Happy Birthday to ME!by Angie

Thu
13 Nov 2008
12:11 pm
3

Hi, I’m Angie & Jim’s Blog, and today is my first birthday! Exactly one year ago – November 13th, 2007 – I said “Hello, World” with my very first blog post.

I thought this would be a great time to ask for some feedback from those who visit and read me: How do you think I might be improved? What do you like or dislike about my layout, content, usability, etc? Which kinds of posts are you most interested in, and what makes them your favorite? Do you like the polls? Is there a link you think we should add to our blogroll? Do you have ideas for other pages that would be interesting? Leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to pass your thoughts on to Angie and Jim.

Thanks for your input!

What You Ought To Know about WYOTKby Angie

Mon
10 Nov 2008
1:11 pm
2

Last week, someone in a “Protect Marriage” facebook group that I belonged to posted a link to a relevant podcast that was both entertaining and informative. I visited and watched the video…and then watched a couple of other episodes…and now I have a new favorite website: WhatYouOughtToKnow.com

The “Brothers Winn” research, write, and produce a new podcast every Tuesday about just about anything: science, politics, health, global warming, grammar, cooking, and more. In a special (and absolutely darling) episode this past July, they had a guest star named Jason – who is autistic – to help them talk about autism. WYOTK has been going for over a year and, if you compare the earliest episodes to the most recent ones, you can see a marked improvement in technicalities – pretty much all of them are entertaining and creative, however. Some of my favorite episodes are “Language Guide” (getting by in a foreign country), “Me, Myself, and I” (using the subjective vs. objective case of personal pronouns), and “Bioluminescence” (living things that glow). You can use the search box to the left of the video feed to look up particular topics or episodes.

Here is my very favorite episode of all:

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Google’s Complimentby Angie

Mon
16 Jun 2008
10:06 am
3

So, just for fun, I was playing around on some search engines to see what kind of search terms it would take to find our blog. When I typed “angie & jim” to Google, an RSS feed for our blog posts came up as the third result. When you use Google, it has a link after each of the possibilities to search for “similar pages” so, I decided to click on that and see what Google considered “similar” to our blog.

What was the top result?  Check this out:

Goodreadsby Angie

Fri
15 Feb 2008
3:02 pm
0

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For a long time, I’ve been looking for a program that I could use to organize my books, rate and review them, and share preferences with others. A couple of different friends recently introduced me to a website called Goodreads and I have very much enjoyed listing and cataloging some of my favorite books there. I even found this super cool flash doohickey that can keep track of what I’m currently reading (or have read, or want to read, depending on how I code it):

And, yes, it is quite normal for me to be in the process of reading three or four or five different books at a time. I don’t know how much good my thingamajig does, just sitting here in this post, but maybe I can figure out how to display it in the sidebar somehow… Anyway, this project has also made me realize that I read far too much fiction and could really use some good moral fiber in my literary diet, if you know what I mean. I have already begun to try to remedy that, but I’d be open to recommendations!

Wishlist is up and running!by Angie

Wed
14 Nov 2007
9:11 pm
0

The holiday season is upon us and – along with gratitude, peace, joy, family, traditions, and the sacred nativity story – something is bound to be on almost everyone’s mind: What gifts and thoughtful acts will best show our love and appreciation to those we care about? Ok, I know this already sounds like a commercial but…well… Jim has come up with a wonderful little online program that helps you plan and organize your gift-giving and we want everyone to know about it!

Many of our family and friends have already been using the Wishlist since its creation a few years ago, but even they may not know about it’s origins. Here’s what Jim’s site says on the subject:

Now, you’re probably wondering what this site is for? That is a very valid question. I haven’t figured out everything that this website can do myself! But, until then let me tell you a little bit about it. Wishlist was inspired by my sister, Rachel, in late November 2002. I realized with a little PHP (hypertext preprocessing) and MySQL (a Linux based SQL Server) that I could make a website that kept track of users’ wishlists allowing them to share their lists with friends and family across the country. The idea sounded promising, so I did some homework and learned some PHP. This is my first PHP project, so it is bound to be flawed. There are many great ideas for the future regarding the functionality of this website, so keep checking back for updates!

If you’ve never been to the site, feel free to check it out ! If you’re already a member, it’s time to remember your login, delete old items, check out others’ lists, and start making some wishes! Remember, at the end of Thanksgiving weekend, the “Delete Item” feature will be gone!