Blogging Challenge: 11 Questions and 11 Random Facts About Me

Linda Lindsay, my favorite Hawaiian librarian, has tagged me for a blogging challenge. 

The mission:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger. 
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4. List 11 bloggers.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.

Linda Lindsay is a school librarian at Seabury Hall in Makawao, Hawaii. She maintains the LibGuides for her school, Seabury Reads blog, and The Maui Librarian2 in Olinda blog. Thanks for tagging me, Linda!

2. 11 random facts about me:

My undergraduate degree is in Communications.
I love photography and began taking photos in high school.
I have been writing music since I was 10 years old.
My exercise schedule is usually 7 days a week, at least 40 minutes and as much as 1 hour.
I love hummus and eat it for breakfast Monday-Friday.
Little things make me happy.
I have a great sense of humor.
I am left-handed.
I grew up in Inwood, in northern Manhattan, across the street from Inwood Hill Park and Columbia University's football stadium
My favorite group is Earth, Wind and Fire
I love animals and always support worthy causes for them

3. Answers to the 11 questions Linda has created for me:

1. What makes you happy? (Be as serious or as light as you like.)
   Having a good time with friends, being by the ocean, curling up with a good book on a rainy day.
2. Extroverted or introverted? Believe it or not, a little of both.
3. ereader or paper? Paper. I love to feel and turn the pages of a book. The only time I use my Kindle is to download and read a very large book.
4. Favorite book? (Or your latest favorite book or one of your favorite books) My latest favorite book is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. (I told you I love animals..)
5. Mac or pc? Mac since the late 80's!!
6. What's your favorite web-based tool? Google Docs
7. Who do you admire? Too many to list
8. Dogs or cats, or other, or none? I have two cats, but will add a dog once I'm no longer working full time.
9. Where do you see yourself in 20 years? Living in a different state and working part time.
10. What are you most proud of?  My creative side. 
11. Why do you blog? To share ideas and resources with other educators.

4. My list of 11 bloggers:

David Andrade

Laura Fleming 

Ken Halla 

Gwyneth Jones 

Shannon Miller 

Cathy Jo Nelson 

Joyce Valenza 

Tiffany Whitehead

Richard Byrne 

Larry Ferlazzo

Mary Clark

5. 11 questions for the bloggers I have nominated to answer:

Have you always worked in education?

What app do you use the most on your smartphone?

How do you explain your job to people?

iPad or other tablet?

Favorite software program and why-

What inspires you?

Do you have any goals you'd like to reach by the end of the school year?

What advice would you give to a new teacher?

Twitter, Facebook or both?

City mouse or country mouse?

What's your top New Year's resolution for 2014?

About the Edublogs...Part One

Now that I have finally gotten to slow down and relax on my vacation, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who voted for my blog. I am very excited about winning the Edublog for Best Library Blog, but my reasons for wanting it might surprise you. During the voting phase, many of my students (and some friends) asked me what I would win as a prize. I told them that I wanted to expand my Internet presence as a media specialist and educator, and that I would be able to place the "winner" badge on my blog. My hope is that people who have never heard of me would give the blog a chance. Not sure if the students got it, but my friends sure did. Today's world is fueled by social media, and although I know I have an awesome blog, there are many others I continually learn from and respect, including Gwyneth Jones, Joyce Valenza, Tiffany Whitehead, Jennifer LaGarde, Nikki D. Robertson and Shannon Miller. If you are a teacher-librarian or media specialist, you should be following their blogs.

Part 2 of this post will cover this year's voting process.