Elvis is Not Dead

Elvis is not dead... at least his spirit is very much here, in Las Vegas, where I happen to be spending a few days, visiting a friend. Upon arrival at the McCarran International Airport, I was whisked off to the car rental place in a shuttle bus, driven by an aging guy with big 70s cop glasses, and blow-dried hair: the first of a series of Elvis wannabes that I was to encounter.
This desert town is larger than life, and if I had to pick one word to describe it, that would be "excessive". Vegas is always open, an inexhaustable 24 hours a day. There are more lights, cars, casinos, and tourists than I have ever seen anywhere else. There are Paris replicas, New York, Egypt, New Orleans, and a host of other Febreeze-scented, dinging portrayals of various world landmarks. Altogether, Sin City is quite overwhelming for a quiet little Canadian girl like myself. For this girl, memories of lights, glitter, carpet deodorizer, cigar smoke, noise and action will, indeed, stay in Vegas.

PodCamp Montreal, 2008: My Abridged Notes

So here's my take on PodCamp Montreal 2008...
It was a reunion of electronic communicators, where poeople exchanged ideas and opinions. The 2-day event was divided up into 3 tracks, and in between, was an opportunity to hang out and network. I listened to 6 speakers in total, and snacked on muffins and endless coffee in between.

The top 3 most important points that I came away with:

1. Be genuine:
   Pick a niche (topic) and speak or write about it, from the heart.
2. Be consistent and approachable:
   For social media to work, there must be dialogue (so don't just broadcast messages, unless you are really that exciting, that people would want to hear only you, without providing feedback). For social media / networking to work, you have to be consistent. Don't start, then drop your blog or podcast, only to leave your network high and dry. They will go elsewhere.
3. Be the keeper of your own content:
   Host your content on your own web site, and use RSS feeds to syndicate... this way, if you ever get kicked off the site, you won't lose all your hard work.

PodCamp Montreal, 2008: My Weekend.

I'm back from PodCamp Montreal, 2008. Here were a few pics, taken during this morning's sessions. It wasn't as crowded this morning, as it was yesterday. My head is swirling with information that I need to sort out, so I can write about it.

Podcast Mecca: PodCamp Montreal, 2008

This is the weekend many podcasters (and podcaster wanna-be's) have been waiting for: it's the weekend of freebie conference, PodCamp Montreal 2008, where the multimedia minds shall assemble under one roof, and share ideas. As registered guest number 344, I got in just under the wire (total number of guests is 363)... unfortunately, if you didn't register ahead of time, registration is closed.
PodCamp Montreal speakers (there are more):
iCar
Rob Blatt
Les Beaux Real Roux (French)
Zelaurent (French)
Topics will include marketing, SEO, techniques, etc.

A History of Windows Sounds

I don't think any sound has been quite so well recognized as the Windows startup and shutdown sounds... which, I suppose, is why some individual decided to post this video on YouTube, documenting all the various sounds from Windows 3.11 (the empirical sounding, "ta-da!") to present-day Windows Vista, which has a much more tubular zen sound (thankfully). If remixes are what you're into, check out this Vista remix or an XP one... as a friend so aptly put it, they really get going around the middle.

Browser Usage - Web Statistics & Trends

In my pursuit to update my internet knowledge, I thought it would be important to check out some web stats... but where? And how accurate would those stats be? Would they be up-to-date? I found what I was looking for on the W3Schools web site. Not only am I able to brush up on my coding, but the web site provides a monthly breakdown on web statistics and trends, dating back for the past six years. There's also info about OS Platform statistics. Oh, and being part of W3, it's free.

XML-Sitemaps for Web Page Ranking

Moving right along... The photo in the last fascinating post about the dinosaur discovery looks more like something my dog makes, that I must pick up and dispose of. Time now for a little web technology...

My page ranking had slipped a point, and I am looking for help. The best remedy, I've found, is to actually post every day, but if you've ever tried writing 70-100 words to write, EVERY day, you know it's not that easy.

I realized I needed to submit an XML sitemap for the robots to better crawl my site. I'm a so-so at coding, so for that reason, I sought out an XML sitemap generator at XML-Sitemaps.com. Just plug in the code, and away it goes, generating an XML map to all your pages. Download the new file, then upload it into your site's root folder, and submit it to Google's Webmaster Tools... Voilà! (I'll let you know how my page ranking turns out).

A Dinosaur of a Story

Meet "Leonardo", a 77-million-year-old hadrosaur fossil, uncovered in Malta, Montana. Scientists say that he must have died at about 3-4 years old, and was naturally mummified in the sand that surrounded him, since then. What makes this guy particularly intriguing, is the fact that he is so perfectly preserved... so much so, that you can even see the last meal he ate, in his digestive tract.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science will be the first city to host our dino friend, in an exhibit that starts next week. Paleontologist, Dr. Bob Bakker delivers interesting insight, here.

Play With Color

Does your portfolio boast color? If color is the favorite part of your designer day, you will enjoy playing with color combos at kuler (get it? ... kuler... color...), one of Adobe's online toys for creative folks like myself. If you want to base your colors on a photo, you may do so by uploading it. The tool automatically suggests a color theme, but you can edit that, as you see fit. You need to log in, if you actually want to save any of your color sets.

Edible Art

To pretty to eat? WD-50, a trendy New York restaurant is where Wylie Dufresne pushes his culinary creativity. Food, in the shape of things squiggly or cubed and standing up tall are his signature in this nouvelle cuisine spa for the senses. I have not eaten here, but was intrigued by a friend's Facebook posting of photos from food they'd ordered, while dining there. It got me interested in reading more.

Above photo: "Knot foie".

Test JavaScript in IE, on Multiple Platforms

Need to test your JavaScript in Internet Explorer on various platforms? DebugBar has an alpha release of IETester. It's still in the alpha stages of testing, but maybe we're on to a good thing here.

Mother-in-Law's Cake Recipe

I haven't posted in over a month, as I've been taking time off, relaxing and enjoying family, friends, foods, places. So, I thought I'd start off, this Labour Day Monday, with a family recipe that was passed down to me by my late great aunt, Matante. She called it "Mother-in-Law's cake", but ironically, she was never married. Didn't matter, this is the best cake you'll sink your teeth into!

CREAM:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs (yolks beaten)
1 tsp. vanilla

SIFT:
2 cups flour
2 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp backing soda

ADD dry ingredients with:
1 cup buttermilk. Beat well.

FOLD: 3 stiffly beaten egg whites

Place batter into 2 buttered & floured 9-in. larger cake pans.
Cook 350 degrees, 40 minutes.

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BUTTERMILK ICING
(the best part... you might wish to double this part of the recipe).

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Cook over low heat until soft ball (236 degrees). Beat until spreading consistency.

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Good eating to all! ... Claire.