11 posts tagged “vox”

A little roundup of miscellaneous things.

1. I have a post about the recipient of the EMC Leadership Award at the Computerworld Honors-- Laura Campbell from the Library of Congress.
   
2. I have a snippet from my book about the world's first gourmand, Apicius, if you want to check it out and tell me what you think.
3. Since summer is nearly here, I wanted to share a tasty cocktail, created entirely by me. Even if you aren't a gin drinker (which I'm not) you should try it out--I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
   

Ginger Rogers in a Shady Grove

Build, fill glass with ice

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1 tsp sugar

• Fill with ginger ale or even better, ginger beer
• Fresh mint, limes
• Serve in a highball glass with a mint sprig for garnish.
  

Scaled for 1 serving(s) and 48.0 oz pitcher

Build, fill pitcher with ice

8 oz gin (1/3 750ml bottle, 1/4 1L bottle)
4 oz lime juice
1 oz sugar
Place fresh mint and cut up limes in pitcher

• Fill with ginger ale or even better, ginger beer
• Fresh mint, limes
• Serve in a highball glass with a mint sprig for garnish.

Enjoy! 

Laurel came to visit so Jenna, her husband, Kelev, Raf and I headed down to Cambridge 1 and had some tasty pizza pies and great conversation!

I heard back from Vox today...they are looking into ways to better handle the situation. They currently use Google AdSense and I'm pretty sure that they can set some limits with that service.

The ads are tag based, so removing references to politics, bush, religion and even Christmas seems to have me back at plain text ads (about moms for some reason, when I looked earlier). Self-censoring isn't ideal but until they figure that out, I'll go that route. It's probably better for my blood pressure if I don't talk about people that make me crazy.

And thanks to Pants Party, if he had anything to do with it. :-)  And to my fellow supportive Voxers...that's the reason why Vox rocks, because of all the cool people I am able to connect with here.

Well, maybe not entirely amazing, but still fun! From Rob's Amazing Poetry Generator with my URL plugged in:

Cynosure
glissando reesie said: what
incredible tension and
while Joe turned to something
else about this band, endorsed by nature
but I'm very clever
videos, art, writing, artists, gambling,
The bathroom or TV.
even when I think
I like the turning after
that. if you are a lot more
that best fits
the world that has
left and as
a neighbor what
she recall much gorgeous music but
makes me perhaps surrounded
by the upcoming performances
but am totally aware of an hour.
And heaven I
putting it They can
also be
redeemed for me to turn numerous times but
I'm very yummy rose
champagne we would have to
write to do
it will earn cash!I
can
create such a
good people there were
saving seats at the book stores, parks, coffee
shops, workshops, poetry.

Awesome way to meet new friends and to connect with old, good friends, friends and more friends.

They Might Be Giants

Yankee Bayonet

Lazykitty

Xmas 2006

Whoever designed the Boston Vox banner, that is...

I've been anxiously awaiting the theme but missing from the depicted skyline there are a few curious things...like the missing Citgo sign (national landmark so it shouldn't be considered as advertising), the building with the funky arty round top next to the new Hancock building and also missing is the old John Hancock tower (now called the Berkeley Building) with it's blinking antenna signaling the weather (I think the building is there in the banner, just not the antenna).

Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

Steady blue, clear view
Flashing blue, clouds due
Steady red, rain ahead
Flashing red, snow instead.
(Except in summer, when it means the Red Sox game is canceled.)

The swan boats don't float the Charles. They are in the Garden which isn't part of the skyline. Duckboats or a bevy of sailboats would have made more sense. But, if that sort of creative license was being taken (putting in Boston landmarks in the landscape that don't fit), shouldn't they have included the new Bunker Hill Bridge in there?  It's quite literally one of the coolest bridges in the world.

Why aren't there any Thanksgiving themes???

As for the new features, cross-posting on LJ is good but I'd love to be able to cross-post FROM my TypePad blog to Vox, not the other way around. I want to keep my Typepad blog more professional and cross-posting from Vox doesn't make sense.

And why oh why isn't there a link module (even 4-5 links would be fine!!) or blogroll for the sidebars yet???? It's the one thing that really keeps me from loving Vox 100%. I have years and years on my old Movable Type blog and would love to link back to that permanently but can't. I'd love to be able to include a link to my TypePad blog but can't. Etc. Drives me absolutely batty.

Other than that, I love how Vox has come along. I love the community and the new friends I've made. I'll be posting an entry to the things I love about Vox but I want to get all the words right first.

Last night, Joe and I headed down to Cafe Paradiso (which does have quite good coffee) and met up with other Boston Voxers. I snagged some tsotchkes including a cool t-shirt, stickers, a pin and a pen with some really bizarre-pop-but-don't-quite-melt-in-your-mouth mint globes in the barrel. But the best part was meeting everyone. Finally met my super cool stalker, Reesie (see the comments on my previous BoVox post) and Raf, who organized the whole shindig. The strange and wonderful thing was finding that Sassyone is someone that I used to work with, so it was great to catch up since we had lost touch. Also got to meet sister and brother Ameliorate and Gordon, Kroosh!, j.tyarks. Malchus was also there with his very interesting wife Amanda, who I would have liked to talk more to--our work is somewhat similar (I do a lot of writing about rss, video, advertising and the like) and as I'm going to be developing and managing large blog project for my company, I would have loved her insight. Kelev T. Cat's owner was notably missing.

