Outline for iMovie...is there an "inline"?

The latest assignment in IP&T 286? An iMovie project, this one a video that explains a particular sports skill. Since it was going on 10 years ago now that I last played real sports (city rec leagues and intramurals don't count), it's actually pretty hard to remember very many drills or mechanics from the sports that I played (baseball and football). However, I was only pretty good at one thing anyway: stealing bases. Since I could probably still do it in my sleep, that's what the iMovie project will demonstrate. Here is a general breakdown of the iMovie. 

I. Intro- A little inspiring music, probably some clips of famous base-stealers like Rickey          Henderson, Lou Brock, etc. 

II. Switch to a clip of me teaching base-stealing 101

    A. Leading off first base

    B. Watching the pitcher

    C. Diving back to the base

    D. Favorable pitches to steal a base

    E. When to start running

III. End Credits

It sounds so simple when you break it down scientifically. Next week the blog will include the finished product, so until then.....!

iMovie = i'M Frustrated

So, here's the deal. I love my Mac I have at home. Because I already had just about everything with the PC before I switched to the dark side and Apple's evil empire, I went with the Mac Mini and things are great. I have lots of built-in features with the Mac that my PC could never hope to match. Here's my problem with Mac (besides the surprisingly political commercial-imitating smear ad campaign starring Justin Long and that geeky guy that was on Flight of the Conchords once): every program has a steep learning curve, and iMovie is no different. It's never as simple as every other movie-making/editing program out there, such as Windows Movie Maker or Avid or Adobe Premiere. Apple has to make every program a total pain to use and be different, which goes against one of their advertising ploys, claiming that Macs are "so intuitive". I long for the days of simple timelines and easy-to-insert effects. Looks like those days are gone. I better get with the times.

iSafe: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing?

First off, let me start by saying that I think Internet safety is EXTREMELY important. I have a young child and their safety is absolutely paramount to me, even more important to me than my own. I would never consciously do anything to compromise that safety, yet I know that even as careful as I try to be, I probably give out too much information about myself in some of my online activities, whether it be registering with a website, ordering things that I like (which I admit is a little more fun for me than I would usually care to admit), or simply using email or social media. Make no mistake, I am not the type to post 600 pictures of myself on a social media site and then make my profile public for anyone to see me and possibly begin cyber-stalking me or steal my identity, but I probably give out a little too much info unthinkingly. So, from now on, anything commercial will be linked to an email address that does not have my real name (or any name at all) connected to it. There is simply too much to lose and too much safety of my child to compromise.

            Because of this renewal of interest in practicing Internet safety, I sat down and had a little discussion, or what I call “a lesson,” with my wife. We discussed making access to pictures, accounts, and blogs private so that only the people that we want to see them can see them. She even blocked someone from viewing her blog posts that she didn’t recognize the name. Turns out, it was one of her best friends using the ward blog (which she was responsible for, but the ward’s name is a man’s name). We also discussed making a more concerted effort to keep an eye on the online accounts we have.

            That being said, I also signed up to use iSafe, and let me tell you, it was incredibly disconcerting to find iSafe MAKING you fill out way more personal information than they need to know. From watching the videos, their stated intentions are good, but the actual execution of those intentions is a little off. Guess what, iSafe? You don’t need to know my name, address, phone number, or anything else other than an email address so that you can send me info if I forget my password. So guess who will be getting more spam. ME! Thanks, iSafe! 

Now I'm a Web Designer!

We have been working on a website for the last two weeks. It's interesting to think about all the things that I have learned to do in that time that I either a) had no desire to do, like post a video to YouTube, or b) never imagined I could figure out how to do, like come up with a survey and get it up and running. Neither of those things are as difficult as I imagined them to be, but the learning curve can be kind of steep in some aspects. For example, even with YouTube, which is pretty easy to use in general, it took me a lot to be able to find the video I posted. Maybe "Coach Smith" is too generic of a name for a video, but I had to go back to my account information on YouTube to be able to figure out what the url for it was to post it on my site. When embedding anything on the site, I also didn't realize that it wouldn't show the video, map, etc. until you clicked "Save." It took me several minutes to calm myself and keep from throwing my Mac Mini through the window. Pasting using Google Sites was a nightmare as well. My wife, who is an experienced Blogger user, had to tell me to go up to the navigation bar at the top of the screen to be able to paste anything, because Google has no way of doing it using the right click. STUPID! I also couldn't figure out how to switch the order of my pages on the sidebar. It's not that significant, but I want it to look the way I want it to, not just in the order of when I added it. However, even with the slight hiccups, I made it work. Things turn out alright in the end. Here is the link to my new page: 

http://sites.google.com/site/geraldspesite/