Vista voice recognition

I have just bought a headset and I have been fiddling around with the voice recognition software that comes packaged with Vista. The results are , well , mixed at best . Just look at what it does To punctuation for example , like in the previous sentence . Or that capital T . For what it's worth, it doesn't care one way or the other whether I pronounce it nanoWRImo or nanoREEmo (although everyone knows it should be the former.) But it does yield some choice bits: when I first realized just how slow going this learning curve was going to be, I will admit that I had a few words for my shiny new microphone. The following is what appeared on screen:

Why is it that the machine understands what I’m saying except when I'm trying to write more words and my mother fought king novel.

That interrupted me in mid-rant. Funny as hell but not quite accurate. The bottom line is i need to put this away at least until December because my novel Seven new peace a sheet Is certainly not going to get written within the next century With this thing. Notice that others swear word In the previous sentence?

PS: Please don't judge me by the above disaster. It was dictated to my machine. Random capitalization, spacing and so on are not really my fault. I will take responsibility for swearing at inanimate objects, however.

by the way

Disclaimer: I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft. I considered shifting to Ubuntu as an OS. I use OpenOffice for whatever documents I write for myself and will not share, or whatever will never be printed (for some obscure reason, the conversion between OO and MSO just craps up all the formatting, particularly the line and paragraph spacings. Oh well.)

Bill Gates announced the startup of his new think-tank, bgc3. It has the coolest logo I've seen in a looooooooooooooooong time. Logo of the century, so far, I would say.

I really need to settle down and develop my company's logo, web layout, etc. I can only aspire to such cleverness, on my budget, as opposed to bg's.

very very random bits

Well, I guess that puts me right in NaNoWriMo-land: typing randomly just to up my word count :) On the other hand, my "Effective Communications" professor would call this the computer equivalent of freewriting, I presume. I have to admit, it was a totally fun class, even though it implied dragging myself up MacTavish for thirteen weeks. It did get me writing, including some character descriptions of random people who caught my eye on the train. Like the fifty-something year-old drunk who got caught sipping his beer from a paper bag (I'm not sure where he was going - he seemed like such a downtown core type of hobo) and had to call his mom to come pick him up at...oh what the hell is it called, it used to be Val-Royal...whatever. Or inversely, the very upper-crust lady executive with the pearl necklace, tapping anxiously on her blackberry the entire ride from Central Station to Roxboro.

I don't really miss the train, particularly a) at rush hour b) running for it c) missing it by thirty seconds and having to wait for an hour. I will make an effort in coming weeks, though, as I must remember to make it downtown for the NaNoWriMo get-together/write-in in the Second Cup at Central Station. I keep remembering it's on Wednesdays...usually on Thursdays. Oh well.

In other news, if anyone out there was reading my canine worries from yesterday, it appears that whatever was ailing old Droz has been, uh, cleared. In the middle of the night, my boyfriend went to get him two cheeseburgers from McDonald's, which he promptly gobbled up. This evening, he partook in the (canine) family meal, returning a little later to polish off any leftovers. In orther words, he seems back to his old self. With any luck, he will have learned from his experience and not keep putting odd things in his mouth...oh, but who am I kidding? The big goof will never learn, and that's half of his charm.

In other news, I discovered OneNote this evening, after someone on the NaNo forums raved about using Google documents to organize his/her notes and outline. It also reminds me of Evernote, freeware that I picked up along the way but whose organizing functions I never quite mastered to my satisfaction. Is it procrastinating when I'm actually doing something useful? Sure, because there's a freelance contract I just haven't really gotten into. There is time yet.
Isn't there always, in the end? Well, yeah, except in November ;p

It's Cyber Sunday this weekend, and I really couldn't care less. This is the one PPV I've just never gotten into, and this year's lineup is so-so at best. The people's "choices" don't really feel like choices at all, and there is no way in H-E-double-hockey-sticks that I would pay for a selection that is only marginally better than "none of the above." Will I buy it? Probably, just in case Orton returns, and because Stone Cold is gonna show up. Otherwise, if recent shows are any indication, both major champs will retain, I don't care about ECW (sorry!) and the divas' costume contest or whatever? *yawn* That reminds me, I need some sleep. 'Night all.

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no news is, well, no news

And that's not good.

