Staying Connected
Some of you may have noticed the addition of Twitter to our website back at the end of May. It's addition to my writing toolbox was prompted by Twitter being feature in a NPR's Story of the Day podcast. Twitter is often referred to as micro-blogging, allowing people from around the world to send updates about the moments in their lives. Usually from my mobile phone with its text messaging feature, I have posted super brief posts (140 characters or less) to fill in the gaps in between my writings. In fact Twitter has filled in huge gaps recently as I haven't had the time, and sometimes the desire, to keep up on my writing.
What makes Twitter so compelling you may be asking. Who cares about what a bunch of ordinary people are doing at any moment of time, about the mundane details of their lives? The value, from my perspective, is not in the individual tweet, but in the aggregation of data. I have a tendency of looking at art and creativity as a geological process, not a Big Bang explosion of inspiration. Twitter is one of those forces that acts upon landscape, like the wind or rain, changing and honing it. Individual instances of wind or water erosion usually have small impacts; however aggregate these instances, the changes are breathtaking. Over time, I have amassed a body of work from which to draw upon.
With only 140 characters to work with, Twitter has helped hone my writing skills. With every tweet, I try to write with descriptive elegance, capturing the context of the moment, not always succeeding, but always trying.
I also believe tweeting, and writing in general, adds to the quality of your life as you try to make your life as compelling and relevant as possible to your audience, whoever you may deem that to be, or at least to state your case as to why you think it is. By doing so, you heed Socrates' warning about the unexamined life not worth living.
Most of all, I like to hope, if you find yourself off track, you are forced to making a change for the better.
What makes Twitter so compelling you may be asking. Who cares about what a bunch of ordinary people are doing at any moment of time, about the mundane details of their lives? The value, from my perspective, is not in the individual tweet, but in the aggregation of data. I have a tendency of looking at art and creativity as a geological process, not a Big Bang explosion of inspiration. Twitter is one of those forces that acts upon landscape, like the wind or rain, changing and honing it. Individual instances of wind or water erosion usually have small impacts; however aggregate these instances, the changes are breathtaking. Over time, I have amassed a body of work from which to draw upon.
With only 140 characters to work with, Twitter has helped hone my writing skills. With every tweet, I try to write with descriptive elegance, capturing the context of the moment, not always succeeding, but always trying.
I also believe tweeting, and writing in general, adds to the quality of your life as you try to make your life as compelling and relevant as possible to your audience, whoever you may deem that to be, or at least to state your case as to why you think it is. By doing so, you heed Socrates' warning about the unexamined life not worth living.
Most of all, I like to hope, if you find yourself off track, you are forced to making a change for the better.
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Release of Our New Site Design Near
Over the last couple weeks I have been working on a new site design, trying to consolidate my pages into a single page with a more efficient layout. I am also trying to wean myself off Rapidweaver and graduate to Dreamweaver CS3. However, I will continue to utilize Rapidweaver for my blog entries. If you're interested, I have posted the beta site here.
Because of the time-based nature of my content, I really want to make my timeline web application the foundation of my site navigation.
I also didn't want people to have to navigate too far from this one page, or at least seem to never go beyond this one page. In order to achieve this, without massive screen clutter, I used an accordion structure to hide and unhide information, giving the reader some control as to which information he wanted displayed at the moment. These are the tabs that you can click onto to display and then hide sections of content. I also used the greybox effect to bring outside content without having the user feel as if he were being pushed away from the original page. This happens when you click on one of the photos or links inside the timeline and it displays the new content in an overlay over the original page.
What I have really been struggling with is Internet Explorer. As I am designing more and more web sites, I find that Internet Explorer always gives me problems. I design a site, and it works perfectly in Safari or Firefox. However, it's broken in Internet Explorer. I would love to say screw Internet Explorer; however, there is too big of an audience that doesn't know any better to stop using this piece of garbage software. So I am forced to compromise my design for compatibility. I can only hope that, if the reader hasn't done so already, he clicks on the Firefox badge below in the footer, installs Firefox and sees the World Wide Web with open eyes.
