July 2005 Archives

First off the Road Trip with Erika & Lauren to BlogHer 2005 rocked. So did the conference.

Next off, words or phrases from the weekend:

1) Mommy Bloggers : Somewhat maligned in some circles, but in Ms. Jen's world the Mommy Bloggers were AMAZING! Fun, enthusiastic, intelligent and they all partied like rock stars.

In the 1950s, Madeline L'Engle was a Mommy Writer in a small Connecticut town, she wrote for at least 30 minutes a night after her kids went to bed and was rejected by publishers for years until FS&G showed some love to "The Wrinkle in Time", and then the book won the Newbury Award in 1963.

Mommy Bloggers - be encouraged, write, love your fellows and your kidlets, continue to write, and you will be a blessing.

2) Technorati 100 : Really, folks, does it matter? There are millions of bloggers and we can't all be in the top 100. Who cares if they are all men, except Dooce and Xeni of Boing Boing?

As of 7/31/05, my Technorati rank is: 81,765 (29 links from 24 sites)... aka... I suck. Really, who cares? The best part about Technorati is not their Top 100 Bloggers List, but they employ hot men (TC... NK... DP...). ;o)

And last but not least...

3) Tastefully Tye Dyed Polyamorous Elves.... (this phrase is brought to you by a very long drive south down the 5).

Need I say More?

Ok, I will a bit... since Contentious came out as Polyamorous in the Naked Panel, and Dooce came out as Monogamous, I will officially come out right here on this blog as ... Celibate-until-the-right-lovely-intelligent-strong-backboned-man-is-located-then-I-will-be-monogamous-with-him... or I-am-a-bore... or I-am-a-liberal-libertarian-who-loves-Jesus... or...

That's All Folks...

p.s. A big hello to / glad to meet you /chat with you this weekend to: Anina, Jelly, Ginevra, Debi, Jenn, Jenny, Meghan, Matt, Mena, Nichelle, Liza, Whitney, Barb, Niall, Danah, and all the other BlogHer attendees & organizers rock hard!

p.p.s. A certain Mr. George Kelly appears on the BlogHer blog roll, but I did not see him anywhere all weekend. MIA George?

p.p.s.s. A big thank you to the organizers of BlogHer!

Sun 07.31.05 - BlogHer - Driving south on the 5 in the Central Valley, stopped at a gas station for a diet coke, and when I walked in & saw Jess!

Sun 07.31.05 - BlogHer - Leaving the Bay Area.

Sun. 07.31.05 - BlogHer - Lauren demonstates how to use Picachu's analogue message board.

Sun 07.31.05 - Blogher - We decided to drive widdershins around the Infinite Loop before driving home to SoCal.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - Jen, Lauren, & Niall looking at Niall's photos of BlogHer on Flickr. Meta-BlogHer.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - At the RSS Session.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - The Moblog Panel with Barb & Debi.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - Anina.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - Yet another TV guy.

Sat 07.30.05 - BlogHer - The Mo-Pho-Blogging meet up.

Sat 07.30.05 - At BlogHer. Debi Jones and her fabulous Nokia N90.

Sat 07.30.05 - at the first session of BlogHer.

Sat 07.30.05 - At the first session of BlogHer.

Sat 07.29.05 - BlogHer - It is way too early to see a TV crew.

Fri 07.29.05 - Staged of course...

Fri 07.29.05 - Matt & Jelly.

Fri 07.29.05 - Katy at after dinner drinks.

Fri 07.29.05 - The remains of dinner.

Fri 07.29.05 - Jay Rosen.

Fri 07.29.05 - Lauren & Gina.

Erika, Lauren and I are now in our hotel room at the Westin Santa Clara having a small settling down before the Friday night kickoff dinner at Andiamo Cafe. I am very tired but excited for tomorrow's BlogHer.

So, far the BEST PART of the Whole Event So Far was Lauren's Groupie Moment. I was quite embarrassed in the moment, but laughed hard up in the hotel room.

The Flickr BlogHer Tag group has already commenced.

Fri 07.29.05 - BlogHer -Walking up to the Westin, the "boycotters" were so obnoxious we didn't even want to find out what they were boycotting.

Fri 07.29.05 - Stopping at a fruit stand outside of Gilroy.

Fri 07.29.05 - I like that the tomatoes get to ride to the packing plant in an open air truck.

Fri 07.29.05 - ... to BlogHer.

As drawn by Ms. Jen on 7/25/05. This time with color.

For some time now, I have been drawing birds in my sketchbook and when I go to scan them the result is very unsatisfactory. Today, I solved my problems by purchasing a Wacom Graphire3 tablet & pen set. It is fun! I am excited to draw directly into Photoshop and cut out the intermediary steps, esp. evil scanning.

The above rough draft drawing of a horned lark took less than 20 mins., including figuring out the pen and eraser. More drawings, here I come.

Thanks to Thomas for recommending the Wacom product line.

Mon 07.25.05 - Fun paint job, as seen on the 5 fwy.

Sat 07.23.05 - As the sun sets at the July Geek party.

Testing MT 3.2 b 2 and the new Atom password per Jay's post.

