Special Characters

Hand-Made Mac Tip No. 2
How to Use the Special Character Palette

(and a little bit of a Jing review)

Have you ever wondered how to get special characters to show up in a text box like musical ♫♪♬♩♫ notes or a smiley☺face? How about a check ✓ mark or a ☐ box?
Or even a ✌☮

Clicking on this image will take you to the Screencast.com website where my video is hosted so you can play it and watch the demonstration in action.

I made a quick little screencast on how to use the Special Character Palette to insert these characters into your text. In this example, I was using the popular independent Twitter client called Twirl, but you can use this method with any area of text. You'll also notice that I was dragging and dropping as opposed to clicking on the insert button. Go ahead and try clicking on that insert button depending on which application you're using, it may or may not work. It did not work using Twirl, but drag and drop did.

I used Jing to create this little video, but as you may know, I've been frustrated using Jing in the past. I still think Jing is a great project though. The video quality is awesome, it's fast and easy to use. It's definitely got that instant gratification thing going for it. Me likely some instant gratification as much as I like instant cocoa with marshmallows. Jing is good for exactly what it claims: quick little instructional videos. It's good for when you need a little bit more than what screenshots would give you. It's almost faster to create a short video clip than to Skitch up screenshots with arrows and text notes depending on the situation. (I love Skitch for all screenshot tutorials!)

What I don't like about Jing is that you can not change the size of the video that you want to embed. Whenever I try to put it onto my blog, it takes up the whole width of the screen and looks awful. So, I cheated this time. I took a screenshot of the video while it played and then posted an image with a link so you would have a visual reference of the screencast I made. Pretty sneaky, huh?

The other annoying thing about Jing is that in order for the video to fit inside the browser window without having to scroll, you need to keep your live area rather small. This is troublesome because then you can not see all of the menu bar items in the OS X interface. So, you just have to carefully plan your placement before you begin recording. It's ok if you're just showing one small area on the Mac screen, but not helpful when you really need to see a much wider area to get what's going on. Jing has it's place but it's limited.

Just so you know, certain browsers may not display these special characters correctly. For example, I discovered that right now, Firefox does not display the open heart symbol. I'll insert it here: ♡. If you see a black rectangle with an X inside of it, you'll know what I mean. When I view this page in Safari, no problemo. I'm sure it won't always be this way, but I just wanted to mention it.

If you find this tip helpful, great, but please promise me that you won't go all crazy and use these symbols and special characters in places where it's not appropriate. One major place that comes to mind is file and folder names. You should NEVER use special characters in file names or folder names. Always use alphanumeric characters. Spaces and underscores are safe but most everything else beyond that, well, YMMV. I just wouldn't do it. I've seen file names with ampersands and dashes work without any noticeable troubles, but I still feel it's bad juju. You especially want to avoid ever ever ever using any slashes of any kind. Just trust me, ok? You would listen to your Mother, right?

Picked Last for Kickball, but Alltop Now

I have had a really good run this past week. I am having fun. I am giggly.
Giggly, is that even a word? I guess it is, there isn't a little squiggly line under it.

Wanna know why? On top of being a full time Mom and Wife and a part time Consultant and Instructor; in addition to whatever other projects I dip my hands into these days, I also try to squeeze in a little bit of a social life. For me though, a social life is not hanging out at the salon or going to bars. I don't even do many play dates yet. I also don't watch soaps or day time TV unless you count PBS Kids, Between the Lions, Word World, or the Doodlebops. Instead, I've been spending my Naptime Happy Hour and other 'Mommy needs a break time' hangin with these fine folks.

Here are just some of the things that made my week:

★ I got a shout out from Liana Lehua at Girls Gone Geek. If you're a chic and you're into tech, you should really check them out. One of these days I'm going to join them in a chat sometime. I'll keep ya posted!

✓ Check out April 3rd Girls Gone Geek - Episode 27 at 37:00 in.
Check their page and subscribe in iTunes!

★ Leo Laporte said hello to me and referred to me as a "twitter friend" all the way from Australia on a live broadcast. I was tuned into the IRC chat room at the time and he saw me log in and said hello. It was a nice surprise. It's so nice to know I'm a Twitter Friend, not an automated, script-added twitter feed. He actually follows me. (unlike some tweeple and you know who you are and it doesn't matter because you probably don't read my blog anyhow.) That's pretty darn cool. I still wanna hug that guy. Maybe some day I will.

