Musings & Memories Montage Telling My Stories and Discovering Your Stories
The Internet Ate my Day 11/13/07
Okay ... this is what I did when I wasn't hashing and rehashing Health Insurance plans with the hubby ... or ... trying to finish that research project I'm not talking about ... or ... logging into SL too late for my meetings.
It was actually a fairly interesting day out on the web ... wanna see?
Have fun, Enjoy, pam
Pam is a Texan living on the Southern fringe of Upstate New York. Today she prepared for winter by removing the screens from the windows and washing the outside glass ... all the better for shooting the snowbirds -- with a camera! ... the one's with wings! Really ya'll ... follow me here!
We muddled through it a bit and compared notes and made sure we were both on the same page and finally I also saw the disappearing act that the banner was pulling. DaughterV said, "Yeah, you're just going to have to report it missing from coast to coast ... well, no, really it's more like that Bermuda Triangle thing -- Oregon, New York, Texas ... "
Welllll it turns out that I messed up my HTML code and I could see my Thursday Thirteen banner with Firefox and the Mac browser, uh Safari(?), could also see it. Microsoft's Internet Explorer ... Yeah ... No so fortunate.
So, again, I'm forced to look at something that has caused me issues before. I do not have a blogging system ... I don't have it down to where I can put it in a flowchart and follow it. I have a few portions of it charted out but then I get sloppy and start thinking I don't have to follow it because ... uh ... I'm good? Okay. We won't go there.
One of the most basic rules of web design is: Always check your work in multiple browsers. I've routinely done this when I'm changing the design lay out but ... what I failed to remember is that every post is a design element that deserves to at least a glance in that IE thing.
So I'm working again on my flowcharts and trust me ... "Check IE" is on the board.
And for my mother ... I am sorry I ever doubted that the photo of me on the car wasn't there ... but I know how advertising resistant I am from growing up with ya'll ... so much so that I honestly thought that you just glanced right over it like I do with advertising that shows up in the middle of the blog. Trust me ... I'm not complaining about being advertising resistant. It saves me a lot of eye strain, time and, of course, money.
For everyone else who uses Internet Explorer ... hey, get Firefox ... LOL ... no no really, I'm sorry and I promise to double ck my posts from now on. Oh and I fixed the Still Me after all this Time post. Now everyone can see how adorable I was sitting on the trunk of the car.
These are just a few of the tools that widens the chasm between Firefox and IE7 ... yes even IE7. I literally no longer know how to function on the web without these tools.
All-in-One Gestures | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons Control your browsing experience by "drawing" commands with your mouse. Example: I close tabs with a small downward stroke. Works anywhere on the page. Do not try to remember their gestures. Customize it completely. Most successful customizing a few commands and then use them until comfortable.
All-in-One Sidebar | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons At first I didn't really understand my husband's fascination with this add-on. Then I watched him play with it a while one day ... then I downloaded it. It seems than any tool that has an icon and a list can be displayed in the side bar. Oh it also displays bookmarks (favorites), history, etc.
del.icio.us | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons Of course! This is the simple tool and the most stable and the easiest. The others are frightening and one even cost me half a day's work (Yahoo's new toy to be exact). I'd love the new Yahoo sidebar version but it takes OVER EVeryTHing! I'll let you know if they ever get it right.
Google Notebook / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons If you do research, this IS a MUST have. There's a lot to it and yet it is so easy to use! I highly recommend skimming over the FAQ http://www.google.com/googlenotebook/faq.html
Google Toolbar for Firefox / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons The Google Toolbar. Very nice extras plus it has spell check. While Firefox 2.0 does a fantastic job of finding my spelling errors ... it is and ESL dictionary when it comes to suggestions. Google always knows how to suggest the correct spelling for what I really meant to spell.
PermaTabs | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons This tool is fantastic. During the day I open several tabs that I usually leave open all day long. Permatab keeps them open. I can't accidentally close them. If I want to close them, it's an easy right click menu toggle option. It will also automatically open saved Permatabs when Firefox opens.
Sage | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons A very sturdy little RSS feed reader. Works with the Live Bookmarks feature of Firefox. Save the links to the RSS (or Atom) by clicking on the RSS icon and then saving it to the Sage Folder ... or a folder within the Sage folder ... or if you're like me the folder within the folder ...
Snapper Comments | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons This is an absolutely invaluable tool. You can drag your mouse over a portion of your screen and save it to a .jpg file ... bummer about the 2.0 you have to be a little pc savvy to install it. Read the comments. Short of it Go here to download - http://www.sauviller.be/files/snapper-2.0-fx.xpi - Then tell your pc to open the file with Firefox.
Tab Mix Plus | Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Corporation / 07_01_25FavoriteFirefoxAdd-Ons I think I could do 13 ways I use Tab Mix Plus. Absolutely the best tool. If I could only have one Add-on ... I'd panic and then pick this one. Play with the settings one panel at a time. If you download this one and want help, I will do a write up on it.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens! If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please leave a link in your comment.
What I mean is ... Please spell it out for us all that you are participating in Thursday Thirteen and leave your link.
