Last Blog Post :(

So first thing is first...This blog post will be written in all the colours of the rainbow so that it makes the fact that it is my last blog post less sad :) (At least thats what I think)

Now, on to other, possibly or possibly not, more important things :P The first, well technically second, thing I want to say is that since it's my last post, I want to share a website with everyone. The website is www.goodreads.com, I personally love this website and seeing as I work in a library, it's actually very fitting :) Goodreads is mainly a website where you can track which books you read, have read, and want to read. However, on goodreads there are a TON of things to do! There are quotes, lists you can vote on, giveaways, and a place to put your very own writing up for others to see! Like I said I majorly love it and it's a great place to get away with if you love books :)

So now, I have a quote to share with you, one of three I shall be sharing before I end this blog post. "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results." -Albert Einstein

Now for the beginning of sad thank you notes, not because I didn't like working here, but because I liked working here so much that it saddens me to leave. First to thank are my Vccaps friends. Thank you so much to all my co-workers, Adam, Michael (sorry if I spelled your name wrong!), Miguel, and Marilyn, who worked so hard to accomplish projects and came up with some AMAZING ideas and projects :) I loved getting the chance to check out the stuff everyone was working on! Thanks to Samantha, who has been an awesome Youth Intern coordinator. I've loved talking to you, sharing stories and it's been so much fun working with you :) Thanks to Donna as well who has guided us this whole time, being there whenever we needed help and doing so while volunteering. I can't possibly thank you enough for all the times you been there, and it's been so nice to work with you this past winter and this summer :) And finally thank you to Pauline, I've worked with you for three terms now and it's been great each time :) Once again thanks!!!

Now for my second quote, which is quite random but truly funny I find,  "I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room." -Ray Bradbury

And now onto more sad thank you notes, of which will finish up the sad notes. Now I need to thank the library staff, who have become like family to me :) Thank you to Larry, our Bookmobile driver. I will miss our conversations so much, it was always interesting to talk to you! Thank you to Cora Lee, though we were often quiet around each other, I loved laughing with at the random things we came across! And keep wearing dresses :) Thank you to Laverne, your window displays brighten up the front of the library immensely and I was continually in awe of how many different displays you came up with :) Thank you to Samantha (Morrison that is :P), you will remain my friend for as long as I can think! I loved our book conversations, general conversations, and crazy ideas/stories we shared :) Finally, thank you to Kate, I can't think of words to thank you with and even "thank you" doesn't seem like enough! You've helped me through hard times, understood when I forgot, shared stories with me, and were always there when I needed someone (: I will never forget any of you and you'll stay in my heart forever. BUT, mind you I am not saying this as a final goodbye! If the chance arises I will happily try to come back and work here again!

So, here I am at the last of my blog post. I have one final quote, which is for Kate, and is what I will leave this blog with, "She'd always been a little excitable, a little more passionate about books than your average person, but she was supposed to be--she was a librarian, after all." -Sarah Beth Durst

One last blog post

Hey! For my last blog post I thought I'd share this website with you:

http://www.livecareer.com

The site has a great resume builder program that I've been using to build mine! It allows you to save it online and access it from anywhere as well as making a cover letter and printing.

The final week. Hell Yes. The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived although, with it, comes a dark cloud of sadness that it's all over. Working with VCCAPS this summer has been a great experience, I've learned skills that will help me throughout my life and my co-workers have helped make this an amazing summer. I'd like to thank Sam for being such a great supervisor over the summer and for never failing to have a story to tell, I'd like to thank my fellow youth interns: Michael, Marilyn, Miguel and Allison for all those thought provoking and extremely informative web-chats that I felt were always met with the utmost professionalism and last but definitely not least I'd like to thank Donna, the only person here who doesn't get paid but seems to do the most work out of any of us here. Without her helpful, caring nature or her can do attitude I don't know how this year would've went. It's been a great year people, I only wish I could do it again.

Talk About Being Busy

Advertising

Hey everyone, just thinking about next year's VCCAPS team and what we can do to help better advertise and get the word out about the CAP Sites since they have been getting low on numbers of customers recently. I was thinking that next year maybe they could host an event such as a community ball hockey or basketball game / tournament, or even an outdoor movie night with a projector and lawn chairs where you pay a small donation fee to get in, and then raffle off half of the money to the winning team or on a ticket. This would be a great way to get the word out about the CAP Sites and show that we do more than just computers, show the community side of CAP. Also, parts of these events could be filmed and made into an advertising video for CAP Sites around the county. These type of events are always fun-filled and can become popular if done right!
Anyone else have any ideas for future events CAP Sites could hold?
Just some thoughts!

