The Quiz

That seemed to be very, very easy even without taking notes and only took me about 10 minutes. I wish quizes were that easy going through school.

Thing #23: Twitter - the final thing

Instant messaging "stuff" again. sigh. As I said before, I have no patience for instant messaging. Use the phone. What happened to that personal contact? I can understand instant messaging's purpose if one has to contact serveral people quickly like when the storm cancelled my Pampered Chef party last week but many if not all of those people don't have instant messaging. Instant messaging is just encouraging and further developing the growing trend of "I want it now" in today's society. We have fast food, faster cleaning products (that create more waste and harm to the environment), priority post, quick fixes, etc. What happened to taking your time to do the job right or looking forward to the moment or savoring the present time? I don't want an instant message Valentine greeting, a fast food meal, and virtual flowers for Valentine's Day this year. It leaves something missing. Rush, rush, rush. Like in a song I like, "I'm in a hurry to get things done. I rush and rush until life's no fun. All I gotta do is live and die but I'm in a hurry and don't know why." I'm also wondering what gets left out when their is no body language or intonation to help interpret what one is saying. I know that I have often been misinterpreted in email without those two key elements. I've heard that 20% or meaning is in our body language. Smilies can't make up for that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Yes! I'm finished all the challenges! Can't say I'll remember enough to complete the quiz though. I should have taken more and organized my notes.

Thing 21 and 22: Meebo

I found I couldn't do much with Thing 21 to try out meebo without going onto visit HRL Meebo chat room. It figures that once I take the time to go there and for once in my life try instant messaging, that there is no one there. But I'm used to talking to myself. But typing is more time consuming and I can listen to the lilt of my voice. LOL Seriously, I have no patience for instant messaging. I'll use the phone if I want to talk to friends or family and email or facebook allows us to exchange communication without being available at the same time.

http://blog.meebo.com/about

Thing #20: Folksonomy part one

The Wikipedia site describes Folksonomy as the practice and method of collaboratively creating and mangaing tags to annotate and categoize content. This method of tagging makes a body of information increasingly easy to search, discover, and navigate over time. Folksonomy enable Web users to label and share user-generated content, such as photographs, or to collaboratively label existing content, such as Web sites, books, works in the scientific and scholarly literatures, and blog entries.

The Term folksonomy is generally attributed to Thomas Vander Wal. It is a portmanteau of the words folk and taxonomy that specifiaclly refers to subject indexing systems created within Internet communities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy

Now, I'm not sure how to find "a folksonomy" in order to describe it here.

Thing #19: Friend Someone

I have done this already using facebook. Facebook did cause me some trouble though when a stranger was able to read, copy, and forward my communication. I have since learned that there are many privacy settings so that various information can be seen by everyone/friends only/ or only me. I have also learned that wireless conncections and public computers increase the risk of privacy breeches. Facebook also told me that no one should be able to read my email unless they have access to my account or the person I am corresponding with. I am also able to block certain people. There are many privacy features in other online services as well such as blogspot. In my blogspots, I have one that is viewable by everyone, and three that are by invitation only. I have also discovered there that I can invite up to 100 authors to my blogspots which is very useful for members of my girls' night group.

Mommy's Nurse

Yesterday I was beginning to feel what Taylor was complaining of Monday, crampy stomach, nausous, and just plain tired. I left the girls in front of the tv and went to bed. Taylor (who is 5 years old) came in shortly after telling me they would be in the kitchen if I needed anything to just yell and they would empty the throw up bowl if I needed them too. She also went and got a stool so she could close the blind and the curtains, saying, "there, is that like night time?" She then left shutting the bedroom door behind her. Minutes later she came in saying, I thought I'd get you some books in case you'd like to read. She then went to my bookshelf and filled a container with my books and placed them beside me on the bed, "Are these your favorites?" Mackenzie also ran in carrying what they called bedtime books from her own bookshelf. Again, Taylor left with Mackenzie, returning shortly after, "Here's the lamby (the hot water bottle) in case your tummy hurts." Again, she left, and a little more time passed before she returned with Mackenzie at her heals, "Mommy, here's a get-well card for you." They had both made one. Then they left and didn't return for over an hour. At that time they returned saying, "We're bored and hungry." So I got up and hurried through getting their supper and putting them to bed. I felt weak but better after my rest and Taylor's care. Where did she ever learn to bed so empathetic?

