Category :: fun stuff
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Last friday at Tuttle Club LA, in two separate conversations, one with Kelly Sims and one with Luke Dorny, we discussed the challenges of having a career as a freelance web designer.
Out of that set of conversations, Luke and I decided to meet up today to refine the topic and work out a few kinks on the rocky road to growing one's own business. The best part is that as we worked through a list of skill sets and discussing what was important for a web designer to have, Luke suggested that we rate skills as one would have levels of power or talents in Dungeons & Dragons.
Luke is a 13th power typographic visual wonder Elf Mage. I am design developer mobile hybrid Warrior Princess.
As you can tell, I have never played D&D or WOW, only picked up, vaguely, enough from others to be dangerous...
Photo of fish on sidewalk taken this morning by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 while walking Scruffy McDoglet.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia E73.
Sat 08.21.10 - This afternoon and evening was the very fun Nokia E73 Mode Beach Party with a set of 'challenges' in Sunset Beach as hosted by Nokia and WOMWorld.
Attendees were given the choice to dress up in suits provided by the WOMWorld folk and to be apart of the challenges that also involved a film crew. The film fellows were using Canon 7Ds to record the video of the adventures.
WOMWorld's Donna was our 'boss' and the best parts were going out kayaking in the Huntington Harbor and the volleyball game in front of the Beach Party house, as seen in the photos above.
I enjoyed using the Nokia E73 Mode to take photos, as the camera is 5 megapixels and much improved over the last ESeries device I trialed - the E71. The photos are clear, the color is fairly correct, and the camera was fairly fast. My only complaint with the E73's camera is that in automatic mode it does best focusing at objects about a meter (3 feet) away and is a bit blurry and anything closer as seen in the photos above.
As always it was wonderful to catch up with friends who are also passionate about mobile and make new ones. Big thanks to Nokia, WOMWorld - Donna, Adam, and James, for hosting a lovely party and weekend.
The big question is when will the video come out?
;o)
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Fri 08.20.10 - The nice folk at Nokia and WOMWorld are holding a Nokia E73 Mode Beach Party tomorrow, Saturday, in Sunset Beach. I am quite excited that Donna, Adam, and the other James (not Whatley) are in town organizing the event, as well as being very happy to see Nokia Open Lab alum Mike Maddaloni and Glenn Letham are in town for the party as well as meeting Lenny of Nokia Innovation and Dennis of Wap Review.
This morning Donna and I met up and we took Scruffy and Belle to Dog Beach, which is about 3 miles south of the Beach House. We had a lovely walk and talk.
I joined the group again later in the early evening at the Beach House to have a good hang out time and eat a lovely dinner that Donna made for us! Thanks, Donna!
It was good to have a relaxed time before the party started to catch up and exchange ideas, thoughts, and laughter. I am looking forward to the party tomorrow afternoon.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 08.15.10 - Today was the day that I took the peeling & sliced peaches and turned them into jars of peach jam. Canning fun was documented on Qik:
Peaches, Day II
Peaches, The Cooking
Peaches, Almost Time to Can
I was wrong in the last video, it was not 5 minutes of the boiling processing bath, but 20 minutes. I corrected myself after I finished this Qik video and processed all the jars of peach jam for 20 minutes each in the boiling water.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sat 08.14.10 - Today my Mom and I turned a box of peaches from Erika & Thomas' peach tree into peeled, sliced/diced peaches ready for to become peach jam. I captured a series of Qik streaming videos about what we were up to with the peaches that can be found here:
Peaches, Future Jam I
Peaches, Future Jam II
Peaches, Part II
Peaches, Part III
Peaches, Part IV
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N900.
My Mom arrived late this afternoon with a HUGE cooler full of organic, pasture raised, rancher slaughtered beef, pork and lamb. She bought at auction 4H raised meat at the Bishop Ag Fair in July. After we packed various white paper wrapped bits into our freezers, Mom, Scruffy, and I set off on a walk around 6pm. We took the long way around Seal Beach.
As we hit Main Street, the first time around, we ran into Mike Magrann and Lucy the wonderful brindled ex-pound pup. Mike is freshly back from CH3's East Coast and UK tour, and he told us the highlights beyond what I had read on his blog.
After chatting with Mike, Mom and I continued on to the far north end of town before looping back down Ocean Ave and then back up Main Street. At the corner of Main and Electric, Mom suggested that we go have a glass of wine at the Wine Bar, as she wanted to wind down from her big drive down from Bishop.
We sat at the pew style benches next to the big open windows so that Scruffy could be right there as we sat and had our glass of wine. Time wound on, we had a 2nd glass of wine, the sky started to darken, and I was watching folks walking down the sidewalk, when I saw Julia Johnson Britt walking by on the sidewalk.
While I have known Channel 3's Mike & Kimm since 1983 or 1984 and see them fairly frequently, the second longest friend I have kept in (mostly) continuous contact with has been Julia Britt. She and I met at Richard's Beauty College in 1985 and had many adventures together including a summer of 1988 tour of England, France, Germany, Ireland, and back to London again. We most recently ran into each other, other than keeping in contact on Facebook, while walking down Cesar Chavez (aka 1st St) in Austin, TX, two years ago at SXSW when Julia was skating with the Houston Roller Derby girls.
A few weeks ago, on Facebook, Julia messaged me to let me know she would be in SoCal for the first week of August plus a bit. I emailed her back to say that I wanted to get together, but didn't hear from her. When I saw her walking down the sidewalk tonight, I called out and she joined us at the Wine Bar.
It was a good deal of fun to catch up. She had not seen my email, as she had not read her gmail in a bit, regardless of nearly missing each other we did to hang out for a few hours at the Wine Bar. It was delightful to see two old friends in one day, particularly delightful to see Julia when she lives in Houston and we did not plan to find each other this evening.
Glad that Mom wanted to go the Wine Bar. ;o)
Much as 'staycation' is a neologism of the last two years due folks staying home rather than traveling for vacation, this week I coined a new word with 'quietcation'.
Quietcation is when you have a lovely staycation at home while your family members and pets go off on a travel vacation and you stay at home in blessed silence.
My brother is currently having a quietcation while his girlfriend is on holiday with her friends in Arizona and Belle (aka Poopy McPooperson the Carpet Defacer) is staying with Scruffy and I. I hope my brother enjoys his time of quiet.
The Equation of why Seal Beach is really Mayberry-by-the-Seal & how next Thursday's Seal Beach Sun's Crime Log will be particularly good & juicy:
3 or 4 raccoons bigger than your average cocker spaniel treed in a eucalyptus in the alley making unholy screams while either fighting or mating or both
+
2 drunk young men walking down the Electric Ave and the 16th St alleys tipping over trashcans all the while trying to get home to one of their grandfather's houses but turning into the neighbor's house instead
+
7-8 cop cars full of SBPD trying to determine if drunk teenagers or if crazy raccoons are the problem (who knew that Seal Beach even had 7-8 cop cars!)
+
1 really big firetruck
+
1 paramedics van
+
a bunch of neighbors and their dogs all out in nightgowns/attire watching the whole spectacle
=
A rockin' Saturday Night in Mayberry by the Sea.
********
The young man actually related to the homeowner on 16th ended up in the cop car and his drunk buddy was left to languish on the Greenbelt. The Raccoons have stopped screaming. Maybe they were agitated by the cop car bright beams being shone into Their Tree.
Who knows why the firetruck and paramedic van even showed up. We will rely on Charles M. Kelley to give us the straight scoop from the Police Log in Thursday's Sun.
Photo taken at Dog Beach by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 07.25.10 - The biggest excitement in our section of Seal Beach on Sunday afternoon was the exploding Greenbelt water pipe after an unintentional Bocce Ball strike. The water spray was impressive and the amount of folks who came out to watch it shows you really how slow of an afternoon it was at Mayberry by the Sea.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s at Dog Beach on Thursday afternoon.
Sun 07.25.10 - I have a ton of things to do tonight before the workday starts tomorrow, but none of it is going to get done as I am crazy tired from the last 5 days of dog sitting Oberon and all of the family activities of the last 5 days with my sister Allison's birthday & my cousin Kristin's baby shower plus all of the other attendant family to dos. Emails are not getting sent, the blog posts in my head are staying there, the photos to be downloaded are still on the cameras. Etc. etc. etc.
The big excitement of the weekend was the fact that last evening Oberon, aged 12 weeks, go so excited that his poor bladder decided to empty itself on my bed. Yes, a huge puddle of puppy pee discovered only after I sat down to read. Most of last night was taken up with laundry of my clothes & bedding.
