I haven’t written a Technically Thursday post in a while. I’ve been collecting tidbits in tech that I’ve been enjoying lately and thought I would combine them all into one post. My husband calls me a geek because I get excited when I find something new in technology. Here is a list of things I’ve been enjoying lately in my geek filled life:

• 1. Intense Debate: even though it has only been a few days since I made the “announcement” that I switched over my comment system to Intense Debate, I must say that I’m really loving it. I personally haven’t had any problems with it (I hope it stays that way *knocks on wood*) and it seems to make keeping up with comments a little bit easier for me not only on my own personal blog but on other blogs that also use Intense Debate as well. I would love to know your own thoughts on this comment system, good or bad.


• 2. I rediscovered my love for Tumblr. I set up a Tumblr account what seems like ages ago and then sort of neglected it. Tumblr to me makes organizing things a bit easier, like keeping links to articles online all in one place or taming my social media obsession all down to one single feed. Tumblr also integrates nicely into my blog & has an iPhone app for easy updating on the go. Some new things I’ve done with Tumblr is create a page for Brd 2.0 (this is a link to his tumblr page) as well as a place to make an online recipebox for all of my recipes (well they will be there once I get them all linked and stuff). Playing around with Tumblr again is kind of like rekindling an old flame. I forgot how much I love this stuff.
• 3. A Technical Thursday post is never complete without some squeals over a new iPhone app. I recenlty stumbled upon Camera+ in the App Store recently which has rekindled my love of taking photos with my iPhone. Taking photos with my phone used to bug me because they wouldn’t come out too great but adding the “flare” of Camera+ & its easy sharing capabilities has made me fall in love all over again. Camera+ has made it easier on the 365 challenge because I can quickly snap a photo with my iPhone or open one from my library, edit it in the app, and upload it to flickr all in like 5 mins. It’s the easiest thing and great for those days I don’t feel like dealing with my bulky DSLR and all the uploading and editing process that goes along with it. Check out my camera tag on my flickr page for photos I’ve taken with this app.
  I was NOT paid to write this, I just like the app. That is all.

I don’t want to bore you with all of my technical geek speak so I’ll keep today’s list down to 3 things I’m currently loving in tech.

Got anything in tech that your currently digging? Let us know in the comments.

Remember last week when I proclaimed my love for Google and their many different applications to make my online life easier? Well at the end of that post one might recall my snarky comment about a constantly cluttered inbox. Ah, yes my inbox and I like to have a daily fight. Well not any more. Since that post I’ve been diligently working on cleaning the clutter and am proud to say that my inbox is sparkling clean. It took a while to weed through all the emails, respond to who needed to be responded to, file what needed to be saved and delete what wasn’t relevant but my inbox is finally clean and I AM breathing a lot easier.

It is so much easier to hop on and look up what I want to find, email who I need to email, and be up to date for once in a very long while. It feels good, I tell ya, it feels darn good.

No, I’m sorry but I do not have any miracle cure for a clean inbox. I just finally had it up to here *imagine a thin line that I’m pointing to* with the clutter. I sat myself down and just made myself do it. I knew that once I was done I could finally stop thinking about it and cross it off the to-do list. So nope, I have no words of wisdom on how to get it done, how to do it faster or more efficiently. Sorry. I just know that I feel so much better when my inbox is clean. The problem is trying to keep it this clean.

Today I attempted to make a vlog outside. That is until my batteries died and I had to go inside to charge them. By the time they were charged, I stepped back outside to try and do another take but the weather had other plans for me because it started to rain. So the vlogging outdoors idea didn’t really hold up to well.

Vlogging outdoors has proven to be a bit of a challenge not only because of the weather aspect but also because I didn’t really realize how much noise is outdoors until I tried to film a video. Birds singing, children playing, cars whizzing up the street (especially if you live in the city) all of these outside noises are things that can’t be controlled and all of these things get picked up easily when trying to make a video. I’m not sure I’ll be doing much outdoor vlogging right now. Not until I learn how to “control” (and I say that very loosely because how can one really control the great outdoors) my outside environment.

Have you ever tried to vlog outside? Do you have any tips to share on shooting in different environments?

If you are curious as to what video I was attempting to shoot, check out my Spring into Brunch with Velveeta post.

