Libby Says...
I've noticed a couple of postings about the e-Pro Magazine Apex awards. Yes, it's time once again for our annual awards. Nominations are closed and the voting (for readers' choice) has begun. Of course, as Volker has pointed out, there's definitely some attempts at ballot stuffing that occurs in the voting for readers' choice awards. On the other hand, we do what we can to prevent that from succeeding. I've talked about my beliefs about awards before. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, it's been a year of blogging. (Well actually, it had been a year yesterday, when I started this entry. That seems to be the story of my blogging life -- I keep getting way to freaking busy to blog effectively on a daily basis. Ah well. A day late won't kill anyone.) So. Yay. Thanks for sticking with me and being part of Notesgirl.com. Just over 200 entries in the year -- clearly there have been some months and items that inspired me more than others. As with many blogs, some of the most interesting material on the site hasn't been in the main blog, where I can link to it, but has rather been in the discussion that has taken place in the comments. Some of the more commented-upon blogs include:
Lots of other things have happened over the year -- lots of travel (here's the overview) and lots of conferences. A half-marathon and a move. Friends getting married and having babies. Making new friends. It's been a hard year in a lot of ways, but it's also had some high points, and I've learned a lot about myself and what I want out of life. Hopefully this next year will have more high points and better opportunities. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Wow -- reading Ed's blog this morning and there's an implication that the events team at Lotus might be interested in bringing back the Lotus DevCon from years past. I know there was great gnashing of teeth when it went away -- if you're all still into that show, this might be a good opportunity to let your voices be heard. If there's some other kind of show you're interested in, well, this might be the chance to say that too. Comment here if you like, or more effectively probably, on Ed's blog. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Last week, we had an interesting discussion on this site about same-sex marriage, the border between federal and states' rights, and whether homosexuality is a choice (and if it is a choice, whether it is either amoral or immoral) or a part of who you are, intrinsically. Rob and Jerry both supported their opposite beliefs quite cogently (and politely, I might add). I gave some personal feelings on the matter and shared some of my family history explaining why I have those beliefs/feelings. Rocky has started a similar/related discussion on his blog over the weekend and I thought it might be interesting for anyone who's interested in the topic and/or has an opinion to see the different discussions and have an opportunity to chime in. Over there, in addition to the topics above, they're discussing what kinds of education it is or isn't appropriate to include on the topic in schools and have continued the disucssion on whether the idea to have a state controlled/populated with gay people (related to what Utah was for Mormons before it became a state). I think that smacks of segregation and putting people on a reservation, despite the fact that I don't think that's how Jerry intends it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'd like to hear what you think about klipfolio. This is software not too different from a simple RSS reader, but it combines an RSS feed reader technology with providers who push content and tools via "klips" available at klipfarm. Some examples of klips include an RSS reader, a UPS/FedEx tracking tool, and feeds/headlines for sites like Slashdot, cNet, Wired, etc... Consider the implications of this technology and RSS in general as compared to e-mail newsletters or going to Websites to read articles and other content. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
 You are Woodstock! Which Peanuts Character are You? brought to you by QuizillaVia Volker Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, MutedFaith.com seems to have pulled access to their site and made it log-in access only. There *was* a "what kind of villian are you" quiz on the site, which was pretty funny. But, it's not available anymore. And it was trying to make you log in when you came to my site, so I pulled it (likely what they were hoping for). For Christmas, Brian gave me the book on How to Be a Villian: Evil Laughs, Secret Lairs, Master Plans, and More!!! (funniest damn thing I've ever read....mwahhahaha...oh, errr... giggle!) and then yesterday, he comes up with the link to the "What Kind of Villian Are You" quiz. Think he's trying to tell me something? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, I was skimming over my referrers list and found a google that pointed to the Getting to Know You quiz. When I clicked it and saw the search, I happened to see this list that includes some questions that weren't in the original posting. So, since that page is my single most-viewed blog (there are a few other pages that get more hits, such as the home page and the about me page, but that's the most-viewed blog) and the thing that drives the most googles here, well, I thought I'd go ahead and post the updated version of the quiz. The interesting exercise for me was answering questions I'd answered before without peeking at my original answers. Most of them are the same, but not all -- I guess we're all changing all the time, and this is proof. Enjoy.
