martygreene

LJ has a new profile page. Some people like it, some people are ambivalent, and some people hate it. Following many months of beta testing (in which I took part, and which was announced in a lj-news post and open to all users) the new profile recently went live.

During beta testing many suggestions which were made by users were taken into account and applied to the profile page.

Upon the release of the new profile page, immediately people starting screaming and wailing. LJ-design opened up a post for people to specify what they had issue with. The comments primarily consisted of non-constructive comments, many of which claiming that the majority of LJ users were against this as evidenced by the copious amount of comments. There were a few comments which specified issues and were quite constructive and I suspect useful to the designers.

I strongly suspect that a lot of the dislike of the new layout is the newness and change. People don't generally like change.

A common complaint I saw in the various comments against the profile was that the journal stats were "now public". Journal stats of most recent activity, post count, tags, etc. was always public and easily accessible- it's just now grouped with other journal stat and action links (which makes a lot more sense to me).

Another complaint was the use of the horizontal rules. While I can see these being somewhat aesthetically displeasing on profile pages with the minimum of content, on profiles consisting of a larger bio area, a large interests field, and a large friends field, in my opinion it really breaks the content up into a much easier to view section.

People also were complaining that their profile no longer allowed them to differentiate themselves from everyone else. I find this befuddling- isn't that what the bio area and the entirety of your journal for? Having common layout and appearance for bio pages makes sense from a navigational standpoint. Your journal is where you shine and pour in your personality.

I personally find the edit links quite handy, rather than hoop jumping link to link to link to edit a section of my profile.

While I can understand people being upset I feel like this kneejerk reaction of railing against LJ and threatening them with the great flounce off is a little overkill. If you are honestly that concerned about the design and layout aspects of common LJ pages why not take place in the beta testing? I was shocked how few people actually took part. LJ also simply needs some time to figure out the best way to approach this, if it should be approached at all.

As of today, 1,880,805 active accounts exist on LiveJournal. If every comment on the lj-design post about the profile update were a unique user it would calculate to approximately .25% of active users who had issues with the new design. If I go so far as to take the number of comments as of this morning, prior to a few comments of my own with these numbers, into the number of accounts which have updated in the past 24 hours (172763 accounts) I still only get 2.7%.

While every user is important, from a business standpoint this is well within reasonable operating perameters. Those who are jumping up and down claiming that the majority of users hate this as evidenced by comments simply don't understand the true size of LJ.

My mind is getting fuzzy again from my cold... more to come on this later...

So- there's one month left for the preliminary voting on Mouse and Trowel.

I'd LOVE to snag the "best new" slot.

If you have a second- please drop a vote for me. It would mean ever so much to me.

If you don't know- my gardening blog is Sweet Vitriol {the garden chronicles}. I port the posts over here to LJ under a special filter- if you're not on the filter and want to be feel free to ask, and I'll probably add you.

You can vote here:

A major pet foods manufacturer is recalling all of its dog and cat foods produced at a facility in Emporia in the past three months.

Canadian company Menu Foods said the recall of its ``cuts and gravy'' style foods was prompted by consumer complaints and tasting trials conducted by the manufacturer.

The company said an unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about ten died after eating the affected pet food. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death.

The products are packaged in cans and pouches under numerous brand names and are marketed nationwide by many pet food retailers including Kroger Company, Wal-Mart and PetSmart.

A list of potentially contaminated products can be found at http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

( cat food brands recalled )
( dog foods recalled )

BPAL (black phoenix alchemy lab) makes the perfumes I like.

Today, they lost my business. I posted a few days ago about a price hike which was happening. The direct quote from the announcement is:

"We have done our best to make this as painless as possible. To that end, the following changes to oil prices are in effect as of the inception of Carnaval Diabolique on August 3rd, 2006"

Note that a date is given, the date which is tomorrow, not today.

