Monday, June 24, 2013

Dancing with Facebook

            Eeep! It’s 9:30 at night on Sunday and I only just remembered I have a blog to write! Okay, so the big question is, what do I write about? Good question. Let’s see, what did I do this week?

            Surprisingly enough, it actually has been a pretty busy week for me. The reason I say this is surprising is because I'm a bit of an introvert (which is something of an understatement) and, as a result, my brain usually shuts down entirely right after a show, making me rather useless for about a week. Luckily it wasn't nearly as bad as usual this time around; I recovered in two days and, even on those two days, I wasn't as comatose as usual. I'm hoping this means I'm getting used to these things so we’ll be able to go them more frequently in the future.

            Among the many things that I surprised myself by accomplishing this week, the most eventful would be my first Facebook giveaway. In fact, it’s still going on right now! Though, it hasn't gone anywhere near the way I planned.

            You see, the whole point of a Facebook giveaway is publicity – it’s a great way to draw extra attention to your page. So, what I had planned was to have people enter the draw by sharing a picture of the rainbow chainmaille dragon I was giving away. In addition, the more shares the picture got, the more dragons I was going to give away. Seems like a good scheme, right? Except it’s illegal.

            That’s right – every time someone runs some sort of free giveaway on Facebook and asks you to “Like” or “Share” something to enter – or use any other Facebook feature – they are risking having Facebook delete their page. Plus Facebook could sue them. Oh, and on top of that, it turns out that if you want to run any sort of free giveaway on Facebook, you need to use a third party application.

            This whole system achieves two things – one, it protects Facebook from any sort of liability (something I completely understand and have no problem with) and two, it makes it far more difficult for page owners to encourage their followers to share their pictures and posts, which means it’s far more difficult to get any publicity without paying Facebook for it. The whole point in a lot of these smaller pages using Facebook in the first place is to get free publicity – we can’t afford to pay for advertising, otherwise we’d be doing it! It was extremely frustrating.

            So, my plans were completely shot down until about half an hour before my usual posting time when my brain finally discovered a way to circumnavigate the rules. I found a free application to run the draw for me and set up a picture that, for half a week before the draw opened for entries, people could share, with more shares meaning more dragons being given away in the draw. That way I got my free publicity, my followers got to increase the number of dragons in the pot and I didn't break any laws.

            I like it when bad situations work out well in the end. Incidentally, the draw opens today, so if you want to enter, hop over to Facebook and find the Ringcrafts page...



            The funniest thing about all of this is that, with my original plan, I was going to pay Facebook to boost the post promoting the draw. With this new method though? I didn't see the point. It turns out that trying to squeeze the little guy for all he’s got only gets the little guy to find more ways to go without feeding the big guy. I wonder how much money Facebook could make if they helped us little guys get big enough that we could afford to pay them.





Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.







If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Waterproof Ringcrafts

            Today’s blog will likely be short, as I've just gotten home from my second day at the Oxford Renaissance Festival in Woodstock, Ontario, where Colleen and I were selling our chainmaille. We had a fantastic time, but being on my feet for twelve hours straight while wearing chainmaille two days in a row has really worn me out. My legs are threatening to quit, which would make writing on my laptop a bit more difficult.

            This was our first outdoor show, so it was a wonderful and terrifying new experience. It’s very hard to leave core parts of your livelihood outdoors, even when you know security will be on site. For us, our biggest concern was our tent – we bought it for this event and Colleen made a medievalish cover for it.

I’d like to take a moment to elaborate on that; she sewed an entire tent. Out of canvas. Now, think about how big a project that is while I tell you she did it in just three days. The results? We absolutely love it!



            As great as the tent looks, we had no way of knowing how functional it was in regards to, say, rain. The first day of the festival went fantastically with great weather and no problems, but even as we were packing up at night we knew that rain was expected. All we could do was make sure everything we needed to leave in the tent overnight was under the tarp we’d brought and hope that the predicted wind wouldn't tear it free (or blow away out tent, for that matter). Then we closed up our tent and drove away, not knowing what we’d find the next day...

            As a bit of side information, the tent has full walls on all sides that we can put up when we choose, however they are each made of three panels that tie together – this means that each wall has two gaps. These walls, like the roof cover, are made of canvas – not treated to be waterproof. The only waterproof part was the tent’s original cover (hidden under our cover) which we were worried wouldn't function with once our cover was on top.

You can imagine our surprise when we arrived on a rainy morning, after a rainy night, and found the inside of our tent completely dry! Not a blade of grass was wet. The canvas was soaked through, but Colleen’s home made tent had succeeded in keeping out the elements. We were thrilled, even more so when the sun came out in the afternoon and completely dried our tent for us.

            The rest of the event went well, although we had more wind than on the first day and, as a result, we learned important lessons about which of our displays need to be more secure for future outdoor events. All in all this was a wonderful fair (I could watch the live jousting from the back of our tent!) and we had a great time while learning lots and meeting loads of wonderful people (including many friends who dropped by, even some not expecting to see us).


We even managed to pack up and leave right before the thunderstorm hit. Now, that’s what I call a good weekend.






Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.






If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Swept Away by Vortex

            Here’s another book review and it’s about time. I told you I read slowly – this is the only book I’ve read since the last review and I should add that it had nothing to do with the quality of the book. What it means is that I should also spend far more time reading than I currently do.



            Vortex by Lindsey J Parsons entirely swept me away. I could hardly put it down (on the rare occasion I found time to pick it up)! This book follows a pair of characters, switching between their perspectives almost every chapter, as they are dragged along on a wild and mysterious journey. Sam, a university student in our world, is a girl studying law because it was what her father had wanted, but she isn't sure if it’s what she wants. Damian looks like a human except for his horns and wings, which are unique even in his magical world where the castle he lives in is guarded by a dragon. When Damian is somehow dragged into Sam’s world, both their lives are turned upside down.