And don't be bashful if it's already Friday or Saturday ... leave me a note anyway and I'll come visit ... especially since I do most of my Thursday Thirteen visiting on Friday since most of you post to your blog and my blog after I'm asleep for the day anyway :~)
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
Check Point ZoneAlarm - ZoneAlarm FREE Download / 07_01_18FreeComputerSoftware This is another of our faves for everyday use on everyday pc's. You need to do your own research and decide if you need more. And they've definitely been busy upgrading their Pro packages since I last looked! I can tell you from a support stand point we've run into far fewer issues with Zone Labs than with Norton.
Thunderbird - Reclaim your inbox / 07_01_18FreeComputerSoftware They aren't kidding! I completely control my NiNe e-mail accounts. With 53 Filters (and counting). One of my fave features: Some of my accounts I only download the headers (I only see the to and from and subject line). I especially use this with my email address that I use to sign up for "stupid annoying" memberships ... like newspapers. Thunderbird also blocks images in email that might be considered junk.
e-Sword - the Sword of the LORD with an electronic edge / 07_01_18BibleFreeComputerSoftware When I was going through my list of programs to make this list, I ran across this one. I had totally forgotten it because I downloaded it in the middle of the mass confusion of my move from Oregon to NY. One of my fave things is that it includes Strong's dictionary.
VCOM - Reviews PowerDesk / 07_01_18FreeComputerSoftware I use the free version mainly for zip capabilities and to view the File Tree in two panels. My husband uses the pro version. The pro version has all the best bells and whistles.
Picasa - Picture Simplicity / 07_01_18PhotographyFreeComputerSoftware Photoshop it ain't ... but we're talking free. And Easy. It is very easy to work with and has some good interfaces to get pics to the web, to various photo printing companies, and from your camera. If I'm prep-ing a batch of photos for a web gallery, this is what I use.
Fun
Yahoo! Widgets / 07_01_18PhotographyCoolFunFreeComputerSoftware These are ... take your pick ... fun, cool, useful, fun, cool, productive, fun, cool, photo friendly. I pick a lot of fun and cool ones. Like some days ... I feel a little spacey so ... I can just let the universe float on my desktop. But some days I need a timer (ok every day). And some times I need photo cropper guides.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens! If you are participating in Thursday Thirteen, please leave a link in your comment.
What I mean is ... Please spell it out for us all that you are participating in Thursday Thirteen and leave your link.
And don't be bashful if it's already Friday or Saturday ... leave me a note anyway and I'll come visit ... especially since I do most of my Thursday Thirteen visiting on Friday since most of you post to your blog and my blog after I'm asleep for the day anyway :~)
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
Ok well to quote del.icio.us on del.icio.us with running commentary [in between the brackets] :
del.icio.us is a collection of favorites - yours and everyone else's. ...
del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website -- the primary use of del.icio.us is to store your bookmarks online, which allows you to access the same bookmarks from any computer and add bookmarks from anywhere, too. [It took needing to have access to my favorites from multiple computers before I would consider "going public" with my favorites. To help me feel a little bit less on display, I have many that are marked "do not share"] On del.icio.us, you can use tags to organize and remember your bookmarks, which is a much more flexible system than folders. [This is very true! Especially when you start combining tags in your searches. Like hmm Christmas+food]
You can also use del.icio.us to see the interesting links that your friends and other people bookmark, and share links with them in return. You can even browse and search del.icio.us to discover the cool and useful bookmarks that everyone else has saved -- which is made easy with tags.
.... Here are examples...
Research - Writing an article? Researching .... Use del.icio.us to keep track of all the source materials and commentary that you find online. [If you highlight a sentence or two on the web site before you save it to del.icio.us, the highlighted portion will be saved, also -- but only a sentence or two.]
Wishlist - Go to any commerce site, find what you like, save it to del.icio.us and tag it as wishlist. Then you can tell people to check out your wishlist bookmarks by giving them a link to http://del.icio.us/marillaanne/wishlist. [I didn't do that ... it was in the help file just like that.]
Podcast - Want to hear some great podcasts? Visit the mp3+podcast tag combination and start listening. .... [I haven't tried this yet]
Vacation - Planning a trip? Save links to hotels, activities, and transportation and use tags like "travel", "vacation", and "to-visit". [I moved a portion here to a more logical spot.]
Linklog - Save bookmarks to interesting websites and add a bit of commentary to create a lightweight linklog. Then, use linkrolls or the daily blog posting feature to include your del.icio.us bookmarks on your blog or website. [I wonder who we know doing this to create her new "del.icio.us Thursday Thirteen." I guess we'll find out tomorrow ;~) ]
Cookbook - Whenever you find a great recipe on a website, save it to del.icio.us. Tag it with the recipe's ingredients or style of cooking, and then when you're wondering what to make for dinner, you can use your saved bookmarks to help you remember the perfect recipe. [I've started saving them for Billy]
Collaboration - Friends, coworkers, and other groups can use a shared account, special tag, or their del.icio.us networks to collect and organize bookmarks that are relevant -- and useful -- to the entire group -- complete with comments. [Those comments are very very handy when sending links.] [This is the portion I moved:] Collaborate with friends and family by using the "for:username" tag. [I share links with my middle child (the only pc oriented child that I have) and to my husband (Billy). I set up his account. He's still lame when it comes to using it but when he says "do you know where... , I tell him, "Look in your del.icio.us." The only bummer part about sharing is that you can't share with your network AND keep the link private.]
