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“Getting to Know You” Shoe edition!

We always are getting those "Getting to Know You" questionnaires, but none of them deal with life’s important issues, like shoes.  Therefore,  I made up my own! 

So whether you are a Bargainista or a Fashionista, this is the "Getting to Know You Shoe edition!"

1. The first pair of shoes you remember wearing?  Snow boots in Chicago Winter (they were hard to take off.)
2. The first pair of shoes you purchase with your own money?  A pair of black and white, Chuck Taylor Converse when I was in Jr. High.   I had them in the layaway for months.
3. Your favorite pair of childhood shoes?  Black Patent Leather Easter Shoes
4. Your favorite pair of shoes that someone else wore when you were a child?  My mom’s oldest sister always looked like she stepped out of a magazine.  She had shoes covered in the same fabric as her outfits.
5. Your all-time favorite pair of shoes ?  A pair of Royal Blue and Peacock Color trimmed Platforms, that I bought at Goldsmiths.  I was about 6 feet tall when I wore them.  Another lengthy layaway.
6. Espadrilles or Stilettos? Stilettos of course!
7. Sling Backs or Pumps?  Man, I like them both.  But Pumps if I have to choose.
8.  Flats or Heels?  Heels.
9. Athletic Shoes or Flip Flops?  Flip Flops.
10. Favorite Type of Shoe?  A Red Stiletto
11. Your least Favorite Type of Shoe?  Clogs.  I always have hated them.
12. The most you’ve ever spent on a pair of shoes? Around $200, I had a weak moment. ‘Cause y’all know I am a bargain girl.
13. The least you’ve ever spent of a pair of shoes?  One dollar – resale store.
14. The sexist pair of shoes you ever owned?  A pair of red snake skin stilettos from the Wild Pair.  I still have them in my closet (they are about 20 years old!)
15. The ugliest pair of shoes you ever owned? Penny Loafers.  Why?
16. Finish this sentence:  If the shoe fits…buy it in every color.
17. Your favorite shoe quote:  “I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes”  Oprah Winfrey
18. Your most comfortable shoes – My white Fit Flops
19. Your favorite store – It used to be Shoe Cents, but they closed.   Now, it is DSW Warehouse.
20. Your favorite shoe memory – Making a pair of Fur covered boots when I was in the twelve grade.  I got so many compliments, because they were totally mod!

Austin MoodleMoot Conference

I just found out about this upcoming conference in Austin. Tomorrow is the last day to register.

The Austin, Texas MoodleMoot conference will be held August 2-3, and you can still enjoy the incredibly low registration cost of only $150. This event promises to be one of the best Moodle conferences ever organized. There are over 48 breakout sessions planned on educational technology, strategy, and all things Moodle.The Moot is being held at the Austin North Marriott; make your reservations for the event and lodging today!

Keynote Speakers

• Martin Dougiamas, Creator and Lead Developer of Moodle will discuss "The Future of Moodle."
• Dr. Richard Clark, Professor of Educational Psychology and Technology in the Rossier School of Education at USC will present "The Failure of Constructivism and Evidence for the Success of Fully Guided Instruction: Evidence Supporting the Best Design and Delivery Strategies for Virtual Learning."
• John E. Mullen, Vice President and General Manager of Educational Business at Dell, Inc will discuss "The Changing Role of Educational Technology Hardware in the 21st Century."

Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System

Moodle 1.9 E-Learning Course Development: A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle

Moodle Teaching Techniques: Creative Ways to Use Moodle for Constructing Online Learning Solutions

New Music by Kem

Goodbye TiVo, Hello Roku

Ater a wonderful five-year relationship, I finally had to bid my TiVo farewell.  Honestly, no other DVR compares to the wonderful user interface that TiVo offers, but in order to keep up with my HD TV and my Wireless N network, I was forced to upgrade to a new TiVo Box or cancel.  So I made the call.

Those TiVo folks are good.  They talked me into trying a HD box, and gave me a pretty sweet deal.  The problem was that I had to use a cable card in order to get HD.  OMG, the nightmare begins...

I went to Comcast (or Comcrap as my friend Reid calls it) and picked up a cable card.  Easy enough, I am a technically savvy girl, piece of cake.  Problem 1 - the slot on the TiVo for the card was MELTED (WTF?)  No one said anything to me about this being a refurb!  I made another call, I was told that the "inside" was all new, it was just a refurbished box...right.  So they mailed me another box, and I had to mail them the defected box back.

