The Life & Times of Sooz

Thanks to Pete Caputa for linking (via Marc d'Avignon) to the "America We Stand As One" music video. I think 1983 called and they want this guy's hair back.

Today's email of the day came from a freelance reporter for the Boston Herald who emailed me via Exploit Boston! asking if we pay journalists for stories. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or amused. Or perhaps both? :)

It looks like a friend of Pete and Duncan's might be conspiring with me to cover the upcoming "Signal/Noise 2k5" conference at Harvard for Exploit Boston!. What's interesting about this is that all three of these humans are from the Worcester area. I joked with Duncan that maybe I should just move to Worcester. After eleven years in Boston I've only found one person to consistently collaborate with on projects.

What's up Boston? I don't really want to move to Worcester! ;)

I don't seek out reasons to be sassy, honest. But today's email from an SEO company working for one of my favorite websites/tools: local-i, is retarded. He sent me an email several weeks ago asking that I talk about local-i on sooz.com and also include it in one of my newsletters. I didn't respond because well, it was lame. Had he spent a bit of time on my website he'd have seen that I have linked to pages at local-i several times already. He could have started out his email in a way that was less like a form letter and moreso a conversation. I'm already a fan of local-i.

Is there a cluephone that can be included with each copy of the Cluetrain Manifesto book?

Happiness can always be found in projects that use a favorite word such as "conspire." Pete Caputa mentioned our conspirations. The people I share office space with and I have a newish website in the works for our space: The Conspiratory.

When I use the word (and variations of) conspire, I like the second definition that's noted at dictionary.com since (of course) none of my conspiring activities are illegal or wrongful. ;)

1. To plan together secretly to commit an illegal or wrongful act or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
2. To join or act together; combine: “Semisweet chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso, Cognac, and vanilla all conspire to intensify [the cake's] flavor” (Sally Schneider)

I received an email today from the customer service department at boston.com in response to my second email I sent to them about the lack of links in Adam Gaffin's new column about weblogs. Eventually, I hope they do the right thing. My guess is that boston.com itself might be clueful regarding the merits of linking; but they have to deal with the old school newspaper who is possibly less clueful. The response I received today makes it sound like web publishing is magic.

Susan,

I am sorry for misunderstanding your comments.

Articles that appear in the Boston Globe are automatically published online. The web address was not copied and pasted onto the online version of the article; it was in the printed version as well.

Your request to have the Universal Hub link active has been forwarded to our editorial team for consideration.

Kind regards,
Ashley
Customer Support
Boston.com

Related entries:
Dear boston.com: Where Are the Links?
Dear boston.com? Where Are the Links? Part II

As I mentioned in my previous entry about Adam Gaffin's new "Blog Log" column in The Boston Globe and published at boston.com, I emailed boston.com to ask them about their linking policy and why they do not link to websites other than the third-party stock info website. This is the response they sent to me in email.

Dear Susan:

Thank you for writing to Boston.com. At the bottom of the article you're referring to is a link to Universal Hub, www.universalhub.com/globe/0227. This link list all the blog mentioned. Due to time constraint, we cannot add any additional links.

You saw links in some business articles because it is automatically generated in our publishing tool when there is a publicly traded company. We hope this clears up the confusion.

If you any additional questions, please let us know.

Kind regards,

Customer Support
Boston.com

This is what I sent to them in response to that.

Hey there:

Thanks very much for your reply.

You noted in your reply that the bottom of the article includes a link. Almost ... but not quite. The link is listed, but it's not a link that you can click on -- it's just regular text ... meaning you have to copy and paste it into your browser to get to it.

Would it be possible to at least make the link to Universal Hub's site active?

Also, I wasn't confused. I'm not sure what gave you that idea. I asked for insight into your linking (or lack thereof) policy. I don't see how my lack of insight into your policy could be considered confusion.

Susan

In 1999 I worked for a television show and website called Wild, Wild Web. We used an oh-my-god-we-paid-you-how-much-money-for-this craptastic content management system (Vignette) to publish website articles that were the online companions to features on the television show. Somehow, way back then, we managed to make that awful Vignette system work so that links could be easily inserted into the web articles. I can't imagine it would be all that difficult for boston.com to do this in 2005.

