Karen's Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Training Blog

Things the current generation doesn’t know about

ambersblog — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:40:27 +0000

During the Avon Walk in 2011, I had the opportunity to walk part of the way with my friend Janet’s son. Ryan is a freshman in college. As we were walking from Little Italy down into Chinatown and over the Brooklyn Bridge, we chatted to make the miles go a little quicker. I had recently seen a post on Facebook of a pencil and a cassette tape with a caption that the current generation would never guess the relationship between the two. I asked Ryan if he knew, and he had no idea.

This got me thinking about other things the under 25 set probably have no clue about. Here are just a few things….

The national anthem played when TV stations signed off for the night followed by the test pattern. Yes, there was a time when there was dead air on TV. There were no late night infomercial marathons selling all kinds of products which during the day, you would never, ever consider buying. But somehow at 3:30 am, those Shake Weights and Pajama Jeans look appealing, don’t they?
Only 7 TV stations: WCBS (2), WNBC (4), WNEW (5), WABC (7), WOR-TV (9), WPIX (11), WNET (13 – PBS). I grew up in New York, so I was spoiled with so many stations to choose from. Even though I grew up within 15 miles of the City, we still needed a roof top antenna to pull in the stations. And that’s another thing you don’t see any more… the forest of TV aerials on rooftops.
Black and white TVs. It was a big deal when we got a color TV in the early 1970s. The TVs had knobs, that you actually had to manually turn! Our first remote control looked like the one pictured here. This one is a far cry from the 6 remotes we currently have to control everything in the living room, including one for the air conditioner!
When soda and beer cans had pull tabs – the ring and tab came off of the can. My husband commented that he had to use a can open to pop holes in the top of the cans – he predates the pull tab – he’s sooo old
Busy signals. Now if the person you are calling is on the phone, your call goes to voicemail. When I was a kid, you heard this signal or you can call my mother… she still has a rotary phone and there is a busy signal when she is on the phone.
When the phone number had a word associated with the exchange. Our number started with Beverly 5 (BE5) and then 4 additional digits. My husbands was Hick0ry 9 (Hi9). I don’t recall an area code. Any time you made a long distance call, you needed to get an operator to connect the call.
Movie theaters had balconies and really large screens with curtains that opened when the movie started.
Going to Woolworths to shop and having lunch at their luncheonette.
How did we survive childhood: Riding bikes without helmets; riding in cars without seat belts – no seat belt in the vehicle! seating 3 across in the front seat of the car; drinking tap water from canteens instead of designer water in plastic bottles;
Station wagons with rear facing back seats. You got to stare (or wave and make goofy faces) at the people in the car behind yours.
Collecting S&H stamps from the grocery store and filling the books with the stamps. This was before self-adhesive stamps… you had to lick every single stamp.
Taking photographs using film which needed to be taken to the drug store for processing. They sent it out to be developed and you waited a week to see what your pictures looked like. And if you wanted to share them with family and friends? You needed to ask for duplicate prints. No posting them to Flickr and sharing a link.

Facebook fixes: Intro to Timeline

ambersblog — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:51:29 +0000

New Timeline Home Page

Facebook Timeline is rolling out to users. Your new home page will look very different from your current one.

Timeline allows you much more control of how your page is presented to your friends. At first it may appear overly cluttered. After a bit of editing and curating, you’ll have the content under control.

To see your new homepage with Timeline, click on your name found on the top right corner of the screen.

Old Facebook Home Page

One of the first things you’ll notice is the large area at the top of the page reserved for a photo. In general, Timeline emphasizes photos. Instead of small thumbnail sized photos, your pictures are now large enough to view on the page. No need to click to see them. Photo albums are shown with a main photo and up to 3 additional smaller photos underneath.

The left hand navigation has been removed. The space under the banner photo has been allocated for links to your friends, photos, and other content you want to display.

There is a small menu bar under the banner photo which give you quick access to update your information (work, education, etc), your activity log, and the ability to view your page as your friends will see it.

The activity log is one of the best features about Timeline. It provides a very easy way to see all your content and manage it.

