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Going Digital

I have been buying Music CDs since they came into existence.  I remember when I had to finally give up my cassettes and get a CD Player and try to repurchase every album that I had on CD, it was expensive.  Well here I am again, standing at that same threshold.  But this time it is deciding if I am ready to go completely digital with my music collection.

In recent years, I have been buying MP3s via amazon.com, but understand I still have a gazillion of CDs.  Yep, I was a member of the BMG music club, and I was a really good customer.  So right now, I am sitting on my patio with a truckload of CDs ripping them to my PC in an honest attempt to go digital.  This is not as expensive as going from Albums to CDs, but it sure is time consuming.  I have been sitting out here for a few hours, and I have not even put a dent in these piles.

I really wish they had a machine that I could drop all of these CDs into, and digital music would come out.   You know, like those machines at the bank that you put all of your change in to.

So, I know what I will be doing this weekend.  Hope yours is great!

Tablet Blues

With all of the hoopla about the $99.00 HP Touchpad, I realized that overall; I am just not a tablet fan.  This could be considered another installment of my “woes of an early adopter” saga, but really I just don’t get it. 

I owned a first generation Kindle, and was soooooooooo excited about the possibilities but overall, I wasn’t thrilled with the digital reader experience.  I decided to sit back and wait on some other alternatives, and boy did they come running.  I have friends with different readers, but other than the thrill of instant access, I haven’t been swayed to buy another one.

Thus comes the tablet... 

I started looking into Tablet PCs, and when the Xoom was announce at CES 2011 back in January, it instantly moved to the top of my wish list.  As soon as they became available I purchased on (via Verizon) with a 5 GB data plan.  Overall, I like the performance of the Xoom, but most of the features/apps that I use were already available on my Droid. 

Now don’t get it twisted, it is sexy as hell, but I still much rather be on my desktop rocking my two humongous monitors.   Also, to me it is very heavy (aka not real girly).  But since I “had” to have one, I am please with my choice.  And… after searching high and low, I finally found the cutest Xoom cover by Tuff-Luv (it was the third case I purchased, but I love this one!)

So overall, I am waiting for the tablet phenomenal to grow on me.  I finally broke down and loaded a game, Angry Birds, and I must admit I do like it (but don’t tell anyone!)

Of course, had I been able to snatch up one of those $99.00 HPs I would have done so, in a New York minute!  It is much like a shoe sale, you just can’t walk away empty handed.

Stiletto Press Publishing

This past year, this digital girl took on another venture (I am convinced I must have Jamaican roots, because I need more than one job!)   In addition to working a full time job at NASA, completing my Masters Degree, and running a web design company, I entered the world of publishing. 

Last year, with the encouragement of many of my author friends, I started "Stiletto Press Publishing, LLC."  I have always loved books, I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't.  My love for books was also my inspiration for starting PageTurner.net, a web design and marketing company for literary clients.  While I was in graduate school, I also found out that I loved publishing (thanks Professor Anne!)  I have always been good at layout and design, but when I added the love of words to the mix, this seemed like a natural progression.

Stiletto Press's first release was "Southern Comfort" by Cynnamon Foster (aka Nina Foxx), published in October 2010. It is a steamy, sexy, story, and the first in a series of a new genre we have titled "erotic espionage."  We are happy to announce that our first title was recently nominated for the best erotica category for the African American Literary Awards Show, which will be held in NYC in September of this year.   This is quite an accomplishment for a small press, and a debut release!

(Please vote for it for Best Erotica at: http://www.literaryawardshow.com/voting.html.) 

I did the cover design using Adobe Illustrator (thanks Professor Stuart) and Adobe Photoshop.  I did the inside text formatting using Adobe InDesign, which is also what I used for both the ePub and Kindle formatting.  I was able to use all the "prepress" knowledge I gain in Professor Henry's publishing class, and I must say that notebook she made us keep really came in handy.

Stiletto Press recently signed author and poet Van G. Garrett, and his new book (working title -The Unbuckling Days of Stacy Adams) along with the sequel to "Southern Comfort" (Eastern Spice) will be released this Fall/Winter.

If you get a chance, please go vote for Southern Comfort #5 Erotica.

Well, that's all for now (getting ready to go watch Cowboys and Aliens!)

End of an Era.... Wheel Stop

Well, the fat lady has sung.  After more than 30 years, the Space Shuttle Program is over.  Although we have known for several years this day was coming, it is still very surreal.   I have dedicated 27 years of my career to the Space Shuttle Program, and it has allowed me to do some wonderful things.

I met my husband at NASA, as well as some great friends.  It is so sad to see so many of my friends and coworkers leave, but most have landed on their feet and are doing great things.

On Monday, when I go to work it will not be business as usual.  It will be the beginning of Transition and Retirement of the Shuttle, as we work to closeout the contract.  No more last minute frenzy trying to get things fixed, waived, or signed so we could make a launch schedule.  Boy am I going to miss that!

My NASA Career

Although the majority of my career has been in Multimedia Space Flight Training, I have worn many hats at NASA.  I started as a programmer in the Flight Software Department, then a Systems Analyst in the Payload Manifesting area, next I was a Payload Development Engineer, on to Lead Instructional Design Specialist for Space Flight Training, and now a Configuration Management Analyst.  So yes, I am a rocket scientist :-)

Here are a few pictures from the last two decades.  Now in the words of my mother, "it is time to move on."

Congratulations to my Alma mater! BTW of Memphis TN!!!

Way to Go Warriors!!!!

Vice President Joe Biden called Principal Alisha Kiner of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis Tennessee to tell her that her school had won the 2011 Race to the Top Commencement Challenge!  President Obama will travel to Memphis on Monday, May 16^th to deliver the commencement for the class of 2011.

Jerry Lawson, creator of cartridge-based video game consoles, dies at 70

By Christopher Trout (Engadget)

 

Gerald "Jerry" Lawson, the man who invented the video game cartridge, died Saturday morning of a heart attack at a Mountain View, California hospital at the age of 70. His brainchild, the Fairchild Channel F Video Game System, more commonly referred to as the Channel F, came out just one year before Atari's cartridge-based console, the VCS, opening the floodgates of modern gaming. His earliest foray into consumer electronics began early on, but it wasn't until he joined Fairchild in 1970 that he really made his mark on the tech industry. During that time, he became the only black member of the infamous Homebrew Computer Club that counted Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as members. He was honored at this year's GDC for his monumental contribution to modern gaming.