Do you have the latest Google Chrome browser installed? If so, set aside ten minutes of your time and visit The Wilderness Downtown using Chrome. It’s pretty impressive what the creators of this website have done with HTML5, but you really have to see it for yourself.
Without giving too much away, you start off by entering an address that Google Maps has StreetView for. They suggest the address where you grew up but it really doesn’t matter. The website then showcases a music video that is customized with both aerial and street level views of the location you entered. But that’s not the impressive part. What’s really impressive is the choreographed display of multiple windows that open and close and actually interact with each other in sync. There are also some pretty cool effects with animated overlays (especially one part near the end). If you have Google Chrome installed, go check it out!
Tip: When you first visit the home page, you can interact with he birds using your mouse.
Every August 31st is BlogDay. It is intended as a day in which “every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs.” Unfortunately I don’t actually know any other bloggers who do this but so what. Last year I recommended five blogs. This year I’ll do the same but this year I won’t be emailing each blog owner or bothering with the Technorati tag either.
According to their About page, “Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. We try to convince you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present.” Their self-description is very accurate. They post on average just 1.5 times per day (compared to 19.2 times per day for Lifehacker) but their articles are in depth and of very high quality.
A blog that highlights new and innovative plug-ins for the Mozilla Firefox browser, from the Mozilla team. I honestly ignore 9 out of 10 posts but every once in a while they highlights something truly useful, making it worth while to have subscribed to their feed.
This blog starts a string of three blogs from people I know personally. I used to work with James Stover when we both used to produce local television commercials in Plattsburgh, NY in the mid-90s. James now works in Public Relations and Marketing Communications in Las Vegas, NV. His blog is updated very infrequently but when he does post, it’s usually honest, in-depth, and well-pondered insights into the world of Public Relations.
This is the professional blog of Kristen Bostedo-Conway, a Charlotte area Marketing Executive. She specializes in brand management and social media for businesses. Not surprisingly, her blog discusses tips and advice on the best practices in corporate branding and marketing strategies.
Sticking with the recent string of blogs from friends, this is the blog of fellow SUNY Plattsburgh and PSTV alumnus Chris Rooney. He’s the only person I know personally who’s blogged more than me. Unlike the last two sites I mentioned, this is a personal blog so it has a decidedly niche audience. Just like my blog, Chris’ post are a combination of family news and interesting tid bits found around the internet (but with much more Star Wars references).
We’ve seen a bunch of odd critters around the house. We’ve encountered countless five-lined skinks, and about a half-dozen velvet ants (also known as Cow Killers). But we were pretty surprised to walk out the front door and see this fat bug on our porch. This is a Tobacco Hornworm. It’s 3½ inches long with a giant stinger-looking horn. Odd looking thing.
A little while ago Patty went online and found a Charlotte hiking group on MeetUp.com. She joined and signed up for a hike at Lake Norman State Park in Troutman, NC. That hike was yesterday and Maegan, and I went along too. (Darah didn’t go with us.)
Maegan and I have gone hiking many times before, including Crowder’s Mountain last year, but this was the first time all three of us have ever been out hiking together. In fact, this was the first time that Patty’s gone hiking since 1998. The hike was listed as an easy-to-moderate hike on the Lakeshore Trail. The trail was 5 miles (8K) but Patty hurt herself mid-midway and we took a shortcut back after about 3 miles.
At least a couple dozen hikers were with us. This was the first time I’ve been hiking with a large group since I used to climb Mt. Poke-O-Moonshine in Kernersville, NY with my fraternity (at night by flashlight) in the early 1990s. It felt like we were a long line of marching ants. Patty thought the pace was great but I felt it was way too brisk. It seemed that most others in the group (and I guess Patty too) were mainly out for exercise. When Maegan and I hike we like to slow down and appreciate things we see along the way.
I had a million dollar idea and I didn’t even realize it.
Ever since Darah could walk I would take her out of her car seat and put her on the ground. (Well duh, what else would I do?) I want to keep her hands away from the car door while I close it, plus I also want to make sure she doesn’t run off into parking lot traffic and possibly be hit by another vehicle. So when I put her down I tell her to put her hands on the car. I never specified where to put her hands but she always but her hand on the gas tank lid, which is a perfect spot midway between the back door and the bumper. It works great and keeps her safe – the end.
Then in the doctor’s office today we saw an advertisement for Parking Pal; magnets you can purchase and stick on your car, with a hand-print where your child should put their hand to help keep them safe. Dang it. Why didn’t I think of that? That’s exactly what I’ve been doing with Darah for years. I knew it was a good idea (that I came up with on my own) but it never even crossed my mind to market the idea, especially in the form of a simple magnet.
I wish I knew the exact date so I could have posted something about it then, but last month a major anniversary passed by unnoticed. Twenty years ago this June Patty and I both graduated from Northport High School. Twenty years. Two decades. And last night the Northport High School Class of 1990 held their Twenty Year Reunion on Long Island. We planned on going to this reunion for the past couple of years, but then a few developments threw a big wrench in those plans. One problem is that I was laid off. Tickets to the event plus travel expenses would have ran well over $1000. It would have been hard but we still may have gone if not for the fact that we learned that most of our best friends from high school weren’t going to be there anyway. Sure there were other friends we would have seen but absolutely none of the people who are all over my old photo albums – those who shared all the same old high school memories with us – went to the reunion, so neither did we.
Here’s our Class of 1990 photo. You can click the photo to see it a little bigger. I’m in the second row from the bottom, fourth from the left, in a stripped button-down. Patty is in the fourth row from the bottom, second from the left, next to the girl with the fro in the red and black sweater (hi Dee).
There have been a bunch of reunion photos popping up on Facebook today and I suspect they’ll keep coming in over the next few days. I haven’t seen any large group shots of all returning alumni, but that may be because so many did attend that perhaps a group shot that large just wasn’t possible (I have no idea). I honestly didn’t even recognize half of the names that were tagged in those photos… even after checking my old yearbook too. In any case, everybody said they had a great time and it looked like they did. Whenever we do end up back on Long Island again, perhaps we’ll try to meet up for lunch or something with a few former Tigers.
We picked Maegan up at camp yesterday. It was a three hour trip. We got there an hour early yet we still only managed to be the fourth car in line. Before the gates opened the line of cars was literally beyond sight down the mountain road. While we waited for the gates to open Darah pet the farm animals, including goats, a pot-bellied pig, and the world’s only <joke> “Appalachian Battle Donkeys” </joke>. We also watched from a distance as they launched model rockets into the sky as part of the final camp activity for the week.
Maegan had a great time at camp, but she still missed home. She said to Patty in a letter home, “be prepared, because I’m going to come flying into your arms as hard and fast as a bullet”. The pickup scene was a bit too crowded for a running start but Maegan was still quite happy to see us (especially Patty), and Patty was even more happy to see Maegan.
After signing out Maegan and packing up the car, we had a hunch to double check on Maegan’s friend Olivia who went to camp with her. We called her parents to ask if they were here in the car line, or still on their way. Good thing we checked because they thought camp pickup was the next day. So unexpectedly, and luckily for Olivia, we took an extra passenger home with us.
