Nightcrawler

Although I've had plenty of experience with fat, juicy nightcrawler worms, the title of the post actually refers to Pete Yorn's latest album of the same name.

This one has been on my download list for a few months, and I just got around to it today. It's delightful. That's the first word that came to mind, and though it may be cheesy, it's entirely accurate. Nothing groundbreaking or world-rocking, but it's an album that coasts along -- planting itself firmly in my current heavy rotation.

I am now a self-professed "Modern, Cool Nerd"

Continuing the meme from Jodi...

I've taken several Nerd vs. Geek quizzes, but I like the focus of this one. Straightforward criteria, and straightforward questions. Here's me:

Modern, Cool Nerd
73% Nerd, 73% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

Pandora goes public

no, not really public like NASDAQ... but they did recently sign a deal with MSN to provide MSN Radio. looks like someone at microsoft actually has a brain in their head.

Pandora plays streaming music via a flash player in your browser and is powered by the Music Genome Project. honestly, the MGP is one of those ideas that you slap yourself in the head and think, "i've always thought about that, why couldn't i think of a way to do this?!?"

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Pandora and the MGP are an exciting piece of the social music revolution that's happening thanks to digital/online music. i can discover music based on criteria i already know i enjoy; share playlists, artists, etc.; track it all with last.fm (see the awesome pandora/last.fm mashup, PandoraFM); then head to eMusic and download my favorites. if you don't have an eMusic account, you're missing out on one of the best online music sites, IMHO. they don't have the catalog of iTunes or Rhapsody, but if you're a music fan with eclectic taste, you won't be disappointed.

read more about Pandora at TechCrunch. if it's good enough for mike arrington, it's good enough for me. ;)

web nerd, meet sports fan

i really only visit yahoo! sports pages during one season of the year -- ncaa hoops season. those of you who know me as more than just a nerdy web gal probably know that my family members are rabid kansas jayhawk fans. ROCK CHALK!

today, thanks to a buddy's 30 boxes calendar, i discovered that yahoo has every ncaa team's schedule in iCal format! find your favorite team's home page (here's mine) and then click the "Scores & Schedules" menu link. that page has several links to "Add Schedule" -- you can add it to your yahoo calendar, get mobile SMS alerts, add the iCal file to online calendars like 30 Boxes or Google Calendar, or import the ICS file into Outlook or your favorite scheduling software. whew!

i love it when i get to be nerdy about not-so-nerdy things.

update: yahoo updates the iCal feed after the game is over by putting the score in the "notes" section. very cool, but so sad to revisit the oral roberts and depaul disasters. what's up with the 7-point losing margins??

ego surfing & 30 boxes

i was just lurking around del.icio.us, looking through the "30boxes" tag, when lo and behold i find a couple of my URLs in the list. it's fun to see 3 to 5 (my professional alter ego) listed, along with static{fade}.

a friend recently sent an email with a subject line along the lines of, "fame!" she included a link to the wikipedia entry on 30 Boxes, where i'm mentioned by name. hat tip to the folks at 30b for including me. (update: seems that page has been changed. ahhh, my fleeting 15 minutes!)

30 Boxes is the first web 2.0 software that i still use daily, many months after activating my account. i tried mypimp (hipcal), kiko, and oh-so-many others. sure, i still log into remember the milk, backpack and basecamp, but not nearly as frequently as i open my 30b calendar. and with the addition of the webtop (their take on a web-based home page or virtual desktop), i can task manage at remember the milk and backpack without ever having to leave.

the 30b team (which is only three people!!) is very active in the forums and is very interested in and responsive to suggestions from their users. it has been fun to be an active participant in helping this snappy little web app mature throughout the year. the payoff has been some recognition by the 30b team (they've recently included two of my custom themes in their main menu), and i'm grateful and honored.

go try it! if you keep a calendar or a todo list, you'll be instantly hooked. be sure to check out the RSS and iCal integration -- if you use any other social networking-type sites (flickr, upcoming.org, myspace, etc.), or if you keep a blog, you can have all your entries instantly viewable on your calendar. once you've got some info in there, check out 30b on your phone!

Nuckin' Futs

Nuckin' Futs - The JibJab Year in Review
Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

JibJab has done it again. No one is safe...

photography lesson for the day

two of my favorite things..., originally uploaded by jaymac0002.

lesson #1 = the rule of thirds.
lesson #2 = dramatic clouds rule.

i've been looking at lots of corn-related photos (don't ask), and this one actually made me smile and exclaim, "Nice."

found chairs, part four

Fancy Tricks, originally uploaded by Bright Tal.

in keeping with the theme of last night and this morning... a chair, plus a broom!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

uploaded by Daveybot

no matter how you spell it, last night was a clear victory for the democrats. granted, if i hear that the country was "ready for change" one more time i might toss the ol' cookies. but for now, i'm relishing the fact that we are this close (almost touches thumb and forefinger) to taking the house and the senate. it feels good.

hopefully the narrow margins in montana and virginia will stick and survive the imminent recounts. but even if we are a seat or two down in the senate, these midterm elections were a raging success.

get out your brooms, we're looking for a SWEEP!!!

download firefox 2.0

so, mozilla was supposed to officially release 2.0 this morning. they haven't updated their web site yet, but they have put the 2.0 release in their public download directory (timestamp: 23-Oct-2006 03:19).

go get it!

