Minecraft

Minecraft is all the rage with boys and grown men. You can find merchandise such as t-shirts, jewelry, candy, and party supplies. 

I have watched my brothers and my husband play this game and I will admit that the graphics drive me nuts....but they seem to enjoy it and find it addicting.

What I have learned is that the game is not extremely user friendly, but you can find tutorials on YouTube. It is an addicting game and very time consuming. The nice thing is that you can play with friends.

With the popularity of this game it is a great way to connect with young people. Libraries are having Minecraft events or clubs for teenagers for them to connect with others their age and to provide a location for them to play and technology to use. 

Facebook

vs.

LinkedIn

I have account on both of these networks. I find that Facebook is better for personal information and LinkedIn is better for professional relationships. I am still learning how to best utilize all of LinkedIn's resources and how to use this website to make more professional contacts. Facebook does have pages for IUPUI and other businesses, this allows them to market events and other information very quickly, so at times it can be useful for more than just personal information.

Today is IU Day!!!! 

My thoughts on the book Cinder.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is the first book in the series I am currently obsessed with. I was first attracted to this story because I had heard that it was based on the traditional Cinderella story but with a science fiction twist. I am a huge Disney fan so I picked up the audio copy at the library.

I love how Meyer has taken a traditional fairy tale and kept the basic characters but given it a whole new feeling by making the heroine a cyborg and placing the story in the future. The story was full of action and kept my attention. I was quick to head to the library and pick up the rest of the series to listen to. 

If you enjoy Once Upon a Time or Grimm you will enjoy this series, I highly recommend it.

An exert from Chapter 1:

Sighing, Cinder bent over the toolbox beneath the worktable. After digging through the jumbled mess of screwdrivers and wrenches, she emerged with the fuse puller that had been long buried at the bottom. One by one, she disconnected the wires that still linked her foot and ankle, each spurting a tiny spark. She couldn't feel them through the gloves, but her retina display helpfully informed her with blinking red text that she was losing connection to the limb. 

With a yank of the last wire, her foot clattered to the concrete. 

The difference was instant. For once in her life, she felt . . . weightless. 

She made room for the discarded foot on the table, setting it up like a shrine amid the wrenches and lug nuts, before hunkering over her ankle again and cleaning the grime from the socket with an old rag. 

The book has been placed on the following lists and been a nominee for numerous awards.

•      2013 Teen Choice Book Award Finalists
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• 2013 Texas Lone Star Reading List
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• 2013 Texas Tayshas Reading List
• 2013-2014 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Middle School Master List
• 2014 New York State Charlotte Award High School Reading List (Grades 9-12)
• 2015-2016 California Young Reader Medal Young Adult Nominees
• 2016 Connecticut Nutmeg Children's Book Award Teen Nominees
• 2016 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award Master List

Social Networks

So many people are glued to their phones these days................me included.

There are so many social networks to choose from: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr, GoodReads, LinkedIn ect....

I use the following on an almost daily basis: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and GoodReads.


I signed up for Facebook during college but really didn't use it much till my junior or senior year. I mainly use it now to keep in touch with family that lives out of state. It is very addicting! I get very tired of the chain posts though.

I like Instagram much better because I love taking pictures. I post pictures of my daughters, food or of our cat. I like that there are not a lot of distractions on there and it is focused on pictures.

I like Twitter a lot to, I don't think you see as much junk in your feed as you do with Facebook. I use Twitter to stay up to date in education trends and the young adult genre. I like that is seems a little simpler than Facebook because they limit the number of characters used,

I use GoodReads to track the books I read or listen to. I like to put books on there that are recommended to me by friends or that I see on Twitter or other places so when I need something to read I can go there and I have a list to choose from.






I am working on trying to limit my use of social networking apps and make sure I focus on the people around me too.