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.
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."
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.
I have had my Xoom for about a week now, and I am finally getting the hang of it. The hardest part so far is this darn touch screen. I guess I am a keyboard person. Overall I think I like it a lot, however accessories have been hard to find. To be continued...
This high-tech girl has been off the blog for a little while! But I am happy to share that it was for a great reason!!! I graduated with a Masters in Digital Media Studies from the University of Houston - Clear Lake on December 18th!
So, I am back on the blog after a well-deserved break.
What did Santa bring me for Christmas? While there were no new tech toys for me, but I did get a fabulous pair of shoes and a purse from Nine West.
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!"
The first pair of shoes you remember wearing? Snow boots in Chicago Winter (they were hard to take off.)
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.
Your favorite pair of childhood shoes? Black Patent Leather Easter Shoes
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.
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.
Espadrilles or Stilettos? Stilettos of course!
Sling Backs or Pumps? Man, I like them both. But Pumps if I have to choose.
Flats or Heels? Heels.
Athletic Shoes or Flip Flops? Flip Flops.
Favorite Type of Shoe? A Red Stiletto
Your least Favorite Type of Shoe? Clogs. I always have hated them.
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.
The least you’ve ever spent of a pair of shoes? One dollar – resale store.
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!)
The ugliest pair of shoes you ever owned? Penny Loafers. Why?
Finish this sentence: If the shoe fits…buy it in every color.
Your favorite shoe quote: “I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes” Oprah Winfrey
Your most comfortable shoes – My white Fit Flops
Your favorite store – It used to be Shoe Cents, but they closed. Now, it is DSW Warehouse.
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!
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."
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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. 
(it was the third case I purchased, but I love this one!)
, and I must admit I do like it (but don’t tell anyone!)
and my first born a 
Ater a wonderful five-year relationship, I finally had to bid my 
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.
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...
from Amazon.com.
on 'Airplane Mode", and kept in touch with my family via e-mail. I took my 
with me, and loaded a few movies to watch, but I really only checked my email once a day. 
, and 
), and I check out a book titled "
" by Nancy Kress from the ship's library and really enjoyed the read.
? 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. 
