Robbie Coleman

Robin’s Art will be in a Gallery

Robbie Coleman — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:13:00 GMT

UPDATE: Here is the link for the Event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=95970609326 My Wife Robin will have two pieces showing at the art gallery: Upstairs at the Market , 1057 South San Pedro Street Los Angeles, CA 90015 ( see map ...(read more)

xPollinate did not do so well…

Robbie Coleman — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:18:06 GMT

In my last post I found that the URL used as my blog’s permalink was posted without the hostname (http://blogs/robbie/archive/2009/06/09/trying-out-wlw-xpollinate.aspx). Hmmm… Well, I never base things on a single attempt, so… here goes my send try....(read more)

Trying out WLW + xPollinate

Robbie Coleman — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:57:40 GMT

It’s funny how an Idea I roughly duct taped together about a year ago is now done much better by someone else . Here is my first post to my blog via Windows Live Writer (WLW) and Cross Posted to Ping.fm via xPollinate ....(read more)

Spring and the Renewal of Life

Robbie Coleman — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:33:00 GMT

For years I've actually dreaded the arrival of spring simply because of the effect this season has on my allergies. This year however the season comes at a time of welcome changes in my life. Is it that these changes are fresh in my mind that the season seems to be in tune with my life or could it be that my life is truly linked to nature's cycle of life? Whatever the relationship may be, I feel it and it is refreshing.

...(read more)

Need some L.A. folks to help out!

Robbie Coleman — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:35:15 GMT

Wow! I ask for help from you and you came to read about it? Awesome!

This is something that won’t be for everyone, and I do understand this; however, it is something that all of us need to live: Platelets. This little blood helpers replenish quickly in healthy people and do not make you feel weak in the process of self-replenishment.

I have a friend from work who’s son, Dylan, needs platelets to be donated in order for him to regain his health during his treatment. I will not go into all of the details of what his treatment is and all here, because his father, Eric, that also works for FIM already did a much better job with the whole story.

So… back to what I’m asking of you. I’m donating platelets tomorrow for Dylan and I’m hoping that you can do the same sometime soon. Even if Dylan’s platelet needs get met, there are many other children with the same need. Platelets have a very short shelf-life and must be transfused within five days of collection. I won’t lie to you, donating platelets takes a bit longer than just donating blood. But you don’t get to sit in the e-Chair (ultra-cool, comfy chair with easy access to: movies, games, internet browsing, and more) if you just donate blood. It takes about two hours to complete the platelet collection process, and part of this process is giving you, the donor, the rest of your blood back. This process allows you to feel much more normal shortly after your donation is complete.

If you are up to the challenge:

Be at least 17 years old (there is no upper age limit)
Weigh at least 110 lbs.
Be in general good health
Have not taken any aspirin or anti-inflammatory medications within 2 full days of donation
If diabetic: No insulin (oral medications are acceptable)
If asthmatic: No oral medications (Singulair is acceptable)
Must be willing to allow approximately 2 hours for the entire donation process.

Then please schedule an appointment today for a time that is convenient for you. To do so, please call UCLA’s Blood and Platelet Center at 310-794-7217 and ask to make a platelet donation appointment. Please mention Dylan David as the patient you are donating for. The facility is located in Westwood Village (map here) and you can read more about them here.

Even if you do not do this for me, thank you for reading my plea for help.

Ping.fm + twitterfeed = sweet blog love

Robbie Coleman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:50:39 GMT

I have been trying to find and/or create a solution for automatically posting links to new blog posts I write as well as cross-posting an excerpt to my other blogs that link back to my primary source blog.

Meet my two new friends: Ping.fm and twitterfeed. Well, Ping.fm has been a close friend for some time now, but he is quite the social butterfly and tends to find some pretty cool friends of his own. The interface for twitterfeed is a we bit clunky, but it is also exactly what I need. I am not one to complain when interfaces are not polished as my own tend to be more than rough around the edges.

