Please take my informal poll

I am conducting some informal research for my employer. If you have time, could you please respond to this informal poll in a comment to this post?

Thanks so much!

QUESTION: Do you use personalized home/start pages, like iGoogle, Netvibes, Pageflakes, MyYahoo, etc.?

If so,
1) Why do you use them? What do you like about them?
2) Is there anything you do not like about them?
3) What other features would you like to see on a personalized home/start page?

If not,
1) Why not? Are there specific things you do not like about them?
2) What would make you start using a personalized home/start page (if anything)?

It’s time to rethink copyright

My friend SuzieQ is an amazing hula-hooper. And, she recently got a fun, new LED hoop that looks soooo cool when she’s hooping in the dark. She lives in another state and wanted to share this with her friends who couldn’t be there in person (like me).

So, our friend Chris had her do some hooping in his basement in the dark while he recorded it, and he posted the videos to YouTube. Now, hooping is really just another form of dance. So, it’s really pertinent that there’s music playing, because that’s what guides the hooper’s movements.

Chris and SuzieQ made a couple of videos with some different music. Here’s one:

But, I can’t post a link to the other one, which they both say is even better. And, that’s because Warner Brothers Music Group is a bunch of assholes.

See, during the other video, Shakedown Street by the Grateful Dead was playing. And, shortly after Chris posted the video to YouTube, he got an email telling him that the song was copyrighted material and he couldn’t use it in his video.

WTF? This irks me in so many ways:

1) The song came from a CD that Chris bought. That gives Chris the right to play it whenever he wants and to let any of his friends hear it when he plays it. It so happens it was playing in the background when he filmed SuzieQ. What is the difference between Chris playing it for me when I’m physically in his basement and when I’m watching a recording of his basement on YouTube?

2) If you search YouTube for Shakedown Street, you will get a ton of hits. Why aren’t all of those people told to take theirs down? If you are going to enforce a rule, you need to enforce it uniformly.

3) What if I’m at a family party and I decide to video tape my niece saying something cute, but what if we have the radio on at the time and Shakedown Street happens to come on while I’m recording?

4) The Grateful Dead allowed fans to audio record their shows and freely share those recordings as long as no money was being made. So, there are millions of copies of live versions of Shakedown Street out there. If Chris had used one of those, he would have been able to keep his video up. But, since he used a version of the song that came from a studio album, he’s told to take it down. But, it’s the EXACT SAME SONG! No matter if it’s performed live or put together in a studio, it was still written and performed by the same people, has the same chords and lyrics. Again, if you’re going to enforce a rule, you need to enforce it uniformly.

The entertainment industry needs to seriously re-think this whole issue of Copyright and piracy in this new digital age. In 2004, Lawrence Lessig published “Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity,” which is about this very issue. He’s a Stanford Law professor, so he knows a little something about it.

I really like the analogy he makes in that it’s like spraying DDT to kill a gnat. Yes, everyone recognizes that it is illegal to STEAL someone’s work for your own profit (think Vanilla Ice and Queen/David Bowie). But, honestly, how is Chris and SuzieQ playing Shakedown Street while she hoops going to hurt Warner Music Group? It’s not like people are going to watch that video and decide that they will never, ever buy another copy of that song.

If you’d like to read more on what Lessig has to say, he’s made his book available for free on the ‘net, using a creative commons license. You can find it here.

There’s another essay about this I like by Rick Garlikov here. The entertainment Industry is taking this “remake the Internet before it remakes us” stand by going after people like my friend Chris. But, would the entertainment industry being remade really be a bad thing? Garlikov points out that:

Today on the Internet there are thousands and thousands, if not millions, of sites where people have put up intellectual property for free just because they want people to be able to find and have it. While much of it is trash, there are many good sites that teach about everything from calculus and theoretical physics to practical medical information to the most mundane issues of carpet care and cooking. There was music, literature, and entertainment long before there were recording companies, publishers, and studios. I doubt that music, entertainment, research, and other intellectual, creative endeavors will disappear from the face of civilization even if we have to give up the kind of copyright laws we have now.

I agree. It’s time the current copyright laws, and this “war on piracy” are abolished. Get with the digital age, Warner Music Group, and get off our asses!

Back in the health routine

This is a followup to an earlier post about my weight loss efforts. If you’re interested, my weekly weigh-ins are being tracked here.

We got back from vacation on January 12. (Pictures from our JamCruise vacation can be seen here. And, if you’re curious what JamCruise is, this is a pretty good description, fyi.)

