Journey Inside My Mind ™

I used to put a small byline by each blog post here at the Journey Inside My Mind Blog:

Mood: Happy
Listening to: Coverville
Reading: Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe
Eating: baby carrots
Watching: Twitter in Plain English

These short, bite-sized nuggets (such as what you just saw above)would let you know how and what I was doing. Since August 2006, however, I’ve opted for a different way: Twitter

You may already know about Twitter, but the folks from Common Craft have put together a video that really helps it make sense:

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Check out my other blogs:
Daniel Johnson, Jr.
Get That Job!
Journey Inside My Mind Podcast
QuotesBlog
Twitter.com/danieljohnsonjr
The Pod 5
Wanna get LinkedIn?

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Okay, so I subscribe to a lot of podcasts. I think I have over 75 feeds in my collection at PodShow. Thankfully, I don’t have to manage all of those individual subscriptions on my computer as the shows download. I used to at first, but when PodShow introduced Channels, I jumped on board. I started using GigaDial and Odeo to get individual items into a feed, shows that I not necessarily wanted to subscribe to, but just wanted to check out and/or make available to others.

PodShow+ does a pretty good job of helping manage the content delivery. I subscribe to my channel RSS feeds using Juice, and I’m glad that I only have a few subscriptions for each of my channels, versus the total number of subscriptions I have.

I also like being able to check out shownotes pages for the shows I subscribe to, and, until recently, I would subscribe to each individual feed in Google Reader. I found myself going through each individual show again, which became a bit cumbersome.

So after playing around with Yahoo! Pipes, which I first heard about some months ago from Christopher Penn, I am happy to say that I’ve created a configurable pipe, entitled “danieljohnsonjr’s Master Podcast Subscription Mashup“. It defaults to show 50 items, but you can increase or decrease that number as you wish. The pipe generates an RSS feed that I have subscribed to in Google Reader. I could similarly subscribe to this feed in Juice and further reduce the number of feeds I have there. I haven’t decided yet. I can also listen to podcasts via Google Reader.

What I like about pipes is the ability to mashup content like this from various sources into one source, which is easier to manage.

So, if you wanna see my entire collection in a single feed, create one of your own from my subscriptions, or create your own to share, here you go:

Pipes >> danieljohnsonjr’s Master Podcast Subscription Mashup: (link), (iTunes), (RSS)

As I play around with this tool, I can’t help but consider its possibilities to aggregate information related to something for my job. Still letting that potential marinate. What interesting ways have you found to use Yahoo! Pipes?

Related tags: journey+inside+my+mind, journeyinsidemymind, jimm, daniel+johnson+jr, yahoo+pipes, podcasts, google+reader, podshow, gigadial, odeo

I went to the library today for the first time in about a month. I was looking for some quick and dirty books related to programming. I don’t know if these will help, but here’s what I brought home.

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Mike Schaffner points us to an eWeek report on a recent poll by Reuters that discussed how Blackberrys and laptops are blurring the distinction between home and work life.

He recommends the following useful techniques:

1. Take action to reduce the number of unnecessary emails that you receive
2. Prioritize your actions – take control of when you check and respond to email

He also recommends going into your Blackberry and turning the new email notification off so that you’re not tempted to check it every time a new one arrives. The key to remember is that laptops and Blackberrys are not your jobs; instead they are tools to help you do your jobs.

Here are the comments I left:

You hit a nerve in me with this one, Mike, on a couple of levels.

1. I am totally for getting information when it’s convenient for me. I consume most of my media on-demand these days. The idea of watching a program at a specific time is something I’m growing out of. The same with online media (blogs, podcasting, and the like). I’m learning to consume it on my schedule.
2. Having said that, I’m also a guy who checks every email that comes in and who also spends so much of my time lately watching what’s going on with Twitter (http://twitter.com).

I have recently found out how to change the notifications for Outlook and GMail, but I could do a lot better with Twitter.

What about you?

You probably already know, if you’ve emailed me, that I love GMail. If I remember correctly, I got my first invitation within a month that GMail had been launched. It wasn’t long before I moved nearly all my email correspondence to GMail.

One of the features I like about it, which makes it different from other web-based email systems I’d used like Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail, is Labels. GMail extends the usual Folder concept by allowing you to assign multiple labels to messages.