The update went live today. The prices went up today. The update went up approximately 6 hours early. Upon seeing this, and questioning the price change and citing the above, the response I recieved from the owner of BPAL was:

"Here's the deal. As most of you know, updates usually go live around midnight PST. I have been awake until 4.30am for three nights in a row, and have been getting up at 8am. I'm overworked, very tired, and wanted to get the update live while I was still coherent. This is not some nefarious trick engineered to wheedle $2.50 more out of the masses. The update went live roughly 6 hours early. Not a week, not a day. I apologize if this is upsetting to some people, but my eyes hurt, I need some rest, and there is pretty much zero chance that I am physically capable of staying up til midnight.

I hope everyone enjoys the update as much as we enjoyed putting it together. I'm going to hop into the tub and try to slap myself awake."

So, I can no longer afford BPAL, and I am no longer able to order the couple bottles I was going to get, so as to have full bottles of scents which I recently sampled.

Thanks BPAL, it's been fun, but I don't do business with people who can't keep their word. That's bad business.

EDITED TO ADD:
Oh, and after my and other people bringing this up in the thread on their forum (albeit run by third-party folk) about the aformentioned update, our complaints were moved to the "hijack this! the completely off-topic thread" thread. Thanks for the double slap in the face. It seems people are split- 2/3 on the side of "WHEE! New things, new prices early? eh- NEW THINGS EARLY!" and 1/3 on my side of "uhh, bad business much?".

Current Mood: angry

This is probably the last of the sale stuff, so those of you who are sick of seeing me selling shit, rest assured you won't have to deal with it much longer.

I do have some handmade silver jewelry which I've not posted, but I do have for sale. One is a heart shaped locket in silver filigree set with Iolite. The other two are small silver partially opened flowers (dog roses, sort-of). Both the locket and the roses can be used as scent lockets. Let me know if you're interested and I can take pictures for you. The roses are $25 and the locket is $45

( on to the makeup and stuff )

The proceeds from my sales will be going directly to two things:
1. A new bra. See, bras for girls with boobs the size of mine, and ribcages as tiny as mine, are hard to come by and expensive. I currently own ONE (1) bra which fits. I wear one which doesn't fit and gives me crappy support and makes my back hurt half the time. This is bad.

2. Classes. I need to pay for classes required for my career. These classes, and their supplies, are expensive.

So, in case you were wondering what I was going to spend the monies on, there it is. This is what the sale to benefit the lily fund is going towards.

For those of you waiting for MAC stuff to be listed- I'll probably be posting that stuff tomorrow.

Once again:
Local folk: Paypal, cash, or cheque. Pickup from my house.
Out-of-towners: Paypal preferred, will take a cheque if needed. Shipping will vary based on weight, estimate $3-$5 for most items.

Prices negotiable. Whatever doesn't sell, goes to eBay.
Please post in the comments if you are interested in an item, and please refer to items by their item number.

( LUSH goodies for sale )

Local folk: Paypal, cash, or cheque. Pickup from my house.
Out-of-towners: Paypal preferred, will take a cheque if needed. Shipping will vary based on weight (unless a shipping cost is stated with the item), estimate $5-$7 for most clothing items.

Prices negotiable. Whatever doesn't sell, goes to eBay or is donated to charity.
Please post in the comments if you are interested in an item, and please refer to items by their item number.

( Clothing )

( BPAL )

I'll be listing LUSH and MAC items if there is interest. If you are interested in such items, leave a comment stating such. If there is a lot of interest, I'll post the list to my LJ. If just a little, I'll contact people individually.

Anyone have any suggestions for good web designers/web design groups? As much as I'd love to, I cannot make my own site as I just don't have the skills needed to make something professional, but I do need a portfolio site and soon.

I also can't afford the people I REALLY want, because- well, their client base includes such names as MTV, National Geographic, COSMO, Phish, They Might Be Giants, to name a few. They make smashing sites though.

So yeah, anyone have any suggestions? I know one person who does this for a living, however she predominantly makes flash sites, and I don't really want to use flash.

Current Mood: discontent

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060223/pl_nm/rights_abortion_dc

South Dakota became the first U.S. state to pass a law banning abortion in virtually all cases, with the intention of forcing the Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 decision legalizing the procedure.