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I suspect you may all have other links, but two good places to get the text of books on the Web are:
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Bigotry takes many forms. In my mind, though, it's basically about being close-minded and forcing your choices and sensibilities and beliefs on someone else. Neil Gaiman points out a sneaky little snarky place in our US Department of Education where this may be occurring (okay, maybe it's not bigotry. Maybe it's just a case of overly-paternalistic government, albeit from the party currently in power that traditionally has said that government should stay out of making decisions that might possibly be left up to states or individuals, but... I'm willing to call it bigotry because it made me so darn mad.). This is about close-captioning on TV, and about which shows make the cut and which don't. I admit that I haven't done all the research here, btw, but am just passing on something you may choose to look into further. I'd surely like to see them publish their criteria, at the very least, for which shows get close-captioning approval and which don't. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Brian pointed out this story on CNN -- the folks at Wellesley pulled an all-nighter reading all of Shakespeare's plays. Now, I didn't get nearly this kind of cool all-nighter when I was in school and I sure as heck don't get this kind now -- if I'm puling an all-nighter now, it's because I'm getting slides or an article finished! I did try to think back to my most interesting all-nighter. I suspect when I was in college, we pulled some all-night "study parties" that were more party than study, but I can't really remember any specifics. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, after Rob made his list, I went off and started looking (half-heartedly) for some other lists, since I'm still feeling a little unsatisfied in the "best of" list department. I came up with this link that has lots of lists of bests, including this one to Phobos' Entertainment's 100 Science Fiction Books You Just Have to Read... This list, while only SF and not fantasy, seems much closer to my ideal list -- although, sadly, I didn't do much better on how many I've read (only 36!). But here's your Jules Verne and HG Wells and others, for those who were unhappy with the previous list! Here are the ones I've read: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 15, 16, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 45, 46, 49, 51, 52, 61, 68, 73, 78, 79, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 979, 98, 100 Other than missing the fantasy books entirely, what do you think of this list? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Since this is at least partially a "work" blog, I don't often get on my soapbox about the things I personally believe. I do, however, have some very strong beliefs, some of which I've alluded to over the year. Today is feeling slightly like a fiesty-Libby Rant day, so prepare yourselves... The one I'm on about today is equal rights, specifically in regards to gay marriage... or should I just say "marriage" (equality to me means not having to make a distinction....) which should be all about love and committment and equality, and not about hatred and bigotry and unfairness. My friend Marcus recently made mention of his feelings around the matter, and then Brian showed me his blog this morning talking about the squeeky story about gay penguins from the NYTimes (did you notice that they gave the gay penguin couple an egg to raise? that's so cool!), and then my mom sent me the link for the Million for Marriage petition. Clearly, I was getting some kind of a sign that I hadn't stood up for my beliefs in this area strongly enough in a while (that's what happens when you get mired in your own stuff and forget to look around you...). Anyway. I believe that people are people, regardless of race, creed, color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender... even political orientation Now, you're free to believe however you want -- that's the cool thing about our great nation. If you agree with me, however, that equality and fairness are good things (manipulative language there, eh?), then I hope you'll enjoy the links I shared above and sign the petition. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I'm starting to think that the DominoPro's Key To Portal presentation might have some legs. Wild Bill, Rob, and Ed have all linked to it recently -- and I appreciate the traffic and vote of interest/confidence gentlemen, I truly do. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I loved Eric Lundquist's Feb 9th column. It was interesting in general, but the section that talks about What Won't Go Away, look for joy for all Lotus-followers in this:
So, I'm happy to hear someone outside of my magazine (and in the wider IT press) verify what I've been saying for a while: Lotus is important to IBM. Of course, the larger question of what will and won't be around in terms of IT is interesting. This isn't quite like saying nobody will ever need more than 640K of memory but might have some of the same resonance. What will be around (of course, this all depends on your timeline, but go with me for a minute...):
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Do you write your blog for yourself or for your readers? Or a combination? How much work do you put into your posts, and is that related to who you envision as your audience? Jess made a comment not too long ago about why you should post your solutions when you've asked a question -- so you can find them again later! This relates to blogging because often it sounds like those who are posting really technical stuff (especially them, at any rate, although not *only* them) are using their blogs as a kind of notebook -- saving snippets of code or solutions to issues via their blog, rather than saving them in some private Notes db that only they can see. Then, Joi Ito wrote a blog a few days ago talking about a previous post he'd made (and a comment on that post) that was a "superficial" treatment of a topic, rather than a more 'in-depth with sources' kind of post -- but justified writing the post, rather than writing something in a journal to post later, with the idea that his blog