Tammy Green - My Aggregated Life

Chicago Bites Podcast #116

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:30:00 -0600

Sutsumaimo & Pasta Sticks, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

We reviewed Ai Japanese Restaurant & Lounge this week. I was pleased with the all-you-could-eat sushi menu, but B found the non-sushi options to be wanting. Listen to the podcast to hear the ins and outs of our dining experience.

@ 11:30 the Chicago Fire Department buzzes my door

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:10:00 -0600

Fire Department Truck, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I let them in, but then what did I do? I stood in the hallway and listened as they went door to door looking for the problem. It took several minutes before it occurred to me to put on some clothes and grab what was important. I didn't know what to take. I ended up grabbing my laptop, cables, purse and camera and then went downstairs to take photos. Twisted. I really need to think about what to do if I get this kind of warning in the future.

Turns out my upstairs neighbor left his BBQ burning. I had smelled smoke earlier, but wasn't alarmed because it's a holiday and several people in the neighborhood had been celebrating. *sigh* I need to believe that stuff happens and it can happen to me.

Anyway, thanks to the Chicago Fire Department for coming out. It's very appreciated.

Randolph Street Market Festival

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:30:00 -0600

It was a very busy holiday weekend that included a Cubs game, a few new restaurants, and an afternoon browsing the Randolph Street Market Festival. I love the juxtaposition of kitschy items, high-end antiques, and craft fair items. For $10, there's access to an entertaining visual feast. Well worth it, IMHO.

Speech Usabililty - NYT's presentation of Obama's acceptance speech

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:00:00 -0600

Kudos to the NY Times for their presentation of Barack Obama's speech. This interface highlights the text, paragraph by paragraph, as Obama is delivering it. As paragraphs are delivered, the transcript advances. Clicking on a particular paragraph advances the video, and advancing the video advances the transcript of the speech. Chapter links are provided to the right if you know which section you'd like to advance to.

The emphasis in the NY Time's presentation is the content of the speech and making it as accessible as possible, not on the technology used to deliver it. Youtube and other video services need to pay attention because this is how I want my content delivered.

Chicago Bites Podcast #115

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:45:00 -0600

Phad Thai, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

We made it to Schwa for my birthday! I'm very lucky to have amazing foodie friends who enjoy culinary adventures. Such a wonderful evening and incredible food! Listen to our review of Schwa to find out how great it actually was.

A year with my Digital Rebel

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0600

Crown Fountain Jumpers 2, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I've had my Canon Digital Rebel XTi for exactly one year, and this shot at the Crown Fountain is my favorite photo from the past year.

I still have a lot to learn about lenses, exposure and setting up shots, but it's been a fun camera to learn on. I wouldn't go back to a point and shoot for anything.

How to hide a birthday in the age of social media?

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:00:00 -0600

Body Cake, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

Can't do it. I have a birthday, so the cat is out of the freakin' bag.

My friends have the information and they like to set up reminders. Innocently or not, they have fed the b-days to countless services. Oh, I'm complicit, too. I've fed the big day to sites that wanted to verify my age before poisoning my mind with adult matters. Haven't I? Oh yes, I have.

Once Amazon, Plaxo and others get ahold of the date, they send out reminders to everyone, and I do mean everyone. The reminders beget action, which means that more reminders and wishes spread to Twitter. Soon, messages start appearing on Facebook. Not only is the cat out of the bag, but it's multiplied like...like...tribbles (gah! am I showing my age?)

Age. Yes, there is the matter of number of years on this earth. I currently labor under the delusion that my age isn't discernible from all this social media activity. That's right, yeah...I blog like I'm 18. Yo, I twitter like I'm in my 20's. If you see the analog version today, say how timeless I appear online.

It's the least that you can do.

Anatomy of a modern job application

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:00:00 -0600

Mural at Wolcott & Montrose, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I got the job tip through Twitter,

We chatted over the phone about the position,

I confirmed the interview through email,

We talked about the position face to face,

And then...I got the rejection letter in the mail.

It was a very nice rejection letter, but why would I get worked up about an employment opportunity that moved from Twitter to snail mail? Indeed.

Twebinars: what I'd like to see before, during & after

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:30:00 -0600

A Twebinar is a combination of a webinar with the chat feature moved into the Twitter service. The idea is to spread the conversation out into the social media space instead of confining it to a static piece of content/site/date/time. It seemed like an interesting idea to someone who's planned conferences and interactive events, so I decided to try it.

I attended Chris Brogan's Twebinar on "Game Changing Moves: The Importance of Listening", which was the third in the series but the first that I've been able to attend. My experience in attending was so weird that I ended up taking more notes on the process of the twebinar than actually paying attention to the event itself. Unfortunate, because I'm sure there was some good content in there.

Before the Twebinar
Registration for the event started by asking for my mailing information. Since this was a free on-line event, I was completely thrown by the required fields. Still, I sucked it up and provided the information...and then the site provided me with nothing about what to do next. Even though there would be a confirmation email later, I needed next steps on that page -- where to go, what to do next. I didn't like it, not one little bit. I think that if I'd found the registration link through the Twebinar site, which had more information, I would have felt a little better about next steps. But I didn't, I'd found it through Twitter. No consideration had been given to folks who found the link through non-traditional means.

I later received a confirmation with the date, time and a reminder that the event was free. However, what wasn't included was far more telling:
1) Information about what a Twebinar was or how to set up for it. Turns out I had to have four windows open: two Twitter searches, Twitter, and the Webinar.
2) Links to all of these sites.
3) Information about what tags to use for the event: #tweb3 and #twebinar. People were using both, which was confusing. There should have been one tag for the event.