Update

The summer is quickly coming to an end! At the Bay St. Lawrence Community Center I have been finishing up last minute things like putting together my tutorial for the basics of twitter and planning the senior's story telling day! I've been in contact with a few of the elders around the community and they are more than willing to come in and share their stories with us early next week!

Some Comics on Technology

                                                     Haha! This remind me of my Chem Class!

                                                             Wow...I would be running

I'm a bit late :P

So as Samantha said in an earlier post, she asked us a couple of weeks ago to write about something we never expected to happen when we came to work for Vccaps. In all truth I was a bit late, but I did think of some of the strange stories of things that happened here at the library, whether they happened to me or not. So here are a few of the ones I've written ;

Searching, Searching…

            I love scavenger hunts. Even if I’m not participating in them they are so much just to watch! I got to experience this, not too long ago, when a group of tourists came in to the library one day. At first I actually didn’t notice them, I was working at my desk and saw Samantha had taken care of them. However, I heard Samantha tell them they could use the computers for their search and I got up to explain to them how to use the computers. To, a little bit my surprise, they refused and insisted on having a book. The reason this surprised me was that most people would have used the computer to find what they were searching for. So, once Samantha began to search again for a book she may have missed and I, because I found this interesting, came over to see if I was able to help. Between Samantha and the people they told me that they needed some information on the war of 1812, but the rules said it was illegal for them to use computers. So I suggested to Samantha that there might be some information in a children’s historical fiction book and waited. Soon she found one that we had in at the library and off we went in search of it. We soon found it and showed it to the people in hopes that it might work for the type of information they needed. They said it was good, but then asked if they could make a copy of the back of the book. So I showed them the scanner and scanned and copied the back of the book for them.  I then brought over the page, only to find that they were, what looked like searching through the penny jar! Completely surprised, I found out from Samantha that they were apparently searching for a 1952 coin, which we discovered, is extremely hard to find. So we spent the next few minutes looking for a coin, and finally found one. Off they went on their way and soon returned to replace a few of the pennies they took from our penny jar! I never expected that to happen when I started work.

FIRE!!!

            This is an unexpected happening from my first summer working for Vccaps. I had been working quietly at the desk, a normal day basically. All of a sudden there was a blaring noise that was almost too loud to speak over! Freaked out and wondering what the noise was I asked Kate “What is that?!?” Kate told me “That’s the fire alarm. There must be a fire somewhere, don’t worry it’ll stop soon.” So I sat there, and kind of laughed at myself for not realizing what it was, and waited for it to stop. Needless to say I no longer freak out when the alarm goes off and it was most definitely one of my first unexpected happenings.

Fish Tales

            This unexpected happening actually has nothing to with patrons, or even computers, but it is none the less interesting. Kate got a call not too long ago about a fish tank, and yes, I said fish tank. The person calling told Kate that they had a 10 gallon fish tank with fish, that they wished to give away and they thought it would have a good home at the library. So Kate told them she would have to ask her supervisor first, but if they called back she would have an answer. So, Kate proceeded to call her supervisor and asked about the fish tank. Now, we happily are receiving a fish tank to add to the teen area. I spent the morning helping Kate to figure out where all the reference books would go and where the games would go. This way, if the tank breaks, which I pray it won’t,  no books will get damaged by being underneath it. This I definitely didn’t expect to happen, but I’m glad it did.

Panorama shot of the C@P Site!

Just thought I'd share this pano of the C@P Site with all of you!

Turning down the heat

Hey all! Just found this new advancement in clothing technology I thought would be worth putting up. It seems like they have finally made a material that lowers your body's temperature as it rises during activity. Goes to show that all those other dri-fit and clima-cool type fabrics were a hoax (as is evident if you've ever worn it)! I posted the link below, enjoy!

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/first-shirt-lower-body-temperature

Technology Comics!

Just thought I'd share this with everyone!

