Trying out Email Posting

This is a test run to see how an email post will turn out.

Web 2.0 vs. Web pages or Technology Frustration!

When we first started Learning 2.0 at work, I immediately loved it. This weekend it hit home just why I love it so much.

I used to design web pages in my spare time and really enjoyed it, but somehow I drifted away from it and haven't done more than make updates to the pages at work for several years. A few months ago, a friend found out that I know how to 'do web pages' and recruited me to update a site for him. All I had to do was go through and make corrections to the existing site. It was only 8 pages, so I said 'no problem, I can do that easily.'

Using Notepad, I made all the changes, added menus to all the subpages, so you didn't have to click back home to see the rest of the site, simplified some of the file names (40 character file names really aren't necessary for buttons, are they), saved all the changes to my flash drive and made arrangements to meet Ike in his office to upload the new pages.

That's when things started going wrong. They use FrontPage to ftp files to the server. Maybe I just don't know how to use FrontPage (I've never used it before then), but every time I tried to upload something, FP recreated the folder that I used to hold the files. When I finally did get a page to upload, none of the links worked, and all the images were gone. Yikes!

Since it took about 1 1/2 hours to get that far, I promised Ike that I would work on it over the weekend (I had all the software I needed at home) and would have a working page by Monday morning. Easier said than done. Remember I mentioned that I hadn't designed web pages in several years. Well Dreamweaver, Photoshop and WSFtp were all on a computer that hadn't been touched for a couple years. In fact it was in pieces.

I hauled cpu and all associated parts to the loft and proceeded to put it back together, started it up and sat back to see what happened. It sounded like it was dying, but it did start and actually worked. I opened all the software I needed and started creating. (Did I mention that I waited till the last minute to do this project? About 7:00 Sunday evening.) I redesigned a menu bar, resized a bunch of new photos to add to the page and proceeded to recreate each page from scratch, so I knew they would work when uploaded. That was the easy part. After the first page, I had the basic layout that I could cut and paste, and Dreamweaver had started feeling like an old friend. Life was good.

About midnight I finished saving all the pages and had them ready to upload. This is where it got fun again. This computer doesn't have a modem; it got fried years ago. It doesn't have a CD writer, only a reader. It does have a floppy drive, but I got rid of all my floppy disks when I moved and was glad to see them go. It does have a USB port, but it has Windows 98, so it wouldn't recognize my flash drive which didn't come with software. I grabbed my daughter's new mp3 player with the CD. No. It wouldn't work with Windows 98. Next step was the external zip drive I used to use; I found it and hooked it up, but it wouldn't work.

Now it was almost 12:30 and I was running out of options. I really needed to get those files to a computer that had internet access. My other daughter had just bought a really cheap mp3 player (I've never seen one for $18) and it had a software CD. Maybe it would work. I sneaked in her room to look for it. She immediately jumped up out of bed and demanded to know what I was doing in her room. She looked at her clock and said "It's 12:30, get out of my room and go to bed right now!" I took a chance on my life and asked her where her player and software were, since she was already wide awake.

She gave it to me, amazingly enough, and believe it or not it worked. I transferred the files and took them to the new computer, downloaded WSFtp home edition and had the site uploaded and working in a few minutes. If I had thought about it, I probably could have downloaded drivers for my flash drive, but I wasn't thinking clearly by this time.

Learning 2.0 is so simple. No downloading. No ftp. No special software. I love it!

Three Gifts Challenge

Lately it seems like all you hear in the news is global warming and carbon footprint, but these issues are so important to the health of the world that they can't be ignored. This weekend my kids and I had a discussion about how much one person (me) can effectively do to help global warming.

Today I found the Three Gifts Challenge through another blog that I read occasionally and thought the idea was great. (It looks like another blog to add. I knew this blog and RSS thing would get out of hand, and it is getting that way quickly. Thank goodness for Google Reader offline)

Information from her blog post that I found interesting were that the US uses 380 billion plastic grocery bags each year, and that the five most environmentally damaging personal waste items are polystyrene foam, AA batteries, cooking oil, disposable diapers, and cigarette butts. See the link above for more details.