On the right hand side, you’ll find a slider which allows you to see previous posts by month. In the past, you needed to click on “older posts” at the bottom of the page to see more content. For those with a lot of content, it could take a long time find an old post. Note, all the content you see on Timeline was already published – everything you see was on your page in the old version, it’s just easier to scroll through and view. The content goes back to when you joined Facebook.

This maybe the perfect opportunity to review your content and either delete or limit availability to it. For future posts, you may want to consider the rule of thumb: Would I want my insert name (mother, future employer, significant other, etc) to see this photo or post? Of course, you can post those drunk pictures from the party last weekend and use Lists to manage who sees the photos. But do you want to take the chance that Facebook makes changes to the privacy setting in the future and those photos are available to everyone who views your Timeline? As Dirty Harry said “You‘ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’

Knitting needle organizer

ambersblog — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:27:43 +0000

Over the years, I have collected a lot of knitting needles. I never had a good way to organize them. They end up all over the place: my knitting bags, drawers, desk, the car. And because I can’t find the size I needed for a given project, I would end up buying another pair. Apparently, I have done a lot of projects using size US 6 needles, because I have a slew of them. I also discovered I am missing one of my US 2 straights. I have a sneaking suspicion that Ruby the beagle may have something to do with its disappearance.

This weekend, I took a break from knitting and sat down at the sewing machine. It is my mom’s old Singer FashionMate – from the days when machines were made of metal. This thing is a beast! Works flawlessly – sews through super thick fabric like it was a lightweight cotton. The only thing I wish is that I could find the pattern disks. My mom didn’t buy them when she purchased the machine, and now it seems they are harder to find than hens’ teeth.

I had seen needle organizers at NY State Sheep and Wool in Rhinebeck and at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I knew I wanted a case that would hold all my needles: straight, double point, and circular.

To make the case, I used scraps of upholstery fabrics. I wanted the fabric to be durable and heavy weight enough that the needles would not poke through. The pockets for the straight needles are 1.5 inches wide and the other pockets are 3 inches. I used snaps for the closure, but I may sew on a tie to add some interest to the outside as well as give a little more security and prevent it from opening accidentally. I would not want to play pick up sticks with all the needles

Fundraising tactic: Selling items on Etsy.com

ambersblog — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:34:16 +0000

For the 2012 NY Avon Walk, I am trying a new tactic. I am selling my handmade knit hats and pink ribbon earrings on Etsy.com: http://www.etsy.com/shop/amberstang. I sold my first hat yesterday. HUZZAH!

Using Etsy is convenient and easy in that one can open a “shop” in just a few steps. Using PayPal for payment, eliminates much of the risk with handling funds online. The only drawback are the fees from both companies.

My hats sell for $20.00. I have opted to include the cost of shipping and handling in the price of the hat for items shipped in the U.S. For items shipped outside the U.S. I add a $5.00 charge.

From the $20.00 I receive for the hat, I subtract the following cost of fees charged by each company involved in the transaction:

USPS $1.71 (mailing)
PayPal $0.88
Etsy: $0.90

Total: $3.49 in fees.

This leaves $16.51 for donating to my 2012 NY Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

I opted not to send the item with delivery confirmation from the Post Office as this would have added an additional $0.80 fee.

Things that I am not including in the cost of the hat/transaction are:

Yarn – I am using yarn that I already have, mostly orphan skeins or left over remnants from other projects.
Envelope – I have some Tyvek envelopes in the house.

Doing a quick review of other knit hats on Esty, one finds a large price range from $0.50 – $200.00+. Many shops charge a separate shipping and handling fee of $4.00 – $5.00.

So the question I have for my readers: – Am I charging enough for the hats? Should I charge a separate shipping & handling fee?

First Fundraising Event for 2012 Avon Walk

ambersblog — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:04:38 +0000

Today was the start of fundraising activities for the 2012 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. My friend Janet and I set up a table at the St Philip the Apostle Christmas Craft Fair.

I brought my knit hats and baby sweaters, earrings, bracelets, bibs, sewing books and coffee cup sleeves. Janet had Christmas ornaments with pink ribbons, pink candy, and chocolate lollipops in the shape of ribbons.