is his notebook. And the idea, of course, that if you don't write it down and talk about it while it's fresh, you may never get around to it (of course, this may be the blogosphere version of Darwinism -- if it was important and interesting enough, you *would* come back to it, but, then again, maybe not, considering how overloaded and busy we all are... anyway, I digress). My point, though, is that those of us who write blogs all write for different reasons and for different audiences. And the discussion of whether it's ok to treat a difficult topic with a shallow vs. rigorous post is an interesting one. I think that sometimes I don't post when I don't have time to really think out what I want to say, and create all the links, and etc, because I don't want to appear not to have journalistic (or blogolistic) integrity -- especially considering my profession -- however, this means that many times I don't post something I'm thinking about, either because I forget or lose interest or get too busy or someone else posts something about it first and it's no longer appropriate for me to post. And then I get frustrated at not having blogged, so I end up blogging something "light" or superficial *anyway* because I'm hoping to get a quick blog up while I have time. In any case, the discussion on shallow vs. rigorous, Rational Ignorance, and their attendant ideas, both at Joi's blog and at Lago's, was interesting to me. Of course, this post itself is an example of what frustrates Lago, I suspect, being at most a question and certainly not a well-thought out, researched, organized treatment of the topic, but, like many, I'm posting a note about it here so that perhaps I will go back and think on it more deeply later. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
This is a list of the top 50 sci-fi and fantasy books of the last 50 years, according to the folks at the Science Fiction Book Club (via Lago, who says he's only read 16...). I'm not much better, I have to admit, having only read 23 of them (numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 29. 30, 41, 42, 46, 47, and 48, if you're curious -- I'm too tired to type them all out here, especially since then I'd be tempted to put links to them on Amazon or something silly like that). I think I'll pull one or two of the others for some reading soon, although I'm not completely convinced yet that *these* are the books I'd call the top 50... Thoughts? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So many folks posted the new download to Firefox over the last few days, and mentioned that the name had changed from Firebird, but nobody was saying *why*. Until today (NY Times site -- registration required). Thanks, Hubby! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Ok, while the link I'm about to post will make you think otherwise, I really am a romantic. Really. Mushy, flower-loving, card-giving, jewelry-hoping-for, lots of pink-wearing, chick-flick-watching romantic. I try to pass myself off as one of the guys in that good geeky way that I have, but now you know the truth. That said, I'm also someone who loves good snarky humor. Which you will find in these cards, via Neil Gaiman (yes, again with the link via Neil, what can I say? If you're not reading his blog yet, you're really missing out -- he's got some of the funniest stuff, I'm telling you.) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
My geeky husband has not one, but two, blogs. The newer of which (ok, older actually, but it died for a while and has just been reincarnated) you all might be interested in, as it is quite geeky in nature -- starting with his first (new) blog on how to make a laptop go dual-monitor mode, using its own screen and a second monitor. Nice. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
via Wild Bill:
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Sorry this has taken a bit longer than I expected it to, but here, as promised, are the slides from my Lotusphere presentations. You can download the slides directly from Lotusphere Online, if you attended (and if you still have your login info), however, since I'm such a nice person, I'm also making them available here. If you gave me your card, I'll be mailing the slides to you, as well... A DominoPro's Key to Portal and Domino Administration for Developers are both available, thanks to the sheer uber-geekiness of my husband (thanks, hubby). Yes, they are PDFs, although they were created in PPT. I prefer to share them in this format so that they stay as created. Please feel free to look at them and share them, but if you want to use something from the slides, please give credit. Oh, and since they're PDFs, they're kinda big. You've been warned. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Ok, there's nothing politically correct or warm or fuzzy or nice about this one, but it made me giggle maniacally, which is just what I needed right about now: Penguin Baseball, via Neil Gaiman. 292 is my current record.... oh, wait...321.1! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
It's pretty cold and blue both outside and in today, so I thought a little change of color might be in order. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I could tell cute Rufus stories all afternoon, starting with how half our friends didn't believe we had a second kitty because Rufus was pretty shy and spent more time under the back of the bed than in company... But when Rufus did decide he trusted you, then he would find his way onto your lap at the strangest moments, demanding attention with his head smacking into your hand, or face... Some of our friends were even proud to be part of the "Rufus let me pet him" club as opposed to the "are you sure you have a second kitty" club... He had this cute way of pawing my face in the morning when Brian and Yogi had gotten up and left to go for a walk -- Rufus would crawl out from under the bed and paw at my face and arm until I'd wake up and pull him onto the bed to pet him... He was very fond of the kneeding your arm or leg or whatever to get your attention... And he was very fond of sitting in my lap while I worked, or on the red velvet comforter on our bed, most especially if either one of those was also in a sunny spot. Anyway, he was a strong, loving, sweet, brave kitty, and friend, and he'll be missed. A lot. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
