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WebGoddessCathy |
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<-- my life, by webgoddesscathy --> :: Friday, March 17, 2006 :: You know that I love the web. LOVE IT. But sometimes I get a little bogged down and don't get to really enjoy it. I get busy and I use for some tasks, boring stuff. Today, though, I had a conversation with a coworker that inspired me. It was about blogs, actually, and about creating a feed of industry-related blogs for our site. He was talking about one of his favourites which discusses the innovations that Yahoo is researching - all the "Web 2.0" stuff. (It's not important if you don't know what that is, the point is that I'm a Web person and I'm supposed to. You? Maybe not so important.) I started looking up the blog. In my search for that particular blog, as well as the research I was doing for the blog I'm working on for MaRS, I embarked on an exciting journey. First, I went to A List Apart which I hope all the web-type workers out there know as a sort of blog or column for people who make websites. I was going there to see how they handled a particular type of click or action (ie: not for pleasure but for research). In using their site, I stumbled onto and started reading a very interesting article about ~ coincidence ~ Web 2.0. It was well written (like most of their articles) and helped me understand more history on the term and explained some other terms I didn't know. And then they mentioned a couple of really interesting sites which I had to check out:
I also found Technorati, a blog search. Very cool, but I didn't find the blog I wanted. And my search for the Yahoo blog got me to del.icio.us which is apparently another social space to keep bookmarks and... stuff. And Yahoo 360° which looks to be a personal website tool for aggregating all of the other tools that Yahoo offers. And I suddenly thought, oh my god, why don't I already KNOW about these things? Why haven't I USED these things yet? Thank god I already use and love Flikr or I would have to forfeit my domain name entirely. I just find so many interesting things on the Web whenever I go on a browsing-spree. And I want to USE all of these things. And yet I can't find time to redesign my OWN website, never mind trying out these cool tools. Anyway, I was inspired by the wonderful, useful bits of software offered on the web these days. And the fact that I'm a part of this whole thing - I will be USING these tools to integrate with my site and the MaRS site, I suspect - made me feel a little cool by association. I just need more time for R&D! (Some call it "play time".) :: Cathy 10:38 AM [+] :: 1 comments :: Thursday, March 16, 2006 :: Last night, Sarah, Sharon and I got together. I had roti for the first time while we watched an interesting movie at Sarah's house. The Constant Gardener  was really good. Although anyone with hearing problems should TURN IT UP. There are some seriously low-talkers in this one. Good thing, too, as there's a bit of intrigue going on here. But seriously, I have enough trouble with British accents without dealing with whispers.Anyway, it was one of those movies I've been meaning to see for a long time. It's been talked about quite a bit in this awards season. But you know, it was nothing like what I thought it was going to be. It's about the Evil Big Pharma and it made me SO glad that I am no longer doing their dirty work - convincing people that they're sick and need drugs. It was quite soul-destroying, to be honest. It makes me so sad when I hear about what the big pharmas will do to make some bucks. I mean, I know about it first hand - they certainly had a lot to spend on "not marketing" to consumers (it is against the law in Canada to advertise prescription drugs to consumers). They are tricky and pushy and will do anything to increase the number of scripts docs write. And in this movie, they even go so far as to fix their drug trials and expending the expendable. Now, this movie is a work of fiction, but we don't know that it's not happening. I hope that it's not because it hurts my heart that real people - even politicians and pharma execs are born, have a family and love them - could orchestrate such abominations; could have such little regard for human beings. But there was one poignant thought that jumped out of the movie for me: no, you can't help EVERYONE, but you can help the person in front of you right now. I am often paralyzed by how bad things can be for so many people. I feel overwhelmed by sadness and an inability to do anything about it. All my possible actions seems so futile. But you can help that one person that needs you right now because you CAN. That one person is as important as the one person that you are. :: Cathy 8:50 AM [+] :: 2 comments :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 :: By the way, have I mentioned that I make the yummiest, easiest banana caramel cheesecake known to man? Seriously, 10 minutes and you're on your way to Blissville. :: Cathy 10:48 AM [+] :: 0 comments There's this one horoscope site that always seems to say