Is it really a time constraint issue for boston.com or do they only want to link to a site that they may (?) get a kickback from such as that stock portfolio website?

Adam Gaffin has a new column in The Boston Globe called Blog Log. It seems like an excellent column to start using links at boston.com -- something they have yet to do unless it's a link to a company's stock profile on a third-party website. Unfortunately, there are no links in Adam's column. A URL at the end points you to a location at Adam's Universal Hub website where you can pick up the links.

I sent a note to boston.com asking for clarification about their linking policy. Hopefully they'll write back and offer some sort of explanation.

I really wish Alan Herrell (The Head Lemur) would tell us what he really thinks when he writes on his weblog about topics such as advertising in RSS feeds. He's always so vague.

Really If I want to spend my fucking life reading or being exposed to advertisements, I will shove a shopping channel TV Up my ASS. I will swallow a transistor radio.

RSS advertising is every bit as filthy a practice as spyware, viruses, trojan horses, pop ups, and rich media Insertion.

Michael has had a personal website and weblog longer than most people; but he's pretty low key about it. Which is probably why most people don't know about him. He wrote something about this last night after reading something on Ezra Klein's weblog about the perception that there aren't many female political bloggers. Add his RSS feed to your news reader. He's got a way with words. The guy makes sports sound interesting for one thing.

The title of Ezra Klein's entry is "Girls with Keyboards." Maybe it's just me but I always feel a little annoyed when I see the word "girls" used like that.

Long time web guy Jason Kottke's announcement that he quit his web design job to work on his personal website fulltime seemed curious. Of course, a (big) part of me is jealous because I have long wished I could focus entirely on my web projects and not work for other people, so to speak. Getting paid by Marqui to link/mention them the past three months has certainly helped.

It's interesting that he's calling donors "micro patrons." Micro? What's so micro about contribting the (suggested) $30? A few years ago when people were sending each other fifty cents through PayPal -- that seemed to be about micro payments. If I give someone $30 to help them out, I'd rather just be called a patron -- leave out micro.

I wonder how taxes factor into this. Does he have a corporation or is he self-employed? If it's the latter, he'll have to say goodbye to about 37% of the donations. Unless there's some sort of loophole I'm not familiar with.

I'm curious who else is testing out new ways to make a living without a typical 9-5 job. A few I know about include:

Update: These people aren't necessarily doing their creative projects fulltime. That's what I get for writing an entry while still half asleep.

• Heather Powazek Champ : print club
• Derek Powazek : photography
• Noah Grey's photography

Who else?

I had to log in to my ancient Blogger account to post a comment on Zephyr Teachout's blog and I noticed that they use a numbering system for accounts. I first used Blogger in November 1999 so my number is pretty low: 2805. This reminds me of a BBS I used (ISCABBS) when I first got online in 1993. A lot of my online pals wouldn't change their username/handles because they didn't want to lose their low number. Nostalgia!

MIThenge is happening this afternoon at MIT's Infinite Corridor.

As viewed from a stationary point on the earth, the path of the sun through the sky is roughly a circle which moves north and south as the seasons go by. In mid-November and in late January every year, the circular path crosses the axis of MIT's Infinite Corridor, which runs a distance of 825 feet (251 meters) from the main entrance on Massachusetts Avenue through Buildings 7, 3, 10, 4 and 8. When this happens, the setting sun can be seen from the far end of the corridor. By analogy with Stonehenge, this phenomenon is sometimes called "MIThenge". (The same cannot be seen at sunrise because the other end of the infinite corridor is blocked by Building 18.)

Additional taggy goodness: MIT, MIThenge, Geeks

About a day after I found Zephyr Teachout's new Zonkette weblog other websites started to link to her. I was checking in on my refer stats earlier and noticed my website has been visited by the State Department, NBC, the FDA and others searching for Zonkette.

Zephyr's "Financially Interested Blogging" blog entry has been linked up all over the web the past couple of days. She changed her name from "Z" to her real name on her blog recently, too.