Her challenge is to give up or modify three things that damage the environment. So here are my three things to give up.

1. Plastic grocery bags. If I don't take my shopping basket or tote bags, I don't stop at the grocery.
2. Batteries. I do use rechargables, but I also buy batteries pretty regularly if I forget to recharge. From now on no books on tape without rechargables.
3. Plastic water bottles. I don't buy these very often and when I do I recycle. Quitting Pepsi has also cut my use of plastic bottles, but from now on my family (the 'family' part makes it a challenge) will not buy water or soft drinks in plastic bottles.

Now, I'm challenging anyone who reads this to come up with their own challenges. Everyone working together can make a difference.

Public Libraries

Someone asked me last week why I go to the public library when I work in a library and it threw me for a few seconds. My first thought was 'it's an excuse to take a walk at lunch', but that's not all. So here are reasons to use your local, public library.

• The top reason for me is Kentucky Libraries Unbound. This service through the public library lets me download free audiobooks that I can listen to on the computer or on my mp3 player. It has apparently gotten really popular, because many of the books have a waiting list to listen to them. But, you can add them to your account, and they will email when it's available.
• Next is the Popular Author's Club. Do you have an author that you read every book they write? If you're like me you probably have more than one or two or ten. Sign up for the Popular Author's Club and the library will add your name to the waiting list for the book and call you when it's available. Now if you just can't wait to read that next Harry Potter book, this is not the place to be, because it can take a while for the book to get around to you.
• Last but not least is the events. They organize movies, entertainers, discussion groups, monthly blood drives, games, the Nifty Needlers and more.

So visit your local, public library, get a free library card and start enjoying all they have to offer.

Where did the time go?

I think I've lost a few years here lately. How did we get from this little girl who would rather play in the mud with the cows and would spend all day cleaning the barn and hate the five minutes it took to load the dishwasher?

Rolling in the mud, baling hay, milking cows and riding cows or horses were her favorite activities.

So how did we get to this so quickly? Formal dresses, makeup, updos and worrying about what shoes will be perfect with this dress. Granted, she did wear a hoodie over her dress to get there, but still. Where did the time go?

December Sunrise

December Sunrise
Originally uploaded by tormash9

Playing with the new digital camera I got myself for Christmas, I got out one morning and caught the sun coming up behind the house. The pond is far enough from the house that I really didn't expect to get this reflection. Earlier in the year it would have been too grown up with cattails to get any reflection, but it was cleaned out in October, and we've had enough rain to nearly fill it back up.

Oral History Transcription Hint

I just learned a great tool to help with oral history transcriptions. Several months ago I was asked to transcribe an oral history for someone. So I figured out how to transfer the audio cassette to mp3 using my mp3 player, and I used that file to transcribe from. But the entire time I was transcribing I was wishing there was a way to slow down the audio so I could keep up with it better.

There is a way. My niece wanted me to listen to a song she liked in fast speed. I have to admit that I really didn't care what the song sounded like speeded up, but I immediately latched onto the idea that if you can speed it up then you can slow it down. Yep, Window's Media Player does both.

At the upper right hand corner of the window, beside the minimize and close buttons, there is a little arrow pointing down. Under that menu is a menu for 'play' and under that is a selection called 'play speed'. You can slow it down or speed it up as much as you like. I can't wait to start another transcription and try it out. Now if I could find a cassette player that doesn't transfer a lot of noise to the mp3 I'll be doing good.

Basket Weaving Marathon

For some reason this weekend turned into a basketry marathon. Or, more appropriately, a basket finishing marathon. Maybe because I'm trying to get organized or maybe because my daughter made a comment that I never finish anything, I decided to get working on those baskets that were almost finished but just needed a rim.

First was a pie basket that has been awaiting a rim for, yes I am cringing, a year and a half. I don't have a photo of it because it came out blurry. Maybe later.

