I just spotted the link on the Scrapblog site - their Scrapblog Builder is available to the public!

This is what they have to say:

As you visit us and create your scrapblogs, please bear in mind that we’re still tidying up and tying up some loose ends. We’re a small team that has worked incredibly hard to get to this point and are still in test mode with our friends; our “official” launch was due for early next week, but word got out a few days early.

Having said that, we will strive to make your experience more enjoyable and your feedback helps us serve you better. If you like what you see or have some suggestions for improvement, please leave us a comment or email us at feedback[at]scrapblog[dot]com.

Have fun with it - and let me know where to check out your creation at!

Do you have a presence online? Do you have kids that use the internet? Then you should stop and think about this.

Maybe these headlines will catch your attention:
Cyberbullies scare schoolgirls into stripping online.
According to iSafe, 43% of the youth population report being bullied online.

Yeah, you thought it was just a geek thing, didn’t you? I wrote my long, emotional post the other day about the latest round of drama in one area of the blogosphere, but this post? This isn’t about emotion. This is about thinking about what we can do about cyberbullies and really, bullies in general.

Wait. I’m not sure that there is any way to stop them. Because bullies, in one form or another, have been around since the beginning of time.

So instead, lets focus on what we can do to keep ourselves, and our children, safe. Today has been declared “Stop Cyberbullying Day” and I’ll be updating this post throughout the day with links that I think are insightful and worth reading. Do you have tips you want to share, or thoughts on the whole thing? Then I welcome the discussion - feel free to comment about it.

:: NOCyberBullies on Twitter - follow a LONG stream of links there.
:: Stop Cyberbullying Ning Network
:: The Bamboo Project - “What is happening online is just an extension of what’s happening in our society.”
:: 11 Steps to Online Parental Supervision

I mentioned when I returned from SXSW that I had learned about Scrapblog while I was there. I had this total fangirl moment when I met Hugh MacLeod, and after I settled down I then spoke with Alex and he explained to me somewhat how it all worked. Of course, it didn’t make sense until I saw it. Now there are some coming online, such as the Friendly Gnome (I’m a sucker for a cute gnome), and many others.

I’m really curious to see more about all the options available to the end user. Alex told me at SXSW that you use your photos from Flickr, and you can make “scrapbook” like pages from them - like the one of his. It appears that the notes from Flickr move over too.

I wonder if you can restrict who post your scrapblog to their site, or if they are open for anyone to use like YouTube? Because I don’t allow people to take my photos off of Flickr, and if I made a layout of photos to share online, I am not sure I would want other people displaying them on their blogs. I guess that is the main thing that I can see so far that people need to be aware of if anyone can use them; you need to proceed knowing that fact.

From what I have seen so far, it looks really interesting. I can’t wait for it to be open so I can test it out further!

I joked last week with Erica that she is like Christine 2.0. You see, I used to blog a lot more than I do now, and my posts used to be different in nature than they are today. I’m working on getting back to that, on becoming Christine 3.0. Or Web 7.2 compliant. Take your pick. Anyways, we have talked a lot about the latest events in one circle of the blogosphere, and I find myself saying how I have seen it all before.

Sadly, there is one thing that has happened yet again, but in a very public way that has caught a lot of attention. Kathy Sierra, who writes an amazing and insightful blog on creating passionate users in addition to her books and the speaking engagements that she handles, has received death threats that have left her terrified.

The interesting thing is that “big name” bloggers, bloggers that are prominent in the tech industry, and bloggers that the media watches are both involved in this and talking about it. I’ve actually seen people in the past few days react as if this is the first time this has happened. As Min Jung so eloquently put, it is AWFUL, yes, but it is sadly NOT new.

The whole thing is disturbing to me - and by the whole thing, I am actually including Kathy’s post. It was gross, vile and disgusting what was said to her and about her. I do not blame her for cancelling her talk at eTech. I would have been bolting the doors too. However, it rubbed me the wrong way that she pointed fingers and named names without proof - or without showing us that proof. And I realize that she may have proof for every name she named, and she maybe was advised by legal counsel not to disclose it. But if that is the case, don’t name names. (edited to add: I saw Kathy’s comments on other sites, stating she does have more proof. I still think she should not have named names.)

On the internet, people are viewed as guilty until proven innocent.

(more…)

I signed up awhile back with IconBuffet when I bought a set of fabulous icons for the Fresh Photography site. After that, I discovered a whole world of FREE icons that they offer up. Free, beautiful, lovely icons.