If I'd known these things in advance, then I wouldn't have been scrambling at the beginning to set things up and would have been able to pay attention to the subject. I wasn't feeling the love.

During the Twebinar
1) Announce the tags to use on Twitter.
2) Get a real videographer and serve it up right. I'm not sure what client they were using for video delivery or who was shooting the live video, but the streaming was horrible. Very choppy, hard to watch.
3) Have someone at each video site on hand to handle technical issues. Sound was lost at least three times during the event.
4) Create a custom skin for the video client that includes all necessary twitter windows as well as the video so people don't have to go back and forth or set up separate screens to view the twebinar. Gah. I know there are services that create custom skins with embedded applications & sites (Akamai, others). Look into it, seriously.

After the Twebinar
1) Provide all the info. I know the twebinar will be hosted and that content can be viewed again. However, I want to see all the questions associated with the event. I had the sense that most people weren't using tags, but were sending the questions straight to Chris.
2) Survey attendees after the event? They have my information.

Coda
I think this twebinar series is an interesting attempt to use social media to generate conversation around a topic, but the implementation is still too clunky and will undermine participation by those who are less savvy. Twebinars also remind me of the hype around live blogging -- meaning that it divides my attention and reduces retention around the subject.

Interesting idea, this Twebinar, but more can be done to make it a tighter, user-focused experience. I think it's important that the event planners don't get so caught up in the content that they forget the nitty-gritty details of how people will interact with it.

Manage your online identity: Use your name before it gets used

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:00:00 -0600

Have you heard about the fake Exxon twitter account? A non-employee posed as an insider to Exxon mobile, twittered about the company and responded to customers. Exxon completely freaked out, but they had an army of lawyers and technologists to attack the problem. I'm pretty sure the problem is solved and Exxon is Exxon again.

Now, I don't think you have an army. I know I don't have an army. So, what to do?

Claim your name. Now. On every major service that's out there. I've claimed the name Zesmerelda for the past 15 years on everything, but I no longer think that's good enough. All it takes is someone to grab my actual name, a picture of me, and they can pose as Tammy Green online. Not that I'm paranoid, but if someone wanted to trash me online that's all it would take. (No, I'm not paranoid. Not really. Not very much.)

So where have I been, name-wise? If you know me at all, your first try would probably be Zesmerelda. I started using it back in the day because Tammy Green isn't a particularly distinctive name. That, and I was brainwashed as an Internet newbie by AOL who started their intake to the service by asking you to pick a cool screen name. Screen name? Bah. Transparency is the rule now.

Anyway, I stuck with a screen name because there are other legit Tammy Green's out there (hello namesakes!). Believe me. It took years of checking the "tammygreen.com" domain name and waiting for the other Tammy to get tired of it before it came available. It took another little while to bump off the Tammy who wrote X-Files fan fic from the top of Google results. Yeah, that's right -- owning your name and using it everywhere increases the odds of search results on your name actually being you.

Upshot? Own your name even if you don't end up using it. Oh hey, if you have kids, be a good parent and register their domain name (at the very least). I think it ranks right up there with starting a college fund. Seriously.

I've written about issues with names and on-line identity before. Here are my related posts on the topic:
Tips on monitoring & namesakes
Screen name angst
The last domain name I'll ever need?
Baby name optimization?

Be there or capture the moment?

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:30:00 -0600

Church Exterior, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

During a ceremony where you're an invited guest do you
A) Snap photos throughout?
B) Take photos before and after the ceremony? Or...
C) Don't take any because you're a guest?

Do you think it's important to
A) Follow "movie theater rules" and turn off your cell?
B) Get shots that the professional photographer might not?
C) Take a picture before congratulating the bride & groom?
D) Respect the couple's decision not to have the ceremony recorded?

If you take pictures/video at a ceremony do you
A) Ask attendees if you can post their photos online?
B) Ask parents if they have concerns about their child's image online and how they would like it handled?
C) Beat the bride & groom to the punch and have the amateur photos online before the professional photos are ready?

Everyone has a different comfort level with these concerns, obviously, but this is what I found myself mulling over at a recent wedding. Thoughts?

Congrats to Dave & Caryn!

Pesto!

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:00:00 -0600

Pesto!, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I've got basil coming out of my ears, so I decided to try my hand at making pesto. I think it was a success! Here are the essential ingredients:

* 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/2 cup Olive oil
* 3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
* 3 garlic cloves, finely minced

There were more detailed directions, but I basically threw everything in a food processor and blended until I was happy. I then served it on top of the tomatoes I managed to salvage from the squirrel.

Yum!

Thanks to Diana's Kitchen for the recipe!

Testing the flip

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:08:08 -0600

Want a bit of geeky fun? Flip your text like so:

ƃop ʎzɐl ǝɥʇ ɹǝʌo pǝdɯnɾ xoɟ uʍoɹq ʞɔınb ǝɥʇ

I think it's cool, but maybe I'm easily entertained.

Seeking a strike

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:00:00 -0600

With the glow of lightning, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

I've watched a few storms this summer from my back porch and have yet to capture a good shot of lightning. However, I think trying has improved my low-light photography. A little.

This is my favorite of the almost 500 shots I took last night. There's more on my Flickr stream, if you're interested.

BTW, I didn't lose electricity, but my cable went out about 9pm. If you're trying to get a hold of me via the pipes, it will be touch and go until Comcast gets things sorted out.

Michigan roadtrip photos are up!

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 10:30:00 -0600

Sunflower, originally uploaded by Zesmerelda.

There's a little something for everyone on this trip -- forest trails, carnival rides, produce stands, bike tricks, and even accidental peach festival coverage.

View the fun here!