A few days later I received my new box (well new by their standards, not mine) and the slot was intact.  So I went through the setup again, and got to the place where I inserted the cable card.  At this time, you have to call Comcast and they have to send a signal to your box.  Nothing.  Well, I was on the phone with Comcast for well over an hour - turn it off, unplug it, turn it back on, try it again... you know the drill.  After about an hour-and-a-half, I had enough.  I requested they send out a technician. 

I took off work to meet the tech, nice enough guy.  But after about THREE-HOURS he couldn't get the cable card to work.  I was only getting the over-the-air stations, no of the premium channels.  Oh yeah, he didn't have any cable cards.  He told me he would come back the next day AFTER FIVE (because I did not want to take off work again) and bring another cable card to try.  Well that didn't happen.

Comcast sent out a tech during the day, so I was not there.  I had to call AGAIN and set up another appointment.  Obviously the new techs either do not read the history, or there is nothing for them to read, because he did not bring a cable card with him.  He had to leave and go get one.  The new card worked a little better.  I was able to get HD channels... but NOTHING ELSE.   After another 3 hours, I said forget it.

I honestly think their cable cards are a bunch of crap!  Even the tech told me he had NEVER seen one work.  My friend Belinda had the exact same problem.  Now she is stuck with a TiVo box (with a lifetime subscription) that she can only use to stream Netfilx, etc.   Luckily for me, I had a grace period to send mine back.

Again, those TiVo folks are good.  They turned on the charm and offered me the moon.  But by this time, I was so pissed with Comcast, I just did not feel like the frustration again.  So, I cancelled my subscription (sniff, sniff.)

What to do, What to do?  I reviewed my recording habits.  Most of the shows I record are either now on Hulu or on Comcast OnDemad (or Xfinity).  The only show that I can't get is Oprah.  So now I record Oprah on my Windows Media Center.  Works Great.  But... I did like the ability to stream Netflix on the Television, so I ordered a Roku HD-XR Player  from Amazon.com.



Problem solved.  Now I can stream Netflix, Amazon on Demand, and Pandora to my home theater system.  Boy oh boy, if they add Hulu, I will be in hog heaven!  (Although I recently read that Hulu is about to start charging, bummer.) 

I would be interested in hearing from you if anyone (in the Houston area) has been able to get their HD Tivo to play well with Comcast.   TiVo is a fantastic product, and I am really going to miss it.  But life goes on, and I am officially now in my post Tivo era.

Danke Schoen!

I just got back from a wonderful fun week on the Carnival Conquest.  It was really great to take a break from the rat race, and become a princess (if only for one week).  This was our fourth time on the Conquest,  so we were very familiar with the ship's layout, and had visited each of the ports several times.   This was our 17th cruise (11th with Carnival - Yeah Platinum Baby) it is a fun ship.

We visited Montego Bay (and Ocho Rios) Jamaica, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and my favorite port Cozumel, Mexico.  It was hot...really hot, everywhere we docked.

My only disappointment was the Captain's Celebration (formally known as the Captain's Cocktail Party.")  It was very dull and boring compared to what I am accustomed to, and I think Carnival should go back to the way it was - free cocktails and music.  There was no music (how in the hell can you have a celebration without music) and they no longer serve free cocktails.  Now you get a dollar discount (whoopee) off of your drinks.

We enjoyed all of the platinum perks (Priority Embarking, Debarking, & Tendering, Free Slot Tournament, Free Laundry Service, Galley Tour, and special gifts and treats in our cabin on most nights.)  And since they still do have a free cocktail hour for Past Guest, I finally stopped pouting about the Captain's Party

Carnival continues to be our favorite cruise line (we've cruise Royal Caribbean, Princess, NCL and Disney).   We are considering doing the the Alaskan Cruise next year, because everyone has told us it is great.

Cruise Tech

If you have every been on a cruise and tried to use the Internet, you know that the Internet at sea sucks.  It is too expensive, and it is slow as the dickens.  I really think that the cruise line should go back to a flat rate, which Carnival did have back in 2000.  Cell phone service is now available at sea, but again very costly.  So for the most part, I had my Droid on 'Airplane Mode", and kept in touch with my family via e-mail.  I took my netbook with me, and loaded a few movies to watch, but I really only checked my email once a day.

