I have been using lweite, which admittedly is horrible, and conforms no almost none of the above criteria. I have lliissaa in a few places, but it is taken on twitter (which is probably what matters most).

So what to do? Is it appropriate to stalk the person who has the handle I want and who, by the way, never uses her account? Probably not… its a little creepy (and also, I couldn’t find her email address–yes, I did stalk her a bit). Should I just start from scratch? How about pwnedbylisa? too geeky? I’m sure my “woes” will end at some point and I will settle on a handle to use across all accounts I own, and hopefully these tips will make it easier for others who are trying to build their personal brand.

The FitBit seems to be much more accurate for walking and not so accurate for things like biking (obvious), but you can enter the times between which you were doing “alternative” activities. The thing that I find least convenient is that you have to enter when you are biking, swimming, or sleeping AFTER the device has synced with the base station, which isn’t always feasible.

To sync, the base station has to be plugged into a computer with internet, and you have to be within 15 feet. Sounds easy, but this doesn’t always happen before I go to work or leave for the day. It also makes it as accurate as your memory (which isn’t so accurate for me…). I’d love to have an “event” button that you could push.. Perhaps even the button that is on it already so you can look at the events for the day and then fill in what type of activity it should be.

In any case, this device is probably worth the $99 if only for the tracking of movement and easy GUI on the site. It makes it a great challenge to beat your step count from the day before!

For our Christmas at Halloween party I made a few of the classics: brittle, rum balls, and snickerdoodles.  I happened to find the photos of them today, and thought they should be shared!

At first a bit nervous about all the programs I thought I would be unable to use, I have to say that I fell in love with it within 20 minutes and forgot completely about my mis-informed perception that development for mac is behind that for PC. In fact, I have found every program I need and more… some programs that I use ONLY run on macs simply because the developers refuse to use the inferior Windows OS to develop.

To help people that are just beginning their life-long Mac love affair here’s a list of programs I use–most of which are open source, and thus free:

Firefox–Internet Browser–This is a MUST HAVE for every computer Mac and PC alike… DOWN WITH IE! For a list of good plug-ins see this post on Brendan Nee’s blog. Replaces Internet Explorer.
Jungledisk–Automatic backup–an easy-to-use interface that works with Amazon S3. Replaces CDs and the built-in “Time Machine” which takes hard drive space.
KeePass–Password Database–have 45907 passwords to remember? KeePass keeps them in a secure database. Replaces scraps of paper and dusty corners of your memory.
Adobe Suite CS3–Graphics Tool–this is not open source, and not easy to use unless you know how, but its a must-have for web development and complex photo editing. Also offered on PC.
Skype–VOIP Internet Phone Service–call your friends around the world for cheap over the internet. Replaces the device known as a “telephone”.
Transmission–BitTorrent Client–simple interface and easy to use. Replaces Microtorrent.

Web Development Tools:

TextMate–Text Editing Tool–the best text editing tool I’ve used, free 30 day trial then 39euro, but worth paying for and only for use on macs! Replaces Aptana or notepad.
Transmit–FTP Client–also not free, but worth the $30 for excellent, light-weight UI. Replaces Filezilla.
Xamp–Offline Webdev Tool–this is the same as the PC version. No replacement.

Free and Open Source Substitutes for above programs you have to pay for:
Aptana–Text Editing/FTP–replaces TextMate but is a bit bloated and crashes from time to time.  (Edit:  Aptana Studio is freely available (and open source) for the Mac (Universal Binary) as well as Windows and Linux.. Thanks Paul)
Filezilla–FTP–replaces Transmit, but is not as lightweight or intuitive
Gimp–Photo Editing–replaces Adobe Photoshop, but I have not fully tested its capability

That about concludes my list. I haven’t included a replacement for things like Quicken because I don’t use it, but Buxfer.com and mint.com have features that track personal finances (Quicken does not run on MacOSx). To avoid having to pay for Microsoft Office, you can use Google Docs which has spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation capabilities. Here’s a list of other mac open source programs that is comprehensive but concise.

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And what shall start the next chapter of my life? I am planning a long trip with Brendan, my boyfriend. We will start off on December 27th by flying out to San Fran and then Tahoe for New Year’s to visit San Fran friends and people Brendan went to school with at Berkeley. From there we will go to Washington D.C. with his family for a few days and on January 8th, we will leave from NYC to Santiago, Chile where the fun really starts. From there we will travel over land to Buenos Aires and north to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with small stops in between. We will be in Rio for Carnival and then leave on February 6th for the next leg of our adventure.

We fly to Tokyo next for 18 hours then on to Singapore. From here we will be traveling over land through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam to China where we intend to take a train through the country and end up in Beijing. From there we will hop on the Trans-Siberian railway and venture through Mongolia and Russia ending up in Moscow. From here, we’re not quite sure where to go.. It depends on how much money we have left and where we have friends/ cheap places to stay. Click here for a map of SE Asia..

SO if you have any suggestions or contacts for me I would love to hear from you!

Since that time, he has received over 150,000 postcards from anonymous people around the world and he has published three more books. The website has received numerous awards, and he has been recognized by the National Mental Health Association for raising funds and awareness about suicide.

The postcards are moving, and you might even find something that you can relate to in them.. check out this website, and if you are so compelled, send him your own secret!