Technology is your friend

I think this is a true statement. Mostly.

There’s alot of text below, so may I appease you with a kitty picture?

This was taken during the “jemima photo shoot”. Topaz likes nothing more than a head scritch while getting to be outside in the backyard with us! Take a look at the gray Rubbermaid in the upper left corner. See the nibbled lid? An enterprising squirrel tried to get to the bird seed!

No Comments – Wah!

I received only one comment notification from my last post. Arghhh! Not the kind of deja vu I am interested in. I am terribly disheartened by this, because not being able to see and respond (with some ease) to your comments takes away 75% of the pleasure of blogging for me.

However, I must comment on the stellar support service WordPress provided! I sent a help request email and got a response in less than 1/2 hour! Not a knee-jerk, condescending, form response, but an actual personalized conversation directed at my actual problem. The first thing Anthony did was leave a test comment on my blog, then he checked WP’s records to see if my notifications had actually been sent (at my request). Unfortunately, it shows that my notifications were “delivered successfully”. But that actually helps alot, because then I know the problem is on my end and it narrows it down to the steps my email goes through to get to my inbox.

I asked this same thing of Typepad and got only a very indirect, incomplete response. And no response after that.

I asked him about the role of my primary domain server and how the email gets routed to me. He kindly answered all my questions very quickly. From this and talking to N, the problem has to be either with GoDaddy, who hosts our “nateweaver.net” domain and associated email addys that then go through their servers, or with Apple, where our nateweaver.net email is redirected to our .mac accounts. I am sure glad N keeps on top of this stuff!

There is a way to “test” which end is failing. I find it much more likely that GoDaddy is goofing than Apple, so I am going to try that test first. I’ve asked Anthony to set my comment notifications to be sent directly to my .mac account. However, this was last evening and he may not be in to “work” until later or even Monday I would imagine.

This time, I feel like there is a real chance of a solution with this problem. This experience has made me an even bigger fan of WordPress than I was before!

Ecto is also your friend

I’ve seen some mentions of Typepad bloggers having difficulty (the most diplomatic word) with a new and “improved” Typepad interface. When I started blogging about 3 years ago on Typepad, the online Typepad interface was not Safari- or even completely Firefox-friendly. Thanks to N, I found a program called Ecto. It’s a desktop blogging client for OSX (Mac).

I love it and use it for every post to this day. At the beginning of this year, the software developer (one lone dude) released a long-awaited version 3.0. And he updates it with tweaks all the time. Also, he maintains a forum where you can ask questions and get help on using it, and the developer posts on it himself. I think it’s a best-kept secret, but don’t want it to be!

Of course, I am also of the opinion that if Typepad is frustrating you, I had nothing but a positive experience with WordPress.com! And it’s free! It burns my britches that Typepad is the most expensive paid blogging host out there (that I am aware of) and their product just seems to get worse and worse.

Google Reader’s Next Feature – it’s groovy man

Another great piece of technology I’ve discovered this week comes from Google. A couple weeks back I switched my RSS feeds from Bloglines to Google Reader to give it a try. And I preferred it. Mostly because in Google Reader, the posts were automatically resized to fit within the screen, without having some posts scroll off page to the right. So annoying! But still, of course some feeds deliver the whole post, some just the first little bit, and some have trouble posting photos. So one has to click through to read and see everything, and to comment.

A couple days ago I found a nifty feature in Google Reader: the “Next” bookmarlet. With a drag and drop bookmark, you simply click on the “Next” bookmark and it takes you to the next unread blog post in your feed – the actual blog not the reader page! – and marks it as read. It’s the best of all worlds! I am in heaven.

Actual Knitting Content

I’m well into the second sleeve on my Boatneck for Two – and again, at almost exactly the same place as Bron. Seriously peoples, we are not planning this! At this point in a project, I get extra motivated to finish, seaming and all.

I few nights ago I sat down with some stitch pattern books, and my first baby blanket swatch with be with Welt Fantastic from Barbara Walker’s First Treasury. It’s a chevron pattern with garter ridges and no holes. If I like it, I am thinking of using it with an integral garter stitch border all around. Chevron stitches seem to be the other gold standard for making the most of variegated yarns, and the garter ridges have the added benefits of creating textural interest, keeping the knitted fabric flat, and creating a denser blanket material as well. It’s also a simple pattern, which was something of a criteria. I wanted something that would look great, but also not give me an aneurysm headache to do on a larg-ish project.

MemeMemeMeme

Miss Claudia tagged me a spell back with this recent meme, and I’ve been waiting to do it when I had a shorter blog post. It would appear this is not actually possible for me. So here you go

“The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.”

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? I had just returned to work after bereavement leave. I was in my first year of having a “real job”, as a staff geologist, after graduating with my BA. I had just gotten stitches out of my left foot. I was single, had just moved into my own place, had a new car, and was doing well at work. It was a time of great loss and great strides all at once. It was a tiring time.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today? 1) knit on the Boatneck sleeve, 2) pay rent, 3) fill the birdbath and water the garden, 4) clean the kitty litter, and 5) do laundry.

3) Snacks I enjoy: In no particular order: (super-duper high quality) dark chocolate, Pirate Booty, dry roasted salted almonds, fresh fruit, ice cream, dry cereal (like Honey O’s, Kashi etc.), popcorn, granola bars.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: First I would share the mula with my fam, I would pay off my own debts and buy a house, I would invest some of it, and I would donate to charity. There are so many worthy – I don’t know how I’d choose. Support for peoples in developing nations having fresh water, food and medical care and animal welfare programs (ASPCA) would probably top the list for me.

5) Places I have lived: Elkhart, Indiana; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA.

6) Jobs I have had: Grocery store checker, drugstore employee, bookstore manager, barista/bartender, geologist, environmental planner.

7) Bloggers I am tagging who you will enjoy getting to know better: This meme has been around a bit, and you all know I’m not much of a tagger anyway! Please feel free to consider yourself tagged if you would like to do this meme!

Happy Knitting this Weekend!