Twitter + Flickr = Twitterfountain

As always ... just playing around w/some things.

This time I came across Twitterfountain ... I think it is a bit annoying at times ... especially if you really want to see the pics in the background ... but it also has a cool factor in seeing the tweets w/only certain tags.

Your thoughts?

I used Cavs as my Twitter tag and I used Cleveland as my Flickr tag ... awesome mashup!

Ice Cream TweetUp - Snowville Creamery

Nothing says summer like ice cream. Then toss in a TweetUp and it's a raring good time. The old fashioned ice cream was made from just good ole milk. The churning came from riding on the bike. How about that? Lose a few pounds, gain a few pounds back. I had two cup fulls. One plain and one as a rootbeer float. Both were quite tasty.

Thanks for The Hills Market for hosting and Ryan Bauer for organizing. Met LeeAnn Purdy and Clancy. And saw Cheryl Harrison too. Nice.

Enjoy the short vid.

To Learn WordPress or not?

I've been toying with the idea of doing a blog using WordPress. I want to use the WordPress.org version and not the WordPress.com version. I'm a newbie to this, so if you don't understand the difference between .org and .com, then you will have to look it up as I may screw up the primary differences between the two.

I do know that the .org version allows for creating multiple pages and thus gives your blog more of a Web site feel. That's a sellable point for me. I want multiple pages.

But then I have to slow my roll. I've heard about the nightmares w/WordPress installs. I don't really want to work w/code. I know a little about it, but I'm a content creator and I don't want to have to hassle w/the code, at least not all of the time.

I don't want the learning curve of learning a new program especially a program like WordPress whose knowledge base runs sea deep. What I do know is that if I do fully go the WordPress route, I will not be transferring from Blogger to WordPress. I am just too afraid that I would lose information in the transition.

I currently have three blogs and a Web site. I contribute to other webbies as well. So adding WordPress at this time could just eat up my time. Time that I could be using to create blog posts and create other multimedia.

WordPress will be there and I will use it in the most bare bones way for now. For all of you WordPress fans ... I appreciate what you're doing. Maybe I'll join your ranks in the next year or so.

Music Monday 28 :: Sergio Mendes' "Timeless"

Here's a cd that I can listen to from front to back w/out skipping any tracks in between. That's because Sergio Mendes is phenomenal. Then he went and got will.i.am, who's phenomenal, to produce most of the "Timeless" project.

I like hip hop, it is the genre that I enjoy most. For Mendes to infuse hip hop throughout "Timeless" just made my day. He pulled in a pretty high end guest list as well: Jill Scott, Q-Tip, Stevie Wonder, John Legend and many more including one of my favs Black Thought from The Roots.

Though my love for hip hop is evident on the disc, it does cross genres too. There's some RnB flavor, some samba and reggaeton.

My fav tracks are "Yes, Yes Y'all", "The Frog" and my number one, "That Heat". I love the tempo on "That Heat". The lyrics are okay ... but I do like what Erykah Badu brings to the table as well; she brings a little bit of mellow and sultriness. Check it out if you get a chance.

That Heat - Sergio Mendes

Music Monday 27 :: Oleta Adams

Oleta Adams ... that's a blast from the past, right? But I'm sure that when you think of her, you also think of her outstanding cover of the ballad "Get Here (If You Can)". I only vaguely remember that the song was originally done by Brenda Russell. But Oleta put her spin on it, for sure.

"Get Here" is from 1990's "Circle of One" though "Get Here" wasn't released until 1991.

What do I like about the track? The piano! The piano at the beginning sets the tone ... nice and smooth and soothing. I like the lyrics too ... so many ways to "Get Here" ... "I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can." So simple. The song also does that start out slow and mellow and then crescendo's near the end, then mellows out again. Not unique, but effective.

I saw her perform it live once at the Finger Lakes outdoor venue in New York. She's got some pipes.

Get Here - Oleta Adams

Managing my Twitter Account

I've been using Twitter for what seems like a long time. I'll have to check to see when I registered my account. I like the microblogging thing. My brother thinks it's modern day stalking especially w/the pictures that tag your location. Yeah, there's that. But sometimes you just gotta live, right?

Even with all of the apps for Twitter, I still find myself using the Twitter Web site for my account. I like that the search bar is in the right column now.

So my frequent use of Twitter has lead me to use several Twitter apps. The one that I use most frequently is TwitterBar. TwitterBar is actually a Firefox add-on. I like being able to use the url box to post to Twitter ... that's because I always want to share whatever cool blogs and webbies that I am checking out. TwitterBar is the easiest way to do that. You can type the accompanying 140 character message there (and it has a character count) and it will shorten the url. Nice.

