Rachel Stonebreaker

I checked out several books from the teen section of the library.  One covers Podcasting.  Hey, I'm no Dummy (a reference to the 3  year old book by Dummies for Dummies on the subject).  This one is cool because it's written for young high schoolers.  I recommend it for anyone, young or old, who wants a very quick yet somewhat detailed look into podcasting.  I'm going to check into this Career Building series as they have books on blogging, digital moviemaking, photography, and social networking.

"Career Building Through Podcasting" by Sarah Sawyer ISBN: 1404219447

Also, just for the beauty of them, I picked up two design books also at the library.  They are so extraordinary that I have bought my own copies from www.half.com and from www.AbesBooks.com ( I like Abe's Books.  I've used them for years).

"Pictures - Telling Stories The Art of Robert Ingpen" ISBN: 0698400119

"Fairie-ality - The Fashion Collection" from the House of Ellwand  ISBN: 0763614130


These two books are inspiring, especially if you've got a youngster who is at all inclined towards art.  These books are, on the simple aspect, beautiful and easy to look at.  The Ingpen book contains commentary on the thought process behind illustration art (vs. Fine Art) while the Ellwand book, visually, excites the brain cells into thinking outside the box (or fabric) for fashion design.  The Ellwand book lays out their pictures in some terrific spreads that could be used in scrapbooking as well.  They are both wonderful eye candy.

We are *finally* getting back to reality in the U.S. -- Well, perhaps I'm being premature in my words here but the Makers Movement touted by Mr. Jalopy has caught my attention and given me hope that we are moving away from the Buy and Trash society we've become (ala WALL-E).

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92508461

Why buy it new when you can rebuild it or build it from scratch? There is so much more satisfaction in completing something of your very own. Plus we use our brains a bit more than usual when we have to figure out a solution to a problem.

And - as promised - A little summer fun for the kids and others who are into making things:

http://www.carvingpatterns.com/
http://www.instructables.com/
http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/pagesv/cylinder.html
http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/pagesv/cylinder.html

Another wonderful video from Dove.  How on God's Green Earth are we going to get away from the beauty industry's blatant falsity? 

I'll tell you how - STOP buying into it.    It starts at home folks.  You may think it starts with not supporting the advertisers who tell us that everyone is ugly and worthless unless they have bigger breasts and smaller butts and whiter teeth and fewer wrinkles.

But it starts with your self esteem.  Yes, you ARE good enough the way you are.

Don't get me wrong, I wear makeup and use night cream.  I'm promoting self confidence to be ones self not someone else's image of self.

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.co.uk/dsef07/t5.aspx?id=8130

You GO Dove!

One of my pet rants is how the media is force feeding this unrealistic image of beauty ...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

This stuff is freekin' AWESOME!  I popped the bucks (a C note) for AcoustiPack APDv2 noise reduction foam for my computer.

It's not even completely installed (still have to take out the mother board to load up the last panel of foam) and already the howling has dampened to whisper quiet.

WELL WORTH THE MONEY!

Excerpts from The Hobbit Companion
By David Day

What a fun book! I finally got a chance to read some of it. Day goes into great detail about the philology of Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and how Tolkien’s intense interest in words shaped the actual story of “The Hobbit” instead of the typical author’s approach to come up with the story line and then the names/places/etc. ( Read more )
Here’s a pic. It's an example of the three original Hobbit tribes' size and feature differences. Note the Oldbuck in the middle wears dwarf like shoes and has a smattering of facial hair. (I’m sure the artist would NOT want you doing anything dastardly to her work so don’t get any of us in trouble (as in use your judgment, don’t screw with the pic))

The problem I run into with the whole "new idea" of Social Networking is that NONE of the people in my physical social circle participate.

The majority of the world out there does not have time to blather. That's what they think blogging is... blather. Why bother?

I try to convince them to log in and read to keep up with friends' lives and to comment in a fast and easy manner. That's one of the benefits of blogging. It's replacing the old fashioned letter writing and phone calling and after work parties where we all told each other what went on that week in our lives and listened to our friends' woes and comments and goofy things that happened and what about the latest urban myth and then we'd occasionally get introduced to the new neighbor or co-worker or friend from out-of-state. Our world is so large now, we can't all get together as much as we'd like (especially when we're physically separated).

