what's happening...

Randomness...

-> Around here, schools started last week. Yet, I have not heard from the district whether I have my job from last year, when I would start, and when and where I would be working (which school(s). I'm going crazy. I'm pretty sure I have a job, but what if I don't? I could (and would) be spending this time looking for another job. I sent an email to the secretary about a month ago and she sent out a mass email to all the tutors telling them to not bug her and that they would get us the pertinent information some where around the end of August. Well, today was the end of August. Do they think that we don't have lives? I can't even plan anything in the future because this part of my life has been settled. Ugh!

-->> As I waited in a very long line today at my local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), I was thoroughly entertained watching and listening to people with the cell phones. I'd say 90% of the crowded room were people who were either talking or using the phones. I must have heard 10 or more ring tones that were songs, mostly TV theme songs or songs from the 50s and 60s. It just struck me funny to see this room full of people (70 or so) in their own little world by using their cell phone. What did we do before we had these things?!

--->>> Jake got a job this weekend at a sporting goods store near his college campus. He'll be working quite a bit for the next two months during their huge sale on ski and snowboard items. This had been his plan all along but it now means that we won't be seeing him very much. He has a very tough semester (actually, the whole year) ahead of him and now he's adding the work schedule to it. Good luck Jake.

---->>>> We're going camping this weekend. We're going with many families from our church and we're going to a place our family has gone to for 18 years (minus a year or two) on Labor Day weekend. Danielle has asked to be baptized again. Her baptism will be in the same pool where she was originally baptized, about 10 years ago. Also, Don will be delivering the message on Sunday morning in the quaint, outdoor chapel. For those two reasons, plus a great time of fellowship and camping, it should be a great weekend.

recovery

Whether you voted for Barack Obama or not... whether you agree with the stimulus package that was just signed or not... I think we should find favor with the new website, www.recovery.gov, that has been set up by President Obama's administration that will track where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.

I know this act is a touchy subject and I don't mean to rile up any volatile emotions. I just wanted to say that I think this website is a great idea and I applaud the President for his desire to be transparent and accountable and make this information public and available. I encourage you to check out the site. It's user friendly and very straight forward. I know I plan to visit it frequently so I can personally watch the progress of this act and how the economy is being affected - either good or bad.

I also find it fascinating that this is where technology has brought us. We have to admit that the internet has changed our lives in so many ways. I love seeing new ways in which it's being used and this site is a good example of that. I think it's great that the government is using this tool to communicate with us, as taxpayers and citizens of this great country. Thank you President Obama.

found on the internet...

I came across this article about a new technology that is being developed that will help with the problem of talking on the phone while driving. This technology will be embedded in the car key. Once the key is put into the car's ignition, it will activate a "driving mode" in the driver's cell phone to where it is rendered unusable except for outgoing emergency calls. It will even answer any incoming calls with a message saying something like, "I am driving right now and will return your calls when I arrive at my destination safely."

"The recent stats show that texting on the phone has overtaken drunk driving fatalities on public roads."

"Driving while talking on a cell phone makes you four times more likely to have an accident. Using a hands-free headset does nothing to off set that risk. Texting increases the odds of an accident another 50 percent."

After reading these quotes from the article, I'm thinking that this may be a very good thing, and not just for teenagers, which is the initial target of said technology. Yes, teenagers may not have as much driving experience as an older driver, but even an experienced driver can't give 100% of his or her attention to driving if they're talking on the phone, or even worse, texting while driving. So I look forward to every state mandating "no cell phone" laws and to having something like this new technology in place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And here's something fun and challenging. How well do you think you know where all 50 states are within the U.S. border? Know Your States is an addicting site where you can test your geographical knowledge. The best I did was 86% with an average error of 20 miles in 433 seconds. You would think after playing it quite a few times, my score would be better. But each time you do it, the order they give you the states is different, making some games harder than others.

Give it a try. You might want your kids to try it too, just to see if they're more knowledgeable than you. Let me know what your score is.

i'm back....

... and boy does it feel good.

I've been away for a few days but I would have much rather been here... here in blogland. But my computer had other ideas. Ideas that were becoming more and more strange, to the point where I had to say, "Don, my computer is doing some really strange things."

Well, actually, I had to say that a few times before Don said he'd take a look at it. By the time he did, my browser had been totally hijacked and I couldn't stay on a blog or website longer than a minute or two before it changed to some other site or disappeared completely. Spyware is evil!

After doing some scanning and futile tries at debugging, it was determined that my poor little infested laptop needed to be rebuilt. That meant I had to back up everything that I wanted to keep...

