All posts by K3

I am a mechanical and structural engineer by training. My interests are anime, manga, consumer electronics, cooking and gardening.
communication

US Patriotic Song Lyrics

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Here’s a nifty website I ran across as I looking for the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.”  It has a list of US patriotic songs and complete lyrics.

Link

Strangely enough, I knew the most lyrics of the Marine Hymn — I’m not sure why either.  Eitherway, I was very surprised at how many verses the songs have and the fact that I only know the first verse of most of the songs.  “Yankee Doodle Dandy” is a mystery to me — it gives my the image of a patriotic “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is powerfully descriptive, but I must say I like the clean straight forward nature of the Marine Hymn best.

Anyhow, if you have 15-minutes, take a quick look at the songs.  There all very nice!

Advertising, communication, connection

Teens are Not Driving Twitter Growth

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Thank goodness someone is finally debunking the myth that children and teens drive all technology movements!  Forgive me, but teens are NOT all that tech savvy.  Here’s an interesting article about how adults are driving Twitter adoption while teens stick to texting over mobiles.

Link

It is interesting that the teens interviewed for this article said that Twitter is for professionals and that Twitter is redundant with texting.  I think the important thing, and this sorta gets glossed over in the article, is the one-to-many nature of Twitter.  Teenagers’ lives revolve around their friends.  I recall, as a teenager, people outside of my immediate clique were non-existent.  So it makes sense to me that teens would want to stick to ways that maximize connections within their clique and texting over a mobile is probably the best way to do that now.

I also think it’s a good thing kids and teens are not adopting Twitter en masse.  About 90% of the folks that try to follow me are either people peddling porn or people peddling some sort of get-rich-quick scheme.  For me, the number of people I have to kick off my Twitter almost makes it not worth doing.  I think most kids are smart enough to stay away from unsavory people, but at the same time, people can disguise themselves as normal and “Twitter Stalk.”  Thinking about children’s safety, I wouldn’t want some unsavory people stalking kids over the Internet.  (I think, though, that starts with teaching kids about the dangers of the Internet and technology, rather than banning or limiting use.)

As for the “professional” aspect, I can sorta see that.  I mainly use Twitter to “advertise” my manga activities and the people I follow are mainly “advertising” too.  I could see teens following a string of “advertisements” they want to know about, but I don’t see them actively Tweeting into the vast ether.

Anyhow, it is an interesting article and one that I will probably mentally chew on for the next few days.

Advertising, communication, self publishing

Mommy Bloggers Confront Ethics

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Hahaha!!!  It didn’t take long for greed to spoil “Mommy Blogging.”  Here’s a little article from CNN about some of the upcoming self regulation and  government regulation coming for blogging.

Link

Well, I don’t know what to say other than greed is human nature and offering folks free stuff subtly corrupts.  But to me it comes down to the question of whether blogging a life supporting career?  For me, getting paid to generate specific content is the difference between blogging and freelance writing.  I think as soon as a writer is paid (either by cash, items, or services) to generate content, then that person is an employee and, as such, he or she should disclose they are doing a job for an employer.   It’s as simple as that for me.

Haha!!! Aside from that, a brilliant thing has happened here.  The professional news folks,  for years now, have been trying to discredit blogging and here’s the perfect ammo.  Have at it guys!  It’s a really good argument.

So where does this leave the advertisers?  In the same place as always — despised by everyone, but somehow still prowling around for the next convenient dupe.

As for Mommy Bloggers:  choose whether you are blogging or starting a career as a freelance writer or freelance advertiser.  Be clear with your audience as to which you are and all things should be fine.  However, if you choose to be a freelance advertiser, don’t be surprised if you find yourself despised and not believed.  I think this follows for all of us writing on the Internet, including me.