            Since I've already commented on how much I enjoyed this book, I would like to take a moment to touch on the one thing that bothered me: the prologue. If I were to decide whether or not to read this book based on the prologue, I would have put it down because I found it to be too slow paced and description heavy. Beyond that, it was well written and gave some excellent back-story and foreshadowing while remaining exactly what a prologue should be – an optional chapter that gives extra information, but does not provide anything that is important for reading the story. So, if you’re like me and turned away by slow pacing, don’t let this prologue chase you away (skip it, if you must) because the pace picks up right away from the first chapter – and this book is worth reading.

            The characters Lindsey has created are phenomenal – and I'm not just talking about the main ones. Each side character has unique depth and clearly has a deeper background than we will ever know. More than that, they are believable. It’s rare to come across so many characters in one book whose personalities could have been plucked out of the real world and dropped into print.

            As for the story, it is excellently constructed. Every chapter is packed with information while leaving just enough questions unanswered that you don’t want to stop reading even though it’s midnight. By the end of the book, I was left feeling that all the loose ends had been tied, yet I would still happily pick up the next book to discover what happens next.

            I'm currently writing a book which, like this one, takes place in a mixture of real and fantasy worlds. Because of that, I am able to comment on how much of a challenge it is from a writing perspective – the hardest part is deciding what characters already know or are able to understand when not in their own world. Lindsey did a marvellous job not only in keeping characters from knowing more than they should, but in allowing them to know enough to maintain realism.

            My advice isn't just to read this book, but to spread it around to everyone you know who reads. It deserves to get a lot of notice.


            You can find Vortex here and LindseyJ Parsons’ website here.





 

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.





If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
 




Monday, June 03, 2013

Colleen on Smartphones

            The blogging bug has bitten Colleen, so she’s back again! To anyone who knows her, Colleen being on Smartphones is hardly a surprise, but this time she’s talking about them rather than on them.


There's a lot of truth in the notion that advancements in technology are having a negative impact on our collective health. Kids play Call of Duty instead of catch and talk in chat rooms instead of sitting on a swing at the park. Work has changed from stacking bales of hay in a breezy field to folders of paperwork at a desk. I myself suffer from "texter's neck", a condition marked by pain in the neck ligaments due to prolonged strain on the muscles caused by the tilting of the head down, often observing an incoming text on a cell phone.
We see the effects of technology on our bodies every day.
But, if I may, there are many benefits of technology that we may not even be aware of. I'd like to specifically draw your attention to the highly-coveted Smartphone and the many obscure reasons it has become an integral part of my and many other people's lives.
DISCLAIMER: I am not here to debate the relative merits of one model of phone vs another. Nor am I here to promote one more than another. I do own an iPhone and as such have more experience with the applications available for that device rather than an Android or a BlackBerry, but you will not hear me say any one of them is better than another.
Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you all about my To Do application (app). It's a simple enough concept. You enter some text that reminds you of an event or a chore or a task or something you don't want to forget, then when you wish the app to remind you of that item and how often you want it to repeat. There are many, many different apps that accomplish essentially the same task.
Mine runs my life. I would be completely lost without it. It lays out my morning and evening routines, lists my weekly cleaning duties, reminds me of odd tasks I need to accomplish, ensures my medication is taken on time, it even helps me to remember to make cookies once a month. (Hey, not every To Do item needs to be scrubbing a toilet!) When my last phone was stolen late last year I had practically no idea what to do. And while I do realise my incredible dependence on an electronic device (and conversely, the devastating effect the absence of it has), for me, it is a small price to pay for a well-organised and productive life. Obviously this solution isn't for everyone. For me and my mother-in-law, however, it works very well.
When I decided to take up yoga I considered my options for that exercise type. I could take classes, purchase DVDs, watch podcasts or YouTube videos, look for a yoga app. Then I had an idea. I created a photo album on my phone and added several pictures of yoga poses to it, all found on the Internet. (But that is an entirely different blog.)
Now I had photo memory aids and a specific and custom order for my yoga practice. That kind of full customisation is not something I have found in any app or, obviously, in any video or class. It was a perfect fit for me. I could even set whatever music I wanted while on my mat with my iPod app (the Mission Impossible theme is highly motivating for yoga) and time myself with my stopwatch app to see how long I had practiced that day. The irony of my smart phone helping me become healthier is not lost on me.
A large perk of smart phones is the large array of game apps (many of them free). On our first wedding anniversary, Jonathan and I celebrated with dinner out. The restaurant we chose was packed and we had a forty-five minute wait. We passed the time alternating levels on one of our favourite games. We hung over the shoulder of the gamer of the moment, giving advice.
A philosophy I've had for a very long time is "a laugh shared is a laugh doubled". I believe a friend of mine also has that philosophy. Often at parties you'll see him flicking through his smart phone glancing at pictures he's saved from websites, all of them humorous, or at least he thinks so. He will hold his phone out to others to see the Lolcat or cartoon or amusing play on words, giggling away with them. I love swapping new photos with him.
Not everything about new technology is good, but for me at least, my Smartphone has more than paid for itself in on-time credit card bills and instant tips on money-saving ways to clean a home. And of course you can't put a price on the simple peace of mind that comes from knowing I will not forget to book that doctor's appointment six months from now or to be able to leave the stove's because the phone is always with me and Pachelbel's canon means those double-chocolate cookies are ready!




My (Jonathan’s) conclusion is that new technology can be good or bad, it all depends on how you choose to use it. Cookies are more than acceptable.






 

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.





If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.