Steve Jobs – Rest in Peace

Steve JobsMany years ago I did a bit of programming on a hugely expensive computer named Lisa. Years later, i saved up to buy my first Mac. It had no hard disk, just double floppy drives and an amazing ability to outshine my PC. It actually spoke. A colorful IMac and laptop followed. My first Macbook Pro lightened my backpack weight, eliminating my need for a heavy PC laptop.

Today, i have an iPhone, an IPad 2, a 27 inch iMac and a Macbook Pro. One or more of them are always with me. Steve Jobs is responsible for making technology accessible and portable. His innovative ideas and his ability to lead others to implement them changed our lives.

Steve Jobs died peacefully with his family around him. I hope he was able to die knowing his innovations had a huge impact on our day to day lives. He goes down in history with many others who changed our lives.

Apple, the company he co-founded, was removed from, rescued from near bankruptcy and ultimately led to being one of the world’s most valuable companies, will go on without him. I hope that it will pick up the vision and move beyond it, above it. I hope they learn to stop asking themselves ‘What would Steve do?’. Instead, concentrating on solving the problems that technology can solve and sometimes creates.

Steve has a lesson for us all. He loved what he did for a living. He rose every morning and lived it to the fullest. Steve, you will be missed, but thanks to your visionary mind, you will be remembered and your legacy will live on.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-27

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

  • 10 Things to do to make a difference in your business before the end of the year: 1. Get professional photos taken and use them. #
  • 10 Things to do to make a difference in your business: 2. Create a website, even a one page site can be enough to get started. #

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Standing Out by Breaking Patterns

How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace? If you’re niche is small and lucrative, good for you – you’re probably doing fine. But for the rest of us, how do we make an impact in our niche when we’re just one more in the crowd? How do we differentiate ourselves from the huge number of competitors we battle with for our clients?

Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick, shows us in his How to Stand Out in Crowded Marketplace video, how to look for and break existing patterns in order to truly stand out.

via Holy Kawl

PhoneBlogz post by Kim

A PhoneBlogz message has been left by Kim! Click here to listen to it! Flash movie looks like this:

Going Digital Again

Many (I do mean many) years ago, I worked for Fotomat. For those of you who don’t have any idea who they were, they were booths in shopping centers. We took in your camera film, created printed photos on photo paper and returned them to you a few days later. We wore dorky blue and yellow outfits with little caps. Fotomat actually had early video rental capability back in the day of betamax.

I’ve digressed for a purpose. When I worked there, I purchased a heavy weight professional camera and took lots of photos of my sons, landscapes, still shots, you name it. I loved it, but I let photography drift away as the years went by. I’ve let my iPhone take the place of a camera.

But not anymore. I just purchased a small 12 megapixel camera. It has a few nifty features like panorama shots, eye blink protection, face detection, and so on. But something nifty was waiting in the wings for me. I spotted Eye-Fi. Eye-fi is a standard 2Gig SD memory card with a twist. It has built in Wi-fi. And the one I’ve linked to on Amazon gives me the ability to upload from their own wi-fi spots that are all over the country. A nominal fee of $20 bucks a year or so gives me access to these hot-spots.

So picture this. You’re at the airport with a full memory card and on your way to your next destination. Pop into one of their hotspots and upload your photos while you pick up a cup of coffee. Delete the pictures from your card and off you go, clean card in the camera, all your photos safe and sound on Flickr, or Photobucket or whatever upload service you prefer to use. Now you arrive safe and sound back home with a full memory card. Upload them all from your camera, not your computer, with your pre-defined settings. Oh, and it still functions just like a standard memory card.

Can’t beat it for under a hundred bucks.

99 Things

Stolen, blatently, ian-lidster | Or So I Thought

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font

  1. Started your own blog – Check
  2. Slept under the stars. – I’m a ranch girl, of course I have.
  3. Played in a band – I’ve been to band camp, does that count?
  4. Visited Hawaii
  5. Watched a meteor shower – I live in a remote area, on a clear night, you can see forever.
  6. Given more than you can afford to charity – Not yet, but when my ship comes in.

  7. Been to Disneyland/world – I live in California, so sure on the Disneyworld – I was there in the sixties. Went
    To Disneyworld, it was sticky and hot. I’ll go back in the winter next time.
  8. Climbed a mountain – Back before the heart problems.
  9. Held a praying mantis – Can’t handle anything that’s small, jumps and tilts its head.

  10. Sang a solo (in the shower) – I was in a high school play and had a blast.
  11. Bungee jumped – Too scared.

  12. Visited Paris – Not yet.

  13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.

  14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. – That’s how I learn everything – knitting, crochet, quilting, you name it.
  15. Adopted a child.

  16. Had food poisoning – Oh, it was awful. Two days of both ends.
  17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty – I’ve only seen her from the air.

  18. Grown your own vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers.
  19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

  20. Slept on an overnight train. In Germany
  21. Had a pillow fight – With my own kids
  22. Hitch hiked – I’m not stupid.

  23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. – I highly recommend it
  24. Built a snow fort – I’m from California, we don’t get enough snow

  25. Held a lamb – Lots of baby animals.
  26. Gone skinny dipping.
  27. Run a Marathon – I hate running. Things bounce.

  28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

  29. Seen a total eclipse
  30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
  31. Hit a home run – I’m lucky if I hit the ball.

  32. Been on a cruise – Someday

  33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

  34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors – Germany.
  35. Seen an Amish community.

