Last night to my delight, my wife and I caught a current episode of the BBC television show "Doctor Who" on PBS. I remember fondly as a lad back in the late 70’s and early 80’s watching the quintessential Doctor Who #4 played by Tom Baker (pictured above). The show still in production is as campy as ever with albeit better special effects. They are now up to Doctor Who #9.
I enjoyed watching my wife enjoying the show for the first time as much as watching it myself. I do believe I’ve found the latest sci-fi fan. In her words, "It’s just so cool." if you are a Doctor Who fan of yester-year, check out the Doctor Who site. If not, check it out anyway. It’s Good clean sci-fi fun.
Ending day four of my 35 day no caffeine experiment. Surprisingly the headaches have been tolerable, especially with a dose of Advil. I’ve been groggy in the morning and that has returned in the afternoon at times as well. Some of my physical maladies have cleared-up already and to some degree I generally feel better.
But here’s the big discovery: I’ve got coffee on the brain. The hardest part is not the headaches or being a bit groggy. No, the toughest part is the reality of my mental/emotional connection to coffee. I’ve been one who has consumed coffee for the better part of the last twenty years, that’s two decades, a score of years. I have labeled myself a coffee drinker. How very attached I’ve become to that black substance that brings a spike of stimulus to the brain.
What is it about substances that we, not only can become physically attached to, but emotionally connected as well? Whether it’s food, caffeine, alcohol, you name it, we are creatures of addiction, at least some of us.
Somewhere along the way in my 30’s I think I resigned myself to a life of addiction. I have been ingesting high levels of caffeine and sugar to prop me up to keep me moving through my day. Somehow life is more than just getting by or getting through.
Coffee on the brain, oh yeah. I sure could go for a venti latte at the moment. I could sip that puppy down and let the fun begin. Instead, I think I’ll head-off to bed. Better get some sleep, I’m going to need it to get up in the morning.
Every once in a while I run across an application or online service that works its way into my everyday life. Quite often the most meaningful ones have such a narrow focus and perform one function very well. One of these services is urlTea.com. urlTea essentially does one thing, it makes long URLs shorter.
Now, when you first start to use urlTea, you may not see what is so significant about this simple little application. As you apply urlTea to your computing processes, I think you’ll find the deeper value of simplification and ease of use.
This URL is a bit long when posting to a microblogging site like Twitter or Jaiku or perhaps you would like to IM or email the URL to a friend.
Past that URL into urlTea and you now have: http://urltea.com/1ctd which goes to the same location.
when doing a mapquest or google maps query with a long URL string it proves very useful. urlTea again turns a three line URL into a short url as shown above. Recently while doing some planning for a road trip, I appreciated pasting short URLs into my document for the trip.
Adding to Your Custom URL
With urlTea you can add your own custom ending, so instead of http://urltea.com/1ctd which does not describe what the URL references you can use http://urltea.com/1ctd?JingProject which gives more information but still keeps the URL much shorter.
Ways to Use urlTea
Go to urltea.com and past your long URL into the form field as shown above and press enter.
Use the bookmark for urlTea in your toolbar. In Firefox drag this bookmark into your tool bar. In IE, right-click and add to favorites.
So there you have it, a very simple application that has many uses for referencing hyperlinks. Have you used urlTea before? Found any other great uses for this simple application?
This just may be my next phone. I’ve never really been a huge fan of the iPhone myself. This has all the makings for a salivating web guru. Just out today Crunchgear has the scoop on the soon-to-be-released Google Phone. Hearsay is that it will pack the punch of Googles features including GPS, Gmail, Calendar, and I’m sure a few more surprises. Let the hype begin!
I have recently started using a new desktop screen and video capture program called Jing. Overall I have been impressed with this utility and it shows a promising future as a utility for web publishing, teaching, tech support and other uses involving screen image and video desktop captures.
Just this week I used Jing to capture screen shots of images from my desktop and generated a report for work in a fraction of the time it takes to printscreen images and crop them in preparation for insertion into the highly visual report. This time saving was significant with real value added functionality to my workflow.
Here’s the brief rundown of features and items to keep in mind
Jing was easy to install. Download Jing at JingProject.com. It is compatible for both Windows and Mac. Windows requires .Net 3.0 framework which you can download here.
There has been some reported instability reports with Jing, so definitely be aware of possible issues depending on your machine setup.
In preferences you can set Jing to start-up on boot or launch it as needed.
The launch program is a cutesy icon that rides on one side of the screen either top, bottom, left or right depending on your preference.