"I could be a writer" or anything remotely linked to that thought, you have to read this (via Neil Gaiman). Not only is it giggle-inducing funny, but it's capital-T Truth and therefore could be, if you let it, quite useful. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, not only am I still in the midst of trying to put the house together after the move (we have a lot done, but my office is still covered with boxes and other assorted crap from when we cleaned out the rest of the house to have a party -- my office became a great place to hide stuff), but I also got sick (head and chest cold for the past 3 days...). So, I owe many of you things from Lotusphere, including copies of my slides, my impressions from the show, thank you notes, photos, etc. I'm afraid most of it will have to wait. The sad part is that I did actually write some blog entries while I was at the show, but never quite got them finished and edited, and so didn't post them... And now it seems a bit silly -- so many of you did such a great job at keeping the blogstream going from the show. I will, of course, cover some of my impressions from the show in my March e-Pro Magazine Take Note column, but I may just kill the blog entries. Do you have any of those? Entries that you wrote and saved as a draft and then never published? I have e-mail like that too -- things I wrote and then thought better of, or they got stale, or the situation changed before I got around to finishing my thoughts on the matter. Anyway, a couple of thoughts that have been pending for blogging for a while:
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Brian and I have recently had a few discussions over whether we should shop at Wal-Mart. I'd always said "ick" to the idea, just based on a variety of things, but now he's got much better ammunition to support my general distaste for the place. From Brightrock.com: Recent news stories (Employee Lock-ins, Impact of Low Wages, Buying Influence) have made me really think about the impact of the Wal-Mart style of doing business on our country. While some local governments compete for a Wal-mart store as a way of expanding their tax base, some localities have begun to assess whether the increased tax revenue makes up for the negative impact - increased infrastructure costs, increased strain on services, etc. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
via Brian, this site has a list of nitpicks -- differences between the LOTR movies and the books. I have to say: I noticed all of these and a few that he misses. OTOH, I don't necessarily feel as though these changes ruin the movies, per se, although I do agree with some of the fiestyness over the changes to the second movie, especially. So, yes, I'm guilty -- I'm a nitpicker. But now we at least know that I'm not alone. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
I just did a Q&A with IBM's GIna Poole, the VP of Developer Marketing and Web Communities for IBM's ISV and Developer Relations group -- the exec in charge of the developerWorks site, among other things. One of the first questions I asked her was whether there was going to be a developerWorks Live conference this year, since although we broke the story a while ago, we haven't been able to find much additional detail other than about the Rational User Conference. Well, here you go: The Rational User Conference will contain some additional sessions and branding this year that will take the place of what had been branded the IBM developerWorks Live conference over the past few years. The Rational group already had the Gaylord Conf. center in Grapevine (yes, in July) set for their user conference, and it made the most sense to them to merge the shows. This year, the merger favors the Rational brand a bit, although Gina promises that there will be a significant number of sessions covering broader developer technologies, such as XML, service oriented architecture, and web services. There will also be content covering Eclipse and WebSphere Studio. So, according to Gina, this merger is to ensure the Rational developers (probably quite as fanatic a group as we Lotus developers) have their user conference experience this year, although other IBM software developers will definitely have a significant place at the show. Next year, she implied that the show might be a bit more general, as it had been for the past few years. I asked whether Lotus developers and WebSphere developers should attend the show. Gina says it's an easy yes for WebSphere developers. For Lotus developers, well, she says this is why we might have noticed a bit more development content at Lotusphere than we might've seen in previous years -- while the show will have content that will have bearing for Lotus developers, especially those who are planning to embrace Workplace development or are working with Eclipse, XML, or Web Service, it won't have the same level of depth on traditional Lotus technologies as dwLive has had, or as DevCon once had. Look for more from my Q&A with Gina in the April issue of e-Pro Magazine. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
But since Brian was nice enough to take all the pics from Lotusphere off my camera and post them (thanks honey!), I thought I'd go ahead and make them visible to you -- they're not great, and they're in no particular order, but there they are. You can comment on them, if you feel something needs saying. You can also feel free to share them. Yes, I'm very backed up on blog entries -- I've had a bit of writers' block, been exhausted, and actually hosted a Housewarming Party 24 hours after returning from Lotusphere. I'm crazy, to say the least. ;-) By the way, two other things:
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create your own visited country map create your own visited states map or write about it on the open travel guide Via Ed and Volker -- a really cool way to graphically track where in the world, or the States, you've been. I've clearly been a lot more successful in the US than I have been outside of it. I had to guess a bit on a few of the states, as there were a few driving trips that were a long time ago that I'm not quite clear on at this point. ;-) Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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