Making It Up As I Go Along - Whatever

Wedding Photos / Flickr Slideshow Embedding... easy!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:10:00 -0600

I didn't realize Flickr made it so easy to embed a photoset as a flash slideshow into your page. I just added our wedding photos to our simple wedding website, in about 5 minutes (once I had the pictures sorted and uploaded to flickr, that is)

http://michaelandavery.com/photos.cfm

To create a Flickr slideshow for any existing 'set' of photos, just click the 'slideshow' link at the top right when viewing the set. Then, in the slideshow player, click 'share' at the top right. They give you a line of code you can paste into your page and voila! The only thing I changed was the width/height parameters, both in the embed tag and the options for the flash display. The whole thing scaled perfectly to the size I selected. I *really* like the 'fullscreen' icon in the lower right of any playing slideshow. And so easy a caveman can do it!

FeedFlix : stats for your NetFlix account!

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:11:00 -0600

This is one of the coolest, simplest applications to be launched on the back of the Netflix API. I just signed up at www.feedflix.com, and instantly got some information I have wondered about since we signed up with Netflix about a year and a half ago.

Along with some webstats-type graphs and pie charts, and a nice simple overview of my current queue, I also now know the following:

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I've been Twittered...

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:41:00 -0600

...or tweeted... or twitified... whatever.

Ever since watching my buddy the Flying Tiger annoy his wife through an entire vacation to the states with BlackBerry in hand, I have wondered in awe, 'what is this Twitter thing' ?

A few days ago I decided to finally find out for real. So far it has burned up a good part of my time with relatively no real value i can think of... and i love it.

If anybody wants to Follow or Tweet me i am "GoWestWeb" ( http://twitter.com/gowestweb )

I also just found TwitterFeed.com ( http://www.twitterfeed.com ) which will supposedly post this blog entry and all that come after it to my Twit friends.

Next very important thing to discover...
how can I post photos from my BlackBerry to Twitter?

Chocolate and Wine is make me smart

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:29:00 -0600

I've known it all along, but now I have the proof to justify the massive pile of dark chocolate bars in my office drawer, and the collection of wine bottles (mostly full, including red, white and 'other') in the cabinet. I don't eat donuts, candy, or even your average generic chocolate Hershey or Snickers bars, but dark (darker the better) chocolate is a daily indulgence, and a glass of three of wine hits the spot with or after dinner at least a few times a week.

This article from Science Daily explains why I am smarter than your average non-indulger... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081223123530.htm

( of course, they didn't cross-study the negative effects of draft beer, high altitude, or too many hours in the intertubes... which we all know makes us stoopid after midnight... )

Changing my BlackBerry signature (Verizon)

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:21:00 -0600

I finally got it changed! For those that may be wondering how to get rid of the default signature ( Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry ), here is your how-to...

First, with Verizon, you can't change this on your BlackBerry. You also cannot change this in your normal Verizon control panel. Instead there is a special admin for the email accounts, here
http://www.blackberry.com/go/vzw

apparently when you set up an email account on your blackberry, you also are setting the same options here... but this has options the BB can't control directly. Odd.

The next challenge - to log in to that magic vzw control panel, you need a password. I had to contact Verizon by phone to get mine.

Then, once logged in, it was very simple ... click 'edit' on the existing account and enter a new signature.

For me, I don't always want people to know I am not at my desk when answering or sending email. Turning off the annoying mobile confirmation messages and then changing the signature to one similar to my usual outlook email footer, I am now officially BB-cloaked.

I love my blackberry (BB Curve 8330) !

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:09:00 -0600

My Verizon 'new every two' just rolled around and after much hemming and hawing, I decided to go the mobile web route and settled on the newest little mobile wonder Verizon had on display... That was last Monday.
I've been 'together' with my blackberry curve for over a week now, and I think I'm in love.

Not only is it a much better phone than my previous generic samsung paperweight - better reception in my semi-service rural area, and much much better sound both direct and speaker - but it does some really amazing stuff.

I thought I'd be a cynic... why would I want email on my phone? Why a web browser that's slower and tinier than any other interface I have available? I thought the address book would be useful all along, but figured the sync would be as buggy as my old windows mobile handheld. But no! This thing really is as cool as they say.

The web service is great. Solid and very usable. I am a total mobile newb, but already I have my google reader, opera mini and the usual BB browser all set up with favorites and bookmarks and working great.

The email ... what a cool thing. I don't like sending long messages but the little keyboard works greawt even with my fat fingers, plenty good for a quick reply... but the real advantage, for me, is being able to see what's come in, or what hasn't, without checking email full-blown-style in the office. Rather than feeling compelled to 'check my email' every time i walk in the door, I have more of a sense of needing to reply to messages that I already know about, and usually, that can wait. I know it is a self-psych-out deal, but it works and is saving me lots of time.

There are lots of other features that I like - the camera is really decent and it is so cool to be able to take a picture of anything, and email OR sms message it to anybody in my entire address book (which auto-syncs to my bb every time i put the bb in the cradle).

Of course it is totally configurable with themes and desktop images, ring tones (from what i can tell, any mp3 can become a ring tone) and I haven't even begun to explore my options with media - both video and music - minisd card is on the way today via fedex, more on that later!

Summary: I am a gadget-skeptic, and this thing rocks. I think 'stable and usable' has finally arrived in Verizon-web-land. If you have the chance to upgrade your mobile options, definitely take a look at the new BlackBerries.

I love this guitar : Ibanez S Prestige

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:19:00 -0600

http://ibanez.com/eg/guitar.aspx?m=S2170SE

Far from a "practitioner of the more extreme forms of metal" , the apparent target market for this Ibanez line, I'm more of a rock/blues rhythm guitar guy, with a mostly-acoustic background.

