Blue 2.0 Weeks 7 and 8 (posted during 9 and 10 :) )

So I'm still playing catch up.. even though I've actually done enough of the assignments for weeks 7 and 8 already.

Today I've had some more free time because the servers are so full they went read-only... I hope the guy who fixes this stuff gets his butt in here and does something about it. When the server isn't working... it really halts our production. But since I've got freetime I'm blogging.

So I played around with the avatar stuff a lil. I've never come across an avatar generator that I've been pleased with. Tried the Simpsons one on the blue2.0 blog first. NOT happy at all. Not only do they not have my hair, they also don't have my beard. Doesn't help that the body types don't have anything for someone who is overweight but only a lil so. The homer simpson body is not for me. The LEGO avatar was a lil better... you're already limited by body type so there isn't much you can do on that front. Interestingly though, they have like.. bdsm accessories for the LEGO characters.. I found that mildly amusing. OH and forget the picasso one...

One of the assingments was to edit a wiki. Well truth be told, I edit a wiki everyday at work already it seems like. Especially so today, Zemkat had me look over an activities page on our wiki and I went through it step by step. Its much easier that that stupid PB wiki program... btw.. I'm sick and tired of getting emails from them.. I wish there were more assignments where I didn't have to register to use their programs!!!!! Where was I.. oh yes, editing wikis. So I was watching Absolutely Fabulous over at Digibob's and there was a reference to a female british writer I had never heard of. So I looked her up on wikipedia... on that page there was a "referenced in pop culture" section and low and behold there was no information that she had been referenced on AbFab... so naturally I edited it to be included.

I've also been using Meebo.com, and I have been using it for about the last 3 months. Its alright, I prefer to actually use yahoo.com, but I can't complain to much... I just wish it still had cam features and the send file...

K jumping off this and gonna drive to Lou.
Thom

As I've already posted my lil rant (prolly induced by lack of coffee), I guess this will be about Google Docs.

Blue 2.0 GoogleDocs

In Blue 2.0 I'm on the Google docs stage

I went to the website and created a new page

As the server is down I have the time

To take this post and make it rhyme

Google Docs allows people to group amend

We share our digital ideas, take them, and blend

So Sarah, poke and prod and make an incision

And when your done send it back with your revision

I've enjoyed sharing these words with you

So until the next assignment I bid you adieu

Link I forgot to post in last entry Blue 2.0

http://del.icio.us/thomcub yeah see.. I forgot to post this see..

Blue 2.0 Del.icio.us

So I'm wayyy behind on this Blue 2.0 thing from being sick and then being bogged down in work that needs to be done..

I'm playing catch-up and as the server is down I'm doing this Blue 2.0 thing. Not to knock the system or whatnot.. but this blue 2.0 thing is continually seeming like a drag to me. I feel like I'm creating all these accounts for various programs and website that I'm never going to use again and thus using up space I don't need to. I'm so unplugged now of days when I'm not working and quite frankly, I enjoy it. I would never read, or draw, etc. if I was plugged in all the time.

So today I did the De.icio.us assignment. I can see the point of having this program/website.. there are certain websites I don't have bookmarked on every computer that I use that I have to go hunting for when I need it (pretty much websites I use in my free time). BUT as I'm really only using this computer here at work, I have what I need bookmarked for work and wouldn't need this program. So another example of space I feel I'm taking up that I'm not going to use in the future. I'll remember it though if for some twist of fate I have money and can afford internet at home... I then might need it.

Sigh.. I sound bitchy today. I need more sleep or a starbucks....

Thom

Blue 2.0 Wiki

Today I set up my first wiki ever. I can honestly say I really didn't enjoy it at all. I thought that PBWiki was a confusing program to use and really think that a blog is more useful. As I really had no idea what to make a wiki about, I made my front page just a general interduction to my page and why it exists, and then I have a link to Games to Pass Time, where I explain how to play a couple games that others and I have used to pass time. If I decide to continue to use PBwiki, I'll add more games, but I thought 5 was a good start.