Craft Day

Just thought I would share this picture of the kids having some fun doing crafts and coloring the day the Bookmobile was here! They had a great day!

Technology comics

Here's a few technology comics I thought were pretty funny, hopefully you guys enjoy them too!

what a summer :)

it was been a grate summer so far but it just going by to fast but I'm have fun with the cyber camps and also the project were doing for the Grand Narrows Water front is going well and it feel good to get out the the C@P site in good the nice weather but its been a good week here at the Iona C@P site

Some Laughs......

Grand Narrows Waterfront

This week I decided to post some photos of the Grand Narrows Waterfront! We are doing some work for the Waterfront so I posted these photos so everyone can enjoy them! It was a beautiful day and I can't wait to go back to get some more work done!

 The entrance, and what a background!

 Mhmmmmmm wish I stuck around for one of these!

 You won`t find a friendlier port in all of Cape Breton!

 This is where I should be!

 Me harassing the workers!

 She`ll be looking fine in no time!

 What a beaut!

The Barra Strait Marina people!

Some shots from around the Iona C@Psite

 Comic Books Galore @ Cyber Camp

 Superhero scenes!

 I wonder how we can convince our moms we need one of these?

 Our beautiful train tracks

 View from the 'other side'

 Teaching Michael and Adam how to play rock band

 The clouds are amazing!

Sneaking a look at some boats in the harbour. 

I never expected.....

Earlier this month, I asked our youth interns to write about some things they never expected when they began working for C@P. Here are some of their responses:

Something that I never expected when I started working for C@P was that I would be working with lots of other people just like me, as a team. I was nervous at first and thought that I would sort of be all alone doing the projects and it would be just me but it’s a good feeling to know that the whole team of VCCAPS employees are doing the same projects and working on the same things at the same time as me. Everyone is just an e-mail away and whenever someone has a question there are lots of people who have answers.

 

          Another thing I never expected when I started working for C@P was that my C@P Site would have someone in it at all times. I am never alone here, there is always somebody in beside me asking questions or just using the internet. I can’t even remember the last time I was in the C@P Site alone. It’s awesome the have the company at all times, it definitely makes for a better day whether it’s teenagers, youth, older people or tourist; I always have someone to talk to and share my skills with.

         I never expected something we worked on to be used to decorate a cake! (Clan MacNeil anniversary logo). 

         I never expected i'd get to play video games at work (during cyber camps). 

         I never expected to learn such a variety of things. 

Fixed!!

So I have awesome news, at least for myself. A couple weeks ago the Vccaps laptop unfortunately gained some viruses and sadly, I had nooo knowledge of how to fix laptops with viruses. But today, the computer was returned and I am happily going to be using it again the next chance I get :D

Helping out (: And the olympics too!

So yup, I 've been doing pretty much what the title says. Helping out with technology and watching the olympics (Not at the same time :P) The other day, I happily got to help out one of the people I taught during the winter. It wasn't that there was anything major wrong with her computer, but it was a nice feeling to know I had helped (:
Most of my spare time at home has been used watching the olympics. Awesome for us, we won another medal this morning! Although I'm not entirely sure what it is....I may have been half-alseep when my family told me :D

Augmented Reality

Hey guys, this is just going to be a short post, but it's on something I found the other day while searching the web. I provided a link at the bottom of the page to take you to a short description and video of what scientists and technologists are calling augmented reality. It's basically the idea that in the very near future, everything in the world will be backed up by computer technology, allowing complete and utter access to information about anything and everything anywhere you go. I know it's kind of hard to understand by just reading this, but watch the video and I promise you'll be amazed!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/246915/the_next_big_things_in_tech.html

Meanwhile @ the C@P

The Olympics are out in full force and the Iona C@P Site has joined the excitement! The Olympics are a great time in our country, it is a time for us to celebrate and come together as a country too cheer on our athletes as they strive to topple the best in the world. We are sharing in this excitement by offering Olympic Cyber Camps! The kids love taking part in our Olympic themed games and crafts while at the same time learning about the Olympics and what it's all about. We have a live Olympics stream up on the projector throughout the day as well as on the iPad so we can all rejoice if we are lucky enough to see one of our Olympians on the podium! There's something in the Olympics for everybody to enjoy; from events such as fencing and diving to the inspiration from watching the  perseverance and dedication of our competing athletes! The Olympics are one of my favourite times of the year and I can only hope people will enjoy it as much as me.

