Project Proposal

In the last few months, I have taken a big interest in cooking. At the beginning of the summer, I spent some time with my grandma, who is an AMAZING cook. She taught me to make drunk chicken (and introduced me to lemon pepper seasoning - LOVE IT) and we talked a little about cooking in general. I then spent another summer at a camp where we cooked a couple nights a week on a campfire, and in order to keep from eating the same thing every week, I learned a bit about preparing food. The week or two I was at home this summer I spent wishing I knew more about cooking than pancakes and spaghetti.

So here is where my project comes in. I am going to learn to cook. I mean, I know some, obviously, but I want some sort of repertoire of recipes in my brain, and I want to eat some good food this semester - the nest is killing me, and I don't even want to think about seaco. I have a bunch of recipes I have saved from bettycrocker.com, a couple magazines, and some family/friend recipes. I am going to cook one entree a week and one other dish - an appetizer, a drink, a dessert, etc. I will post where I got the recipe from, take pictures, evaluate, say what I changed when cooking or what I would in the future, and be descriptive as I can in the process. The last two or three weeks I would like to cook my food without using a recipe - therefore using the knowledge and experience I have gained in this process.

I went to the store today and bought food to make Mexican Shepherds Pie and Fresh Peach Salsa - food for week one, care of bettycrocker.com. =]

Audio Story

Audio Story!
Camping is fun!

By:
Morgan @ tomatolemonade.org
Stephanie @ blog.gephy.info
Jessica @ blog.jhouck.info


Credits:

banjo
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=91983

footsteps
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=23708

owls
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=64544

final roar
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=33568

fire sound:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=40699

match lighting:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=29678

weird growls
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=23387

University of Texas, through twitter

First of all, I'd like to send out my prayers to everyone at University of Texas and say how amazing it is that no one but the shooter was hurt. For those of you who haven't heard (because no one I have talked to seems to have any idea . . ??), just after 8am this morning a man with a gun fired shots into the air and then ran inside the UT library. Campus was put on lockdown and several emergency messages were sent out to students. The gunman shot himself in the library and died. For a long time, this was the extent of the knowledge about the event, and when I walked into the Underground around 11am, that was all CNN was saying. Because of varying reports about the gunman's description, there was an extensive search for a second suspect, but the UT police, SWAT teams, and ACP have finally announced the all clear and are opening parts of campus back up one by one.

Now, what does this have to do with this blog, twitter, or class in general? Well, as I sat in the underground and received little information on what was happening, I decided to get on Twitter and see what people were saying. It was amazing. The amount of information (though clouded by well meaning people sending their concerns and prayers) was incredible. Students locked in buildings were tweeting and retweeting updates, saying they could hear helicopters, see SWAT teams, or were just generally frightened. I knew exactly which buildings the police were investigating at that moment and even when specific people were being released and evacuated, just because they posted on twitter. Eventually, someone posted a link to a liveblog being updated frequently (which you can now see here and follow the timeline) that was very specific and continues to seem accurate. I followed the general #utshooting hashtag as well as a few specific twitter accounts (UTComm, The Daily Texan, and FoxAustin) and through these sources stayed very up to date as to what was happening on campus. Someone posted a picture of a text message they received from the school and someone else posted a picture of the email sent out to all the students. At one point they suspected a second person to be involved and to be barricaded in Calhoun Hall. Somehow, people inside were able to communicate their position outside the walls of the building and an article showed up online giving details as to the situation inside. I am not sure how that happened but it was incredible to read. There is an great compilation of pictures here. Mostly, I was amazed at the difference in information that CNN was giving (very little) and what I could simply read online, especially through twitter. I have saved a few of the interesting ones here:

• Escorted out by the SWAT team. Was in the Welch Building - so glad to be off campus and out of lockdown. Super scary morning #UTshooting


• #utshooting Police: Students pointed the way for officers following shooter, who killed himself on 6th floor of library http://bit.ly/cYyvSL


• I have to say: thank God for social networking. Twitter and fb were tremendous sources of info and comfort during all of this. #utshooting


• There was a #UTShooting everyone's fine, but still shaken up. I almost left for class early, but got a text about the shooter. Thank God.