Of the wiki's I looked at that were on the Blue 2.0 blog... didn't find them too useful. Even the one that had tutorial videos wasn't that useful. Mostly because they have updated their software since those videos were made, and following them step by step doesn't give you the results they say they will. But I figured it out.

Generally when I think of wikis I think of wikipedia. Its quite a useful tool when I'm trying to figure out various pop culture knowledge. For example. The other day I was trying to remember an old Sci-fi show I vaguely remembered watching. After bouncing around what I remembered with Will, a coworker of mine who also has an affinity for random pop culture knowledge, we camed up with VR5. I did a search on google for it and the first entry was for a wiki page dedicated to a show call VR.5. And guess what? it was that show and I'm so happy to finally recall it. I'm sure I'll be purchasing the show when I have the funds.

Do I think wikis have a function in the workplace? Sure. After all, my department is already using wiki technology to manage various projects like NDNP, and my project on the DRF. Its quite handy as a reference tool on how to recognize various article types for zoning digital images. But of all the uses.. I think its quite handy to report problems which is what I use wiki technology the most for. Because of the edit function, I (as well as other people in PRC/Digital Programs) can update our report problems list and keep a running tally of what's wrong, what needs to be done, and what has been fixed. Wiki isn't all bad as long as its used for the right purpose... But for Blue 2.0.. I think it comes off more like a blog and thus a waste of time, at least for me.

here the link to my wiki.

http://thomcub.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

Blue 2.0 RSS Feeds

So I set up a bloglines account today as part of the Blue 2.0 program. Honestly, I really don’t care for bloglines at all, or RSS feeds for that matter. I’d rather just go to the person’s blog than get an update that is just a blurb or summation…. Maybe it’s just that I feel it’s rude to just get an update than to actually take the time to read what someone has written. I don’t know anyone who uses RSS feeds and actually reads the person’s blog. To me, bloglines is more like a favorites list than anything else and I can already do that in Internet Explorer. Anyways.. enough of that rant.

So I subscribed to a couple different blogs of people I know…. Bob, Kathryn, and Cliff. I also subscribed to Bearly Edible.. a recipe/cooking blog from a group of gay bears. I thought it was just up my alley and quite frankly it is. What can I say? I like to eat. Oh and also the Blue 2.0 blog as it’s the reason I’m doing this to begin with.

Honestly I really don’t think I’ll use this more than I have to.. I’d be surprised if I use it again unless Blue 2.0 wants us to use it for a further activity.

Dino Thrasher: Heaven's Saviors

This dream is from January 18, 2007

The last dream I had this morning was just really random but quite funny. It takes place back in Wichita. I had just finished painting my Sister's/Brother's old room a flat white when my Mother came in to announce that she had already signed a renter’s agreement for the room. We had been working on it all summer to get it livable again after years of abuse by my siblings. It had been through over a decade of torture that resulted in numerous jagged nails jutting out from the wall, exposed support beams, and stained carpet. You name it, they did it. I spent all summer fixing the room up (didn't know I was that handy). So Mom asks me to come out and meet the new inhabitants of my sibling's old room. I go wash my hands in the bathroom across the hall to rid myself of the wet paint and come out to the living room to meet the new renters. I come to find out its Kathryn, the techie/gamer from the digital lab I work in, and her husband Jack.

"Mom, this is the Kathryn that I work with that I've mentioned on occasion", I say.

"Really? That great! Now I can have someone give me regular updates on you", she says back. "And to celebrate, I made deep-friend lasagna balls for everyone." (I have no idea how my brain thought of that one... would be fun to try and come up with a recipe for it though) Sure enough, she goes into the kitchen and comes out with her crystal punch bowl full of these medium sized fried balls. I was a little unsure of them when I first saw them, but after trying one I changed my mind. They tasted just like lasagna… like really, really good lasagna. It had the ricotta and mozzarella cheese, a noodle layer (think of a really round ravioli with an extra layer of noodle), a savory tomato sauce, and ground beef. We all compliment her on her delicious recipe. Then out of nowhere my father comes into the living room (didn't see that one coming) and announces that we are all going to the movie theatre.