Cruise Reads


  I spent most of the day reading magazines (Ubuntu User, Real Simple, and House Beautiful), and I check out a book titled "Beggars in Spain" by Nancy Kress from the ship's library and really enjoyed the read.

 So why Danke Schoen?  Well, the ship had something called "Carnival Radio", and I swear they must have played Danke Schoen by Wayne Newton a thousand times when I was on the Lido Deck. 

So Carnival, Danke Schoen from us to you for a fantastic cruise, we can't wait until next year when we do it all again!

Temps Go High Tech!

I love the Temptations (or Tempting-temp-top-tations as we used to say back in the day!)  They have a new CD (or album :-) entitled "Still Here."  The CD features original Temptation Otis Williams, and some of the other Temps that have been around for quite some time.  Check it out, Temps on YouTube!

Gone On Then Temptations With Yo' Bad Self!!!!!

A Digital Love Affair

I have have had my Droid for two weeks, and I must admit. I am in LOVE. Yes, I realize that it is not normal behavior for a girl to fall in love with an electronic device, but I really can't help it, it has changed my life. OK, I realize that needs explaining, so here goes. My CD player died in my car over a year ago, and honestly Houston doesn't have the greatest variety of radio stations. I love smooth and urban jazz, and those choices are not available to me. My husband has a newer car so he has XM radio, but poor me I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In steps my Droid, which gives me BOTH Pandora Radio and Slacker Personal Radio (I know, who comes up with these domain names?)  But both of these allow me to have GREAT radio in my car (much better than my husband's FM by the way.) Other than the radio, which alone made the purchase worthwhile, are my other apps! I love having my G-mail, Google Talk, and Google Voice on my phone. Then there is the Key Ring App (OMG!) that allows me to scan in all of those tiny little store discount thingys. Last by not lease are my StarTrek Apps. I have every Star Trek Ringtone known to man... make that woman, and I even have a Phaser AND a Tricorder, TAKE THAT!!! Oh yeah, and it is a decent phone too.

Now on the Shoe Front, my good friend and Soror Nina has release Episode 1 of "She's Got IsShoes" on her web site.

Here it is for your enjoyment:

Texas Linux Festival

I am in beautiful Austin, TX where yesterday I attended the first Texas Linux Festival.  Overall, it was a great experience, and I think they did a great job especially since this was their first event.  The registration process was a little slow, but other than that it was well organized and well worth the trip.

The first keynote speaker was Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier, whose talk compared the Linux community with Music; it was very funny and very informative.  It was titled "A Musical Guide to the Future of Linux: Reprise".  Although he spoke on many topics, one that stood out in my mind in particular was that the Linux community need to diversify, and looking around the auditorium it was easy to see why.  The room was dominated by white males of different ages.  There were a few women, and a few people of color, but not a lot of diversity.  He challenged the community to change this, and being a woman of color I accepted that challenge and will do my part to bring more diversity to the fold.

After the keynote, there were three breakout sessions each hour.  Decisions, decisions what to choose?  Since I was with my Open Source Mentor, Belinda, I just followed her; the first session we attended was "Documentation Needs?  How FLOSS Manuals Can Help" by Janet Swisher and Anne Gentle. Great information on how to use Open Source to create manuals and books for Open Source Projects.

The next session I attended was "Open Source from the Trenches:  How to Get Involved as be Successful" presented by Chris Aniszczyk.  Chris talked about mentoring projects for college students, branding yourself for the job you want, not the job you have; and how to be paid in the Open Source Community.  He was an excellent speaker, and gave some useful information that I will post later.

The last session I attended before lunch was "The One Woman Web Team" (hmm, sounds familiar) presented by Katherine Druckman.  Katherine is the webmaster (I refuse to use the term webmistres!)  for Linux Journal.  She spoke on the multiple rolls of a one-person web team (oh I know it well) and she was right on point on all topics.  She said that her content management system of choice was "Drupal", and gave us a few suggestions on best hosting practices.  I was really excited about this because I want to migrate many of my web sites to OpenSource Content Management Systems.  So she gave me enough information to be dangerous :-)

Next was our quest for lunch.  Let me start by saying: 

I did not have on sensible shoes!!!

 (no high-tech/high-heels girl ever would).  

