Used, abused and....

Way back last year, well not really that long ago I was asked a favour…

You know the kind of thing, three minutes before leaving for school you hear “Oh by the way mum I need £50 for the school trip”, or “a new Badminton racquet” or “my shoes are letting in rain”. How come you are never told the evening before when there is a chance of doing something about the situation? No, it has to be on the doorstep on the way out to school. Nobody ever tells you that motherhood involves being a magician. It is one of those things that are never mentioned.

Well that is how I felt last September when my Elly phoned to say “Mum I need a favour!” She was no longer at school, she had stopped the Badminton and she could afford to buy her own shoes. What on earth could it be? Those of you who have followed my Blog from the beginning will remember that I was to be her ‘case study’ or as I called it ‘guinea pig’ in teaching Granny Pod-casting. A topic she had agreed to speak on at the ‘Barcamp’ in Cork

We began with a lesson on how to set up a Blog site. Well to be exact she sent me several links for subjects to read and places to experiment with, so that I could get started. I chose my template, fonts; colours etc. and Elly later ‘tweaked’ things a little to make it more inviting for anyone who might come across it by accident.

Since her topic was Pod-casting I had to learn how to do that as well. I liked to idea of a Pod-cast as it hid my awful grammar and bad spelling. I found it easier to prepare and type out a piece on my chosen subject and then read it to an imagined audience.

I seem to have flapped about like a non swimmer in a choppy sea between the Blog and the Pod-casts. My subject matter has also seemed ‘Mixed Middling like Hafner’s Pudding’ as my Grandmother used to say. I suppose I have not found a theme for my Blog and have no idea if this is off putting for any readers/listeners out there.

My biggest surprise is that Elly who got me started and my future Son-in-law both experienced Bloggers have not yet as far as I know made a Pod-cast. Why I ask, what are they frightened of? If I can do it why can’t they? I am a great believer in not asking someone to do something that you are not prepared to do yourself.

Come on you two there is nothing to it!

P.S. This was supposed to be a Podcast but Odeo had other ideas!

Doing my Homework

Yesterday I had some trouble uploading, embedding or whatever the term is when I want to add an Audio Post to my Blog. I am not so sure that it was my entire fault. Google and Firefox were both misbehaving at the time. In frustration I closed down and went to do some manual work in the kitchen. A good wholesome dinner was what I needed to give me the energy to tackle the problem.

Later I had a ‘tekki’ lesson over the phone from ‘Prof Elly’- daughters do have their uses. I suppose it was part payment for the Tee-shirt. Someone at Barcamp South East might let me know!

Now back to this problem of mine. Elly talked me through the steps and they were exactly the ones I had taken earlier, maybe ‘Google’ had eaten dinner and decided to work properly, because everything went as it should and I was able to embed my Audio Post. Now when I get ‘Prof Elly’ on the phone I try to have all my computer problems solved in one session. Somehow in the past few weeks I had lost the ‘Google Reader Subscribe’ tab. This led me to bookmark items and then not be able to find where they had hidden. We played hide and seek and I learned yet again to highlight, drag, hover and drop. Now I have added some sites I use frequently in my toolbar.

My final request was for a magic formula. If I wanted to make reference to another Blog or web site what did I need to do so that the site name appeared in a different colour and underlined allowing readers to link directly to it? I discovered I needed to learn this formula when one day I made reference to Nelly’s Garden. Nelly adds a smile to my face on many a bleak day. Keep up the good work girl.

If I have listened to my teacher and remembered all she told me this post might have some links for you. Maybe if I keep up the good work I might even warrant a mention in the 2008 Irish Blog Awards! I would need to buck up and post on a more regular basis for that. Good luck to all those entered and especially those I have nominated.

Where do I go from here?

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