But I'm talking to brick walls. Few in my generation have ever bothered to have those sorts of old fashioned get-togethers nor have they ever really written a true letter so they've no experience in all of this "interacting honestly with friends and receiving good feedback" whether it be from reading and commenting on-line or from meeting someone face to face over a margarita and chips.

Blogging is redefining the way we socially interact. When the oldsters of today are dead and gone and my "I don't give a damn about anyone else" generation become the oldsters, they (we) will be sitting there without a clue, with no social graces and everyone else in the world will ignore us. Phooey on that. We should get out there and help guide this development of the new social graces.

I'm alive ... but just barely

So many things to do and so little time

The Best Practices of Web 2.0 Conference blew me away. Of course it helped that I got full copies of Office 2007 Experssion Studio (the Whole Enchilada) AND Vista from Microsoft... how did the conference moderator put it? "Microsoft gives cool SCHWAG!"

So, some day, I will figure out WordPress and LiveJournal and Vcard and Microformats and all the other web applications. Until then, I've got to plan for Scotland in September.


To see my pics from my last Scotland trip:
http://www.ramtech.us/scotland

Despite that my family seems to have forgotten, my friends have not.

Here is a poem Marla wrote for me.

(Not that I feel old, just horridly pained around the L5 disk.)

Like my brother Richard said on his last birthday, "Whew! Made another one!"

**************************************************

Ode to Your 47th Birthday

Forget the woes of middle age
Think I'm a wise and wistful sage,
to have lived in such a modern age.
Where there is no need for a time machine,
When a treadmill will make you young and lean.
Once a woman of 30 was old,
Now 47 is beautiful and bold.
You're not an old crone,
but a young mother,
A woman of charm
Unlike any other.

Well, it's finally over. THE Wedding that is. Other than Cathe and Mike showing up late in Liberace's limo (yes, THAT Liberace), everything went without a hitch.

The dress that I agonized over turned out beautiful. But that's the last time I offer to make a wedding dress where I let other people have any say so.

Oh, my, yes, they are as odd as everyone says they are. We went to see Penn and Teller tonight and I was invited up on stage to help with a magic act. Try as I might, I couldn't figure out the trick. They are GOOD!

My friends came down from Sacramento and we drove to Utah for the week. We thought we'd get to see wildflowers but we were snowed on instead.

Still - worth the trip!

On Friday we drove to Laughlin on the Colorado River over Christmas Tree Pass and took lots of photos of desert wildflowers. It's a great year for blooms (as far as any desert can have lots of blooms...)

Jan Brett rocks! She is one of the best illustrators I've ever seen. http://www.janbrett.com

I'm making a wedding dress for my friend CJ who happens to be Penn and Teller's piano player's fiance (now, THAT'S a mouth full). It's a beautiful dress McCalls 3861 View A. I meet with her tomorrow to go over the fabric. She want's one of the massively heavy brocades with a shimmery overlay. The trim so far hasn't been easy to find. Everything we like that will work is $30 a yard and we need 10 yards...

Or however you spell it. I successfully reupholstered one of eight chairs. French Provincial. Looks niiiiiiice.

I LOVE Veggie Tales.

They are such great fun!!!

Veggie Tales Rule

Oh my goodness golly. Bill Gates was made a Knight in England. Egad! What are our countries coming too? If I was a British National, I'd be incensed. As it is, I'm a US citizen and I'm flabbergasted. To his credit he was humble. And it is *honourary*. story

In my attempt to better educate myself, I found this site. Simple but helpful:

Squashed Philosophers

I am soooo embarrassed. I used to think I had at least a modicum of English sense but I took elvenses test and failed miserably. Having been told by Toastmasters and betas alike that my grammar sucks, I never failed to persuade myself that they just didn't understand my peculiar way of saying things. No. My grammar sucks. Eggs. Like a weasel. Sigh.

-- edited -- marigold ferreted out the scoop on that test. Bogus. Whew! I hadn't made all the mistakes it said I did. I feel better now :-) *hee hee*