The two most powerful features offered by twitterfeed are its tight integratration with Ping.fm and it’s support for bit.ly link shortening/tracking. Another nicety is the fact that you can create many feeds (the term used by twitterfeed to describe the linked configuration of an RSS feed to one of their supported endpoints). With all of these combined, I was able to create two feeds that do everything that I wanted for each new post I make to my personal blog here. The first of these pulls new posts detected in the RSS from my FeedBurner feed of this blog, and posts a “status” update to Ping.fm with the text “New Post: “ along with the title of the RSS feed item (blog post title), and a bit.ly shortened link to my post. The second consumes the same new post from the same RSS, and posts a “blog” post to Ping.fm. To do this, I simply repeated what I did for my first one but changed the Ping.fm method from “status” to “blog” and changed what to include from “title only” to “title & description.”

Since my FeedBurner RSS also splices in my Flickr photo posts (which happen to mostly be from Ping.fm MMS uploads) they also flow through twitterfeed.

Well… this should be the first actual blog post that goes through twitterfeed in the two ways I just described above.

Posting from Ubuntu + BloGTK 1.1

Robbie Coleman — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:28:08 GMT

Not much to say more than what I've already included in the subject.

I just wanted to test this out and see if it works with my Community Server 2008 and how it renders.

g'night.

25 things you might not know about me

Robbie Coleman — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:31:00 GMT

Stephanie tagged me on Facebook, and so here I go with this task. Since Facebook FAILed to save my completed "Note" (why they don't call them blogs is beyond me) I'm doing this on my on blog and it'll get sucked into my notes via RSS.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

