I always love beta testing items, primarily because I find bugs. A lot. Repeatable.

When I worked in live entertainment (read: theatre and concerts), ever show I did I would rent one ‘unknown’ piece of gear that I had never used. A new type of automated light most of the time, but sometimes a console. I remember a new year’s eve event, which was pretty much the event from hell. My gear list was all messed up because the project manager ordering the gear thought that another person had designed the stage and used his equipment preferences. I ended up with two types of lights I had never used, along with a brand-spankin’ new console (controller) that had been on the market for all of 2 months. Not only did I need to learn the capabilities of the new lights, I had to figure out how to program a new lighting console.

This is not an easy task for a one-off event.

I ended up with blue-screen-of-death (yes, the same one Windows used to display) on the console the second night into programming. Wiped out about an hours worth of work. Restarted. Tried the last keystroke combination again. Blue screen. Third time? Same results. Panic!

Hello, bug. I guess I’m not doing that idea.

That day a sewer pipe also broke and ran under the stage area. All the cables and dimmer racks were covered. It stank. The hosers came out to wash the area down with clean water. We hoped for nothing to short out since water and electricity make very volatile friends.

The event turned out okay. I reported the bug to the console manufacturer.

I find it exciting to test out new things. Mostly because I can intentionally try to break software or sites or gear — and give ideas on how to improve it. Which is why I’m happy to be part of the T-Mobilizer program through T-Mobile. I occasionally get to test out new phones, and give feedback on them and the service received. The best part? T-Mobile wants the positive and negative. Rock. ON.

Besides, who doesn’t like having their voice hear to make something better?!?

Disclosure of Material Connection: A smartphone will be loaned to me from T-Mobile for two months for review purposes, and for free. I am an existing T-Mobile customer, and will continue to pay my monthly service fees during the review period. The opinions I express are my own and — since I’m only human — can be flawed and in no way reflect the views of T-Mobile, the phone manufacturer, or other affiliated companies. I am not required to write a positive review. For more information or a full list of phones and services provided by T-Mobile, please visit their site, visit your local store, or call their customer service line. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Photo: oops_5642 by This Amuses Me (Flickr name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Taking a queue from the NaBloPoMo prompt today since I’m recovering from the quarterly Zappos All-Hands Meeting and my brain is toast.

Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

But of course I can listen to music and write. In fact, writing is much more painful if there isn’t music playing in the background. Even as I write this, RadioParadise is streaming via iTunes. Earlier tonight, it was America’s Horse With No Name. And while I’m revising what I wrote last night, more music will stream. I’m really not picky what plays, so long as it isn’t seriously twangy country, death metal, or heavy gangsta rap.

And now… to finish the About text for a web page.

Photo: Musica comprimida – Compressed Music by Ferrari + caballos + fuerza = cerebro Humano ? (Flickr name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license.

Yes. Giant red solo cups as a costume. Wanna know how it’s done?

Here ya go!

Step 1:
Gather necessary supplies

• 6 or 10 Garbage cans (dependent on the number of people you have. You want to be able to form nicely into a triangle shape!). We went with 32 gallons, but whatever suits you. If you’re a football team, you may have to find 55 gallon drums!
• Spray paint in red (or whatever color you want your cups) and white that adheres to plastic. We used Krylon Fusion. You’ll need 1 can of color per cup, and 1 can of white per two cups.
• Rope to hold up your cups.
• A drill
• A saw — handheld hacksaw or handheld jigsaw if you want it to go faster.
• A larger ball or two to use as your ping pong balls. Can be a volleyball, kickball, beach ball… I suggest the type of ball gets decreasingly soft as the more alcohol that will be involved while wearing the costumes increases.

Step 2:
Flip the garbage can upside down and drill a starter hole (necessary) and relief holes (optional). You’ll want to leave about an inch of the base to create the illusion of the rounded bottom to the cup.

Step 3:
Cut out the bottom using your saw. The thinner and cheaper your trash cans, the easier this task becomes. Also, power tools will cut your time by about 2/3!

Step 4:
Paint the rim of your cup white. I flipped the can upside down to hit the underside of the rim first, then stood it right-side up to paint the top / inside. You don’t need to paint the entire inside of the can, but may if you’d like.

Step 5:
Paint the rest of the cup red. Doesn’t get any more simple than that. I used a piece of cardboard to keep the red paint from spraying on the white rim, or you can tape it off. Your choice depending on how meticulous you are about things such as that.

Step 6:
Let dry overnight. Do not stack yet since the paint still needs some time to cure. You can speed up the process a bit by placing them in a well-ventilated sunny place.

Step 7:
Drill four holes in the rim where you’d like your suspenders to attach. The hole diameter should be slightly larger than the rope you’re using.