eerily appropriate things. I don't usually read my horoscope, but a friend of mine has been sending it to me and it seems to fit something that is actually happening in my life. This week's is about how to defeat a dragon. I feel that I've been alternating my tactics, trying to find out what works: brute force, stealthfully avoiding it, finding some sort of protection. I'm discovering that my happiness is best served by pacifying the dragon with my beguiling ways. What dragon do you have to tame? I usually read horoscopes and laugh. It seems ridiculous that some people live their lives by the slop that some hippie pens in the 10 minutes between them and deadline. But this one makes me think. Does your horoscope offer insight to your life? :: Cathy 9:53 AM [+] :: 2 comments Today, I helped feed the hungry. I helped buy 883 books for children to improve literacy, improved the health of 756 children, and I helped protect 497,849 square feet of endangered land. What have you done today? :: Cathy 9:32 AM [+] :: 0 comments :: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 :: Tonight I went to the last swing dancing class at AlleyCatz. Sadly, they're no longer doing Swing night there - not even the awesome band will be around the corner every Tuesday now. Sad. But, happily, I got Alex to come out with me this time! As predicted, he was pretty good. I was, well, not. I haven't been to a class in MONTHS, so I forgot everything. But it was so wonderful to be able to dance with my boyfriend and make my mistakes together with him so I didn't have to feel embarassed or stupid. I'm so glad he came. I also had a cultural night last night - I went to see a friend in The Government Inspector, a SoulPepper production. They have a gorgeous new theatre over in the Distillery District. And we got free tickets (mostly because I went with his girlfriend). What could be better? Well, it was actually a pretty good play. If you know me, you know that I really do just like theatre in general. So I'm not being very hard on it. I'm not very snooty about theatre - it was funny and I enjoyed it. I want to do stuff like that more often. When they're free tickets, you can, I guess. Cheers to free tickets! :: Cathy 7:28 PM [+] :: 0 comments :: Monday, March 13, 2006 :: Holy Crap. Did I even MENTION that Tree had her baby? Well, she did. It's a girl. Named Ilana. (Which is a much nicer name than her sister-in-law's child which includes, among a variety of oddnesses, the name "Badgerling". Not kidding.) I haven't yet seen the child, but I hear everyone's doing fine. I'm sure they're overwhelmed with well-wishers, but I've asked to be invited over as soon as they're ready for other company. I actually saw another couple's newborn on Friday night - they brought it to the 30th birthday party. It hung out and slept amid the music and chatter - good baby! I want to be one of those people who still have a social life post-baby. I know, selfish. But the baby has to get used to other people anyway. And I want to make sure I continue to have friends who will to babysit for me from time to time. Steph's baby is doing well, and soon Kat will be having her baby. I will be surrounded by babies! :: Cathy 9:17 AM [+] :: 3 comments Excellent news! Something finally surpassed my cleavage photo as the top referrer to my site! It's my boyfriend, Ewan with 13,899 referrers from that page to the rest of my site! Hurrah for pretty Ewan! You're looking at the Number Two most popular referrer: my blog (which is also the most popular page on my site in general, aside from the stylesheet). Followed by anything on my site that has to do with sex. To be expected, I suppose. Happily, there have been 1,410 referrers from my St. Maarten timeshare page. Oddly, that's after only 774 visits to the page. I'm thinking, perhaps that I should put the photos from my recent from my recent St. Maarten vacation on my site instead of on Flikr so that I can track the number of page views... As a professional, I know this to be a wise idea. As a person, I'm just a little wary (and weary) of the time required. I love vacations. I love my website. I just wish my job was to go on jealousy-inspiring adventures and post travel journals and photos of the exotic locations. Then I would spend so much more time and loving energy on it. It would make us ALL happier, wouldn't it? Note that my photos from Australia and New Zealand aren't even all up yet! They're on my to-do list. Along with my offline Aussie scrapbook. Jaap even chastised me this weekend for not having my scrapbook completed yet. I'm on month 3 of my trip. But I have a plan. My friend Karen, who just went to Australia last autumn, said she was going to put together a scrapbook for her trip. I told her to tell me when she's doing it so that we can make it a scrapbook-a-thon. There's nothing like having someone else to motivate you to get things done. Besides, then it becomes a social event on top of a creative endeavour on your to-do list. And we all know how much I like social events. :: Cathy 8:40 AM [+] :: 0 comments
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