#10-Avatar

I am trying to dispolay my avatar

#7-Technology

I read a number of the different participants bogs aobut thing #7 and technology. Most were talking about things liek digital cameras and facebopok and things like that. My choice uis much more mundane but has been a valuable asset. I live with my parents and in 2005, I got a new Dodge Grand Caravan and gave my parents my 2000 Caravan. Last week the air conditioning wasn't working right and after taking it to be looked at it was going to be at least $2800 to fix. So DAd started talking about new vehicle. This is not the time in my life to get a new vehicle but he had had good success with a used one a number of years ago. I had heard people touting CAR Max so I went to their website and showed Dad how to access it and retrieve info (my Dad does okay on word processing and can do some Internet but usually I initiate it for him). He found a few cars he was interested in and I found a few more. So last night we went to Car Max in Rockville and after doing a walk around eliminated everything but another Dodge Grand Caravan. So then we talked to a sales representative. And an hour later we have a car being transferred to here from Virginia to look at that has been visually inspected for us (done in 1/2 hour), had our 2000 van roadtested and a trade in value given, and we are pretty well set to buy another vehicle all through the auspices of the Internet. To be able to look at a few writeups and say yea or nay and then to use the Internet to refine our search to the specifications we really wanted like power doors and quad seats and etc was fantastic. Having gone for several days a couple of weeks ago with no air conditioning in my van due to a bad fan, I know Dad didn't want to go to long without the air conditioning. So now if financing it was just faster, and quicker, and easier and yet it involves technology also cause we have to apply online for the loans (Dad and I are splitting the cost of the new vehicle).

#6 Flickr fun

I am fascinated by the Montagr. I spent quite a bit of time exploring this and putting in different search terms and then looking at the different pictures seen in the createrd mosaic. I did titmouses, and bald eagles, and etc. I looked at all of the other possiblilities also.

23 things #5

After spending over an hour trying to figure out exactly learning about Flickr and then trying to interpret the directions to do this blog I gave up. I came back today and tried again and found that to post a picture I had to sign in to Flickr. Since I do not want a third email account and I will probably never use Flickr again, I decided to just blog about one of the pictures. I looked at: birds, butterflies, Laytonsville, discovered that there is a Tawasentha ParK somewhere ( that's the name of our county's 4-H Camp), and then did 4-H searches and finally limited it to the county fair. And lo, and behold, I found a picture with me in it. www.flickr.com/photos/mvjantzen/1187441094 is a picture from our annual 4-H Cake Auction at the Montgomery Fair. We auction off the 4-H blue ribbon cakes and the money goes to the county 4-H for camp scholarships, other scholarships, items for which there is no other funding like awards and ribbons, and for other needs. I am the chairman for the auction and we have steadily been increasing the amount we get each year for over 15 years. This past year we made over $21,000 (yes, that's correct). Each cake rarely goes for less than $300. I am the adult seated on the right -taking the money and etc.

#2 Blogging

Setting up the blog was difficult for me because the language used was unfamiliar or not clear. I still do not know if I actually entered a password when creating my blog but something said i was supposed to note it down long after I had actually followed the steps to create my blog.

#1 7 1/2 Habits

I am more a visual learner and definitely one who learns by example. However, when the vocabulary is not readily/easily understandable, I have problems. So getting into this program was extremely difficult and time consuming cause I had to keep stopping and asking for help.

7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

The easiest habit of the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners is Habit #2: accept responsiblity for my own learning. I learned long ago that I learn something new every day and that learning is as easy as opening a book, listening to the TV, or listening to a person whether you know them or not.
The hardest habit is habit #6: using technology to your advantage. I do not rush to learn a new technology. I only have a cell phone for emergencies and a few situations where I would need to be constantly in contact. Most of the the time my cell phone is turned off and I like it that way. All these modern gadgets just confuse me. I learn best by doing and if I am not constantly using a new gadget, I simply will not remember how to use it.