Women! Know Your Place!

Juke Box Boot

So I'll choose a cute one. This is Ryan. He's up for adoption. It was a super hot day at the last event, and all the kitties were just tuckered out!

Daily Goal: Not met

Oh the suckage.  I have simply proven that I cannot write while watching 12 HOURS of Buffy.  Yes, hubby and I were lazy sods today.  We're into Season 3.  I'm about to hit the hay early (DH says I'm a weenie), and hopefully get up relatively early tomorrow and get a little REAL writing done.

You know, after commenting on the Ruby on Rails posts I made about the systems my team works on, it probably makes sense to let you know about one of them.

At Izea we've done a lot of work with Javascript over the years. We use it to deliver blog sponsorships from SocialSpark, our affiliate programs like ReviewMyPost from PayPerPost, and of course we use it to track blog metrics at IzeaRanks. Collectively the set of Javascript that does all this is known as ITK, or Izea Toolkit. ITK3 is called Cloudshout and I'm pretty excited about it.

Ok - I hear the groans. Yet another Widget framework. So what?

We focussed on a number of areas with Cloudshout. First, communication. We wanted a way to let developers build widgets that enable interaction on a blog. You could visit a blog with a Cloudshout chat widget on for example and start chatting, real time, with everyone else currently at the blog. Imagine that - no more waiting for comments to get approved then checking back every hour or so to see if there's a conversation taking place that you're a part of. It's live, it's right there in front of you. We're also exposing a friendship system so that any Cloudshout widget can identify who a blog reader's friends are and connect them (chat, gaming, etc ).

Second, we wanted readers of blogs to be able to take widgets with them. Maybe someone wrote a cool Alarm clock widget that you use to track how long you've got till the spouse comes a knocking. AS you travel around blogs, that alarm clock widget can follow you.

Third, Cloudshout gives developers a way to get found, and gives blog owners a way to find widgets and install them. It you have the ITK on your blog you just head over to the Cloudshout library, choose widgets that interest you and BAM - they appear on your blog straight away. No futzing around in source code. As a developer this is pretty neat too since there's a central repository that everyone can go to discover your work.

Izea's also going to handle the hosting of these widgets, and we'll be using our CDN to deliver them, so the hurdles you'd normally have to leap (setting up a host for your widget to talk to, distributing it, etc etc) is all offloaded onto us.

Cloudshout also gives developers a way to make money from their work. If you have want to give up space in your widget design for an ad, we'll serve the ads and pay you. The blogger gets paid too since they're hosting your widget. Right a really popular widget and you could soon be raking in the cash as more and more blogs pick up on it and more ads get served through it.

We're still a couple of weeks away from opening the whole thing up to everyone, but head on over to Cloudshout and sign up if you want to be notified when we have slots in available in the Alpha program.

The length is perfect but the bodice could have been about an inch and a half narrower. Next time - if I make her another one this summer - I'll move the straps in by half an inch on each side, and take in the sides by about 3/4 inch each side. She's very long and narrow and this pattern is made for a wider child.

You should have seen her face when she saw it. She gasped! She loved it and that made my heart melt.

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

According to the new data, the so-called asteroid "belt" is actually an asteroid squiggle; and Mars is only red "some of the time," vacillating between purplish-blue, orange, and turquoise with specks of green as it moves along its six separate orbits around the sun.

Click here for the full story.

[wpvideo mFv1Luft]

COFFEE CHEERIOS

Pour one cup of coffee into a cup.  The coffee can be cheap, or even left over from yesterday, and the temperature is not too important.  Add more milk and sugar than you are used to using.

Pour one cup of Cheerios into a bowl.  Yes, even if you are a bachelor, you have to wash the bowl first.

Pour coffee onto Cheerios.  Eat.  The recipe makes one serving.

For some reason all of the women in my family think this is weird, and all of my explanations do not persuade them.  I just don't understand.

FAMILY REUNION: It was a great thrill to travel to Spirit Lake, Iowa, to see many of my family on Brott side. To be clear, this was a reunion of my dad's family, which meant there were people I had a) met when I was a child growing up in Minnesota and barely remember or b) never met at all and didn't know I was related to them. And the frosting on the cake was my two brothers were there and so was my mom so I was able to introduce them to my kids. As another bonus, several of my nieces and nephews were there, too, so my kids got to meet some of their cousins — and there are a lot of them in my family.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Most years, it seems, we end up going to South Dakota over the Fourth of July because my in-laws live along a lake and so it makes it an enjoyable time in several ways. This year, right after the family reunion in Iowa, we took my son and daughter to S.D. so he could attend camp at Byron Bible Camp and my daughter could help in the kitchen there. As is our practice, this turned into an extended vacation for the kids and us from each other. After camp, the kids stayed at my in-laws, who live about a quarter of a mile away from the camp. It's a great arrangement because it allows the kids some special time with their grandparents and it allows us a chance to do things without them (although we miss them dearly!).