I used to have such a speech impediment in the 3rd grade, that my best friend would translate for his mom when I'd visit.
I sang tenor, baritone and bass (not at the same time) in my church choir from high school through Junior College.
I was in the bell choir for one year in my church as well. a regular ding dong ya know.
My first job was at L.A. Gear in 1989. I was basically a slave to any clerical task.
I have eaten Balut before. Seems so wrong, but I used to work in a warehouse with many Filipino, Cambodian and Vietnamese co-workers and they gave me one for my sending off party when I left Office Depot.
The first music that I ever purchased was Van Halen - 1984
In 1985 & 1986 I attended a two week performing arts camp run by Jane Fonda called: Laurel Springs. This is what propelled me into instant fame and popularity within my family only. I found my comedic balance and timing there working with sketch comedy an improv workshops. It was a lot of fun. My most surreal memory from this camp was one night I was feeling depressed about my parents' recent divorce and my cabin mate noticed my tears and ran to get his mom to help console my sobbing. That may not sound too strange, but the boy in my cabin that ran to get his mom was Troy Garity and his mom was (and still is) Jane Fonda. She happened to know about kids and divorce and was very nurturing.
I barely squeaked by in High School and Graduated with a whopping 2.75 GPA. If it wasn't for the make-up courses that I took the summer before and the extra periods my senior year, I wouldn't of made it.
My favorite show on TV in High School was robotech. And seeing just the opening from the video I linked here makes me miss it a lot. This show sooo kicked ThunderCats' ass!
My first geeky passion was not computers, but instead audio/video. My family couldn't afford a computer of any kind until I was out of High School. I used to love to make mix tapes and remember hand twisting one side of the cassette to get just the right gap between songs. My dad had lots of old stereo components and I would wire them all up to make a monstrous sound
One of the stupidest things I can ever remember doing was once in High School me and my best friend got up before dawn to ride to the beach and watch the sunrise. I've lived in Southern California my whole life and to this day don't know how we missed one tiny obvious detail... the sun rises in the East! I mean we planned that trip for a couple days. Well... the cool pre-dawn bike ride was nice though.
When I was in the 2nd grade my sister and I would come up with roller skating dance routines in the court yard of our apartment building. I remember them being with music, but sadly I know we had no portable radio, so it must have been us singing along as well. In my defence, the Ice Capades were huge in the 70's!
I'm obsessed with my online presence and work (probably too) hard at maintaining it.
I go to great lengths (sometimes heights and widths as well) to find a new and alternative way to look at something. I question just about everything. I also try to find humor in everything (which has gotten me into a lot of trouble over the years). If I could sum up my take on the world as described by comedians, they would be: George Carlin, Bill Maher, and Stephen Wright.
If I had an unlimited gift card for Jamba Juice and they remained open 24/7, I would never go hungry. I am a total Juice nut and cannot resist the yummy goodness that their twenty-something blender wizards spin up each day.
I have seen (the original) Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) over 200 times and I surpassed 200 before the age of 13. We some how got a copy of it on Betamax when I was about 9 or 10 years old, and well... I just could not stop watching it. ;)
Even though I work @ MySpace and have become quite the fan boy, my MySpace Display Name was at one time: "Robbie Hates MySpace" ...and for the record, I changed my mind about the site before working here and in fact before my call for an interview. ;)
previous to the 8th grade, I was extremely shy. I used to do the sets and lighting for the theatrical performances in my Jr. High school and never thought I would have the guts to be on stage with the lights on me. Not sure really what happened, but now you can't take a mic or spotlight away from me. lol.
I never took the SAT. I was even more arrogant back in High School than I am today. It just really made me want to challenge such a lame system. I won... sort of... It took me many years to return to college and finally get an education that I wanted, but it's done and w/o the freakin' SAT.
I once bought a 1-900 number that provided fortune telling. I think I should have called the number before signing the check, because they may have been able to tell me it wouldn't earn me squat. Taught me a lesson in advertising though. Not in me doing advertising, but instead it taught me more about not believing in the advertising you see.
I went to the Philippines in 1986 with a group of High School and College kids from my church. We went to help support our previous pastor who had been involved with the revolution that was just coming to a close there in Manila. We were there for 2 and-a-half weeks and visited sites that tourist tours never go to. The biggest thing we did was build a gated playground for a nutrition center located in a squatters' area along the RxR tracks in Manila. At first I didn't think we were doing anything too helpful. I mean, these people had a lot of core needs that were pretty obvious. Then I learned that the children became so accustomed to the train tracks, that they built little cars to ride and play on the tracks. There were children dying every week from the freight trains that would speed by. The playground was a success. We put in a basketball court and a high wall and fence around it to keep the children away from the tracks. I wasn't much of a worker, and ended up playing and singing with the local children. Some really good memories there.
I used to think that the entire Wizard of Oz film was in Black & White. My family's only TV was a black and white one. We didn't get a color TV until I was at least 10. So when Dorothy stepped out of the house and into the land of Oz... yup... still black and white on our TV. The first time that I saw it on a color TV I made a remark to a friend that: "I can't believe they colorized this classic film. It looks so fake." lol.
Between the ages of 9 and 13 I used to listen to Dr. Demento on KMET while lying in bed to go to sleep. I used to have nightmares (previous to the musical dementia provided by the Doc) and my mom suggested I listen to music to fall asleep to. My favorite station at that time was KMET and Sunday nights was Dr. Demento. It may not of really done anything for the nightmares, but I sure do remember asking my mom a lot of questions about the off-color things I was learning in my Sunday night bedtime routine.
I didn't learn how to swim until I was in Junior High. I was terrified of the water and rightfully so as I had almost drowned three times before the YMCA that I attended day camp and numerous summer camps with forced me to take lessons. They told me that I could not go to any more camps until I took lessons and was able to pass the deep water test. I was 12 for Christ's sake! This lesson taught me more than how to swim, it taught me how big something can become in your head if you put it off due to fear.
The first complete novel I ever read was The Da Vinci Code in 2006. I never really liked reading and would constantly fall asleep mid-chapter any time I tried. How'd I get through school you may ask...? Well besides my #8 above, I would take Theater classes that covered most of my English requirements. Now the most reading I do is for Thing One and Thing Two. A common scene is me sitting with one or both of them as I read some stories and as I start to dose off, one of them will yell: "READ!!!!" and open up my eyes with their fingers.

Add Labs to Google Apps email account

Robbie Coleman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:14:00 GMT

I was so excited and thoroughly impressed with the ease and wealth of features that I received when I switched my domain over to Google Apps to serve all of my email.

After the initial shock of: “ZOMFG Look at all the sh*t I get for freakin’ FREE!!!!” I then noticed that I could not enable that awesome Gmail Theme that I came to love oh so much. I also learned that there were no Gmail Labs as well.

