PSA: Facebook Feed

May 8, 2008

Did you know that you can subscribe to an RSS feed of your friends’ Facebook status updates? I just found this out a couple of weeks ago and really like it, so I’m passing the info along for my fellow FB addicts who may not be in the know. Since FB only displays the four most recent friend updates, the RSS feed keeps you from missing anything, for those times when you haven’t logged into to FB for a while.

From FB Help, here’s how to find the feed:

If you would like to create an RSS Feed for your Facebook Notifications you can do so by going to your Inbox and selecting the Notifications tab. On the following page will be the option to “Subscribe to Notifications” on the right. After clicking “Your Notifications,” Facebook will generate an RSS Feed.

Enjoy!

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Electricity

April 27, 2008

Yesterday was the strangest day, in many respects, but specifically regarding electricity. PublisherWoman and I decided to take our usual Saturday workday offsite from my house to a favorite Thai restaurant for a working lunch. After being seated, we ordered spring rolls and beverages, then got out our various electronics, notebooks, and pens and began to settle into work.

Seconds after PublisherWoman inserted her wireless broadband device, her computer began flashing its lights and making alarming beeping sounds, then it went dark and silent. We decided to give it a rest until we got home before investigating the problem, so we switched our attention to my screen and went on with our work. A while later and a few bites into my veggie Pad Thai, I was visibly startled by a crackly popping noise. PublisherWoman observed that it had sounded electrical, and I agreed. She also pointed out that my screen had flashed bright then flickered off when it happened. Ooh, not good.

By this time, we were fairly focused on the web site review we were conducting, so we shrugged it off and returned to the topic at hand. When the popping sound happened again about ten minutes later, we became concerned. And I was feeling kind of lightheaded, so we decided to pack up and come back to my house sooner than we would have. Besides, there was the issue of PublisherWoman’s ailing computer and possible data loss to deal with.

When we got home and powered on the poor machine, it gave us an error message to check the date and time settings, which had reverted to January 1, 1988 (if I were one for time travel, that is not a period in my life I would like to revisit, as it involved tall, laquered bangs, blemished skin, and general high school freshman dorkiness) and would not boot up. I went into the system configuration and tried resetting the date, but that didn’t help and it kept reverting to that default date. After multiple restart attempts while I was researching the problem on my computer, Windows finally loaded, but the hourglass wouldn’t go away, we couldn’t open any programs, and it did the beeping and flashing and shut itself off after a few minutes. The computer’s anti-shock system also showed that it had been activated, although it had not been dropped or jarred.

Each time we restarted, we regained a bit more functionality, so we were able to back up Outlook and all critical files. By the time PublisherWoman left a couple of hours later, the computer appeared to be functioning normally.

After she left in the early evening, I took a brief nap and then got back to work. I worked for a few hours, then was gearing up to print and assemble a large number of files, a task I had been dreading. Before five pages had printed, the lights flashed bright, then everything went dark and silent (sound familiar?). I assumed I had overloaded the circuit, something that is not uncommon in my older home, but resetting all the switches in the breaker box had no effect. I looked outside and discovered that the street lights were off in the entire neighborhood, so at least it wasn’t just me.

As I paced around the house thinking about what tasks I could accomplish in near darkness (my laptop had a nearly full charge, but I had no Internet access), my flashlight faded to black and left me in the dark again. So I gave up and went to bed, although I was quite awake from the Diet Dr. Pepper I had earlier to energize me for the long evening. I also have a difficult time sleeping through a power outage because of the extreme darkness and silence. When I woke up this morning, the power was back on, but it had been off for around six hours.

Today has been a much more normal and focused day, but yesterday sure was weird. I have to wonder if I was giving off some strange electrical impulses! I do have a tendency to blow light bulbs with greater frequency than most people. Maybe it’s just my electrifying personality.

Bonus video (OMD “Electricity”—fun!):

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I’m free! (sort of)

April 18, 2008

The 15 straight hours of sleep I got on Saturday night helped me prepare for the various crises that started on Sunday and took us through the printing of the magazine (yesterday). Today, finally, is my day to begin coming up for air and addressing the backlog of things that piled up while I was in “production jail.”

I’m hosting a staff meeting at my house tomorrow morning, a meeting to address some of the many problems we have had lately and how to prevent them. It could be stressful. I think I need to serve coffee, so now I’m going to buy a coffee maker and supplies. Can you believe I average four hours of sleep a night during busy times (last Saturday excepted, of course), am completely caffeine addicted, and don’t have one?

Filed under work and more work, updates | 4 comments

Memoir in six words, the sequel

April 12, 2008

Working this hard has its limits.

