I've just composed my first pencast a la Mandarine. I'm so proud. Wait. What's that you say? You don't see anything? Well, that's kind of odd, isn't it? Let me help you out a bit. Picture this: I sit down to write as legibly as I can a nice post all about why you won't be hearing a podcast from me anytime soon. It's a good post. I'm happy with it. I even tell a little story. Then, I take my post upstairs to the scanner.
I've only used the scanner once. I have this slight problem, which is that if I do something computer-related very infrequently, I don't remember how to do it. Thus, I had to take out the instruction book and remind myself how to use the scanner. All was going along swimmingly. My pages scanned beautifully. I saved them all onto my hard drive.
Now picture this: I try to get them onto blogger. Picture me calmly saying, "Hmmm...I guess that didn't work. Maybe I should try something else." Picture me trying a couple of other things. Picture none of them working. Picture me trying the same 3 things about twenty times, even though I know damn well they didn't work the first time. Picture me saying something a little harsher than "Hmmm...I guess that didn't work." In fact, picture me saying some things a pastor's wife shouldn't even know, let alone actually let spew forth from her mouth. Picture me wanting to throw the computer down the stairs.
By now, you've got a beautiful portrait that paints a thousand words. One of these days, I'll type up that blog post and post it anyway, and you can picture it as a hand-written document composed with my Mark Twain signature fountain pen.
11 comments:
I think "pencasting" is the coolest idea and I hope you get yours up soon. I also need to see a photo of that Mark Twain fountain pen!
But now I have to rush to therapy to work through the sexist thought that was in my head as I read your post: "Why doesn't she just get her husband to help?" In my limited world, women tend to be Luddites and men computer nerds, but I'm sure there are a million exceptions to that. Believe it or not, I was with some friends last night talking about the word "Luddite" and how it stems from the actions of Ned Lud, the MAN who supposedly felt threatened by and destroyed machinery in a fit of rage!
I have a post entitled 'Howto pencast - the first pencasting tutorial' which I was saving for later. I need to add a couple of screen captures to make it more explicit, but I guess I will have to release that earlier than intended, lest there should be more harsh language spewn forth.
But even before that, I'll have a look at how things work from within blogger and I'll keep you posted by e-mail. Standard customer support.
Danny, well, yes, my husband is as much of a Luddite as I am, really. And I hadn't thought of a photo of the pen, but it's a great idea (ugh! That means having to learn to get that into blogger, too).
Mandarine, yes, please post the Howto Pencast as soon as you can. I'll be waiting...
Oooh, frustrating. Stupid computer and blogging program that makes things difficult! I'm the same way with technological things, by the way -- if I don't practice something frequently, I forget it entirely, and have to relearn.
Okay, I don't have the faintest idea what a pencast is. A picture? I like the wonderful mental picture of you using phrases a pastor's wife shouldn't know and restraining yourself from throwing the computer down the stairs. I do know what a luddite is. We come from a long tradition of those.
Emily, if you have the pictures on your harddrive just go to the INSERT PICTURE TAB on the toolbar of the new post window and after that window comes up hit the BROWSE button. Find the picture files from your hardrive and hit OPEN on the picture you want to insert. I think it needs to be JPEG format. Make sure the jpeg file name is in the box by the BROWSE button. If it is press publish and it should give you a view. Sometimes this takes a moment. This how I manage to post pictures.
Oooh, a pencast! I love it and it looks so neat on Mandarine's blog. Too bad I don't have a scanner. Maybe it's time to splurge on one. Good luck on figuring out how to get your oencast up! And I'm with Danny, I'd like to see your Mark Twain pen :)
Thank you, Ian and Mandarine, for your suggestions. I will try this soon, which I've got time for such things as stopping to do an hour of yoga to calm myself before each step.
Dorr, I wonder if we'd all have forgotten how to read if we hadn't practiced it? I just realized today that I have this problem with more than just computer-related things.
Linser, yes, we do come from a long line of (very distinguished) luddites.
Stef, oh the pressure! Let's see if I can get the pencast up first, and then we'll worry about other images.
Oh computers, computers! I'm with you on throwing the thing down the stairs (nearly), but I do love sitting near my friend the web designer when she is working. She manages to keep this delicious cool, tinged with irony and says things like 'Now I'd love to know why it won't let me into that program.' Ohhh for such serene tolerance - it's probably because she knows she'll fix it eventually. NOT something I could ever claim.
I am posting here although my response is to your review of The Pleasure of Ruins (your comments section is not up and running over there?) Anyway, I want to say: What a great review - I want to run out and by this book immediately. Unfortunately I just had a huge shipment come from amazon so I will instead put this on the list I keep by my computer for future amazon orders.
Court, thanks for pointing that out. I will move your comment to the appropriate spot (if I can). I have no idea why blogger just decided to turn off the comment function on me. I didn't ask it to (proof that computers have a mind of their own).
Post a Comment