The good news is I finally got a laptop, which means the last of my NaNoWriMo excuses just dried up. The wireless network is halfway working (the laptop half, that is; the desktop is being stubborn, even more stubborn than its owner, who has just about thrown her hands up in despair.)

So here are a few tidbits that got written along the way, but weren't posted due to...let's just call them my issues, shall we?

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While searching for employee engagement program suggestions online, I found a blog post that stressed the importance of action; specifically, for managers to prefer small actions over large-scale plans. The last bit essentially said, “Take a look at that to-do list and all those future plans, determine one small step you can take towards those goals, and take it.” That may just have been the key that finally sent me shopping for my laptop. It serves a dual objective: on a professional level, it is a useful tool that will help me grow my business, and on a personal level, it represents the last standing excuse I had to not try NaNoWriMo this year. It’s more than a single step, it’s a small skip. Now let’s see if I can keep up with my feet.

I will give myself a smaller target for this month, one which should (technically) pose no problem: to reach 50,000 words on my blog (the equivalent of a NaNo project) by Halloween. I’m only 10,000 or so words away; still, life has a way of throwing successful distractions my way. My other goal of any importance is to find a way to successfully hold the laptop and the cat (if not the cats) on my lap simultaneously. That hasn’t happened yet. Right now I’ve got Timmy lying down along the crease between my legs, and the laptop perched at an odd angle between my right knee and the Lazyboy arm. That will not work over the long run.

Ohh, UFC 86, Rampage vs. Forrest…highly distracting.

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Bless Tina Fey’s heart. She’s simply brilliant as Sarah Palin. Hopefully, her gig will only last for another month.

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Tomorrow is the “Pattes de l’espoir/Paws for Hope” fundraising walkathon for the Canadian Cancer Society. I think it’s a really neat event since the actual walker is your dog - you’re just along for the ride. Besides, it’s one of the rare times my dogs have ever received mail (other than the veterinarian’s Xmas card.) So tomorrow morning, I will wake up far too early for a Sunday morning, pack Dudley into the car and make my way to Bois de Belle-Rivière to enjoy the crisp autumn air with a pack of other canines and dog-owners united for a good cause.

All right, in my particular case, I support this walkathon for entirely selfish reasons. With the number of people affected by cancer slowly sliding from one out of every three to one out of two, and losing both my parents to cancer, as well as a number of aunts and uncles, in my case, I’m afraid it’s not a question of “if” I ever have to face cancer, it’ s a question of “when”. Hopefully, when that day comes, there will be some answers and some support. Until then, I walk.

Sometimes, it makes me wonder when people ooh and aah at the fact I take part in these types of activities, or that I volunteer. Um, hello? Opportunities abound; there are slews of great causes out there, and most if not all can always use the help. It’s in the paper, it’s online, it’s everywhere you take the time to look. I look at it like this: you can donate money, or you can give your time. Personally, I try to do a bit of both. But, for Pete’s sake, people, pay it forward.

Which reminds me of a new “reality game” called Akoha, which calls on people to “play it forward.” I’ve registered to be a beta tester, but it hasn’t panned out yet. Otherwise, the public launch is planned for next year. It just sounds like a fun way to do good around you, and if it raises a little awareness at the same time, all the better. I’m so looking forward to taking part!

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aaaarrrrgggggghhhhh, ok, ok, I give in

I now have a Facebook profile.

I'm not sure what's worse: having three friends, or looking for people I was once friends with and lost track of over the years, trying to reconnect in a feeble attempt to up my friend count. Mind you, in my search, I have found two people I'd really like to reconnect with. I'm just going to wait until I have a few more friends before I do :-)

And, just as these blogs are fairly anonymous, my Facebook profile does not have my full name. Hey, maybe I'll lose out on the chance that people from my past won't be able to find me, but at least neither will my boss, prospective employers or clients. That's just not somewhere I want to go. At this point in my life, my professional persona and my social/private life are distinct, and I'd like to keep it that way.

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another online art gathering

Yep, just like me to find something all of two days after it has occurred. In this case, it's a blog of note, and it was added the day before the blessed event. In my defence, I spent the weekend domesticating a new type of migraine, so I was nowhere near a brightly-lit 22" monitor.

Still, the idea of Drawing Day appeals to me immensely, so I still salute the efforts of the participants and put myself a reminder for next year :-)

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more free philanthropy

Somehow, in a world where everything seems too expensive, I enjoy donating other people's money. I've already mentioned FreeRice, and now, there's more.