Second, download the tool bar accessories (very handy for one click saving /viewing of your del.icio.us faves) for FireFox or IE and then if you feel really lost read: a guide to saving bookmarks.
Third, send me links when you find something that is "Oh that's just so for:MarillaAnne." (Just for the record, right now, I'm not sharing my network list. I haven't heard that they want me to.)
And Fifth, check your settings ... for some reason "Settings" is where you'll find great tools to help you create "linkrolls" and "tagrolls."
Just go slow. When you start to get comfy, explore your importing and exporting options (also in "settings"). Don't do any importing etc until you carefully read the instructions. The voice of experience over here says ... don't let it auto-assign any tags just make sure you have your faves already carefully organized.
There's one more quirk you need to know: when you type del.icio.us into your browser it must not have a "www" nor a ".com" near it ... it must appear just so: http://del.icio.us.
Alright I look forward to seeing what kind of fun ya'll have.
Today the rest of the story and rolling the credits (pt 1 orf 3) 11/30/06
The story of how Fussy's NaBloPoMo idea mixed with more people and more ideas changed my world. Part one is "The Rest of the Story."
Long Long ago in a little city in Texas a girl was born. As this girl grew up there were two things she did consistently: Teach and write. We all know that a prophet is not appreciated in her own town so we cannot say that her younger brothers were appreciative of her teaching efforts. She did, however, find an accepting audience among her dolls.
She grew up, got married ... it was the dark ages ... before Internet. She often felt she had a lot to say but no one to listen – except her three kids. So she taught them. All I can confidently tell you is ... they all survived.
Then life changed and her husband grew tired of her constantly ignoring the fact that she had always wanted to write. He also grew tired of her ignoring her artistic abilities so he bought her a camera. In the summer of 2003 a friend gave her a web site. So gradually she learned to sit still and write ... and she learned about photography ... and she slowly became ruler of her own web site.
But still there was no one to listen. Well, ok existing family and friends listened occasionally. But let's face it ... mostly they are spoiled and expect the lady (yes she did grow up to eventually become a lady) to bring any news worth hearing to them. They were not inclined to bring themselves to her web site in order to listen. That's a slight exageration -- two of them have been good to visit regularly ... plus her husband ... so three she had three "readers"!
The lady was whining one night about only having Photoshop 4 and how expensive it would be to upgrade and my husband introduced me to GIMP – which I didn't have the patience to learn while killing various laptop pc's and reloading others. And now that I have a computer that could run it ... I still don't have the patience ... (oh oops ... I've switched from third person to first person or some such grammatical blunder.)
But I did look at various Google searches for various bits of GIMP help ... and I'm fairly certain that's how I met up with Schmutzie of milk money or not, here I come. (It's a good story so I'm sticking with it.) We have many things in common but hmmm yesterday I finally came up with this ... She's like Saturday Night Live and I'm more like I Love Lucy when it comes to how we present our lives. And if you read our blogs side by side, you would swear that we would have to logically have a large amount of dislike for each other. The truth is ... we hit it off pretty well, thank you. We give each other room to think and things to think about. We have a very "Internet coffee shop" kind of relationship. We "bump into each other" from time to time ... have quick chats to catch up and trade ideas ... and then we're off again.
We've discussed mind control (ADD type stuff), how we should or should not treat our readers (largely exploring this really interesting blog media and how we can end up affecting people in ways we never expected), and we've discussed various ways to grow traffic to a blog (she's been at this much longer than I).
Fortunately on one of our visits, I noticed that she was preparing to participate in NaBloPoMo. And since I had been trying without success to "do a blog" on my web site for over a month ... without ever developing any type of discipline, I was onto that idea in a flash!
And so November came and I was still trying to redirect my flock from the idea of getting news from me in emails towards the goal of them coming to me to get the latest. It was not going well.
In the mean time ... on November 2, Merseydotes of Elevated Umbrella got a brilliant idea.
I browsed through the list of participating blogs on Fussy's page and clicked through a dozen or so to see who was out there. I've picked five new blogs to follow for the month. These are blogs that I'd never visited before yesterday, ...
The Odd Mix picked up on the idea and sucked me into his mix on November 6th ...
And somewhere along the way Lane of Pink Elephants created the NaBloPoMo randomizer ... and my reading life got very rich.
and now ... what is the results of all of this? Well that's what we're going to spend the day assessing. But it's pretty obvious what the morals to the story are: The smallest days of your life have seeds that bring forth big things. And, in a galaxy far, far away but somehow linked to you by the smallest little single link on the Internet, someone is creating ideas that can change your life forever.
Stay tuned ... the dog wants out, I need breakfast, and we have yet to analyze the ramifications and roll the credits ... we Have to roll the credits! All of this will be added below this post and before the entry about Mary-LUE.
How to Explain Meebo & IM to Your Grandmother 11/24/06
A little play about how to explain Meebo to your grandmother who has never used a computer. In honor of Elaine of Meebo and her grandmother (who has never used a computer but still has many stories to tell) and all things East Texas.
