web-goddess

Month: March 2009

  • Petey Update

    Petey Update: Today’s the day our little kitten gets neutered. I know we have to do it; it’s what responsible pet owners do. But I was still dreading taking him in. We had to take away the cat food at 9pm last night, which meant that by morning he was a very pissed-off little fellow. We managed to shut him up in the laundry so Amy could have her breakfast. Then we had to get him to the carrier and over to the vet. They keep him all day and we pick him up after work. Apparently the procedure for boy cats is pretty simple, and he should be back to normal within a day or two. I just feel guilty over causing pain to a little creature when I can’t explain that it’s for his own good. (This is another reason I don’t have kids.)

    Update: Just spoke to the vet. He’s doing fine! We’ll pick him up in a couple hours.

  • Horse Slide FTW

    And this is an Awesome Animated Gif from a South Indian movie. (I’m trying to get it identified.) This is the day of awesome links!

  • Do you know what this is?

    Do you know that this is? This is the President of the United States of American being AWESOME. (Link courtesy of Nora.)

  • Shared today on Twitter

    @balsamiq Finally posted my review of Mockups! http://tinyurl.com/dkchqa In short: YOU GUYS ROCK.

    survived. And thrived! I feel STRONG. I am a fightin’ machine.

    is trying to be extra nice to Petey. He doesn’t know that he’s only got 12 hours left with his testicles. Poor little guy!

    Just completed a 3.54 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/iYGTt #runkeeper

    @henrytapia No, Petey is “Professor Death,” the kitten! And he’s at the vet right now, poor little guy…

  • Shared today on Facebook

    is trying to be brave for her first proper night session at the boxing gym. It’s going to hurt.

    survived. And thrived! I feel STRONG. I am a fightin’ machine.

    is trying to be extra nice to Petey. He doesn’t know that he’s only got 12 hours left with his testicles. Poor little guy!

    Just completed a 3.54 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/iYGTt #runkeeper

  • Bait & Switch

    Remember our discussion about blog advertising last year? I just got a doozy today. I was contacted by [company that shall remain nameless] this afternoon with an offer of a couple free tickets to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The email straight up says: “[w]e would like to offer you two free tickets to the movie screening.” Hey, fun, right? I like Kevin Smith movies. I’d be willing to blog about it. So I wrote back to claim the tickets… only to be told that instead, I’d have to register with their blog advertising service and submit a contest entry to possibly win them. Uh, what? I went from feeling like a special, hand-picked “blog personality” to being just another googled email address. I wrote back saying that I didn’t appreciate being spammed. The sad thing is, when I checked out their service I actually recognized a few of the blogs I read regularly. I was actually thinking about signing up. I also forwarded the request to my boss, with a note that this type of non-traditional advertising might be what we need for some of the mobile projects we have coming up. Instead, I had to send him correction ten minutes later saying that I was wrong, that this company definitely Doesn’t Get It. How disappointing.

  • Review: Balsamiq Mockups

    Back at my previous job, I was using a piece of software called “Axure” to generate mockups of web applications. When I started at the new job and they asked me what software I needed, I suggested that one. I nearly had a heart attack when I realized it’s $600 for a single user license! That’s nuts. So I started looking around. I toyed with the idea of using Visio (it’s just so clunky!) before somebody recommended Balsamiq Mockups to me. It looked like just the thing I needed, and the license is only $70. I was debating on buying it when I noticed that they offer free licenses to “do-gooders” and bloggers. I sent them an email, and they wrote back with a license the very next day! I was floored by the business and I hadn’t even started using the software yet. Of course, I wasn’t going to give them a glowing review for nothing. I’ve spent the last month or so putting Mockups through its paces.

    The software: I was a bit dubious about this whole “Adobe Air” thing, but the installation proved painless. (I tested it on both PC and Mac.) Within 10 minutes of launching it I was generating mockups for both web pages and mobile phone handsets. I wasn’t sure how technical people would react to the deliberately hand-drawn look of the diagrams, so I showed it to a couple developers for their opinion. They all liked it and said it was more fun than getting a PowerPoint or Visio drawing. I’ve been using it extensively for a few weeks now and I’ve got zero complaints. (The only bug I found was fixed a few days later.) It’s so quick to create something from scratch, and changes take hardly any time at all. People have literally stopped by my desk to point at what was on my monitor. This app makes you look like you spent a lot more time/effort than you really did!

    The business: Like I said, I was predisposed to like them just because they sent me a free license. Still, I’ve been hugely impressed by how the husband-and-wife team support and promote their software. Releases are free and having been happening every week or two. (The most recent one has custom iPhone interface elements, which will be *very* useful to anybody doing mobile stuff.) They’ve got a blog that gets updated frequently, and the developer is a frequent Twitterer. I really can’t say enough good stuff about them. If you find yourself trying to figure out what a website should look like, you should definitely try this one out. (And I think they’re working on an online version soon…)

  • Web Censorship may be defeated after all…

    So Senator Xenaphon has effectively killed the web censorship plan? GREAT! I hereby forgive him for nearly scuppering the forthcoming economic stimulus payments.

  • Shared today on Twitter

    is waiting at the Apple Store to hear if Boudicca can be brought back from the dead. Otherwise, new computer! Yay!

    is relieved that Boudicca is just choking on some bad RAM. Snookums is resurrecting her now. No new computer for me… yet.

    spoke too soon. So-called Apple Store “Genius” somehow didn’t notice blown, leaking capacitors. Very pissed off and annoyed.

    Just completed a 9.86 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/KBVxv #runkeeper

  • Shared today on Facebook

    is waiting at the Apple Store to hear if Boudicca can be brought back from the dead. Otherwise, new computer! Yay!

    is relieved that Boudicca is just choking on some bad RAM. Snookums is resurrecting her now. No new computer for me… yet.

    spoke too soon. So-called Apple Store “Genius” somehow didn’t notice blown, leaking capacitors. Very pissed off and annoyed.

    Just completed a 9.86 km run with @runkeeper, check it out http://bit.ly/KBVxv #runkeeper