Surprisingly, when I got home, I found that I had actually lost a pound during vacation. Usually, on cruises and vacations I tend to gain quite a bit. When I go on vacation, one of my favorite things to do is sample local food. And, I always give myself permission to eat whatever I want because, hey, I’m on vacation!

This time, though, I think I had three things working in my favor that allowed me not to gain. 1) I love, love, love fresh seafood, and that’s all I wanted when in Florida. And, seafood is actually pretty low in calories and fat (depending on how it’s prepared–but I really do love steamed and grilled seafood!); 2) the food on the cruise was horrible. I know, cruise food is usually pretty decadent, but this cruise was more about music than food, and the money was spent on the bands and was apparently cut from the food; 3) I danced my ass off, literally and figuratively, for 4 days. I also did a lot of hiking and climbed a 100 foot Mayan Indian ruin. So I was active.

On January 13, I started back full-force with my crazy working-full-time-and-going-to-grad-school-full-time schedule. For a few months now, I had been telling myself and others that I had a plan to work exercise back into my routine. I rearranged my hours at work so that I went in later in the morning, so that I could hit the gym before work. I even talked a friend into meeting me at the gym in the mornings to help with the motivation.

And, for the past two weeks, I’ve been sticking to that plan, for the most part. I made it to the gym three days last week and three days this week. Next week, my goal is to get there all 5 days before work. And, it’s been working! In the 2 weeks I’ve been back, I’ve lost just over 3 pounds, for a total of almost 13 pounds in 12 weeks, and as I said before, I lose very slowly due to hypothyroidism, so I’m extremely pleased about that number!

I am trying to be realistic, though. It’s just the beginning of the semester, so the stress hasn’t really kicked in yet. And, when it does, I don’t expect to continue to keep losing. I will be happy if I can just maintain and not lose as the semester comes to a close.

In addition to the exercise in the mornings, I’ve been faithfully planning and sticking to my meals and journaling everything I eat. I really do believe that writing down everything you eat is the key to losing weight. It’s so easy to forget about something you ate earlier in the day and underestimate the amount of calories you’re taking in, unless you write it down.

Another key, I believe, is community. Losing and maintaining weight is downright hard, and it’s much easier if you have support. I have an incredibly supportive husband, but he doesn’t struggle with weight like I do. So, it’s nice to talk to others who know what you’re going through, who can offer advice and encouragement. And, it’s empowering to offer support to others.

When I had time to attend Weight Watcher meetings, I got that. But, the WW center is a good 5 miles from campus and their meetings just don’t work with my schedule right now. So, I need to find that community elsewhere. And, I’ve found it in a couple of places.

First, I’m a social network junkie. One of my faves is Twitter. Since I’m almost always in front of a computer, it’s pretty easy to send and receive tweets. A small group of tweeple have started supporting each others’ health efforts by tweeting the results of those efforts and including the hashtag “#tow” in the tweets (which stands for either “take off weight” or “Twitter off weight”. Basically, this makes it easy to find and support each other. I’ve found this to be incredibly motivating.

(FYI, if the above paragraph seems like a foreign language, click these links to find find out more about Twitter and tweets, and hashtags.)

Second, I’m going to start attending a class next week with others interested in weight loss. The School of Informatics, through which I am obtaining my Master’s degree, has started a wellness program which includes things like Yoga classes and stress-reducing activities. They’re also starting up a “Healthy Weigh” class that will meet during the lunch hour one day a week for 6 weeks, where a registered dietitian will discuss with up to 15 folks holistic weight management methods and look at the root causes of weight loss. I’ve signed up, so we’ll see how that goes.

As a result of all this, I’m feeling very confident and in control, have so much more energy, and my jeans are all loose!

Goodbye, Interwebs. Hello, Jamcruise!

In just a few minutes, I will be heading out the door for vacation.

My husband and I go to concerts. A LOT. A love of live music is one of the things that brought us together, and throughout our 10+ years together, we’ve seen more shows than I can even begin to guess. Whenever a favorite band (and we have lots of ‘em) is playing anywhere within a few hours’ drive, we’re there. And, if they’re not within a few hours’ drive, we might be there, too…If we can arrange for a dogsitter and vacation days.

(Yes, this hobby is one of the main reasons why we do not have children.)

We spent our last vacation in August at a camping festival. And, this vacation is being spent at another music festival. But, this is a different kind of festival. It’s Jamcruise!

