Screen from a plate reader, similar to the one J uses.

Yesterday was a DAY.

You know what I mean.

Last night, though, was pretty fab. I went on my first ride-along with my buddy J. After more than 10 years living with cops, it’s a little nuts that it took this long for me to get up the balls to do it, and I’m glad I finally did. (I shot a gun for the first time just a few months ago. Big year for me.)

I never went with my ex, partially because it would have been bad news to have an encounter with a syringe exchange or outreach client while riding shotgun in a cruiser, partially because she wasn’t interested in taking me. And partially because I’m a big pansy.

I considered bailing on J, to stay at home and wallow in my DAY, but ultimately decided to suck it up, tell my brain to STFU, and headed out. I was looking forward to hanging out with J a bit, getting to see what it is that Megan does every night, and get onto the other side of that first time.

So let me just say – cruisers are geek-a-licious. There are some pretty fantastic widgets hidden underneath the flashing lights and sirens.

We all know about the police radio – the thing you can buy a scanner and listen to from your perch in your basement. But the whole dispatch system behind it, and all the codes and call-signs, are a pretty well-oiled machines on their own. It’s sort of like listening to programmers talk – unless you’re one of them, or have a outrageously patient translator by your side (as did I), it’s near impossible to figure out what the hell is going on.

The real geekery in the car is the computer. It features a fantastically accurate GPS map with all sorts of fancy flags and moving parts. It can run plates, licenses, and all other sorts of fancy-pants searches.

But J’s car was one of the fanciest of the fancy – the plate reader car.

The thing is COOL. (Google plate reader car for like 500 news reports and everything your geeky little mind ever wanted to know.)

Nicely concealed cameras on the outside of the vehicle feed information (even in the dark) about any plate in the area. Automatically. And the thing is accurate. It picks up and pings for all sorts of things, for cars traveling in both directions (or when stationary).

J had a couple of calls, nothing too outrageous – one, a burglary, involved a CSI. Nothing like TV, but still pretty damn cool, I got to see him play with some of his slightly-less-fancy toys. It totally appeals to the OCD in me – especially the fingerprinting.

All that geeky goodness, along with getting to spend time with someone whose company I truly enjoy, helped tip the DAY scales.

Overall – not bad for a first time. Probably better than if we’d been sent on a DOA, DV or major traffic accident.

As J said, it was like the introduction to a book. I’ll look forward to the first few chapters next time.

I’d heard this about the machine but I didn’t really absorb the implications.

One. Thing. At. A. Time.

So no, no Pandora while I type this blog post.

You hear me, Apple? Definite next generation feature add – apps running in the background.

Turn on the backlighting
Press Power button.

Switch to another program
Hold the Alt key and press the Escape button. Continue to hold the Alt key and select a program. Release the Alt key to switch to that program.

Exit a screen or dialog box
Press the Escape button.

Insert a period
Press the Space key twice. The next letter is capitalized.

Insert the at sign (@) and periods in an Email field
Press the Space key.

Type an accent or special character
Hold the letter key and roll the trackball/trackwheel.

Capitalize a letter
Hold the letter key until the capitalized letter appears.

Move the cursor in a different direction
The Alt key and roll the trackball/trackwheel.

Change an option field
Hold the Alt key. Click a value.

Move to an item in a list or menu
Press the first letter of the item.

Select a check box
Press the Space key. To clear the check box, press the Space key again.

Select a line of text
Press the Shift key and roll the trackball/trackwheel.

Move down a screen
Press the Space key.

Move up a screen
Press the Shift key + the Space key.

via BlackBerry – Tips and Tricks.

Press ALT+ENTER to start a new line while you’re typing or editing data.

It’s the little things…

via You asked for it: Crabby’s top 5 Excel tips and tricks – Help and How-to – Microsoft Office Online.

• How do I re-size a photo?
• What’s a feed reader?
• How do I use my webcam?
• What kind of laptop should I buy?
• How do I save my bookmarks?
• How do I make chocolate covered strawberries?

And recently,

• Which blogging platform should I use?
• Do I have to pay for it?

Instead of writing a how-to, I direct you to RedheadWriting… she says like it is, and you should listen to her, because she knows her shit:

Now, for those of you out there using free blogging platforms (i.e.: http://blog.freebloggingthingie.com), I’m going to do a little “scared straight” on your ass and tell you what’s what.

* If you blog for fun and don’t care about the SEO juice, go ahead and whore it up on a free blogging platform.

* If you’re attempting to establish a personal brand or a subscriber base – you need to stop being a dirty little blogging whore and get your own domain.

But Erika (you ask…) HOW do I stop being WordPress’ dirty little blogging whore?

On the edge of your seat? Well then, head over to RedheadWriting and find out more…

The Rhode Island Foundation recently launched their 2009 Yearbook – an online annual report.

There’s arguments on both sides – from the green bunch who’d like to see an end to the paper trail, to those who just love the way it feels in their hands.