Stage: Two tables. Table on the left (and it's surroundings) is set up to reflect the home of one of your Grandmother's friends. Table on the right is set up to reflect the home of Your grandmother.
Enter Stage left: Your grandmother enters the home of Grandmother's friend carrying a piece of stationery, a pen, and a small bell.
Enter Stage left: Grandmother's friend.
They move toward the table.
Your grandmother places the stationery, pen and bell down on the paper and turns to her friend.
Your grandmother: "Now, whenever you want to write me a note, you write on this piece of stationery, with this pen. When you are through writing, ring this bell."
Grandmother's friend: Places her hands on her hips, does a double take with her entire body that implies your Grandmother needs to be institutionalized immediately ... and says "Now, why would I want to ring that bell?"
Your grandmother: raises a hand in the classic stop motion that may be native to East Texas and says ... "Now, just listen, I'm not through ... When you ring that bell, I'll hear it at my house ... Then you go on about your business here, watching TV or whatever you do do (possibly implying with her body language that she doesn't think her friend does all that much because she's still stinging from the insinuation that she belongs in an old-folks home) ... And then in a little bit you will hear a second bell. When you hear that bell, come back here to the table and you will see a response from me right on this here piece of stationery."
Grandmother's friend: Looks to heaven for guidance and says ... "Now, look. This is just Tom-foolery ..."
Your Grandmother: (traditionally people think Texans speak slowly ... but we East Texas women know that when we get riled up ... the speed of our conversation revs up considerable ... so ... the following sentences and paragraphs are delivered in rapid fire succession.)
"I know this sounds just insane ... but listen to me ... this is what my granddaughter's been inventing. She says that people all over the world are talking to each other just like this ... Why people in China are talking to people in Canada and people in Canada are talking to people in Germany and people in Germany are talking to people in India and people in India are talking to people in Australia and people in Australia are talking to people in Holland and people in Holland are talking to people in the UK and people in the UK are talking to people in TEXAS and you wouldn't believe the number of Texans talking to Texans ... Just by using this MEEBO thing -- this piece of stationery and a pen and a bell.
"We've been friends since grade school and you know I've never steered you wrong ... well maybe that one time but ... well he didn't turn out too bad after you were married to him for ten years and got him trained right ... please! just try this out.
"My granddaughter tells me we can talk all day on this one piece of stationery ... that it just grows in length and it never runs out. If we want to keep all of it we can. Or if it starts to get way too long, we can cut off the old conversation and throw it away.
"Give it a try ... if it works we have a story to tell and if it doesn't work you can call the paddy wagon."
Grandmother's friend: sighs heavily, shrugs, shakes her head and says ... "I tell you what, just because I don't know what else to do with you and I really like that little granddaughter of yours, I'll give it a try. But if it doesn't work out, I will be calling the pastor to see what he thinks of your behavior and what he thinks would be best."
Your Grandmother: (rolling her eyes and looking to heaven for patience for her unknowing friend) "I knew I could count on you!"
Your Grandmother exits stage left and (eventually) enters stage right and goes to the kitchen for ice tea. (no this is a winter day in East Texas, she's not removing her coat and she is going to have ice tea waiting in the 'fridge)
At this same moment, on the left side of the stage Grandmother's friend sits down at her table. Mutters stuff to herself about Tom-foolery, friends at church, the pastor, and the paddy-wagon. And reluctantly she writes (as she mutters to her self about the world talking to itself) "Hello World!" Then she dutifully and deliberately rings the bell. And then she stalks off to her kitchen to get ice tea.
Your grandmother hears the bell, goes to her own table and reads out loud "Hello World." She laughs with glee. Sits down writes a responding message. Rings her bell and picks up the newspaper to read the letters to the editor.
Grandmother's friend hears the bell, goes over to her table and let's out a very long "Welll I Never in all my life ... Praise the Lord ... wait till the pastor hears about this ... and our friends at church ..."
And then they spend the day discussing the letters to the editor, the pastor, their friends at church, how to avoid the old-folks home, and above all the miracle of grandchildren ... all while reading the newspaper, fixing dinner, and drinking ice tea.
Because they are grandmothers ... they keep the entire conversation which is as large as three rolls of paper towels by the end of the day.
the end
addendum: If Your grandmother doesn't go to church, change the pastor to mayor and church to cafe ... it will work just as well.
If you think this play sounds incredible, change the stationery into a pc, the pen into a keyboard, and the bell into a sound card. Then you have instant messaging ... and then you can understand how incredulous the whole thing sounds to any one who has never used a pc.
If you think the above sounds normal, turn both tables into pc's, turn Grandmother's friend's stationery into one of Your grandmother's web pages, and turn Your grandmother's stationery into her web browser. The pen stays a keyboard and the bell is still a sound card. Then you have meebo.
Well, back in the dark ages, way back in another place and time, we met this guy in a coffee shop. He moved away. We moved away. He moved back. We moved back. Then, we met this guy in a coffee shop.
We thought he was still in Colorado. He thought we were still in East Texas. But we were actually all back in Dallas and we were all frequenting a different coffee shop than the one at which we first met. It was bound to happen that we'd meet up again. When we did, Michael and his biz partner showed us what they were up to: Inventing HyperSites. I was excited out of my mind. I pestered, begged, and whined until Michael was convinced I'd make a decent guinea pig.