**side note: maybe I should make it my New Year's resolution to back up my digital pictures more often.**

... before Don took everything off. He then had to reinstall everything that was needed to make my wonderful little laptop operational again. All of that takes time. And as my sick little laptop was being worked on, I was without a computer.

This was not something I am used to. I did have access to other computers in the house but it just wasn't the same. None of them were MY own little laptop that holds all MY personal and precious info.

But tonight Don handed me back my beautiful little laptop and told me that most of the rebuilding had been completed. And here I sit with my wonderful little laptop on my lap feeling like life is back to normal and all is, again, right with the world.

thank you facebook

I've been a little obsessed lately.

A couple of months ago, through Facebook, I found two women who I had been friends with during the 90s. They moved away and none of us made the effort to keep in touch. I immediately sent them a message and asked to be their friend (it's a Facebook thing). It was great seeing them and their families through their profiles and we've been catching up on each other's lives.

Since then, I spend some of my late night hours searching for other friends that I've lost contact with. I've used Facebook, MySpace, and Google. A couple of weeks ago I found a very dear friend of mine, again, through Facebook. She was a close high school friend and my maid of honor. We've written to each other, giving the abridged version of our lives for the past 18 years. It was such a wonderful feeling to find a long lost friend; one you've thought a lot about through the years.

And then last week, I found another old high school friend. He was part of the same group that the above mentioned friend was a part of. And he was Don's best man. I found him by googling his name. This method isn't as easy or productive, but this time it worked. It turns out that this friend has a Flickr account and he used his full name on it. Bingo! I found him. It's such a thrill.

So, now I can't seem to help myself. I find myself late at night, sitting with my laptop on my lap, typing in the names of every old friend that I can think of. Isn't technology grand? And I would have to disagree with all of those who say there is nothing good about Facebook. It reunites old friends.

Thank you Facebook.

look at those teeth...

The last day we were in Alaska, we stopped in at a wildlife refuge. I posted the best pictures here on Flickr. There are photos of bears, fox, moose, and a bald eagle.

More Wordless Wednesday here and here.

use it as a phone

In the last two weeks, I've been taking all kinds of pictures. There was prom, graduation ceremony, grad party, and time spent with relatives. These are all occasions where other people were taking their share of pictures, too.
And I started noticing a trend.

I was surprised to see how many people took pictures of these events - pretty important events in my opinion - with their cell phones!

I know the phone companies are putting better cameras in their phones but I don't think they compare with a hand held camera. Even most of the little point and shoot cameras take better pictures than a cell phone. Watching these people made me wonder all kinds of things; Do they have a camera? Did they just forget it [for such an important event]? How do they use the pictures they're taking? It's hard to believe that they would use such pictures in a photo album.

I have a pretty nice camera in my new phone but I wouldn't dream of using it for any of the events I mentioned above. I have used it, and plan to use it, on occasions where I don't have my camera with me. You know, those times when something happens and you quickly need to snap a picture. I think that was the intention of putting a camera in a phone.

So let me suggest something to anyone who is using their cell phone to take numerous pictures of special occasions...

Buy yourself a camera! You'll be glad you did.

***************
link of the day:
http://www.createbands.com/

a costly mistake

Don and I may have made a mistake. Well, really, I could blame this all on Don, but I won't. Even though he made the original suggestion, I was on board with the decision.

I mentioned last week that we went down to help Danielle move into her new house. She and her roommates had just about everything they needed for the house with a few exceptions. One of those being a TV set. So Don offered them ours - the one on our main level and the one that gets watched the most. His thinking was that we'll get ourselves a new one.

Well, has anyone purchased a TV lately? We hadn't. We had no idea how much TVs have changed; the technological advances and how expensive they are. We spent many nights going to different stores and checking out the different selections. It was mind boggling. Plasma vs. LCD. 720 vs. 1080. Top brand vs. cheapo brand. To be honest, it was all greek to me. Don was the one that had to make the decision.


And he did. Last night he brought home a new LCD 1080 cheapo (but nice) brand. It's bigger than our old one, which is nice, and we'll have HD hooked up to it as soon as I call the cable company. And Danielle gets a new-to-her TV set for her new home. All is well... until we get our credit card bill next month.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Just a reminder...

Tomorrow is my one year blogaversery and I'm having a give away to celebrate it. All you need to do to qualify for the random drawing is to leave me a question (up to 3). You can do that in a comment or email me. But do so before 9:00 PM tomorrow night. You can read more of the details here.

One more thing...

For some reason, the video on my post yesterday didn't show up for everybody. If you weren't able to see it, I've included the link to it on my link of the day.

