2009 News: CraigMaas.net

This page contains links to many of my web activities including a Blog (an online journal) that gets updated about once a week. Feel free to email me with any comments, suggestions, questions or requests. This is particularly true for my photos. If you ask, I'll send you access to the Private Photos and not just the boring Public Photos.

January 08: Bookmarks
I like to update my Bookmark page a couple times a year. I use it as my default home page. As such it clearly shows what I'm reading and looking at online. Today, I review all the bookmarks in Firefox on my three computers. The links get added to a database where I add a description, a grouping, and a grade. The best links get an 'A' and end up on the final Bookmark page. I also review all the current Bookmark links to make sure they still work. Many links drop a grade and fall off the Bookmarks page. The page was been fine tuned, so I can find what I want very quickly. There aren't many search engines to be found on my Bookmarks page, because I use Firefox's built-in Keyword Search feature. One letter tells Firefox which site to search followed by a space and then the search terms. I have it set up for Google (g), IBDB (i), Technorati (t), Zap2it (2), Dictionary (d), Wikipedia (w), and RateYourMusic (r) .

January 07: EffectiveConcepts.net
I changed EffectiveConcepts.net from a static site to a blog. The old design was very functional but looked like it was coded in 1998, which it was. I started a blog on Wordpress.com for the company about a year ago. Now is the time to move the blog to our web site and make it the centerpeice of the site. I converted the old content into blog entries or content pages. Wordpress works great as a content management system. It goes to show you don't have to use Wordpress strictly as a Blog. It also gave me a chance to try out Wordpress 2.7 before I update my other blogs. And it let me try out the DeFusion Wordpress Theme- I like it. I made one small change to the background image- using our logo. I didn't have to change much else. I hope to fine tune the site this month.

Left Hand Menu

  1. Blog. I started blogging again on October 1, 2007. I'm not a very good writer but I like to think I'm improving. I also have a company blog at effectiveconcepts.wordpress.com, a fiction blog: Decoherence, and a tumblog: teh ferret.
  2. Books. I get a lot of email about the books I read. I put my first list on the web some years ago as a lark, and have continued each year as it seems popular. I've added more images and links to the book reviews. I've kept notes on books I've read for a long time. It's not a perfect list but I do have entries back to 1967. I also have a Top 100 Bookslist. The list was done in a hurry and it needs to be updated.
  3. Music/pmWiki. I haven't gotten any feedback on this project. It's a lot of work, so I'm going to reexamine my goals. I wanted a site like "Wilson & Alroy's Records Reviews" (They've done just about everything I was thinking of doing only better.) In the meantime there are a lot of reviews of music: current albums I'm listening too, Topics, and a look at the Top 100 charts from 1960-2006 (incomplete). My taste in music range from Rock, Pop, Rock and Roll, Garage xRock, and 70's R&B.
  4. Notes/pbWiki. A collection of odds and ends. I'm using PBwiki.com (Peanut Butter Wiki). This and Google Web Page Creator are two easy ways anyone can put up a web page with no cost and little bother.
  5. Photos/Flickr. I'm using Flickr.com which is pretty nice. My photos can be viewed as a slide shows, they can be viewed in various sizes, I have descriptions on them, and I have tags on them so they can be searched. Most of the good photos are restricted to Friends and/or Family. If you would like to see those images email me and I will send you an invitation.
  6. Photos/Picasa. I am also storing photos on Google's Picasa web site. Generally these are events with lots of photos- as opposed to what I'm posting on Flickr. Most are Public but there are some private collections. Check the News section for more information.
  7. Photos/Zenfolio. Since I got my Sony a200 Alpha DSLR camera. I'm posting most of my photos on a new photo web site, Zenfolio. This sort of replaces Flickr. The same rules apply- if you want to see the family photos drop me an email and I'll give you an invite.
  8. Media. I have created some interesting animations and other online media projects. You will find them here.
  9. About & Link . This has all the little trivia and items about me that I didn't know what to do with including links to other sites and a Google Search box, which will search my web site.
  10. Bookmarks. This is my home page, it probably says more about me than anything I could ever write. It's also updated frequently. I've also started using Del.ico.us to track my bookmarks. This is a good service but I still like my static collection of Bookmarks.
  11. Archive. Short descriptions and links to pages I've posted on this web site since 2005. Anything before that I removed when I moved this web site in 2007.

Craig Maas
Craig Maas, Fargo ND 58103