★ Guy Kawasaki added me Alltop.com
I'm an Alltop Mom!





✓ Go to moms.alltop.com and look for me!

★ On Sunday, (Holy Mac Sunday) I participated in a live discussion with Victor Cajiao and his co-host, Steve Stanger of The Mac Attack, on the Typical Mac User Podcast Live over at TalkShoe.com.
TMUP Live 73: Life Hacking with Steve Stanger
I got to rant about email woes and discuss some of my philosophies on lifehacking. (I've only just begun starting to voice my ideas about lifehacking, and now I feel inspired. You can expect more of that from me in the near future.)

✓ If you'd like to hear my rant, you can download and listen to it here at 18:45 in.
Better yet, subscribe in iTunes! It's a really great show if you're a recent switcher or slider and it's an even better show for the Mac community group of people who listen and share.

★ Also on Sunday evening, I had a discussion with a fellow Mac community colleague, Tony Walla, and we brainstormed some ideas about a possible podcast. What's that dripping sound? A leak? Did you hear that? (just givin ya some linky love and some motivation, Tony!) So, that's one more thing to be excited about.

(I've been on a couple of podcasts here and there by now, but I've only started to mention it now since I'm in the sharing mood. I'll try to keep better tabs on it from now on.)

Now, for a little story as to why I feel so compelled to share this with all of you interwebbers. [Proceed to fuzzy daydream memory fade.]

When I was a little girl, I was always picked last for everything. They picked me last for kickball because I sucked at it. They named a special kick just for me. They called it "The Missy Kick." The ball was pitched. The ball started to roll towards me. Even before it reached my foot, all of the kids would start walking to assume their new field positions for the next inning. Almost never fail, I would punt it straight into the open arms of the pitcher. Instant out. Fail. No pass go. I was the last player to stand at bat, so my kick usually signaled the end of an inning and sometimes the end of the game. I always walked back to the classroom feeling dejected. Kids can be so cruel.

Well, I'm all grown up now (well, sort of) and I probably still suck at kickball, but that's Okay.


See this badge? I get to add it to my pieces of flare! This means something to me.
It means that I now Rock at Recess!
(as in Nap Time Happy Hour or what I do with my Mommy "me" time like blogging and networking.)

Wanna see my letter to Guy Kawasaki? Here is a screen shot of my letter. (click to enlarge.)















Here is a screen shot of Guy Kawasaki's response. I think I'll be saving this one.

Who needs kickball when you have this?

Toddler-Proof Your Mac

Hand-Made Mac Tip No. 1
How to Toddler-Proof Your Mac

Best viewed in Full Screen mode

Toddler-Proof Your Mac from TheMacMommy on Vimeo.

You can also check out my Vimeo Channel called TheMacMommyBlackboard.

This is the same video I've embedded in my blog before only this time I'm using Vimeo. I think the quality is much nicer on this version. I'm really concerned with how the end user will view it and I want it to look nice. I was also experiencing a copyright issue with some of the videos I posted to YouTube. (If you've been following me on Twitter, you may have seen my ranting. I'm getting over it now.) I may or may not pull the YouTube videos, I haven't yet made up my mind.

I'm also gearing up for a way to redesign my website a little to incorporate more video tutorials. I'm trying to learn what I can about screencasting and I'd like to try my hand at it. The problem is money and digital space or the lack thereof. My plan is to use some of this blog space to host some video tutorials and then somehow incorporate it as a fixed link on my website TheMacMommy.com

Right now, my blog (what you're reading now) and my website are two separate things, but my goal is to try and marry all of my web spaces together. Sort of like digital quilting, if you will. Since we're scraping by on a single income and don't have a lot of money, I'm using the free space our ISP provides to host my website. There isn't much server space at all, so I'm using that as a means to stitch together all of my other web spaces and online ventures.

So, I may be changing some of these blog posts and titles so that the links can play together nicely for a time when I revamp my website. I need to update my bio and other things, so look for some changes in the next few weeks, I hope!


I'll post more about this subject at another time, but for now I'm just excited to have tried out Vimeo.

