Sandra Says

I had about three second of fame last night on KPRC-TV Channel 2 (the local NBC affiliate station). The story was about the success of the Houston Public Library’s Summer Reading Program. No video posted, but a web-equivalent story is posted on their site:

[snip]

“Last year, we had 20,000 kids and teens register for the program. As of mid-July, we had more than 60,000,” said Sandra Fernandez with the Houston Public Library.

[snip]

“Studies show that children who read during the summer retain more of what they learned in the previous school year and are better prepared to start the next school year,” said Fernandez.

[snip]

The Summer Reading Program continues through Friday, August 1st.

from OCLC’s latest report about public library funding

Originally uploaded by The Shifted Librarian

Via the shifted librarian. Very interesting.

I my sleep-deprived mind, posting this instead of tweeting it makes sense. Once upon a time, I kept an online journal. I started it as an experiment in html. It was my way to force myself to learn, a place to experiment, a location online where I could vent and connect.

Once upon a time I blogged daily. Admittedly, it was using a handle (an online persona, an alias, a name other than my own which I used everywhere). But it was the place where I went every day to put my life into words, make friends and follow up on the things that were going on… online and off.

Once upon a time I started a blog under my real name, to keep family and friends up to date on what I was doing. This was during a long few weeks I spent bed-ridden due to a back injury. I was very very bored. And so I started a new project, and posted to it regularly. It was mostly photos with captions, but it served its purpose well.

Once upon a time I started another blog, this one. It was supposed to be a place where I posted updates to my professional associates/friends/network. A place where I could update on the things that were going on, what I did, my interactions with reporters, etc. But today those updates no longer live in this space. Those updates live in Twitter.

Once upon a time I opened a Twitter account. I never anticipated that it would be one of the things I check daily, several times a day. Every morning I check my email accounts, personal and professional, my RSS feeds for news and blog mentions of my organization, Twitter, LinkedIn and others. If I don’t have time for the entire process, RSS feeds, LinkedIn and others will be delayed. Email and Twitter will not be delayed.

Under normal circumstances, I would have posted something like “Cannot sleep. Thinking about how my blogging habits have changed.” on Twitter and that would have been that.

So, you might ask, why am I boring you with a blog post? I’ve decided that I need to force myself to write, so writing longer items will become easy again. Kind of like exercising when you haven’t for a while, you ease yourself back into your old routine.

I can’t sleep, and am using my insomnia as an exercise opportunity. So sorry for the interruption.

My good friend and occasional client Geraldina Wise was featured on Primer Impacto. A Spanish language national television program, the show focused on her work in designing sustainable, green housing. Her most notable project was her own home, which can be viewed in the video.

I have learned more about sustainable housing from Geraldina than I ever thought possible. She is committed to designing homes that are beautiful, functional and environmentally sound.

Geraldina is a partner at Casa Concept Design.