One thing that has been making my vlogging and photo editing life a little bit more fun is the use of the Corel Photo & Video Pro Bundle software that the people at Corel sent to me to try out. Although I’m still trying and learning this new software, I can definitely say that this software is a step up from what I was using before. I’m sure the more I get familiar with the software, the more I will learn to use it to my advantage. I will say that one of my favorite features of the Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 is the voice over button. This magical little buttons allows one to record a voice over right in the editing software. Oh this button has just been heaven. No more going to different programs to make the audio, convert the audio, trim the audio….I just plain like that button!

As far as the Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 goes it’s going pretty good on that end as well. I look forward to sitting down and editing a batch of photos. I like how Corel automatically imports the photos into folders and displays them in a “organizer” for easy viewing. With a double click I’m able to open the “full editor”. I like to play with the layers the most. Brightness/Contrasting layers, Curves, and Levels are the 3 main types of layers that I play around with as well as the different types of raster layers such as hue (legacy), color, and luminance just to name a few. Each photo is different and each photo gets edited differently but what I like is the creative control I have in PaintShop Photo Pro X3 and the same goes for the VideoStudio Pro X3 as well.

I look forward to learning these programs more through hands on experience.

Please visit Corel’s website for more information on this and other video & photo editing software for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

What video/photo editing software do you prefer to use?

Disclosure: Corel sent a copy of the Corel Photo & Video Pro Bundle for me to use and write about my personal experience in a blog post. While product was given to help aide in writing this post, all opinions are 100% my own.

I’m constantly on the quest to find things to make my life easier. In the spirit of things, a lot of my work is online based. Seriously, I don’t think I would even touch a computer if I couldn’t get on the internet. It’s pretty bad, I know, but that is the nature of being a blogger.

Back to my will to be more organized. I used to do various things on different websites and one day just thought about it and how silly it is to have several different websites to do different things, this is when I started to look more into Google and their list of various programs. With one account I’m able to do email, create calendars for various activities for both home life and my online life, check up on other blogs via Google Reader,and pre-write blog posts in Google Docs.

Let’s just say that Google is beginning to win me over and making me a more organized Diva. But this isn’t even the icing on the cake and the part that made me go “OH I gotta blog this” no that moment came when I research the little “Sync” button at the top of my Google Calendar. There I learned that I can sync with my iPhone. All my contacts, calendar information, and emails import directly and seamlessly to my iPhone so I can take “my office” with me wherever I go. I’m in heaven. I like the ability to sync across all platforms so no matter what computer I’m using or mobile device that I’m on, I’m up to date with all of my online “stuff”.

Ahhh domestic organized bliss is within an fingertips reach, now if I could get that inbox under control I’ll be all set to breathe a little easier.

How Do you keep your life organized?

Today I spent most of my free time editing vlogs. Problem being is that my Movie Maker decided to not be so nice to me making my editing session a not-so-pleasant experience. Typically I don’t have any problems in editing but of course this time with a big project on my hands it decided to be difficult.

Let’s just say that by the end, I was definitely glad it was complete. Finally! If anyone has any good, useful, and of course free movie editing software to recommend by all means please leave your recommendations in the comment section of this post. I am on the lookout myself because I believe there has got to be a better solution out there…somewhere…than what is pre-installed on my computer.

Staying up late has it’s benefits. It is the perfect time for me to vlog.
Here are a few reasons why I prefer to vlog at night:

• Everyone is sleeping which means no interruptions during filming
• Controlled lighting. With no sun streaming through the windows one can control how much or little light to use when shooting a vlog. You can tell in the photo that I like to use a simple floor lamp for some extra light.
• All day I’m able to “prepare” my “script” in my head. Which makes for quicker filming later.
• Quiet. It is so quiet at night which adds for better audio on video.

So as you might have guessed I was up all night vlogging. I’m a bit tired at the moment but I’m hoping the extra espresso in my latte this morning will give me a jolt of energy I need to get things finished today.


Are you a vlogger?

Share with us in the comments where you vlog. If you have any vlogging tips or tricks feel free to share those as well.

My Mondays are always consistent with a lot of time spent in my home office. Checking emails, blogging, tweeting, facebookin’ (is that a word), basically whatever the internet calls for me to do….Monday is usually the day that I’m doing it all the most.

Today’s photo is inspired by my Monday. My Mondays are never complete without a large cup of coffee {and cute pair of shoes} to help get me through the day.

What do you find yourself doing the most on Monday?

On a different note: I decided to do today’s Daily Challenge over at 12second.tv since it has been a minute since I had done one.
Anyway, today’s question is: What do you do in the morning to get yourself going for the day?

12challenge: What do you do in the morning to get yourself going? on 12seconds.tv