In the last few years I've been playing regularly with a group of local guys, and have gone all-electric. I own a few cheapish electric guitars, and have borrowed or at least played a half-dozen higher end new and vintage models. While I can't honestly say I 'dislike' any musical instrument, especially a guitar, I hadn't found anything that really made me go 'wow'.

New Years' Eve day, Las Vegas, I walked into the guitar shop with my eye on the semi hollow-body goodies in the very top row of the monster guitar wall. For me, light weight (my neck is already perma-strained from sitting at this damn keyboard all day anyway!) and *staying in tune under heavy use* were numbers one and two on the priority list.

I ended up playing at least 8 different guitars, checking out the feel, the tone, the weight... and the tuning. Then, while the helpful sales dude was moving ladders around to get yet another hollowbody from up yonder, I saw this funny little skinny guitar with a crazy wood pattern. I grabbed it just out of 'what the heck is this' ... and decided to plug it in.

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Capture any folder's file list in Excel

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:20:00 -0600

This is kind of abstract, but pretty neat if you need it.

http://home.comcast.net/~yandlfiles/desc13.htm

Can't say much about the site design, but the file linked from that page does a cool thing... you have to 'enable macros' to use it... understood if you are paranoid about that but I've used it a few times now with no problems.... anyway...

The excel file asks you to browse to a directory on your computer, and it imports the file info - name / date created / date last modified / date last accessed.

I needed a spreadsheet containing a whole list of print ads I am working on and this was a really quick way to get them set up!
I am assuming you could use it in a folder of web files, too - it asks if you want to 'include subfolders?' and if yes, it lists out the files really nicely by directory. Cool stuff! (if you like that sort of thing)

Edit CSS in IE and Firefox :: cssVista

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:20:00 -0600

An interesting new desktop application for Vista users, cssVista allows you to open any live web address and edit the css, seeing the results as rendered in both IE 7 and Firefox at the same time.

At first glance it looks like this could be pretty darn useful, especially for those times when the site is just perfect in Firefox but something is just... not... quite.. .right in IE (who, me?)

( Thanks Steve for sending me the link, looks like a cool tool.)

Unlimited Gmail addresses... sort of...

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:47:00 -0600

This Digital Alchemy article describes how you can use a plus sign (+) to add a sub-email address to any gmail address....

" Gmail has an interesting quirk where you can add a plus sign (+) after your Gmail address, and it'll still get to your inbox. It's called plus-addressing, and it essentially gives you an unlimited number of e-mail addresses to play with."

" Example: If your address is pinkyrocks@gmail.com, you could use
pinkyrocks+nytimes@gmail.com for nytimes.com
pinkyrocks+freestuff@gmail.com for freestuff.com
Then you can tell which site has given your e-mail address to spammers, and automatically send them to the trash. "

Eeeeenteresting....

WebDev public newsgroup ... an invitation

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:27:00 -0600

News Reader: news://forums.mredesign.com
Web Forum: http://forums.mredesign.com

I've had my own private newsgroups for years now, mostly using them for project-related discussion with clients or subs, and for discussion of closed-door dev projects like my coldfusion cms.

I also have a public web development discussion group which, for various reasons, has seen a marked increase in traffic lately. Still relatively quiet, and the majority of posts are still just my own blathering about this or that nifty find on the web - but there are more and more quality folks starting to wander in these days, and, methinks, quite a few more just lurking ... you know who you are!

If you have any interest in ColdFusion, general web development, or just plain ol' exchange of the usual B.S., stop by and see us...

Dirt!

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 23:14:00 -0600

and rocks...
http://www.miuaiga.com/slideshow.cfm/Dirt?slide=1

lots and lots of rocks and a bunch of dirt...

it ain't pretty but at least it can't catch fire

where's that hot tub?

Hike-O-Rama :: Kanab's 'squaw trail'

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:58:00 -0600

we did it.

all the way up the squaw trail.

it starts just behind our house - I go up there almost every day, but only to the first overlook, about 20 mins.

Today I took all 4 kids and the pup - about 2 hrs up and 1.5 back - climbing I dont know how many hundred feet and ending up with a one of a kind view of our little town of Kanab, Utah.

Took along the new digital camera, and just had a play with PS's 'photomerge' - a bit blurry in a few spots but you can definitely get the idea. We could see a looooooong way from up there.

2 panos here - one smallish, one huge

http://mredesign.com/downloads/mephotos/20070128_squawTrail/

The farthest dark line on the horizon is the grand canyon's north rim

(our house is in the lower left of these photos, just a block from the new red townhomes you can see under construction)

man I am beat... but what a perfect day this made.

MyBlogTunes + blog.cfc = audio blog!

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:22:00 -0600

This is cool - got my own little radio player right in the lower corner of my blog (even made a blog.cfc 'pod' ) just to hold it.

Click play to hear some selections from the tornadostream library via "myBlogTunes" - a quick, easy and effective radio player.

You can also add any published podcast to your player!

Check out www.tornadostream.com to get your own...

TodCon 2007

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:18:00 -0600

Just got this pleasant litte email

=========================

Hi All,

Registration for TODCon 2007 in Las Vegas is now available at
http://www.todcon.org.

Through January, you may register for the Early Bird price of only $599
for the conference. And you may split that fee into up to 4 monthly
payments.

This year, we are handling the hotel a little differently. Instead of
paying for the hotel with the conference fee, you will be provided
information at registration to call the Excalibur and book your room at
the discounted rate. This allows you to make your own custom
arrangements and put off most of the hotel cost until the event itself.
You will just need a credit card for a one night deposit.

We have a goal of making this TODCon the biggest ever and would
appreciate your help by registering early and telling your friends and
colleagues about TODCon.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We look
forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.

Ray