( full article )

Current Mood: scared

2005-2006 Spring

Monday
NSET 111DB Natural Sciences II 11:00am-12:20pm (3)
THEA 325EA Foundations of Modern Drama 6:00pm-9:00pm (3)

Tuesday
THEA 250DA Script Analysis 1:00pm-3:00pm (2)

Wednesday
Natural Sciences II

Thursday
THEA 268DA Acting for BFA Tech Majors 10:00am-1:00pm (3)

To Be Determined
THEA 460DZA Senior Project, Independant Study (3)

I might be adding advanced costume construction to that, somewhere. I forget which day, I think it was Monday or Thursday early morning. We will see. Total of 14 credits as it stands. ( Let's see what I've got left to do, shall we? )

If I have offended any of you, in any way, shape, manner, or form, real or imagined, then I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done anything to hurt, demean, or otherwise injure you, I apologize and beg forgiveness. If I have done or said over the past year that has upset, or otherwise bothered you, I sincerely apologize, and will do my best to ensure it won't happen again.

If you have done something in the above categories, don't worry. I know it wasn't intentional, and I would accept any apology you would make.

Comments are being screened, and will remain as such indefinately. If you feel I have done any of the above towards you, feel free to let me know. I ask that you let me know in fact, so that I can work my hardest to ensure it will not be repeated. Likewise, I also welcome general suggestions toward the betterment of my character and person, as there are often things which are difficult to be seen from within, things that you as my friends are far more aware of than I, please let me know what they are.

Current Mood: apologetic

Free Transport to Anywhere: Rooms Needed For Katrina Animal Victims!

Transport Provided to Anywhere - Rooms Desperately Needed! (For the Animal Victims of Katrina) There is transportation provided, with people ready and waiting, for upwards of 200 dogs and 150 cats so far rescued from the devastation of hurricane Katrina. What these animals need is a place to go. Kennels, boarding, vets offices, shelters with any extra space, foster homes and rescues. Even one or two open kennels would greatly help.

From what we know, all animals have been vaccinated and are in good health considering the conditions. There are dogs and cats of every breed and
size. Some are in groups of two, three or four, hailing from the same family, while some are solitary. ANY KENNEL SPACE AVAILABLE CAN CERTAINLY BE USED. These drivers are willing to move these animals ANYWHERE they need to go. Absolutely anywhere.

The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and some of these pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved to make room for the incoming animals.

Please feel free to pass on this information everywhere. Every forum, every list, every community.
REMEMBER THESE ANIMALS WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO YOU.

If you know anyone, anywhere, that is willing to take in even one cat or dog, please have them contact Lynda at the information provided below. They are also asking for ANY kind of donations for the animals - money, food, bedding, water, etc.

Please Contact Lynda V. at: 203 515 3024 (cell)
Home: 203 227 5308
Email: Lynda@portone.com
Please contact at any time, day or night. These volunteers, rescuers and shelter workers are working around the clock.
Thank you!

Lawmakers move to extend daylight-saving time
Measure part of energy bill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An agreement was reached Thursday to extend daylight-saving time in an effort to conserve energy, but not to the extent the House approved in April.

House and Senate negotiators on an energy bill agreed to begin daylight-saving time three weeks earlier, on the second Sunday in March, and extend it by one week to the first Sunday in November. The House bill would have added a month in the spring and another in the fall.

According to some senators, farmers complained that a two-month extension could adversely affect livestock, and airline officials said it would have complicated scheduling of international flights.

"We ought to take a hard look at this before we jump into it," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who questioned how much oil savings the extension would produce.

Reps. Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts, and Fred Upton, R-Michigan, agreed to scale back their original proposal, and Senate negotiators accepted the new version, along with a call for a study on how much daylight-saving time actually affects oil consumption.

"The beauty of daylight-saving time is that it just makes everyone feel sunnier," said Markey.

Upton noted that the extension means daylight-saving time will continue through Halloween, adding to safety. "Kids across the nation will soon rejoice," said Upton, because they'll have another hour of daylight trick-or-treating.