Next was the basket above that was started about a year ago in a class taught by Anne Coleman. The base is wooden and the dividers that you see are part of the base. It was woven with cane in a continuous under 1, over 1, under 1, over 2 pattern which makes a narrow and a wide diagonal pattern. It is already full of basket making tools and reed, so I guess that makes it a keeper.

Three of these four baskets are new and needed a rim and handles. The fourth was one I carried as a purse for about a year and broke a handle and the rim. I just repaired it, so I could use it again.They were made before the house was built, so that means they've been sitting for over 2 years. Maybe my daughter has a point. Maybe that should have been my resolution. "Do not start a new project until all others are finished." But I had an excuse with these baskets, really, I did. All the handles were hand shaped from heavy reed and were a pain to do. Now that the baskets are finished, I'm thinking I should have used a thinner reed for the rim. The tops are really stiff.

The pattern for these baskets came from Lyn Siler's, The Ultimate Basket Book because I wanted to weave something more challenging than I was getting in the classes offered on campus. They were that, but the final result was worth it. The peach one was woven with colored stakes and the pink with colored weavers which reverses the pattern. Woven in all natural makes the design more subtle. You have to stand away from it to really see it.

And last, but not least was this one. I had the reed cut for this basket, but had never made it. It is small, but was tricky to get the shaping right. The pattern was by Patti Hawkins, but I made it in 1/4' reed rather than 11/64, so it is about twice as large as the pattern. Notice the rim is complete. It isn't the standard rim, but uses only one piece of 3/8" flat oval with the stakes folded over on the outside and lashed as you go. Tedious but the entire basket was done start to finish in one sitting.

By the way, cable ties are God's gift to basket makers.

Keeneland Green

Keeneland Green
Originally uploaded by tormash9

For some reason I get stuck on rims. I have about 10 baskets at home that have been completed except for the rim. There should be a term for it, since I know others who have done the same thing. Rimophobia, maybe. And a co-worker asked me to finish the rim on her basket. Little did she know.

But over the break I was determined to beat this brick wall and at least get the rim on Carol's basket. While I was at it I also finished this one that I made about a year ago. This is an Anne Coleman pattern called Keeneland Green. The design in the center can vary and for this basket I chose a diamond pattern. Last year for Christmas I gave a basket woven in this pattern with an arrow in the center to my nephew's wife Ashli. This one I think I'll keep as a wastebasket in the living room.

Christmas basket weaving

Over the Christmas break I remade this basket. Yes, I took it completely apart and put it back together again. I filled it too heavy and when it was picked up one side pulled out from the wooden base and the handle pulled loose from the stakes. Yikes, back to the drawing board. I adapted this pattern from a huge tote bag I made in a class and put it on a wooden base rather than a woven base. Obviously the stakes weren't close enough together to hold everything securely.

This is a large basket with a wooden base 11 1/2" by 18". The stakes alternate between 1/2" brown and 5/8" natural. They were glued into the slot this time around. Three rows of twining with #2 round reed secure the bottom and weaving is done with 1/4" flat oval, 1/2" flat flat natural and 1/2" flat flat brown.

The handle was woven into the basket and the rim is 5/8" half round lashed with 5mm cane. I may have to make another one to keep since my girls have been wanting laundry baskets. This one goes to Minnie.

1000 Mile Club

OK, now I feel like a real wimp. Here's an 82 year old man who walked his 1000 miles in 146 days. And I'm already behind for this year.

New Year's Resolutions

Do you know that if you walk 2.73 miles a day every day of the year you will have walked 1000 miles? Not too bad, huh? At a brisk pace it would take about 45 minutes a day. But, if you get lazy and skip days, you end up walking 5 or 6 miles a day for the last two weeks of the year.

Back at the beginning of 2007 I signed up for the Richmond Parks Department 1000 Mile Club. (Actually I signed up for 2006 and quit in May.) December 31st I walked two miles to total 1000.5 miles walked in 2007 and to complete my first ever New Year's Resolution.

I think I'm going to try it again. Along with quitting Pepsis and taking the GRE. Success must go to my head. Finish one resolution and I think I can handle 3 this year. Pepsi will definitely be the hardest.