24 April 2008

These are a few of my favorite things

Technology. It adds so much to our lives, including the weight of the things we take along with us. I am writing this as I sit at a research table on the second floor of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In the last 12 months I have been here three times. I thought I knew pretty much what was here but my usual self-guided tour, browsing through the online catalog, microtext catalog, shelves of books, and microtext cabinets added several things to my research list. I did come armed with some important tools to help with the research process.
  • Digital camera, battery charger, cable to transfer images to my computer, and SLIK compact tripod
  • Computer with CoolPad to keep the air circulating under it
  • Canon flatbed scanner that connects with a USB cable, no power cord needed
  • Zune and earbuds to listen to my favorite women's radio station or music stored on the computer. I can listen to the radio station as a live stream online.
  • Copy card for the ACPL
  • Cell phone and charger (of course the phone is always on silent or vibrate)
  • SimpleTech portable, pocket-size hard drive for backup with USB cable to connect directly to my computer.
  • 2 flash drives for storage and sharing documents
  • Special wipes to clean the computer and scanner screens
  • Power strip with a heavy duty surge protector that has extra outlets for the various equipment
  • Vital to all this: acetaminophen for the aching back and shoulders and a briefcase on wheels to carry all of it.

1 comment:

Ruby Coleman said...

Some great ideas, Paula. I share some of these and more on my blog, Genealogy Lines http://genalines.blogspot.com. It's called What's in My Bag. This was a real crowd pleaser at our local genealogy society meeting last week. I had to have my wheely cart to pull it though, plus could hardly lift it to a table. .... Ruby Coleman, Genealogy Works