wow, this month has been full and gotten away from me. The first weekend of the month, on Saturday, there was a Louisiana Classical Association meeting -- in which I was promoted to the new post of Blog Administrator. Does this replace the Newsletter Editor, or just represent a shift in technologies? Not sure, but I got the new blog set up today ( http://laclassical.wordpress.com if anyone is interested). Sunday we went with another couple to the Renaissance Festival in Hammond. When we first entered, we got serenaded by a wandering bard! Spent too much money probably, but we got some worthwhile stuff, so it'll be okay in the long run.
The second weekend was our road trip to Charlotte, for the US-K Martial Arts tournament. That was a great experience, and while there were a lot of things I could have done better, I know now how to prepare next time. Even with some mistakes, I still took first in forms in my division (red belt women), and third in sparring (advanced). That sparring trophy is pretty significant, because we few women asked to be mixed in with the men, so the sparring was co-ed. It was really a mistake, and we should have instead been forced to spar each other, even though that would have meant the three women from the Chi Institute were sparring each other ... again. My first opponent was a 17-yo Tae Kwon Do boy. The match was 2 minutes, or first one to five points. I took some good shots to the gut, and by like 1:55, I was ready to quit. Time was called as I was telling the judge I needed to stop. And it turns out I won the match, beat the kid on points. HA. I opted to sit out the next round though, which is why I only took third (the judges had to compress the brackets a little, because it was getting late, I guess). Had a heck of a bruise on my arm later, but no long-term damage.
The third weekend we turned around and had testing at the Chi Institute. Everything went smoothly, no one freaked out, but I was sick, and probably should have asked for an extension or something. Some students came down from the Wisconsin branch for their dan test, so there were seven students promoted to black belt that day total, four from our own school. Big crowd! After the test, a bunch of us went to the Ren Fest again, mostly to see Ordo Procinctus in action -- lots of the Tang Soo Do crowd wants to get in on that now. It was a soggy cool day, and probably made my cold worse, but it was fun to be with a group of like-minded people.
Tuesday my cough was so bad and my throat hurt so much that I actually stopped at the walk-in clinic to ask for some meds. First time since college -- but I was afraid that I might be getting laryngitis, and I've done that dance before and did not like it. Feeling much better today, although I'm still clearly not 100%.
We just stayed home for Thanksgiving, didn't invite anyone over, didn't crash any parties. Pork chops and corn casserole was our big Thanksgiving dinner, and it tasted darn good to me. I was thankful for my husband being there to care for me, and for cooking, and that we had decided to spend a weekend at home rather than traveling.
One more week of classes, then the dreaded final examinations, and at last, winter break.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
I was honored and privileged to be asked to assist last night during class. Ko Dan Ja Nim Romero was instructor, but there were no other black belts to help out, so we red belts had to step up at various times. It was weird, I hadn't thought of myself as ready to assist in class, but when I actually do the math, K and I are about 9 months away from our black belt test. Ive come a long way from those stumbling, bumbling days as white belt.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
If you joined the circus, what act would you most want to perform?
Ever since I watched Circus of the Stars as a kid, I always thought it would be most supremely fun to be on the trapeze. It looked like swinging, only with more altitude, and when they're done, they get to fall into a big bouncy net. What's not to love?!
My second choice would be juggler, because you don't need a lot of equipment to perform, so you can do it anywhere.
My third choice would be to learn anything those Cirque du Soleil people do -- so dexterous and agile and strong!
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
Saturday we got up early to participate in a Youth Festival at the YMCA, sponsored by the O'Brien House. There were lots of groups performing for the audience of kids and their parents, mostly dance groups. I'm surprised there wasn't a singing group. This was the first demonstration that I'd been to, and so I wasn't sure what to expect. There were seven of us total, Master C of course, young Mr. B, Mr. R, and Mr. B, one of the newest (and the oldest) black belt; K and I the red belts; and Mr O the orange belt. Young Mr. B performed Bong Hyung Ee Bu, and then did a black belt form with Mr. R. Then I broke a board on stepping side kick (needed a second try, because my aim was way off), Mr O did some sort of hand technique, and Young Mr B (the star of the show, since he's only fourteen and a shining example for the school and for this audience) finished with a flying side kick. The big finale of course, Master C chopped the cucumber on Mr O's stomach with his katana.
We didn't have much time for mingling and fielding questions afterwards, because it was also gameday on LSU's campus, and even at noon, the traffic was already getting crazy as people trolled for parking spots. We have a parking sticker for the Chi Institute though, so we have guaranteed spots and will not get towed, if we ever decide to go down for tailgating.
For lunch we walked to Voodoo BBQ and enjoyed some good food and beers before heading home to take a nap.