Because of the time-based nature of my content, I really want to make my timeline web application the foundation of my site navigation.
I also didn't want people to have to navigate too far from this one page, or at least seem to never go beyond this one page. In order to achieve this, without massive screen clutter, I used an accordion structure to hide and unhide information, giving the reader some control as to which information he wanted displayed at the moment. These are the tabs that you can click onto to display and then hide sections of content. I also used the greybox effect to bring outside content without having the user feel as if he were being pushed away from the original page. This happens when you click on one of the photos or links inside the timeline and it displays the new content in an overlay over the original page.
What I have really been struggling with is Internet Explorer. As I am designing more and more web sites, I find that Internet Explorer always gives me problems. I design a site, and it works perfectly in Safari or Firefox. However, it's broken in Internet Explorer. I would love to say screw Internet Explorer; however, there is too big of an audience that doesn't know any better to stop using this piece of garbage software. So I am forced to compromise my design for compatibility. I can only hope that, if the reader hasn't done so already, he clicks on the Firefox badge below in the footer, installs Firefox and sees the World Wide Web with open eyes.
It's Been Awhile
Wed, May 2 2007 10:17 | web_development, self-improvement, McKenzie, Geocaching, Website | Permalink
We have been busy. Work is picking up as Jill and I ready the Amphitheater for the upcoming season. Our first event is the WSU-Vancouver graduation on May 12th. My continuing education and our raising a sweet but rambunctious sixteen-month-old toddler doesn't leave us much time, and some things suffer. Before, in my youth, my greatest and most abundant resource was time; however, these last few months have opened my eyes to the fact that time has become a precious commodity.
School is going well. For the first time, I feel that I am learning something new, not just honing on my skills until there is nothing more to sharpen. The program isn't as technical as I had hoped. My courses, for now, seem to have more of a marketing and project management focus, which isn't bad for me. Jill has been broadcasting my school to others, and already she has strummed up two strong job possibilities for me. She is my marketing department.
The other thing I enjoy about school is the opportunity to step out of my shell and develop my collaboration skills. As I grow older, I have come to recognize my many faults. One of these has been my stubborn independence, which I once held up as a badge of great achievement. I have now come to realize just how much I have missed and hope to turn that around before it's too late.
These last few months I have been reflecting upon relevance and its importance. I want my life to be relevant: what I have learned, what I believe and what I have experienced, and the thing is, I am beginning to realize, that relevance is sharing.
Despite the fact that the news isn't updated as often as I would like, I do update other portions of this site on a pretty regular basis. Life Snippets has new photos, fed by Flickr, and timeline entries. Our Geocaching shows our latest finds and where our travel bugs have been. I know two little girls who may be interested in knowing where their former toys have traveled. Explore our website.
Further testing of Rapidblog
Sat, Feb 10 2007 12:00 | MacJournal, blogger, rapidweaver, web_development, Flickr, rapidblog, Website | Permalink
Pros:
• I really liked the fact that I was able to import Old Callies Adventures into Blogger without any problems. I still cannot import Our First Adventures into Blogger yet, but they were created outside Rapidweaver.
• I like the fact that you can directly create entries in Rapidweaver in addition to any other Blogger-capable methods (Flickr, MacJournal, email or the web).
Cons:
• I miss the pull down menu for Archives blog entries. However, thanks to the importing power of Rapidblog, the archives are a bit richer. Instead I get a long list that takes up an incredible amount of screen real estate.
• The RSS feed link doesn’t appear in the address bar of the browser (i.e. RSS or RSS icon after the URL).
• My father prefers to use Haloscan when commenting, not wanting to sign up for a Google account. It’s not a big deal for me, for I would gladly sign up for a Google account. However, my dad is one of those few who comment on my writing. You’re stuck with using Google’s commenting system.
• You cannot use some of the built-in blogger features, such as Email This Post or Edit This Post.