  36. Taught yourself a new language – Programming Language that is.
  37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied – We always want more.

  38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person – I was able to go to the top
  39. Gone rock climbing. – nope

  40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
  41. Sung karaoke – Oh, please.

  42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

  43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.

  44. Visited Africa

  45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
  46. Been transported in an ambulance – With a 400 hundred pound Samoan paramedic punching my chest.
  47. Had your portrait painted – Sketched.
  48. Gone deep sea fishing.

  49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
  50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

  51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling – in Hawaii – led to the ambulance ride above.
  52. Kissed in the rain
  53. Played in the mud.
  54. Gone to a drive-in theater. – We still do.
  55. Been in a movie

  56. Visited the Great Wall of China

  57. Started a business
  58. Taken a martial arts class
  59. Visited Russia

  60. Served at a soup kitchen

  61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

  62. Gone whale watching.
  63. Gotten flowers for no reason
  64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma – I used to, but I lived in Germany pre-testing, so no more.
  65. Gone sky diving – nope.

  66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp – Horrified me, still to this day
  67. Bounced a check
  68. Flown in a helicopter – barfed
  69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
  70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

  71. Eaten Caviar
  72. Pieced a quilt
  73. Stood in Times Square

  74. Toured the Everglades

  75. Been fired from a job

  76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London

  77. Broken a bone – Big toe
  78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

  79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

  80. Published a book

  81. Visited the Vatican
  82. Bought a brand new car.
  83. Walked in Jerusalem

  84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
  85. Read the entire Bible.

  86. Visited the White House – Wouldn’t let us in due to a security lockdown
  87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

  88. Had chickenpox.
  89. Saved someone’s life.

  90. Sat on a jury

  91. Met someone famous.
  92. Joined a book club

  93. Lost a loved one.
  94. Had a baby. Five plus three
  95. Seen the Alamo in person
  96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

  97. Been involved in a law suit – Unfortunately
  98. Owned a cell phone – I love my iPhone
  99. Been stung by a bee – Have o take a shot next time

Scrivener and Blogging

I’ve always preferred to blog online in my browser. Never had any issues with the process. From Greymatter, to MoveableType, to WordPress, not a single issue that would cause me to switch.

Enter Scrivener. Scrivener is a word processing application on the Mac. But to call it that is like calling a diamond a rock. Scrivener allows me to keep my blog posts, the research for the posts, the urls, the images, everything in one place. I can output the content to an HTML document in TextMate. From there, its a quick couple of keystrokes to change the template to the blogging template and post to my blog with the TextMate Blogging Bundle. In between, I can spellcheck, rearrange, preview and format without touching my browser. And best of all, for that day that will come, the day where my online editing process fails, an offline archive off all my posts.

Now I just need to figure out a way to grab all the content from WordPress so I have the complete blog on my desktop.

Belly Love

We diabetic pumpers have a penchant for showing off our tummies. Ours don’t look any better than anyone else’s, but with our regular site changes, we have a tendency to look like little three year olds that exclaim “Look at my tummy!” while lifting up our shirts.

The pumpers that have been brave enough to expose their tummies in the name of pump education are a godsend to those of us just starting out in the pumping world. As you look at yourself in the mirror, a piece of plastic with a two inch needle in hand and your bare belly staring back at you, you start to wonder: “Am I doing this right?”.

But the tummies I’ve seen don’t look anything like my tummy after four c-sections, two surgeries, stretch marks and lord knows what else. Then, today, I spot a post on Copyfight about a singer embattled with her record label over their suggestion that she digitally alter her video that exposes her belly. Apparently she has helped to start a ReBellyon. A whole slew of ‘normal’ belly pictures cropped up. Fat ones, skinny ones, and Amanda’s, which looks like a tummy we could all aspire to.

So the next time you pop into the shower, take a look at your tummy and give it some love. It doesn’t look so bad, does it?

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Black Sweat

The Shuffleupagus Anti Meme. Courtesy of Major Bedhead.

1. Put your iTunes or MP3 player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer

YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
We May Never Pass This Way Again – Seals & Crofts

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Saturday in the Park – The Heart of Chicago

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
I Can’t Love You Anymore – Gary Nichols

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Jesus to a Child – George Michael

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Mercy Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Better Life – Keith Urban

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
River – Sarah McLachlan

WHAT IS 2+2?
Munich – Editors

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Skylark – k.d. lang

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
You’re Beautiful – James Blunt

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Someone Saved My Life – Elton John (We both have pacemakers)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Ghost Riders in the Sky – Johnny Cash (Now that’s scary)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Mockingbird – Carly Simon

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Breakout – Swing Out Sister (I did, breakout that is)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
The Four Seasons: Violin Concert in E Major (Not really, it was the Carpenters)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (Named my cat after this one – Scaramouche)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Wild Horses – Charlotte Martin (Maybe someday)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Hard Habit to Break – Chicago

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Wildfire – Michael Murphey (Hope I don’t freeze)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) – Looking Glass

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Hold On – Wilson Phillips (Makes me smile, not laugh)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Look Away – Chicago (Sheesh – that would make be bawl)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
One Less Bell to Answer (Still laughing on that one – married 33+ years)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Fallin’ – Alicia Keys (Actually falling is terrifying for me)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
How Much I Feel – Ambrosia

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Thank You – Dido

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Black Sweat – Prince