Step 8:
Cut two pieces of rope the same length and thread the rope through the holes. Knot to keep from falling out. Depending on the type of rope you use, using an actual hot rope cutter (if you have access to one) or burning the ends of the rope with a source of fire (lighter, candle, etc.) helps to keep the rope from fraying — and your nerves from fraying.

That’s it. Total time to complete 6, not including drying time was approximately 5 hours for one person. Total cost between $20 – $25.

Happy human beer pong-ing as a Red Solo Cup!

Sara Mooney’s Influences

[Try to follow along the best you can from top left to bottom right!]

1. Rainer Maria Rilke – The first of a long line of old, dead poet dudes. He actually led a pretty sad existence, but the fodder he had for great poetry and writing was amazing!
2. Crayola Interior Design kit – I received this as a Christmas present as a kid. It came with a little drafting board, complete with slide rules, angles, curves, and stencils/templates. My dad (a draftsman) showed me how to use all the tools, and he kept me stocked with mechanical pencils, good erasers, and velum. I must have made hundreds and hundreds of rooms! It’s amazing how much creativity can be fostered from the basics of lines and colors.
3. The Cure – Yep. Teen angst. Played the Wish cassette until it was worn out. Let my freak flag fly high!
4. Gaping Void / Hugh MacLeod – It all started with cartoons drawn on business cards and has now progressed to a sharp commentary on the advertising and social media biz. Who can ever argue with “Evil plans are best!” and “Ignore Everybody”?
5. XML and rich metadata / Dublin Core – Metadata makes the world go ‘round! I’ve been coding web pages since 1994 (yes, starting in Mosaic days!), and think that this type of code is poetry. XML is so diverse that it’s the building blocks of information discovery. You can learn a lot by simply looking at the code. Only thing? It better be rich and correct, otherwise I become a very cranky gal.
6. REM – This one is definitely for the music and not for Michael Stipe. One of the first alternative / progressive bands to go from college radio to mainstream.
7. Libraries and WiFi – once again, information in physical or electronic form. Yay for learning and discovery!
8. David McCandless – Information Is Beautiful. Yes, it is.
9. Jackson Pollock – Many people look at his paintings and see only splotches of paint. What they miss is his underlying methods to keep his style in the paintings. What looks like chaos is actually highly organized.
10. Terry Gilliam – Monty Python. Brazil. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. His animations. So much of his work appeals to my offbeat sense of humor and slightly skewed outlook on the world that it’s hard for me to not look at his work and see brilliance.
11. Music – simple yet so complex.
12. Thesauri – Can’t find inspiration? Crack open the thesaurus, look up a word, and find another word. Repeat. Also great for doing alphabet poems!
13. Roy Lichtenstein – Two words: Pop art. Another word: comics. Bliss.
14. McSweeney’s Quarterly – These guys are always on the verge of great fiction. In fact, their quarterly release is also a work of art. Who can say no to your literature coming packaged like a WWII army survival kit in a cigar box or in a clear plastic envelope that looks like junk mail for $60 a year shipped?
15. The Muppets and NYC – The Muppet Show was something both my parents and I could share, even when I was 5 years old. Sophisticated enough for adults to laugh at, amusing for the kids. In high school, we started taking yearly bus trips to NYC to see Broadway shows and run around the city. All I have to do is think about how big both the Muppets continue to be and the dynamic pace of NYC, and I’m happy.
16. Haruki Murakami – A Japanese writer whose books are not quite reality, yet not quite fantasy. He weaves stories that exist in a haze like a waking dream. On top of that, he’s a runner who didn’t start running until his 30’s. He ran his first marathon while in Greece on the original route. How cool is that?!?
17. Theatre – Where anything can go wrong and will go wrong. Nothing like being onstage or backstage when things don’t quite go as planned to foster immediate creativity.
18. Apple, Inc. – With the help of an ex, I built a PC running Windows. Once. Then I immediately went back to a Mac. Fangirl? Yes, but more of a fan of their willing to push the envelope of innovation.
19. Jack Kerouac – Who doesn’t want the life of touring around the USA and Mexico strung out and writing? This girl! Still interesting in reading and living vicariously through his adventures, and I hope to make it to Big Sur sometime in the next year.
20. Wallace Stevens – another old, dead poet guy. Here’s a guy who was an insurance salesman by day and a poet by night. Right brain vs. left brain brilliance.
21. Glen Phillips – Yep. Been a fan since 1990? 1991? I remember asking for a Toad the Wet Sprocket cassette tape for Christmas and no one having any clue who they were. Little did I know at that time how influential Glen’s songwriting would be in my life. It matured at the same rate I matured.
22. Canada – From my early days of summer family camping around the 1000 Islands region to working for a French-Canadian company, that country always seems to come back into my life. Again. And again. Not that I mind since they do have Coffee Crisps.
23. Converse Chuck Taylors – Best. Shoes. Evar! Get some white ones and design your own or choose from the hundreds of designs that were released over the past 50+ years!
24. Traveling – There’s nothing like going to a different place to open your eyes to new ideas and learning how someone else lives.
25. Camping and the outdoors – Taking the time to slow down, unplug, and see all the wonderful sights.

