One of the ways I learn about cool things to do with blogs is by reading other blogs. I already credited Mike Hyatt with a lot of the tools I've added recently. Well, I've found another little gadget to add.
Look over to the left and you will see a couple of new sections that indicate whether or not Melinda or I are online via three popular instant messaging services - AIM, MSN (now Windows Live Messenger), and Yahoo!. I know you could just as easily pull up the messenger service and see if we are online, but a lot of people don't automatically sign in to their service when they log in to their computer. This way, if you are checking the blog (you are checking, aren't you? We've been getting more regular at posting! Better yet subscribe over to the left!) you can see if you want to sign in and chat.
O.k., I know what you are thinking and I admit it - I'm a gadget freak and things like this make me giggle like a school girl. There isn't any practical purpose to having it, I just think it's cool. You caught me!
Enjoy...
Friday, March 23, 2007
New Feature
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Scott's Trip to New York City
O.k. - we really want to share photos on this blog however I haven't been very happy with any of the options so far. I thought Slide.com was going to work, but in the end I didn't like the results. Flickr produced great results, but it was a lot of work to get the actual show into Blogger. Also, both of those options required that I be online while I create the slide show.
The best way to accomplish what I wanted to do was to actually build a Flash slide show myself. That isn't easy! I'd have to program the Flash show, find an online place to host it, and then publish it so that I could link it here to play for you. Too much work (not that you aren't worth it!).
Enter Flash Slide Show Maker. This FREE (yes, free) desktop program allows you create a great looking Flash slide show, but also provides FREE (there's that magic word again) online hosting of the show through SkyAlbum.com. All I have to do is create the show and it will upload it for me. Once that is done I copy and past the link and, viola, I have a great looking Flash-based slide show on the blog! I love technology! There are a lot of great features to the software, but I will let you read about it yourself.
Now, on to the good stuff!
I took this trip almost a year ago, but it was great test for using the software. I went to New York to visit with the Sony Corporation and attend a conference. Like all of my trips, I had to squeeze a lot in a short amount of time. So, here is a summary of my three-hour tour of New York City!
I am extremely pleased with the results of the slide show, so after many empty promises we can get to work on putting up more photos for you to enjoy and catch up with us.
P.S. - I am going back to New York again in May, so I am hoping to see some of the things I didn't get to see last year!
Friday, March 16, 2007
Spam Blog
The last entry about my sprain took a few days to actually post. I could write it as a draft, but when I attempted to publish it I got a message that our blog had been blocked by a spam-prevention tool because it appeared to be a "spam blog". What in the world is a spam blog? They had a handy link that explained it all:
The ease of creating and updating webpages with Blogger has made it particularly prone to a form of behavior known as link spamming. Blogs engaged in this behavior are called spam blogs, and can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text...
If that last statement doesn't accurately describe this blog, I have no idea what does! :)
Scott
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Off Balance
O.k. - this settles it. Scott must lean to the left. Literally, not politically.
This past Saturday we watched our pastor's kids at our house. It was a beautiful spring day. Kids, a beautiful day, and Scott trying to keep up all spells disaster! While playing hide-and-seek, and chasing a much faster eight year-old to base, Scott rolled his foot over and sprained his ankle. Time to go inside!
He sat on the couch for a while and called to Melinda to check on whatever was beeping in the kitchen. She called him a wimp and asked why he couldn't check it himself. He called her over and showed her why. At this point his ankle was swollen and the pain was increasing. It was off to the emeregency room.
Final prognosis was a sprain (thankfully, it wasn't broken). When Scott asked what exactly that meant he was given this quote - "If anyone ever tells you they sprained their ankle and are back playing basketball the next day, they didn't really sprain their ankle. "Real" sprains involve torn ligaments". Although only an MRI would tell how bad the damage was, the doctor figured this was the case here. He was fitted with a large "boot" to walk around in and has to follow up with our regualr doctor this week.
The irony is that it is his left foot. You may remember he broke his left collar bone almost a year and a half ago (also trying to capture some long lost glory of his youth) so, he must have a tendancy to fall to his left.
The moral of this story? Same as last time - leave the running to the eight year olds. From now on Scott can referee from the sidelines!