I hope you like what I have so far! If you have any ideas or suggestions, I'd love to read a comment. I have it set so that comments get emailed right to my Mail.app into a handy little folder. Let me tell you, it makes my day when I see a comment come into my little folder! Keep em coming! I love to hear from you!

Eggistentialism

I miss my husband. Lately we're just passing ships. He's been so busy taking additional courses for the life-suck also known as NCLB. I've bitched about it before. I'll bitch about it some more before it's all over I'm sure.

I've been busy keeping our toddler entertained or maybe it's the other way around. I love being with my little guy, don't get me wrong, but when I get the opportunity to go on a house call or do some freelance work, I jump at it. I neeeeeed to get awaaaaaay. STEP AWAY from THE CHILD. I need to go away where I can get the friggin Doodlebops songs out of my head!

I love to get in the car — just GET IN THE CAR, close the door, put my seatbelt on and drive off.

It's a nice change from: check the diaper bag to be sure it's packed and stocked with diapers, snacks that are something different than the previously disintegrating cheerios, cereal bits and crackers and oh gawd how long has this water been in this cup? Are those sea monkeys floating around in there? Lucian — bring me your shoes, we have to goooow — no, those don't fit you anymore — oh jeeze, how do you grow such huge rocks in your nose, that's just disgusting, could you please work on a diamond next time? Thanks. Come on! Let me brush your hair, it looks like birds abandoned their nest on your head. When did Flock of Seagulls get back together? What's that smell? Oh MAN! I just changed you 5 minutes ago and NOW the apple juice decides to work it's magic after 2 days? Ugh, come on, let's go, thank God these shoes don't have laces. Great, the diaper pail is full. Come on, yes you can help put the key in the lock, ok, ya know what sweetie, let me help you with that, yes, you must wear your sunglasses, ok you can close the gate, Thank you, such a big helper! (such a big, slow, methodical little perfectionist of a helper) No, come over to this side of the car, this is your door. Ugh! You're a piece of lead! Ok, this clips in here and that clicks and then this side clicks, errr, uh, ok, is that tight enough? Good. Here's your book, kiss kiss. Off we go! Yay! Car go vrooom vrooom! (tires go smokey smokey) (hah, in my dreams)

I've been taking on some more house calls lately because the snow birds are here. I like to take advantage of this opportunity to make some extra money for us since we plan on traveling out east this summer. I also just picked up some new clients since my evening class size more than doubled this year. It has been really really nice and I've made so many new friends so for that I am extremely grateful and happy. I just wish there was more freedom to do it more and make myself even more available. Needless to say, all this business in our lives has created a bit of a

divide

between the Mr. and I.

Lucky for us, we're soul mates so we're handling it as best we can.

Sometimes it helps to be a little creative.

We usually always keep hard-boiled eggs on hand because they make a good snack here and there. We usually hard boil half of the dozen eggs in a carton, so to keep the hard boiled eggs differentiated from the fresh, we always draw a little 'H' on the tops of all the eggs with a marker before putting them back into the egg carton.

I don't know what made me think to do this, but I started writing little love notes and messages on the bottoms of the eggs as I was marking them with an 'H.' I enjoy the opportunity now and again to use my fancy handwriting to pen an 'I love you' or our initials or 'You're the Best' and then put them back into the carton message side down. Hubby enjoys getting his little love notes this way — it's just something different and especially when he takes one off to school with his lunch for the day.

This past week, he decided to play along. I was delighted to find a half dozen hard-boiled eggs with little love notes scribbled on them. I was so proud of myself because I even resisted the urge to pick up each one and read it! Instead, I waited each day and looked forward to the next message.

Well, I just wanted to share that little story. I don't know if anyone else has ever done this, but I encourage you to try it sometime. It's fun and simple — low tech even! I think it would be fun for your kids' lunches too. Handwritten notes are always nice no matter what form. Once in a while I even put a post-it note on the door knob with a love note on it before going to bed so he sees it when he leaves in the morning.

I would like to know if you have any other creative ideas for putting a little somethin' somethin' in your marriage or relationship.

Share your ideas here in the comments. I'd love to hear about it and maybe try something new out on the Hubby. (or, since he reads my blog sometime, maybe a suggestion for him to try! Hey! Help me out here!!)

Who needs Valentines Day or Easter to enjoy some romantic egg notes?!