So I am using HyperSites to power my blog. I have the "make it from scratch" tool set. It is very powerful and uses programming languages that use all the letters of the alphabet. I however don't use the programming languages. I only use common sense, a dash of logic, and point & click and, just because I like to complicate things, I sometimes use an HTML tag or two.
So ... I haven't gotten around to building my own comment section with my "make it from scratch" tools ... which I could probably do in about the time that it's taken to explain this. But when I get through explaining this, I have more fish to fry and more projects than I can shake a stick at. In the mean time I've remembered there's away to make the manual HaloScan code show up by default in my new blog entries.
Evidently, I asked too many questions about the "make it from scratch" tools because Michael and his crew recently invented some "ready to bake" templates. They've given me access to the templates but I've become very attached to my version. On the other hand, if I were starting over today, I'd go with the templates.
The templates come with the commenting built into them. And a better "contact me" scenario. And great pics from Colorado (which are just there for demo-ing the tool) and ... the templates are available for you so you can go explore your options: HyperSites.com Starting Points.
If you are into graphic designer or web designer, these tools have some secrets and future plans that you need to know about. Drop me a note if you want to know more when the time comes.
Oh did I mention that we moved away again and Michael has moved back to Colorado? Miss those coffee shop days. For that matter, I miss coffee shops! I'm still looking for one I can just walk to.
And just because I know someone's wondering ... The reason I moderate my comments is to protect my readers from the robots that know where I live ... yeah, really, they have my URL and everything. It's one thing for the spam to arrive in my inbox ... another for it to arrive on my posts. And yes I know HaloScan has spam filtering but ... really ... it wouldn't be pretty.
Alright ... wow ... today is gone. I've been hunting down the last bits I need to finish an interview. I think I'll get to share it with ya'll on Friday.
I've gotten several questions about my Blog Alliance idea.
The first being "are your comments off?" welllll not exactly. They are code from HaloScan that I have to remember to put into every post. Since I just started using them, I tend to forget. This is the second time. So I'll put the code in this post and ya'll can talk here ... since I'm on the same topic anyway.
"I have a Blogroll. Do you need a separate blogroll?" No, I personally do not need to go under a new header in your blogroll. I don't want to be lonely – the lone one. If you create your own alliances outside of the one with me – then how (even if) you display your list is up to you and your ideas and plans.
My answer for me: Yes, I do plan to list separately the bloggers who make an alliance with me to signal that we have a mutual agreement. They are not just names I've gathered.
"What is a blogroll anyway?" Ok. Keep in mind I'm new to this stuff but I've been doing some reading ... so I'm going to do what I'm expert at ... disseminate the info.
Blogrolls are lists of blogs that the blog owner aka blogger
Likes and wants to recommend. Hopefully the blogger is reading the blogs and contributing to the conversations on these blogs.
Adds because the blogger is a member of a group and the group has a blogroll display box code thing. (Alright let's remember I'm also leaving geek-dom and I can use average user speak anytime I want to.)
Thinks it will make a good impression on others or the search engines.
Adds because he/she isn't aware that they could be confusing the dickens out of the search engines. (Ok so let's say that I'm way into photography, wanting to go pro, etc. It would help if I had more blogs listed about photography than say oh pizza. And if I could also add the mommy-blogs of my clients who are recommending me ... that would be gold.)
I believe that blogrolls also function in another way ... as social signals that say ...
I've been around long enough to have garnished these uhmm "badges of roaming"
Look I know people you know ... we can be buddies ... we have similar networking habits.
I'm important because I hang out with the big dogs ... well at least I have enough sense to know who the big dogs are.
Basically, Blogrolls can act as third-party validation: You see me. You see a name you know in my blogroll. I must be at least worth giving a short listen to.
Some bloggers are getting specific in their labels: Recommended Reading, Resources, etc. And I will be one of those kinds of bloggers. And I will start with "Blog Alliance Roll."
I'm going to start announcing my alliances on Monday. To my surprise, I already have a few ... even without the comment code :-(
Yes, the ad is projecting a subliminal re one of my needs. Can you believe this is half way?
OK I am very happy this morning. On Saturday Billy and I took the train down the White Plains. We always sit in facing seats to buy a little space. This means that usually there's another set of facing seats across the aisle from us. On the weekends, this means that the space usually becomes filled with a group of very excited travelers. This Saturday was no dif.
A group of girls landed in the seats across the aisle. Soon they were yacking up a subject I am interested in: Social Websites. One of their comments really caught my interest. "I think it's run in a little safer way."
"Excuse me? Which service are ya'll discussing?"
"Facebook," they replied.
"Ah, I thought so. I just found out about Facebook. I've signed up but I've not done anything with it ... I also have a MySpace but MySpace is just so full of trash."
They were quick to agree.
So then I started asking them about ... the other sites I've bumped into.
"Have you played with Xanga?"
"Yeah but ... (boring)"
"Yeah I have to agree ... for some reason things just aren't clicking as well there."
"What about Imeem?"
Looks of total confusion ...
"Well it's sort of like Facebook ... full of people about ya'll's age but no one is really talking to anybody new ... they only seem to talk to people they know in Real Life. ... but ... what about 43things? Have ya'll played with it?"