So, when the Fourth of July rolled around, we were able to join them in S.D. and have a pleasant time. Also, my wife's brother and his family were there so it was another good time for family reunion. And, of course, we all enjoyed shooting and watching the fireworks.

GARAGE SALE: Today, we are sitting out in the front yard watching people look at our treasures, hoping they will buy some. I am thankful for shade, a cool glass of lemonade (thanks, Andrew!) and wireless access. I am also aware that I have way more than I need and ask God's forgiveness for forgetting from time to time that he is all I need.

I have had more positive experiences with CL in the last few months than I could have ever anticipated. I managed to find someone to take over the lease of my current apartment, find my new apartment, sell a bunch of clothes I wasn't wearing anymore, and even go on a few dates (yes, that was my social experiment - don't judge, I was curious to see what would happen!) - all through Craigslist! Thanks, Craig - you're the best!

So the moral of the story is - CL is good! I am hooked.

Went for a youth gathering today at Parkroyal Hotel. Here are some pictures :)

Boys

Girls :)

Afterwards we went for a little dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! :) Love you!

The adults!

Uncle JK bought 6 packs of cards and tomorrow we will go Nertz mad. Whoo can't wait! :) Cons and I went shopping this morning and got loads of stuff. I was even environmentally friendly by bringing my own bag to put the stuff in! Yay I am so excited! Everything seems to be falling into place and I hope the surprise is a GREAT SUCCESS! Hahaha!

Cons' new hermit crab, Martin something something. Cool shell right?

We are the suspender sisters!

(GASP another 's' but alas I am not the second sister!)

Crazy jumps

Trying out my tripod

Going a bit nuts.

I tell you, doing jump shots in heels is something new. New, tiring and painful. You reach the ground faster than you normally expect.

Ouch.

I don't know why I thinking about it Spirograph, but when I Googled it, I remembered why I didn't like it. I didn't get it. None of my drawings looked liked the pictures on the box. And I remember losing those little dot push pins!

Here is what Wikipedia says about Spirograph...

The Spirograph produces mathematical curves of the variety technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The term has also been used to describe a variety of software applications that display similar curves.

WHAT?? Is that how a "child's toy" should be described? No wonder I had problems making those designs... I was only eight years old!!

I did see that eBay had some Spirograph Set that you could bid on. I might have to get one just to see if I can do it or not. There are some online Spirograph out there, but that doesn't sound as fun as losing those gears wheels and dot push pins!

The spot that Clara picked to look for some new friends was under a maple tree in our backyard. The branches of the tree filtered the sun so that the only place that had direct light was on Clara. It looked very cool and I don't think I could have planned the light any better as it really created some interesting highlights and shadows. Check out these few photos that I was able to capture of her while she was digging through the rocks. Although the last picture is a relatively straightforward sepia tone, the others are an experimental recipe that I came up with while having some fun in Photoshop. How do you like it? I guess if I get favorable feedback on the treatment, I'll record it as an action so that it's ready to go at a moment's notice and easy to duplicate on other images.

• Breaking news on Breaking dawn, the Twilight movie, and Stephenie herself
• Breaking dawn quotes of the day (Catch up on past quotes here)
• information on the other books in the popular series
• links to fansites

We don't have anything Breaking dawn related going on at the library but you can find other events nearby using this Event locator.

What are YOUR plans for the big day? Leave us a comment and let us know. Maybe we'll see you there!

Phillip:

The reading bug is on the kid’s place page on aclibrary.org. (He must be ready to search great children books on bugs in the kid’s catalog)

Answer for Reading Bug Search No. 3:

..............................................................

How about now?

Need some hint? Click at the first *, hold and slide to the right to the second *

Hint: * Are you kidding?! The answer is already somewhere in this post ! *

Click on comment to submit your answer. One winner will be drawn from all the correct answers to receive a prize. Please provide your email so I can tell you how to claim the prize if you win. Your email will not be published.

Winner and answer will be announced on August 2nd.

What Japan is doing

Look closely and guess what they could be...

Are they pens with cameras? NO

Any wild guesses? No clue yet? NOT YET
Ladies and gentlemen... congratulations! You've just looked into the future...yep that's right!
You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.
Here is how it works:

In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology.. .
These are the forthcoming computers you can carry in your pockets .

This 'pen type of instrument' produces both the monitor as well as the keyboard on any flat surface from where you can carry out functions you would normally do on your desktop computer.

Can anyone say .'Good-bye laptops!'