grrrl meets world - Becky

We get not one, not two, but three blogs for the price of the slight diversion along the trail today into Becky's world.

 

One - grrrl meets world.

Two - daydreamer

Three - bringing up baby

 

Consider grrrl meets world as the home base. Becky writes

I'm an American transplant in the middle of the frozen Canadian prairies. I'm very married to a "nice Mennonite boy." I avoid working on my thesis by blogging here.
I'm also an ENFP, who these days is becoming more I than E (except after C). Oh, and I'm having a baby.

daydreamer is where her husband, Jerry, writes.

 

bringing up baby is the tail of the nine months of preparation. I like the ticker from tickerfactory.com that she uses in the header. Cool instant status point!

 

So take a peak into Becky and Jerry's world.

It is changing day to day.

 

 

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, hitchhikers, hike, trail

 

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This is Framingham

The trail continues along the Milford Daily News article on local bloggers to introduce Michelle Schwartz who writes at This is Framingham. She writes in her about page:

I was born at Framingham Union Hospital and grew up in Holliston, MA.  Even though I was not raised in Framingham, I have always had family here. My dad and uncle owned a business in downtown Framingham in the 70’s and 80’s, and my twin sister and I have fond memories “helping” and spending time there. I worked in Framingham to help support myself while attending Framingham State College, and in 2005 purchased a home next to the hospital where I was born.

The purpose of this blog is to comment on honest observations I make about Framingham, and to have fun.  I'm open to and encourage comments.  Also, Id love to hear what you like and dislike about Framingham.
I look forward to hear from anyone who wishes to contribute. 
Thanks!

Michelle writes about

• Fill'er up - a local station selling gas at $2.95 per gallon (which is good amongst local prices).
• Chicken Bone Saloon - a local restaurant of choice
• Article in the MWDN - her side of the newspaper article

So if you are in or around Framingham and want to know where to eat, buy gas, or something else along the local lines, then check out Michelle's page.

 

Technorati Tags : Framingham, blog, blogging, hitchhikers, hike, trail

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Mark Mischke's Blog

The trail continues along the Milford Daily News article on local bloggers to introduce Mark Mischke. Mark writes in his about page:

I'm pretty much your average techie-guy. My interests include hiking, movies, reading, old comic books and, of course, computers. I have a degree in Chemistry from the University of Connecticut, and I'm a member of Mensa. I've been developing Windows software and Web applications since the early 90's.

Professionally, I started out as a organic chemist and ended up as a software engineer. Chemistry was a lot of fun, but I left the field because of the constant hazards of working with toxic and unstable materials. I hold sixteen U.S. patents dealing with imaging systems and I've co-authored two research papers.

I began my software career developing Windows-based instrument control applications in C, followed by several years of Web development with start-ups and other cutting-edge firms. I've been an independent consultant since 2000. Since late 2001 I've focused solely on the .Net platform with my projects pretty much evenly split between Windows Forms apps, Web apps and server components.

Mark writes

• about Ditching Web hosting
• about Finally... silence
• about Glossy notebook displays

Try reading Mark. Then add him to your RSS Reader of choice to keep in touch.

 

 

Technorati Tags : mischke, blog, tech+guy, blogging, hitchhikers, hike, trail

 

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Wake Up and Smell the Blog

Eric Ferencik writes at Wake Up and Smell the Blog. On her about page she writes:

I am a Boston-based novelist and award-winning screenwriter with an M.A. in Creative Writing from Boston University. I recently ghosted a novel in Katherine Applegate’s best selling young adult scifi series “Animorphs.” My humorous nonfiction has appeared in Kinesis and Laf, among other newspapers. I’ve written sketch comedy and performed standup for ten years at such major venues as the Comedy Connection and Nick’s Comedy Stop. I’ve scripted humorous pieces for several corporations including Talbots and Ipswitch (see Frank Willis’s faux blog at www.FrankWillis.com) Most recently I’ve written and performed several radio performances for WGBH on their Morning Stories series.

Exerpts from my novels, “Marry Me or Something” and “Repeaters” are forthcoming on this site.

She writes about What really happened?

She writes about ferrets

She was mentioned in the Milford Daily News article that also mentioned me.

 

To add some humor to your day, stop by Erica's page.

 

 

Technorati Tags : blog, blogging, comedy, smell, ferrets

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Amanda Unboomed - Amanda Congdon

You may have heard that Amanda left Rocketboom. I was away and heard about it as I caught up to the news when I returned. She is going to do all right. She is at BlogHer this weekend and has a project in the works.

 

I miss her at Rocketboom but Joanne Colan is doing admirably in her own way as the new host.

 

To keep up with Amanda you can check out her home page and follow her personal blog Amanda Unboomed to find out what she will do.