After I started the first load of my comforter & sheets, I was laying on my living room floor trying to compose myself with the front door open when I heard my mom tell Oberon to drink water out of a bowl and not from the algae infested garden hose area.
Oberon then escaped my Mom's grip, and bounded in my apartment only to come plant his whole wet, algae encrusted muzzle on my mouth, as I gasped in astonishment, he then put his wet paw in my mouth and then proceeded to climb on top of me to reach Scruffy. I screamed, my mom caught him, I started laughing in reflexive hysterical waves all the while I was crying from being completely exhausted and overwhelmed.
Good thing for Listerine mouthwash and the fact that I drove Oberon back up to Culver City today at noon to be returned to his family. Oberon is a beautiful and amazing dog, but I was not really mentally prepared to dog sit such a young and active labrador retriever puppy with so much family & work obligations as well as having Scruffy around.
One of Oberon's people texted me this morning when we were trying to arrange the drop off, "I hope the wee beastie has not been too naughty."
No, just a wee naughty.
Now I am off to bed a couple of hours early. 'Night y'all.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s
Sat 07.24.10 - At Traci's sister Kristin's baby shower. More photos when I am less tired.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Fri 07.23.10 - This afternoon, my Mom and I took Oberon the Charcoal Lab Puppy and Scruffy McDoglet to Dog Beach in Huntington Beach so that Oberon could have his first experience at the beach and with the ocean.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photos by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Tues 07.13.10 - I woke up this morning to a terrible stench in my apartment and Belle, my brother's dog, sitting right next to me on the bed licking her nether regions. Smelly Belly. I didn't want to open my eyes, I didn't want to get up, or to even investigate the smell. But I did.
I found that Belle had an early morning Poopy Butt Blowout that covered at least 1/4 of the living room. Horrifying.
I borrowed the Bissell ProCleaner 2x carpet steamer from my landlord after returning Poopy McPooperbutt the Carpet Defacer to my brother's house. Then I spent about 3 hours this afternoon in a zen like trance slowly, ever so slowly, running the carpet cleaner/steamer over small patches of the living room and then re-steaming. It was far better than coding and much more satisfying.
In the end, my furniture sat outside gathering sunshine* with the exception of the bookcases and my drawing table, my carpet came out cleaner than when I moved in, and I got lots of exercise.
Did I mention that the carpet is now cleaner than when I moved in?
* p.s. The Sun, it is shining. The clouds, they have been vanquished.
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 06.27.10 - Happy Birthday to Erika a few days late!
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos of the USS Gridley Open House taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
One of the oddities about living a block away from a U.S. Navy base is that one never gets to go on base, there is a lot of open land, one is not allowed to take photos of anything behind the Navy chain link fence, and Naval ships come and go weekly from the dock in the Anaheim Bay.
Yesterday, Sat 06.19.10, I was driving home from taking Scruffy to Dog Beach, I saw a sign announcing "Open House" at the Seal Beach Blvd entrance to the Anaheim Bay dock area of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. I quickly turned in and asked the nice young lady in camoflague if the open house was for anyone or just for folks who had tickets, she let me know that it as for anyone.
I drove the block home, parked, rounded up my Mom and Magnolia, left Scruffy in the apartment, and off we walked over the Navy Open House. It was fun. I really like touring factories, monuments, dams, and large equipment (like a Navy destroyer).
The best part was having Magnolia along for the tour of the USS Gridley (aka #101), as a 4 year old is really the best person to share one's own childlike joy of such things with. Thanks, to my Mom & Magnolia for being willing to go on the spur of the moment tour of the USS Gridley.
As a side note, I would like to say that all the Navy folk who take shore leave in Seal Beach should wear their uniforms, as all the personnel looked lovely/handsome.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Mon 05.07.10 - I had a 9am meeting this morning with a long term client who is very fond of Scruffy, so we sat in her backyard while we discussed redesigning her business' website and Scruffy set himself nicely up on a pillow.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 camera.
Sat 06/05/10 - The much beloved friend of many years, Taco Bill, aka Bill Payne, is moving to Bremerton, WA with his family for his new US Coast Guard, so Kim & Jeff Roth threw Bill, Storm, Ridge & Nicholas Payne a lovely going away party.
Back in the day (mid-90s), most all of the fellows in the photos where roommates or Glamis/River friends with my brother Joe and Bill at the Orange & Bay street house in Costa Mesa, thus all the photos of my brother.
Tonight's party was the equivalent to going to a high school or college reunion that is populated with the folks you liked. It was very good to see Bill & his new family, Mikey Bruce, and others doing so well even though we are all 40 or so now. ;o)
Photo of Gracie taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 while on the crazy/fun road trip.
Sun 05.30.10 - When someone in Southern California, particularly a native or long-lived migrant, says "The River", they mean the only one in 200 miles that runs all year around - the Colorado River on the border of the California and Arizona. To some tribes and sub-cultures going to The River from Memorial Day to Labor Day is a sacred activity, just like a certain set of East Coast tribes go to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard. Except it is different. Really different, different as in a different nation, different customs, morals, dress, and culture.
Anywhoo, I don't belong to either tribe so the few times that I have ended up at The River on a big holiday weekend or in Nantucket during the summer, it always seems odd. Odd, as in: get in, do what called one to to the locale, and get the heck out real fast.
The last time I was in Nantucket in the summer, I lasted about 38 hours before I hopped on the ferry back to the mainland. Today, I went to The River for less than 3 hours, not including the 3.5 hours each way. I was on a mission and my sister, Allison, was kind enough to come along on the mission.
Mission? Getting my Dad, who is one week out of a major back surgery from Tustin, Calif. to Big River, Calif. so he can go to his surgery follow up appointment with his doctor in Phoenix mid-week.
Allison and I left Seal Beach about 8:15am, we picked up my Dad who was properly pain med-ed up for the long drive, and off we went. Upon arrival at his RV in Big River, we got him set up with food, A/C, and other bits, went to lunch, he off to a big nap, and then we got back on the road to see Quartzite, Arizona, before hopping back on the Interstate 10 to drive back to the LA area.
Once we left the LA area basin and reached the desert, it was Good & Hot all day. The temperatures were between 93 - 101F / 34 - 39C the whole drive. We only left the car's A/C for a few pit stops, to unload my Dad & his stuff, and to walk around T-Rock rock store in Quartzite.
Other than those few pit stops, we arrived back home within 12.5 hours of departure. Now I am ready for bed. ;o)
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s camera using a 50mm 1.8f lens.
Fri 05.28.10 - A big happy 1st birthday to Miss Gracie Callis! She has gotten so big compared to last year at this time...
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 in the last 24 hours.
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sat. 05.15.10 - The Just for Fun camera phone / DSLR comparison is back. Given that the Camera Phone Fairy showed up this week with a Nokia N900 under my pillow, I decided today to shoot a local gerba daily with a water droplet in the sun, as well as Scruffy and Magnus playing with the Nokia N97, Nokia N86, Nokia N900, and Nikon D70s with a 50mm f1.8 lens.
Remember all the above photo comparisons are for fun on a lovely Saturday afternoon, and if you came over from a serious DSLR forum, please read the title, enjoy the images, and then when you go to rant about this back at the forum, the photographer & site owner here at Black Phoebe is a woman not a guy. A cheeky one at that. Just sayin'...
;o)
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
In 2001, the Barflies.net fielded, or laned, our first bowling team(s) at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas. PRB was only a year or two old at that point, was held at the Gold Coast Hotel which was just off strip. In the years since we have moved all over the place from the Gold Coast to downtown, to the Boulder Hwy, to Sam's Town, back to the Gold Coast, back to Sam's Town, etc.
In the years since, Punk Rock Bowling was really the highlight of the whole year not just for me but for many of my friends, next to SXSW. The only year in the last 10 years that I missed bowling at PRB was in 2006 when I was at grad school in Dublin, Ireland. I had a good excuse as I was on an island a whole ocean and continent away.
This year, PRB was moved from January to May and by the time the email came from BYO Records to register, it was only a few weeks before SXSW. And I just was not interested. I had a deep down feeling that May would have other things in store for me, as well as the weekend picked was Mother's Day weekend (?!?!?!??!?), and I couldn't afford to shell out a couple of hundred bucks just before SXSW.
In late February/early March, I decided that I wouldn't go this year. I told my team. Julie Wanda also wasn't feeling it, Tink was, and so there it went.
As things have unfolded in the 2.5 months since, I am very glad that I didn't go this weekend to Las Vegas. I am glad that I stayed home this weekend for Mother's Day, as I had a lovely time with my Mom.