More looks of confusion. "What's that?"
Oh well ... hmm it's a kind of goal-setting site. People are really open there and talk rather freely. It's very easy to have great discussions there. And it has several neighboring sites ... one is 43places ... where people talk about where they've been and where they want to go ... And then there's 43people because as you go around between the 43things and 43places, you meet people that you think ... 'Hey, I'd like to meet them in Real Life.' ... I find it's lots of fun!"
They were saying that sounded like fun ...
"Ok Ok ... let me ask ya'll this. Do ya'll use meebo?"
More looks of total confusion.
"oh oh ya'll this is the coolest thing. You know how you have friends who use Yahoo chat, and MSN chat, and AIM, etc? ... and it's a pain ... right?"
Enthusiastic statements of agreement went up.
"Alright meebo let's you chat with everybody on all of those services in one place with one tool."
They about fell out of their seats ... "How do you spell meebo?"
And so I told them ... "And ... Ya'll that's just the beginning. You know how you have a MySpace and at Xanga that you don't really use but ... Well you can go to meebome and get a little bit of code to put on those pages. You just copy and paste it. The code creates little chat boxes.
Now, here's the part that's off the charts. You don't have to sit there on that page waiting for someone to come by and chat with you. You just go off and leave the box out there on the web. When someone stumbles onto that page and wants to chat, they just send you a message. Then a chat box pops open in your meebo ... and you talk with them ... right there in meebo. You don't even have to have your MySpace page open. It works with any site that lets you drop little scripts into it –like MySpace does."
That was it ... that was all they could stand.
"If you don't mind us asking ... How is it that you know about all these things?"
I laughed ... "I'm a geek from way back. I've been playing with computers for 20 years and with the Internet for about 10 years. Right now I'm writing. For the month of November I'm doing NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. It's fun. Oh and I just volunteered to help with a web site re-do ... but I'm thinking I only want a small role ..."
Then I had to get off the train ... I think they were kind of relieved ;) I don't think they were prepared to have their cool conversation hi-jacked by a Grey Hare. Grey Hare's aren't suppose to know about cool Internet stuff ... especially not female Grey Hares ;-)
Anyway, I wasn't on chat all this weekend ... so I didn't know that meebo did some very beautiful and very useful upgrades sometime Friday until this morning. You should go look! .
Now ... in keeping with being a geek ... I have to tell ya'll something ... There is the simple fact that the meebo team is creating an exceptionally brilliant idea for just the right moment ... ... which one could say is just a brilliant business concept ... ... but brilliant business concepts fail all the time. ... One could say they are simply taking advantage of the social aspect of the Internet ... but sites fail all the time trying to capitalize on this Social Internet. ... So why is it that they are succeeding? Two things.
First: They understand that the stability and usability of their code IS a Social Event. Being socially flakey is the kiss of death on the Internet. Therefore ... any Internet code (site or tool) that is flake-y and or difficult to use is kissed by death. BUT meebo has been creating stable code. It is a stable chat tool. It started out plain and is beginning to put on a cooler wardrobe ... but ... its goal is stability before flash and their users know this and love this about them.
Second: They understand that they live in a social world. They are both social on the web AND off the web. meebo has a blog. They tell people about Team meebo. They tell the world about Team meebo's lunch, work space, travel-styles, etc. meebo has a community forum. meebo lets their users hang out and talk about willy-nilly and wiki-help stuff. They also arrange very simple meetups. For example, tomorrow morning, Tuesday, November 7, there will be one on the Caltrain's "Baby Bullet." You can read meebo's Blog entry: mobile meebo meetup tuesday!
AND TEAM MEEBO TALKS BACK !! Team meebo not only helps initiate topics for discussion ... they stay in the discussion. Team m not only provides space for their fans to initiate discussions ... they enter into the fans' discussions.
You know ... there's one last thing you should know about meebo ... it all runs inside a browser window. You don't have to download and install anything in order to chat.
Oh and ... I also placed a meebome chat window here: Talk to MarillaAnne. You're welcome to stop in and say hello.
Hmm so you might be wondering ... why did a conversation on a train with a bunch of maybe 20-something girls make me so happy? Because when I was younger, I loved meeting older people who could talk to me about my world. I always said to myself, "I want to be like that when I grow up." Saturday, I realized I'm becoming like that ... ... and I want to keep becoming like that.
OK not really. But really you've got to be using RSS if you're going to use and read the web smartly and speedily. For example: I'm not sure how many of you wander by just to find that I'm distracted and my blog isn't updated. More than that I'm not sure how many other friends and business sites you're trying to keep up with ONE at a time. There's not enough time in the day, never mind your life, to keep tracking websites individually ... and for my friends and family still stuck on dial-up ... you cannot afford to avoid this tool.
So, I've put something in place to save you time. From now on you will only come visit when there's something new to see ... and ... you will know before you ever come by that you are actually interested in what I've written this time. (No, dear, I can't keep a list of your interests and then email you personally ... although I have proof that I did consider it.) And I'm going to teach you how to use this tool all over the web so that you can really expand your Internet experience efficiently AND you can gain more Real Life time!
