Twitter-pated!

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta

Today makes one year since I relaunched my blog (which was still ra-se-n.net) as well as my then dormant Twitter account. I have not really done that many blog entries in the past year (34, not counting this one) but I have done a lot of Twitter updates (776, if you’re wondering.) My preference in the “method of oversharing” is clear.

I can’t remember when or why I first signed up for Twitter, but in the beginning, I hardly put it to use. I knew of a couple of social media gurus who used it, and I think I just signed up for the sake of signing up. It was when iPhone 2.0 came out that I had started to use it more and more; it made all the difference. Though I could have used Twitter via mobile web, it didn’t provide the fluidity of a native app which 2.0 offered. Needless to say, I twitter from my iPhone almost all the time.

I recognize that Twitter takes a lot away from my regular blogging as it meets the need of getting quick and sometimes random sentences and thoughts out there on the Internet. I think with Twitter, I may never get into that groove of blogging nearly everyday like I had back with my old blog back in 2001 - 2002. Things roll so much faster when all I need to do is get a thought out in 140 characters or less.

When I do put a blog out on aspiraling.com, I try to put a little more thought and cohesion to my entries, but more than half the time, I get distracted and end up giving up altogether. For 2009, I had hoped to make it a New Year’s Resolution that I would write at least one entry a week. Perhaps if I had verbalized it here, I might have actually stuck to it; but then again, I’m not very good at verbalizing things a lot of the time so that’s why it never happened. As I am trying to get more into the routine of things, I am placing hope that I can get myself and my thoughts more organized and that this current run of my blog will have more significant and interesting entries in its second year.

I definitely find my Twitter entries (or “tweets”) to be rather significant and sometimes interesting as I go through them. I find Twitter as an awesome tool to post-remember things that I’ve felt and experienced, even if they are about the most trivial things (and maybe not so trivial. Anyone remember the blackout aka #hipower?) And though I put them on the Internet to share with others, I don’t think I use it much as a tool for communicating with the world like many other people do. A lot of the time, I end up forgetting how much of the world is actually reading my rants and blurbs.

To celebrate my one year with Twitter, I went ahead and archived all 776 of my tweets into a .csv file using a web app called Tweettake. The app works fairly well. I’m a little sour that I hadn’t thought of creating the app first. It would have been an awesome challenge to create it for myself, but I guess I can be relieved that someone made it so that I can use it right here and right now.

Upon seeing what I’ve written in the past year in tweets and entries, I’m finding that it would be awesome to utilize my blog more and to make something meaningful out of my online presence, even if it is just for myself. I can definitely celebrate the success of my blog, but I would love to reach for more.

Page Link | Comments (1) | Mar 25, 2009

Moving on in…

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta

I went ahead and moved everything lock, stock, barrel to my new domain here at aspiraling.com. As to how I came to this decision, I have an explanation here in my About page.

Moving into a new webspace allowed me to explore more WordPress themes and revisit my php skills from long ago. I have been rather pleased with the result. I’m wondering if I will put as much effort in my actual blog entries. I find myself lacking focus when it comes to composing any kind of narrative, but when it comes to coding and tweaking things, I can stay on it until the entire night is spent and gone.

And so it’s time for bed…

Page Link | Comments (1) | Sep 24, 2008

Feeding the Useless Information Junkie.

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta, geektech, tunes

iPhone 2.0 has been so awesome.  It’s kind of like being in a relationship that is mostly good, but you wait around hoping that the other would change for the better, and then by surprise, they actually do.  I think I’ve fallen in love with the iPhone for real this time instead of just saying, “Oh yeah, I have an iPhone.”  Not to say that should provide an insight in my personal life right now…  (Life is pretty awesome for me right now, by the way.)

iPhone app happy!

Right now, I have about two full pages of apps and so far only paid for two apps:  Scrabble and Bomberman.  Scrabble is fun but a major crashbag, and Bomberman is kind of boring.  I have to say that the free apps have been what have impressed me the most.  It’s all been said and done, so I won’t go over what they do.  I guess I can mention some fun facts I learned from having iPhone 2.0.

  • Thanks to some random playlist in Pandora, I realized that “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” by Robert Palmer was actually a cover of an R&B song by Cherrelle in 1984.  My only reference of Cherrelle is that duet she did with Pebbles in the early 90s.  Interestingly enough, Mariah Carey did a non-imaginative cover of Cherelle’s song for that bombed album/movie Glitter.  The song was written by Jam & Lewis, who also produced Cherrelle’s and Mariah’s versions.  (And in case you are under 15, everything Jam & Lewis produced in the late 80s and early to mid 90s was GOLD.)
     
  • It’s amazing how addicting something like Loopt can be for many people; and even more so, people are willing to give their bosses access to their most currently available location…heheh, including me…but, but, it’s fun!
     
  • There are lot of two letter words that I had no idea were in existence.  Now I can see how one really can be “hardcore” in Scrabble.  I prefer the friendly game than the competitive one.
     
  • The very first song on the playlist currently featured in the Apple Store is called “Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley  I am in awe of Shazam for doing what many Google Searches could NOT do.  I got to discover the rest of their music on their 2007 album, Under the Blacklight, which is now downloaded to my computer from iTunes.
     
  • You can pick an app out of several only because it has your name in it.  I love Twitterrific!

And of course, I’m excited about my newest app, Wordpress!  I first had to upgrade my Wordpress before being able to set it up on my iPhone. I guess I’ve been more excited about getting the upgrade out of the way than actually having the app on my phone, but I am hopeful that it will actually allow me to make use of this blog, which is now hitting its 3rd year. Hooray, hooray…

Page Link | Comments (0) | Jul 23, 2008

Inspired and…Empowered?

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta, digital life

Living vicariously through others at my job, I am wondering if home video production is something I would like to get into as a hobby.  For sure, barriers to entry are lower than they ever were before, but there are still limitations to be found. For many people the limitation lies in their equipment.  One blog entry I encountered on the web addressed this limitation with an experiment that brought about interesting results.  I then became inspired to actually give it a try with my limited equipment.  As of right now, I have a Canon Elura 100 MiniDV Cam and of course my new Canon SD1100 IS.  They certainly are not adequate for any HD Quality movie, but I’m really thinking that the Web is going to be my choice of medium anyway, so I think I am actually empowered enough to make some kind of project.Then that leaves me with other obstacles:  content and of course, post production goodies.  The wheels in my head have only begun to turn, so we shall see what goes…

Page Link | Comments (0) | Apr 1, 2008

I don’t have to impress you.

Posted by terri | Filed under blogmeta

Here I am, once again….again.

ra-se-n.net, since its inception in 2005, has become one of those domains that houses a blog that is barely updated with content and is more often updated with layout changes and code experimentation. I really don’t know what I have in store this time around as far as content goes. When doing a Google search on “why blogs fail,” I think this blog is headed down that path. When it comes down to it, I guess I don’t really care if it does. Putting this together again and again has been fun and reminiscent of what I really went to college for. For those of you who know what I do for a living now, it’s almost laughable.

The expectation I have for this blog will probably what it always has been; this blog is more for myself than for anyone else.

Here’s to looooow hopes.

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Page Link | Comments (0) | Mar 23, 2008