Tangible Tidbits 2011 # 22: Thank Heaven for Air Conditioning!

Hey, all! I don't know what's going on in your part of the world, but here in New Jersey it has been hot, HOT, HOT all week! I finally had to put the air conditioners in upstairs today because sleeping was so uncomfortable. Our house is more than 100 years old and very drafty, so no central air. I have to put air conditioners in the windows at the start of summer and then take them out at the end of summer. I tend to put off doing both as long as possible...there have been years I didn't put them in until July 4! :o Anyway, I'm much more comfortable now that it's done. :D

I forgot to mention it last week, but my "Steampunk" article from Factoidz was published in the Bead Society of New Jersey's (BSNJ) spring newsletter! I've submitted many of my other articles -- the ones that I thought the members would find interesting and appropriate. I also brought my final school projects to the May BSNJ meeting at the request of one of my fellow Board members. I got a lot of compliments on them! It made me feel good to know I can impress these people, many of whom have been doing this stuff for decades! :D

While I was adding my blog videos to the Something Tangible Facebook page the other day, I figured out how to save the narrated version of my Steampunk PowerPoint presentation in windows media video format, so I've finally added that to our YouTube channel and Facebook. This is the presentation I gave to my class in the Spring 2010 semester. :)

We held a Biggest Loser contest in my office -- they've been doing this off-and-on for a couple of years. I came in second the first time we did it...I think that was back in the fall of 2009?! Anyway, I came in second again this time around, losing 14.2 lbs. and winning $80! LOL I'm very proud of myself. ;) I have to decide if I want to participate in the next round...the last time, I hurt my knee and had to stop exercising in the round after my win, so I didn't do very well. I guess I should give it a go and see if I can break the bad karma, right? ;)

I've put in to take a "staycation" during the week of June 6. I really need to get some stuff around here done, and the best way to do that is to take the week and concentrate solely on that. There are a lot of things that have been on my To-Do List for ages, and I'm hoping to at least put a dent in the list that week. :)

I hope everyone in the U.S. enjoyed their three-day weekend! I kept pretty busy...Mom and I went out to dinner on Saturday night with my sister's family for Mom's upcoming birthday (next weekend), and had a great time at The Melting Pot fondue restaurant; attended a pool party at my aunt's house yesterday with most of the extended family; and checked out my nieces marching with their Girl Scout/Brownie troops in this morning's Memorial Day Parade.

Speaking of which...Happy Memorial Day! I'll catch you next week. :D

Tangible Tidbits 2011 #10: Emails and Videos and Sculpting, Oh My!

Hey, gang! Today was very gray and rainy here...hope some of you saw sunshine! :)

As those of you who receive this message via email already know, I started using the Madmimi auto responder last week. Unfortunately, it wasn't as smooth a transition as I would have liked. :o First off, the system would not let us use the existing format for my email messages. It's close, except the header is no longer above the banner, but below it. In addition, we can't put the issue number and date on the same line, as we had before. I don't like that they are one above the other, but I have little control over that. :\ We also can't customize the footer on the message, which bugs me. And no more smileys! :( The other major problem was that my links didn't work. I received an email from Madmimi afterward, with a tip to use a screen capture from the video that links to the video itself. I may try that in the future...but if that becomes too time-consuming, I will revert back to using text links. I did find a link at the bottom of the email that asks if you want to read the message on the web, including a clickable link. That takes you to a web version of the same message, complete with working links. Of course, you can always visit the blog on our website or our YouTube channel directly to view any links or videos mentioned. ;)

In other news, our Video Sales Page is finally up and running! Check it out and let me know what you think. This is the PowerPoint presentation I developed in San Diego last month. The template they gave us had a lot of coding problems in it -- my web designer's browser kept shutting down -- so we modified it to fit in with the overall look of the website. I'm breaking some network marketing guidelines by doing this...apparently, it has been proven that a white background with black and red block lettering generate the most conversions. Still, I think that people visiting a jewelry designer/artisan expect more aesthetics in a web page. Personally, I don't think I would by jewelry or other artistic items from a white, black and red page. It lacks imagination, in my humble opinion. Time will tell if I've made a mistake or not. ;) I do want to make a second one for the Virtual Mall down the line, so I will have to see how well this one works before I make any decisions regarding that one.

My nieces slept over this weekend, so they helped me make some new pieces yesterday. I'll try to post photos over the next week or so. I have a bunch that I've taken already, but I haven't cleaned them up yet. :)

No video this week. I still have some raw material left from San Diego, but I have to go through it and decide how I want to cut it together. The videos I've posted to date were pretty simple. This one will be more of a "production." I will hopefully have it for next weekend, but I can't make any promises. Sadly, I have another family funeral to attend this week. :(

I played with Apoxie® Scuplt sculptural epoxy today. What a mess! LOL I was trying to make white hoops for a coworker. I won't know until tomorrow if they turned out all right. It takes 24 hours for the epoxy to fully dry. I also added some to my sterling silver guardian angel pendant from last semester. If the white turns out okay, I will try to make flesh color for the head and feet. Crossing my fingers!

Well, I'm outta here. Have a great week! :D