• There is no option to set the length of the feed. I need the feed to show all the blog entries, not just the first 25 entries. I use the feed to populate the timeline. I would have to use the Blogger-created feed rather than the Rapidblog-created feed in order to get all of the blog entries in the feed, and if I did that the feed links would point to blogspot.com, not calliesadventures.com.
• You have to host Blogger on blogspot and not on your own server.
All in all, Rapidblog is a good, not just quite there for my needs yet. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
• I really liked the fact that I was able to import Old Callies Adventures into Blogger without any problems. I still cannot import Our First Adventures into Blogger yet, but they were created outside Rapidweaver.
• I like the fact that you can directly create entries in Rapidweaver in addition to any other Blogger-capable methods (Flickr, MacJournal, email or the web).
Cons:
• I miss the pull down menu for Archives blog entries. However, thanks to the importing power of Rapidblog, the archives are a bit richer. Instead I get a long list that takes up an incredible amount of screen real estate.
• The RSS feed link doesn’t appear in the address bar of the browser (i.e. RSS or RSS icon after the URL).
• My father prefers to use Haloscan when commenting, not wanting to sign up for a Google account. It’s not a big deal for me, for I would gladly sign up for a Google account. However, my dad is one of those few who comment on my writing. You’re stuck with using Google’s commenting system.
• You cannot use some of the built-in blogger features, such as Email This Post or Edit This Post.
• There is no option to set the length of the feed. I need the feed to show all the blog entries, not just the first 25 entries. I use the feed to populate the timeline. I would have to use the Blogger-created feed rather than the Rapidblog-created feed in order to get all of the blog entries in the feed, and if I did that the feed links would point to blogspot.com, not calliesadventures.com.
• You have to host Blogger on blogspot and not on your own server.
All in all, Rapidblog is a good, not just quite there for my needs yet. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
Revamp of the Website
Over these last few days, I have been working on revamping the website, incorporating several different themes to the site and giving it a new and fresh look. I have rearranged and pruned pages from the site in an effort to make it easier understand and navigate. However, I know that doesn't necessarily mean that I achieved that goal.
Photos, video clips, audio clips and other multimedia items have been moved over to Life Snippets. Information about our hobbies, projects and the things that we have learned on our journey through life has been organized in Our Passions, and general information about us has been placed under About Us. And our news is still under News.
Of course, just because I have been busy revamping the site doesn't mean that the news stopped. The next couple days I will being backdating recent past posts, so stay tune for more and be sure to dig a bit deeper into the website.
;-)
Today in History:
09/08 Richard ``the Lionheart'', king of England born in Oxford, 1157
09/08 Peter Sellers born in Southsea, England, 1925
09/08 "Star Trek" debuts on NBC (1966)
09/08 Jack the Ripper kills again, Annie Chapman is second victim, 1888
09/08 US President Ford pardons Richard M. Nixon, 1974
09/08* Second Day of Rosh ha-Shanah (Jewish Lunar New Year; 5763)
09/08 Anton Dvorak born in Nelahozeves, Czechoslovakia, 1841
09/08 Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead) is born in San Bruno,
Photos, video clips, audio clips and other multimedia items have been moved over to Life Snippets. Information about our hobbies, projects and the things that we have learned on our journey through life has been organized in Our Passions, and general information about us has been placed under About Us. And our news is still under News.
Of course, just because I have been busy revamping the site doesn't mean that the news stopped. The next couple days I will being backdating recent past posts, so stay tune for more and be sure to dig a bit deeper into the website.
;-)
Today in History:
09/08 Richard ``the Lionheart'', king of England born in Oxford, 1157
09/08 Peter Sellers born in Southsea, England, 1925
09/08 "Star Trek" debuts on NBC (1966)
09/08 Jack the Ripper kills again, Annie Chapman is second victim, 1888
09/08 US President Ford pardons Richard M. Nixon, 1974
09/08* Second Day of Rosh ha-Shanah (Jewish Lunar New Year; 5763)
09/08 Anton Dvorak born in Nelahozeves, Czechoslovakia, 1841
09/08 Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead) is born in San Bruno,
Added Features
I added a dedicated page for Our Geocaching Finds under Callies Adventures News. As part of that page, I have inserted a Yahoo Map application with the caches we have found marked. Please look at and play with it. I am interested in your feedback.