I found this one via the NaNoWriMo website.

Goodsearch is a Yahoo-based search engine that donates 50% of its ad revenues (i.e. about a penny per search) to the charitable organization of your choice. There really are charities for every taste, and the search engine is solid, so why not?

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my feather header

I got to talking with Pat about the header of my blog earlier today. I had been slightly annoyed that the first time I had showed it to him, he had been fairly dismissive about it. But it turns out he went back to it and thought it was pretty cool.

So I showed him the original I had drawn, then scanned and Photoshopped into the result you see above. He was actually quite enthusiastic about my drawing, not even really believing I had drawn it. So, let the record show here, the original scanned version of my feather:

It was just a rapid sketch, really, just black Sharpie on the bottom of an already used page in a full sketchbook. I wasn't entirely thrilled with it, especially the text, so I figured I'd clean it up with Photoshop a little. Now, those skills being what they are, I fiddled around with the filters until I found something I thought was pretty neat, the "angled strokes" version:

It was only once I uploaded it that I realized a black feather on a white background on a black blog background was just, well, iffy; it didn't flow with the rest. So that's when I further investigated the funkier aspects of Photoshop filters to come up with the more or less final version you see above.

I'm not saying it's a final final; I may have more ideas down the line.

I've looked at a lot of templates and backgrounds, only to always come back to the concept that I want my blog to be totally unique; this is not the greatest art out there, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is mine.

BTW, every time I open Photoshop CS2 (at home) or CS3 (at work), there's always a list of credits on the opening screen, which alternate from one time to the next. I can't help but smile every time I find the name of MeMe Rasmussen pop up; I can't help it, it's a great name! I'm not even sure if it's mister or missus! So, wherever you are, MeMe, hats off to you for making my day...

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random updates

Good news: I finally downloaded Hardy Heron.
Bad news: it refuses to boot on Live CD, due to a BIOS error I cannot seem to overcome.

One last thing about WWE this week (at least until Smackdown airs): Fo-ley! Fo-ley! Fo-ley!

OK, make it two: Why don't the guys have studio photos, too?

Sunday in six: Flea market, migraine, sleep, no PPV.

Monday: Watching Raw alone with the cat.

Tuesday: At least they still love me.

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and voilà

It's not perfect, but it is a start; I've freehanded and Photoshopped a little sumthin' for the blog header. Hope you like it; I'm actually rather fond of it.

In other news, I have now failed for the fourth time to download Hardy Heron. Dammit. Try again overnight. Wish me luck.

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twenty grains at a time

I'm not a gamer. Back in the day, the only game I ever completed was Super Mario Bros. 3, and that was WITH cheats. (I have since completed the DS version of Cake Mania, and the Sudoku sections of Brain Age I and II. Woot! Yeah, I know, I'm not a gamer, but I say Woot! For the record, I say Frag, too, but that stems from my comic-book days.) For the most part, I enjoy free online games that don't require you spent hours learning the button combinations. There's stuff for everyone out there. But there is one that's special, one I really need to mention: FreeRice.

It's a multiple choice word definition game, with a twist; for every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Food Program to help end hunger. It's paid for by the nice people who purchase advertising on the banner at the bottom of the screen. Personnally, I try to give 1000 grains every day I sit in front of my home computer. Today, that took me all of three and a half minutes.

A friend of mine wonders whether the world is worth trying to save, considering where it's at. Sometimes I agree, but if I was starving, I'd like people to think I was worth the effort.

Tuesday in six: Man is pregnant - April Fools'.

Today: Done with standards - what comes next?

i love nerds...

...the Wonka kind. Any flavour, really, will do, although grape/strawberry reminds me of my childhood and the double-dipped lemonade-wild cherry/apple-watermelon rock.

In other, more serious news, Dell has begun selling Ubuntu-loaded laptops to Canada! W00t! Now THAT is tempting…my fear has always been that I’m a fairly advanced user, but when it comes to tweaking the nuts & bolts that make things happen, I’m a novice. I’ve been looking into buying a laptop for a while now; my budget is fairly restricted, and I’ve heard and read all kinds of horror stories about running Vista on a relatively low-end machine. Running Linux would give me more wiggle room. I will probably look into running it from the CD on my desktop to see what works and what doesn’t.

As for today: Spiders make me itch all over.