Songbird 0.2: while you're at it, go grab Songbird. they're calling it a "Developer Preview," but it is the official 0.2 release. if you like it, you could put one of their cute li'l birdies on your web site.

one simple word

its true, originally uploaded by brianjacobsen.

two photos in one night... but i couldn't resist.

in honor of jeffrey

MetteMarit, originally uploaded by robbie flower.

yes, that's a project runway reference, in case your wife isn't suckered into it, which by proxy means that you know every stinkin' detail, including that jeffrey won last night.

whew. sometimes run-on sentences make blogging a lot of fun.

FRYPOD. It's not an Apple product.

on my way home tonight, i was craving french fries... stopped by burger king to get some. they have this new ingenious fry box that is designed to fit in your car's cupholder -- and it's just the right size to grasp in your hand to toss back those last few fries at the bottom. but i digress.

the name they've apparently trademarked for the fry holder?? FRYPOD.

of course, i immediately had a laugh and wondered if apple would sue burger king. after googling "burger king frypod," i am *clearly* not the first person to have that oh-so-original thought.

Songbird Nest

I don't write often, but what's even more pathetic is that I've got drafts lying around from a year ago! I thought I'd finish up this one, since Songbird is about to hit another milestone. These guys have one of the coolest products (and one of the slowest dev cycles) I've seen crop up here in the "new bubble" in downtown SF.

To sum it up, and steal from their Web site:

Songbird^™ is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox^®, it is built from Mozilla^®, cross-platform and open source.

It's a compelling bit of software; one part iTunes and one part Firefox. The Web site is well designed, their mascot is cute and memorable, and they seem to have a very talented (albeit rather slow) team of web heads working diligently to craft their ultimate music player. The software itself has a very clean, simple, well-designed UI, and the feature list has all the bells and whistles you would expect from a modern player (including a "Super Slim Mini-Mode" to leave in the corner of your screen).

So what makes Songbird different? It's an all-in-one package -- media search, playback, and file management -- not to mention a full-fledged browser, to boot! While browsing the web, the bottom of the application shows all playable media files linked from or contained within the page. I can click the link to play the file right in Songbird, or drag and drop it into my library. Works well for video and podcasts, too.

It's definitely beta software (not the indefinite web2.0 kind, but the real kind, complete with crashes and all), so take your chances, but have fun and explore the web through the eyes of that cute li'l bird.

found chairs, part three

DSC01068, originally uploaded by Oh Lenna.

plus oatmeal!

quick SPAM check

it was a weight loss kind of morning. but here are, by far, my two favorites:

• You'll love the new, non-obese you
• Make your fat friends envy you

thank you Alyce Trotter and Cora Caudill! i can't wait to "become fit and happy again!" (yes, another SPAM.)

Autumn Eyes

Autumn eyes, originally uploaded by :-)hristof.

Photoshop or no, this kid has beautiful eyes!

The Kinkos Generation

Yesterday, USA Today ran an article on the growing number of people who take up a "third space" for work.

An estimated 30 million Americans, or roughly one-fifth of the nation's workforce, are part of the so-called Kinko's generation, employees who spend significant hours each month working outside of a traditional office.

20%!!! That's amazing. Although I don't know why I'm surprised -- I have been planted firmly in that 20% since 2000. There are definitely days when I wish I could fly a paper airplane over to Jen's desk, or wave my FOF for all to see. However, most days I'm perfectly content to pop on my headphones, sip a soy latte, and get down to business.

Interesting sidebar in the article about "Cafe Etiquette." Here are my favorites:

• Tip big and eat often -- think of it as rent for your table
• Take it outside -- when the cell phone buzzes, head for the door
• Cords get right of way -- self-explanatory, don't complain about it
  

One caveat regarding the USA Today article -- it was written in and featured San Francisco. It would be interesting to know the numbers solely for San Francisco. I bet the number is a lot higher than 20%. To do your own research, forget the Grove (the cafe featured in the article, although I prefer their Fillmore location) and head down to the Mission to Ritual Coffee Roasters. And if you're not in SF, all you have to do is Google "Ritual Coffee," or head to flickr (tags: ritro, Ritual Roasters, Ritual Coffee, etc.) Hell, "ritro" has its own flickr pool...