***************
link of the day:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6inNvchiwHw

paper vs. electronic

I've just heard about something, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I encourage you to follow the link(s) to read more about it for yourself. And I would love to hear your thoughts on this new gadget.

It's called the Amazon Kindle. It is a wireless reading device and is being touted as "revolutionary!" By following the link, you can read about it, watch a video describing it and giving it's features, see photos taken from several angles, read reviews from authors and users, see some of the books that are available for download, etc.

When I first saw it on Good Morning America this morning, I was skeptical. And part of me still is. I'm thinking I don't want to read a book through an electronic device. I love the look, feel and the smell of a book. I like turning the pages and knowing how far along in the story I am. I can't imagine reading a book in any form other than flipping through paper pages. But then I think about all the trees we would be saving if we didn't print as many books.

That leads me to some of the other benefits. There are some features that make me wonder if I might actually enjoy this reading device. Again, I encourage you to follow the link to read for yourself the product overview.

One feature that really appeals to me is being able to change the size of the font. My eyesight isn't what it used to be. They tout a new display technology that gives the reader a screen that is sharp and natural as reading ink on paper. I'd like to at least see this - sounds good.

You can "try out" a book before buying it. Read the beginning and decide if it's something you'd be interested in. It holds 200 books - or magazines, newspapers, and even blogs. Go read for yourself, because there's more.

So, let me know what you think. Would you read a book (or other printed media) through this device? Could you give up a book made of paper? I would really love to hear your opinion.

***************
link of the day:
http://www.freerice.com/
(thanks Susan)

search the mom blogs

I came across something interesting and wanted to share it with you.

A fellow blogger, Michelle of Scribbit, created a custom search engine, powered by good 'ole Google, but searches only mom blogs. You can read more about it in her own words in this post, which I suggest you do because she explains it so much better than I could.

I was impressed with it so I asked her for the code so I could add it to my sidebar. Check it out for yourself. Pick something you would like to search. Once you've typed it in, Google will search blogs that have been specified by Michelle. She has designated over 1500 blogs, which is a small number compared to the millions of results you would normally get.

So if you're in the midst of potty training and want to know what other experienced bloggers have written about it, this search engine would be ideal. Or if you're writing your own post on, let's say, a craft idea. You could do your search and include links to other blogs/posts on the same subject. Cool, huh? I hope you'll give it a try.

***************
link of the day:
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/enter.cfm?l=eng

the world of videos

i'm amazed at the videos you can find on youtube. i remember when videos started getting popular. there was one good one out of every 10 or so. but it quickly became main stream and ever so popular.

tonight, youtube became a major player on the political front. they helped organize a new format for political debates. here's what one reporter wrote:

In this sunny, sultry setting bursting with Southern military tradition, CNN and YouTube hope they'll break ground on a new tradition in televised political debates. It's here at the Citadel, the 165-year-old South Carolina military academy, where the two media companies will test, with the help of the Democratic Party, a new wrinkle on the admittedly tired old debate format. Monday's two-hour broadcast will feature all eight declared Democratic candidates answering no questions from the 2,000-member audience gathered at the McAlister Field House; instead, they'll look to a 25-foot video screen at 30-second clips recorded by YouTube users young, old and interested in the future of the country. (source)

on a lighter note, you can find just about anything on youtube. and youtube isn't the only video site. new ones are popping up all the time. and there's more available than just personal videos. if you see something funny on tv, you can pretty well bet that it will be on youtube the next day. car makers show off their vehicles via videos. there's how-to videos and amateurs showing off their artistic abilities in animation, music, and comedy.

want to reminisce? they have old commercials. some are entertaining. check out this one i found. you can find it at the bottom of this post. they say it's mcdonald's first commercial. it's kinda freaky if you ask me. but i thought you might be interested in seeing it.

i really have no point to post. i just find it interesting how prevalent videos have become. and i can't help but wonder what the future holds for them. of course, my favorite videos are the homemade ones made by proud parents showing off their kid(s).



this post came to me after watching the video highlighted in my link of the day. it's entitled; to blog or not to blog.

***************
link of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczaqwhyYvk

i now have a technorati account

as much as i'm on the internet, there are still things that are a mystery to me. like the technical end of the internet.

for example, i've been looking into how to get more traffic to this blog and one thing that is strongly suggested is that i have a technorati account. somehow this web site can be used as a referral site as well as ranking blogs that have accounts there. i really don't know what i'm doing but i signed up for an account. we'll see how it goes.

if you know about such stuff, feel free to try to explain it to me.

***************
link of the day:
Technorati Profile