We’ll still get to see several of our favorite bands, plus more that are new to us. And, we’ll still get to hang out with awesome, fun people–some new friends, some old friends. But, instead of sleeping a tent on some farm field, we’ll be in a suite on a cruise ship. Instead of eating typical camping food we have to make ourselves, we’ll be served gourmet meals around the clock. Instead of having to dig through ice-filled coolers for beer, we’ll just belly up to the bar. And, instead of staying in one place the whole time, we’ll be provided transportation to two tourists destinations in the Carribbean.

The cruise leaves Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday. But, we begin our traveling today. We’re driving 4 hours north to drop our dog off at my father-in-law’s, then we then fly out at an ungodly hour in the morning and should be in Ft. Lauderdale by tomorrow afternoon.

Hubby and I plan to tour Ft. Lauderdale Saturday until a couple of friends who are going on the cruise with us arrive. We’ll all board the shop together on Sunday and will spend the next 4 days partying our asses off! After the cruise ends hubby and I are going to spend a couple more days in Ft. Lauderdale before flying back, picking up our dog, and driving 4 hours home.

I have decided not to take my laptop. Since there are no classes right now and I’m on vacation from work, I really can’t think of a reason why I should take it with me. I want to spend my free time enjoying tunes, dancing, and relaxing. If by some crazy chance I find myself with absolutely nothing to do, then I will read the new Stephen King book I got for Christmas.

So, goodbye for now, interwebs. See ya in about 12 days.

JAG photos have been posted

I’ve posted pictures from my recent roadtrip, aka “Jennies’ Alabama Getaway” or JAG.

My friend, whose name is also Jenny, and I drove to the gulf in Alabama to visit another friend, Heather. On the way down, Jenny and I stopped in Memphis and saw Beale Street and Graceland. While visiting Heather, we went to Pensacola, FL, Gulf Shores, AL, and New Orleans. On the way back, Jenny and I stopped in Chattanooga and went to Lookout Mountain.

You can see the pictures here.

I’m home and feeding my addiction

The best laid plans of mice and men go awry. Robert Burns

I returned from my girls’ road trip last night. I really wanted to blog during the trip. But, I had no internet access until the very last night.

The first night we stayed in a hotel in Memphis. It was supposed to have WiFi. But, I couldn’t connect. I called the front desk and they told me to call the 800 number listed on the instruction pamphlet. I called that number and got to listen to a recorded message advertising a gay chat line. mmmmmkay. I figured maybe I misdialed and tried again. But, no. It was the recording. So, I gave up and we went to Beale Street.

In AL, we stayed with a friend who did not have the ‘net. I could have gone to coffee shops or whatever to find WiFi. But, honestly, I was having too much fun with my friends to take time away from them to sit in front of my laptop.

There was no ‘net in the hotel in New Orleans, either. The hotel in Chattanooga did have it. So I was able to connect and check for any urgent emails. I also checked my grades (which I’m VERY happy with, by the way! ) But, that was the last night of our trip, and we got a late start leaving AL. So, when we got to Chattanooga, we only had a couple of hours to get to Rock City before it closed. By the time we got back from there, I was beat and didn’t want to deal with the laptop.

When I got home yesterday, I only pulled out my laptop to show my husband my pictures. I was tired and so happy to see my husband that I didn’t want to blog then, either.

Today, I had to get a crapload of stuff done–unpack, grocery shop, bake for tomorrow, wrap gifts, laundry, etc. So, it’s only now that I am finally able to spend some time on the ‘net. It’s like reconnecting with an old friend. LOL

Email is a little scary. 5 pages to wade through. I’ll save most of that for after Christmas. There’s no way I’ll be able to catch up on tweets, so I’m not even going to try. Same thing with Facebook. Though, while I was gone someone I’ve been looking for for years found me on FB, so I am extremely excited about that!

But, it’s nice to be wired again. Though I don’t regret my break and had an awesome trip, I am glad to be connected to Web 2.0 again.

I am going to blog about my trip. I made notes of things I wanted to write about, and I have a ton pictures. I need to figure out which pictures I want to post and decrease the file size. Plus, I can’t upload right now cuz hubby is hogging the bandwidth to upload his videos to YouTube.

Tomorrow we do Christmas lunch with my sister, mom and stepdad, then dinner with my dad and stepmom. (I turned down an invite to another dinner tonight because I knew I’d need the day to get ready and recoop from the trip.) So, probably won’t get much blogging done.