Collecting fonts and icons, to me, is so much fun. I don’t know why - it just is. They have a great system of sharing them, and I think the whole site is just really great. You get tokens, which you can use to get icons from others. Give icons away, you use up stamps. Want more tokens than the 10 you get every month? Sign up for a VIP account and get a $25 discount on every icon set you purchase. (Some sets cost $30, so that makes it almost free.)

Check it out. Be sure to tell them I sent you. Already using IconBuffet? Let me know and add me as a friend.

I’m doing the happy dance right now, as I just discovered that Flickr has added the option of getting an e-mail whenever someone comments on your photos, or once a day with a comment summary. Sweet! It is one of those “wishlist” items I have had for a long time with Flickr.

There are two ways to set it up. If you are viewing your recently received comments, there is a link at the bottom of the page for notifications. You can also go into your Account page and edit the option from there. It was at the bottom of the list for me.

Yeah, Flickr! Thanks for yet another addition to your very full list of cool things you offer!

My life is a list of bullet points recently, it seems. Not really - but that is the easiest way to sum it up here.

- I have taken on a contract assignment at Schipul to assist with some site migrations. I’m knee deep into using Tendenci and all I can say is … WOW. It is FANTASTIC. Wonderful. Amazing. I love it. It is like all of my dreams back when I worked at a web design company full time have come true. And everyone here is fantastic. I *heart* Schipul.

- I have photos to finish editing. Lots of photos. I will be working on that tonight. And tomorrow night. And so on.

- I’m working with Erica to make big plans for our future. Originally we said we were going to take over the world. We have since realized that instead of taking over the world, we would much rather leave our mark on the world. After all, there is enough room for everyone in the tech field to work together.

- Speaking of working together, I am still aghast over what has been going on in the blogosphere lately. Once again, I agree with Erica’s sentiments on this (not shocking, since we discussed it last night before she wrote that post). No one deserves to be torn down just because they have done wonderful things for the community. I don’t want to dwell on it, but instead I hope to put positive energy out there in the world. I have to say though, I agree with Chris Pirillo too. Mean people suck.

I have a zillion posts planned in my head, and I just need to make time to write them out. Some topics include:
- The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (I’m not the only one that found this panel at SXSW to be a life changing experience.)
- Lucky Oliver
- Camera Equipment - both camera body and other equipment
- Photoshop CS2 Actions
- Co-working in Houston and beyond
- Best Practices for Blogging

So much to do! Sleep? It is overrated.

OH! And just a reminder … have you gotten any exercise today? Just stop what you are doing and take 20 minutes for yourself. Go for a walk. Do an exercise video. Lift weights. Run. Whatever - but MAKE the time to exercise.

I tried, but I couldn’t resist posting this one. The cuteness overwhelms me!

Bluebonnets, taken along the side of Highway 290, between Brenham & Giddings, Texas.

This weekend was the weekend for seeing people from out of town. How fabulous! Kathy was in town from Dallas for her friend’s son’s first birthday, so we got together at Elaine’s to watch Rumor Has It and hang out.

Saturday was a daytrip to Austin. In December when we went to Kentucky, I met the creators of The AntiCraft at ReBelle, the local yarn store. We had a fabulously good time hanging out with Zabet (Renee was out of town, or I am sure we would have had a great time with her too), and Patrick even saved our Christmas Eve dinner for us by giving me a Guinness for our beer cheese soup that we wanted to make on a Sunday. (No beer sold on Sundays in Kentucky.) When we were there, Zabet told us that she would be heading to Austin at the end of March for a wedding, and we made plans to get together.

She flew into Austin late on Friday, and we headed up Saturday to spend the day having a fun little tour of yummy food (Iron Cactus and Amy’s Ice Cream), a trip to Hill Country Weavers and then time at the bridge to see the bats. Zabet saw za bats! (Oh, that joke … it never gets old.)

We got delayed a bit on our drive, because there was just no way that we could pass all of those bluebonnets without stopping.

It was a short trip, and I wish we could have spent more time there so we could have seen everyone in Austin. Soon. I also wish we had had more time with Kathy, so we need to plan now for her next trip to Houston and for our upcoming Dallas visit.

Today was spent editing more photos from the recent shoots, and then taking photos of Hanna & Michael’s daughter Emma. Such a sweetie! I plan to have both sets of baby shoot proofs done within a week.

Whew! Right now, I think I need a nap! Busy weekend, including a new episode of Pointy Sticks, and there is going to be a very busy week ahead!

