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We Like Stuff – Podcast launch
About two months ago, my friend Dave and I noticed that we have a lot of opinions. And, naturally, these opinions should be shared with the world. What better way to do this than a podcast?
We’ve spent time since then ironing out a number of technical kinks, and are finally at a place where we feel comfortable going public beyond a few friends who have provided very valuable feedback. We’re averaging an episode every two weeks or so, which I’m sort of impressed with myself about.
We settled on a generic title that won’t lock us into any one genre or format: We Like Stuff. Mostly we review things. Books, video games, movies, random tech stuff, etc. Whatever stuff we happen to be liking.
If you’d like to subscribe, the podcast’s RSS feed is here. Or our iTunes link (which doesn’t seem to have picked up the new episode yet, but should soon) is here.
I’m having a really good time doing this, and it feels great to be creating something. Extra special thanks go out to my co-conspirator Dave, whose audio editing and general Garageband wizardry has been indispensable.
This does not bode well for the game as a whole…
…but I’m still intrigued.
Something went wrong in the office online game thing. If you still want to work me, you have to re-apply (your account info is still valid, just fill out the form with this new code):
Branch: Dothan, AL
Code: ded7o7f65x
Re-apply here: http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com/employees/register/
WP 2.0.1 Upgrade
Tomorrow I’m going to take the plunge and finally upgrade to WordPress 2.0.1. If the site implodes shortly after, assume that’s why.
Update: done! Painless and easy. Let me know if anything does not behave correctly, please.
Memeage – 4 Things
Eli got me! I’ve seen this one going around recently, and figured it was only a matter of time. So, away we go:
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Library Page, Fairport Public Library
2. Library Clerk, Fairport Public Library
3. Tech Support / Lab Assistant, Pitt’s Barco Law Library
4. Reference/Instruction Librarian, UAH
Yes, I have never worked outside of a library! Unless you count volunteer stuff, in which case I was an ambulance dispatcher.
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Zoolander
2. Robocop
3. The Rocketeer
4. Toy Story
Three places I’ve lived:
1. Fairport, NY
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. Huntsville, AL
Other than college, those are the only three.
Four TV shows I love:
1. Arrested Development
2. The Tick (animated version)
3. Battlestar Galactica
4. Firefly
Four places I’ve vacationed:
1. Hawaii
2. Bermuda
3. Myrtle Beach
4. Toronto
I really wish I could add somewhere non North-American to that list.
Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Primanti Brothers’ Sandwiches, Pittsburgh (my mouth waters just at the thought)
2. Stuffed Shells, any variety
3. Pizza with mushrooms, black olives, and any kind of meat
4. Crackers and cheese, preferably cheddar
Four sites I visit daily:
1. Kotaku
2. Urban Dead
3. PvP
4. Unfiction Forums
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Pittsburgh (more specifically, immediately following the Super Bowl)
2. Back in Hawaii (I will return some day!)
3. With friends
4. Dave and Buster’s
Four books (or series) I love:
1. Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series
2. All the Myriad Ways, Larry Niven
3. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
4. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
Four bloggers I am tagging:
(I have no idea who has been tagged already, so feel free to ignore me if you’ve already gone through this. Or even if you haven’t.)
1. CoffeeJedi
2. Tame The Web
3. Fare Forward
4. Deucenet
There, now I’m free of chain-letter-style bad luck! Doing the books and movies list was painful. So few spots for so many choices!
Oh, and I’ll toss in my own optional super bonus element,
Four video games I love:
1. Halo 2
2. Burnout 3
3. Mario Kart DS
4. Guitar Hero
RSS Drain
I’m pretty sure I cemented my nerd status today while getting a drink from the water fountain at work.
While drinking I thought to myself: “Gee, that drain looks a lot like Firefox’s RSS icon.”
Review: Qoop.com – Photo Book
The other day my qoop.com book arrived! Qoop has a partnership with Flickr, and users can order books and posters and such of their photos. Ordinarily I’m happy to be rid of the clutter of paper copies of photos, but I made an exception with I finished my year in photos project. Having a printed copy of all 365 entries is just too cool!