Left to Right:
1) View of the backstage stairs at the Throw Rag show at the Troubadour on Wed. 7/13/05.
2) Julie Wanda's friend being shy in the front bar at the Throw Rag show at the Troubadour on Wed. 7/13/05.
All photos taken with Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610 within the last week.
3) Sun. 7/17/05 - My dad, Cam, deconstructing the EVIL Ikea closet thing that has lived in my room since before I moved in. The last few months 3 of the drawers would not open and neither would one closet door. Uselss. Ikea = Icky.
4) Fri. 7/22/05 - Scruffy McDoglet in the backyard after a trip to dog beach.
5) Thurs. 7/21/05 - "Hot Karl" of the Irish Brothers at Alex's.

All photos taken with Ms. Jen's Nokia 7610.

TidBits from a VERY hot Friday whilst sitting at the door at Alex's...

It is a good thing that my brother told me to keep the Silver Pony until I depart as 5pm found the temperature at 96 F and found me driving around Orange, Santa Ana, and Tustin enjoying the air conditioning. Ok, I am a Super-Urban Wimp! I admit it.

1) I like Movable Type 3.2 beta. I do. My only problem / disappointment so far is the fact that I am unable to post my photos from my Nokia 7610 here via Flickr. Due to the fact that my phone's version of LifeBlog does not play well with MT (only TypePad), I have to email my photos and text to Flickr and then Flickr posts the photos to my MT install. Since 3.2, no go. Sad. This blog is now text heavy.

2) I wish Amazon would set up their site's user interface in a way that the login for regular customers was easy to find! It is so frustrating to hunt and peck for the small type on sub-pages. Hello! Hello, Amazon, wake up, let me login with a nice text box up in the nav bar on EVERY page. Hello, wake up!

3) I have been thinking about Gratitude. PTL and pass the...
As people have found about my getting into Trinity College Dublin for grad school, they have been very excited. I have moved past excited and into "Advanced Planning" mode. My head is : Where am I going to live? How much is it all going to cost? If I live on campus, what should I bring? If I live in an apartment, UGH, how will I get important stuff over to Ireland or how to afford new stuff? etc. etc. etc. etc.

How do I live in thankfulness as I move into practical / pragmatic mode? I have struggled for many years trying to realize my dreams and the practical mode is my way of keeping my dreams and hopes from being severely trampled on or thrown out altogether. I am trying to live in gratitude while trying to figure out my plane flights, money, and living situation.

In 1994, my friend Judy Dodgen gave me a weekly prayer workshop book and the first few weeks addressed how to be grateful amongst bad times. Now my question is how to have internal (& external) heart felt thankfulness in a time of plenty. Harder than I imagined after living in emotional survival mode for the last few years.

4) Ok, blogosphere, anyone out there attended Trinity College Dublin or the like in Ireland and can explain the academic system, esp. the examinations? I really want to go to SXSW 2006i, but it appears to fall on the weekend and start of the week of examinations. Please do tell...

Happy Friday! Tonight is Rapid Fire (FiiiiiiRE!) at Alex's and Mikey's birthday celebration. Come on down and celebrate with us.

The Tid Bits:

1) Some folks do binge drinking or scarf down quarts of Tom & Jerry's ice cream, not me. Me, I have pea binges and want to run around singing "Pease porridge...". Every so often I have a day of Pea-a-palooza. I eat peas at every meal. Today is one of those days. I had leftover pea and pancetta risotto for breakfast (heavy on the peas), I had Peas & Potatoes (aloo muttar?) from India Sweet & Spices for lunch, and I have a bag of Trader Joe's Petite Peas in the freezer, so what should I make pea-ful for dinner?

2) Cell / mobile phones have been in the news this last week after a study conducted by insurance companies concluded that hands free cell phone talking is just as distracting and dangerous to driving as holding the cell up to your ear.

From the LA Times article:

A study of cellphone use by motorists suggests that they aren't any better off using a headset in the car than holding the phone to their ear: They're still four times more likely to end up in a crash and injured than if they weren't using the phone.

The survey, released Monday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said that using mobile phones while driving was just as dangerous whether they're chatting through a headset or holding on to the handset.

The statistical analysis, which compared phone records with the times of accidents, indicated that the risk was just as great across all age groups and in both sexes.

It's not just keying in phone numbers or calling up messages but the conversation itself that can be the most distracting, said Anne T. McCartt, the insurance institute's research executive overseeing the study.

Now what I would like to see a study on is: How does talking on one's cell with an ear bud or bluetooth wireless ear bud or a hands free set differ from talking to a passenger in the car? Does the brain differentiate tasks with a person present as opposed to a person on the other end of the phone call? Or is it just as distracting and dangerous to talk to a passenger as to have a cell conversation with a headset?

What do you think? When I drive I find that I can talk to a passenger and look forward to the road just fine and I can use my ear bud and look forward just fine, but if I have my cell to my ear then I can't see out of the side that the phone is on and I am distracted. And if Scruffy is in the car, all beats are off.