Screen captures or desktop video can be saved to your machine to be uploaded to your website, placed in documents or emailed.
The other option for file distribution is to share the image or video by which the file is uploaded to screencast.com and a link is created in your clipboard that you can paste into an email. There is currently an issue with placing the link into Instant Messaging, but the workaround I would use would be to create a short URL at www.urltea.com which will give you an abbreviated version to send via IM or social media/microblogging sites like Pownce or Twitter.
Jing does not feature a resize for images. If you capture an image, you will either want to resize it in a blog editor or other publishing application. A better method is to edit it in an image editor before uploading or embedding in a document. This will make the file much smaller, especially if the size reduction is significant.
The video is created as a .swf file, a flash file with no automated way of embedding into a website. Definitely not an intuitive process, but it can be done fairly easy by using the Embedded Media HTML Generator created by UCSF’s Center for Instructional Technology.
The image size captured for the video is the size it will appear in the browser, so plan your desktop video imaging accordingly. There is a five minute Limit for a single segment of video.
You can choose to turn your microphone off or on. Keep it off if you don’t want to use voice recording for a smaller file and cleaner presentation. The video recorded below was done with a cheap microphone. I will invest in a higher-quality one for better sound if I get serious with this feature.
Two examples of Jing
Screen Capture
Video Tutorial
Jing is not necessarily the cats meow, but so far, it has provided the quick functionality I needed for rapid printscreen with immediate cropping upon capture.
Considering a Series of Tutorials on Thoughtsparks.net
I’ve given thought to developing a series of short tutorial videos for reader consumption for HTML, CSS, and graphics training. Is that something that strikes your interest? Do you like this form of communication? Why or why not?
ScribeFire is a very well designed FireFox plug-in that enables a blogger to write posts right in their browser.
The features that I enjoy most about ScribeFire include:
Launch the editor right in the browser with an icon that rests at the bottom of the browser window.
Continue viewing a webpage while you write in the bottom-half of the screen.
Save your posts as notes and return to them later. This is especially handy if you are working on several at one time.
Upload your images from within the ScribeFire FTP function and insert into your post.
Post to multiple blogs from the same application.
Utilize the full WYSIWYG Editor for quick formatting.
Manage your tags from within ScribeFire.
Publish straight to the blog when finished editing.
Built-in spell check with just a right-click.
One of the frustrations I had with blogging directly into WordPresses blogging application was losing my information if I left that window or the connection to the server crashed for some reason. I find that I lose much less information when using ScribeFire. The content is written locally on my machine and even though it does not have an auto-save feature, the "Save as a Note" button is right below where I’m typing so I tend to save often and rarely lose text.
ScribeFire Supports the following blog applications and services:
WordPress
Movable Type
Drupal
Textpattern
Roller
MetaWeblog API
Blogger
WordPress.com
TypePad.com
Live Journal
Windows Live Spaces
Performancing
Jeeran
If your blog is not on this list, you may want to try to manually setup through the Custom Blog settings. I have not yet been able to get Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce to work through ScribeFire.
One feature I don’t recommend: bookmarking in Del.icio.us and technorati.com. I found toggling between the functions to be a bit clunky. There are other more efficient and effective methods for interfacing with those sites than using ScribeFire. Like many programs, they added-in more features than needed. The magic of most well-developed plug-ins is their simplicity. That said, if you ignore that functionality, I think you will find this to be a very streamlined, rock solid method for updating your blog.
This is the best web editing tool I have found to date. Have you had any experience with other web editors? What features do you find most helpful?
To keep life interesting and to do some physical cleansing, I am fasting coffee (and other caffeinated drinks) from now through the end of September. And no, decaffeinated coffee is not allowed. Yes, I know for all of you coffee lovers like me, you may ask in complete disbelief, why would anyone deprive themselves of something so good? If you are not a coffee drinker, you just may not understand. That’s okay.
Coffee to me is the smell that greets me in the morning and reassures me that life will go on. It helps me awake and get my thoughts in gear when my mind otherwise would rather dream away in a mist of half thoughts and imaginations.
So, the next month or so may be a bit more hazy at times for yours truly. It’s an experiment for sure. You see, as I get a bit older, it is very easy for me to settle into these habits and get complacent with my health. Is coffee unhealthy? Well, if you are like me, it’s a bit excessive and yes it probably not the most healthy habit. I just don’t moderate myself very well.
Why 35 days? Well, it takes 30 days to make a habit and 35 days brings me to the end of the month of September, so it’s just easy to remember. Will I start drinking coffee again? Dunno, don’t think I’ve gone this long since my early 20’s.