It looks like Zephyr didn't want her blogspot blog to be found. Oops! The best way to not let something get out to the world wide web masses is to keep the words on our computers or behind a password protected directory. I found the Zonkette blog because it was linked on the "Z" name Zephyr used on the participants discussion thread on the "Blogging, Journalism and Credibility" event website.

I certainly didn't expect it to be picked up by anyone (this is a temporary blog I was using (at the time) for links for the conference), and I'm mad that its been misused, but I think talking openly about this stuff is important.

Henry Copeland of Blog Ads wrote on his blog about the Wall Street Journal's article covering this "story" about the Dean campaign paying bloggers/consultants.

Newsflash: there's a world of difference between people like Williams who hide payments that have an contracted goal of sweetening his public statements, and people like Moulitsas Zuniga and Armstrong who go out of their way to publicize financial relatonships that might impact their opinions.

Update 15 January: So, this is weird. I mentioned yesterday that I found Zephyr's new blog because she used it as the link for her initial "Z" in a comment she wrote on the participants list discussion thread for the "Blogging, Journalism and Credibility" conference. The comment doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Update 15 January Part II: Rebecca MacKinnon pointed out in a comment to this entry that there's one Zephyr comment on the conference blog but it's noted with her full name. That's not what I remembered seeing. Either I'm misremembering where I saw it or it was removed. That's what I get for not making note of specifically where I saw it.

It looks like Zephyr Teachout, the former online organizer for the Howard Dean campaign may have a new weblog called Zonkette hosted at Blogspot.

Harvard's Shorenstein Center and Berkman Center are hosting an invite-only conference about blogging, journalism and credibility. Here's the list of invited participants (aka the usual suspects). The comment thread on that page is particularly interesting. Several people have pointed out there don't seem to be many independent/hobbyist/amateur webloggers on the list.

From The Head Lemur:

Blogging is a tool, Journalism is an occupation, and Credibility is a goal. They are strange bedfellows.

Happy Birthday, Shannon.

You might want to turn the sound down on your computer before clicking on the birthday link.

I'm evaluating Basecamp, online project management software, for a client and my own projects. I sent them (Basecamp HQ) an email about a feature request/curiosity. It seemed worthwhile to be able to associate due dates with tasks. They do provide deadlines with milestones and you can also cross-reference a to do list with a particular milestone. But I thought it would be useful to also have dates associated with a to do list, too.

I received a very speedy response. When responding to my inquiry, Jason said:

We do not plan on adding dates to to-do items. Milestones have dates, but to-do items are simply to-do items. We're really working on keeping things simple and focused.

I would have to disagree with my request being a complicated and unfocused feature! But it was good to get a fast response nonetheless. Overall, Basecamp is a very interesting piece of web software. I've always wondered why there haven't been better tools out there (especially webby ones) so that we're not stuck with awful tools like Microsoft Project. Basecamp to the rescue? They have a weblog, too, called Everything Basecamp.

What is Sooz Music? SOOZ draws on her jazz background and penchant for world music in the creation and performance of upbeat, interactive original songs. An earthy alto vocalist who plays tenor and soprano saxophones and flute as well, SOOZ has a sound all her own.

Time flies when you're busy ignoring your websites. I didn't quite intend to stop posting here for nearly two weeks. Oops! I'm thinking about reviving my Live Journal account that I stopped using last winter so I have somewhere to post more journalish, blathering tidbits and keep sooz.com free from those sorts of things. If i haven't posted here in a while it's mostly because the things I want to write about are probably more personal than interesting weblog/music/event tidbits. I'm trying to revive some projects but it's taken a lot longer than I had hoped.

Tonight there's a Berkman Weblog Writer's Meeting/Dinner at Bombay Club at 7:15 in Harvard Square. And then Andrea Kremer's Boston Pop Underground returns to the Lizard Lounge at 9:30 with The So & So's, Stargazer Lily and Patti Rothburg. Mmmmm pop!

A friend's apartment was broken into Friday afternoon while he was home. He heard someone at the door and figured it was one of his roommates coming home. A few minutes later he left his room to go out to say hi and ran into someone else who he figured was a friend of one of the roommates. The guy said "Oh, sorry" and then walked out. Turns out the guy was not a friend but had broken into the apartment.