Unfortunately, cool is not cheap. This volume ran me around $40. Not something I’d do often, but as a splurge it was manageable.
Anyway, on to quality. I went with four photos per 8.5 x 11 page, for a 90something page count, and everything is crisp and viewable. I also had the book perfect bound, instead of stapled, and it looks very durable as a result. My captions for each photo are included as well. I was worried that some might be cut for length, but photo placement and font size is adjusted a bit where necessary to make sure nothing is lost. I’m sure there’s an upper limit to this adjusting, but I didn’t run into it.
My only real complaint is that there isn’t enough customization available. In particular, I would have loved to be able to design a better cover. The set of photos there is chosen at random, and I was allotted two short lines of text. If I liked some photos but not others, I had to generate an entire new random set. It took me an absurd number of tries to get one that I mostly like.
While this is unrelated to Qoop themselves, I was also disappointed with DHL’s shipping time of my book. The package got lost in limbo somewhere, and spent three days bouncing back and forth between Atlanta and Chatanooga. Thankfully the book was packaged very nicely, and suffered no harm.
So in summary: Due to the price, I wouldn’t recommend Qoop for mass production. But for one-off copies like this, I’m quite happy.
Review: Private Wars, by Greg Rucka
Just a brief review this time, but I liked Private Wars. Greg Rucka continues the story of British spy Tara Chace, in her second novel. The character originated in the Queen & Country series of graphic novels, so there’s more backstory out there than you might think at first.
Rucka loves his politics, there’s no doubt. This time around Chace gets involved in the affairs of Uzbekistan, particularly the ascension of a new President. I learned a lot about Uzbekistan in the process, but have to question how much is true and what is made up for the novel. If there was an afterword or some kind of notice establishing this, I’d be much happier for some reason.
Worth a read, but if you’re new to Tara Chace I’d recommend starting at the beginning. You’d be a bit lost at the start of this book, and definitely wouldn’t appreciate some of the longer-running character relationships. Plus, the cast is very large. Having a visual connection to them from the comics is a big help.
I do knock a few points off for the abrupt ending. I’d appreciate a bit more of where each character ended up, but if the series continues that may be taken care of elsewhere.
Library 2.0 – My 2.0 Cents
I realized just now that I’ve never chimed in on the Library 2.0 debate.
Here’s some background reading, in case you’re not familiar with the topic.
The whole concept is rather nebulous at best. I’m not sure if there is a concrete, agreed-upon definition yet. But to me, a Library 2.0 mentality means refocusing on patrons/users/customers/whatever you call them. With the possible exception of applying new technologies to a user focus, this really isn’t anything new. But user-focused planning and services are absolutely critical if a library wants to remain viable. Public, academic, private, any kind of library should work this way. And anything that puts a focus in that area, whether it be better web utilities or more ‘traditional’ services can’t be a bad idea.
To some, ‘Library 2.0’ conjures up only images of new computer and web-based services. That’s part of it, to be sure. But only as a means to and end. Opening up your catalog, adding custom RSS feeds for searches and the like serves the user. But evaluate the new services by existing criteria. Does it improve accessibility? Will users actually use it? etc. Don’t get distracted by the shiny new things if they’re not actually worthwhile.
Much has been said by others in the links above and elsewhere, so I’ll leave it at that.
2005: A Year (almost) in Pictures – 1 year later
Today I posted the last entry (taken yesterday) to my year in photos project.
It’s done! I’m both excited and sad. To be honest I’m a bit amazed that I not only stuck with the project, but also remembered to take one every day. Sometimes it came down to literally one minute before midnight, and me madly taking a shot, but it worked. I ordered a book of all 365 photos from Qoop, and can’t wait to see them all in print! I’m also glad to regain my freedom of when to take my camera with me, when to take shots, etc. Towards the end of the project I got very un-creative, and it shows.
Here’s some of my favorites from the year, click them for larger versions and descriptions:
1/30/05
2/4/05
2/26/05
4/30/05
5/22/05
5/24/05
7/10/05
8/23/05
10/4/05
11/12/05
11/26/05
12/4/05:
1/7/06:
