Chawlk

1. Drawar
2. Fenxy
3. Decaflon
4. Two Credits
5. Wriging
6. Loose Suits
7. Chixe
8. Dud3s
9. Wing Colors

 

One of the few "rock my world" moments was, ironically, at a rock concert. I traveled nearly the full length of California to see a favorite band in concert, and standing under a the stars, alone a crowd of more than a thousand, and everyone singing my favorite song. It was a moment that connected me to everyone, that feeling that "omg, everyone else feels like I do."

The other one was the graduation ceremony for my AA. Not just because it took me seven years to get a two year degree, but because it marked another ending and beginning, since I was transfering to a four year college for my BA, and that was a dream I never ever thought would be possible.

My books.

I can live without the macbook, without TV, without people (sadly) if I have my books. Whenever I watch a home makeover show, and the designer convinces the homeowner to let go of most of their books, I get so sad. I'm always thinking "get rid of the TV instead!"

Mine is the chorus to "Black Mamba" by the Academy Is... :

Pick it up pick it up it's what you wanted
Pick it up pick it up and you need it too

Of course, that's not the part of the song I was thinking of when I bought the ringtone without listening to it first, but it's hilarious as a ringtone.

I've been testing out Things, and if they get the iCal and Mail support in soon, I think it will be nearly perfect for me.

Although, I'm always wishing for more integration from iCal from all my apps, because it's my go-to for what has to happen today.

Granted, I haven't tried OmniFocus, even though I've downloaded it, but I love how Things lets me group my to-dos by project, by date, and by area. Having never used a GTD app for any amount of time before, or not knowing exactly how the GTD movement is supposed to work (dang, another book I need to read), Things is really intuitive to me. I'm hoping it becomes a huge part of my productivity this year.

Absolutely awesome :)

I'm getting Leopard as soon as my university bookstore gets it in, because any opportunity to get it on the cheep is a good deal for me.

I totally agree with Gnorb (and I love that quote by Gaiman). To me, it makes more sense that Dumbledore was gay and was in love with Grindlwald, because love makes people blind in some sense.

And it wasn't as if Rowling was trying to make it into the news on purpose. She was on a book tour, discussing the books, and she answered a question that was put to her. This is the first opportunity since she began writing the HP series that she could answer any question put to her, without fear of giving the rest of the story away.

Fans will always want to know more about the HP world than the books give us. It's the number one fanfiction favorite, with far more fan stories being written about the HP world and characters than any other book/tv/movie.

Knowing Dumbledore is gay just opens up a brand-new fandom for the diehard fan writers that are still coming out with HP fanfiction.

Definitely updating, but I heard the $69 student pricing only works if you buy it from a University store, so I'm going to wait until our Bookstore gets copies in--which the guy who works the counter has no idea about.

Chris, I wish you had time to write blog posts too! Or even just time to chat in IRC (granted, that would require me to be in the room as well).

I've done it the last couple years, and I tend to keep it private, too. I might post really awesome scenes that I thought were brilliant, but by and large the majority of stuff that comes out during NaNo really isn't fit for public consumption.

And Abi, I might have to do NaBloMoPo a try to, even if it's just a post saying that I hit my word goal for the day. Thank god for the non-9rules livejournal account where I post random junk.

I don't even know what synergy means. Something so energetic you had to replace the "e" with "sy?" I have no idea what that even means. So, synergy has to be it. I hate words with no real definition.

Geez, what I miss when I'm gone.

If you are indeed a freelance writer, I would find it hard to believe that you never worked for free or unpaid to get near a publication or person you wanted to seek employment at.

Think about what you're asking. Freelancers don't actually work for free. They write an article, then they shop it around. They don't let it get published for free. If they were into free publishing, they'd push it out themselves. You query for free. You do synopses for free. You do not put out whole pieces of work for free. It just doesn't work that way.

And, you don't want a freelancer. You just don't. You want a real editor, someone who's had actual experience with editing. If you're looking to put Macteen back to it's former glory, you're going to need someone with experience who knows what they're doing. Not some high school student that got an A in English. I got that A in English, in virtually every English class I've ever taken. And I'm just close to the line in failing my grammar class.

You say you've got ad revenue. From where I'm standing, you need to budget for a real editor. That work takes so much more time than people think. If the site is going to push out posts like TUAW, meaning more than one a day, you're going to need a full-time editor. A post that took maybe half an hour to write will take at least an hour to fully edit. It always takes longer to edit. And then the managing on top of it? No part-time, two hour a week editor would be able to ensure quality.

but it's also not a huge job.

It is a huge job. Huge. Don't undersell it, until you've done it. I've only partially done it, and I know it isn't a job I'd take on part time, because it starts to consume everything else.

Don't sell editors short. If you need one, get one. It's definitely worth the money you'll invest in the long run.

Thanks, Scrivs :) My roommate and I are planning to take it over from the inside. The old guard may not like us very much, but with three things planned total for the semester, we really need to do more.

I'm totally thinking Halloween scavenger hunt. :)

I dunno... I generally claim everything.

But if you forced me... Chumbawumba. And yes, I could sing every song on that album.

My thought is, you can't say you're learning without a teacher if someone is still outlining your course of study. If you've got a sylabus and a list of assignments set out that must be done to pass (no matter the time frame), a teacher has done that for you. It didn't magically appear out of no where.

To learn without a teacher would mean that you show up to school, and without any goal what so ever (such as needing to complete an assignment), you decide what you're going to learn today.

As a long time student (and when I was little, my goal in life was to go to school forever), I think teachers are invaluable. They teach even when it doesn't look like it.

Just because they're not lecturing doesn't mean they're not teaching. Some time, it's only their presence that is needed to inspire students to do more.

I keep my reference separated from my fiction (athough we're currently walking a fine line between reference and fiction. If I own Bulfinch's Mythology because a lot of other works refer to it, is it a reference, or is it a short story collection?), and then alphabetically by author.

With my 200+ books (it must be that many, I have 40+ knitting books alone, and ran out of space on my librarything account before I was halfway through), I do tend to know who wrote what, because I've actually read them all. If a book has made it onto my shelf, I've read it.

Of course, that also means that there is an equally large stack just waiting to be read, and that gets no organization what so ever.

I'd say off and on for the last 10 years. Pretty much ever since blogger was introduced. I'd go a few months, leave off, come back to something new. I had my first domain name seven years ago, right after highschool.

I've been on the current domain for two years now, and the one before that for two years, and then blogger for about a year. So straight up continuously for five years, but off and on before that.

And omg, I remember those AOL chatrooms. And the MSN chatrooms, because my parents actually used MSN as a provider before they switched to AOL. Oh, freshman year was good to me.

Just a guess, but because they own the design now and they don't consider it screwing it up?

I've heard a lot of designers complaining about this recently (cough...Flock...cough), but the thing is, once you hand over the design, it's theirs to do with what they wish.

And unfortunately, they like to do whatever they want with the site, and as long as the boss likes it it's good to go.

(Although, I don't know what's worse, a site mucked up after the designer's gone, or a site that hasn't been touched in five years because the designer's gone.)

The only thing you can do is stop linking to it in your portfolio, depending instead on a screencap. You can't stop your clients from mucking it up.

I just think those who are standing in line for a book (not those who are attending a release party, because those are the die hard fans who love to dress up and get together--more power to them) are just silly.

I haven't pre-ordered the book. My sister's going to grab it off a pallet at Cosco and buy it for me when she gets off work Saturday morning. Woot for easy birthday presents.

Is it possible I'm the only one re-reading books 1-6 ready to start book 7 on Saturday (it'll be my birthday present from my sister.)

My friend and I talk about this a lot, and we both agree that Rowling tells a great story, but isn't a great writer. I've just finished up 1-3, and for a woman who says she "planned it all out from the begining" it makes you wonder how unreliable a narrator Harry really is.

I mean, it takes until he gets a letter 3rd year for us to learn that there are Hogsmead weekends? How did he not notice the upperclassmen emptying the castle some weekends?

I think part of the current problem with HP is that not only is it overhyped, it's that people who haven't read the books have seen the movies, and then decide to start with the next book. (ie, after movie 4 came out, they started with book 5).

The problem is that the filmmakers condensed the story down and changed scenes so that they could leave out certain characters without missing a beat--hense Dobby getting cut from movie 4.

And that famous first year speech uttered by Snape in the first movie? Never happened in the book, although people quote it like it was.

So yeah, I like the books, but the writer part of me wants to go back and rewrite them--I don't doubt that Rowling might want to to. Especially since she knows exactly how the story ends.

And Andrew? To be fair, the 10 page rule nearly never works. Especially in HP1, when nothing really good happens until chapter 2. Chapter 1 would have been far better off as a prologue. But oh well.

omg, hilarious. "Place a bag gently over his head." I better search for a paper bag.

And sadly, I will spend this next week trying to find awesome Pokemon toys, and a Saturday wearing a Pikachu hat. The things I won't do for six year olds.

I think it would be pretty awesome, since I would assume you would play over the wifi. Then you could play anywhere you wanted. They'd probably use the double screen to give you more space.

It would be especially good if only one person needed to own the cartridge, and the rest would download the game from him.

Dang it. I thought you were going to tell us the shocking secrets of internet superstars--like that they were all crab people or something.

I dunno if all the best things in life are free...

For some reason people want you to pay to use a wave runner. And all those concerts I love. Dang it. They need to make those free.

I kinda like the new flock (after I screwed up installing it on the laptop and lost all my feeds).

(And I'm so gung-ho about flock that even WillPate remembered, and reminded me over IM to upgrade last night, and I nearly never talk to him).

Parts of the sidebar seem... unfinished. Like, the design doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the browser, but there's no way to change it. Like your favorites, or the built in feedreader.

Also, I hate the new Favorites Manager. I'm gonna post about it in a few days, but I really hope they switch it back to the way it was in 0.7. I don't like that it's a pop-up screen now, and well... it definitely needs a blog post.

Danny, there has to be some tidepools down south. And I haven't seen any tidepool pictures in your flickr stream. I want to see some starfish, damn it!

I think he's asking more about how shortcodes (like twitter use) work, and how to set it up for mass use.

Also, sending an email to a phone isn't like sending an SMS. If you've got no dataplan but have a text plan, you won't get emails, while you will get an SMS.

Unfortunately, I don't know anything more about this, other than that email and SMS are not the same. Because I learned the hard way trying to set something up on my phone when the tech thought I had a dataplan but didn't.

It really depends on what I'm writing, but in general less than an hour unless I've got a lot going on when I write.

Unlike everyone else, I'm not a big editor. I write it, I reread for forgotten letters/punctuation, and I'm good to go. I guess because I'm more of a "personal" blogger--I shoot from the hip, and if I fret over it too much, it comes through in my writing. I want a blog post to feel like you called me up, and I'm telling you a really random story of something that happened to me lately.

And it could be a fine-tooth comb, especially if it was made out of some fine teeth. :) Like baleen. I heart whales.

I'd always say "know the security people" but that's because I've got a friend in management at a LiveNation venue, and she'd let me in with a pro camera, but other people wouldn't.

And in case anyone was wondering, venue's generally consider a camera a "pro" camera if it has a changable lense. Point-n-click's only for our local venues, unless you're press.

I'm going to Ozzfest, though I don't understand why. We swore three years ago we were never going again--after the lead singer of Disturbed was dumb enough to spend the afternoon in 100+ degree heat wearing leather pants, getting heat stroke and unable to perform that night.

This year it's no better. Sure it's free, but seriously the only band I know is Ozzy. And I don't particularly have high hopes for the second stage.

I do want to do Van's Warped Tour, but it's the week I'm supposed to be setting up residence in Chico, so I don't know yet.

My first job was at 15--I was a basketball coach for a bunch of 3rd and 4th graders. And damn we rocked.

My parents actually enlarged and framed my eighth grade report card. It was the first time I'd ever gotten straight A's, after nearly failing the seventh grade. I got teased a lot by my siblings because of it.

Dook, I know you've had a lot of problems with your roomates this past year, but I think you should be looking for a summer roomate if you can't make rent on your own.

Like everyone else said, the odds of a landlord taking you up on your offer is very slim. I once worked for a property management company that did nothing but work with owners like you described. Numerous owners would go in on one maintenence guy to spread the cost around.

There must be other students in the same boat, who want/need to stay in the area while school is out for the summer. And maybe you'll get lucky and find the perfect roomate for next year.

Apparently I just have bad luck, because that's what my Safari Beta looks like at both work and at home.

I can't change the address in the bar, and I can't access any browser menus. And I'm pretty sure the default home page is supposed to look better than that.

It makes me so sad, because I love fiddling around with new browsers, and on my system it's useless. :(