Friday, August 24, 2012

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

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

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.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

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!



Friday, August 10, 2012

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!



Thursday, August 9, 2012

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!





http://ycp.totfarm.com/pics/pic_12018177552573.jpg

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......


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

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. 


Saturday, August 4, 2012

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

Thursday, August 2, 2012

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

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

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!