Music, My Life

The Death of Michael Jackson — My Experience

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I first learned about the death of Michael Jackson via Twitter.  At first I though it was a joke because news broke within a few hours of Farrah Fawcett’s death.  I never expected Michael Jackson to become an old man, but it was still a shock.  So who was Michael Jackson to me?  Well, when I thought about it, I realized his music was a prominent part of the soundtrack of my life.  Considering the length of his career, I was probably listening to Michael Jackson as part of the Jackson 5 while in the womb.  I remember as a tot listening to “Rock with You” in the car with my 2nd cousin, with my aunt, and whle skating around the roller rink.  I remember eagerly anticipating seeing the entire “Thriller” video on Halloween.  I remember watching the debut of the “Moonwalk” on TV.  I remember the excitement in the living room, my Mom loudly clapping her hands, cheerfully yelling, “work it, Michael!” as if he could hear her through the TV.  I have dear, dear-sweet high school memories of seeing “Captain EO” at Disneyland with my best friends.  I remember taking the time to see the debut of the video “Do you Remember the Time?”   I remember the music, the dancing, his charity.  I remember singing along with Michael Jackson with my family and friends.  I grew up with Michael.

I also remember Michael Jackson’s eccentricities.  No, I didn’t like the way he changed his face — I actually had a crush on the pre-surgery Michael and thought he was very cute.  As for the salacious matters, honestly, I never paid them much attention — I figured it to be the cost of celebrity and letting opportunistic people into your home.

I look forward to watching Michael Jackson’s memorial on TV or over the Internet tomorrow with my family.  I also hope some entity is able to piece together the footage of Michael’s comeback concert dress rehearsals so we fans can all experience what Michael had planned (It would be nice to see it at a movie theater).   I will continue to remember and honor Michael Jackson by listening to his music.   And to the haters:  poo-poo on you.  Let the man rest in peace and acknowledge the joy and good he brought to the world.

My Life

Trying to Embrace my Inner Housewife

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Apparently she doesn’t exist in me, so there’s no one to embrace.  Ok, so let’s say I’m trying to nuture an inner housewife within me … augh.  After 10-yrs of conspicuous consumption, my husband and I have gathered a lot of junk.  I’m tackling the large pile of stuff that’s in what should be our dining room (we never bothered to buy dining room furniture because formal home dining has never been a priority for us) .  Over time what has built up is all the stuff we’ve picked up from going to various conferences and offsite training sessions over the years.  I recovered 6 t-shirts and at least 10-cloth bags (great for groceries).  Also buried in this pile was the residue of my former work-life — pens, pencils, paperclips, plush-toys, and old calenders.  Sigh … where to put all this wonderful stuff now that I have no cubicle?  And then there are random things in the pile like hand tools, umbrellas, ancient mail, ancient magazines, and somehow my art and supplies managed to be the foundation of this pile.

Rewind back to last week, I beat back the laundry hydra and cleaned up the family room.  I also researched and purchased a pressure steamer to clean my ~1200-sqft of ceramic tile.  I didn’t enjoy one bit of it, but I did enjoy the resulting clean and uncluttered space in the family room and kitchen.  I even cooked!  Mr. Kuroneko003 was very happy.  The day I finally got everything clean I went to Ikea with my retired Dad to look at organization possibilities.  Mr. Kuroneko003 got home before me and said he thought I had rehired the Molly Maids and then was kidnapped.  Hahaha!!!

Cleaning the big mess initially is always the hardest part.  I’m seeing, though, after cleaning, as long as I’m vigilant, then upkeep of the cleaniless only takes ~1-hr a day.  In this sense, I’m excited about cleaning the entirety of the house, including the garage, so I can have some control.  Either way, it does nothing for my inner housewife.  Rather, I want to get stuff clean so I don’t have to worry about it anymore and I can have that ~1-hour/day to clean.  Regardless, still I hate cleaning house.  I can’t wait to get a job so I don’t have to anymore.  Augh … I feel like I’m going nuts.  Vacuuming and mopping suck!!!

I hope by next week to have the junk sorted into stuff that can be donated for reuse and stuff that can be recycled.  I plan to get rid of the stuff by calling an electronics recycler, a junk hauler, and someone to pick up the old car sitting in our driveway.  After than I can secretly start working on the yard.  My plan is hire a gardener to ever so slowly transform the yard into a rock garden — sorta ease my husband into it while keeping well within our means.