And my hunch was right, there have been other things in store for May. Tomorrow I get on a plane to go to a very cool event that I would not have had energy for if I had gone to bowling.
I hope everyone who did go had a wonderful time. As for me, my big adventure starts tomorrow. Wish me well.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Tues 05.04.10 - This video would only be funnier if Mr. Kankkunen had driven circles around one the BMW driving clamshell phone talking idiots from my neighborhood.
One of the things that continually baffles me about the wealthy in SoCal is how they can afford the latest & greatest BMW, Mercedes, Range Rover, etc, but all seem to talk on clamshell phones with no bluetooth headset.
¿What?
How in the heck can one afford a $50-80K car but one's mobile is the cheap/free clamshell from _____ [insert name of carrier here] with no bluetooth or headset?
My mom posits that these folks don't care if they get pulled over for talking on their phones with no hands free because they can afford to pay the ticket. I still wonder why not spend an extra $300 and get a phone with bluetooth or a headset in the box. Idiots.
Now for me, I would spend the $$ for a real mobile and then get the Nokia Car Kit CK-200. But I am also not spending $50-80k on my car, or even a leased one.
I took yesterday off from blogging, working, and all the like.
Instead I read a novel that Erika loaned me, Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger.
Soulless was an amusing mashup of regency romance genre tropes with Steampunk Victoriana plus vampires & werewolves set in an 1870s alterna-London. A very good romp. The kind of book that once one starts reading it, one keeps reading it, even when one has other things to do.
Reading an actual book broke my 2 years + daily blogging streak.
And I don't regret it.
;oD
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Appholes
Thurs 04.29.10 - From last night's Jon Stewart show, as usual Mr. Stewart gets to the essence again, this time his love for Apple & when did Apple become The Man. The best part is when Stewart calls Gizmodo's iPhone review "whole video tech prostate exam".
I will use term, "whole video tech prostate exam", about any and all future mobile video reviews and possibly about unboxing videos.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s using a 50mm 1.8D lens.
Mon 04.26.10 - I find the tale of the two leaks of the last week to be very instructive of the respective companies, countries, & cultures of which they occurred.
Leak #1: The ((**GASP**)) iPhone Leak.
OMG! The iPhone 4 has been leaked. The Oh Holy Jobs and Cupertino Silencers get the cops on the beat. Gruber waxes prolific...
Because OMG the next Holy Artifact has been leaked!
OMG!!!!!!!!! THE WORLD WILL END TOMORROW AS THE OH HOLY ARTIFACT HAS BEEN LEAKED!!!!!! WE WILL ALL DIE!!!!!!!
8.8 earthquake surely will hit Jason Chen's house next week. And he is not even boobylicious.
Leak #2: Eldar M. at Mobile_Review leaks the next Nokia high end mobile - The N8.
.
.
.
Eldar gives the prototype of the non-yet announced Nokia N8 a Russian Rant treatment. Various bloggers & commenters react & rebut.
.
.
.
Helsinki is still waiting for a few spring flowers to spring out.
.
.
.
Quietly, the FCC gives the Nokia N8 the seal of approval.
.
.
.
Espoo wonders if there will be another snow storm before the trees leaf out.
.
.
.
No earthquakes or police raids in Moscow or Helsinki, nor any clerics nor cleavage. No news at 11.
.
.
.
Elgar possibly picks his nose, which is full of snot from Spring pollen & creates a bugger sculpture in the shape of not-yet-announced iPhone 4.0, hoping that Steve Jobs will send the Cupertino Police after him.
****
p.s. People, please wake me up with the iPhone X.x has a real camera.
p.p.s. To quote me from last night: "Eldar has made his reputation on scooping everyone's scoop & Nokia is famed for have wonderful devices 3 months AFTER release."
p.p.s.s. Tomi Ahonen, last Thursday, on "So bloodbath in smartphones continues: Q1 results from Apple, AT&T and Nokia"
*****
Tues 04.27.10, 8:07am PST - Nokia speaks and requests the return of their N8 prototype.
Bless Espoo, the money quote is: "We are not the Secret Police, and we want to maintain our culture of openness."
Eldar, return the N8. Nokia's culture of openness and lack of scary Cupertino style closed-ness is one of their unique Finnish treats to the rest of us, let's help them keep it.
Dear Scruffy and Belle,
Please stop growling at the window. Yes, there are other small mammals out there. No, you can't go outside to chase them.
This apartment will never be big enough for one small 'skunked' dog even after 25 baths.
Love, Jen
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Thurs 0r.15.10 - Local nearly 11 month old infant makes bipedal break through and crosses over into Toddlerhood. News at 11.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photo taken this morning by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
My horrorscope* today:
"You have been running at a very heightened level of intensity, and interactive Mercury reminds you that you need some downtime today."
Why yes, little horrorscope, I have been running at very heightened levels of activity & intensity for months now. Why yes, I do need some real downtime...
BUT...
BUT...
Liquid on my MacBook Pro this morning pre-caffiene was NOT the way to accomplish some downtime. Then there was the 2 drinking glasses that broke, one in the sink and one right next to my chair. Then then there was the wifi (wlan) router that fell off the cabinet and broke and the only way to get the pieces back to put it back together was to crawl over the broken glass to reach under the cabinet.
Now why was there broken glass still on the floor? Well, the apartment building vacuum cleaner is busted.
So, the computer is now on its side with the battery out hoping against all hope that by tomorrow the liquid will have evaporated and it will start back up nicely. The router is mostly back in one piece once I laid a big fluffy towel over the site of the glass shards to reach the router pieces under the furniture.
And Then, I gave up the ghost and went back to bed at 2:16pm this afternoon. For a while I tried to answer email on the Nokia N97 mobile and watch my twitter stream until I gave up on that endeavor to just nap. Yep, I napped.
I am not a napper, so it was odd. Then Scruffy and I went for a big walk.
Now I am using the Nokia Booklet to write this post before it goes back to WOMWorld tomorrow or the next day. By then, hopefully my Mac will be dry and I can go back to work.
Moral of the story? A lack of connectivity isn't too bad and also naps, unless you had a big 1pm deadline with all the files stuck on the wet computer...
Grr... Mercury, Grrr...
I did have a nice nap and that was good. ;o)
* Yes, I misspelled it for humorous / comedic effect.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D300.
Sun 04.04.10 - Thomas Bertling kindly brought his Nikon D300 with the 18-200mm lens to my Easter party this afternoon so that I could try the camera out and see if I would want one. I do.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
SXSW is my favorite conference/festival/springbreakforgeeks event of the year and has been since 1998 for Music and 2001 for Interactive. I love Austin in early to mid-March.
For a few years now, I have felt that Nokia has missed a big opportunity to reach out to the North American and International web, mobile, gamer, and interactive creator & influencer communities by not participating, attending, or throwing a big open to all badges party at SXSW. Last year Nokia held two private by invite only parties that were kept on the low down, which was completely baffling for a company that is struggling in the North American market, as SXSW would be the perfect place to get all the influencers and bloggers to start talking.
More Text/Write-up/Thoughts plus Links just beyond the jump....
Continue reading #NokiaComp Goes to SXSW Interactive 2010.
Video by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Fri 03.19.10 - Lloyd Davis of the London Tuttle Club joined the Los Angeles / Long Beach Tuttle today as a part of his #Tuttle2Texas trip.
In this video taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86 I interviewed Geoff Hickman, Jeb Brilliant, Lloyd Davis, Al Pavangkanan, Luke Dorny, Francine Kizner, and AJ Pape.
Geoff also made a video where he asked Lloyd about the start of Tuttle and posted it here.
Tuttle2Texas Posterous: tuttle2texas.posterous.com
Thanks to WOMWorld/Nokia for the loan of the Nokia N86 8MP camera phone so that I could capture great video & stills.
Today is the 2nd Annual Ada Lovelace Day, in where I am to blog about a woman in technology that I admire.
After reading Vikki (aka Victoria) Chowney's Ada Lovelace Day post this morning, I decided that I would like to write about two kick ass twenty-something women that I know personally who are both very influential in persuading others to engage in technology: my cousin Caitlin Kilroy and Ms. Victoria Chowney.
On Sunday morning, I had a lovely breakfast with my cousin Caitlin and her mother Robin. During the course of the breakfast, I found myself explaining to my (now ex-) aunt that Caitlin was very influential in getting more than a few of her friends and relatives to join and engage in Facebook. Robin was at first baffled, but when I asked her, knowing what the answer was, how she joined Facebook and now has it logged in and turned on all day every day, she said that it was to keep track of Caitlin on her big adventures.
Last year, Caitlin a tall willowy then 24 year old blonde, announced that she was going to take a year to travel from California to South America via the Transamerican Highway. The family erupted in calls of No Way! I cried bullshit to most of them. If Caitlin were a 24 year old boy cousin, no one would say a damned thing but would instead brag how cool he was to travel through some interesting terrain, but because Caitlin is female there was a big hew and cry.
Luckily, Caitlin did not pay attention to them and just went. Good on her. The family was at first shocked, then my sister and I noticed that Caitlin was posting updates and photos from her adventures to her Facebook account. Then I noticed over time that family members and various friends of Caitlin joined Facebook and started to get over their own fear of technology and Caitlin's choice of travel route to cheer her on via her Facebook Wall and photo comments.
When my grandma or mom would ask if anyone knew where Caitlin was now, my sister Allison & I could give a report due to Caitlin's intrepid use of Facebook no matter the location. As I explained to Caitlin's mom at breakfast, Caitlin is a technology influencer, as folks who previously did not use Facebook to interact are now using it daily because of Caitlin's big adventures and using Facebook to report on same said and connect back home.
Caitlin is currently in LA to get her certification to teach yoga before returning to Peru to teach yoga there. She just assumes that no one will worry as she is just a click away on Facebook.
My other favorite mid-twenty-something kick ass technology lady is London's Victoria Chowney. Vikki in her own Ada Lovelace post details out her own involvement in the technology world via an early career in tech pr, but a cursory read under estimates her depth and breadth of knowledge of the digital and technology spheres as well as her passion for the intersecting worlds of technology, community, and communication.
In late September 2009, Vikki invited me to the launch party of Reputation Online, web community to further deepen the interstices and encourage connections between new & social media & technology with older media and more traditional public relations. Vikki is the editor of Reputation Online and has put a great deal of effort into making the site into a great resource for best practices in social media and new media public relations, as well as expanding the knowledge community in the fields of communications and technology. Vikki's passion and drive to further push the communications field into the 21st century is truly awe inspiring.
So, to my two favorite young women in technology the future is yours, ladies, thankfully. Go forth and kick ass.
*****
My post from last year's Ada Lovelace Day :: Cousin Lynn
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86 while sitting in traffic at the East LA interchange.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Continue reading Off the SXSW Grid - Puff Puff Open Mic Comedy Night, SXSW Day 4.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Continue reading SXSW Day 2 : Kick! Or the Brits Run Wild.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
As a 12 year vet of SXSW, here are my tips and tricks for a great SXSW experience, particularly my food recommendations.
Don't miss the Kickball game at Palm Park on Sat. March 13, 2010 at 10:30. More info at http://www.dashes.com/kick
While I already have my SXSW Interactive Badge & plane flight, I would love to win a white Nokia N86 to take lots of great photos & video at SXSW (see min 3:30 to end of video).
Less than a week away folks! It will be fun! ;o)
Ms. Jen
Photos taken by Ms. Jen on Sun 02.28.10 with a Nokia N97.
Happy Birthday to Julie Wanda!
Fri 02.26.10 - I would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to all the last week of February folk I know: Julie Wanda Espy, Jody Ward, Jeremy Keith, Heidi Richman, Kim Volstedt, and LJ Rich!
And Happy Birthday to you if this was your Birthday week, too!
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen today at the Long Beach Marina Farmers Market & of Belle with a Nokia N97.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen & Luke Dorny with a Nokia N97.
Photos of Thurs 02.04.10 taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97
Thurs 02.04.10 - Three tweets from the 5 o'clock hour this evening:
@msjen: That was *HYSTERICAL* A neighborhood 5 year old boy just showed up to show me his mom's new phone, "Look, it is a mini computer" he says. about 6 hours ago
@msjen: Me, "Does you Mom know you have her new phone?" Ely, "No!" Me, "I think you should go home." "Ok" His Mom has a new Nokia N97 mini. about 6 hours ago
@msjen: Of course, I had him stop long enough to do a video. I am now walking over there to make sure he really took it home. about 6 hours ago
I do have video of Ely standing at my door telling me about his Mom's new 'mini-laptop' as he brandished a brand new Nokia N97 Mini with no adult in sight. I need to get Carolyn's permission before I post it, though. He was so excited about the 'mini-laptop' that could take photos.
When I walked over to their house to make sure that Carolyn's new phone made it home without harm, Ely informed me that the Nokia N97 that I had was 'Too Big' and that his Mom's new phone was much better than the big N97. Carolyn and I tried to show him that the Mini is just a smaller version of the N97, but he was convinced it was MUCH BETTER. Oh, to be 5 and all boy.
I proceeded to show him how to take photos and video. He particularly liked the sports mode of the digital still camera and made his Mom run down the sidewalk to get an action shot.
In other local Seal Beach news, all the flowers are a-bloom due to last week's rain. Magnolia, aka Bird, cashed in her savings for pierced ears at the Westminster Mall. She got pink sparkly earrings. Magnolia hopefully appreciates that her Mom is super cool to let her get her ears pierced at 4, I had to wait until I was 7.
;o)
Photo of Scruffy and Belle by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Video by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Thurs 01.28.10 - This weekend is Alex's Bar's 10th Anniversary weekend, in celebration Alex and I (Ms. Jen) did the above video to cover what the article in The District did not and for Alex to extend a big Thank You to all of the folks who have made 10 Years of Alex's Bar possible.
Alex's has a great line up of shows to say 'Thank you, Long Beach, for a great decade of Alex's Bar!':
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 - Alex's Bar 10 Year Anniversary Show - The Adolescents, Riverboat Gamblers, John Doe, Blockage - $15
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 - Alex's Bar 10 Year Anniversary Show - Riverboat Gamblers, Throw Rag, Mike Watt and the Secondmen, Werewolf - $15
See you at Alex's Bar's this weekend!
Photos taken by Ms. Jen and Michal with a Nokia N97.
Photo of Julie Wanda and Erika taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Sat 01.02.10 - A week and a half ago, Julie Wanda and I go talking about what would be fun to do for New Year's Eve, I suggested that we go to dim sum and then to the Huntington Library to visit the gardens. She reminded me that she had to work on New Year's Eve until 4pm. Julie Wanda and I have a tradition to go to dim sum for lunch on New Year's Day, as we mused our options, Erika pointed out that the Huntington would be closed on New Year's Day.
After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing with the idea, we all decided that today would be the day to go to dim sum lunch at Elite Restaurant in Monterey Park and then proceed to the Huntington for a good toddle about the gardens. I brought the Nikon D70s as well as the ever present Nokia camera phone and took over 300 photos between both cameras.
A truly delightful day in lovely gardens (the camelias are blooming!) with good friends.
The above is my favorite photo of the 300, but I have about 20 more photos that I really like, but I will post them tomorrow.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen at Dog Beach with a Nokia N97.
Fri 01.01.10 - Happy New Year one and all!
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo of Ms. Jen, Belle, and Scruffy by hadashigirl with a Nikon D70s.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Tues 12.22.09 - Boy Mongoose is a brilliant music / animation send up of Christmas songs.
Tues 12.22.09 - Yes, the best part of the LA Times today was not just the full 99¢ Store full page ad on the back page of the Front section. It wasn't any 99¢ Store ad, it was an ad with good friend, the ever fabulous Lucky Laura as the scarf model!
;oD
Winter Solstice, where the Northern Hemisphere has the longest night and shortest day of the year, happened today at 9:47am PST / 17:47 UTC.
Today ushers in my favorite season of the year: Winter.
I love it. I love the chill. I love being outside at night while snow is falling. I love skiing. I love walking in the winter. I love wearing more clothes. I love the lack of sun and heat. Love it.
My greatest disappointment in living in Southern California is the lack of snow.
I realize that the reason that everyone else, all the other 16-19 million folks who share this metro area with me, lives here is the utter lack of the snow. Saturday's weather is the real reason they live here: 80F at the beach.
I can have my fantasies. Yes, I can. The last few days I have watching my European, British, and East Coast friends' Flickrstreams for photos of snow falling in the night.
Here are a few of the truly lovely winter scenes from various locales that are not SoCal from the last 48 or so hours:
All photos from friends on Flickr, please click on the photo for the larger version.
Photos taken with a Nokia N97.
Sun 12.13.09 - Little did a certain Mr. G.F. Handel know that one day far in the future humans would make an annual Advent season pilgrimage to the nose bleed section of concert halls worldwide to sing along under their breaths to the Hallelujah Chorus all the while fighting a case of vertigo.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N900.
Thurs 12.03.09 - Belle and Scruffy, bed hogs!
