more closely. First, I apologize for the sloppy language. Second, I
will correct my post tonight.
I'm at work and they won't give access. This post is via my gmail on my phone.
28 January 2009
Need to Start Proofreading
I just read over my last post. I need to start proofreading my posts
more closely. First, I apologize for the sloppy language. Second, I
will correct my post tonight.
more closely. First, I apologize for the sloppy language. Second, I
will correct my post tonight.
The Great Pisces Strikes Again
As all great Pisces, I'm a big flip flopper. (Actually, I don't think that the greats were flip floppers - just me.) I switch from the cloud and back to my system and then back to the cloud again in a heartbeat. Now, I still find that my data stored in the cloud is not the safest thing. At the same time, I love having access to my data when I'm not at my computer system. Some things I keep entirely in the cloud; my documents for school or these blog posts. But pdf files of my bank statements are not in the cloud. Other things I limit how much information is in the cloud. My address book in the cloud, but is limited to those that have an email address. No email, your not in my Address book in the cloud.
Google has just released, via labs, offline support for Gmail. This will make my use of Apple Mail almost nonexistent since I like Gmail's way of doing things. The only time I am not using Gmail is on my iPhone. But even then I still use it, albeit for very specific reasons.
I've even switched from Safari, with Google Gears, to Firefox, with Google Gears. Why? Even though that through Safari I have access to my computer system's Spelling and Grammar Check and with Firefox I just have spelling? Because I like how Firefox tab support works - unlike Safari, which I have it set to open new tabs for new web pages, but if the web page spawns a new window it follows that command first then what I want it to do. Fix that Apple and I'll come back with open arms because I miss those two features (well, I really miss Grammar Check). It does not seem like a big deal but it really is for me. Plus I like the extensions that you can build into Firefox; with Safari I think Apple missed the boat.
The biggest reason for being back into the cloud is space. Recently, Bear and I both needed the Mac Book Pro to do some work. I've moved my stuff to his because he has more space and because my monitor was blurry and failing. Well, we bought a new 19" widescreen LCD monitor and life on the old PPC desktop has been great. I moved back into it but soon realized I didn't have enough disk space for my music library and my documents, the amount of space was quickly disappearing. I moved my library to my old 20 gig iPod, which is set up in disk mode only, and I connected it via Firewire. It's pretty quick but even that is losing space. Fortunately, I'm not making any music purchases for a while since my library is 15 gigs and I still have stuff to load on it first. Buying a new hard drive, though desirable, again limited amount of funds. What can I do?
Then the light bulb went off. Off load a lot of my data to the cloud and use the cloud as my desktop. This does not take away my fears of the cloud, i.e. data not being secure, possibly losing ownership of my data, not being able to access my data offline, and Cloud companies going out of business. These are all very real possibilities. No one has come up with who is responsible. The companies offering support in the cloud disavow any responsibility in their Terms of Service. The government hasn't even addressed the issue - they are still too busy worrying about children accessing pornography on the Internet, and predators on the Internet. (Why are our politicians always so fearful of technology? Why don't they study it without a partisan view? Why do they always see the bad before the good?) The government hasn't even addressed the idea of privacy because it could disrupt big business.
So, because of my need I've gone back to the cloud. And I'm learning to like to it. Not love it. Just like it. I really need to start researching this in more detail and write about it. I guess I'm finding my niche. Maybe I should change the title of this blog to something like: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud". I'll keep you posted.
Google has just released, via labs, offline support for Gmail. This will make my use of Apple Mail almost nonexistent since I like Gmail's way of doing things. The only time I am not using Gmail is on my iPhone. But even then I still use it, albeit for very specific reasons.
I've even switched from Safari, with Google Gears, to Firefox, with Google Gears. Why? Even though that through Safari I have access to my computer system's Spelling and Grammar Check and with Firefox I just have spelling? Because I like how Firefox tab support works - unlike Safari, which I have it set to open new tabs for new web pages, but if the web page spawns a new window it follows that command first then what I want it to do. Fix that Apple and I'll come back with open arms because I miss those two features (well, I really miss Grammar Check). It does not seem like a big deal but it really is for me. Plus I like the extensions that you can build into Firefox; with Safari I think Apple missed the boat.