• They released us from my class. Eating lunch with friends. God bless UT and the poor guy. #utaustin #utshooting #Texas


• The loudspeaker man clarified a few times. All dorms are open. #UTshooting


• Breaking News: UT RELEASES phone number for info on shooting 866-657-9400. #UT #UTShooter #UTshooting


• News outlets tweeting where SWAT is abt to look 4 2nd. #utshooting STOP he could have smartphone #facepalm


• Despite the all-clear, my sister is still stuck in Belmont. Hoping the evacuation team gets to her soon. #ut #utshooting


• if you hear things about weapons in a car it's b/c a guy in my class has a airsoft gun in his car, they're escorting him out. #utshooting


• #utshooting #utshooter very nice and polite SWAT guy just came through the office


• My advisor was also caught in hall by SWAT, questioned at gun point. Have been emailing with him. Await word on encounter. #utshooting


• Scratch that, police escorting us out of class towards mlk. #UTshooting http://plixi.com/p/47644008


• Kvue news is currently talking to a boy in my class who came in late and saw the gunman outside our classroom. Thank god I wasnt late today


• Guy in my class who encountered the gunman says he was laughing and waved his gun at them. The types of people in this world frighten me.

Daily Shoots - A Collection of Favorites

Daily Shoot 1

by Lindsay
I love black and white photography in general, but the idea of showing 'green foliage' without color was really interesting to me. There is little actual plant life in the picture, but I think an important part of nature is the environment it is in as well. The bike shadow is just really striking and I like the original take on foliage.

Daily Shoot 2

by Jim Groom
Nothing turns me back into a cooing five year old like an adorable baby, and this picture is just full of it. =D This picture and this one are also incredibly adorable!! Anyway, I thought the contrast between an adult and a child was an interesting take on the 'complimentary objects' prompt - no one else included anything alive in their posts, but if you think about it, there really isn't anything more complimentary than family. =]

Daily Shoot 3

by Edward
I really enjoyed this picture because of the 1) pig and 2) the framing is really cool. I love the actual look into the jean pocket, and the contrasts between what is in focus and what isn't is really captivating to me. The colors, though there aren't many, are very vibrant in this picture.

Daily Shoot 4

by Jim Groom
MEOW! Something about this picture just kind of exemplifies cats to me - the whole attitude of 'guh what are you doing to me just let me alone and let me sleep somewhere warm' is entertaining to me, and yet they can get away with being that way. haha. I think this picture captivates that attitude in addition to deliciously softness that is cute animal fur. A feline looking anywhere but the camera, held against a gorgeously blue sky - yeah, I love it.

Daily Shoot 5

by Sadie
Again with the black and white pictures, and again I love it. The slightly out of frame, simple environment of your car, half face in half out is just so pretty.

Daily Shoot 6

by Stephanie
I particularly enjoyed this picture because of the story that is promises to become. Stephanie says she is working on making a porcelain doll, and this picture shows just one step of many along this journey. It makes me really want to see her finished product.

Daily Shoot 7

by Gretchen
I really liked this picture because as soon as I saw it, I thought of the Hogwarts library in Harry Potter. =] Secondly, I really like antiquey stuff and dark wood, and this picture really captured both of these things.

Daily Shoot 8

by Lindsay
This shot was my favorite because it didn't focus on just books like most of the other ones, but it also showed a diversity of lines and handwriting. I love handwritten things a lot more than typed ones, and the variety of colors and textures in this picture really appealed to me.

Daily Shoot 8 - Books

I love big bookcases that are just stuffed full of reading material, and I noticed that this one had a lot of orange, which is uncharacteristic of most books. My camera has a function where you can have everything be black and white except for one color you pick, and I love playing with it, so I focused on those orangey books in this photograph.