Personally, I "heart" my corner coffee shop, Luv a Java. Great coffee, good food (fresh sandwiches!), nice prices, and FREE WIFI.

This is Broken

Seth Godin's presentation at GEL. If you've ever been fascinated with funny or pointless signs, or just plain bad design, check it out.

My little sis got married.

The ceremony hadn't even started and we were all already crying. It was one of those days...

YouTube Group (videos)
Flickr Group (800+ photos!)

found chairs, part two

take a seat, originally uploaded by jeskimo.

great portrait of downtown hell-a. "under the bridge," indeed.

found chairs, part one

Parking, originally uploaded by kevinlelland.

i love flickr finds. love the colors in this one.

Samuel L. Jackson @ Comic-Con

"Where's a motherf#$%in' snake when you need one?"
Classic. Silly animation, but worth watching.

Via Now Playing Magazine.

Sam Jackson is a God

I've had it with these motherf@#$ing snakes on this motherf@#$ing plane!

Even though the movie officially opens today, the theatre was packed at last night's 10pm showing of the cult-like internet-driven phenomenon, Snakes on a Plane. When Samuel L. Jackson uttered those words (ostensibly written by a blogger and added to the movie after a massive internet campaign), the whole theatre shouted along with him, hooting and hollering!

The movie was a gas. It was hilarious. It was scary. It was gross. It made my skin crawl. It made me lift my feet up off the floor more than once. If I'd had popcorn, I can guarantee it would've ended up all over the place from my jumping and jolting. All in all, I can't wait to see it again, and I may have to own the DVD when it's released. It really is that good.

My 1st Apple

And now, like millions of bloggers before me... I will blog my first Apple purchase.

I'm rather notoriously anti-Apple, though as their machines get slicker and slicker (not to mention the killer specs) it's hard to remain a totally PC gal. I've been an Apple enabler in the past -- I got the wife a shiny white iPod video last year. But we don't use iTunes, and it's hers.

However, after receiving a gift certificate from my boss, along with a note of encouragment to "come on over to the dark side," I have, like Anakin Skywalker before me, done just that.

Here are pictures of my brand-spanking-new black iPod nano. It really is impossibly small! (Collage courtesy of Picasa 2.)

nano collage Hosted on Zooomr

Since this isn't exactly my first Apple experience (I'm the one who had to deal with the technical details of getting the wife's video iPod loaded and ready to go), I know what to expect. I'm hoping the battery life is decent, and I'm looking into how to carve a hole into my running shoes so that I don't have to buy new Nikes to take advantage of this.

Hopefully I won't be running back to the Apple store in 2 weeks, cuz this shiny new gadget is awfully cute and needs a good home!

Manhattanhenge 2006, part deux

Tonight is Manhattanhenge, take two! If you miss it tonight, you'll have to wait until next summer. :)

If the Manhattan grid matched the geographic north-south line, then our special days would be the equinoxes, the two days on the calendar when the Sun rises due east and sets due west. But Manhattan is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the special days to May 28th and July 12 and 13.

Today's approximate sunset time in NYC is 8:27 pm.

More info here.

footnote...
looks like a popular viewing place last night was at 42nd St & Tudor City Place -- Tudor City Place is above 42 street, so you can stand in the middle of the street!

"March Together for Life" guy's comments keep coming...

from monday, july 10th, 9:46pm until tuesday, july 12th, 4:18am pete received more than 600 comments on his "Satire?" post. it seems that digg and the blogger community are really letting poor pete have it.

a sampling:

Pete, please: listen carefully. "Caroline Weber" does not exist.

The Onion article you attacked is not "her piece." It was written by a comedy writer. Who is not "Caroline Weber," has not just had an abortion, and is more than likely not even a woman.

It is truly stunning that you do not understand this. That you still do not understand this, even after being mocked mercilessly on the previous thread. Even after being told, repeatedly, to get a clue, you're still in dire need of one. Oof.

no amount of stammering is going to get you out of the enormous idiot hole you have dug for yourself. good thing the internet is anonymous because you'd have throngs of people driving past your house, pointing and laughing.

Hey man did you know that Christ is convering to Islam... its (sic) in the same issue.

You haven't given up yet? My my, you are braver than I am. If I had made a gaffe like that (unlikely, as my IQ is above 50), I'd never ventured online again. Unplugged my computer, just to make sure. It's a comforting thought that the pro-life movement consists of drooling halfwits like you.

and just one more (though i haven't even scratched the surface):

Wow...

I don't know what else to say. I mean, it's one thing to misinterpret Onion material as genuine reporting (the "liberal media" has been at it for years), but to follow up with what you wrote? I just... WOW.