The other really useful feature is that you can search your GMail. Let’s say, for example, that you need to find an email about “Journey Inside My Mind”. You type that in the search field, and GMail searches your entire mail account for it, listing your results.

As I’ve thought about this recently, I’m beginning to wonder why I use Labels in the first place if I’m going to use GMail Search to find them. Here’s where you can help.

How do you use GMail labels? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

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journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm daniel+johnson+jr

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n4fDgmrF3o]

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I recently clicked in Firefox the Tools | Clear Private Data, and ever since then I’ve been unable to log in to Feedburner and GigaDial.

I searched my GMail archives for related info, such as original password info, etc., but that has so far proven fruitless.

Kinda frustrating. Maybe I should have looked before I leaped into choosing that option. Can anyone out there help?

Update: I may have figured out what I need to do. I’ve been able to log back into Feedburner okay. I may need to re-create an account at GigaDial.

Mood: frustrated

You’d think that a software update would be a good thing. That’s what I thought when prompted by Windows Media Player to update to version 11. I did it, and boy, am I regretting that decision. It’s become so much more cumbersome to consume podcasts and sync media files with my iRiver. What used to take 5 minutes now takes 15, if I have the patience to wait that long.

So I Googled “how to revert back to Windows Media Player 10″ and found this website: http://www.normsoft.com/kb/idx/0/166/article/. I don’t have the time to check it out right now, but I’m posting this so that I can return to it later.

Man, Microsoft really bites farts on this one.

Update 5:19 PM EST: As I uninstalled WMP 11 from the Control Panel, it automatically rolled back to version 10. I have yet to see if everything else works better.

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Tonight we talked with the Official Mom of Journey Inside My Mind via SkypeOut. We have the laptop speakers connected to the stereo system so that everyone could hear my Mom. Keisha, Jennie, and I talked for close to an hour, and I took some pictures, which will be on this post momentarily.

What’s great is that Keisha, who is hard of hearing, could hear her Nana very well and talk with her as though she was here. Technology is amazing that way.

As if there weren’t already enough ways for you to stay abreast of what’s going on in my life:

Twitter is for staying in touch and keeping up with friends no matter where you are or what you’re doing. For some friends you might want instant mobile updates while for others checking the web is preferable. Invite your friends to Twitter and decide how connected you want you to be.

Twitter is brought to us by the same folks that gave us Odeo. And, they’ve recently begun providing an RSS feed for my updates. I might have to look into merging the Twitter feed somehow with the feed for the JIMM blog.

So, let’s stay in touch, eh?

Twitter lets folks provide their friends and others with instantaneous updates via a web interface and via text messaging. I’ve got my own Twitter page, which you can check throughout the day, because I’m so interesting (lol).

Why not head over to Twitter.com and sign up? Then you too can be my friend.

For some reason, I thought this was a good idea. Especially as I continue to add custom IM status messages over time. I’ve been using GoogleTalk and Windows Messenger as my IM clients over the past several months, and they provide the ability to use a “custom message”. Here are some that I’ve had recently, in no particular order:

Available
Face and turn the rain
Turn and face the rain
The Dream Police, they live inside of my head…
I Want You To Want Me
Library and hang time with the fam
“I LOVE getting up in the morning! I CLAP my hands together and say, ‘THIS is going to be a great day.”
Message in a Bottle, yeah
Do I have to tell the story of a thousand rainy days since we first met?
Loose talk in the classroom, to hurt they try and try
There has to be an Invisible Son, that gives hope to everyone
With one breath, with one blow, you will know synchronicity
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Bring on the Night
It’s my destiny to be the King of Pain
The telephone is ringing, is that my mother on the phone?
Reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to Keisha
106 miles to Chicago, a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
Code Monkey drink big cup of coffee
Hot summer goodness and black coffee wishes
Go Bengals!

Prompted by recent Feedburner problems that led to Juice users being unable to receive podcasts, the Juice team has released an update, version 2.2.2, which is now available.

Digg this story!

Listening to: Audio Gumshoe 38 – Brand New

It happens every so many years. My birthday, April 16th, happens to coincide with Easter. I want to thank everyone in advance for celebrating my birthday with me by eating colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate bunnies, and the like.

I get a warm feeling inside just thinking about it. Or is that from the wings last night?

Whatever the case, you are welcome to send any birthday wishes in the usual ways. I’m even planning on doing a feedback/birthday podcast this week. So why not call (206) 666-JIMM (5466) with some thoughts? Or, if you have a microphone attached to your computer, send me a voice message. It’s easy!