"Make a photo of an interesting stack of books or magazines. Consider how you handle repeating lines in your composition."

Daily Shoot 7 - Symmetry

"Symmetry can be calm and soothing. Make a photo today featuring symmetry, either in subject or composition."

I am going to continue doing this assignment throughout the semester, I am pretty sure. =]

Image Story 3

A Dog's Life















Oh boy!! SmellLikeFoodMan brought me to the water place again! yay! I love to run here! And play in the water! SPINNING DISC DISC DISC RUNN WATER AAAHHHHH!!!!! I like this pla-AH A BALL RUN RUN RUN RUN -slobber- yesss. I love this place. I am happy. I am tired. zzzzzzz.

Image Story I Found Online

A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me a youtube video about a little boy named Eliot who was born with Trisomy 18, a genetic defect that doctors expected would kill him before he was even born. Instead, he survived and his parents took a picture of him every day and celebrated his birthday every day at the exact time he was born. I know this clip also has some video and obviously his dad narrates it, but I like it too much to find something else. The pure love, devotion, and faith that these parents have amazes me, and Eliot's story is absolutely one that needs to be shared. The pictures taken of him every day show that story, and I know it's one I will never forget.



Also, Eliot has a website at 99 Balloons and if you go back to 2006, you can see every single one of the pictures they took of Eliot, as well as the blog posts made by his parents and friends about how he was doing every day. The real image story is there, detail by detail.

Daily Shoot 6 - Chaos and Beauty

I have always loved getting mail - I write letters more often than emails by far. I think the USPS is a wonderful thing and I love postmen. When I checked my campus mail today, I looked through my box into the mailroom on the other side. I do this everyday, just because I think it is so fun in there - all the packages and letters and notes people are receiving. I love it! So I took a picture of the mailroom through my box to show the chaos that seems to perpetually exist, and yet the love that comes from taking the time to write something down and send it to someone.


"Communicate chaos, disorganization or messiness in a photograph. Find some beauty in it."

Image story 2 - dailyshoot pictures

Photo story by:
Morgan
Jessica
Stephanie











You wake up, roll out of bed, and put your feet on your carpet floor. You go to your dresser to get ready, doing your makeup and hair. You go to the kitchen and make some tea to wake you up. Then you grab your keys and are out the door.

Images from:
1, 2 - Ashley
3 - Karen
4 - Lindsay
5 - Gretchen

Daily Shoot 5 - Reflective/Mirror

I had two pictures I really couldn't decide between for this one, so I just linked one to daily shoot and will post both here. They both feature my ipod touch, as I have always loved how reflective it is. The second one also has my mascara bottle.



"Use a mirror as part of a composition in a photograph today. Show yourself in the image if you'd like!"

Daily Shoot 4 - Something Convincingly Soft

Caramel latte . . . mmmmmmmm. It doesn't get much fluffier or soft that this.



"Make a photograph of something that is soft, or at least looks that way. Convince the viewer of the softness."

Daily Shoot 3 - Something in my pocket

Well I don't carry anything in my pocket, pretty much ever, so I took a picture of nothing.

Daily Shoot 2 - Big and Small comparisons

"Make a photo of two complementary objects arranged in a pleasing composition, one large and one small."


Yummy kiwi and it's sticker! =D

Daily Shoot 1 - Green Foliage

So for this shoot, I went a little outside the box. The prompt was ""Showcase the beauty of living foliage! Make a photo of a single leaf or an entire "greenscape" today. (@DeForestRanger)." I took a picture of my tattoo, which is of a tree. It is of an actual tree (here) that is at the camp I work at every summer. I figured I saw enough of Mary Wash's normal green life everyday that I didn't really want to take a picture of it. So I took a picture of green life that I really enjoy! =D



Also, I know I blogged this a day late, but yesterday was my birthday and I spent absolutely no time on the computer. I did twitter it before I went to bed though.