 

 

Technorati Tags : rocketboom, videoblog, hitchhitckers, hike, trail, amanda+congdon

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Fashion Incubator - Kathleen Fasanella

Kathleen writes:

Wary now, for here there be tygers....
A long time ago, mapmakers of the planet didn't know the earth was round. Along the edges of the limits of their maps (the boundary of what they knew to map) were written the words "Here there be tygers", conveying their fears of the unknown, assuming it was most assuredly terrible. Time has shown that the maps of our planet are not terrible at all but endless source of wonder, knowledge and understanding. In truth, the only tyger of any truly dangerous consequence is one's own limitations and fears. As a visitor to this site I say to you: Wary now, for here there be tygers. Slay yours before proceeding further and you could find limitless horizons to a world you never knew existed. ~~~~Nurture people, not products~~~~

If you are interested in lessons from the sustainable factory floor, why not stop here?

You can read the Carnival of Couture

You can read about doo-hickeys

Her review of the Devil Wore Prada

And then you might add fashion Incubator to your RSS Reader of choice!


Technorati Tags : hitchhikers, hike, trail, fashion, sustainable, factory

Bloggers Anonymous

Laughter is good medicine, a truism that comes up time and again and really qualifies as worthy of being a truism.

Blogging is many things and to some people a good outlet to share their humorous creativity.

Bloggers Anonymous is one of those sites.

Do you suffer from Blog Rage? Check out the top ten symptoms:

10: You own a voodoo doll that says "Die, Seth Godin, die!"

9: You post a YouTube of you kickboxing it out with a cardboard cut-out of Robert Scoble

8: You sold the email address of everyone on your blog roll to Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Emailers

Read the full post for the remainder of the listing.

Do you live with Blog Deficit Disorder (BDD)?

I sat down to write this post about, like, a million times today. The whole general idea is that BDD -- it stands for Blog Deficit Disorder -- is really hard to live with, and it's hard to concentrate enough on one post or one blog. It's hard to get anything done, bottom line, when you spend your whole day flitting from blog to blog. But it doesn't feel like flitting. It feels like I'm in a...well, community.

Read the full posting and find out.

After this, you might want to add Bloggers Anonymous to your RSS reader of course.

While you may never know when a chuckle will help the day, I like the idea that there is nothing wrong with a chuckle a day!


Technorati Tags : hitchhikers, hike, trail, blogosphere, coincidence, destiny

One Day at a Time - Tabor

The trail finds a coincidence today. The course of some recent reading lead to my idea to develop a blog posting on why the folks on my blog roll are there. The course is somewhat a tricky trail of links so I'll that for another post. But anyway, finding Tabor writing about her Honor Roll AND mentioning some of the stops long the trail that I also happen to visit is NOT just a coincidence. I might also add that my two year blogversary is also approaching (9/15/06).

 

Tabor writes:

Working on my Karma, finished the blog about building my 'retirement' home and now added a blog on my new addiction. I believe there are: "Two Days We Should Not Worry" By Author Unknown There are two days in every week, about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, …we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever. The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance; …Tomorrow's sun will rise,either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,…This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

Tabor writes:

When I first discovered blogging, I viewed it primarily as a way to swim the creative waters and as a way to detail a journal of my days. I have started a number of journals/diaries in my past, only to abandon them shortly thereafter. When I discovered that I could include pictures to my blog it only added a wonderful new dimension in testing those creative waters. After a while my blog became interactive. I commented on others blogs and they commented on mine. My personality is such that I like to interact with a broad range of people. Variety is the spice of life and has been my mantra in food, music, entertainment and blogreading.

Read the full posting.

 

Read more of Tabor at One Day at a Time!

 

 

Technorati Tags : hitchhikers, hike, trail, blogosphere, coincidence, destiny

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The Messaging Times

Tom O'Leary writes on his About page

I have always cherished communication. I fell in love with the written word when I was just a young boy, penning my first poem when I was 10 years old. Since then, I have started many Pulitzer-potential works, all to be eventually filed mid-chapter in the waste bin for recycling.

I like that: a nice mix of desire and humor.

 

He writes about the new DELL blog one2one: here and here

 

He writes about word of mouth marketing, how it is still misunderstood and posts a link to a good description of word of mouth marketing.

 

If you are into email and communications, then this is one site to load in your RSS reader of choice.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags : messaging+times, hitchhikers, hike, trail

 

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Readability Results - what they say to me

I posted the summary of the Readability results for each of my personal blogs. I do write on blog Synergy and 100Bloggers but both of these are group blogs. The results of these 5 tests would be more instructive for my own writing.

 

Here is what I think they say:

Gunning-Fog index, which is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content. The lower the number, the more understandable the content will be to your visitors. Results over seventeen are reported as seventeen, where seventeen is considered post-graduate level.

I have a high score of 8.67 (P4GCE) with TE close at 8.61 and a low score of 7.42 (PR). I average 8.25. My work and education related writing tends to be more formal. My running writing tends to be the least formal. Overall I write for an 8th grade level.

Flesch Reading Ease is an index number that rates the text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. Authors are encouraged to aim for a score of approximately 60 to 70.

With the target at 60-70, and only two of mine below 70, I would say most of my writing is just a bit high on the scale but not far off.

