The Good Life (a Vox.com remnant)

Drawing Challenge - Pitcure Frame

I am a big fan of Danny Gregory's Everyday Matters art blog. Each week the EDM Yahoo Group has a sketch challenge, and if you want to draw and share, you can.

I never have attempted it before, but I finally made myself. Below is a skecth with watercolor of my Dad's picture frame. It really doesn't look much like him, in fact, I think it looks more like Adam West. I really should have spent more time on it.

Still, it is a big step for me to do the challenge, and even bigger to post it. The next challenge is "Car" so we'll see about that one.

Picture Frame

Lost ... without HDTV and a Tivo

Last night's LOST was mighty fine, but with no HDTV I had no way to see that map in detail - thank goodness for Entertainment Weekly and the Lost forums! EW has put together a great recreation of the Hatch Map and you can read it here. And if you haven't anyone to talk to in real life about LOST (like me), be sure to visit The Fuselage forums - amazing group of fans there!

EW Article

Fusealge

Where's the Speller, Feller?

Am I totally missing it, or is there no Spellcheck in the Compose tool?

Thank goodness I have ieSpell, a free right-click spell checker. I am sure there is one for Firefox, but I am not using that 100% yet (more like 15%).

Today's Feedback - Connecting

Sent today to Comet feedback: I really think we need a way to browse posts by connections that are neither friends nor family.

I thought on the Connect tab I could do this, but it just lists their icons. Right now the only way to get to get to their blog is to click their icon (View Details), then click to view their profile, which then lets me click to their blog.

Ugh.

You see, I don't have that many "Friends" here. I have a few, but most of the blogs I read I just "connect" to and mark neither Freind or Family on the tickboxes. At this stage, it would be too forward to mark them as a Friend (though I have done this to a few just so I could see their recent posts listed).

At least have an option to add Non-F&F Connections to the "recent posts" listed on the "Comet" tab.

Non Freind & Family connections are a great concept, but we need a way to list their blog posting and see what they are up to on Comet.

Otherwise, what is the point of "connecting" to non-F&F? Seriously, what is the point?

Old Art

I am trying to get back into drawing, so here is an older sketch I did - you know, to motivate me.

Noses_82405

Today's Feedback - Comments

Sent to Comet today:

Suggestion:
I would like to see a directory of some sort, to discover other users. Right now the only way is to discover them by way of a comment, or in the "Explore" page. It would be neat if each user entered tags about themselves in their profile, then you could explore other Comet users based on their profile tags, that would be interesting.

Also, is there any way to know how many Comet users there are?

I am only getting email notifications on some comments, but not all.

Comet - Hidden Global Tag Feature

When Comet introduced the Explore Posts page they also introduced a global tag cloud -- but it can do more than they are telling us. The "Tag Cloud" is called Popular Tags for Posts. With it you can browse a jumble of tags that, when clicked, will display a page of all posts on Comet with that tag. A great way to see what your fellow Cometeers are blogging on that topic.

It looks like this:

Comet-tag-cloud

Now, how tags get selected for this list and how they rise and fall has not been disclosed.

So, what if you want to see posts using a tag that isn't in that "Tag Cloud?"

Easy, you just add it to the end of this URL:

http://www.notcomet.com/explore/posts/tags/

So, for example if you click here: http://www.notcomet.com/explore/posts/tags/YourTagHere
...you should see this post!

I think that is pretty cool!

Maybe it isn't really a hidden feature or 'easter egg" but it wasn't announced and I did find it on my own. So to me, that counts!

Springtime in Oklahoma!

Brrrrr!

How Much of Me?

The bad thing about being in Comet as an Alpha user, is the uncertainty.

I don't know where I stand.

Will I get to keep my blog when Comet goes live? If not, will I be able to export it?

Will there be a charge for Comet? Will I get Comet for free or at a discount for being a tester?

How much should I blog without knowing these things? How deep should my posts be if I don't know where it will all land?

If anyone has any answers, I'd sure like to know.

Look Closer

Gummy Coke Bottle

This is a single, individually wrapped gummy coke bottle candy from Halloween.

But look closer, click the larger image. Does this remind you of a coke bottle, or...something else?