It’s about time for the blog to get a new look. Here are 3 new looks that I created last night while I had caffeine-induced insomnia. I created the graphics from pictures I took with my Pentax K10D (DSLR) camera, so yes, all the graphics are 100% original!

Which do you like? My favorite is actually #2.

Layout #1 – Flowers

Layout #2 – U.S. Capitol

Layout #3 – Baby Shoes

Sometimes, I have to give myself time to process things and discover/examine what or how I feel about them. Well, maybe not so much discovering how I feel about them, but really just trying to find a way to articulately express my feelings. And, sometimes, it’s just better to wait to see if any new developments pop up, before commenting – because as we all know, many times the first (and usually most sensationalist) versions of news stories are light on facts and heavy on speculation. This is one of those times. Rest assured, I don’t live in a bubble isolated from the real world; I just try to keep my foot out of my mouth as much as possible, that’s all.

Topics that I’m going to get around to talking about – hopefully over the weekend – are the Arizona immigration law, Sheri Lynn Davis; the Houston charter school teacher who beat up her student, Jessica Colotl; the Kennessaw State University illegal immigrant student, and the Gulf oil spill. So, stay tuned!

I’m using the WordPress for Android app to write this post on my new Motorola Cliq XT. This is very cool! This app can be downloaded from the Android Market app that comes preinstalled on Android phones.

Hey y’all! I know I’ve been MIA, AWOL, and in dereliction of duty. But, some exciting things have been going on with me, and keeping me busy. The thing I want to write about the most, is the one thing I can’t say anything about yet. But, please bear with me. When I’m able to share, I will… and I’ll probably “overshare”, LOL. I’ll try to update at least once a week, but don’t give up on me if I don’t. I’m going to be very busy for about the next month. But, when I do come back, I’ll have plenty of pics and stories to tell. Guaranteed!

I haven’t gone anywhere, you guys. I created some videos, and a screencast, but the crazy weather has had me at best, very uncomfortable. So, the last few weeks I’ve slowed down considerably, especially since I’m trying not to take a Tramadol every time my arthritis or fibro pain flares up. I don’t like the way it makes me feel, but, you know, sometimes Aleve can’t bring the kind of relief I need. I hate all this cold, wet weather!

Just bear with me, guys. Thanks.

Check out my new hair! But, excuse the swelling under my eyes. I was really tired and my allergies were really bothering me. I have no excuse for my eyebrows, though – just know they’ll be taken care of ASAP; especially before I wear this wig out somewhere trying to look cute, LOL.

I’m wearing the FREETRESS Equal synthetic lace front wig, in the style named Beyonce. Futura is the name of the synthetic fiber, and it’s heat safe up to 400 degrees. Yes, ladies, you can use your flat irons, steam rollers, and curling irons on this wig! One of the best things about this wig is that the hairline is made to mimic a natural hairline – no more straight-edge hairlines that make you look a HAM.

They’ve kept the news quiet, but YouTube has finally started accepting the 960×720p HD resolution! This is huge because webcam makers like Logitech use 960×720p to record ¹ HD video, and until this happened these videos would not play in HD on YouTube.

What’s even better is that now I don’t have to hide a 960×720p video within a 1280×720p video by encoding the video at the higher resolution and letterboxing it. Now, I can just encode the video, like I normally do, and upload it. Way to go YouTube!

I started back video blogging, but yet AGAIN, I don’t know if YouTube is the right place for me to host my videos. I want to place my vlogs on this blog, but I don’t want to eat up my storage space by hosting them myself, so that’s where YouTube comes in. If I don’t want my videos accessible by anyone on YouTube, I can make them private, and embed them over here, so that’s not the issue either. The issue is that unless one is uploading a HD video, the quality of YouTube’s videos leave much to be desired – even with their new default high quality encoding.

When I record a video, before it’s uploaded to YouTube, it has to be encoded. By the time YouTube gets finished re-encoding it for their system, the quality has suffered. So, since I have to encode the videos no matter what I do, I’m thinking of just quitting YouTube and hosting the videos on my Silverlight hosting account.

I have a 10 gigabyte Silverlight video hosting account provided for free from Microsoft that is sitting unused. I could encode my videos for Silverlight’s specs and upload them there. The best part is that the Silverlight storage is just storage – my videos won’t be re-encoded resulting in a degradation in quality. The end result is SHARP, CLEAR videos of high quality.

Hmmm… I have some thinking to do.

This blog ran into a minor technical difficulty, and I had to track the problem down and fix it. My apologies if in the last 10 minutes you witnessed 3-4 rapid design changes. I had to find out if the problem was a design issue or a code issue before I knew where to look to fix it. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Well, it took a few days and a lot of trial and error, but I’m back. I have a new web hosting company, and the transition wasn’t as seamless as I’d have liked. But, I caught a special and have a very affordable plan at a very significant savings from my last plan. My old blog posts are archived at rosalindonline.wordpress.com. You can’t leave comments, but you can use my contact form to leave feedback. Just be sure to tell me the name of the post you’re commenting on.