Bay St. Lawrence C@P Site update

With july almost at it's end, the last month of summer came very quickly! Things have been steady at the Bay St. Lawrence Community Center and the amount of tourist in and out each day seems to never end! It's great to see and talk to people from so many different parts of the world. In the C@P Site I have been working with the youth a lot just showing them computer games or simple things about technology that they wouldn't know otherwise. I have also been planning for the History and Heritage project, Amy and I have decided to come up with an evening in August to have the elderly stop by the center and share there stories about growing up in Bay St. Lawrence. We are excited to hear what they have to tell, as I'm sure many of the stories will be very interesting!

Some New Technology

Hey all,
This week has been pretty intense in terms of finishing up CAP projects, working on new tutorials, and getting our monthly reports in, I thought I'd lighten the mood by showing you a site that often posts reports about cool new technology in all different aspects of science today. The site is called GizMag, and it's an online magazine about technology. The link I'm posting here is pretty cool and something we should maybe look into for the month of august, just a thought! Hope you enjoy!
-Miguel

http://www.gizmag.com/smart-trashbox/23439/ 

Computers & the Past?

As a history major, history is a great interest of mine. This summer I created a short introductory workshop on how to how to use computers for genealogy research and family trees. Computers are a great way to collect information and some new programs allow us to easily track and record information. The two programs that I have focused on are Legacy Family Tree (for PC) and MacFamily Tree (for Apple). While my first workshop didn't have a great turnout, my one attendee got a great one on one tutorial in which I set the program up for her and got her started. She was back again the next day with a ton more information entered and a list of questions about the way the program works. It was great and she plans to be back to show us how she gets along. She was excited about it and was already passing the word along to friends! :) Just another way we can get the community re-interested in C@P.

So far its as been a good week here at the Iona C@P site and we are having fun with the cyber camps, we only have a few left! Where did the time go? But this week we had a rock and roll theme for Cyber Camp and we played rock band, but it took a bit for the kids to get the hang of but ones that did they liked it! We are hoping to do that again soon. Here is a picture of me and Adam showing them what to do.  

Blog Posts! For The Win!

Another week another blog post, wow where has my life gone. In other news this weeks Rock and Roll Cyber Camps were great! Kids loved playing Rock Band and pretending to be in a band themselves! We have some great projects getting in gear here at the C@P Site too, me and Michael will soon be heading down to Grand Narrows to film this week's sailing school! We will be using that footage and more along with it to make some short ads for the Waterfront Society, this is a big project and I intend to do my best work on it!

To be or not to be, that is the question...

Guess what? On Saturday here at the Baddeck Library, it's Drama Day (Hence the "to be or not to be..." title)!!! My co-worker and I are super excited :D We will have a stage make-up class, an improv class, a chance to film your own film, AND a mock awards show!!!!!!!! (By the way, if you have a name that we could use for our awards, please tell me! If you come up with the one we pick you get a mention during the awards)
But, Drama Day certainly isn't the only thing going on here. You see I'm also trying to get some courses up and running for my learn at C@P project, and so far....I've worked on one set of tutorials. These are for e-readers (it'd be great to get these running soon, they're sooo fun to use!!!).
I guess the last thing is that, sadly I still can't unload my videos from one of the cameras :( But, we will still try to unload and edit and screen the videos taken here on saturday (unless you want to do that yourself...with your own camera...in your own spare time :P)
So yeah...I'll post at another time!

Some cool things thus far...

Hello all,

Just thought that this would be a good place to put a list of the tutorials we have done and are currently working on so you could find them quickly. If you need a copy just let me know.

Miguel completed two for Mac Users

iCloud is a newer service for which he created a youtube tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua_6xDCEAVk&feature=youtu.be

Skype for Mac he created using powerpoint

Adam created a tutorial on iTunes for PC available via youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaahJP8MRhw&feature=youtu.be

Cyber Camp Manual to date (Includes: Super Heroes, Video Games and Rock N Roll, Olympics soon to be added)

I created a very basic PDF on doing filming. I am working on one for tips for filming interviews as well.