Mobile blogged directly from the Nokia N900's mobile web browser.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Last friday at Tuttle Club LA, in two separate conversations, one with Kelly Sims and one with Luke Dorny, we discussed the challenges of having a career as a freelance web designer.
Out of that set of conversations, Luke and I decided to meet up today to refine the topic and work out a few kinks on the rocky road to growing one's own business. The best part is that as we worked through a list of skill sets and discussing what was important for a web designer to have, Luke suggested that we rate skills as one would have levels of power or talents in Dungeons & Dragons.
Luke is a 13th power typographic visual wonder Elf Mage. I am design developer mobile hybrid Warrior Princess.
As you can tell, I have never played D&D or WOW, only picked up, vaguely, enough from others to be dangerous...
Photo of fish on sidewalk taken this morning by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 while walking Scruffy McDoglet.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia E73.
Sat 08.21.10 - This afternoon and evening was the very fun Nokia E73 Mode Beach Party with a set of 'challenges' in Sunset Beach as hosted by Nokia and WOMWorld.
Attendees were given the choice to dress up in suits provided by the WOMWorld folk and to be apart of the challenges that also involved a film crew. The film fellows were using Canon 7Ds to record the video of the adventures.
WOMWorld's Donna was our 'boss' and the best parts were going out kayaking in the Huntington Harbor and the volleyball game in front of the Beach Party house, as seen in the photos above.
I enjoyed using the Nokia E73 Mode to take photos, as the camera is 5 megapixels and much improved over the last ESeries device I trialed - the E71. The photos are clear, the color is fairly correct, and the camera was fairly fast. My only complaint with the E73's camera is that in automatic mode it does best focusing at objects about a meter (3 feet) away and is a bit blurry and anything closer as seen in the photos above.
As always it was wonderful to catch up with friends who are also passionate about mobile and make new ones. Big thanks to Nokia, WOMWorld - Donna, Adam, and James, for hosting a lovely party and weekend.
The big question is when will the video come out?
;o)
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Fri 08.20.10 - The nice folk at Nokia and WOMWorld are holding a Nokia E73 Mode Beach Party tomorrow, Saturday, in Sunset Beach. I am quite excited that Donna, Adam, and the other James (not Whatley) are in town organizing the event, as well as being very happy to see Nokia Open Lab alum Mike Maddaloni and Glenn Letham are in town for the party as well as meeting Lenny of Nokia Innovation and Dennis of Wap Review.
This morning Donna and I met up and we took Scruffy and Belle to Dog Beach, which is about 3 miles south of the Beach House. We had a lovely walk and talk.
I joined the group again later in the early evening at the Beach House to have a good hang out time and eat a lovely dinner that Donna made for us! Thanks, Donna!
It was good to have a relaxed time before the party started to catch up and exchange ideas, thoughts, and laughter. I am looking forward to the party tomorrow afternoon.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 08.15.10 - Today was the day that I took the peeling & sliced peaches and turned them into jars of peach jam. Canning fun was documented on Qik:
Peaches, Day II
Peaches, The Cooking
Peaches, Almost Time to Can
I was wrong in the last video, it was not 5 minutes of the boiling processing bath, but 20 minutes. I corrected myself after I finished this Qik video and processed all the jars of peach jam for 20 minutes each in the boiling water.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sat 08.14.10 - Today my Mom and I turned a box of peaches from Erika & Thomas' peach tree into peeled, sliced/diced peaches ready for to become peach jam. I captured a series of Qik streaming videos about what we were up to with the peaches that can be found here:
Peaches, Future Jam I
Peaches, Future Jam II
Peaches, Part II
Peaches, Part III
Peaches, Part IV
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N900.
My Mom arrived late this afternoon with a HUGE cooler full of organic, pasture raised, rancher slaughtered beef, pork and lamb. She bought at auction 4H raised meat at the Bishop Ag Fair in July. After we packed various white paper wrapped bits into our freezers, Mom, Scruffy, and I set off on a walk around 6pm. We took the long way around Seal Beach.
As we hit Main Street, the first time around, we ran into Mike Magrann and Lucy the wonderful brindled ex-pound pup. Mike is freshly back from CH3's East Coast and UK tour, and he told us the highlights beyond what I had read on his blog.
After chatting with Mike, Mom and I continued on to the far north end of town before looping back down Ocean Ave and then back up Main Street. At the corner of Main and Electric, Mom suggested that we go have a glass of wine at the Wine Bar, as she wanted to wind down from her big drive down from Bishop.
We sat at the pew style benches next to the big open windows so that Scruffy could be right there as we sat and had our glass of wine. Time wound on, we had a 2nd glass of wine, the sky started to darken, and I was watching folks walking down the sidewalk, when I saw Julia Johnson Britt walking by on the sidewalk.
While I have known Channel 3's Mike & Kimm since 1983 or 1984 and see them fairly frequently, the second longest friend I have kept in (mostly) continuous contact with has been Julia Britt. She and I met at Richard's Beauty College in 1985 and had many adventures together including a summer of 1988 tour of England, France, Germany, Ireland, and back to London again. We most recently ran into each other, other than keeping in contact on Facebook, while walking down Cesar Chavez (aka 1st St) in Austin, TX, two years ago at SXSW when Julia was skating with the Houston Roller Derby girls.
A few weeks ago, on Facebook, Julia messaged me to let me know she would be in SoCal for the first week of August plus a bit. I emailed her back to say that I wanted to get together, but didn't hear from her. When I saw her walking down the sidewalk tonight, I called out and she joined us at the Wine Bar.
It was a good deal of fun to catch up. She had not seen my email, as she had not read her gmail in a bit, regardless of nearly missing each other we did to hang out for a few hours at the Wine Bar. It was delightful to see two old friends in one day, particularly delightful to see Julia when she lives in Houston and we did not plan to find each other this evening.
Glad that Mom wanted to go the Wine Bar. ;o)
Much as 'staycation' is a neologism of the last two years due folks staying home rather than traveling for vacation, this week I coined a new word with 'quietcation'.
Quietcation is when you have a lovely staycation at home while your family members and pets go off on a travel vacation and you stay at home in blessed silence.
My brother is currently having a quietcation while his girlfriend is on holiday with her friends in Arizona and Belle (aka Poopy McPooperson the Carpet Defacer) is staying with Scruffy and I. I hope my brother enjoys his time of quiet.
The Equation of why Seal Beach is really Mayberry-by-the-Seal & how next Thursday's Seal Beach Sun's Crime Log will be particularly good & juicy:
3 or 4 raccoons bigger than your average cocker spaniel treed in a eucalyptus in the alley making unholy screams while either fighting or mating or both
+
2 drunk young men walking down the Electric Ave and the 16th St alleys tipping over trashcans all the while trying to get home to one of their grandfather's houses but turning into the neighbor's house instead
+
7-8 cop cars full of SBPD trying to determine if drunk teenagers or if crazy raccoons are the problem (who knew that Seal Beach even had 7-8 cop cars!)
+
1 really big firetruck
+
1 paramedics van
+
a bunch of neighbors and their dogs all out in nightgowns/attire watching the whole spectacle
=
A rockin' Saturday Night in Mayberry by the Sea.
********
The young man actually related to the homeowner on 16th ended up in the cop car and his drunk buddy was left to languish on the Greenbelt. The Raccoons have stopped screaming. Maybe they were agitated by the cop car bright beams being shone into Their Tree.
Who knows why the firetruck and paramedic van even showed up. We will rely on Charles M. Kelley to give us the straight scoop from the Police Log in Thursday's Sun.
Photo taken at Dog Beach by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 07.25.10 - The biggest excitement in our section of Seal Beach on Sunday afternoon was the exploding Greenbelt water pipe after an unintentional Bocce Ball strike. The water spray was impressive and the amount of folks who came out to watch it shows you really how slow of an afternoon it was at Mayberry by the Sea.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s at Dog Beach on Thursday afternoon.
Sun 07.25.10 - I have a ton of things to do tonight before the workday starts tomorrow, but none of it is going to get done as I am crazy tired from the last 5 days of dog sitting Oberon and all of the family activities of the last 5 days with my sister Allison's birthday & my cousin Kristin's baby shower plus all of the other attendant family to dos. Emails are not getting sent, the blog posts in my head are staying there, the photos to be downloaded are still on the cameras. Etc. etc. etc.
The big excitement of the weekend was the fact that last evening Oberon, aged 12 weeks, go so excited that his poor bladder decided to empty itself on my bed. Yes, a huge puddle of puppy pee discovered only after I sat down to read. Most of last night was taken up with laundry of my clothes & bedding.