Write an essay about your most memorable reading experience in the last ten years and Powell's Books might give you $1,000 to spend on books at their website. With every essay submission they'll also donate one dollar to Reading Is Fundamental, the nation's largest nonprofit children's literacy organization. The contest runs through August 31, 2004.

A long time ago (September 17, 2001) I exchanged email with Bob Stein about accepting PayPal payments for his VisiBone products. He just sent me an email to let me know that they are now able to accept orders via PayPal. I'm impressed he saved my email. I have a few of their HTML and CSS foldouts that are quite nifty and useful.

(OK, maybe The Smiths' tune didn't go quite like that.)

As I was about to log in to my meetup.com account, I noticed the link on their homepage announcing "Transcriptionists, Hyderabad, India meeting now!" I guess everyone needs a meetup. There are 228 transcriptionists around the world who have signed up to meet through meetup.com. Hyderabad has the largest group with 50 members. I wonder what they talk about.

In my senior year of high school in 1991 (Scribner, Nebraska) I was in most every activity club, including FBLA -- Future Business Leaders of America. Each Spring we attended the state convention and participated in various "competitions" including transcription. Somehow I managed to get signed up for that one. So, I took the test and placed number two. The winner of each competition advanced to the national convention/competition that was taking place in Anaheim, California that summer. Apparently the person who came in ahead of me had also won another competition and chose that one over transcription for the national competition. So, there I was with an opportunity to travel West for the first time. I don't remember all the details but I think the FBLA group helped raise some money to send me. My advisor wasn't able to go so another group adopted me. I basically spent the entire week hanging out by myself in Anaheim and Disneyworld except when I had to participate in group events and the test itself. I bought my first Smith's CD, "Louder Than Bombs", at a local used CD store. It was an amusing way to get to California.

UPDATE: I have no more Gmail invites.

I have twelve spare Gmail invites available. It seems like most of my friends have one by now. If you want one, let me know. And in case you have been living under a rock the last month or so, Gmail is Google's new webmail service. It's got a nifty interface and uses Google's search technology. I especially like how it groups related emails into a conversation. And the 1000 megabytes of storage is nice, too. I've moved all my mailing list subscriptions to it, etc. They do a good job of addressing privacy concerns, too.

I've been wanting to have some sort of Nebraska-themed BBQ/picnic with East Coast pals for a while. Thanks to the Internet, you can not only have Runza ship you their sandwiches but you can also (!!!) order Dorothy Lynch salad dressing (made in Columbus, NE), too. Excellent!

The clock is ticking for the 24 Hour Dotcom. [via Gregor]

A friend sent me an invite to create a Gmail account and I was hoping I would be able to grab the username "sooz." Unfortunately it needs to be at least six letters so I had to add a few zeros. You can send me notes, iBook naming suggestions, etcetera to sooooz@gmail.com. (That's four lowercase o's in the middle.)

Jay McCarthy posted a list of Ben Franklin's "Goals of Virtue" the other day. Good tips, overall!

In other news, I got a new computer and the new computer died after 12 days. I'm not all that amused and hopeful that when I return it on Saturday that they'll exchange it for a new one and not expect me to wait for it to be sent in for a checkup. Twelve days! I suppose it's better it happened now and not the day after its warranty is up. At least not having a computer around at home means I'm getting all my stuff unpacked in the new place. I've been reminded of what life was like before I got online.

Happiness is leaving work two hours early, catching the Fung Wah Bus from China Town to New York City, eating a fabulous meal with Josh and Jesse at Good World (mmm Swedish food -- spectacular Swedish meatballs and a perfect chocolate martini) and then wandering a bunch of blocks to The Living Room to see Rose Polenzani and her band perform. And hey, it's only Friday. That means 1.5 more days of curious adventures.

When I was packing up everything for my move this weekend, I found this fortune on the floor. Usually fortune cookies are lame but this was a good one that was worth keeping.

Happiness begins with facing life with a smile and a wink.

Yesterday's move from Medford to Somerville went very well. Many thanks to Josh, Michael, Craig and Shimon for all of their help. And thanks to Pimm's for making a tasty beverage that made packing a more enjoyable experience. It may go down as one of the shortest moves ever.