Mood: better – can tell the sickness is going away
Listening to: DSC-299-2005-12-15
Reading: e-mail
Eating: chili
Watching: Keisha’s watching Lilo and Stitch on Disney Channel

My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me “forwards” over the past 12 months. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy:

Extra thanks to whoever sent me the one about roach eggs in the glue on envelopes cause I now have to go get a wet towel every time I need to seal an envelope.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put “Under God” on their cans.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a sharp point infected with AIDS.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone might drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer eat KFC because their “chickens” are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer have to buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

I no longer worry about my soul because at last count I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer have any money at all – but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special email program.

Yes, I want to thank you so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favor!

If you don’t send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large pigeon with a wicked case of diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM (CDT) tomorrow. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor’s ex-mother-in-law’s second husband’s cousin’s beautician.

Update, 10/26/2005: Rob from the podcast411 probably better explains this stuff than I do in the text that follows.

This post goes out to everyone who is still playing the show directly from this website. By that I mean that you click the link within the post (either the post title or another link) and start playing the show that way.

You mean to tell me that you’re staying connected to the internet all that time just to hear my show? I’m flattered by that attention, but I’d like to offer some advice to make your experience a little more efficient:

1. I think it’s better to save the mp3 files to your computer instead of listening to them online. That way you can listen to them at your leisure over and over again if you wish. In many browsers this is relatively intuitive if you right-click your mouse over the link to the mp3 file and select something like Save As.. or Save to disk… something like that.
2. An even more efficient way is to use podcast receiving software, such as iPodder, which is what I use. Head on over to iPodder.org to learn how to use “podcatching” software.

Here’s what happens in a nutshell when you download iPodder:

1. Download the setup file and launch it to install it on your system
2. Go to the Subscriptions tab within iPodder
3. Go to my blog (i.e., where you are right now)
4. Find the section that says “Other Basic Stuff”
5. Find the “chicklet” that says “XML”
6. Right-click the chicklet and select copy link location or copy shortcut

Go back to iPodder and click the green button with the “+” sign

7. Paste the feed link into the dialog box and click the Save button
8. The top pane of the Subscription window shows the names of podcasts you’re subscribed to; the bottom pane shows individual episodes within selected podcast feeds.

Did I say “in a nutshell”? It seems like that was a lot. Maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know. It’s late.

Update: This article I found at Podcasting News provides step-by-step instructions on downloading and using iPodder – even with screen shots. Way better than I can do.

Good luck and happy listening!

Some may recognize the following snippet as Visual Basic code. I recommend first reading Proverbs 2:1-5 if it doesn’t make sense to you:

Public Sub GetWisdom()
Dim iCount as IntegerDim Flag as Boolean
With You    For iCount = 1 to 8        Select Case iCount        Case 1            Flag = .Accept(What:= "My Words")        Case 2            Flag = .StoreUp(What:= "My Commands", _                Where:="Within You")        Case 3            Flag = .Turn(What:= "Your Ear", _                Where:= "To Wisdom")        Case 4            Flag = .Apply(What:= "Your Heart", _                Where:= "To Understanding")        Case 5            Flag = .Call(Where:= "Out", _                What:= "For Wisdom")        Case 6            Flag = .Cry(How:= "Aloud", _                What:= "Understanding")        Case 7            Flag = .LookFor(What:= "Wisdom", _                How:="Like Silver")        Case 8            Flag = .SearchFor(What:= "Wisdom", _                How:="Hidden Treasure")        End Select      Next iCount
    If Flag = True Then        .FearOfTheLord.Understood = True        .KnowledgeOfGod.Found = True    End IfEnd With
End Sub

This procedure should be run as often as possible.

Working in Teams: Higher Productivity or Bigger Headache

New Software Application Empowers Teamwork

“Today, as we face higher demands to produce bigger, more innovative IT products, teams that utilize the gifts and talents of each one of its members will have higher success, happier employees and a lot less headaches.”

Mood: Deliberate

Listening to: Classical Music for Contemplation CD

Reading: The Stepford Wives

Eating: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Watching: L O S T and the season premiere of ‘Alias’

Our home internet usage is being severely limited. I’ll have to post more from the library and other such places.

Feel free to check the archives, however.

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