Yep. That was the day. It moved too quick to be much more interesting than that!

In other unrelated news, my video poker winning streak broke (nickel and dime games). Thanks to Mr. Man, I’m learning. Still up $7 overall, but no winnings today. I’ll have to try again this weekend.

As an undergrad — way back in 1997 — Elizabethtown College required all students to take a Junior/Senior Colloquium outside of their major. I chose one about science and religion that was team taught by the astronomy/physics professor, a psychology professor, and a religion professor. It was one of the best classes I ever took because

1. No textbook needed. All articles!
2. I found the professors fascinating.
3. Debates between the Catholics and the atheists.

A bit of background on the college: It sits just east of Lancaster, PA and was founded by the church of the Brethren (one of the more liberal sects of Anabaptists). The area is fairly conservative, although the college was much more diverse than the local population. In class, the staunch Catholics sat up front. The atheists sat in the back. The Lutherans and Baptists were in the middle. I don’t think there were any Jewish people in the class.

And there I sat, the lone agnostic.

The whole concept of the class was to solidify and formulate your personal world-view. Each week we would discuss a topic, such as creationism vs. evolution, the psychology of evil vs. a “God” who creates evil, etc. Heated discussions for those 90 minutes were the norm. Many times, those of us with middle ground views couldn’t get a word in between the Catholics and atheists. Which, to me, I found the whole black and white debates rather amusing. Our final for the class was a 5 – 10 minute presentation of your world view to the class. We were only allowed 2 or 3 note cards, so you really had to believe in and understand your world view.

[Bear with me here... we're getting to the relevance to the book right now.]

I remember my presentation fairly well. After hearing classmates whose Worldviews were all God or all science, I got up there and said that every human is seeking happiness. From the earliest man who found happiness in staying alive, finding food, or the rush of the hunt to modern day where some people find happiness in God, others find it in science, while some people need a family or money to make them happy. It differs for each person, but we — as a human race — strive to find happiness.

This shocked the class. No one had any questions for me after my presentation (a first if memory serves me well). All three professors had a slight smile on their face like they knew exactly what I was talking about yet amazed to hear it all at the same time. I knew that I had hit on one of life’s pure truths in that moment. For once, the great debate had been momentarily quelled. It was a WOW learning moment. I still have the index note cards stashed away someplace.

When I heard about the Delivering Happiness book and movement, I figured I needed to read it. It’s an easy read and good story, perfect to get those sluggish summer thoughts running again. Personally, the Epilogue about the science of happiness spoke to me the most mostly because I didn’t realize how much research was conducted on happiness. So, go read it. Check it out from your local library, buy it online or at a bookstore, or borrow a copy from a friend. There’s a reason why it’s spent 4 weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller List.

[Note: I did receive a complimentary copy of the book via an online promotion. I was not required in any way to provide a review (either positive or negative), and received no other compensation for writing this post.]

I’ve taken to picking up the proverbial pen again and am back writing poetry.  Granted, it took a little exercise called 30 Days of Creativity to get me started again, but it’s going along. I’m a bit rusty, and you can find my work on my other blog. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 10 years since I wrote seriously and was published. May that never happen again!

Other things also in the works: A new logo, Twitter background, and blog theme. The blog theme may take a while since I bought a developer theme and have to figure out how everything plugs into it so that it displays correctly. Thinking that I’d also like to really, really, really dig into metadata and how the schemas fit into XML. That topic satisfies both the coder in me as well as the organizer and creator.

nataliedee.com

It’s also the last three weeks of the semester.  Which means I should be working on my usability or cataloging assignments, but instead I’m procrastinating by blogging.  It kind of sucks since I really could use a day off from everything to decompress, but that won’t come until mid-to-late December.  With any luck, I’ll be able to take off Christmas and my birthday (yay! after holiday sales!) at the very least.  Which would be nice. Not that I’m going to go anywhere, but a few days off before January and starting my last semester (!!!) of grad school would be really nice.  May cannot come soon enough so that I can knock another thing off of my wish-to-do list — although slightly modified.  This was another area where I went from a lighting MFA to a M(L)IS, and I’m okay with it. Change is good!