Lots of new! My sister Amy's baby arrived last night. My new (first!) niece is reported to be fabulous with lots of black hair, blue eyes and a smaller version of my sister's (small) nose. Can't wait to see the photos and get back to Nebraska sometime soon. On Monday I'm moving to Ball Square in Somerville. It will be so very nice to be within walking distance of Davis Square. True Grounds opened up a few months ago in my new neighborhood and they've got free wifi, too! On Sunday I'm buying a new computer. Zippy, my trusty Dell notebook has served me well for almost four years. The case itself has been a disaster. It cracked near the mousepad area and on/near the hinges for the cover/monitor at least once a year. This last time it was out of warranty and the cracks ended up breaking the hinges off the monitor. A notebook computer that you can't put in your bag and take with you doesn't make for much of a portable computer. So, I'm visiting the Apple store in Cambridge on Sunday and picking up an iBook. It'll be the first time I've owned a Macintosh computer since I worked at Apple in 1998.

Peonies (my favorite flower) will be in season soon. These look spectacular. Much like the peonies I bought from Flowerbud a few years ago.

Today was one of those days. No, not one of those days; but one of those days. Good times, new work, adventure, and a fabulous sunset in Lincoln, MA.

you can bend my ear / we can talk all day / just make sure that i'm near / when you've really got something to say. - "Something to Say" by Toad the Wet Sprocket

This entry is in honor of my mom, Mary Kay Kaup. She passed away March 2003. Her 58th birthday would have been today.

After posting that entirely unoriginal audio post the other day I figured I better come up with something to say today so it has a better chance of drifting off the page sometime soon. There is a lot of interesting things going on this weekend around Boston but I'll be working throughout most of it. Tonight's plan, however, is to meet up with a friend or two for dinner at ZuZu (home of the tasty Sour Mash Smash and middle eastern-themed "Pu Pu Platter" - yum!) and then check out the So & So's concert downstairs at the Middle East next door. The Boston Independent Film Festival is also in town at The Coolidge, Brattle and Somerville Theaters. Over 600 artists in Somerville open up their studios on Saturday and Sunday for the Somerville Open Studios weekend. I hope to wander around with a friend on Sunday.

There are plenty of websites devoted to someone's cat, oddly documented yet uneventful life, moist towellete collection, etc. But how many websites are devoted to 8-tracks? Hilary has a massive 8-track tape collection and she chronicles her eBay purchases and 8-track adventures on her weblog. Hopefully VH-1 will have the sense to put her on their new "Totally Obsessed" show about people with curious obsessions. One of these days maybe I'll get to see her 8-track museum: a room in her apartment entirely covered wall-to-wall with 8-tracks. Check her April 27th entry (I'd link to it but her archives aren't working) on her website to learn about her plans to get married on May 17th when gay marriage becomes legal in the state of Massachusetts. The photo is one I took of Hilary and her girlfriend Cathy at a Harvard Bookstore holiday party a few years ago.

I just sent out an email to a bunch of people ... intended the little list I created to be bcc'd. Alas, it went out as a regular email with everyone's email address showing. Oops! That's what I get for sending out an email well past my bedtime.

My first 10 years in Boston are coming up. If you're in the area, join us for dinner and then Sondre Lerche's concert on May 12th at 7pm. There's an evite page if you want to RSVP!

This "note to self" is also similiar to another bit of advice: don't make phone calls after spending three hours at Sligo with Shannon (and pals) at her going away party. It's too bad cell phones can't detect alcohol consumption and shut themselves off accordingly. ;)

I forgot to renew capricious.org in a timely manner so it's going to be down for a day or two. If you are wondering what happened to my BloggerCon photos, they will return when things are back to normal.

If it happens twice does that make it a tradition? Sure, why not. At the first BloggerCon last Fall, Gregor Rothfuss was in attendance from Switzerland. So, it seemed appropriate that a representative from his homeland would be in Boston this week for BloggerCon II. Bernhard Seefeld put up with my Cambridge tour guide/wanderings today. He runs search.ch, "The Swiss Search Engine" and is always on the lookout for a salsa dancing event. I managed to navigate him to the April On 2 event at Ryles in Inman Square tonight only after walking in the wrong direction for about 10 minutes down Hampshire Street.