Lawmakers said they hoped to complete the energy legislation next week.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/22/congress.daylighttime.ap/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-obit-doohan,1,5129376.story?coll=chi-news-hed

'Star Trek' Star James Doohan Dies

By BOB THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
Published July 20, 2005, 11:11 AM CDT

LOS ANGELES -- James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died Wednesday. He was 85.

Doohan died at 5:30 a.m. at his Redmond, Wash., home with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side, Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens said. The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease, he said.

He had said farewell to public life in August 2004, a few months after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The Canadian-born Doohan was enjoying a busy career as a character actor when he auditioned for a role as an engineer in a new space adventure on NBC in 1966. A master of dialects from his early years in radio, he tried seven different accents.

"The producers asked me which one I preferred," Doohan recalled 30 years later. "I believed the Scot voice was the most commanding. So I told them, 'If this character is going to be an engineer, you'd better make him a Scotsman.'"

The series, which starred William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic Mr. Spock, attracted an enthusiastic following of science fiction fans, especially among teenagers and children, but not enough ratings power. NBC canceled it after three seasons.

When the series ended in 1969, Doohan found himself typecast as Montgomery Scott, the canny engineer with a burr in his voice. In 1973, he complained to his dentist, who advised him: "Jimmy, you're going to be Scotty long after you're dead. If I were you, I'd go with the flow."

"I took his advice," said Doohan, "and since then everything's been just lovely."

"Star Trek" continued in syndication both in the United States and abroad, and its following grew larger and more dedicated. In his later years, Doohan attended 40 "Trekkie" gatherings around the country and lectured at colleges.

The huge success of George Lucas' "Star Wars" in 1977 prompted Paramount Pictures, which had produced "Star Trek" for television, to plan a movie based on the series. The studio brought back the TV cast and hired director Robert Wise. "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was successful enough to spawn five sequels.

The powerfully built Doohan, a veteran of D-Day in Normandy, spoke frankly in 1998 about his employer and his TV commander.

"I started out in the series at basic minimum_ plus 10 percent for my agent. That was added a little bit in the second year. When we finally got to our third year, Paramount told us we'd get second-year pay! That's how much they loved us."

He accused Shatner of hogging the camera, adding: "I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don't like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself."

James Montgomery Doohan was born March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia, youngest of four children of William Doohan, a pharmacist, veterinarian and dentist, and his wife Sarah. As he wrote in his autobiography, "Beam Me Up, Scotty," his father was a drunk who made life miserable for his wife and children.

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

After the war Doohan on a whim enrolled in a drama class in Toronto. He showed promise and won a two-year scholarship to New York's famed Neighborhood Playhouse, where fellow students included Leslie Nielsen, Tony Randall and Richard Boone.

His commanding presence and booming voice brought him work as a character actor in films and television, both in Canada and the United States.

Oddly, his only other TV series besides "Star Trek" was another space adventure, "Space Command," in 1953.

Doohan's first marriage to Judy Doohan produced four children. He had two children by his second marriage to Anita Yagel. Both marriages ended in divorce. In 1974 he married Wende Braunberger, and their children were Eric, Thomas and Sarah, who was born in 2000, when Doohan was 80.

In a 1998 interview, Doohan was asked if he ever got tired of hearing the line "Beam me up, Scotty."

"I'm not tired of it at all," he replied. "Good gracious, it's been said to me for just about 31 years. It's been said to me at 70 miles an hour across four lanes on the freeway. I hear it from just about everybody. It's been fun."

Sobriety got her staples out from her surgery today. She's doing well, and is on the mend. The doctor said he didn't think he's going to have to put pins in her ankle afterall (YAY!). We're looking at anywhere from 10 days to 3 weeks more with the bandage on the leg, and then a skin graft to cover the degloving wound. After that it seems it'll just be waiting for incisions to heal.

Pittsburgh is lucky to have a veterinary specialists practice, as well as a veterinary emergency clinic such as we do. For the benefit of my other friends in the area with pets, here's the info for the specialists as well as the emergency clinic. They see all types of animals, large and small (including rodents, birds, etc.).