Assignment 5 - Six frame story

Movie - Matilda (1996)
Not my favorite movie, but definitely a classic. =D

Good idea? Bad idea.

Story Credits:
Morgan @ tomatolemonade.org
Stephanie @ blog.gephy.info
Jessica @ blog.jhouck.info

















Someone buys a trampoline. They set it up. They jump on it. They fall off. They regret ever having bought it.




Photo Credits:
http://nickscoullar.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/full-body-cast.jpg
http://sarahdessen.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/europa-trampoline-md.jpg
http://www.garden-games.me.uk/acatalog/trampolines_plum_products_fun_trampoline.jpg
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dcarney/Pictures/Flip.jpg
http://www.urban-rebounder.info/images/8ft%20trampoline.jpg

The Web is Dead

. . . . . . so what?

Well, really, I don't think the web is dead quite yet. But maybe one day it will be - but who says that is such a terrible thing? Sure, it's different and new and presents challenges, but so did the creation of the web in the first place. Things change. It happens. Chris Anderson talks in the 'We are to blame' section of this article that railroads, telephones, and electricity all started with one company, grew to many, and then were dominated again by one. Who expected the web to be any different?

Anderson also says that apps are taking over and replacing the web. While I can see this as partially true, I also think he is exaggerating a bit. Sure, I have an iPod, but I really only use it for music - not Twitter, facebook, or internet surfing, unless class is super boring. The iPad is popular, but I think a bit overdone, and I know few people that use Pandora regularly. RSS is almost unheard-of outside of more computer savvy circles and I only know one person who uses Netflix's streaming service, and that's because he can't get any cable without paying a buttload. Sure, apps are super popular, but I don't think I can agree with 'The Web is Dead' until they have completely permeated our lives - and that includes even those people who don't use technology that much.

As to who to blame, I think I agree with the 'Them' side. Sure, we buy these apps and use them and seem to sometimes forget about actual web browsing, but we couldn't do that if they weren't offered to us in the first place. It's like a child growing up in a house full of unhealthy food - if they grow up to be overweight or unhealthy, the fact that the parents bought all that stuff in the first place is largely to blame. If they did not keep unhealthy food in the house, the child could not eat it. The corporations and companies that create these alternatives for us give us the opportunities to utilize other forms of internet interaction, and if they don't like how the internet is changing, then they should do something to fix it.

Also, I spite the creators of the Kindles and iPod apps for books. That is one area of new technology I cannot condone. Actual books are so much better than any application. Don't want to read it on your laptop? Go get some paper you lazy bum.

Web is Dead Article

What is Web 2.0? I don't know!

After reading O'Reilly's article, I still don't think I can answer his title question. As it was written in 2005, I would like to see what he would say about internet today, but perhaps I should get more background and simple information before I go comparing. His opening paragraph talks about the 'bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001' and I had no idea what he was talking about. Considering I was almost ten years old, I was more concerned with neopets than major companies, and so I googled it. Wikipedia tells me that The "dot-com bubble" was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more recent Internet sector and related fields. The period was marked by the founding (and, in many cases, spectacular failure) of a group of new Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms. Companies were seeing their stock prices shoot up if they simply added an "e-" prefix to their name and/or a ".com" to the end. This answer somewhat helps, but I guess my main uncertainty is how NASDAQ or any other dot-com company can fall so quickly in stocks. I understand the basics of the stock market, like how I would invest in it and be able to profit, but as to how it can fall rapidly and how in 2008 everything went to shit, I have no clue. From what I gather in the article, this 'dot-com bubble burst' is what caused some of the companies to fall out of business and make way for new ones, as well as others to grow and learn and become what they are today. Hopefully this is correct - if not I need even more help than I thought.