After I started the first load of my comforter & sheets, I was laying on my living room floor trying to compose myself with the front door open when I heard my mom tell Oberon to drink water out of a bowl and not from the algae infested garden hose area.
Oberon then escaped my Mom's grip, and bounded in my apartment only to come plant his whole wet, algae encrusted muzzle on my mouth, as I gasped in astonishment, he then put his wet paw in my mouth and then proceeded to climb on top of me to reach Scruffy. I screamed, my mom caught him, I started laughing in reflexive hysterical waves all the while I was crying from being completely exhausted and overwhelmed.
Good thing for Listerine mouthwash and the fact that I drove Oberon back up to Culver City today at noon to be returned to his family. Oberon is a beautiful and amazing dog, but I was not really mentally prepared to dog sit such a young and active labrador retriever puppy with so much family & work obligations as well as having Scruffy around.
One of Oberon's people texted me this morning when we were trying to arrange the drop off, "I hope the wee beastie has not been too naughty."
No, just a wee naughty.
Now I am off to bed a couple of hours early. 'Night y'all.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s
Sat 07.24.10 - At Traci's sister Kristin's baby shower. More photos when I am less tired.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Fri 07.23.10 - This afternoon, my Mom and I took Oberon the Charcoal Lab Puppy and Scruffy McDoglet to Dog Beach in Huntington Beach so that Oberon could have his first experience at the beach and with the ocean.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photos by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Tues 07.13.10 - I woke up this morning to a terrible stench in my apartment and Belle, my brother's dog, sitting right next to me on the bed licking her nether regions. Smelly Belly. I didn't want to open my eyes, I didn't want to get up, or to even investigate the smell. But I did.
I found that Belle had an early morning Poopy Butt Blowout that covered at least 1/4 of the living room. Horrifying.
I borrowed the Bissell ProCleaner 2x carpet steamer from my landlord after returning Poopy McPooperbutt the Carpet Defacer to my brother's house. Then I spent about 3 hours this afternoon in a zen like trance slowly, ever so slowly, running the carpet cleaner/steamer over small patches of the living room and then re-steaming. It was far better than coding and much more satisfying.
In the end, my furniture sat outside gathering sunshine* with the exception of the bookcases and my drawing table, my carpet came out cleaner than when I moved in, and I got lots of exercise.
Did I mention that the carpet is now cleaner than when I moved in?
* p.s. The Sun, it is shining. The clouds, they have been vanquished.
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sun 06.27.10 - Happy Birthday to Erika a few days late!
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos of the USS Gridley Open House taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
One of the oddities about living a block away from a U.S. Navy base is that one never gets to go on base, there is a lot of open land, one is not allowed to take photos of anything behind the Navy chain link fence, and Naval ships come and go weekly from the dock in the Anaheim Bay.
Yesterday, Sat 06.19.10, I was driving home from taking Scruffy to Dog Beach, I saw a sign announcing "Open House" at the Seal Beach Blvd entrance to the Anaheim Bay dock area of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station. I quickly turned in and asked the nice young lady in camoflague if the open house was for anyone or just for folks who had tickets, she let me know that it as for anyone.
I drove the block home, parked, rounded up my Mom and Magnolia, left Scruffy in the apartment, and off we walked over the Navy Open House. It was fun. I really like touring factories, monuments, dams, and large equipment (like a Navy destroyer).
The best part was having Magnolia along for the tour of the USS Gridley (aka #101), as a 4 year old is really the best person to share one's own childlike joy of such things with. Thanks, to my Mom & Magnolia for being willing to go on the spur of the moment tour of the USS Gridley.
As a side note, I would like to say that all the Navy folk who take shore leave in Seal Beach should wear their uniforms, as all the personnel looked lovely/handsome.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Mon 05.07.10 - I had a 9am meeting this morning with a long term client who is very fond of Scruffy, so we sat in her backyard while we discussed redesigning her business' website and Scruffy set himself nicely up on a pillow.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 camera.
Sat 06/05/10 - The much beloved friend of many years, Taco Bill, aka Bill Payne, is moving to Bremerton, WA with his family for his new US Coast Guard, so Kim & Jeff Roth threw Bill, Storm, Ridge & Nicholas Payne a lovely going away party.
Back in the day (mid-90s), most all of the fellows in the photos where roommates or Glamis/River friends with my brother Joe and Bill at the Orange & Bay street house in Costa Mesa, thus all the photos of my brother.
Tonight's party was the equivalent to going to a high school or college reunion that is populated with the folks you liked. It was very good to see Bill & his new family, Mikey Bruce, and others doing so well even though we are all 40 or so now. ;o)
Photo of Gracie taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 while on the crazy/fun road trip.
Sun 05.30.10 - When someone in Southern California, particularly a native or long-lived migrant, says "The River", they mean the only one in 200 miles that runs all year around - the Colorado River on the border of the California and Arizona. To some tribes and sub-cultures going to The River from Memorial Day to Labor Day is a sacred activity, just like a certain set of East Coast tribes go to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard. Except it is different. Really different, different as in a different nation, different customs, morals, dress, and culture.
Anywhoo, I don't belong to either tribe so the few times that I have ended up at The River on a big holiday weekend or in Nantucket during the summer, it always seems odd. Odd, as in: get in, do what called one to to the locale, and get the heck out real fast.
The last time I was in Nantucket in the summer, I lasted about 38 hours before I hopped on the ferry back to the mainland. Today, I went to The River for less than 3 hours, not including the 3.5 hours each way. I was on a mission and my sister, Allison, was kind enough to come along on the mission.
Mission? Getting my Dad, who is one week out of a major back surgery from Tustin, Calif. to Big River, Calif. so he can go to his surgery follow up appointment with his doctor in Phoenix mid-week.
Allison and I left Seal Beach about 8:15am, we picked up my Dad who was properly pain med-ed up for the long drive, and off we went. Upon arrival at his RV in Big River, we got him set up with food, A/C, and other bits, went to lunch, he off to a big nap, and then we got back on the road to see Quartzite, Arizona, before hopping back on the Interstate 10 to drive back to the LA area.
Once we left the LA area basin and reached the desert, it was Good & Hot all day. The temperatures were between 93 - 101F / 34 - 39C the whole drive. We only left the car's A/C for a few pit stops, to unload my Dad & his stuff, and to walk around T-Rock rock store in Quartzite.
Other than those few pit stops, we arrived back home within 12.5 hours of departure. Now I am ready for bed. ;o)
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s camera using a 50mm 1.8f lens.
Fri 05.28.10 - A big happy 1st birthday to Miss Gracie Callis! She has gotten so big compared to last year at this time...
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86 in the last 24 hours.
Photo by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
Sat. 05.15.10 - The Just for Fun camera phone / DSLR comparison is back. Given that the Camera Phone Fairy showed up this week with a Nokia N900 under my pillow, I decided today to shoot a local gerba daily with a water droplet in the sun, as well as Scruffy and Magnus playing with the Nokia N97, Nokia N86, Nokia N900, and Nikon D70s with a 50mm f1.8 lens.
Remember all the above photo comparisons are for fun on a lovely Saturday afternoon, and if you came over from a serious DSLR forum, please read the title, enjoy the images, and then when you go to rant about this back at the forum, the photographer & site owner here at Black Phoebe is a woman not a guy. A cheeky one at that. Just sayin'...
;o)
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with her Nokia N86.
In 2001, the Barflies.net fielded, or laned, our first bowling team(s) at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas. PRB was only a year or two old at that point, was held at the Gold Coast Hotel which was just off strip. In the years since we have moved all over the place from the Gold Coast to downtown, to the Boulder Hwy, to Sam's Town, back to the Gold Coast, back to Sam's Town, etc.
In the years since, Punk Rock Bowling was really the highlight of the whole year not just for me but for many of my friends, next to SXSW. The only year in the last 10 years that I missed bowling at PRB was in 2006 when I was at grad school in Dublin, Ireland. I had a good excuse as I was on an island a whole ocean and continent away.
This year, PRB was moved from January to May and by the time the email came from BYO Records to register, it was only a few weeks before SXSW. And I just was not interested. I had a deep down feeling that May would have other things in store for me, as well as the weekend picked was Mother's Day weekend (?!?!?!??!?), and I couldn't afford to shell out a couple of hundred bucks just before SXSW.
In late February/early March, I decided that I wouldn't go this year. I told my team. Julie Wanda also wasn't feeling it, Tink was, and so there it went.
As things have unfolded in the 2.5 months since, I am very glad that I didn't go this weekend to Las Vegas. I am glad that I stayed home this weekend for Mother's Day, as I had a lovely time with my Mom.