The biggest reason for being back into the cloud is space. Recently, Bear and I both needed the Mac Book Pro to do some work. I've moved my stuff to his because he has more space and because my monitor was blurry and failing. Well, we bought a new 19" widescreen LCD monitor and life on the old PPC desktop has been great. I moved back into it but soon realized I didn't have enough disk space for my music library and my documents, the amount of space was quickly disappearing. I moved my library to my old 20 gig iPod, which is set up in disk mode only, and I connected it via Firewire. It's pretty quick but even that is losing space. Fortunately, I'm not making any music purchases for a while since my library is 15 gigs and I still have stuff to load on it first. Buying a new hard drive, though desirable, again limited amount of funds. What can I do?
Then the light bulb went off. Off load a lot of my data to the cloud and use the cloud as my desktop. This does not take away my fears of the cloud, i.e. data not being secure, possibly losing ownership of my data, not being able to access my data offline, and Cloud companies going out of business. These are all very real possibilities. No one has come up with who is responsible. The companies offering support in the cloud disavow any responsibility in their Terms of Service. The government hasn't even addressed the issue - they are still too busy worrying about children accessing pornography on the Internet, and predators on the Internet. (Why are our politicians always so fearful of technology? Why don't they study it without a partisan view? Why do they always see the bad before the good?) The government hasn't even addressed the idea of privacy because it could disrupt big business.
So, because of my need I've gone back to the cloud. And I'm learning to like to it. Not love it. Just like it. I really need to start researching this in more detail and write about it. I guess I'm finding my niche. Maybe I should change the title of this blog to something like: "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud". I'll keep you posted.
22 January 2009
Our Anniversary
I just wanted to let the entire world know that today is Bear's and my nine year anniversary. We met in 2000 and after dating for two years moved in together. We have been inseparable from each other since. We have had a lot of ups and downs in our relationship and individually but through all of it we have been together dealing with everything.
I just want to say that I love that man of mine.
20 January 2009
Snow Day!!
Today is a snow day. No school. I still have to go to work but I don't care I don't have to be in until 11:00 am so I have enough time to enjoy the weather. I took some pictures this morning. I'm going back out there with my dogs and enjoying this day some more.
19 January 2009
Distraction in the 21st Century
I just read a brilliant little article over on Locus Magazine. It was written by Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing, it was all about how to avoid distraction in the twenty-first century. It's really good and I think that it can apply to a lot of different areas. My biggest problem has been a lot of these specific issues when it comes down to writing a simple blog post. And this is the reason why I don't end up writing as much. I can complain that I need to learn more, or that I need to pick a subject but the reality is I need to just write more. It doesn't have to be the greatest thing on the planet, I just have to write about something, anything, that interests me. I worry about not having a lot of readers, that no one has joined my site via Google Connect, but that is just gravy. They all come when they have something to read.
What do I know? It's hard to work 40 hours a week and go to school for 6 hours, let alone my usual schedule of 9 hours. I'm easily distracted my computer, a problem that I have suffered since I've had a computer — even before the Internet existed in its present form. My partner, my wonderful loving partner, keeps forgetting that in order for me to receive 'A's in my college career I have to stop running around town doing errands or watching — shudder — television; I have to study and not just for an hour, here or there, but every day for a minimum of 3 hours. And that's just for calculus which I have to retake due to becoming sick last semester.
Whose fault is all these distractions? Mine. No one else can take that blame but myself. I can't blame technology, anymore — my monitor had slowly been failing. It reached a point where you couldn't really read anything on it because it was blurry. My temporary solution was to move my user account over to Bear's Mac Book Pro. It was a great solution but two people and one laptop is not really fun. Considering that I had to use it for school when he needed for work, or even for play, it created a distraction. Our solution to the problem was an awesome one. We have been paying off his computer with Best Buy for the last year and there is credit that was available. If we were, and we were, able to find a flat screen monitor to put on the account then we could just continue to pay on that account. I still want my own Mac Book, but I can wait on my perfectly good PowerPC desktop for that year, now that I can see the monitor.
