obama on ellen

i went to church today

i saw barack obama speak in columbus, ohio today. it felt like a religious experience. i can't even explain how amazing it was. i've seen his speeches on tv. i've heard most of what he has to say. but to witness it in person.. simply incredible.


here is a video that i think every voting american should see. i still get chills!

Obama event in 60mins

Barack-Attack!

Michelle Obama visits Athens campus Thursday
Feb 26, 2008


Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m. Thursday at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
Doors open at 3 p.m. for the visit, which is being organized by the Obama campaign. No tickets will be issued, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

new purchases

i <3 google

since i love everything google (shouldn't they just hire me and make
me their spokes whore?), i wanted to share another great service they
offer... for free!

it's called Google Alerts: google.com/alerts

Simply enter your search terms and choose what type:
Comprehensive, News, Blogs, Web,Video, or Groups.

You can set how often google will email you with information.

I receive daily emails whenever someone writes about the name of my work. It's super fun.

Happy google alerting!

I'm very political today

ohio absentee voting

if you're an ohio citizen who needs to vote by absentee ballot, here is a form to fill out requesting one:

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/electionsVoter/forms/11a.pdf

Happy Primary! 

Rumors...

It’s no secret that this year is one of the biggest election years in our country’s history. The next president inherits a war on two fronts, a failing economy, poor education, and health care concerns.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (yeah, I just pictured that horrible Geico commercial, too), you also know this is a historic election where a woman and a black man (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in case you missed that memo) are the frontrunners for the Democratic nominee. 

This blog isn’t my attempt on telling you who to vote for (Obama), but rather a chance to emphasize (again) not to believe everything you hear or read on the Internet. To back that up, I’m going to cite some Internet sites... Makes sense, right? Hear me out...

I’m from rural, appalachian-southeast Ohio. Out of Ohio’s 88 counties, we’re usually the poorest (we go back and forth with another county, it’s quite the honor to claim this title). To say the region is dominated by Conservative-Christians is an understatement. I’m not saying we’re racist, but we still fly the confederate flag after every high school touchdown, and it’s generally a source of pride for many. SIDENOTE: We’re the Morgan Raiders, named after Daniel Morgan, an American Pioneer. NOT the confederate officer, John Hunt Morgan, who ‘raided’ parts of Ohio during the Civil War, contrary to popular belief.

Point of the story:
Both of my parents, God love ‘em, have come to me with questions about the Democratic candidates. My parents have never been terribly politically minded, but they are both in professional/labor unions and side towards the democrats come election time (mom is a teacher,  dad works in a factory). Both parents (on separate occasions...actually a year apart) have asked me about Barrack Obama’s past. Both have heard (and believed) that he is a Muslim who refuses the say the Pledge of Allegiance and was sworn into the US Senate using the Koran rather than the Bible.

First of all, who cares. Didn’t the Pilgams come to America to escape religious persecution? Secondly, IT’S NOT TRUE! Here are a few resources I’ve shared with my parents, and hopefully will be beneficial to you.

Here is Obama saying himself, during the MSNBC nationally televised debate, that these are lies!

Here is a CNN article debunking the myths:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/23/obama-battles-muslim-rumor-head-on/

Moral of the story: don't believe every rumor you hear and do a little research of your own to make your own judgements. Water-cooler talk sucks.

what i did last week

i was part of a video crew that documented the 10th annual eTech Ohio convention.

eTech Ohio is  a national leader in advancing learning through technology. Established by the state, eTech Ohio manages a telecommunications network that supports the distribution of educational content and online learning. An innovative resource, eTech Ohio can rapidly react to implement initiatives and technical solutions to support learning.

here are the members of the 2008 conference documentary team:

we were responsible for putting together a 5-7 minute video recapping the conference.

here is the 2007 video. it provides a good sense of what 2008's video looks like:

in case you missed it:

The  Writer's Strike is (almost) over!

The membership votes today. In theory, many writers will be back to work tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb 13).

check out this blog for all your WGA needs: http://deadlinehollywooddaily.com

more on Google Calendars

After finishing my 'how to' gCal post regarding the iPhone and iCal, I found myself playing around with Google Calendars a little more.

Did you know...

You can add public calendars. Here are some examples that I find fun:

-Netflix DVD release calendar

-Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign events

-US Holidays

Just fun little things you might find useful.

iCal, Google Calendars, and the iPhone

Dear Readers,

I apologize for my absence from the blog. it's been a crazy February so far!

I woke up to find my car completely covered in ice:

But I'm moving on. Hopefully this is my last winter in Ohio, or anywhere with snow for that matter.

Today's topic: iCal, gCal, and the iPhone.

So you're a Mac lover. Certainty you are a google lover, too. Mac+Google=<3>

What if you're stuck using (heaven forbid) a PC during work hours. It is no doubt a pain to try to sync your contacts, emails, and calendars between your state-of-the-art-spreadsheet-awesomeness PC and your iPhone, right? 

As a google lover, you've already discovered Google Calendar. It's easy to use, its web based, so it's always available. AKA, its pretty sweet. But you can't sync google calendar with your iCal. Wah-Wah.

Fear not! You can actually subscribe to your Google Calendar in iCal on your beautiful Macintosh Computer at home! Here's how:

In Google Calendar, choose settings in the top right corner:

Under Calendar Settings, choose Calendars:

You should now see your calendar. Mine is named Nick Parsons. I have no idea what you named yours... I would guess your name, as well.

Click on your (calendar) name. Scroll to the bottom.

Here we see the calendar adress and private address:

You'll see a variety of options to choose: XML (orange), ICAL (Green), HTML (blue).

For what we want to do today, you'll be using the PRIVATE ADRESS and the iCal button. Push the iCal button and a URL pops up on the screen. Right click and choose 'copy link'.

Now launch iCal. Right click in the tool bar on the left where your calendars are listed. Choose Subscribe:

Paste in the address you copied in Google Calendars and hit subscribe!

iCal will ask you to name the calendar, give a description and choose your color code. You can also set how often to refresh the subscription to gCal. I personally name my google calendar "Google Calendar" and label it green. Green for Google. Get it?

Now, when you sync your iPhone, your Google Calendar events will be included as part of the iCal sync!

the more you know *shooting star*

I'm about to get on the plane!

I'll be in LA Fri-Sat-Sun. And yes, I'm very excited.