One of the interesting things to me, is how small our little world is. There were connections all over the place, some of these voxers work with people I know (or in the case of Sassy, worked with me!). Overall it was very cool. I really want to meet up with everyone again!

First the writing:

So I created another Vox blog for my NANOWRIMO project. I wanted a place to discuss the trials and joys of writing, the process.

Then the food:

The blog has a nifty food design which makes sense because the book is a wild tale about a sous-chef who is an apprentice to the most famous celebrity chef in the world who discovers (and inherits) the talisman that made him so famous. It's a book about food history, an unlikely love affair (actually a few of those), about writing a cookbook, of

Cooking the old-fashioned way

(One wicked cool thing about all this is that if my book is published and wildly famous I will automatically have a follow up project--a full companion cookbook). Oh yes, you can tell I'm in marketing for a living, huh?

Then the stupidity:

In creating this second blog I was futzing with the settings and accidentally input the same email for the NANO blog that I did for this one. I didn't think I saved it but Web 2.0 was more intuitive than me and of course, that's what happened. Which in turn, rendered the account login for this blog null and void. ACK! FREAK OUT! Well I did late last night when I realized my error. I get irrationally anxious when things I care about become out of my control and well, I couldn't access this blog and with as much energy as I have put into it in the last two months I was rather frustrated. Sooo I dropped a line to the Vox feedback and went to bed and dreamt about a freakish dark  (but super cool  and absolutely massive) library that had an endless central stairwell and evil people and creatures lurking in the stacks.

Then the coolness of the Vox crew:

As soon as someone rolled into wherever the Vox people do their stuff they reverted my logins back to what they previously were. It was right away in the AM Pacific time, which was better than I expected, especially for a free beta product. I happened to be trying to log in again and found that I had access. Oddly though, they never contacted me to confirm that is what they did, but I assume it's because they could see I was able to access the site again or they received my followup feedback thank you note. Woohooo able to Vox again! Little pleasures, I swear. It's funny, I've had a website since 1994 and been blogging since 2000 but I've not been as into it as I am with Vox. I really love the social aspect...the conversations that occur, easy integration of media, as well as the ease of discovery of new and interesting things.

So check out shiningstar.vox.com if you are interested in writing, cooking or food. And if you are doing NANOWRIMO let me know your name and I'll add you to my buddy list!

Since this design seems to be all about him.

lazy kitty

So you can point your TypePad users to your Vox account but there is no easy way to point users to my TypePad account. I don't get it. TypePad also has a slew of widgets that I think Vox users might find useful...would be nice to see them incorporate some of those.

So since I can't crosspost easily, I guess I'll just have to cut and paste...from my TypePad blog:

My latest column on mobile marketing has been posted, this time on PDAStreet, Dispelling Mobile Marketing Myths V: Harnessing the Power of Mobile.

My Gen2 iPod died last week so it was a great excuse to go pick up the new iPod Video 80g. It's still amazing to me that we have the technology to do things like this, despite the fact that I am intimate with the technology and knowledgeable about the industry. It's like my fascination for fax machines...I still think it's super cool to see data transfer to a piece of paper thousands of miles away. The new iPod is the same for me. I'm wowed by the fact that I have over 500 albums in that little plastic and metal box. I'm amazed that the video is so crystal clear on such a tiny screen. We have come so far during the short time I've been alive. I remember when 8-tracks were the new hot thing (I made my mom get the new ABBA album and Fonzie Favorites!) and then cassettes and so on. In college I remember teaching kids how to use a record turntable because they had never touched one! My own nephews will probably barely remember CDs, actually. By the time they are old enough to buy their own music they will be obsolete.

One of the things that I am really enjoying about the new iPod 80g is the video podcasts I can now subscribe to. My only regret is that I drive to work--I don't have a commute or that much ample opportunity to tune in to all the cool programs available. My favorite, Channel Frederator (a creation of Federator Studios, makers of cartoons such as the Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Labratory) is one of the more popular ones on iTunes right now--for good reason. The channel offers up smart, creative, intelligent, funny and even beautiful cartoons and animations. In the most recent podcast, I was blown away by the very smart music and the equally smart and beautiful video for "Under the Cherry Tree" by Telemetry Orchestra (which you can  also access at that link). SMART advertising--Channel Frederator lets artists submit cartoons which they may decide to feature. By having their video run on this video podcast, Telemetry Orchestra just propelled themselves toward a savvy audience that probably easily numbers in the thousands. You can bet I'll be buying the album now. Great music, but I would never have heard of the band without subscribing to the podcast.

This is the way that I see mobile video really taking off. Finding smart ways to appeal to what the audience themselves wants; connecting with user lifestyles rather than thrusting a blatant advertising message in their face. My article talks more about this if you want to take a gander..