Beyond Paper, the dba of my current business, evolved out of my original Virtual Assistance business, Digitalgybe. Since my work focused heavily on the tech side of VA, Beyond Paper was a moderately clever name. (Digitalgybe is a whole ‘nother story and too hard to remember, spell and explain to people.)
My business has changed dramatically, however, and now I concentrate solely on programming for websites. My elevator speech goes something like “You know when you push a button on a website and something happens? I make that magic happen”.
Beyond Paper just doesn’t fit for my new business, and I’m looking for a new name. Any input, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!
This awesome, mesmerizing video reminds me of those UFO shows; you know, the ones where they claim scientists couldn’t possibly have thought up the technology on their own:
I decided to put learning Ruby and Rails on the back burner and learn Cake first. I primarily code in PHP, so it makes sense to add a MVC system to my skillset.
I had to laugh, though while reading the first section of the CakePHP Manual:
Rudimentary knowledge in first aid (CPR), basic survival skills, dating & relationships is also generally recommended, though also outside the scope of this document.
My DH is a ham freak. The electronic kind of ham, not the pig kind. He’s returning to it after years and is discovering the joys of open source software which is available for hams (hammers?). He’s also been mastering Google SketchUp for use on his building projects.
Our conversation went something like this:
DH: This open-source software is great! Why even buy software anymore?
Me: Well for most people’s uses it isn’t really necessary. That’s why I didn’t even bother to put MS Office on my laptop - I can get by with Google Docs or OpenOffice if needed.
DH: I don’t think we should buy any more Microsoft stuff. We don’t need it!
Aaah, the joys that comes when a neophyte realizes there is a world beyond Microsoft….
I’m eligible for a phone upgrade in two weeks which I’m going to take advantage of. I know, it means selling my soul for another 2 years to Cingular/ ATT/ WhateverTheHellTheyCallThemselves, but I’m one of the few who’ve had wonderful customer service and connection experiences with them, so I don’t mind.
My current phone is a Samsung x507, which I like, but I really want a camera phone. I like the idea of being able to vblog on the go and send photos right to my Evernote account.
What I like about it:
Size
Clamshell - can’t accidentally dial
Sturdy - as it is used by someone who regularly drops phones.
If I still lived in Seattle and was away from the office a lot I could justify a blackberry or an iPhone. Right now, I’m almost always within 10 minutes of my home computer, so accessing email/calendars isn’t a necessary feature. I also have an iPod, so music isn’t an issue either. When I do need information I text Google, which works pretty well. In fact I do text quite a bit and use SMS as a reminder for appointments. It also needs bluetooth. I use my cell phone as a work number, so this is essential.
It would be neat if I could take short videos as well, kind of like a phone version of the Flip.
I just read a post from Robert Scoble that convinced me to follow him again.
I stopped following him when the majority of his posts turned into podcasts and videocasts. I just don’t have the time to listen/watch. The remainder of his actual posts seemed boring to me.
I didn’t add him when I joined Twitter because I was afraid his Twits would be the same - teaser links to audio/video.
Today, while following a series of links from FriendFeed through Twitter to blog posts, I found Robert’s post about Twitter and this part resonated with me:
But what does following a lot of people say?
1. You’re trying to learn more.
2. You’re trying to meet more people.
3. You’re trying to be a better listener.
4. You’re communicating to the world that you’d like to be listened to (golden rule: treat people how you’d like to be treated).
5. You’re trying to find out about more stuff. More events. More stories.
I’m adding him to FriendFeed because I don’t want to miss any more of his kick-in-the-head posts.
However, they are the only game in town when it comes to high-speed internet. Or at least the only game in town at my budget.
For two days I’ve had sporadic internet access, with almost no access to any Google website. I never realized how much Google meant to me until I couldn’t talk to him access it. Today, for a brief, shining moment I thought I could connect. I accessed my email, my calendar and was settling down for a long perusal of my feeds. 100+ posts in, I got the dreaded pop-up:
And now I can’t connect to Reader any more. My Gmail is still accessible, although I was smart there and have my Gmail backed up with a PortableApps Thunderbird install. I could whip right in and get my emails, even set up folders which are mirrored on my Gmail account. Very cool.
I called Charter last night and, although they claimed nothing was wrong, Google worked for about 15 minutes. I called in and reset my account just now and - guess what - Google is working again. I’m betting it won’t be for long, though…
Geeking out a bit. I just delivered my first PHP app with classes generated by POG and using PEAR’s Auth module. Pretty code and quick implementation time (even if I did have to install PEAR for the client) - what more could one ask for?!
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