Nokia finally has a new camera phone that works with my SprintPCS service. The Nokia 6225 is supposed to be out any day. I'd been thinking of switching carriers since my contract is up this week but I think I'll stay put thanks to this new phone. My service works great but I really wanted a camera with a phone. I can't get a decent deal on the phone until August when I can trade in my Sanyo 4900.

Political activist and MIT linguistics professor Noah Chomsky started up a personal weblog a few days ago called Turning the Tide. I found it by way of a Dutch weblog that recently linked to one of my entries.

My favorite human from my days at Scribner-Snyder High School in Scribner, Nebraska, emailed me yesterday to say she and her husband will be moving to Boston for a year. She got an internship at the Museum of Fine Arts via her grad program. This is really good news. This is better than if Sondre Lerche showed up at my house to perform a private concert for me and a few pals. (If Sondre would like to do this, he is certainly more than welcome. How about once Sandy and Dave get to town?)

CVB Space, Cynthia von Buhler's huge artist loft at 407 West 13th Street in the meat packing district of New York City is available for private party rentals. Anyone who has a spare $1000-$3500 burning a hole in their pocket should let me know. I'd love to help throw a party there!

Throughout April, CVB Space is home to "Growing", a group show of artists mostly from Europe. The opening reception is April 1, 6pm-8pm. Check out the CVB Space website for the event calendar.

Combine this with this [via Wendy] and you have the perfect "about" page.

I'm doing a little computer housecleaning and found this bit of good advice. It doesn't have a source on it. I'm not sure where I found it.

The World We Live In

People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered;
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today, will be forgotten tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable;
Be honest and frank anyway.

Give the world the best you have to give and you get kicked in the teeth;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

It's probably not the end of the world. But then again, logic doesn't always feel relevant. Dreamhost seems to be having some problems today so my email has been down for a while. I've read mixed reviews about their web hosting service but until today I can't even remember the last time I was without email since moving my websites back to them in 1998. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't hurry up and fix it!

Update: It's working again. Yipppeee.

John "Halcyon" Styn wrote a mini-essay today about blogging and what it means to him. Whenever I hear/read someone talk about weblogs and blogging, the first thing that comes to mind is "blah blah blah"; but this one is good! I can relate to what he's saying.

Being a blogger doesn’t mean you use a certain type of content management software…it means you embrace the web as the greatest communication tool in the history of our species. A true evolution. It means you understand that your words and ideas can be GLOBAL.

And that with a voice that can be heard around the world, you could never be powerless.

You could never be truly alone.

A favorite poem by a favorite poet.

"if strangers meet" - ee cummings

if strangers meet
life begins-
not poor not rich
(only aware)
kind neither
nor cruel
(only complete)
i not not you
not possible;
only truthful
-truthfully,once
if strangers(who
deep our most are
selves)touch:
forever

(and so to dark)

(I found this poem on a friend's Live Journal.)

Linda Hogan, "The Lost Girls"

I don't remember when the girl of myself turned her back and walked away, that girl whose thin arms once held this body and refused to work too hard or listen in school, said the hell then and turned, that dark child, that laugher and weeper without shame, who turned and skipped away.

And that other one
gone from me
and me
not even starting to knot
in vein or joint,
that curving girl
I loved to love with,
who danced away
the leather of red high heels
and thin legs, dancing like stopping
would mean the end of the world
and it does.

Continue reading "The Lost Girls"

Josh and a friend are in town visiting this weekend. It's been a fun, low key sort of weekend. Last night I made my not-quite-world-famous-unless-you-just-count-people-I-know enchiladas. Vodka gimlets were also consumed. Josh made the most spectacular peach shortcake. Good times.

January 28, 2004

Pingapalooza

January 17, 2004

Beyond The Usual Suspects

January 13, 2004

Best spam?

January 08, 2004

The importance of social networks and relating as humans

December 18, 2003

High-flying hack

December 12, 2003

Hello Medford, Goodbye Arlington