"What movie?" I ask.

"We aren't going to watch a movie, we are all going to play an video game on the movie screen", he says. Normally I wouldn't have gone along with my Father, but since I've never had the chance to play on a screen that large, I decide "why not?"When we get to the Pink Palace (it’s this actual movie theatre we used to go to in Wichita that was painted this fluorescent shade of pink) its jam-packed with people to see a docu-drama about ABBA called "Dancing Queens" (Think Dreamgirls meets ABBA). My father waves his hands at the guy at the ticket counter and he nods and disappears for a second. He comes back into his booth, points to his left and we see a very large black man dressed in a red suit motioning for us to follow him. My father tells us to enjoy ourselves and then he leaves. So Kathryn, Jack, and I follow the man to the farthest theatre on the right side and sit in the front row of the stadium style seats. Then this pasty-looking white kid with bad acne comes over to us and hands us these odd looking controllers. They are kind of shaped like a really wide staple gun with a lot of buttons, a joystick, a mini-camera, and a trigger. It’s really hard to describe how it worked so if this description is confusing, I apologize ahead of time. The trigger was on the underside on the right side, so you had to use your right index finger for it. You used your right thumb for a series of buttons on the topside. The buttons were color coded red, yellow, blue, and green. The joystick was on the top of the controller on the left side, you had to use your thumb for that. Now your fingers on your left hand, that are on the underside of the controller rested on another set of buttons kind of how you would rest your fingers on a clarinet or recorder (a finger on a hole), these ones were colored purple, black, brown, and white. Without giving us a lesson on what buttons do what and what game we were to be playing, the kid disappeared through a door at the top of the theatre and the lights dimmed. When the screen lights up we discover that we are playing "Dino Thrasher: Heaven's Saviors" (Again I have no idea where this came from). It was an action/adventure/RPG game that was kind of like a cross between the SNES game "Zombies Ate My Neighbors" and the arcade game "Gauntlet" only with much better graphics. The premise of the game was that Satan had come to earth and his demons were possessing people. Instead of sending down angels to rid the land of this evil, he send a team (up to 4 players) of velociraptors to tear through those possessed by demons and slowly make our way through the various cities to reach Satan and take him out. It’s a pretty ludicrous premise but it was fun to play. You start by taking a photo of yourself (or whoever I guess) with the mini-camera built into the base of the controller and the computer designs your raptor to share some visual characteristics with you. So mine had black skin (I have black hair), a beard (don't ask me), and a nose ring. Jack and Kathryn’s were really funny looking because both or their raptors had long blond/brown hair pulled into ponytails. So after you had your "look" you got to select what kind of powers you had. I chose to be a healer, Jack chose to have mental powers like telekinesis and mind control, and Kathryn chose to be the muscle of the group with super strength and agility. So the controls for this game worked as so. The joystick is how you moved around. The trigger was the "accept" button in menu mode and also the button to cast your spell or ability. The red, yellow, and blue buttons were various attacks while the green was jump. The under-buttons on the left side (purple, black, brown, and white) are the buttons that you assigned your abilities to. The game starts out in New York City in central park. Jesus told us that we had to find the head demon of the city, a giant demon-gorilla that we would probably find in Manhattan (probably… Jesus didn't know?). So we started it by having to fight our way out of Central Park. Kathryn picked up the game play very quickly, but part of that was because her super strength didn’t have to be cast on somebody, she could just turn it on or off. Jack and I had to figure out how to cast our powers on others (or ourselves) which involved setting targets. Like most role-playing games we had the equivalent of mana, or “the Holy Spirit” as it was called in this game. Every time you used your powers your “Holiness” would go down and would have to recharge unless you had an instant power up like holy water. The rest of the dream was essentially us tearing apart the possessed on our quest to banish Satan from the earth. Again stupid but funny premise, not to mention the game play was pretty sweet.