I was surprised at the number of vendors who also has yarn products – mostly crochet. The lady next to us had beautiful crochet baby sweaters and booties, afghans, and hats.

The fair started at 9:00 am. There was light turn out in the morning. But there were even fewer people in the afternoon. By 2:00 pm, there were more vendors in the room that customers. Janet told me at previous events, the room was so crowded that people had a lot of difficulty approaching the tables.

I am not sure why there were so few people. Perhaps it is the economy, or maybe there were other fairs in the area. I sold 2 knit hat (one to Janet), a few bracelets, 2 sewing books and one bib for a grand total of $60. Not very good for 7 hours of work. Hopefully this is not indicative of how fundraising will go this year.

I have some of the items available for sale on Esty: http://www.etsy.com/shop/amberstang. 100% of the proceeds from the sale goes to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

Knitting: Cell phone cozy

ambersblog — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:06:20 +0000

Here is an easy to make cover for your smart phone. Ideal for that left over bit of yarn. This case uses a flap to close it, thereby avoiding any buttons, snaps or Velcro that might scratch your phone’s screen. Also works great as a cover for iPod Touch.

Yarn: Magic Garden Buttons (DK / 8 ply. 30 rows x 22 stitches over 10 cm x10 cm)

Finished size: 5.25″ x 3″

CO 36 stitches onto US 5 double point needles using Figure 8 cast on (video demonstrating technique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0jdVx6qIJA)

Begin knitting first round distributing stitches onto three needles.

TIP: I placed 9 stitches on needles 1 and 9 stitches on needle 2 (front of case) and 18 stitches on needle 3 (back of case).

Knit 9 rounds

NOTE: The next 15 rows form the pattern on the case. If you want, you can just continue in stockinette stitch if you don’t want to be bothered with the pattern.

Starting on Round 10: (P4 K2) 6 times

Round 11: (P4, K2) 6 times

Round 12: (K4, P2) 6 times

Round 13: (K4, P2) 6 times

Round 14: (K4, P2) 6 times

Round 15: (K4, P2) 6 times

Rounds 16 and 17: Repeat Rounds 10 and 11

Round 18 – 22: Repeat Rounds 12 – 15

Round 23 and 24: Repeat Rounds 10 and 11

Round 25 – 31: Knit

NOTE: The next 6 rows create a ribbed section on the front of the case. This keeps the front of the case from sagging and allows it to close better.

Round 32 – 37: On needles 1 and 2 only K2, P2 ribbing (front of case) [total stitches 18]. On needle 3 Knit [total stitches 18]

NOTE: You may need to adjust the number of knit rows based on the length of your smart phone – the measurements here work well for iPhone and Motorola Droid.

Round 38: Cast off 18 stitches in K2, P2 ribbing on needles 1 and 2 only. You will now be working the 18 stitches that will make up the flap for the case. Using only 2 needles, knit to end of row.

Row 39: WS (this is the inside of the flap) Knit
(this will create the fold over for the case and will appear on the top of the case as a purl row).

Row 40: Knit

Row 41: Purl

Row 42 – 45: Repeat rows 40 and 41 (stockinette stitch)

Row 46 – 49: K2, P2 ribbing

Row 50: Cast off 18 stitches in K2, P2 ribbing.

Fold flap down over front of case. Whip stitch the sides of the flap to the case.

Facebook fixes: The return of posts in chronological order

ambersblog — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:24:11 +0000

After one of the recent Facebook updates, users were no longer able to see posts in reverse chronological order. Instead, Facebook’s algorithm decided what it through you should view. Apparently, the developers at Facebook have listened to all the outcry from users as the filter is back! It is being rolled out now.

Click the down arrow next to the word “Sort” to display the options of sorting posts by Highlights Stories First or Recent Stories First. The selection Recent Stories First will display the posts in chronological reverse order. Now if Facebook would only bring back the filters for Status Updates, Photos, Links, Games and Pages….

Facebook Fixes: Your privacy settings will be overridden if a friend shares your post

ambersblog — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:08:30 +0000

I just discovered a flaw with the privacy settings for photos and status updates on Facebook.