But, by this weekend, I’ll have an account posted of my trek through 10 states in 8 days.

Until then, Merry Christmas all!

It’s almost time…

I am waiting for Jenny to get here, then we are picking up the rental car and hitting the road for Jennies’ Alabama Getaway (JAG)!

First stop will be Memphis. It’s supposed to be snowy as we drive through IN, then icy through KY. Ugh. We’ll take it slow and be careful. Might be rain in Memphis tonight, but that’s much better than ice and snow! Though, it may nix the plans for ghost hunting tonight. Oh, well. I can’t wait to listen to some blues while sipping a tasty beverage tonight at least!

I’ll blog again once we get there.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNc4rZkWAdw]

4 days until the JAG

In 4 days, I am going on a road trip with my friend, whose name is also Jenny. We are going to visit Heather, who lives on the Gulf in Alabama. So, I’ve been calling it the Jennies Alabama Getaway (JAG).

I’ve known Jenny for over 13 years. I don’t remember when or exactly how we met. But, back in 1995 I became friends with a local band, and she was dating one of the drummers. We share a love of the same music and have been to several shows and festivals together. We were even roommates for a little while. We’ve had some of the craziest, strangest, and best times together over the years.

Heather is the niece of the drummer Jenny was dating. Tho the drummer and Jenny broke up many years ago, everyone is all still friends. The band is no longer together either, but almost all of them and all of us who hung out with them back in the day are still friends. We get together to go camping or for barbecues or weddings or parties or whatnot whenever we can.

Heather moved to Alabama probably 7 (?) years ago. I’m not positive on that, but it’s been a while. When she left, Jenny and I promised that we’d come visit her. She’s been back up here to visit a few times and we always try to see her when she’s in town. But, Jenny and I have never made it down to visit her.

This summer, Jenny and I made a drunken swear at a 4th of July party that we would go see Heather this year.

So, we leave on Tuesday. It’s about a 15 hour drive down, so we’re splitting it up. On the way down, we’re going to stop in Memphis and hang out on Beale Street Tuesday night. Then, Wednesday morning, before we head out of town, we’re going to go to Graceland LOL

We’ll be at Heather’s Wednesday night and Thursday night. Then, Friday morning, Heather, Jenny and I are driving to New Orleans and spending the night in a hotel that’s a half a block away from Bourbon Street. We drive back to Heather’s on Saturday to see a band she wants us to see that night.

We’ll hang out there until Monday morning. Then, we start back on Monday. We’re stopping in Chattanooga on the way back to check out Rock City and Lookout Mountain. Will be back home the following Tuesday.

Jenny’s hobby is ghost hunting. She’s got a list of all the haunted places in each of the towns we’ll be in. So, we’ll be doing a lot of that. I’m looking forward to it. The hotel we’re staying in in New Orleans is supposed to be haunted, too. LOL

This is going to be mine and Jenny’s fifth road trip together. We went to a music festival the band we hung out with was playing in St. Louis; spent a weekend checking out the cool bookshops and coffee shops and record shops in Asheville, NC; went on a week-long Phish tour; and also a week-long Further Festival tour. We’ve also traveled to several one-night or weekend-only shows and festivals.

I don’t get to see her or the others much anymore. They’re all up in the Indy area, and many have children, and I’m so busy with school and work. The 45-minute distance between me and them does keep us from getting together as much as we used to.

So, I’m really looking forward to being able to spend time with Jenny and Heather. And, Beale Street, Graceland, New Orleans, Rock City and a bunch of haunted places all sound like so much fun!

I do have to give a shout out to my darling hubby, who is staying home with our elderly dog so I can go on this trip. It sucks that I won’t get to see him for a week, especially after I haven’t seen him much lately with the end of the semester and all. So, I am extremely grateful he is being so supportive That’s okay, because a week after I get back from the JAG, he and I will be going on Jamcruise! But, that’s a different post…

I’m going to try to blog about the JAG. Heather doesn’t have ‘net access, but I should get it at the hotels and at Heather’s mom’s. I can also go to a Panera or Starbucks, too. So, watch this space for more info about and pictures from the JAG! Now I’m off to figure out what to pack . . .

Free time?!?

I turned in my last paper yesterday. All that’s left to finish out this semester is to write an final exam essay. The prof is supposed to post it this weekend, and he said not to spend more than 2 hours on it. So, after I do that, I’ll be done with Fall 2009!

