23 Things - The End. . .

. . . is not the end. I realize that. Learning new technologies and discovering ways to use them to enhance my professional and personal life will not (and cannot) stop here. The best part of this experience has been to go through it with many, many co-workers. There was always someone there to help me through a difficult part, and I was able to help others through their difficult parts. The most difficult part of the learning experience was to maintain self-discipline. Some days I needed self-discipline to not give up on a difficult part, and other days I needed self-discipline to stay on task. (Especially on YouTube). It is easy to go from one blog or podcast or video to another and another and another and lost track of what your original intent was and of the time.
I still need to go and make a quilt, however - to do something hands-on. Life is balance.

eBooks

Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortium is a boon for readers. Having library materials available in audio and e-book format is a convenience for many people. I like that you can also burn a CD of an audio book, thus expanding the use of the book for the individual. However, I'm still not ready to read an entire book online, much less on a PalmPilot!

Podcasts

Podcasts are quite useful for learning and for entertainment. My experience did involve huge amounts of frustration, as not every podcast worked, and not every podcast was available for adding to my blogline (even if it did say RSS). But I enjoyed messing around with podcasts, and enjoyed having a purely audio experience with the internet. The one I added to my blogline was "Rachel's Reviews" - Rachel seems to be a sweet young girl who really loves reading. This podcast would be helpful for teens who need direction in choosing books - the podcasts are brief, include music, and Rachel is perky. I certainly would hate to discover that Rachel is really a cranky old guy with a high voice.