My dear, compassionate PublisherWoman has decided, and rightly so, that I need a break. So she canceled the second half of today’s work day and made me promise, almost against my will, to take the entire rest of the day off—completely off, as in no computer, none at all. Because she is correct to note that I have worked myself into a state of nervous exhaustion, and because next week is going to be another very demanding one, I have agreed to comply and am signing off the ‘nets for almost 24 hours. I plan to sleep for at least half of that time. And eat pasta. And a cupcake. And work out. And take a Lush bath. And listen to Handel violin sonatas. And regain the perspective that weeks of hard work and sleep deprivation have taken away.

Tomorrow is still taxes, laundry, web work, and one real work thing, but that’s a walk in the park compared to what my days have been like.

I am so extremely grateful for a boss who looks out for me and will do an intervention when necessary.

See you tomorrow.

Filed under work and more work | 1 comment

Memoir in six words

April 11, 2008

AliceAcademic tagged me for the six word memoir (which I just accidentally typed as the sex word memoir…maybe I’ll do that version sometime) several days ago. I’m slow to get around to things but happy to participate.

Here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir 2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like 3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere 4. Tag five more blogs with links 5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

Because I’m so late and can’t keep track of who has done this, I’m only doing numbers 1 through 3. Here it is:

Working this hard has its rewards.

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Checking in

April 10, 2008

Sorry for another unexpected disappearance from the blogosphere. During these past few weeks, I’ve worked harder and longer than I ever have before. This phase of intensity is wrapping up (although our work is, by nature, intense), so I should be back with semi-regular posts soon. Also, PublisherWoman and I are getting an assistant, which I expect will make my life more manageable.

Tomorrow is all about tying up loose ends on this issue of the magazine we’ve been working so hard on—our most important issue of the year and largest issue ever. Saturday is an all-day meeting/work session. Sunday, I must finish my taxes, and I hope to also finish a long overdue project for a favorite blogfriend. Overall, there’s not much to report, but since some people seem to want to know anyway, I’ll try to post at least once a week, except at the craziest times.

Filed under metablogging, work and more work, updates | 1 comment

Lucky St. Patty’s Day

March 17, 2008

Because I was conscientious and responsible back in 2003 and acted on a service notice telling me to take my car in to the dealer have a certain additive put in the cooling system, the $2000+ emergency repair I found out about the day before my trip is covered under a special “known issue” warranty extension and will not cost me anything but a bit of my time and the rental car I had last week, which was not terribly expensive. I can’t tell you how relieved I am. (For those who have not heard me bemoan my tax situation this year, finding an extra $2000 before 2009 is a near impossibility.) I may not be Irish (I’m Scottish), but I’ve had a very lucky day indeed.

Filed under mundane life stuff, gratitude | 7 comments

A LOT can happen in 21 days

March 16, 2008

As you can see from my previous posts, I took a three-week break from the regularly scheduled programming that is my daily life of intense double-digit-hour-long workdays. The first week, I was in Las Vegas for trade shows and work, but a good deal of relaxation and entertainment happened there as well. The second week, I was technically home for four days, although it went by so quickly that it feels like only a brief stopover. That week was defined by unpacking, working, and repacking. Then there was the weekend of female bonding, followed by the GSD work retreat with Dr. Brazen Hussy.

During those three fabulous weeks:

I flew 3,000 miles (round trip) and drove another 1,000 more.
I spent time with six friends, including my four very best friends, the people with whom I can be completely myself and whose company I enjoy most of all.
I ate the two most expensive meals of my life.
I slept in five different beds.
I drank—a lot—including a few fabulous and memorable cocktails, several glasses of Champagne, a large amount of vodka (including this and this, which is especially awesome), and some other less interesting stuff.
which led to my first grown-up hangover, ever (which may be its own blog post, if there’s enough interest)
I participated in five hours of karaoke (either on stage or as an active audience member), aided in large part by the aforementioned wine and spirits.
I discovered the true joy that is wireless broadband access.
I worked at least a few hours almost every single day, finished several projects, and still felt like I was on vacation.
I bathed/swam in the largest jacuzzi tub ever, then dried off in our personal sauna.
I visited two of the most beautiful historic hotels I have ever seen.
I laughed so much for so many days that my stomach muscles were actually sore.
I sang, loudly (and poorly), for so many days that my voice is still tired.
I learned things from my friends that have helped me make some life decisions I didn’t even really realize I needed to make.
I thought, repeatedly, how perfect it is to be here, now, with these people, doing exactly what I am doing.

I left home all those days ago deeply feeling the weariness of February and the long, hard winter. I returned home physically tired but with a renewed spirit and lighter heart (not to mention lighter shoes and outerwear!). I have had, truly, some of the best experiences of my life during this interlude, and I am ready to begin the next phase of intense work and, hopefully, personal development.

Filed under special occasions, updates, my amazing friends | 8 comments

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