These are all located in the same building- 882 Butler St, Pgh PA 15223. They are just off Saxonburg Blvd, and are approximately a 20 minute drive from Shadyhouse, to give you a driving time referance. Directions to both the main building, and the dermetological practice, are available at http://www.pittsburghvetspecialists.com/directions.asp

Veterinary Emergency Clinic
412-492-9855
Monday-Thursday 8pm-8am
Friday 6pm-Monday 8am (24 hour service in this 3 day window)
Open on ALL Holidays
$75 fee for triage & doctors evaluation
Takes checques, cash, and Mastercard/Visa

Pittsburgh Veterinary Surgery, P.C.
412-492-9920
www.pittsburghvetspecialists.com
Dr. Anthony D. Pardo, MS, DVM
Dr. John T. Payne, DVM, MS
Dr. S. Christopher Ralphs, DVM, MS
Includes orthopedics, soft-tissue work, and neurosurgery

Veterinary Medical Specialists of Pittsburgh, Inc.
412-492-9920
www.pittsburghvetspecialists.com
Dr. A Sherwood Johnson, DVM (Internal Medicine)

Animal Eye Clinic of Pittsburgh, LLC
412-492-9920
www.pittsburghvetspecialists.com
Dr. Lawrence Bagley, DVM

Also, 1 block away from the main builing in which the above are located, there is also:

Pittsburgh Veterinary Dermatology, LLC
845 Butler St.
Pgh. PA 15223
412-782-4307
Works with cats, dogs, small "pocket pets", as well as large animals

Sobriety is home!

She's so far eaten almost 3 tablespoons of food (MUCH more than she ate at the vet), drank some water, had her meds, tried to explore my bedroom, sat in my lap on a pillow, and slept a lot.

She's sleeping now. Hopefully she pees soon, and not on her cast.

If anyone has a baby monitor that they could lend me, that would be great. I need one for her.

Current Mood: exhausted

In a short while my mother will be arriving to pick me up, so we can go get Sobriety and bring her home.

I've got two layers of kennel bedding set up, in case of accidents. The litter is set up. I've got kitty foods and everything. Stress!!!!

Donations are still wonderful, Sobriety has so many friends and I can't even begin to come up with the words to thank everyone who has reached out and helped us. I'm stunned at how generous and kind you all have been, and how many friends Sobriety has!

She will be able to take a few visitors this weekend, contact me if you wish to stop by and see her.

Current Mood: excited

Sobriety has shaken the anestesia, and had a nice visit with Jeremy and I today. The doctors say she should be home for a short while starting tomorrow or Friday. Let's hope so. She still needs more surgery most likely, but they want to wait a bit first. She was quite alert and seemed to enjoy getting love from Jeremy and I. She's got lots of funny little shaved spots, so I think I'll wait on the fan for her until the fur grows in and overheating is actually a thing to think of- right now I wanna keep her warm. I'll be so glad to have her home, this has been such an ordeal for all of us.

So much to do to prepare for her coming home, and setting up her kennel! If you are local to us, and have any old towels/sheets/blankets/mattress pads/rubberized tablecloths that you can donate as kennel bedding they would be greatly appreciated. I'm running a load of kennel liner laundry now, but I forsee going through a lot more than we think in the next couple months of kennel living.

Current Mood: drained

on the new profile page, and the hubub surrounding it

Vote for my blog, please

Pet food recall

How BPAL lost my business today

(no subject)

MAC and other beauty stuff

A note about my sales...

LUSH items

As promised- stuff for sale!

web designers?

South Dakota passes abortion ban

Schedule (mostly for me, but some of you may wish to know it too)

To readers of my journal, family and friends:

(no subject)

Daylight Savings Time to be Extended

James Doohan, 'Star Trek's' Scotty, dead

Sobriety Update, and Emergency Pet-Care Info

sleep sleep sleep try to move sleep meow eat sleep sleep sleep

She's coming home!

Homeward bound?

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November 2008

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