For the record, I adore newborn babies. This child was just 15 days old on Tuesday when I met him. Right after the bottle break that had me photographing the cat in the last post, his father came home for lunch and we took a quick opportunity to capture this shot with him. Don’t you just want to sniff his sweet baby head?

I have many more to process from this session, but I have wanted to take this exact photograph for so long it had to be the first one that I edited. Soon Fresh Photography will have a baby portfolio! (I’m still taking people up on photography sessions though, so let me know if you are interested!)

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
– Mark Twain

Over the past few weeks (ok, years, but it has been really heavy the past few weeks), I have heard the term Web 2.0 tossed around a lot. Thank goodness for Wikipedia, I finally found a definition:

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004,[1] refers to a perceived second generation of web-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O’Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and since 2004 some developers and marketers have adopted the term.

I have to admit it. I think it is a rather goofy term. It is true, and very accurate, to say tha tthe web has grown and changed over the years. I believe it is constantly changing. Every single day, new innovations appear online. To draw a line and say that everything before a time is the 1.0 version, and after is 2.0, is a bit silly. And if you ask me, aren’t we up to Web 7.2 or something like that now? That was the point I brought up last night while at the Houston NetSquared meeting.

2004 is a LONG time ago in web terms.

I also have to say that I agree with Robert Scoble as I see Blackberry phones everywhere now and with the iPhone coming out soon, maybe we need to start thinking about Mobile 2.0 instead of (or in addition to) Web 2.0? Just today, I used my phone to answer e-mails and look up maps. I snapped photos of books I wanted to remember the names of. Plus I made phone calls. When we do our next art market, I will be able to use it to validate credit cards on the spot online. (We do not have the volume to make leasing a credit card processing machine anywhere near worthwhile, but ProPay has worked well for me over the past several years.)

Rapidly, cell phones are becoming so much more, and finding them in the hands of everyday users is becoming a common thing. We need to start taking that into consideration in our way of thinking.

Before I started knitting and went back to school, I used to post a lot about geek related topics. Over time, between the crafty side and school work, my focus on that has dropped off - at least on this blog. (In reality, it is not something I can let go of - it has always been there.)

When I was at SXSW, I realized how much I missed writing about the geek related topics, and so many of the panels that I attended focused on building community - and for me, about building myself.

So my focus here will be changing. I considered actually closing down BigPinkCookie.com - but it is too much of me and who I am. Also, there is a lot of good content in the archives that I don’t want to lose. So instead, I am going to simply refocus the site. Reinventing myself, to borrow the term from Erica. More writing on the craft, less writing about personal things. A new domain and a new name to replace the BigPinkCookie (although it is still very much a part of me, something has always been missing), and a new look.

I feel as if I have come full circle.

The creative blended with the geek. How many of us are out there? I know there are a lot of us out there - I am very fortunate to have met many over the years. Let me know if you are one, and I look forward to your thoughts in the future as I go through this process.

I will be expanding this post in the future, but as I find handy things for the Pearl that I like, I will post them here on my site. So far we have:

- How to put Video on your Pearl - It is Katherine’s fault that I own a Pearl now, because she told me that she can store full length movies on her memory card. After I get the software installed, I will be doing this, and I can’t wait! More feedback on it later.

- Blackberry Pearl tips - I had already found some of these keyboard jumps already, but reading them here in all one place is really helpful. In case it isn’t listed there, using the 3 and 9 key jump up and down a page on a browser window too.

- FreeRange offers a RSS reader for the BlackBerry. I haven’t found it on the site, but I think they have a way to manage your feeds online too.

- NewsGator offers a Blackberry version too, but it isn’t free. A perk of it though is that it syncs with the rest of the NewsGator suite. Read your feeds on your desktop or the online version, they are already synced up on your BlackBerry when you launch it.

- There is, of course, a Flickr Group for your BlackBerry Pearl Photos.

- The Opera Mini browser works on the Pearl, but I prefer the way that pages load when using the default browser. The Opera browser loads photos, etc. which slow things down. (This is an ironic thing for me to type. I realize that.)

- JiveTalk is an IM client that allows you to log in to a variety of IM clients at once - you can use GoogleTalk, Yahoo!, AIM, and so forth - all in one place.

- Gmail offers a client that allows for quick easy access to your Gmail at any time. This could be really handy if you have several e-mail addresses - more than the 10 that you can push to your BlackBerry - and you want to take advantage of their POP features and spam filtering.

- Mobile Yahoo Go! for your phone has quick and speedy access to Flickr. Mmmm…

What software are you using that you love? Feel free to share in the comments!