karl.tsakos.us/blog

REPENT! Or not, it’s really up to you.

The end of 2007 that is. One more in a series of years I look forward as referring to collectively the aughts. I plan to collect the whole set.

I have been thinking about not the year passed, but the year ahead and what I might accomplish. There’s good and bad on that front. I’ve never been much of a visionary, so I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up and that leaves the year wide open. That was the bad.

The good is I do have projects going which I plan to continue. The band with no name will continue to record until we complete the album. I will be engineering the David Kopperman Project, a side project Dave is working on. Hmm… I think I will start a podcast, so keep you eyes and ears open for that. And then, more of the same really. Well, aside from probably moving and fun stuff like that, but that is more speculative right now then anything else.

Anyhow, here is wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year. May 2008 bring you much joy and happiness.

You know, trying Flock for posting on my blog got me to thinking, I know I’ve heard of blog editors before. I just never payed them much heed as I never needed one before. Until now; I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I now have a blog.

I did some research and came across the program I think I heard of, MarsEdit by Red Sweater Software. As a matter of fact I am writing this very review in a demo copy of the program. What I see so far is pretty nice. I like the interface which is simple and well laid out.

The main window has a list of your blogs on the left as well as a local drafts folder for when you are working off line. Well, not just for working off line, this way you could have several entries you are working on that you want to post only when complete. A nice feature really. On the upper-right is a list of the entries in the selected blog or drafts on the left. Below that list is a preview of the selected blog entry. Along the top of the window is an icon bar which provides several common options such as New Post, Delete Post, and Edit Post

Editing or creating a new post brings up a new edit window. The window is a very straight forward text editor with an interesting twist. Since you are writing content for the web, the program allows embedding of html code, rather standard really. However, if you use a standard key combination for formatting, such as command-b for bold, instead of bolding your text on screen, the html code for bolding text is inserted. There is also a drop-down menu with common web formatting options.

There is also a scripting menu with some handy scripts already available. One I find useful is the Add Paragraph Tags script. For some reason, returns aren’t automatically interpreted as paragraphs in this program or WordPress, so this script does so for you.

Back in the edit window, you can display a pane with options for the blog entry on the right. These options include selecting categories or creating a new one. You can also toggle some of the server options including Commenting and TrackBacks.

While MarsEdit doesn’t have the webclipings feature of Flock, it is well integrated with the clipboard and Safari. I suppose now is as good a time as any to point out the program is Mac only as are all the programs from Red Sweater Software. With that in mind, they are all Universal Binaries, so will work with both Intel and PPC based Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5. As noted earlier, there is a 30 day free trial and the software costs $29.95 to purchase.

Already, I like this editor better then Flock’s. Not that there is anything wrong with that editor, just that this one is only an editor and focusses on doing that well. I will most likely purchase this after the 30 days is up unless I come across anything better. As I said, I will probably buy this one.

Well, I for one have not been a joiner when it comes to the wonderful world of social networking. I guess it’s just that I have never been much of a joiner. To be honest, I have never been drawn to joining activities with groups of strangers. You’ll usually find me involved in activities with people I already know, which also happens to be my source for meeting the new people I know.

So as I said, I’ve had trouble understanding social networking. I know what you’re thinking, “he’s on the wrong side of thirty to get social networking.” You would, sadly, be correct. I guess it’s just that I don’t see the value of participation in a social network. At least not well enough to make it worth my while.

That however hasn’t stopped me from trying a new piece of software called Flock. This software is ingeniously designed to integrate with all of the most popular forms of social networking. The user would add their login information for their favorite social networks including Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Photobucket, and Piczo. Bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia.com. From my limited experience with the software and that sort of site, the integration is very effective and integrates with the sites well. I will of course need to further investigate for more of a review of these features.

There is also excellent integration with blogging sites. These sites include Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal.com, TypePad.com, Xanga, WordPress.com, and “other” blogging sites not included in Flock’s list. This last item was of most interest to me as I use WordPress on my own hosted service (which is different from WordPress.com). Additionally, Flock contains tools to making blogging easier. As a matter of fact, I used these tools to create this blog entry, my first using Flock.

First and foremost, I used the built in Blog Editor to compose this entry. Basically, it allows me to compose the entry directly on my computer and then Publish later at my convenience. I never have to log into my blog to compose nor to publish the post. The editor is basically a scaled down text editor much as you would find in any blog site.

Another very nice tool is the Web Clipboard. The Web Clipboard allows the blogger to collect websites or components from websites (such as the Flock logo above) and then add them to their blog entries from a list displayed in the Blog Editor. You can even click on the Blog option for each clipping to automatically start a new blog entry about (and containing a link to) the clipboard item. I used this feature to collect and add the websites listed above.

Finally, there is a visual media search for all of the multimedia social sites mentioned above. What can only be described as a window strip is opened along the top of the browser window. There is a search bar within that window strip with a search text box. There is also a drop down list to select the site you want to search. I haven’t used this feature much yet. However, I did a quick search on Flickr for my hometown of Port Chester. A row of images with a related keyword of Port Chester appeared quickly. I found searching this list easier then actually navigating Flickr.

Lastly, the folks at Flock did one of my favorite things programmers could do; they mad it available for all three dominant desktop operating systems. Linux, Windows, and my choice, Macintosh. No one’s feelings are hurt.

While I will need more time exploring the software, my first impressions are that I like it. It’s not going to become my primary browser as there are certain functional items I don’t like such as a new tab opening every time I select a new favorite. But overall I find it a thorough and very functional web browser. It’s real draw are the additional features it includes for social networking. I may find myself exploring the whole world of social networking again thanks to this browser. I think it will definitely become my new blogging tool.

Blogged with Flock

So it was back to work today. I have to admit, I didn’t miss being at work, but I wasn’t upset going back. It was felt fresh. A new week, some new projects. I have a busy week planned, but it will be a quick week. Next week I am off for Christmas break.

Not much to say other then I have slipped into mellow mode from the uptight get it done mode I was in last week. It too is a pleasant change from last week. Although I have a lot on my plate at work, I am not feeling the pressure. At home, my place is clean and I am not making it a mess. I’m enjoying it as it is. It is enjoyable.

That’s all for now.

Briefly. This morning I was up at 7 AM and got cleaning. Had to finish my bedroom and the hall. Right now, a lot of stuff is in storage and will still need to be sorted out. However, the place looks great.

Jim and Danielle came over a couple hours early to help me setup the decorations and the seating. As it worked out, we had some time to spare when we were done, and that was fine. We had a little calm before the storm.

The gathering itself was a big success. It seems everyone had a great time and I did too. It was a great group of people and an excellent evening. I believe a good time was had by all.

I will now endeavor to keep the place clean and plan to have some smaller dinner parties. We will see how it goes.

That aside, it was a long and enjoyable day. I’m tired. Thank you to everyone who came and made it such an enjoyable evening. Good night.