I also created McKenzie's first email address. She can now be reached at mckenzie_callies@mac.com.
Today in History:
07/22 King's Birthday in Swaziland
07/22 National Day in Poland
I also created McKenzie's first email address. She can now be reached at mckenzie_callies@mac.com.
Today in History:
07/22 King's Birthday in Swaziland
07/22 National Day in Poland
Added Feature
While feeding the Internet news feeds one day, I came across a CNET News.com article about tracking time in a Web 2.0 bottle. The quote from the article, "It is like Google Maps for time-based information," piqued my curiosity, and I investigated. My investigation lead to my implementation of this neat little web application, and I added another sub-menu to this page to show off my implementation of this code. I hope you find it interesting as interesting as I have and would love for people to email me events to add to our timeline, to follow the many threads that are weaved into our lives.
Today in History:
07/16 Detonation of the first atomic bomb at Alamagordo, NM, 1945
07/16 Presidents Day in Botswana
07/16 Cream forms in the U.K., 1966
07/16 Harry Chapin dies on Long Island Expressway, 1981
Today in History:
07/16 Detonation of the first atomic bomb at Alamagordo, NM, 1945
07/16 Presidents Day in Botswana
07/16 Cream forms in the U.K., 1966
07/16 Harry Chapin dies on Long Island Expressway, 1981
Noteworthy Updates
The number of points on our Google map has been steady growing. If have haven't seen it, I recommend that you do. I have added a new feature. When you click on a particular point and then click on the Other Info tab, the description is now linked to the related blog entry. As I learn more and more about Google maps, expect more features to be added at a later date.
I also added a tutorial on geocaching under the Tutorial menu for those interested in learning more. I know it's been a while since I last added any new tutorials. I am trying to be more diligent in adding more content.
I also added a new menu called Projects to highlight and explain some of the things we are doing.
I also added a tutorial on geocaching under the Tutorial menu for those interested in learning more. I know it's been a while since I last added any new tutorials. I am trying to be more diligent in adding more content.
I also added a new menu called Projects to highlight and explain some of the things we are doing.
Release of Rapidweaver 3.5
Yesterday, the beta version of Rapidweaver 3.5 was released. I have been converting our website over to the new software. Much of the new features are more technical in nature, dealing more with the interface of the software program and website construction. However, there are some features - mainly in the news page - that are visible for you the viewer.
There is now a permalink, so you can reference a specific link to a specific news entry.
There is also a running count of the number entries in a particular news category.
The archived entries are now better integrated into the overall design of the website.
Today in History:
06/03 Henry James born, 1811
06/03 Confederate Memorial Day in Kentucky & Louisiana
06/03 Labor Day in Bahamas
06/03* Bank Holiday in Rep. of Ireland
Today in History:
06/03 Henry James born, 1811
06/03 Confederate Memorial Day in Kentucky & Louisiana
06/03 Labor Day in Bahamas
06/03* Bank Holiday in Rep. of Ireland
Google Map
Some of you may have noticed the addition of a new Places We've Been page. I created a Google Map and Flickr mashup. A mashup is a website or web application that seamlessly combines content from more than one source into an integrated experience.
Awhile back, I outlined how to add GPS data to your digital photos. Now I plotted some of those images to a Google Map, giving our lives a sense of place. Imagine how future generations will be able to see the changes a place has undertaken over the years.
Markers will be added to the map as we explore and hope that our explorations encourage you to venture out to the place we have been and better yet to explore new places and see the world about you.