So, I have found myself with the elusive creature known as “free time”. Last night I spent the evening visiting with my friend, who is also my hairstylist. So, I got in a little me time, friend time, and a touch-up on the ‘do. This morning I slept in for the first time since the semester started. (Ok, so I was up at 7:30, but that’s still better than 6am! My internal alarm clock is purty darn loud and consistent. I haven’t used a real alarm in years. Been getting up at 6am since I entered the workforce in 1994.)

There are things I could – should – be doing right now. There’s a sinkful of dirty dishes, a basket of clean laundry that needs folding, a basket of dirty laundry that needs washing, a cat that needs a bath, etc.

But, those things have always been there for me to do. And, since I don’t have to read any scholarly articles or write any papers or do any research, I can do those chores whenever. I don’t have to try to fit them in.

I have been waaaaay stressed for the past few weeks trying to get everything done for all of my classes (in addition to working my regular 40 hours a week). It’s so nice to finally be able to relax.

I plan to spend some time writing for pleasure today. I know, I just spent weeks writing my capstone thesis, a research paper, and a phenomenological essay (in addition to usability reports at work). Why on earth would I want to write anything more?

Well, I really love to write. Before I went back to grad school, I blogged and journaled regularly. The whole reason I got an undergraduate degree in journalism was that I loved the writing part. (I just discovered after college that I didn’t like much else about the journalism profession and that I liked working with and on computers much better.) But, for the past year and a half, I haven’t had much time to write about whatever I felt like.

I really want to write up a memorial to the beloved cat I lost about a month ago. That one’s going to be quite emotional, so I’ve been putting it off until I had time to deal with those emotions.

I also want to do some writing about my two upcoming vacations, one of which starts on Tuesday. And, I also plan to blog during those vacations.

Similarly, I’ve done a heck of a lot of reading this past semester…I’ve researched all I could about doulas and social networks and computer-mediated communication, and I’ve read phenomenological and semiotic essays and film critiques (as well as anything I could fit in about usability). But, I am so looking forward to being able to read some fiction!

The vacation that starts Tuesday is a girls’ road trip. I’ll get more into the details in another post, but I’ve ask my traveling companion, who is a literature aficionado, to pick out a couple of her favorite books for me to read while we’re off exploring the country. I told her my only requirements were that it not contain too many big words, it must be pure fiction, and it mustn’t be some cheesy romantic chickbook.

I’m also looking forward to being able to use some of this free time to focus on my health more. I’ve been doing really well for the past month and a half with my food choices. I’m down 10 pounds since Nov. 1st. That’s with no exercise, tho. So, I really want to try to get back into that routine.

It’s going to be a little hard with these two vacations and Christmas. But, since there’s really nothing other than household chores I have to do, I don’t really have an excuse not to focus on it, now do I?

So, I think it’s time to stop now, have some breakfast, do the dishes and laundry, and then get on my Treadclimber. . .

Starting over…again

I have been struggling with weight for a long as I can remember. I was overweight in high school, and grew to be obese in college, about 11 or 12 years ago. Over the years, I tried every diet and even considered bariatric surgery.

My mom, dad, brother, and sister are all overweight or obese. I also have a heredity medical condition, hypothyroidism, that causes weight gain and makes losing weight difficult. I used to think that those obstacles were too hard to overcome, so I never lost more than 20 pounds at a time.

But, in May, 2003, I started Weight Watchers, and not for the first time, either. Yet, that time I stuck with it. And, I made goal by losing 107 pounds by August, 2006 (made Lifetime in September, 2006).

I maintained for about a year, until I started attending grad school full time while continuing to work full time. Then I found myself with no time and lots of stress. As a result, in about a year’s time, I gained back all but 20 pounds of what it took me over three years to lose.

After much self pity and blame, I finally decided it was time to get back on the Weight Watchers wagon. I’ve been doing the program since November 1, and I’ve lost 6.4 pounds in 4 weeks (and 25.6 pounds total, if I count the weight I managed to keep off). Yay!!

That is a true accomplishment, for four reasons: 1) because of my hypothyroidism, I lose very slowly–I average about a half pound a week, so that’s a huge amount for me; 2) I have not really been exercising much at all; 2) during that time I had to bury my beloved, 14-year-old cat, which was very hard emotionally on me; and 4) I celebrated Thanksgiving.

I’m feeling very confident and in control again. I’m going to quit beating myself up for gaining most of it back and instead pat myself on the back for finding the courage and the willpower to start over!

Now, I need to start working on getting that exercise in regularly!!