The something is called RSS or Really Simple Syndication. It started out as something kind of high-tech for web site developers but gradually it's turning into something that web consumers (like you) use to their benefit all the time ... in very unique ways. At first it was all about publishing content in one place and letting web site techies suck it into lots of other websites. (Compare to cartoon syndication in the newspapers, etc.) That's largely how you are able to see news headlines all over the web. But now, thanks to RSS feed readers, everybody can publish with RSS and everybody can check 5 to 500 sites a day without ever visiting the web sites .
We're going to practice using an RSS reader first on my site and then I'm going to expand your horizons. So, obviously the first thing you need is an RSS reader. I have a very easy to use option for you. Really really painless and easy. Google has a mad scientist lab. Right now, in the lab, is a reader that they are improving on a regular basis. It is already very sweet. And it is not the least bit scary even if this is Halloween.
So, let's do this. I'm not going to leave you. I'm right here. You can post questions in the comment area or drop me a note if you get stuck. I won't even get beheaded because I'm not going trick or treating.
Step One: Go here: Google's Reader. (You can take the tour if you want but it gets geeky in a hurry. If you're into sharing info with friends, I recommend clicking "next" one time and reading the first two bullets.)
Step Two:Click on the "Try it Out" link. If you have a Google account, sign in. If you don't have a Google account, don't freak. Click on the Create an account now link. You aren't going to end up with Gmail (although I think everyone should have at least 10 Gmail accounts). You get to stick with your favorite email address and you can complete the form and confirm your email address in under 60 seconds. And, no, you will not end up with a bunch of spam or notices from Google in your email box.
Step Three: Now, all of you should be logged in your Google Reader. So, come back to my site. At the very top of the column to the right, you will see this little icon . This is the recently adopted official standards-approved icon for RSS. It's also official that I can change the color of it anytime and still be legal. So be aware others are already using lime green, purple, pink, turquoise, etc.
Step Four: Click on the link beside the RSS icon (sometimes you only have the RSS icon to click on). This will take you to a rather plain page displaying bits of my blog. In the upper portion, is a section promoting subscriptions to my blog.
Step Five: On the subscription page, in the box on the right, you will see one of two things. Either there will be a drab box or there will be a box full of little colorful icons. You want to see all the little icons. If you cannot, click on the "Show all options" link.
Step Six: Click on the Google icon. You will be presented with two options: Add to Homepage or Add to Reader. Choose the Reader. (Do explore the homepage option later.)
Step Seven: If a new feed does not show up immediately in your Google Reader (they are listed alphabetically), press the F5 key on your keyboard, or click the refresh link in the bottom left corner of Google Reader.
And wa-la there you have it.
Now let's talk about how this is useful on other web sites. This is not just a "blog thing." Many sites provide RSS to help you track info. Almost every site you go to for information will have RSS feeds. In addition to the logo I introduced you to, look for small buttons that say RSS on them (or XML or Atom –almost all of the old logos were orange). Some sites will have ALL of the RSS reader icons right on the site. Some will behave in some variation of mine. BUT a great many (probably most info sites) expect you to know The Secret Handshake. You will know it is time to use The Secret Handshake when you click the RSS link or button and you end up with a screen full of gibberish.
Let me see ... in my reader I have press releases from The White House and The State Dept Highlights (True. I seldom look at these but if something's going on, it's there.) I have news feeds from BBS's Science & Nature News. (They think they're explaining evolution and just sit with my mouth hanging open over God's amazing creations.) Also Simply Recipes (for me to drool and Billy to use). And ... On the east coast ... so, of course, the National Hurricane Center's updates (just one more month left in this season). And the latest releases from Project Gutenberg (you can read more about Project Gutenberg in my previous blog entry: Looking for "The Good Old Days?"). Oh and the latest to be added is NaNoWriMo.org's Breaking News. In my RSS reader, there are also feeds that tell me when various forums have been updated plus about 25 other feeds that have nothing to do with blogs. (Oops "Simply Recipes" is technically a blog ... oh well you can look at at least one other blog.)
So let's try out The Secret Handshake. The links in the paragraph above are to RSS feeds. Pick one that you might want to keep track of for a little while and then follow The Secret Handshake steps below. It is very easy. Again, I'm right here ... not going anywhere ... this isn't scary.
Right click on the RSS link. Select "Copy Link." or "Copy Link Location." Go to your Google Reader. Click the "Add subscription" link that is located in the navigation column on the left, in the green box. When the text field (blank) appears, right click inside of it and select "Paste." Click "Save"
Wa-la! You are finished.
Some of you already have RSS feed readers and don't even know it. There's a whole bunch of tech talk that I could insert here. Fortunately for us another use-to-be-a-geek wrote it out for her readers in non-geek so if you want to understand exactly how many more options you have available (and if any RSS readers are already in your pc), you can read the details at Stephanie's blog, "Back in Skinny Jeans". Stephanie calls RSS "Ready for Some Stories." You should at least glance at the article and her examine artistic creation which visually demonstrates exactly what an RSS feed reader can do for you.
(Image links to my photos on Flick'r.) This is my Shelbie dog one yr ago. Right now she is in Portland, OR with my daughter. On Oct 7, I get to ship her here! For her sake and our sakes pray everything goes smoothly!
This has also been a test of Flick'r/ Flock/ MarillaAnne interaction.
