Summer 2010 Plans

Just when I thought my life would slow up and I could enjoy the summer, it arrived and I'm not ready.

I've only managed to get one thing done so far: wrote an article for a journal.

And it seems summer will be over before I know it. At least my summer will be. In D.C. for about two weeks to hang w/fam and friends. Then to Chicago to do more of the same. Considering a trip to Denver for the AEJMC conference. Then back to Cairo for the 2010-11 academic year.

Here's what I hope to squeeze in over the next few weeks:

• Reading "The Great Negro Plot" by Mat Johnson (reading group's summer read)
• Begin to write a movie script
• Write an e-book
• Update my blogs more consistently
• Workout daily

That should be plenty, right?

Thinking of switching from Blogger to WordPress

This topic has crossed my mind, but as I think about the future of my blog, WordPress seems like the road to follow; and I'm talking WordPress.org. I'm especially interested in WordPress because of the ease of uploading audio. For some reason, Blogger and Google seems to consistently leave out the audio component. I mean, I've managed to set up my Blogger blog, so that when I post audio you can reach it via the link in the title of the blog post, but it took some time to make that happen.

I recently read a blog post from Kristina Werner. I usually read her blog for all things crafty and cute. She's super busy, but makes the time to host contests, create video tutorials and show off her cards and projects.

The blog post I am referencing is the one about her Top 5 WordPress Plug-ins. As I scrolled through the blog post, I thought, yes, some of those plug-ins do seem really cool.

I'm still tethered to Blogger, for now. If I get some free time in the next few weeks, who know, I just might make the leap over to WordPress after all.

Cemetery Sunset in Cairo

Took this picture on the bus ride home from the AUC campus in New Cairo. Taken May 18, 2010 @ 7:19 p.m.

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Owled - Boys in Egypt

A group of boys were quite animated as they were walking past the place where I catch the bus to work. I tried to get a candid shot, but they noticed me and decided to pose for the pic. 

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Uses for Used Tea Leaves

I've been using a lot of loose leaf tea lately. A friend got me some tea, infuser and stuff for Christmas.

Sometimes, I use the infused tea more than once. But usually, when I'm done, I just toss out the used loose leaf tea. The same applies for when I use tea bags.

So I did a quick search on 'uses for used tea leaves'. Wow, there are a wealth of options. The one the resonated for me was using the used teas leaves for fertilizer. I've had some difficulty finding good soil in Cairo. So this could be part of a solution to adding some nutrients to the dirt that I do find.

Here are a few of the lists and articles that I found useful for reusing used tea leaves.

From Ya-Ya:

12 Ways to Recycle Used Tea Leaves

From WikiHow:

How to Use Leftover Green Tea Leaves

From Life Hackery:

10 Unique Uses For Used Tea Bags

Cairo: Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre

The Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre is a wonderful hidden gem in Cairo. Nestled in the hustle and bustle of Egypt's chaotic capital, it is tranquil and a polar opposite. There is nothing quick about hand crafting wall-sized tapestry hangings.

Not only do the weavers create the elaborate tapestry w/out patterns and many have horizontal images, but they are crafted diagonally; that's just amazing! Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre also has an organic dying process.

Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre Animoto Video

I was already highly impressed with the extensive weaving process (which I'm unable to afford right now), but there was also batik painting (which, luckily, I was able to afford) and pottery too. All handcrafted.

And if the lush campus, rich with greenery and blooming flowers isn't enough to wow you, there's a wonderful museum showcasing decades worth of the Centre's tapestry history.

Everything about the art center was both visually and aurally stimulating. You won't find this place on the typical tourists stops, but if you have time during your visit to Cairo, it is definitely worth a visit; a place where you won't get heckled and you won't have to haggle for prices.

Six Sites I Log Into Daily

AIf you're like me, you are on the Internet quite a bit. When I was using Firefox as my Internet browser, I liked that I could save my session so that the next time I opened Firefox, the same pages would display from the previous session.

Unfortunately, that feature does not exist (yet) in Google Chrome. However, Chrome does allow you to enter in the urls that you want to use when you first open Chrome. It's not a substitute for the save session feature, but it's a work around that I can accept.

Image courtesy of Cheth Studios

So I currently have six websites that I begin with daily.

1. Twitter: It's become my lifeline. I have five twitter accounts that I manage and that's a bit much to keep up with. I often use Social Oomph to schedule tweets and I use TweetDeck too. Tweetdeck has recently upped their game and I like some of the new features. All that to say, that I'm still married to the Twitter web interface and I like to see the Top Tweets too.

2. Facebook: Well, yeah, you know that FB would be on the list. Living abroad, FB is my connection to my friends w/out having to talk to them. I'd love to talk to them, but the seven hour time difference is a bit of a problem sometimes. So FB is a good bridge between the time zones.

3. AUC Mail: I need to remain in touch w/what is going on at work. Though currently I have my vacation message on: "Final grades have been submitted and I am away from the office until August, 2010" or something like that.

4. Gmail: My Gmail has mostly become my primary email account. I still use Hotmail and Yahoo, but I like the Gmail interface and options like adding labels.

5. Delicious: I like Delicious because I can see what my network is bookmarking and what stories I may have missed. Sometimes I'll check to see what's popular and recent, but mostly I'm just adding my own bookmarks and checking my networks bookmarks.

6. Yahoo!: My yahoo account has become my account for subscriptions. So it tends to fill up and not really with emails that I make the time to read. I usually scan for important emails. Oh, and I take a glance at the top stories on the Yahoo! home page too.

Music Monday 58 :: Mateo "Empire State of Mind (part 3) Remix"

Another Monday and it's some music for you.

Check out this video version of "Empire State of Mind" by Mateo. Love this.

Tentmakers Trip

Trip to the Tentmakers. Lovely handcrafted work.

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My Resolve in '10

I'm reflecting on reaching some of my recent goals. I managed to tackle the travel component on last year's list even with my move to Cairo from the U.S. Probably because of my move to Cairo. As for the language, well, let's just say I swapped learning Spanish for learning Arabic instead.

Now, we're six months into 2010 and I'm just now getting around to posting my goals for the year. I'd made the list, but life got in the way and I never posted it. I was hopeful that when I went back to check it out that I'd have already accomplished at least one thing on this list. That doesn't seem to be the case. But there's still time, right?

Seems most of these are sort of work related:

1. Produce an audio documentary. I've been working toward this one. I have all of my interviews and I just need to put it together.

2. Produce a feature for World Vision Report. I need a good, strong story for this one. And although Cairo is full of interesting stories, many of the stories have already been told. I'll need to think on this one a bit longer, but it is going to happen.

3. Workout for 20-30 minutes at least four times each week. I haven't yet achieved this goal consistently. Though I can say that I often work out for 40 minutes, two days a week. Not the same ... I've discovered Motion Traxx for motivating, uptempo music (with some narration).

4. Publish an article in a journal. This is work related and on my goals list for work too. But I've partially completed some interesting research on "30 Rock". Looking to add a bit more to what I have and find a publishing platform.

5. Publish an eBook. I was reading Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's "Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust". There was a suggestion about give back what you learn by creating an eBook. That's what I'm gonna do.

That's all for now. Actually, that's plenty. Happy belated 2010 to me. Living my life and loving it.

My Sneakers

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