So by now my dogs were starting to bark.  We are staying at a wonderful hotel named the "Habitat Suites" which is about a mile from the conference.  So Belinda and I walked to the conference facility from the hotel.  Of course the floor at the center is concrete, and I visited each vendor's booth several times so I could get all of my geek bounty (CDs, Tee Shirts, Pens, Buttons, you know the drill.) Now, we had to WALK to find a place to eat.  Lord have mercy!    We found a Quiznos not to far away, and ate there.  Belinda got sandwiches to take back for some of the guys working the conference, I waited for her then we went back to the hotel for a short break.  Oh boy, more walking... 

• Off with the heels (which were really low heels for me) and on with my new FitFlops 
• Off with the jacket, and on with a tee shirt
• Put the hair in a ponytail

... Now I looked more like a respectable geek.  None of this Fashionista stuff, lol!

The first afternoon session I attended was "Five Important Topics in the Intersection of Open Sources Software and Education," presented by Max Spevack.  He spoke on how we can start introducing the concept of Open Source in our schools and universities. He emphasized how we should change the idea of "Learn First (college) then Do (work)" to "Learn While Doing".  He said that this way when students get out of college they would have real experience.  He also gave some examples of how some high school students had make valuable contributions to some Fedora projects.

The next session I attended was "With Software as a Service Is Only the Network Luddite Free?" presented by Bradley Kuhn, a very zealous man.  He talked a lot about cloud computed, and legal issues in the free and open source realm.  He also make some distinctions between "free" and "open" and the audience too seemed very passionate about this.  I thought his talk was interesting, although he was a little anti-twitter/anti-FaceBook for the community.  He also told us about Identica, which is an Open Source Mircoblogging alternative to Twitter, and this morning I did sign up to try it out.

I skipped the next session, and walked around talking to the vendors.  I meet some very interesting people and enjoyed the "networking" (which is opposite of Not working I learned today).

The last session I attended was also my favorite.  It was "A Year NTEU (in to) Ubuntu and the Open Source Community" presented by Amber Graner. Amber talked about her first year as an NTEU (non-technical end user) using Ubuntu and Open Source, and I must tell you this girl should run for some type of office, because if you weren't convinced to try Ubuntu before, you certainly would be afterward.  Her enthusiasm was very contagious, and I really enjoyed meeting her and her presentation.  (Hey Amber, I joined the Ubuntu Women's Group this morning!)

I skipped the final keynote to help breakdown booths and clean up.  Overall, it was a great conference, and I look forward to attending (and helping) next year.

Well, it is time to gather my grip to take a trip, back to Houston.

Woes of an Early Adopter

In the area of gadgets and technology, I consider myself an Early Adopter, and in some cases even an innovator.  Thus was the case when I purchase the Helio phone (Prior to that I had a SideKick).    I am one of those people who don't like fingerprints on their screen, so the thought of an iPhone really gave me the creeps.    I like the Helio because it had a keypad, a query keyboard, and navigation buttons... none of that touchy-feely crap!  Overall, the Helio was a good phone, and an excellent texting device.  I could retrieve both my POP mail and my Gmail, but the web surfing left something to be desired.

Well, just as my luck goes Helio did not make it, they were bought out my Virgin Mobile.  It was an easy transition, because my phone still worked and it was very transparent.  Well a few weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail telling me that Virgin Mobile was being bought out by Sprint.  Here we go again!  Well in this case, I would not be able to use my phone, AND I would have to sign a new contract with Sprint, WTF?  So, my journey for a new phone began.

My son has a T-mobile G1 that he has been very please with, so I wanted to look at the G1 and also the Droid.   My son's phone was the first version of the G1 so he has a query keyboard, unfortunately for me, the new G1 no longer has that feature.  I opted for the Droid, which is a Verizon phone.  I love the keypad, but there is a lot of touchy-feely crap that I have to get used to, and yes the fingerprints are about to send me up a wall.

Yesterday was the release of the highly anticipated iPad, did I get one... NO!  I had enough touchy-feely for one day.  I am going to wait and let the innovators work all of the kinks out, and jump in with the other early adopters when the next edition comes out.

Back on the Blog...

This year has been full of ups and downs.  But I am ready to get back on the blog!

Tech Talk

I got a new HP Pavilion Elite HPE-170t PC, fully loaded!  So far, I really love it.  Also, my Dell 20 inch monitor zapped out during the Christmas Holidays, so I replaced it with another Dell monitor that Best Buy had on sale for $99, the day after Christmas.  Since my new PC allows for dual moniters, I also ordered a 23 inch LG monitor from Overstock.com.  I love this setup. 

