Traffic

So I've always used Sigalert to find out how the traffic's like before I head somewhere, but the problem with it is that it's only live. So there are times when I want to find out if a particular section of say 280 will be bad on my way home from a work meeting and whether or not I should take a local route, but was never able to figure it out (unless I had the foresight to check the site a day or two early!). Just today, I decided to try the traffic indicator on Google Maps and it's so cool! You can have it predict traffic on certain days of the week & at certain times!! I love it! And now I know that it would be a VERY bad idea to take 101S to dinner tonight. =P

Library Elf

Have you ever found it annoying to have to check multiple library card accounts for due dates and hold statuses and what-not? (or am I the only nerd who goes to more than one library?) Well, there's a solution now! Many of the libraries in the Bay Area can be accessed through one service called Library Elf! Now I can see the whole list of books and holds I have sorted by due date all in one place. Yay! And you can get notices on holds & due dates & overdues through email, RSS or SMS. You can also modify how early/frequently you get those messages. (Unlike at the library, where it's a set 3 days before the due date.) I'm looking forward to using it from now on! I only wish I could also check my fines and put in requests through it as well! Maybe they'll add those features later. :)

WorldCat

Have you ever wished you could search for a particular book from all the surrounding libraries with just one click? Well, you can with WorldCat!! I recently discovered it myself, and it's already been very useful for me. The confusing part (for me) is that you do the search and select the book before you can actually put in your location info (i.e. zip code). For some reason, whenever I use WorldCat, my location defaults to Hayward....Hope you guys find it as useful as I have.