Long Time No See...

Well, it's been almost forever since I posted, so I figured that now was just as good a time as any to post an update on our family.

Things are going pretty well up here in the UP. Work at Michel's & Son's has picked up considerably these last couple of weeks, for which we are very thankful.

For those of you that don't know, we just discovered the other day that we will be having a baby boy. Now, to be honest, I looked at the ultrasound picture and I can't make head nor tail of it; I may as well be staring at a stereogram. That being said, I will say that I take both Jess' word, and the ultrasound tech's word for it.

Last week, Jessica and I went up to the Tori - finnish for outdoor market - in Hancock and peddled our home made wares...The weather was a bit crummy last wednesday, so the foot traffic wasn't as good as it usually is, so we didn't make as much money as we had hoped. Today, however, Jess' returned to the Tori with even more home made goodies and gave it another shot. Since the weather was better, there were a lot more shoppers and as a result, she made $21!!

That might not sound like a lot, but when you don't have a lot of variety, that $21 is pretty good. The Tori is every Wednesday and Saturday; and while we didn't go last Saturday, we are fully intending on going to it this Saturday.

While Jess' was at the Tori, I got to stay at home and baby sit the girls. Sam likes raspberries, so we went out and spent some time in the raspberry patch eating raspberrys... After that, we went and sat at their little picnic table. While we were sitting there, Sam got this bright idea that we should play happy birthday...

We didn't have any cake, but we did have some ice cream, so after I put Cynthia down for a nap, I got the ice cream and obliged Sam with a game of happy birthday. Check out the pics.

Time For Some Pictures!

It’s been awhile since I uploaded any pictures of the girls, so in interest of self preservation I decided that I had better upload some.

 

If you’re not sure who this is, I don’t know that I can help you. She’s on an undercover mission; or so I was lead to believe… All kidding aside, this is Cynthia and doesn’t she look fine in those uber-cool sun glasses!

 

 

 

In other news, here’s Lil’s Sam, our miracle baby and first born child. February 2nd marked her second year as our child and we are so thankful for how far she has come. Don’t for a second be fooled by that look of innocence on her face; she isn’t just one handful, she is four handfuls! Between potty training, wearing glasses, and a whole host of other things, this little one continues to keep us on the move. They are both precious, however, and we love them with all our heart!

 

 

Here’s in anticipation that you can forgive me for not having posted any pictures in awhile; hopefully, I won’t be as delinquent in the future! God Bless!

Google Documents as a Cloud-based Blogging Client

So, my last post was on the 31st of January and I am soooooo sorry! While it may have been characteristic of me in the past to be so forgetful, it will not be happening again.

So, to begin where I left off, I decided to go back and do another blog using Google documents as the blogging client. This time, however, I'm going to see how it does with an image embedded into the post.

 

I am currently using my chromebook as the platform for Google documents, so I don't have the luxury of being able to upload an image as neither the card reader or the flash drive are currently inoperable. That being said, here is my test at embedding an image into my post.

 

 

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As you can see, I have embedded an image of tux - the linux mascot.

While this may work, Google Documents will never be a viable replacement for Windows Live Writer. On top of that, this post once again had to be created using the older version of Google Documents. The new version still does not allow for posting to a blog like the older version. So, even if I wanted to be able to use GD as my blogging client, I wouldn't want to because it is so hokey.

 

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Google Apps: How We Locked Down Documents

Linux Blogging Clients

As you well know, I have been scouring the web lately, looking for a suitable desktop blogging client. In my travels, I have read where people were loathe to rid themselves of Windows 7 because of the Windows Live Writer. Up until that point, I had yet to try the Windows Live Writer, as I had been searching exclusively for a Linux client.

Since I was on my Linux partition, I rebooted my computer (I actually had to reboot twice, because I missed the grub menu list) and logged into my Windows 7 install. A few minutes later, not only did I have Windows Live Writer installed, but I also had my custom WordPress blog all setup and configured. Now, I don't like MS - the why to that statement is for another post - nor most of their products, but when I started playing around with WLW, I came to realize why all these people were so unwilling to give up their Windows 7. To me, WLW really sets the bar for the OSS community as far as releasing a suitable equivalent.

That being said, I am also a firm believer in the fact that whatever MS can do, the OSS community can do just as good, or better. In my quest to prove this point, I have tested a number of different blogging clients. Sadly, only a few of these clients made the cut. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to blog about the different blogging clients that I have tried. As it stands right now, I have tested the following blogging clients:

ThingamaBlog
BloGTK
Drivel
Gnome Blog Editor
QTM
ScribeFire
Google Docs 

 

Google Documents as a Blogging Client

This is a test using Google Docs as a blogging client.

Since I am supposed to be documenting my experience with my CR-48, I figured that I may as well give Google Docs a run for it's money as a blogging client.

Due to updates in Google Office, some features in the old version have not yet been implemented in the new. One of these features is the option to publish a document to a blog. After a

little bit of help from Ed, I finally figured out how to do this.

This site, here, explains in greater detail what I just made mention of in the above paragraph. According to that website, you simply go here to create a new document in the old version of Google Docs and then under the "Share" drop down menu, select the "publish as webpage option." This will open up a new window where you can then publish to a blog. This goes without saying, but you will be prompted for your blog type, as well as your login credentials.

I can vouch for this method, as that is the way that I accomplished this blog post. Although I haven't tried inserting images into a post, I can only imagine that it would work, as you basically have the same type of wysiwyg editor as you do in wordpress. The only drawback to using Google Docs as a blogging client is the inability to create hierarchies and categories. Other than, this is a great way to blog using your CR-48

Alrighty, next up, ScribeFire

My CR-48

So, who has heard about Google’s CR-48? I have.

I first read about Google’s pilot program last December, and promptly signed up for it. Although I hadn’t given up on getting a laptop through the program, I was completely surprised when I got home this afternoon and found a package from UPS sitting on my porch.

Here are some pictures as well an initial review of my latest acquisition.

This is what was inside the UPS box. A somewhat non descript box with a handle and some nice artwork on the front.

 

Although the box was kinda’ cute, I was more interested in what was inside!

 

 

Everything was packaged up real nice. You’d have to do something real serious to this bad boy to damage the laptop.

Although I’m not real big on dressing up my laptops, Google did throw in a nice sticker for those of you who do like to play dress up.

 

After letting this bad boy charge for a little bit, I finally decided to turn it on and give it a spin…

 

 

Although I’m thrilled to have a new toy to play with and show off to my friends and fam, I must say that it’s going to be hard to get to used to a browser as my OS.

After I have had a chance to play with it some more, I will write up something a bit more substantial, as there are some things that I definitely like about this notebook.

Until then, go sign up to get one for yourself!