What I did find interesting were the changes that did occur. His visual Web 1.0/Web 2.0 comparison was neat - seeing how the programs we use today came from things I personally have mostly forgotten about was a cool flashback. Britannica Online and mp3.com are so old, but without them I do not think I could function, for they have given me two amazing things: Wikipedia and online music. THANK GOD.

From a lot of the rest of the article, what I have gathered is that Web 2.0 is very much user based - focused on the general public and what they have to offer back to the internet. RSS feeds, the blogging world, even Amazon's data management that encourages user input and user relevant results, all of these reflect the focus on the community that uses the internet rather than the companies that run it. The ability to collect information, organize it, and reflect it back so that more people can continue the process is what makes the internet so constantly changing and evolving. Eric Raymond's statement that 'with enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow' speaks a lot for what the internet has to offer now - thousands of user run and user supported programs and sites that serve to enhance our lives. As someone who is terrible with directions, I can't imagine going to a trip without MapQuest directions or a gps, but these are relatively new programs that are being updated incredibly frequently.

One of the things I love about my iPod is that even though I got it almost two years ago, it is still being updated, enhancing, becoming a better product. I was just recently given the ability to add a background image to the home screen, and while this is a fairly trivial update, it is a solid reflection of how eliminating software release cycles that only apply to some products (or create new ones entirely) or are incredibly lengthy between updates can vastly improve how we function. The constant updating and alterations made from user given feedback not only makes software generated to how the public uses it, but also creates an ease with which to do so.

The specifics and amount of detail that went in to this article made it very interesting, but I fear that a lot of it went over my head. It did, however, bring up many points that I had not previously considered and made me appreciate the internet we have that much more, and look forward to the advancements yet to come.

Article

Tomato Lemonade – Background and Theme choices

When I first knew I was going to make a blog, 'Tomato Lemonade' was not on my mind as a title choice. 'Sweet Zebra Shades' or 'Chicken Nuggets' were at the forefront of my thoughts, or maybe something including NASCAR, the only sport I am even relatively interested in (it IS a sport, don't start with me). I thought about a name a lot, talked with my boyfriend, my mom, my sister, and couldn't really decide on something that was 'me' enough. The past few summers, I worked at Camp Hanover, a residential summer camp run by the Presbytery of the James. Camp Hanover has been a part of my life since I was six years old, and I love it. The summer camp director has a son who is about six years old. Last summer, he was obsessed with 'Tomato Lemonade.' Of course, no one really knew what tomato lemonade was, and it also doesn't sound particularly appetizing. But, he is such an adorable kid that everyone just went along with it. I have always remembered 'tomato lemonade' and loved the creativity and fun with which this little boy came up with it. So when I was trying to come up with a name for this blog, 'Tomato Lemonade' was thrown out, somewhat as a joke. But, I liked it. It was unique, it was rememberable, and it had a good story. Thus, Tomato Lemonade was born.

When I started looking through the themes for TL, I focused on yellow and red ones. I went through several, attempted customizing, but couldn't really find any that I liked much. I started looking at places other than wordpress and found one or two I really liked, but had a lot of trouble getting it to work. After much researching and many attempts, I just gave up and started looking back on wordpress again. I finally found the one I have now (TAKTEEK01 1.4.4) and through a little customization with the header and color choices, I have something I think I can work with. However, if anyone has figured out how to upload a new theme, I would be eternally grateful for some help! =D

As for plugins, I have also gone through MANY to figure out what I want and what looks good. I have a few saved for when I start posting non-assignment type posts (like a random image one) and a few that seem to work well. The RSS feed with my twitter and a tag cloud are pretty much the extent of what I have added, but I have looked at a lot and may add more. I tried a few with last.fm but I couldn't get them to work properly. Maybe it's my theme or maybe I am doing it wrong? Who knows. Wordpress is a new environment for me, and as someone used to LiveJournal, I miss a lot of what they have to offer sometimes. But, with every experience comes more knowledge and I look forward to seeing what this blog has to offer me and what I have to offer to the world.