Next up for me is TweetDeck. I like this app because it let's me group my followers and it also now has the Facebook status updates. I don't use it all the time, but I like it. Interesting thing is that a competitor to TweetDeck has entered the room. It's called Seesmic. I have not tried it, but I did read a blow-by-blow comparison of TweetDeck v. Seesmic. And if all is right in the world, TweetDeck will step it up before I swing over to Seesmic.

I do have multiple Twitter accounts. I think I have four now including one for work. So I ventured to try out Splitweet. It's okay. I think I just need to get used to its interface. It did allow me hide accounts and also to post to more than one account at a time. That's kinda nice.

Oh, and how could I forget TweetLater. This one gets a lot of use from me. This is how I keep the accounts fresh that I don't tweet on regularly. I go in and schedule my tweets. At first I thought that I would not have any use to schedule tweets, but contrary. Again, I want to keep my lesser used accounts fresh and this is how I do it. I usually go in and schedule at least one tweet per day. Not too time consuming. TweetLater also is set up to follow those who follow me on certain accounts and to let me know when someone has mentioned me in a tweet. Cool.

Lastly, one of the first Twitter apps that I used was TwitterFeed. I've sort of forgotten about it because after the set up, the work is done - at least for me. TwitterFeed will take my blog posts and post to Twitter. That is perfect for me. Especially when I have post-dated blog posts.

Right now I'm looking for a mobile app for a non-iPhone phone. I used to be able to type in the Twitter address and review tweets, but that just stopping working on my phone about a month and a half ago. No one knows why.

Check out the ridiculous amount of Twitter apps.

Who Wants Cupcakes

I've decided that I don't like cakes and cupcakes as much as I like pies. I love, love pies. But I do like a nice, warm cake w/some ice cream.

But when I saw this cute little bakery the other day, I knew that I could not just ogle and move on ... at least not w/out a sample. It's such a happy and colorful place, but not over the top.

Bakery Gingham is nestled in the old town neighborhood of German Village in Columbus, Ohio. It's only so big, but big enough to have two nice sized display cases of sweet treats. I almost went for a cookie: snicker doodles, peanut butter, no bakes and more.

But then I sidled up to to the other display case where there was a nice selection of cupcakes including Red Velvet and Peanut Butter, but I settled on the Oreo's cupcake. The woman in the store said she liked it and said that it has almond in it and you can actually taste the almond.



I thought I would nibble on the cupcake later that day especially after having had a big breakfast, but no ... the thought of almond and Oreo's permeated my mind and I ripped into the cute little cupcake carry case and took a swipe at the icing. Not bad. I like whipped cream frosting, but this was not too sweet. Then I took a pinch of the cupcake ... ooooh. Yes! Then another pinch. Then just let me get that piece of Oreo ... you'd think I gobbled the entire thing up, but I did not. But it will be all gone soon though. Quite tasty says the pie lover.

Music Monday 26 :: What Does "Jai Ho" Mean?

written by guest blogger Ifelicious
freelance writer/blogger living in Columbus, OH

Grabbing an 2009 Oscar for Best Song, "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman from the blockbuster hit "Slumdog Millionaire" is a catchy Bollywood style dance anthem that has been topping pop charts worldwide. Here in the US, A.R. Rahman teamed up with the Pussycat Dolls for an English version remake that was another slam dunk. Watching the Pussycat Dolls perform "Jai Ho" over at Value City Arena (aka "The Schott") in Columbus, Ohio last Thursday as they closed out their performance before Britney took the stage, I fell in love with the song all over again.

But what does 'Jai ho' mean?

The version by the Pussycat Dolls often has "You Are My Destiny" in parentheses right next to the song title. Their version, however, is not a direct translation of the song rather an English adaptation borrowing the name for the hook 'Jai ho' and associating it with "You Are My Destiny."

After checking around on the internet, I did manage to find a few posts that offered translation. The following is the most descriptive, in depth translation that I could find. It was a reply posted on the blog NightHawk.

'Jai' is derived from the word 'Vijay' which means 'Victory'. 'Jai ho' in a simple way means (as been said earlier) let you be victorious.

Its a term usually used either for praise, or to buck up during competition.

In early times when the king used to arrive in his 'darbar' (a place where he used to discuss the political affairs of his kingdom and other affairs with his ministers and also interact with the public), people used to shout slogans like "Maharajadhiraj (your highness) ki Jai Ho" meaning let our king be victorious.

Even our God's are praised with slogans like 'Jai ho' to symbolize that the Holy Lord always wins i.e. triumph of good over evil."

Furthermore, wikipedia clarifies that the original version of "Jai Ho" include elements of Hindu, Urdu, Punjabi, and Spanish in the lyrics.

Now that we're all the wiser, enjoy a listen to A.R. Rahman's "Jai Ho."