And my hunch was right, there have been other things in store for May. Tomorrow I get on a plane to go to a very cool event that I would not have had energy for if I had gone to bowling.
I hope everyone who did go had a wonderful time. As for me, my big adventure starts tomorrow. Wish me well.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Tues 05.04.10 - This video would only be funnier if Mr. Kankkunen had driven circles around one the BMW driving clamshell phone talking idiots from my neighborhood.
One of the things that continually baffles me about the wealthy in SoCal is how they can afford the latest & greatest BMW, Mercedes, Range Rover, etc, but all seem to talk on clamshell phones with no bluetooth headset.
¿What?
How in the heck can one afford a $50-80K car but one's mobile is the cheap/free clamshell from _____ [insert name of carrier here] with no bluetooth or headset?
My mom posits that these folks don't care if they get pulled over for talking on their phones with no hands free because they can afford to pay the ticket. I still wonder why not spend an extra $300 and get a phone with bluetooth or a headset in the box. Idiots.
Now for me, I would spend the $$ for a real mobile and then get the Nokia Car Kit CK-200. But I am also not spending $50-80k on my car, or even a leased one.
I took yesterday off from blogging, working, and all the like.
Instead I read a novel that Erika loaned me, Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate) by Gail Carriger.
Soulless was an amusing mashup of regency romance genre tropes with Steampunk Victoriana plus vampires & werewolves set in an 1870s alterna-London. A very good romp. The kind of book that once one starts reading it, one keeps reading it, even when one has other things to do.
Reading an actual book broke my 2 years + daily blogging streak.
And I don't regret it.
;oD
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c |
| Appholes | |
Thurs 04.29.10 - From last night's Jon Stewart show, as usual Mr. Stewart gets to the essence again, this time his love for Apple & when did Apple become The Man. The best part is when Stewart calls Gizmodo's iPhone review "whole video tech prostate exam".
I will use term, "whole video tech prostate exam", about any and all future mobile video reviews and possibly about unboxing videos.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s using a 50mm 1.8D lens.
Mon 04.26.10 - I find the tale of the two leaks of the last week to be very instructive of the respective companies, countries, & cultures of which they occurred.
Leak #1: The ((**GASP**)) iPhone Leak.OMG! The iPhone 4 has been leaked. The Oh Holy Jobs and Cupertino Silencers get the cops on the beat. Gruber waxes prolific...
Because OMG the next Holy Artifact has been leaked!
OMG!!!!!!!!! THE WORLD WILL END TOMORROW AS THE OH HOLY ARTIFACT HAS BEEN LEAKED!!!!!! WE WILL ALL DIE!!!!!!!
8.8 earthquake surely will hit Jason Chen's house next week. And he is not even boobylicious.
Leak #2: Eldar M. at Mobile_Review leaks the next Nokia high end mobile - The N8..
.
.
Eldar gives the prototype of the non-yet announced Nokia N8 a Russian Rant treatment. Various bloggers & commenters react & rebut..
.
.Helsinki is still waiting for a few spring flowers to spring out.
.
.
.Quietly, the FCC gives the Nokia N8 the seal of approval.
.
.
.Espoo wonders if there will be another snow storm before the trees leaf out.
.
.
.No earthquakes or police raids in Moscow or Helsinki, nor any clerics nor cleavage. No news at 11.
.
.
.Elgar possibly picks his nose, which is full of snot from Spring pollen & creates a bugger sculpture in the shape of not-yet-announced iPhone 4.0, hoping that Steve Jobs will send the Cupertino Police after him.
****
p.s. People, please wake me up with the iPhone X.x has a real camera.
p.p.s. To quote me from last night: "Eldar has made his reputation on scooping everyone's scoop & Nokia is famed for have wonderful devices 3 months AFTER release."
p.p.s.s. Tomi Ahonen, last Thursday, on "So bloodbath in smartphones continues: Q1 results from Apple, AT&T and Nokia"
*****
Tues 04.27.10, 8:07am PST - Nokia speaks and requests the return of their N8 prototype.
Bless Espoo, the money quote is: "We are not the Secret Police, and we want to maintain our culture of openness."
Eldar, return the N8. Nokia's culture of openness and lack of scary Cupertino style closed-ness is one of their unique Finnish treats to the rest of us, let's help them keep it.
Dear Scruffy and Belle,
Please stop growling at the window. Yes, there are other small mammals out there. No, you can't go outside to chase them.
This apartment will never be big enough for one small 'skunked' dog even after 25 baths.
Love, Jen
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Thurs 0r.15.10 - Local nearly 11 month old infant makes bipedal break through and crosses over into Toddlerhood. News at 11.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photo taken this morning by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
My horrorscope* today:
"You have been running at a very heightened level of intensity, and interactive Mercury reminds you that you need some downtime today."
Why yes, little horrorscope, I have been running at very heightened levels of activity & intensity for months now. Why yes, I do need some real downtime...
BUT...
BUT...
Liquid on my MacBook Pro this morning pre-caffiene was NOT the way to accomplish some downtime. Then there was the 2 drinking glasses that broke, one in the sink and one right next to my chair. Then then there was the wifi (wlan) router that fell off the cabinet and broke and the only way to get the pieces back to put it back together was to crawl over the broken glass to reach under the cabinet.
Now why was there broken glass still on the floor? Well, the apartment building vacuum cleaner is busted.
So, the computer is now on its side with the battery out hoping against all hope that by tomorrow the liquid will have evaporated and it will start back up nicely. The router is mostly back in one piece once I laid a big fluffy towel over the site of the glass shards to reach the router pieces under the furniture.
And Then, I gave up the ghost and went back to bed at 2:16pm this afternoon. For a while I tried to answer email on the Nokia N97 mobile and watch my twitter stream until I gave up on that endeavor to just nap. Yep, I napped.
I am not a napper, so it was odd. Then Scruffy and I went for a big walk.
Now I am using the Nokia Booklet to write this post before it goes back to WOMWorld tomorrow or the next day. By then, hopefully my Mac will be dry and I can go back to work.
Moral of the story? A lack of connectivity isn't too bad and also naps, unless you had a big 1pm deadline with all the files stuck on the wet computer...
Grr... Mercury, Grrr...
I did have a nice nap and that was good. ;o)
* Yes, I misspelled it for humorous / comedic effect.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D300.
Sun 04.04.10 - Thomas Bertling kindly brought his Nikon D300 with the 18-200mm lens to my Easter party this afternoon so that I could try the camera out and see if I would want one. I do.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
SXSW is my favorite conference/festival/springbreakforgeeks event of the year and has been since 1998 for Music and 2001 for Interactive. I love Austin in early to mid-March.
For a few years now, I have felt that Nokia has missed a big opportunity to reach out to the North American and International web, mobile, gamer, and interactive creator & influencer communities by not participating, attending, or throwing a big open to all badges party at SXSW. Last year Nokia held two private by invite only parties that were kept on the low down, which was completely baffling for a company that is struggling in the North American market, as SXSW would be the perfect place to get all the influencers and bloggers to start talking.
More Text/Write-up/Thoughts plus Links just beyond the jump....
Video by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Fri 03.19.10 - Lloyd Davis of the London Tuttle Club joined the Los Angeles / Long Beach Tuttle today as a part of his #Tuttle2Texas trip.
In this video taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86 I interviewed Geoff Hickman, Jeb Brilliant, Lloyd Davis, Al Pavangkanan, Luke Dorny, Francine Kizner, and AJ Pape.
Geoff also made a video where he asked Lloyd about the start of Tuttle and posted it here.
Tuttle2Texas Posterous: tuttle2texas.posterous.com
Thanks to WOMWorld/Nokia for the loan of the Nokia N86 8MP camera phone so that I could capture great video & stills.
Today is the 2nd Annual Ada Lovelace Day, in where I am to blog about a woman in technology that I admire.
After reading Vikki (aka Victoria) Chowney's Ada Lovelace Day post this morning, I decided that I would like to write about two kick ass twenty-something women that I know personally who are both very influential in persuading others to engage in technology: my cousin Caitlin Kilroy and Ms. Victoria Chowney.
On Sunday morning, I had a lovely breakfast with my cousin Caitlin and her mother Robin. During the course of the breakfast, I found myself explaining to my (now ex-) aunt that Caitlin was very influential in getting more than a few of her friends and relatives to join and engage in Facebook. Robin was at first baffled, but when I asked her, knowing what the answer was, how she joined Facebook and now has it logged in and turned on all day every day, she said that it was to keep track of Caitlin on her big adventures.