Like the Gunning-Fog index, Flesch-Kincaid Grade is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content.

I have a low score of 4.81 for PR and the others are all within 0.05 of each other. A real tight range. This says I write for a 5th grade level.

 

So what does this say for the bottom line? I think it says to keep on what I am doing.

 

You, of course as my readers, have the final say.

 

Do I need to change anything in how I write?

 

I look to you to be bold and provide your suggestions and comments either directly on the blog, or via email. You can reach me at shersteve at gmail dot com.

 

We are in this together. As much as I write for myself, I write for it to be read.

 

I welcome your advice.

 

 

 

 

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Bokardo - Joshua Porter

Joshua Porter writes at Bokardo: A Blog About Social Web Design.

One posting I found today that I love:

The one major idea behind the Del.icio.us Lesson is that personal value precedes network value. What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute value to the network. In the case of Del.icio.us, people find value saving their personal bookmarks first and foremost. All other usage is secondary.

Read the full posting on The Delicious Lesson.

In a recent posting on web design, Joshua writes:

web design is design after all, and as such we need to know when it works and when it doesn’t. If people use it, it works. If people don’t use it, it doesn’t work. Though people’s comments about it might be subjective: “I like it!” or “It’s ugly”, web design, like all design, succeeds or fails based objectively on how well people can use it.

Read the full posting here.

And if these teasers on web design and user actions entice you, add Joshua's site to your RSS reader of choice and keep in touch.

Thanks to Mark Hurst for the link.

Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, design,

Here and There

Deb writes in her About page:

I'm entering year 3 of having a chocolate business, and now that I'm no longer working full time at the old job, I'll have more time to market Deb's Delectables. On the gardening side, I'm not an expert gardener by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm a bit more than a novice. All the cliches about gardening being a Zen-like diversion are true. I enjoy cooking almost as much as eating, although the pleasure of watching someone else enjoying their time probably runs a very close third.

She gets into the details of some of her cooking, for example:

My First Magnolia Cupcakes

a whole series of step by step photos and then the final product;

The finished minis

I am getting hungry just writing this.
It just might be time to click over to Deb's Delectables and order something.

Check out Deb's writing and pictures and decide for yourself!

Curbed

If you are in NYC or wanted to know about real estate in NYC, this is the site for you.

Updates regularly.
Photos.
Interesting tidbits.

A good place to visit regularly... well NYC is too, but I meant the blog, Curbed.

Check it out!


PS - There is also a version for LA and SF


Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, exercise, real+estate

Widgetoko

Are you into widgets?

Do you know what widgets are?

If you know, maybe you already found this site.
If not, this is one to keep in mind if you are looking for a widget.

Like one for

a gallery of real time watches

personalized maps to publish

others to send secure text messages to your cell phone

So if you need a widget, check this out!


Technorati Tags : hike, trail, hitchhikers, widgets, widget

Andrew's Kingdom of Rawk

Andrew has not updated his site since March. Maybe because he is busy looking for work. Check out his resume.

His web site looks good. If you are looking for a system admin and are based in Canada, it might be worth a discussion.

If you can't help him on the work front, you might find some guitar cords and lyrics to some good songs here. I found this site when searching for a song lyric earlier today and he had the words.



Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, exercise, lyrics, quitar

2020 Hindsight - Susan Kitchens

I found this site when I was catching up on my RSS feeds after returning from vacation. Jennifer Warwick gets credit for the referral.

Susan gets all the credit for the writing.

Read her 4th of July recap. It is a gem!

And then add her to your favorite RSS reader to stay in touch.



Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, 4th+July, parade

Working Out - While You are Out Working

Jason Womack writes:

I stopped hitting "snooze" in my life. I woke up and saw there was so much I could do!

Good advice for trying to keep that important balance in your life... the one between food and exercise.

Check out: Eating habits

and: Camaradrie

and: Necessary? Keep it.

And if you liked that, then I suggest you add this site to your RSS reader of choice and keep in touch with Jason.


Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, exercise, balance

A day in the life of Persuasion Architects

From their About page:

Ever wondered what big picture thinking Persuasion Architects are paid to ponder?

Wonder no more... here's a collection of latest thoughts from those select few Persuasion Architects out there in the customer-centric, visitor-as-volunteer, personal experience, non-barking cat world in which we currently live!

• Anthony Garcia
• Howard Kaplan
• Jim Novo
• Dave Young

I just picked up "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?" and found this as their web site.
Should be a good one to follow.

After I finish the book, I'll update this with my review.

In the meantime, check this site out!


Technorati Tags : hiking, hitchhikers, trail, cat+to+bark

Brief update

Did the trail seem cold to you? Nothing posted this month! How dare he?

Well after a bit of rest, exercise (a real hike on a wooden trail), and some time behind the wheel (all necessary ingredients to a vacation), I am back at it folks. So here goes.

You can check out the vacation details if you want over here.


Technorati Tags : vacation, hiking, hitchhikers, trail