Seriously, "Caroline Weber" is a pen name, a character. "She" doesn't exist, and never will.

The Onion is in the business of fake news. In other words, they take topics and twist them to such ludicrous degrees that they become funny and satirical.

The Onion is as real a newspaper as "The Colbert Report" is a real conservative's show.

I used to think that pro-lifers were just as intelligent and smart as me, just that we differed on this issue. The differences clearly go deeper than that.

You talk about how horrible it is to live in a world that tolerates abortion. When you take away the ability, the CHOICE, of a woman to have control over her own body (what's next, a man can't choose to get a vasectomy because that will kill potential fetuses in the future?), you know what slippery slope we'll be falling towards? Facism, where the few powerful people at the top of the governmental food chain will dictate everything a person does with their lives. Is that what you want? Do you really want to turn an American into the next Mussolini or Hitler? Cause that's what you're oppressive goals entail.

And don't forget, the Onion is fake news. Not real. As in: MADE UP!!!

Cheers!
Jason

i love that jason ends that well-written missive with "Cheers!" excellent!

however, the best thing i found in the comments is this gem -- another old school onion article: God Finally Gives Shout-Out Back To All His Niggaz

"Right about now, I want to send a shout-out to each and every nigga who's shown Me love through the years," said the Lord, His booming voice descending from Heaven. "I got mad love for each and every one of you niggaz. Y'all real niggaz out there, you know who you are. Y'all was there for me, and it's about time I'm-a give some love back to God's true crew."

"All y'all niggaz, y'all be My niggaz," the Lord added.

"A pair of shout-out tablets handed down by the Lord."

Happy Birthday...From Satan

july is a big birthday month for the friendster-circle-of-hillary. so, in honor of spooky, who's birthday is today (SHOUT OUT!!), here is Satan's Birthday Wish for You All.

happy birthday, y'all!

It's Satire, Stupid.

in the latest edition of, "ummm, you realize The Onion is supposed to be funny, right?"...

this idiot decided to take Caroline Weber, author of "I'm Totally Psyched About This Abortion!", to task in his pro-life blog.

only problems... 1) it's from the onion; 2) it's from 1999. a little late on to be jumping on that hate parade.

anyhoo, he got lambasted in the comments to his blog post and decided to respond.

i'm sorry to ruin the end for you, but it's just too good:

Satire? Was the article aiming at the women who have the abortions or the people who believe it is better to save lives than kill them?

Hmm, let's look up the term satire:

“witty language used to convey insults or scorn; "he used sarcasm to upset his opponent"”

Either way, I think I did a good job of turning the “satire” right back at them, don’t you?

oh yes. i do.

Zooomr Pro Accounts for FREE

Zooomr (think "flickr delta" -- get it, instead of gamma? oh boy.) is giving away free Pro accounts to any blogger who hosts an image for their blog through Zooomr. Sounds like a great way to start experimenting with this site!

So, here is my dear dog doing what she does best (and most):

Lola the Diva DogHosted on Zooomr

PodPress Version 5.7 (WordPress Podcasting Plugin)

Mighty Seek's awesome podcasting plugin has been through some major upgrades in the past week. Go check it out if you use WordPress.

read more | digg story

new look

spent some time tweaking in preparation for a big wordpress redesign at work. navigation is now at the bottom. not sure how i feel about it, but that's how it's gonna be for the time being.

"Manhattanhenge" this Sunday (5/28) in New York City

Next Sunday and on July 13, the sun will fully illuminate every Manhattan cross street (not the curved or angled ones) on the street grid during the last 15 minutes of daylight, and it will set on each street's center line. The NYC version of Stonehenge!

More info here.

read more | digg story

flickr no longer in beta

flickr has moved out of beta and into... gamma! pretty cool for them to acknowledge that it's still a work in progress, a web app that can only get better. i predict others will follow suit, to be trendy. though google may be stubborn and keep everything in beta... forever! ;)

anyway, other than the new gamma logo, the changes are very cool, too. the new "organizr" is my favorite upgrade, very useful stuff.

dmb warehouse membership package

dmb warehouse,
originally uploaded by quepol.

a light-up pen?? wtf? at least the live songs on "volume 5" are good. the msg show sounds like it was great... need to track down a torrent.

template hosed

apologies to anyone who might actually drop by here. i am noodling around with wordpress and managed to hose my blogger template. i know, step 1 of the instructions was "back up blogger template." but i'm lazy, and frankly, can't imagine too many people are even reading this. :)

CSPAN pulled Colbert video from YouTube, but Google Video is OK??

CSPAN pulled the video from YouTube for copyright reasons. But do they have the cajones to mess with Google? The Google Video blog features the WHC dinner -- the full version, and two shorter clips of Bush's "speech" and Colbert's "roast."

read more | digg story