femminista: thoughts of a feminist rhetorician

The first and most important rule of usability (in my opinion) is quite simple--don't piss off your customers. Seriously. Unless what you're selling can't be found anywhere else, it doesn't matter how fantastic it is if you piss your customer off before they get a chance to see how awesome your product is. My current complaint is with email newsletters.

Score! Thanks to my friend Dr. B I now finally have an invite to play the online multi-player game that requires you to .... Oh, right; it requires you to do what you normally do--surf the web...and that's basically it. Yep. You heard it. I'm playing PMOG, or "Passively Multiplayer Online Game." If you've heard of MMPOGs, then you'll understand the humor in this one. Massively Multi-player Online Games are those like World of Warcraft (WOW) in which an enormous number of players can be logged in at one time and interacting within the virtual world of WOW. Unlike Second Life (which I've mentioned before), WOW is actually a game in that it has a goal that players seek to achieve. Perhaps more accurately, there are goals to achieve--points to earn, levels to reach--think D and D online with pixelated avatars. PMOG also has goals. You just don't have to really try to achieve them. (At least this is how I understand it.) You get points for visiting different websites and then you can buy things and create missions and set traps. Big fun.

So, here it is--my entrance into online gaming--slacker style. On a side note- I started another game recently that teaches hacking skills. I'm looking forward to committing acts of illegality. Kidding. It's just pretend hacking, but I feel cool anyway.

I have been informed by a recent subscriber to my rss feed that I'd "better post some good stuff" or I'd get demoted on his iGoogle page. (This is what I get for being a sweet maven.) So, as per his request/threat, I am posting. Good or not remains to be seen, but here I am.

First of all, it seems that I write lots of apology posts, mostly for my lack of posting. Part of this is the strain of posting for multiple blogs and maintaining several websites. Last time I checked there were still only twenty four hours in a day. I've submitted a grant request for an extra eight hours but have yet to hear back. So, unfortunately, my personal blog generally ends up getting the shaft.

Okay. So perhaps I exaggerate. Still, I have to say that the iPhone pretty much rocks. And, in spite of the fact that my partner has repeatedly warned me that when my iPhone gains sentience and tries to kill me not to come crying to him because he told me so (I recently introduced him to BSG and now he thinks that even the toaster is looking at him funny), I'm keeping it.

For those who can't afford WestLaw and/or LexisNexus, now there's The Public Library of Law.

For those who know me, it is no secret that I have organizational issues. (No, no, I don't have issues with NGOs or non-profits). Keeping my sh*t together is a bit of a challenge and, well, getting things done is a bit more like moving things around. So, I frequently read books and blogs on organization and productivity; I download software; and I sign up for web2.0 services, all in the service of getting it together. (Un)Fortunately, there are a myriad of resources available for organizing your life. Sadly, I am a terrible decision-maker and I spend entirely too much time reading and playing and not enough time doing. At the very least I figure that I can share my findings. There will be additional reviews to come. I'm currently trying out wikis, blogging apps, database apps, and notebook applications.

First of all, I just want to say that I'm sick of learning things. To clarify: I still love to learn about and how to do new things; I am, however, tired of learning new "life lessons." In fact, I'd like to be left alone in a room with "life lessons" for a couple of hours and let said entity get a piece of my mind. Of course now that I think about it, it already has a piece of my mind, so I don't intend to give it any more. Damn, damn! And now I'm ranting and haven't even gotten to the point of this rant.

I just received my teaching assignment for next fall and I'm totally psyched about it.  I'll be teaching Multimedia Writing!  I'll also be teaching another section of English 420, but I'm way more excited about teaching in my primary area of interest.  One of the reasons that I enjoy teaching business writing is that it gives me the opportunity to incorporate multimedia writing into my curriculum.  Obviously, I'll still be doing that but it will be nice to teach a class where that's the primary focus.

It's true; I love my mac! Apple is by far the superior computer system and the other day, during one of my Mac app quests, I stumbled on these hilarious spoofs of the "I'm a Mac" ads. The first one is definitely pro-Mac and the other.., well, even though it's sort of anti-Mac, it's still pretty funny.

It's all true:

And this one, is just sort of funny.