Interests:guitar, photography, skiing, reading, paddling, knitting, geocaching, mandolin, breathing Expertise:i do what needs to be done Occupation:Computer related Industry:Entertainment
So Rob and I got invited to attend the pre-school graduation of our first foster child. She's been back home with her biological family for quite a while so it was a pleasant surprise to hear from the family.
I'll be honest, in that I had some concerns about us attending the small town ceremony in rural NJ. I was hoping to just shuffle in and sit in the back and celebrate with the little one quietly and unobtrusively as is my style.
So Rob and I arrived and the little kids classroom was already packed with parents and teachers. We looked and within seconds were noticed by the little princess, who is now 4 years old.
Immediately she hollered at the top of her little but loud lungs..."MY 2 DADDIES ARE HERE!!!" She then ran up to us and gave us big hugs and grabbed both of our hands and proceeded to parade us around the room to everyone who would listen, teachers and parents of friends.
She always introduced us as 'MY TWO DADDIES' and threw in a few "I HAVE 2 DADDIES BECAUSE I"M LUCKY!!" for good measure.
It was both surprising and heart warming. As friends have noted, the little ones don't know prejudice or bigotry, they have to learn it. This was a perfect example of how much this is true.
This past Saturday night, Peaches played the world famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park NJ. After a lifetime [literally!] of hearing about the Stone Pony, this music fan finally got to see a show there! I can see what the press was about.
The space is perfect for live music. Plenty of room and a good view from anywhere in the room.Peaches took to the stage in a colorful harlequin type outfit and the room lit up as soon as she started her show. I've heard so much about her live shows and have been looking forward to catching her live.
All of the buzz is true. She worked extra hard and rocked the house from start to finish.Costume changes, audience banter, great sounding music, a sexy and tight band of men and women musicians, and high energy kept the audience hooting and hollering for the entire show.
Peaches is an experienced performer who knows that once you lose a crowd it's hard to get them back. She took no chances and kept us on our feet, clapping, and singing along for the full show.
At one point she came out in a bathrobe and engaged the audience in a funny skit that turned into yet another costume change and her performing her current single, I don't want to lose you.The video for her current single, Lose You, gives a taste of her strange but very interesting sense of humor. Here it is:
If you've not heard of Peaches before let me describe her. She is an artist from Canada by way of Berlin. Her music started out as very sexy electronic music which I describe as music for titty bars. Along the way she realized her inner Iggy Pop and started putting out very hard rock jams that sound right at home next to the MC5 and the Stooges.
This mash-up between synth pop, hard rock, and sex positive lyrics makes for an interesting catalog. Something for everyone!
Here's one of my favorite tracks from her set list featuring Iggy Pop.Kick It, it explains what I was hoping to see when I caught her live:
When the show was over, I was sweat drenched and hoarse.I also had a very satisfied smile on my face.
As I spent about 4 hours doing a little of this and a little of that I thought I'd share some lessons learned when trying to get the iPhone 3.0 to have MMS now.For those that are not clear, MMS is coming to iPhone 3.0 users in the States at the end of the Summer.
While the iPhone 3.0 is ready for this basic feature now, in the States, AT&T is not. Fortunately, it is possible for those motivated enough to do a little work and get MMS turned on now.
How did I get started?On twitter, a buddy showed off his MMS enabled iPhone:
After deciding to go ahead with the challenge, I tried to follow the directions on the above page. Very quickly I hit a roadblock. The file the page was referring to *.IPCC and I couldn't get it to load in iTunes as a restore file. It was not selectable.The issue turns out that I was using Safari to download the file and Safari was trying to be helpful [NOT!] by unzipping the file before I got it making it unusable.
A quick google showed that using firefox got it to work.That was just the first roadblock.
The second roadblock was trying to enable medianet at the end of the instructions. The medianet page kept saying: SORRY YOUR PHONE DOESN"T SUPPORT MEDIANET.This was very frustrating as I had changed the type of phone on my account to Blackberry Bold as the doc said but still no go.
+++You'll need to do the following for MMS to work:
4. Call AT&T Tier Two Technical Support at 888-892-9760 press option 15.
When talking to representative explain that you are a registered software developer for the iphone and need to have your phone activated for MMS.