:-)
Today in History:
04/02 Malvinas Day in Argentina
04/02 Pascua Florida Day in Florida
04/02* Hol ha-Mo'ed
04/02* Omer 5th day
04/02 Marvin Gaye is born in Washington, D.C., 1939
Awhile back, I outlined how to add GPS data to your digital photos. Now I plotted some of those images to a Google Map, giving our lives a sense of place. Imagine how future generations will be able to see the changes a place has undertaken over the years.
Markers will be added to the map as we explore and hope that our explorations encourage you to venture out to the place we have been and better yet to explore new places and see the world about you.
:-)
Today in History:
04/02 Malvinas Day in Argentina
04/02 Pascua Florida Day in Florida
04/02* Hol ha-Mo'ed
04/02* Omer 5th day
04/02 Marvin Gaye is born in Washington, D.C., 1939
Addition of a McKenzie Image Gallery
I created a new photo album, displaying all our McKenzie images in a gallery format. It has a neat little feature when you click on a thumbnail image called lightbox. Check it out.
Number One on Google
Every once and a while - call it ego - I google myself, and today when I googled "callies adventures", our website was the number one search result. It is interesting to see the evolution of this whole web process from its very beginnings of posting photos on homepage with my .Mac account to my flyfishing blog and its expansion beyond flyfishing to the eventually creation of this site. Just a random thought and reflection ;-).
I miss flyfishing, and there have been days when I have been "jones-ing" to wet my line on some river like the Yakima or the Crooked or maybe the Metolius. This winter has been particular wet; we're on the verge of setting a twenty year record. The rivers are too swollen to fish.
I also really need to add to my tutorials. I have a couple of ideas, but time has been short.
Today in History:
01/31 Jackie Robinson born, 1919
01/31 Hewlett-Packard founded, 1939
01/31 Hidetoshi Shimokawa born in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, 1970
01/31 "Ham" the chimpanzee soars into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, 1961
01/31 Explorer I launched, 1958. Van Allen Belt discovered
01/31 Irving Langmuir, 1881, invented tungsten filament lamp
01/31 The Grateful Dead are busted in New Orleans, 1970
I miss flyfishing, and there have been days when I have been "jones-ing" to wet my line on some river like the Yakima or the Crooked or maybe the Metolius. This winter has been particular wet; we're on the verge of setting a twenty year record. The rivers are too swollen to fish.
I also really need to add to my tutorials. I have a couple of ideas, but time has been short.
Today in History:
01/31 Jackie Robinson born, 1919
01/31 Hewlett-Packard founded, 1939
01/31 Hidetoshi Shimokawa
01/31 "Ham" the chimpanzee soars into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, 1961
01/31 Explorer I launched, 1958. Van Allen Belt discovered
01/31 Irving Langmuir, 1881, invented tungsten filament lamp
01/31 The Grateful Dead are busted in New Orleans, 1970
Feedback
I need people's feedback. I have added several new elements to our website and am interested in what people think of them. I am especially interested if people are able to subscribe to the podcast, or listen to McKenzie's Library, or any other aspect of the website.
Please let me know if you are having troubles. I am able to get the website to work on my machine, but that doesn't mean that it works properly on yours. I have a horrible Mac-bias and rarely test our website on a Windows machine, and when I do test it on a Windows machine, I always test it using the Firefox web browser. I hate Internet Explorer. However, that is my bias, and I need to get over it. Please help me make your experience at our website a good one.
Also please let us know if you enjoy what we are producing. We always look for your comments, thoughts and ideas. Email us, sign our guestbook or leave a comment after a particular entry.
Please let me know if you are having troubles. I am able to get the website to work on my machine, but that doesn't mean that it works properly on yours. I have a horrible Mac-bias and rarely test our website on a Windows machine, and when I do test it on a Windows machine, I always test it using the Firefox web browser. I hate Internet Explorer. However, that is my bias, and I need to get over it. Please help me make your experience at our website a good one.
Also please let us know if you enjoy what we are producing. We always look for your comments, thoughts and ideas. Email us, sign our guestbook or leave a comment after a particular entry.
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