is that 'a little and often' is more important, and perhaps ultimately more useful, than a long session devoted to getting it all done in one go. This is counterintuitive for me, and something I've battled with in other contexts. Having the confidence to comment 'on the hoof' feels uncomfortable, but I do recognise that it's necessary if I'm ever going to embrace Web 2.0 in a practical and really useful way, rather than in an abstract and intellectual one.

So, please bear with me during these bumpy early days. More anon, when I'll finally get on to Thing 3 and share a screenshot of my iGoogle page in the state it's reached to date (there's more to do, of course...).

Slow progress

Squeezing 'Thing 3' into the end of Wednesday didn't leave enough time to get it all done, but I was greatly cheered to cycle off with positive thoughts about how to smarten up my iGoogle page before moving on to 'Thing 4', and how my blog might take shape during this Cam23 period.

The end of Friday has brought a new theme for iGoogle and a banner for this blog, with grateful thanks to Ange and Andy for the ingenuity and spreading the word. Choosing a theme for iGoogle was simple enough, though I wasn't greatly enamoured of the selection pictures I looked. I tried customising my own theme, intending to use a picture of the Lee Library entrance I took last summer and used for our induction poster (see left), but the narrow selection Google allowed wouldn't have done it justice, so I reverted to the pre-set theme selection, and am content with Felix the cat for now. I wasn't expecting Google to appropriate my own Lee Library picture for Picasa (there doesn't seem any way to avoid this), and must look to check whether it's still there even though I cancelled the operation.

I could and perhaps should spend more time beautifying my sites before registering them with the Cam23 blog, but that'd be akin to stumbling at the first hurdle. Consider these then, please, as works in progress. More anon...

Getting started

One of the most memorable tips I picked up from a time management course (run by Patricia McBride) some while ago is that when faced with a large or daunting task you should make a start when you have limited time. That way you'll have something to go back to when you have more time to devote to it, and won't be faced by the 'blank page' scenario. So it is that I make my first tentative steps into the blogosphere with a train to catch within the hour...

I was grateful for the gentle launch into the 23 Things programme last week (more reflections on RSS and iGoogle to follow), buoyed by a confidence that, perhaps yes, this will be manageable after all. A week closer to the end of term, and other demands press in hard, but I'm still glad that there' s a timetable for the programme to help keep focused, and encourage me to make the space I need to explore these 'things'.

More anon...