Well… tonight I came across another article from the Gmail Blog about a new addition to the wealth of tasty treats the Gmail team has given us in Gmail Labs. Interestingly enough, the link to this article came up in my Gmail Web Clips. Was this an article announcing the release of Gmail Labs for Google Apps? No, it was just this one about the new Send & Archive button.

So Mr. Smarty Pants… why the post title about getting Gmail Labs in my more awesomer custom domain Google Apps Gmail interface?? Well… I’m glad you I asked. It is because the author of this specific post gave a link to take you to you normal Gmail account and load the Labs module within Gmail Settings. And this link, looked a wee bit different than how it normally shows up if you were to just click the link to it within the Gmail interface itself. So… I grabbed the Query String portion, and added it to my personal domain Google Apps Gmail URL (geez, can that get anymore verbose??). And voilà, I get the Labs module. And it stuck! After hitting that URL, Labs is always one of the links in my settings! YAY!

So, if you would like this über k3wL feature in your own Google Apps Gmail interface, just take this Query String:

?ui=2&fs=1&view=pu&st=labs

And append it to your personal Google Apps Gmail URL which looks like this:

http://mail.google.com/a/{YOUR-DOMAIN}/

…where you would of course replace the “{YOUR-DOMAIN}” with… oh… I don’t know… your domain maybe…? ;)

So the full magic URL would look like this (using my robnrob.com domain as an example):

http://mail.google.com/a/robnrob.com/?ui=2&fs=1&view=pu&st=labs

Give it a try and let me know if it worked or not for you as well!

UPDATE:
Thanks to a recent comment from Duane below, it appears that you also need something enabled by *you* in your Google App settings. Here is the link that Duane posted in his comment: http://www.beatnic.co.uk/2008/12/09/to-do-switch-on-labs-features-in-google-apps/

The meat of this post is towards the bottom that states:

The good news is that you can activate these “hidden” features in Google Apps if you know where to look. As it’s not in the most intuitive place, I thought I’d explain where to find it.
First go to manage your Manage this domain, select Domain Settings, then scroll down the General tab to the section called New Services and Features

Here you have two checkbox options for:

Turn on new features (like group chat or colored labels)

Turn on new features in this domain when they are launched to Google consumers (before Google supports them for organizations using Google Apps)

Switching these on should enable Labs in your apps settings.

Thank you Nic Price! And thank you Duane for pointing this out here!

UPDATE #2:

Rich Mercer also pointed out to me that if you have upgraded to the Premier edition of Google Apps, then you have an additional option relevant to Labs:

If you go to the Service Settings->Email page from the domain dashboard and there's a checkbox to "Enable Gmail Labs for my users"

So... it looks like we (Nic, Rich and I) have covered all the issues that have so far been mentioned in the comments below. If you are still not able to enable Labs in your own Google Apps domain, please comment the details here, and we'll figure it out. Thanks again to Duane Haas for leaving a link in his comment.

Ping 'em All

Robbie Coleman — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:52:00 GMT

So I finally brought together two of my favorite services:

If you need an explanation for what MySpace offers then my wee little blog post is not the best resource for you. However, Ping.fm is a new up-and-coming web site that offers some great value to its users. It allows registered users to post status updates, micro-blogs, blogs, location (check-ins), and even pictures and audio to over 30 of the top social networks.

So... if you know me, you'll know that I enjoy getting around on the Internet. I've registered for over 20 social networking sites and Ping.fm was a treat for me. In one place I could broadcast my status to all of them. Old friends and colleagues begin to comment on my status updates and follow along with my life as they did when I sat, worked or socialized with them for realz. But, I found myself constantly switching between my Ping.fm browser tab and my MySpace browser tab.

A while back before we launched the MySpace Developer Platform (MDP) with its OpenSocial implementation, we had an internal competition to develop an app. I worked my tail off to create an app that would post your MySpace status updates to Twitter's API. I was close... and then we went from the 0.6 spec to 0.7 of Google's OpenSocial specification. My app was busted, and I was done with hacking.

When the holidays got closer, I got this uncanny urge to develop something new, and the "Ping 'em All" project begun. It took me two sleepless nights to get something solid enough to submit and now I am sharing it with you.