These are the things they need to do to make it work.
Make sure you are on a standard texting plan and not the iphone texting planb. Enable Media Net and WAP Pushc.
There are two areas in Snooper that need to be checked off to enable MMSd. They need to do a push OTA (over the air activation)
+++
So after a quick phone call to AT&T and following the script, the helpful CSR changed my messaging plan to a normal SMS [not iPhone] plan and enabled MMS and Media Net. She then pushed the data OTA after I turned my phone off. Voila.
That did it! I saw my first MMS successfully sent.
How do you know it's successful? Well the SENDING progress bar was no longer stopping 4/5 of the way through and the red exclamation point indicating an error was no longer showing up. That is obvious enough isn't it? Here is what the new MESSAGING app GUI looks like when MMS is enabled. Note the little camera icon next to the text input box. That enables you to take a picture or choose a photo to send.
Its very straightforward and user friendly:
The final lesson learned? If you don't enter the data into the MMS section of the CELLULAR page on the first webpage, the camera icon will disappear! It's seems to be enabled only when it sees the proper setup on the MMS section.
I hope that helps anyone who is keen on getting MMS on their iPhone in the States now. Of course, you can always wait!
One of the many things I seem to be doing with this economy is acting as a career advisor. With so many friends and family 'on the beach' as it were, I'm getting a number of requests to look over resumes for feedback.
Aside from the obvious spelling and formatting consistency checks, I'm also a stickler for economy. I believe that words should be used sparingly and powerfully. I know it's a REAL challenge to write with the readers limited time and interest in mind. After all, don't we all think we're fabulously educated and qualified and doesn't EVERYONE want to read every detail of our professional lives with keen interest?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news [it's a gift!] but most people reading resumes are doing it grudgingly. Think of it this way. I'm a manager and someone just quit. Not only do my resources have to carry the weight while I look for someone, I have to look over this pile of resumes in addition to doing my already overallocated job.That doesn't sound like so much fun does it? Keep that image in mind as you wordsmith your resumes.
Make the resume as easy to read as possible.One big way to make resumes easy to read is to use bulleted lists. Most people state their qualifications like this:I was the maker of widgets. I was responsible for making high quality widgets and won an award 2 years in a row. I taught others in my department how to make widgets. I am also learning how to make prayer wheels.There is no guarantee that the reader will get far enough into the paragraph to see it all.
Instead you'd be much better to lay the verbiage out in a bulleted list like this:
I was the maker of widgets.
I was responsible for making high quality widgets
I won an award 2 years in a row.
I taught others in my department how to make widgets.
I am also learning how to make prayer wheels.
Isn't that much better? Granted the trade-off is that you will use up more whitespace but I think it is worth the real estate you give up. After all, if the hiring manager isn't reading it then what good is it doing you anyway?
Another tool that is a little more geeky is to do a wordle display of your resume. If you don't know what wordle is read this. To create your wordle graphic, just go to wordle.net and paste in the text of your resume. The resulting graphic will show you which words you've been emphasizing and perhaps overusing.
Here is my resume as a wordle graphic. What does yours look like?Do you have any resume tips to share?
A friend called and invited me out at the last minute to enjoy some art in his home base of Staten Island NY. For those that don't know Staten Island, it is a part of New York City that is more like New Jersey. There is lots of trees, space, and fresh air. Believe it or not!
The Art by the Ferry festival is put on annually and takes place within walking distance from the Staten Island Ferry which is one of the ways to get from Manhattan to Staten Island. The artists display their work in store fronts, gallery spaces, and converted office spaces. There is something for everyone and the great thing is that the art is very affordable.
Lifetime
NOTE:
my main site is now at 
This past Saturday night, 
Peaches took to the stage in a colorful harlequin type outfit and the room lit up as soon as she started her show. I've heard so much about her live shows and have been looking forward to catching her live. 
Costume changes, audience banter, great sounding music, a sexy and tight band of men and women musicians, and high energy kept the audience hooting and hollering for the entire show.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=774a65d7-65bd-476f-8db2-e2631209010b)
Here is what the new MESSAGING app 
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