The other day I posted a photo of my dog Ruby wearing her pink tutu. You will notice that in the photo at left, the Share with setting is Friends. This should mean that the only people who can see this photo are listed as my Friends.

My friend Janet liked the photo so much, she clicked the Share link which posted the photo to her wall. One would have thought that the only people who could see the photo on Janet’s wall would be mutual friends; People who are listed as my friends who Janet also knows.

Turns out, this is not the case. When Janet posted it to her wall, she used the Public setting (the globe indicates the post is publicly viewable).

Using one of my other Facebook accounts in which I am not friends with Janet, I went to her profile page. I was able to see the photo of Ruby in her tutu.

Bottom line: Just because you have set your photos and status updates to be viewed by specific people, you still need to be aware that if the post is shared, there is the potential for anyone to view it.

Use this basic rule of thumb: If you would not shout it in the middle of Times Square, you may not want to post it on Facebook.

Facebook fixes: Lists vs Groups

ambersblog — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:28:18 +0000

With people trying to fix their news feeds, the question has come up, what is the difference between Lists and Groups. Here is a brief overview.

Lists:

An example of custom lists

From Facebook: Lists are an optional way to you organize your friends on Facebook so you can filter the stories you see in News Feed or post an update for specific people from one part of your life, like your coworkers or friends who live near you.

Lists are a great way for categorizing friends and family based on what you want them to see and what you want to see about them. For example, I have a list called Farmville. And as the name implies, it is a list of friends who play FarmVille and other games. I use this list in two ways. I can click on the list in the left side navigation bar and I will only see those posts from my gaming friends in the New Feed.

Using lists to limit who sees your posts

When I post the Rainbow Chickens from FarmVille, I select the Farmville list. This way the only friends who will see my post in their News Feed are those that have an interest in snagging the Rainbow Chicken.

Only the people on your custom list can view the content that you posted. You can place your friends on one or more lists.

You will notice the EVERYONE list on the screen capture. This is the list I use to make my News Feed look like the old version. I can see all posts in chronological order. You can read my previous post on how to create a list here.

More information can be found here on Facebook about lists: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=768

Groups:

Example of a group list

From Facebook: Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests. Groups can be created by anyone.

Groups allow you to create a place where you and group members can share content. Depending on the privacy setting you choose, the group can be Open (public) with anyone able to view and join; Closed where group is visible but posts must be approved by the group admin, and Secret where group is not visible to public and members must be approved by the group admin.

Example of a group

The group members can post status updates, photos, and videos. The group can have a discussion tab where members can host a discussion. There is also the ability to set up a group event.

More information can be found here on Facebook about groups: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=131954106881345

Facebook fixes: No, you won’t have to pay to use Facebook

ambersblog — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:14:21 +0000

Despite ALL the status posts over the last few days, Facebook is not implementing a paid subscription model.

One of the hoaxes being posted is the following:

“FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO…IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY”

Another hoax is the following:

“IT IS OFFICIAL. IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES. IF YOU COPY THIS ON YOUR WALL YOUR ICON WILL TURN BLUE AND FACEBOOK WILL BE FREE FOR YOU. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON, IF NOT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED IF YOU DO NOT PAY.”

Before you copy and paste these types of “warnings” to your friends, there are some great sites to check if the information is a hoax.

Snopes.com
http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/fbcharge.asp

Facecrooks.com
http://facecrooks.com/Safety-Center/Scam-Watch/FACEBOOK-WILL-START-CHARGING-DUE-TO-THE-NEW-PROFILE-CHANGES-NOT.html

If you want to post something about Facebook charging for your account, copy and paste the text below:

On September 31st, 2011 Facebook will start charging you for your account. To avoid this, you MUST get NAKED, stand on your dining room table and do the Macarena, all the while singing ”I Will Survive”. After filming and posting it to your Facebook wall, then, and only then, will Mark Zuckerberg come down your chimney to tell you that your account will stay free. Pass it on, it must be true because someone on Facebook I hardly know told me.