If you decide to participate, take pictures, email me or comment and tell me your story! Maybe you're looking for a way to propose to your girlfriend? Need to tell your husband you're pregnant? Write it out on the bottom of an egg. Just put the word "fertilized" on it and then ask him to go make you an egg sandwich or something. I would do this myself, except we already have a signal to let my husband know if I'm pregnant. I'll put the milk in the cupboard and the cereal box in the fridge. That's how we figured it out the first time!

Have Fun! Write notes!

Hand-Made Mac Tips

[Edit: I just updated this post and re-embedded a shortened version of the previous video. At 9 mins., I thought it was a little too long so I decided to shorten it by making the slides go a little faster. This one is now just under 5 minutes. I hope you like this version better. If you like a slower presentation, you can still find the original here.]

How to Toddler-Proof Your Mac
This is the first presentation in a series I'd like to call "Hand-Made Mac Tips."
This is a tutorial slide show video that shows you how to create and configure a separate user on a Mac which will protect your personal data from being damaged by curious little fingers. The presentation is just under 5 minutes long and guides you through a custom user account setup and configuration from start to finish. The slides move quickly so you may need watch it a second time and pause where necessary.




Intended Audience: parents, educators, early childhood administrators
Difficulty: moderate, time consuming (but well-worth it!)
Goal: After following these instructions, you will have a separate child-proof* user account on your Mac that you can switch to instantly in 2 clicks. You can then allow your young child (kindergarten and earlier) to explore your computer and use it as an educational tool without disrupting any of your important files. Please note that this new configuration will only help to protect your software. You still must work with the child to protect your hardware, i.e. monitor or laptop screen and keyboard.
Total Time: +/-20 minutes to watch video and follow along
What you will need: A Mac running OS 10.4 x 'Tiger,' some patience and understanding, toddler to test the configuration
Notes: Contact me via comments with any questions. I realize the text may be hard to read, so I recommend viewing the video via the YouTube site where you can enlarge it to full screen. There is no sound, just text and video. (This is my second attempt at making one of these.)
Additional Resources: Please visit www.themacmommy.com and check out my learning links section where you can find lots of great references to educational software for young children from all over the web. There are even some Windows-friendly links as well!

Please let me know what you think of this presentation and if you would like to see more like it. This is my first tutorial using this slide show method and I'm currently exploring other methods and formats. Any suggestions and ideas would help me make this a better resource.

I hope you find this useful. Any questions or comments, just ask TheMacMommy :)

*Author assumes no responsibility for loss of data or damage. Be wise and supervise children while using the computer!


Rebel With A Cause, Baby!

I am pleased to announce my very first blog comment give-away!

Leave a comment and win a prize!
Look at this cool t-shirt my kiddo is wearing!
Wanna know where I got it?
Tired of the same old pink and blue?
Make a statement with something fun and new!
Launch the rebellion!
Click on the button below and check out Rebel Ink Baby!
Choose from many witty designs for babies and toddlers.

Wanna send a message to a loved one?
Have something to say?
The rebellion has begun
in an extraordinary way!
Check out the many expressions at Rebel Ink Baby.
You can win your very own
Rebel Ink Baby Onesie
just by leaving a comment!
Here's the kiddo to show you your prize. Even he can't believe it!
It's shocking, but, yes, it's that easy!
Just enter a comment on my blog post here
and this adorable onesie and black pacifier can be yours!
The onesie has "100 percent orgasmically grown" printed on the front.
Wait till you see where they print their logo!
C'mon, you know it's true! Why not just tell it like it is?!
Win it for a friend or use it for a baby shower gift.
Win it because maybe you've never won anything.
Win it because I said so! Enter a comment just to make me feel good.

Here are some other images of the items inside the box pictured.

This contest will end on April 17th.
At that time, I will pick a random
comment and ship the prize out
within 2 business days.

Enter this contest because it's way more fun than doing your taxes!

Be sure to leave me some way of contacting you.
I'll need to know who you are and where to ship your prize.
If you have your own blog, I can usually get your email address from your link
if you've set it up so you don't have to display your email address if you don't want to.
You can also leave a comment and then email me directly to be sure I have your contact information. My email is: themacmommy (at) gmail (dot com).
(Be nice to me, no spamming please!)
Put "Rebel Ink Baby Give-away" in the subject line so I'll know it's not a spammer.

Good Luck!