Things I'm glad I know about ... Photoshop capabilities

Image from Elizabeth Bird at SLJ Blog

MacGyvering your browser

ex-ten-si-ble [adjective] capable of being extended.
Dictionary.com

One of the reasons for the popularity of the Firefox browser is its extensibility. (see Lessons from the Toppling of Interent Explorer) Using "add-ons," one can customize the tool to meet one's personal style of working.

My favorite feature is being able to add various tools to the search box in the upper right corner of the Firefox window. By clicking on the logo, a drop down box appears with some default search engines, but what is really fun is the link to "Manage Search Engines."

Add a site you commonly search, then it's always there in just one click.

Of course there are hundreds of Firefox "Add-Ons" that do different tricks. GoogleGears, which allows one to work on GoogleDoc applications when off-line, is a must have. This looks like a useful listl: Best Firefox Extensions for E-Learners by Edutastic, but I've not tried most of the recommendations.

And I would add these caveats: It's tempting to spend a larger amount of time dinking with these little programs than the amount of time they actually save. And quite frankly, I've installed more than a couple, played with them instead of doing work, and then promptly forgot I even had them. Add-ons can cause conflicts and need to be updated (GoogleGears is still not available for the latest version of Mac Firefox as of this writing.) So, think, "Do I REALLY need this?" before hitting the install button.

Favorite "add-ons" and extensions?

How do we make the school experience more extensible for kids?

E-greetings

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 8.14833659491194 years old. (You old hound dog, you!) The Birthday Calculator

My grandmother, like Jack Benny, always claimed to be 39 years old. I've decided that's not a bad idea. I think I will remove the year from by DOB on Facebook. As so many have reminded me, today I can celebrate being another year older (and deeper in debt.)

This is the first year I've been "remembered" by so many people on my birthday. While I would like to think my happiness is always foremost in others' thoughts, I'm suspicious that Facebook and other apps have helped most folks track this revered date.

Regardless of the cause and enabling technologies involved in my bump in birthday attention, it leaves me with some questions:

Should I tell each person who send me an e-card a thank-you?

Need I respond to each person who writes on my "wall?"

Will I be seen as uncaring and insensitve if I, in turn, don't send a birthday wish to everyone who sent one to me? (The Christmas card conundrum.)

Should I be admitting I am old enough to know who Jack Benny was?

How do you let people know that funny greetings that involve senility, incontinence, relative-age to trees, etc. now strike too close to home to be truly amusing?

Should I be depressed when I find myself in the last bar of a demographic chart - the 55 and older category? Why don't they add just one more bar labeled "Dead"?

Anyway, thank you to all my well-wishers. If I can figure out the birthday thingie in Facebook, I'll try to return the sentiments.