Last year, Caitlin a tall willowy then 24 year old blonde, announced that she was going to take a year to travel from California to South America via the Transamerican Highway. The family erupted in calls of No Way! I cried bullshit to most of them. If Caitlin were a 24 year old boy cousin, no one would say a damned thing but would instead brag how cool he was to travel through some interesting terrain, but because Caitlin is female there was a big hew and cry.
Luckily, Caitlin did not pay attention to them and just went. Good on her. The family was at first shocked, then my sister and I noticed that Caitlin was posting updates and photos from her adventures to her Facebook account. Then I noticed over time that family members and various friends of Caitlin joined Facebook and started to get over their own fear of technology and Caitlin's choice of travel route to cheer her on via her Facebook Wall and photo comments.
When my grandma or mom would ask if anyone knew where Caitlin was now, my sister Allison & I could give a report due to Caitlin's intrepid use of Facebook no matter the location. As I explained to Caitlin's mom at breakfast, Caitlin is a technology influencer, as folks who previously did not use Facebook to interact are now using it daily because of Caitlin's big adventures and using Facebook to report on same said and connect back home.
Caitlin is currently in LA to get her certification to teach yoga before returning to Peru to teach yoga there. She just assumes that no one will worry as she is just a click away on Facebook.
My other favorite mid-twenty-something kick ass technology lady is London's Victoria Chowney. Vikki in her own Ada Lovelace post details out her own involvement in the technology world via an early career in tech pr, but a cursory read under estimates her depth and breadth of knowledge of the digital and technology spheres as well as her passion for the intersecting worlds of technology, community, and communication.
In late September 2009, Vikki invited me to the launch party of Reputation Online, web community to further deepen the interstices and encourage connections between new & social media & technology with older media and more traditional public relations. Vikki is the editor of Reputation Online and has put a great deal of effort into making the site into a great resource for best practices in social media and new media public relations, as well as expanding the knowledge community in the fields of communications and technology. Vikki's passion and drive to further push the communications field into the 21st century is truly awe inspiring.
So, to my two favorite young women in technology the future is yours, ladies, thankfully. Go forth and kick ass.
*****
My post from last year's Ada Lovelace Day :: Cousin Lynn
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86 while sitting in traffic at the East LA interchange.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N86.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
As a 12 year vet of SXSW, here are my tips and tricks for a great SXSW experience, particularly my food recommendations.
Don't miss the Kickball game at Palm Park on Sat. March 13, 2010 at 10:30. More info at http://www.dashes.com/kick
While I already have my SXSW Interactive Badge & plane flight, I would love to win a white Nokia N86 to take lots of great photos & video at SXSW (see min 3:30 to end of video).
Less than a week away folks! It will be fun! ;o)
Ms. Jen
Photos taken by Ms. Jen on Sun 02.28.10 with a Nokia N97.
Happy Birthday to Julie Wanda!
Fri 02.26.10 - I would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to all the last week of February folk I know: Julie Wanda Espy, Jody Ward, Jeremy Keith, Heidi Richman, Kim Volstedt, and LJ Rich!
And Happy Birthday to you if this was your Birthday week, too!
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen today at the Long Beach Marina Farmers Market & of Belle with a Nokia N97.
Photo by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen & Luke Dorny with a Nokia N97.
Photos of Thurs 02.04.10 taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97
Thurs 02.04.10 - Three tweets from the 5 o'clock hour this evening:
@msjen: That was *HYSTERICAL* A neighborhood 5 year old boy just showed up to show me his mom's new phone, "Look, it is a mini computer" he says. about 6 hours ago@msjen: Me, "Does you Mom know you have her new phone?" Ely, "No!" Me, "I think you should go home." "Ok" His Mom has a new Nokia N97 mini. about 6 hours ago
@msjen: Of course, I had him stop long enough to do a video. I am now walking over there to make sure he really took it home. about 6 hours ago
I do have video of Ely standing at my door telling me about his Mom's new 'mini-laptop' as he brandished a brand new Nokia N97 Mini with no adult in sight. I need to get Carolyn's permission before I post it, though. He was so excited about the 'mini-laptop' that could take photos.
When I walked over to their house to make sure that Carolyn's new phone made it home without harm, Ely informed me that the Nokia N97 that I had was 'Too Big' and that his Mom's new phone was much better than the big N97. Carolyn and I tried to show him that the Mini is just a smaller version of the N97, but he was convinced it was MUCH BETTER. Oh, to be 5 and all boy.
I proceeded to show him how to take photos and video. He particularly liked the sports mode of the digital still camera and made his Mom run down the sidewalk to get an action shot.
In other local Seal Beach news, all the flowers are a-bloom due to last week's rain. Magnolia, aka Bird, cashed in her savings for pierced ears at the Westminster Mall. She got pink sparkly earrings. Magnolia hopefully appreciates that her Mom is super cool to let her get her ears pierced at 4, I had to wait until I was 7.
;o)
Photo of Scruffy and Belle by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Video by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Thurs 01.28.10 - This weekend is Alex's Bar's 10th Anniversary weekend, in celebration Alex and I (Ms. Jen) did the above video to cover what the article in The District did not and for Alex to extend a big Thank You to all of the folks who have made 10 Years of Alex's Bar possible.
Alex's has a great line up of shows to say 'Thank you, Long Beach, for a great decade of Alex's Bar!':
Fri, Jan 29, 2010 - Alex's Bar 10 Year Anniversary Show - The Adolescents, Riverboat Gamblers, John Doe, Blockage - $15
Sat, Jan 30, 2010 - Alex's Bar 10 Year Anniversary Show - Riverboat Gamblers, Throw Rag, Mike Watt and the Secondmen, Werewolf - $15
See you at Alex's Bar's this weekend!
Photos taken by Ms. Jen and Michal with a Nokia N97.
Photo of Julie Wanda and Erika taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Sat 01.02.10 - A week and a half ago, Julie Wanda and I go talking about what would be fun to do for New Year's Eve, I suggested that we go to dim sum and then to the Huntington Library to visit the gardens. She reminded me that she had to work on New Year's Eve until 4pm. Julie Wanda and I have a tradition to go to dim sum for lunch on New Year's Day, as we mused our options, Erika pointed out that the Huntington would be closed on New Year's Day.
After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing with the idea, we all decided that today would be the day to go to dim sum lunch at Elite Restaurant in Monterey Park and then proceed to the Huntington for a good toddle about the gardens. I brought the Nikon D70s as well as the ever present Nokia camera phone and took over 300 photos between both cameras.
A truly delightful day in lovely gardens (the camelias are blooming!) with good friends.
The above is my favorite photo of the 300, but I have about 20 more photos that I really like, but I will post them tomorrow.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen at Dog Beach with a Nokia N97.
Fri 01.01.10 - Happy New Year one and all!
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N97.
Photo of Ms. Jen, Belle, and Scruffy by hadashigirl with a Nikon D70s.
Photos taken by Ms. Jen with a Nikon D70s.
Tues 12.22.09 - Boy Mongoose is a brilliant music / animation send up of Christmas songs.
Tues 12.22.09 - Yes, the best part of the LA Times today was not just the full 99¢ Store full page ad on the back page of the Front section. It wasn't any 99¢ Store ad, it was an ad with good friend, the ever fabulous Lucky Laura as the scarf model!
;oD
Winter Solstice, where the Northern Hemisphere has the longest night and shortest day of the year, happened today at 9:47am PST / 17:47 UTC.
Today ushers in my favorite season of the year: Winter.
I love it. I love the chill. I love being outside at night while snow is falling. I love skiing. I love walking in the winter. I love wearing more clothes. I love the lack of sun and heat. Love it.
My greatest disappointment in living in Southern California is the lack of snow.
I realize that the reason that everyone else, all the other 16-19 million folks who share this metro area with me, lives here is the utter lack of the snow. Saturday's weather is the real reason they live here: 80F at the beach.
I can have my fantasies. Yes, I can. The last few days I have watching my European, British, and East Coast friends' Flickrstreams for photos of snow falling in the night.
Here are a few of the truly lovely winter scenes from various locales that are not SoCal from the last 48 or so hours:
All photos from friends on Flickr, please click on the photo for the larger version.
Photos taken with a Nokia N97.
Sun 12.13.09 - Little did a certain Mr. G.F. Handel know that one day far in the future humans would make an annual Advent season pilgrimage to the nose bleed section of concert halls worldwide to sing along under their breaths to the Hallelujah Chorus all the while fighting a case of vertigo.
Photo taken by Ms. Jen with a Nokia N900.
Thurs 12.03.09 - Belle and Scruffy, bed hogs!
Mobile blogged directly from the Nokia N900's mobile web browser.