The Tutorials we have discussed for this upcoming week are:

Marilyn - Facebook and Twitter (continuing on from this winter and making more user friendly)

Michael - Basics of Semi-professional digital cameras

Adam - Will continue iTunes, in the following weeks he will begin with the iPad

Miguel - Unknown at this time due to technical difficulties with webex

Alison - E-Readers

Sam - I am hosting a workshop on genealogy and computers next week also so those resources will be available.

Hey all! Things have been pretty slow here recently at the Middle River C@P Site, but C@P Day yesterday showed some real promise. I had three customers come in to see my tutorials on iCloud and Skype. They seemed really interested and one of them took home both tutorials on a data stick she had. I helped all three of them set up Skype accounts and one of them even had her first online conversation with her son in Toronto.  One of the customers even gave the first donation of the summer! I really enjoyed the day and so did the customers I gave the tutorials too. They suggested that we have more than one C@P Day in the future so as to accommodate more tutorials and lessons etc.
Hope everyone's week is going well!
-Miguel

Cyber Camps are Underway and off to a Great Start

Oh wow where has the time gone, to the Iona C@P Site cyber camps that's where! Last weeks cyber camp was a huge success, with Superheroes being the theme of the day! The kids loved creating their own comics and superhero gear, almost as much as I did! We had 8 kids for our first day and hopefully the numbers will only continue to grow.

Events happening, happened or coming up here at Baddeck

Hey All!
Here at the Baddeck C@P Site we're getting a lot of events up and running (including a Coffee House we recently had!). I'm really excited for C@P Day tomorrow, and tomorrow, people need to get out and find the nearest C@P Site! We've all got some pretty cool things planned. Here at the Library, I'll be doing lessons on E-readers(only an introduction!), video games, and a video scavenger hunt! Plus lots more, so come down to visit! And in terms of other events, my co-worker here at the library has planned an awesome event called Drama Day for the 28th of July, so if you're up for a day of drama, come visit us (:


And here's a quote to start your day,

Mid Summer

Busy and innovative

Can't believe it's mid summer already, but time flies when you're busy!

Looking forward to seeing contributions from each C@P Site youth intern and learning what their C@P Sites are promoting, what community members are most interested in & what history & heritage stories come from our C@P communities.

What are C@P Sites up to....

Iona - check out our new webpage - www.ionacapsite.com

Baddeck Library - busy with summer programming including an evening Coffee House

Middle River - is there gold in Middle River? - story coming soon!

St. Ann's - always busy with patrons entering or exiting the Cabot Trail and with visitors and students from the Gaelic College

Bay St. Lawrence - keeping up with "Top of the Island" and local community events

Ingonish Library - serving the Internet and Library needs of Ingonish and area

North Highlands Community Musuem - celebrating the history & culture of Northern CB Island

Keep up to date with us on Facebook and like our page....VCCAPS Facebook also, follow us on Twitter @VcCAP

It's been a busy summer so far at the Bay St. Lawrence c@p site. The tourist are stopping in everyday as well as locals for regular internet use. All the youth are excited for c@p day and I am getting things ready for all of the activities as they are coming very soon! We are planning an evening for story telling later in the summer mostly involving seniors who have stories to share about their youth to contribute to the theme of Heritage and History of Bay St. Lawrence. We are looking forward to these events here in Bay St. Lawrence and hope to see lots of people enjoying them!

Some photos from Orientation Day

Our Summer 2012 Youth Team

L-R: Samantha MacKinnon SYIC; Miguel Demello YI; Michael MacKenzie YI; Adam Sheppard YI; Marilyn Soloman YI; Alison Holmes YI

Youth Intern Orientation Day

Yesterday, July 3rd, we held our annual orientation day in beautiful Baddeck. We spent our morning at the Baddeck courthouse getting acquainted with one another and the VCCAPS policies and procedures. Following lunch, we headed up to the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site (AHBNSHC) where we were given a tour by Rebecca. We saw many amazing things and at times were a little bit surprised by just how big of a role not only Bell played in the history of technology but also with Victoria County's place in it all.

Now we are off and running on another summer adventure. We hope to see you at one of our sites soon!

Welcome!

Our Summer season is off and running. Welcome back to our returning students Allison at Baddeck Library and Marilyn in Bay St. Lawerence. A big welcome to our new interns, Miguel in Middle River and Adam and Michael in Iona.

Here's to another great season with C@P!