What do you think? Can this be the end of the paper annual report?

Do you know the difference between a browser and search engine?

A search engine – Google, for example – helps you find things. As one person in the video said, it’s where you put your search terms.

A browser is software – Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari, or Chrome (mentioned in the video) – that you use to view the Internet.

You use a browser to access a search engine. Click the little blue e.

Browsers (Big 2 – FireFox and Internet Explorer, Safari for the Mac and the emerging Google Chrome. Many more, but these are the biggies…)		Search Engines (Only 2 were mentioned in the video… there are tons of them.)
(Internet Explorer) (FireFox) (Safari – Mac) (Chrome)	<– Browse Search –>

Check it out, if you haven’t already, especially some of the good stuff happening on the home page:

1. Recent projects. You can check out the synopsis for each of them right there on the home page by clicking on the thumbnail (more to the right if you click the arrow)… or go straight to the portfolio through the nav or by way of the Recent Projects header.
2. The blog. A few of us will be pontificating on what’s new, what’s cool, who’s got a new puppy, why your organization should be on Facebook, and the like.  Grab the feed for some good, dorky stuff.  I’ll try to keep the swearing and Wii discussion over here…
3. Share this. See it down there at the bottom of each of these posts? It’s a cool little widget that lets you share the page via email, Facebook, LinkedIn, delicious, etc… with all of your nearest and dearest.  Or if you’re like me and you post it to your Facebook, with a few hundred folks you went to school/camp/worked with at some point in your life.
4. Find us on Facebook. Embolden’s got a page on Facebook. Become a fan!
5. Where do you stand? Not literally. On the question of the day or week or however often Mary updates it.  It’s kinda cool to see where folks are leaning… on all sorts of things from online annual reports to whether or not your organization has its own Facebook page.
6. Directions in the footer. I know, strange to point out. But why do I go to websites of companies and organizations? Either find out what they’re all about or to find out how to get there. I love this.  Everyone in the whole world should have directions in their footer.

That’s all for now… check out the site. Let us know what you think. Comment on the blog.  Interact with us!

One year a special new addition to Lesbian Christmas arrived:  The Chocolate Fountain.  (This is where you say OOOOH and AAAAH!) Elisa had purchased the fountain as a gift for Officer Friendly after they saw one at a wedding.

As we all know Elisa loves homemade chocolate covered strawberries, so this was an easy and fun way to ensure that we didn’t run out. The KP crew had prepared enough pretzel sticks, pineapple, cored strawberries, and an assortment of other sweet and savory dipping treats to feed an army. Dark delicious chocolate was melted and all was good in the world.

Now if you know Elisa, you know that she loves and implicitly trusts her BFF Lauren. So she asked Lauren to be in charge of keeping the chocolate fountain full and loaded. However, Lauren needed to leave briefly to pick up Sister Lolita, who was in town without transportation. During this window of time, Elisa decided that the fountain needed to be refilled, so she pulled out the dark chocolate wafers she had used to fill the fountain initially, and tossed them in.

Did you know that you are only supposed to use special, low-melting-point chocolate in a chocolate fountain? Or even better, pre-melt it before you fill the fountain? Neither did Elisa.

If you’re unfamiliar with the functioning of the chocolate fountain, it is essentially a thin tube from through which chocolate is pumped up from the bottom reservoir and out the top to cascade elegantly down the outside of the upper fountain tiers. The pump operates at very low pressure so the chocolate flows softly and gently.

Have you ever put your thumb over the end of a garden hose with a trickle of water flowing through it? Have you ever gotten a chocolate chip stuck in the straw while drinking a shake? Then you can imagine what happened when a piece of unmelted chocolate got sucked up into the tube.

First, we all noticed a strange sound.

Then, just as the realization that this was an unhappy chocolate fountain pump motor dawned on us, and just as we noticed that no chocolate was flowing out of the top of the fountain, it exploded. It was like that moment in formulaic action flicks where the hero runs toward the ticking time bomb in slow motion while screaming, “NOOOOOOOOOO!”

In the action movies, they make it in time.

We didn’t.

Chocolate went shooting out of the top of the fountain, all over the wall, the curtain, the food. Instantly everything was COVERED.

What’s that?

Chocolate covered chicken satay, chicken wings, and meatballs. Mmmmm.

Elisa is a little, um, well organized. Particular. One might even say compulsive. The first time I was at her house she asked me to get a candle, then directed me to a cabinet where they were organized in a complex three-dimensional matrix by color, scent, and height. She doesn’t even hold a candle to the particularity of Officer Friendly. For a moment the room was silent, eyes wide. Then someone shouted, “Clean it up before Officer Friendly comes in here!” and we all sprang in to action before the game of ping pong in the garage ended. Tupperwares of warm water, sponges, and paper towels were distributed. The curtain was removed. Unsalvageable food was tossed. And within 20 minutes everything was back to normal.

Except, perhaps, for Elisa.