3) My roommate has been gone for a week and the house has gone to the birds. It is dangerous to live alone and requires discipline. I took out the vacuum on Monday to clean the carpets, have not done so, and the vaccuum is plugged in and in the middle of the living room walkway. I keep telling myself I will vacuum when it cools down. ;o)

Movable Type is conducting a public beta testing of MT 3.2 and me being me I downloaded MT-3.2 Beta 1 and didn't start a new installation as suggested when beta testing but upgraded BlackPhoebe :: Ms. Jen and HadashiWorld straight to 3.2b. ;oD

All went well until I published my "Not so Itsy Bitsy" entry today. The blog entry posted just fine as an individual archive but it would not publish to the main index. When I tried my favorite "This Will Fix Everything" approach to MT, e.g. Rebuilding, I got an error that my one of my tags within was conflicting with my archives. Rats!

I created a new weblog in 3.2b and then compared my minorly customized tag set up with the default in the test blog and discovered that when I pulled out this line from my "Main Index" template:

<a href="<MTEntryLink archive_type="Category">"><MTEntryCategory></a>

..then Save, Rebuild, and all is well. The Not so Itsy Bitsy Spider is now on the main index page, but the listed category next to "Posted by" is no longer there.

Then I read the Known Issues... and there it is:

Entries tag doesn't support new category path selection syntax (e.g. <MTEntries category="Parent Category/Child Category">)

Well, to quote Bill the Cat, "Pppphhhhbbbttt...". Hopefully, this bug will be fixed by the time that 3.2 is released.

Other than that, MT 3.2b is very Sexy.

Yes, Sexy. Sleek, more features, runs fast, new tabs, fancy graphics, even a whirling round arrow when rebuilding, and lots of admin shortcuts and new sections.

Hmmm... speaking of features... when can I moblog straight from my cameraphone to MT?

This Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider*, who is hiding above the waterspout, scared the bejezus out of me the other evening when I was watering the yard. He played shy when I tried to snap his photo this afternoon.

*a.k.a Big Ass Black Spider with eerie green eyes, he/she is at least 1/2 inch wide and looks like a hermit crab who is using the garage as a shell.

Wed 07.13.05 - at the Troubadour for the Throw Rag CD release party.

Wed 07.13.05 - at the Throw Rag CD release party at the Troubadour.

Mon 07.11.05 - Kir Royale time at Walt's!

Photo of Erika at Trinity Collge on 11/27/04 by Ms. Jen

...IRELAND!!!!

Yes, ladies and gents, Ms. Jen, the lady who uses few cell minutes but 25 to 40 MBs a month of internet/data on her cell phone needs to find a good unlimited data plan in Ireland... Taking recommendations from Irish mo-bloggers...Vodafone? O2? ;o)

After months of waiting on pins, needles, and at times what seemed like hot coals... I have been accepted to M.Sc. in Multimedia Systems at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland for the academic year 2005-2006!!!!

Hopping around with extreme happiness!!!!

You, my lovely reader, have mostly likely already seen the "Feel Good Inc." video, but given that I am choicefully without TV, I google searched it this evening and it is Gorgeous.

I love the juxtaposition of the windmill flying through the clouds with the gritty music video / anime ghetto world is wonderful. Thank you, Gorillaz.

Sun 07.10.05 - Nokias do not taste good.

Sun 07.10.05 - Two little piggies and one big mama at the OC Fair.

Sun 07.10.05 - of the OC Fair.

Fri. 07.08.05 - Aunt Trice, Chris Krogh, & my brother Joe.

Fri 07.08.05 - Mark & Grandpa Jim.

Fri 07.08.05 - Grandpa Jim has donated the Kialoa III to the OCC Sailing School and the NHYC is throwing a party.

OC Register on the Kialoa III
(bugmenot.com provides: username: tinkles,
password:123456789)

Wed 07.06.05 - Mom, Freckles, Scruffy, and I are at dog beach. The water is cold, there is a red tide, and the tide line is littered with jellyfish.

Wed 07.06.05 - Mary, dressed as a Madam for the video, giving Clash P., who came down with his mama Cory, a hug.

Wed 07.06.05 - Throw Rag is filming a video for "She Don't Want To" from their new cd.

Vicky Pepper is the Woman! She plotted to get a photo of Fabio with one of her "My Little Pony" collection and she did and then she posted it to the Barflies! Go Vicky go!

Mon 07.04.05 - A little worse for the wear and no tickets from the Orange Police. I thought the bottom of the panda was going to be a fountain firework, alas and alack it was only a twirler and the Panda survived to tell the tale.

Mon 07.04.05 - On the street in front of my driveway.

Mon 07.04.05 - Dark has fallen.

Mon 07.04.05 - Riding south back to the cars.

Mon 07.04.05 - Bailey the basset hound.

Mon 07.04.05 - Allison at the HB pier.

Mon 07.04.05 - The Huntington Beach generating station.

Sun 07.03.05 - A summer spider building a web between two roses and the fence.

Photo Friday : Used

Fri. 06.24.05 - Used glow sticks thrown all over Alex's by Juan during the HTTH show.

Fri 07.01.05 - View from the TKO booth.

Fri 07.01.05 - The Riverboat Gamblers. Now I can retire.