The medieval practice of illiterate peasants signing an “X” in place of their name required a witness to kiss this mark to prove sincerity. this eventually evolved into the “X” being a shorthand symbol of a kiss. Wow, bet you didn’t know that, did you? [via Marmalade Maermaid]
Chris Pirillo had better watch it, I think my son Jason may be going after his job soon. I’m not sure if I exposed him to too much TechTV this weekend or what, but I knew I was in trouble when he was working on his chart for his science fair project this afternoon. I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher as he sat at the table working on the laptop. All of the sudden he exclaimed, “I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!” I couldn’t help but laugh. Such enthusiasm, over the cut & paste functionality in Word!
I started thinking “TechTV needs a kids show!” Then I realized that kids pick up this stuff faster then adults, and after watching the Call for Help episode from earlier this week about the wireless networks he already understands how ours works. They don’t need a dumbed-down show at all!
I love technology!
While reading Melly’s blog, it always makes me stop and think. And remember. Somedays I feel like she’s wearing my old shoes that I have walked many miles in. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I’ve been faced with the same choices, the same labels, and the same emotions. In many ways it seems like just yesterday, and at other times it seems like a lifetime ago. I made my decisions, and I have never had regrets about most of them. And no regrets about the most important one of all. The miracle of life is a wonderful thing.
I don’t normally have much if anything to complain about when it comes to work. I love my job, most clients are wonderful. But there is nothing that annoys me more then when people use me and waste my time. I have spent countless hours working on a huge elaborate proposal this past week. It has not been easy, especially considering they changed the entire scope of their RFP last Monday, wouldn’t give us anything other then an e-mail address until Wednesday when they finally sent a phone number. A conference call where I practically had to drag details out of the client didn’t leave me with a good feeling. I tried to tell the boss that I didn’t see them paying our rates, that the RFP was too loose and he wasn’t willing to give too many more details. I didn’t have a good vibe, and if there is one thing I have learned … trust the vibe. But the boss said to work away on it. So I have. About 3 hours late tonight alone, churning away. And guess what? Just over a week since they sent out their detailed RFP … and the “thanks for participating but we found a company that we feel is a better fit” e-mail came in. A form letter version, because the engineering team hasn’t had a chance to review our proposal, so they haven’t even received it. Yet their letter stated that they were “very impressed” by it. Amazing. Simply amazing.
Next time, I’m going with the vibe. For now I am going to go watch Chris on Call for Help and learn how to set up my computer as a jukebox so no one can mess with anything else while it is in that mode. The “kiosk mode” that he is talking about would be perfect for the computer in Jason’s room to keep him using it without my permission. I could even restrict what websites he can access through it. Perfect! Nothing like some techno info to help me unwind. Not a problem!
Meryl and I were discussing tonight’s additions to the Pixelog tonight. She had IM’d me and I had to ask her to wait as I finished up an addition there. In the discussion she asked me “how do you get such Wow! photos?” I honestly had no answer. The best thing I could think of? I have about 1000 photos on my hard drive right now. Of those, maybe 1/10 of them will end up online. It’s a selective process, and not every shot is good. Also, always remember the rule of thirds. If you imagine a # symbol going across the viewfinder, your focus of the image should be either on the lines or at the points. Works for me every time. Well, almost.
Adding images to the Pixelog makes me happy. It’s a nice process. I miss the days in the darkroom – it’s been years since I developed my own pictures. I don’t normally enhance the photographs for the Pixelog other then cropping and adding borders. It reminds me every time of moving the equipment in the darkroom around, framing that perfect shot before you expose the paper. Sometimes I am even surprised with the end result, just like in the darkroom, because the image will look different framed on the site then it did back in Photoshop.
The feeling of creativity brings me joy. Many thanks again (I can’t say this enough) to Jennifer for helping to make the Pixelog a reality instead of just a dream.