A forced intrest in Pinterest

So against my better judgement I joined Pinterest today (http://pinterest.com/)and I'm still not sure what I think of it.

I generally don't go in for design or other things like that, but I wish this had existed two years ago when I was planning my wedding. So many visual ideas for so very many things...it's almost overwhelming.

So far my interests seem to lie mostly in the garden and in yarn bombing my community, but pretty much everyone who knows me would have told you that. I'll have to give it a little more time before I decide to keep up with the play, or throw it away.

Why I like my place of work

One of the best things about working on a large campus is that something is always going on. Sometimes it's the big things like plays, concerts and art shows. Some times it's the little things. Today in the tunnel there where several booths set up for the students and other general passerby. Not only did I get to learn about asthma, healthy eating and job opportunities I also got free popcorn and a doughnut egg (more commonly known as a Timbit). It's the constant whirl of activity and change that keeps this place interesting, even at it's worst.

Literature map

So this is cool, apparently you put a writer's name in and it makes a map of other authors a reader is likely to enjoy. Great for reader's advisory, so long as you don't need to go into detail about why an author is liked. It's a great first step for doing research on your own.

Here's a link, go put your own authors in and try it! http://www.literature-map.com/

Songza

So I found a cool new music thing! Finally! It's called Songza, obviously, and it's free!

So if you log in online or on your phone, you get to a "concierge" Who asks you what mood you are in limited by the time of day (Wednesday has "cooking dinner," "reading," and "winding down," etc... as moods) and then offers some musical genres to pick from. It's a little like Stereomood, but I think it's a bit better because you can pick the types of music you like as well as your feelings.

I find I like this feature the most because it's allowing me to find genres that I usually wouldn't listen to. For instance I find I like folk metal, even though I didn't know that existed before this program. After all you have to respect a genre that uses harpsichords and bagpipes with skill. Of course I also listen to styles I already love, I'm guilty listening to a show tunes playlist right now my sister's opinion be damned. :P

One limiting factor is that when I first started listening on my phone the only genre it would give me was indie music. Apparently this was because it was using the three or four songs already on my phone to decide what I liked. It isn't smart enough to know that those aren't a good enough sample, ha ha. Oh and it also gives you the oportuninty to buy songs you especially like. I haven't tried that out yet, but I suspect that this is why they can offer free music so if something awesome comes up I probably will.