So, check it out (if you don't mind):
http://www.myspace.com/pingemall

and speak your mind on the app's forum:
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewcategory&type=friendForum&friendID=434604650

Thanks!
&
Ping ON!!

Trying out the Flock Blog Editor

Robbie Coleman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:28:04 GMT

Not sure if I would use Flock to post blogs, but since my primary blog is supported, might as well try it out.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: flock

Here comes the sun... dee doh dee dah

Robbie Coleman — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:58:00 GMT

Things have taken such a positive change in my life recently and I just wanted to share that tidbit. I felt it deserved more than just a status update. Even more than a micro-blog tweet.

Yup... full blown blog!

So, for those of you in my life that have been so supportive and offered me anything from a place to hang, to a dinner break, to even some drugs that I've never heard of (you know who you are)... Thanks!

The road ahead is brighter even though it may get bumpy, but I know that "It's all right."

doh dee dah - doh dee dah - doh dee dah dah...

Google Chrome Command Line Switches

Robbie Coleman — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:43:16 GMT

Oh how I love Open Source and SVN HTTP Browse access!

Behold the source: http://src.chromium.org/svn/trunk/src/chrome/common/chrome_switches.cc
(full source root)

So far, there aren't too many interesting switches. The two most intriguing to me are --record-mode and --playback-mode:

// Chrome supports a playback and record mode.  Record mode saves *everything*
// to the cache.  Playback mode reads data exclusively from the cache.  This
// allows us to record a session into the cache and then replay it at will.
const wchar_t kRecordMode[] = L"record-mode";
const wchar_t kPlaybackMode[] = L"playback-mode";

What I like most is the fact that I can keep up with releases and what is under the covers. Complete transparency! So... for all of you Google Fearing Americans out there... pick up a C++ for Dummies book and read along with the rest of us.

Back to School

Robbie Coleman — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:08:00 GMT

This is a big time for my family this year. In fact, it is bigger than it ever has been before because we have three out of four members returning to school. Robin has finally been able to return to school now that both girls will be in elementary school. Thing One and Thing Two will be starting at a new (to them) charter school, and this will be Thing Two's first time in a five full day format now that she is entering kindergarten.

It is really exciting and a little bit stressful. The charter school that we found this summer is the closest thing to our desired philosophy than we ever thought possible to find in this country. It has a great community feel to it and sort of brings the village back to the equation (like the proverb of unknown origin says: "It takes a [whole] village to raise a [single] child."). This new school is one of the exciting parts. The other, is that after about eight years, Robin now gets the opportunity to return to school. We never really thought it would take this long because our plans involved only the first child (which was on the way during the planning).

The stressful part... number one would be "the unknown." (interesting article I found in researching this post). For Thing One, this is a new school with new teachers and new... well everything. Thing Two gets the same along with the added "I will go to school every day...?"

For Robin I can only imagine. It was about eight years that I was not in school before returning back in 1999. It was Robin that encouraged me to return and she was the one that ultimately made it a reality. I was one hell of a procrastinator and she did not let me slip by my usual "I guess I forgot..." excuses because she was always there to remind me of cut-off dates and what needed to be done to get enrolled. She then went on to support my bachelor's degree even after our first daughter was born, and double did for my Master's while our second daughter was born. She has a lot to offer the world education and I'm so happy that she can finally get her turn.

So how can I be the supportive one this time around? I will be driving the girls to school everyday, and also take vacation days their first week to be there the whole day. I will be changing my work schedule a bit to allow Robin to get to her class one evening a week. I will also try to provide her space and time to work on her projects.

Writing this blog was a nice experience for me. It allowed me to process the upcoming changes in our household as well as land on some interesting articles and photos online. I'll leave you with one last funny that I came across.

Marty McFly - Revisited

Robbie Coleman — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:40:00 GMT

I was just about to leave work after a late night bunch of stuff we needed to do off-peak for the site, and I came across this cool video: Marty McFly Goes Metal.

Maybe it's just that it was late and I'm a bit loopy, but I just really dug it and thought I'd share.

;)

If anyone out there is from my era, then you surely saw at least the 1st of the "Back To The Future" series of films.

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