So I have solved one my problems. The next step is go into my office, every day, and study a minimum of 3 hours on Calculus. It is really my only job worth anything. I have to receive an 'A' in this course this semester. Anything less than that can't be an option. I also need to stop watching so much damn television. It truly does make my mind go to mush.
What do I know? It's hard to work 40 hours a week and go to school for 6 hours, let alone my usual schedule of 9 hours. I'm easily distracted my computer, a problem that I have suffered since I've had a computer — even before the Internet existed in its present form. My partner, my wonderful loving partner, keeps forgetting that in order for me to receive 'A's in my college career I have to stop running around town doing errands or watching — shudder — television; I have to study and not just for an hour, here or there, but every day for a minimum of 3 hours. And that's just for calculus which I have to retake due to becoming sick last semester.
Whose fault is all these distractions? Mine. No one else can take that blame but myself. I can't blame technology, anymore — my monitor had slowly been failing. It reached a point where you couldn't really read anything on it because it was blurry. My temporary solution was to move my user account over to Bear's Mac Book Pro. It was a great solution but two people and one laptop is not really fun. Considering that I had to use it for school when he needed for work, or even for play, it created a distraction. Our solution to the problem was an awesome one. We have been paying off his computer with Best Buy for the last year and there is credit that was available. If we were, and we were, able to find a flat screen monitor to put on the account then we could just continue to pay on that account. I still want my own Mac Book, but I can wait on my perfectly good PowerPC desktop for that year, now that I can see the monitor.
So I have solved one my problems. The next step is go into my office, every day, and study a minimum of 3 hours on Calculus. It is really my only job worth anything. I have to receive an 'A' in this course this semester. Anything less than that can't be an option. I also need to stop watching so much damn television. It truly does make my mind go to mush.
17 January 2009
Hello, it's me again!
Well, scratch the New Year's Resolution as a bust. Instead of blogging a minimum of once a week I have not done anything. But I did discover Twitter and blogging via that. And I've made a new friend from Twitter. His username is AcidRefluxWeb! He is hilarious and fun.
School has started, I'm taking two classes this semester so that I can concentrate on completing Calculus with an 'A'. My second class is a Science Fiction Literature class. Should be fun - the English course is online.
I was over at UserFriendly.org and there was a interesting comment about blogging. Seems that in order to be a good blogger you have to at least know something. I'm a Computer Science major and I don't feel like I know anything. Of course, I'm still taking my General Ed courses but I was a Cost Analyst (Data Analyst) for eight years. I've worked with Databases and Queries - I should know how to write about Databases and Data Manipulation and theories...but I let it all slip when I left that job and San Diego. I have to get back into it. I have to become some kind of authority.
I have to get off my ass this year and really start to learn something that I love and blog about it. I've attempted when I was trying to learn Cocoa Programming with Objective-C. But I let the TV and school take over my life. Recurring theme that I think the net is tired of reading about.
Whine session is over. Time to get my day started.
School has started, I'm taking two classes this semester so that I can concentrate on completing Calculus with an 'A'. My second class is a Science Fiction Literature class. Should be fun - the English course is online.
I was over at UserFriendly.org and there was a interesting comment about blogging. Seems that in order to be a good blogger you have to at least know something. I'm a Computer Science major and I don't feel like I know anything. Of course, I'm still taking my General Ed courses but I was a Cost Analyst (Data Analyst) for eight years. I've worked with Databases and Queries - I should know how to write about Databases and Data Manipulation and theories...but I let it all slip when I left that job and San Diego. I have to get back into it. I have to become some kind of authority.
I have to get off my ass this year and really start to learn something that I love and blog about it. I've attempted when I was trying to learn Cocoa Programming with Objective-C. But I let the TV and school take over my life. Recurring theme that I think the net is tired of reading about.
Whine session is over. Time to get my day started.
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