Skating Pro

I have been taking Mackenzie skating Friday mornings since October 2007. We usually only lasted on the ice for about 20 minutes and during that time Mackenzie was usually being pushed on a chair by me. "Faster, faster!" she'd ask. For the last month she has been taking her chair support and hitting the ice before I have my skates on. Also, for the last month I have been taking Taylor along as well, switching from morning skates to the after school skates. Both have been gaining in self-confidence and can now out-skate me. Yesterday, Mackenzie abandoned the chair minutes after getting onto the ice and only the last five minutes was being pushed around on a chair. She even skated once around the entire rink with me. She has also learned to get back up without holding onto anyone or anything when she does fall down. Now, now, I have to learn to skate again. My two girls don't need me any more and without pushing one of them on a chair, I no longer have it to hold myself up. I had to send Taylor after Mackenzie once when she crossed the barrier between the beginning skaters and the practiced skaters. I just can't keep up. However, we are all getting better. I can now stand up after a session on the ice for my legs are no longer reduced to jello. They are ;however, frozen for I'm not skating as quickly as I could while using a chair to hold myself up. As for Mackenzie, she has declared, once again, "I'm a big girl now. I'm five. Are you proud of me?" We must invest in a proper hockey helmet with a cage for she just skates full out. Even the supervisor commented that she could use a caged helmet for "she has no fear and she's cute as a button so I'd hate to see her fall on her face."

Things #17 and #18

Thing #17 says to try flickr. I set up an account but I do not have photos of my own at work to use flickr at this point.

Thing #18 requests that participants "tag" something. I have tagged people in photos on my facebook account. I hope this counts. This tagging helps to share with others with brief clicks rather than forwarding something that requires a lot of memory.

Mommy Sandwich

Way.....back when I was single (about 12 years ago) my bed often seemed to be very cold and lonely. I now long to have some space to myself even after moving up from a single mattress to a queen. Sunday night I was awoken by the slow creak... of my bedroom door which was then followed by a click with its closing, the pitter patter of bare feet, and tense silence as my little one stood next to the bed waiting to be addressed. "Hi." "Mommy can I come in with you?" As Taylor crawled in we had the usual exchange of I had a nightmare, what was it about, and I don't know, before we both succumed to sleep again. Sharing my bed with my girls is such a regular occurance that I don't always wake up when they do climb in. An unknown amount of time passed before I was rudely awakened by a smaller someone climbing up over the bed and me. "Hi, Kenzie." "Hi, Mommy." she replied as she roughly wedged herself in between her father and I. Now I lay between Mackenzie, on the left, and Taylor, on the right, making me the sandwich filling to this family submarine. The rest of the night was a bit rough. One arm was pinned under Taylor's head, at her request, and was falling asleep. I was also incredibly hot wedged between two young ones with high metabolisms. The limited space was hurting my hips so I rolled over on my side to release the pressure. Oh, to have my bed to myself again. But for now, they are both still so very little and still want to cuddle with Mommy. I shall take their affections while they are still willing to give them. In addition to this, they are both sick at the moment and only Mommys will do. But when is there cuddle time for Mommy and Daddy? And how much bigger do they have to grow before someone is falling out of the bed?

Thing #9 & 10 Capture an RSS feed

Yes!!! Thanks to help from a co-worker (here's to quiet Sundays and helpful co-workers) I have completed thing 9 and 10, capture Challenge 2.0 and an RSS feed. I can see how this could save a frequent internet user a lot of time closing and opening windows switching from one site to another. Where has this feature been all my web-surfing life? But then I just learned about control tab in firefox...