Was there a time recently that you gave up something for a season? What were you reasons? Was it productive in some way?
This post is number 100 for thoughtsparks.net and to celebrate, I thought I’d write a reflective look on what I’ve learned from blogging to date. In its five short months in existence, this blog has gone through some evolution and yet has remained true to its original intent, "Igniting Ideas for the Common Good." I recently debated about splitting the blog into two, but have come to the conclusion, based on reader response that there is an appreciation for the method to my madness. Thoughtsparks.net will remain as it has been, a tech-oriented site with a very human touch mixed with ideas and reflections.
While it would be difficult to write a complete list, some of the things I’ve learned from blogging include:
It is hard, if not impossible, to predict how people will respond to posts. I’ve written some posts that I thought were real zingers that just lay there. Others, that I thought had much less expectation garnered much greater response.
Blogging is fun. I’ve blogged in the past but something struck me through this process that has made it really enjoyable. Maybe it’s being a part of blogging communities like MyBlogLog, maybe it’s that I put more attention to it and stuck with it long enough to gain readership.
Publishing a blog is work. Yes, the tools developed now make it easier than ever, but getting a blog up-and-running and keeping it alive with fresh information takes time, thought and hard work.
I’ve met some really wonderful friends through blogging from all over the globe. This has been a delightful side effect that I was not expecting from the beginning, but there are a good number of people that I’ve met that I’ve developed a measure of ongoing correspondence.
One of the best ways to improve ones writing is to blog consistently. I average about 20 posts a month, which is around 5 posts a week. In addition to comments and correspondence, that is a good amount of writing. The process for writing a blog requires a higher level of thought in structure, content and presentation than most typical writing for work.
People appreciate fresh, original content creation. Authenticity cannot be faked and blogs that are poorly written with rehashed information or media are obvious to everyone.
Ideas are everywhere. When you get in the mode of looking for something to write about, things pop-out from many sources. Sometimes it’s a conversation at work, others something read online or experiences with friends. What makes blogging so fascinating is the ability to take the most unusual aspects of ones life and relay that information to others.
Being an online communicator is a two-way street. Being quick to respond to comments, visiting and commenting on others blogs is a highly interactive experience. Blogging can make one reachable, which is part of the appeal for readers.
Blogging is a smart career move. Developing an online voice promotes oneself as a competent professional.
Blogging becomes part of your daily life. Not just a past-time, it’s a passion and a pursuit. My life is richer for it.
To all my dear friends that write blogs with passion and excellence, thank you for making my life richer. Welcome aboard new readers. Let’s grow and learn together.
Finally, I found a quick and convenient way to launch an FTP session in my browser. FireFTP add-on for Firefox now ranks as my top Plug-in. The program launches quickly within FireFox, is convenient to use because I already have Firefox open and was a snap to setup. The interace worked very similar to FileZilla with drag and drop transfer of files. Once you install the software, you’ll want to customize your toolbar under view by dragging the FireFTP icon to a toolbar. You will need to setup your accounts, which seemed pretty straight-forward. There’s really not the much too it and your done. As with all the other great plug-ins that I use with Firefox, this too is free. And if you don’t yet have the Firefox browser, what are you waiting for?
It’s 12:30 a.m. and I’m up blogging. I’ve seen a good number of midnights in the last few weeks. My life is unbalanced. I should be in bed snoozing away and resting for tomorrow, but alas here I am pounding out my thoughts to you dear friends.
There are countless self-help books and blogs on living the balanced life. Truth is, I find it to be an illusive, unattainable goal. By the way, who came up with this idea that a “balanced life”, whatever that is, should be our goal? What is a balanced life?
Personally, I think there are a lot of myths out there that we can somehow perfect ourselves into a Shangri La existence. I don’t imagine this side of eternity approaching anything that resembles perfection.
Somewhere in this past year I think I’ve officially given up on pursuing a buttoned-up, polished, well balanced life. Funny thing is, the more I have let go, the happier I am. Is my life more or less healthy than before? Not really. Other than the fact that my stress level is lower since I’m now an official member of the Happy Unbalanced Life Club.
Do you feel like your life is a little off-kilter, a little unbalanced but happy with it just that way? Well, join the club, there’s always room for one more.
It’s 12:30 a.m. and I’m up blogging. I’ve seen a good number of midnights in the last few weeks. My life is unbalanced. I should be in bed snoozing away and resting for tomorrow, but alas here I am pounding out my thoughts to you dear friends.