Yes. Well. I signed up for a Flick'r account (MarillaAnne of course). And then it was time to upload images. I could do it one by one straight off my harddrive--tedious. Or I could upload multiple images with a tool I download from Flick'r that only uploads. Or I could download a browser and an upload tool combo called Flock. No brainer ... two tools in one download ... yep!
The download and install was smooth and sweet. There's a little image bar that runs accross the top of Flock that displays your images or your friends' images that are located on Flick'r or PhotoBucket. If I drag an image from that bar into an "html friendly text box" anywhere on the web, Flock creates the code that displays the image!
Today I got a note from Carol who hangs out at BetterPhoto ... "How can I force line breaks into my text?"
Well, Carol, welcome to the world of HTML coding :-D
I just have one challenge. I'm not familiar with HTML enough to know how to force the HTML to show up as text. If I type in the HTML code exactly as you need to use it, the program I use will automatically apply it as code (just like BetterPhoto does) instead of displaying it as text. HTML applied as code is invisible to the person viewing the page.
So ... I'm going to refer you to Annabella. I found Annabella by hunting about (via google) for help in coding colors into my pages. I've not introduced myself to Annabella but I like her style of mmm "aging gracefully."
Annabella's pages on web page construction were written some time back and things have advanced a bit ... but the basics are still the basics and that is where we all start: Annabella's Basic HTML
You need to understand the following sections: Brackets, Case Sensitive, and Opening & Closing tags. Then read about paragraphs and line breaks.
One note about Annabella's explanation of paragraphs ... there was indeed a time when the "closing tag" was routinely not used in paragraphs. Before that time and since that time closing tags for paragraphs were/are considered to be tidy code.
When putting in my coding at BetterPhoto, I find it works best to open and close the paragraph tags before putting in my line breaks.
Also, where Annabella says "This misses one line ...", the American translation on that is: "The paragraph tag creates a blank line above the paragraph tag ..."
When you get paragraphs and line breaks down, the fun really starts with creating links.
Considering Betrayal aka Another Fickel Consumer 09/05/06
I am thinking of committing something that will be seen by some as a betrayal ... I may quit using Firefox ... NO no no ... I'm not thinking of going back to a Microsoft browser. Let me tell you how it happened that I arrived at this sticky wicket in life.
Billy is sick so we stayed home all weekend. Being a sweet wife, I let him have his pc to play with. His has power and I use it during the week, mine is old and decrepit but it does ok as long as I stay away from streaming media. Well since he was in no mood to create technology, he went into user mode. So see ... this is all his fault ... but well maybe a little bit of the fault belongs to Firefox and Opera.
Saturday, Billy started out in advanced user mode. He downloaded the latest and greatest Opera Internet Browser.
He's say "Opera does yadda, yadda, chat." I said "well I'm happy with iMeem right now."
He: "Opera yadda yadda tiles tabs in same window." I: "Well, that could be useful some times."
He: "Opera yadda yadda email." I: "Well, I did like that (I last used Opera two years ago.) but I've already got Thunderbird all set up."
"Opera yadda yadda gestures already." I: "Well, now that's nice, but how customizable are they?"
But I came undone when a second man's voice started telling me about Opera's voice feature. Opera Reads! ... and it was reading to me about how Opera Accepts Voice Commands!! We couldn't try the voice commands out because the mic on his pc doesn't work. We'll have to buy one. But the reader worked exceptionally well!
You know it's one thing for a program to let me chat with you. It's quite another when a program chats with me!
I doubt that I will drop Firefox right away ... I'm becoming a user slow to give up on a program that I've already trained .... but ... that said ... I'm going to go download Opera and see how well it can read this to me and maybe I can just hear where I have awkward phrasings ... like in this run-on sentence. Then I'm going to browse on over to some essays that I've been wanting to get to read. Opera can just read them. To me. I will let my eyes take a break and I will go wash dishes ... or ... maybe ... just sit in the lotus position and listen.
And would someone let me know how well Adobe does at reading aloud? I've hear the version available for Windows XP has "Read to Me" as an option via the mouse's right click menu.
And, Monday's are suppose to be my "Photography Day" -- where I actually just play on BetterPhoto.com and play with my own photos. But since today is "Muesday" (a compression of Monday and Tuesday), I'm only going to spend part of my day on photography. So ... I might actually change out my above "Occasional Image." It's just always difficult to leave the beach. Always.
What are you doing with your Muesday and how do you feel about Muesday's in general?
Who are You? 08/18/06 I am me ... I run around with my long hair in a French braid. I camp and hike (often in the city). I live in Upstate NY right on the very edge of The Great Swamp. Continue...
Why does this Site Exist? 10/26/06 My website is largely my memoir ... my musings, photos, encounters, life's stories.
But what really thrills me is that when I let go of my stories, it's like sending out little sail boats out on expeditions. Very often they come back to me filled with other people's stories. Continue...
Respecting your Privacy 10/25/06 I do not collect your private info unless ... Continue...
Telling My Stories and Discovering Your Stories
. This is the recently adopted official standards-approved icon for RSS. It's also official that I can change the color of it anytime and still be legal. So be aware others are already using lime green, purple, pink, turquoise, etc. 
