SmugMug Rocks!

SmugMug Rocks!

Almost 5 years ago, I decided to put our family photos on-line since this coincided with the birth of our daughter and we were taking an increased amount of digital photos. In those days, there were not a lot of services so I set up a hosting account with GoDaddy.com and used the opensource program Coppermine. I know that many on-line services have eclipsed the functionality of Coppermine, but hey it was up and working, and I really did not have the cycles to switch.

On the topic of time, I soon discovered that I was using precious cycles to keep Coppermine updated so that it could not be hacked. While this was an annoyance, it was still not enough to change things.

Starting about 3 months ago, I started having problems uploading pictures to our photo site. To make a very painful long story short my current hosting company was of zero help and I decided I had had enough.

I started looking around for an on-line photo service. Many of my colleagues recommended SmugMug. I also had heard about the good relations between Sun and SmugMug so I decided to give it a try.

I was instantly thrilled by the ease of use with the site. I did ask a few questions about how things worked and I got immediate responses from the SmugMug staff. I also got welcome messages from senior staff members. The whole experience was delightful.

The best part about the whole experience is that SmugMug truly unlocked our family photos. Our digital photos have never looked so good, and the full screen slide show capabilities are amazing! One of the small but great features for us is the ability to sort by the date-time stamp of the picture. Our family outings normally wind up with more than one camera. The file names are always different and the pictures are out of order. Not anymore!

Of course I am wondering what I was thinking for waiting so long to switch. Our entire extended family is now extremely thrilled with SmugMug! I am thrilled because it has given me back that precious thing called time. I now have the time to actually look at the photos instead of dealing with keeping the site up and running.

Strawberries

We have had a strawberry patch on the side of house. A left over remnant from the previous owners. Maybe when they planted it 20+ years ago it was more sunny. Since we have lived in the house the patch is too shaded by the trees to actually produce any berries.

This year I decided to experiment. I dug several of the plants up and potted them and moved them into the Sun. Yes ladies and gentleman we have Strawberries! Now the only challenge will be letting them ripen before before the birds or squirrels get them!

Cell Phone Upgrade and Mark Space Missing Sync

After years of staying away from text messaging, it has finally caught up with me. A lot of people that I work with have started to text message me. The root of my dislike for text messaging comes from having to triple tap a message in. The reality finally set in that I would have to upgrade my phone to a keyboard phone. I did a lot of research, Palm, Windows, Blackberry and Symbian. They all left me desiring more, which in turn pushed the decision off. I came across someone who was selling a used Samsung Blackjack at a very reasonable price and the thought of not having to sign a new contract really appealed to me.

While I was doing my research on the different phones, I found a company called Mark Space. They make several software products, including one called Missing Sync. I purchased and installed the software.

It has been a long time since I have been so blown away by a software product. Missing Sync is truly amazing. The software was incredibly easy to install and configure. Once configured, my windows mobile phone simply ActiveSyncs to Mac. Yup let that sink in. On the phone, you simple start ActiveSync, and the Missing Sync software steps in and connects the information from all of you OSX apps into your phone. I have my contacts in groups and I have several calendars. Everything syncs with the phone, no issues.

The software will also sync a lot of other things. Missing Sync came with another program called Notebook. I tried Notebook and realized I had found yet something else I was missing. I keep my notes in a paper notebook. I often have to search through them, have the wrong notebook with me, etc, etc. Now I take notes in my paper one and after the meeting type them into the digital one. I now have a searchable notebook. The best part is that Missing Sync, gladly syncs my Notebook onto my phone, so I have all of my notes right on my phone!

My final thrilling experience with Missing Sync came with the camera. We went to a carnival today, and I forgot me camera. FIgured I would take pictures with my phone, because, something would be better than nothing. When we got back home, fired up Missing Synch, looked at the photo's sections and have a bevy of settings to deal with the photo's. I decided to just move the photo's off my phone into a directory. There are settings to move the photo's right into iPhoto, and to keep your iPhoto's on the phone. I hit the sync button and bam my pictures where on my computer.

I really wanted to tip my hat at the folks over at Mark Space. Their software is truly a cut above what one normally finds out there. I would highly recommend anyone using a smart phone and a Mac to give this software a shot.

Ecto

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am new to blogging and trying out off-line editors. I recently tried out MarsEdit. The program worked but lacked a few key features for me. The first feature is that I did not see anyway to create lists. Might be writing style, but I need to have the ability to create lists. The second was that paragraphs needed to be manually added it in. The author of the program pointed out to me that the paragraphs where an issue of the server, and there is a script to add them in.

So onto the Ecto eval. The install was very simple, and I was able to quickly have the editor link to our corporate blog site. The interesting thing is that Ecto found both my personal blog and a group blog that I participate in.

So far I am preferring the editor in Ecto. There are some cool links to add photos from iPhoto and music from iTunes. But as a mentioned I really need an editor that will take care of the paragraphs and allow me to do lists.

So onto lists. There are some nice formatting buttons across the top of the editor.

• Here is an unordered and list

1. and here is a numbered list

There is also an indent feature. While I did not mention this on my want lists, this is a great feature. I often post snippets of code and can use this feature.

I pushed a sample page. It looks like the paragraphs are working, and the rest of the formatting features are working.

Overall I like the editor in Ecto. I do have a couple of issues, that I am sure are users ones that I need to work out.

Hopefully I can work them out soon, so I can start using Ecto to maintain my blog. [posted with ecto]

Mars Edit

I have recently made my venture into the blogging world. I have been submitting my first posts through the web interface. I have decide to try and use an off-line editor. This post is really simple test post using the Mars edit program.

Setting up Mars Edit was quite simple. A few clicks through the settings and everything is up and working. The software downloaded my exist posts so I can edit them. The program works just like the rest of the Mac programs do with spell check.

I was hoping to see more advanced editing features. Lists are noticeably absent. The preview option also leaves something to be desired. Maybe I am missing something, but it pretty much looks like the typing window.

I just submitted the first post and paragraph breaks are missing. Please don't tell me I have to manually add them in.

Looks like the paragraph tags have to be added in. That will probably be a deal breaker for me! Will continue to look for other off line editors.

It looks like Mars Edit has the ability to work with external editors. Not sure I want to install two programs to edit my blog off line.

Water Bottle Project

My kid's homework project was to fill a clear water bottle with something interesting to add to the classroom science center. The directions where to simply fill the bottle with something for the science center, that would last a while and the teacher would hot glued the lids shut, which ruled out an living exhibits.

What to do? My wife had a brilliant idea. She mentioned that at some bridal/baby showers they fill a big bowl with rice and you have to feel around to find objects in the rice. Could we modify it and put objects in the rice, seal the bottle, and then shake it to find the different objects?

We started with the empty bottle.

Next we went around the house and gathered a bunch of trinkets.

Pink Glitter Ball Orange Pez Candy Blue Paper Dot Candy Blue Gemstone Flower Orange Gemstone Flower Green Jelly Bean Key Ring Green Frog Led Light Bulb Pen Penny Bat Pumpkin Screwdriver Safety Pin SIM Card (my personal contribution- wink wink) Paper Fastner Watch Battery Purple Bow Princess Ring Pink Heart Star Sea Shell Rubber Band Toothpick Crayon Gold Spoon Screw

The next step was to put it all in the bottle.

Finally as you turn the bottle and shake it lightly different things appear in the rice.

Off my daughter went to school with her project. The teacher told us it was amazing and it kept the kids occupied for hours. If you are ever looking for a project to keep a bunch of pre-kindergarteners occupied for a while this just might be it!