Thing 23-- Wahoo!

I can honestly say that I enjoyed this discovery journey. There were, of course, some things I enjoyed doing more than others, and some things that I did not enjoy doing at all. But over all, I believe that it was an enjoyable experience.

When I started the different exercises, I began with every good and perfect intention of doing each step on time (which didn't happen) and learning from each one (which did). Later on through the experience, as the winter months progressed, even when I was getting squeezed with a variety of pressing engagements, I decided that, despite the fact that I thought the various steps were coming a little too quickly, I would press on, simply because I wanted the MP3 player at the end of it all.

I don't know how many of the things I learned I will keep up on later. Some I have continued to use on a regular basis, and some I have not. I think that will be the same for everyone, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience new technologies, regardless of how much I enjoyed them, or how much I plan on using them in the future. (At least now, I know what a lot of them are, and whether or not they're useful to me.)

There will never be an end to the acquisition of knowledge. We will all continue to learn new things and to pass on that knowledge to others (after all, isn't that part of what being a librarian is all about?). The day we cease to learn, we cease to live.

And so, in the immortal words of Winston Churchill, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. Let us press on, learning as much as we possibly can, and in doing so, live life to its possible fullest.

Thing 22

I've never been an overly huge fan of audiobooks. If you want to look at a particular passage more closely, you have to rewind or go back to the previous section, and it's much more cumbersome than simply making your eyes scan up a few lines. And no matter how good of a reader the narrator is, for me, the dialogue always sounds better in my own mind.

That aside, like podcasts, I can understand why many people think they are superneat. Maybe after I get my MP3 player, I'll end up listening to them more. I did come across several books on NetLibrary that I wouldn't mind reading at some point.