I installed Ubuntu on my older HP Pavilion m7100y PC.  It works like a charm.  I really am enjoying being able to test my web site designs on both multiple browsers and operating systems.  I guess I will eventually add a Mac to my aresnal for testing purposes, but for now I am happy with what I have.

Movie Reviews

I have seen quite a few movies this years, but so far "Avatar" is still my favorite.  I am waiting on the release of Clash of the Titans, I plan to see it in 3-D when it opens.  I loved the orginal movie, I hope the remake lives up to the hype.

I did enjoy "The Princess and the Frog", very cute movie, and it is destined to become a Disney Classic.


Good Reads

My copy of Stephen King's "Under the Dome" has been sitting on my night stand since Christmas!  I really do plan to read it, but lately I have been reading books on HTML, Adobe Captivate, and CSS Style Sheets.   I havent't even listened to a book on tape for quite sometime.   I am looking forward to a weekend when I have nothing to do but read a good book.  I can't wait!

Well I told ya! Geaux Saints!!!!

Saints win Super Bowl with 31-17 Victory

Geaux Sanits!!!!! Who Dat?

Remix Who Dat?




Old School (Original Who Dat?)

Open Your Hearts

Donate Now! https://hopeforhaitinow.org/Default.asp

Wyclef and his band's performance was not only patriotic but moved hearts across the world. A tribute to all the people of his country, friends lost, Fan Fan and rapper Jimmy O . Through song and dance he sends a message of hope "Earthquake we seen the earth shake but the soul of the haitian people it will never break!"

Donate Now: 1-877-99-HAITI in US/Canada, or go to www.hopeforhaitinow.org

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patricia McClure
Date: Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 8:06 PM
Subject:
To:

To all my friends please continue to forward this so that we can pray together for the people in Haiti . We here are truly blessed!!!!! Share the love and blessings. There are so many small everyday occurances we have to be thankful for we normally do not think of. Lord, I just want to say THANK YOU, because this morning I woke up and knew where my children were. Because this morning my home was still standing, because this morning I am not crying because my husband, my child, my brother or sister needs to be taken out from underneath a pile of concrete, because this morning I was able to drink a glass of water, because this morning I was able to turn on the light, because this morning I was able to take a shower, because this morning I was not planning a funeral, but most of all I thank you this morning because I still have life and a voice to cry out for the people of Haiti. Lord I cry out to you, the one that makes the impossible, possible, the one that turns darkness into light, I cry out that you give those mothers strength, that you give them peace that surpasses all understanding, that you may open the streets so that help can come, that you may provide doctors, nurses, food, water, and all that they need in a blink of an eye. For all those that have lost family members, give them peace, give them hope, give them courage to continue to go on! Protect the children and shield them with your power. I pray all this in the name of Jesus!!!

Kippy Brown to coach Seahawks receivers

Seattle Times

Danny O'Neil

Add Kippy Brown to the list of coaches reported to be heading to Seattle. Brown served as Tennessee's wide receivers coach and passing-game coordinator in 2009 under Lane Kiffin. He served as the Volunteers interim head coach for less than a week, bridging those days between Kiffin's return to USC and the Volunteers hiring Derek Dooley from Louisiana Tech.

While Brown is coming from college, but he has 17 years of coaching experience in the NFL.

Brown most recently coached with the Detroit Lions from 2006 to 2008. He also served as head coach in the XFL, running the Memphis Maniax in 2001.

Brown joins an offensive coaching staff that will include Jeremy Bates as coordinator, Alex Gibbs in charge of the offensive line. Jedd Fisch is also expected to be part of the staff though there has been no official word on his addition.

We Want Kippy Brown!!!!

Happy New Year!

Well, I barely made it to midnight last night, but I was able to witness 2010 roll in! (Hubby on the other hand had to be awakened :-) We spent the evening listening to some old school music on Lala.com. It was a lot of fun (I plan to write about LaLa in my tech talk soon.)

However, (speaking of tech) here is what Santa brought me this year. I guess I was not naughty!

Yep, I got an UltraHD Flip video camera. It is really nice. Very small and compact, but takes good video. Well, at least good enough for home movies and stuff like that.

I love it, you know I am a digital girl, living in a digital world!