Monday, October 31, 2005

the big day


Today I leave for Australia. I'm currently at SFO, waiting for my flight. My Grandpa gave me a ride to the airport. We talked about a LONG trip he made when he was about my age. He flew from the east coast of the U.S. to Hawaii in March of 1945. The plane could only go 500 miles before it needed to be refueled, so you can just imagine all the stops it had to take before getting to the west coast. From San Francisco, he got into a plane that had a huge extra gas tank. The plane had to be stripped out of practically everything, making it light enough so that there would be enough gas to fly across the ocean. The plane ride from San Fran to Hawaii took 18 hours! Today it takes around 5. My flight to Sydney from LAX is taking 14.5 hours. God Bless Technology.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Horns of Affordance


After reading Norman's "Design of Everyday Things," I wondered what he would have to say about the doors at my parent's home in Montana. The front door has a very uniqe door knob- it's an elk horn. I've often seen people ponder how to open the door, so it isn't user-friendly for the novice user. However, for the expert user, I think the horn works well. The horn has great affordance, and has a nice solid feel. My hand fits perfectly around one of the points, and there are multiple points you can grab to open the door. And, don't worry, an elk was not harmed in order to make this door, the horn was found in the woods.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

What to do with the ol' CHI bag....


Today I frantically searched the net to find a laptop sleeve that would actually fit my computer. Yes, I bought my laptop back in the stone age, aka August 2004, and it's really really bulky. I couldn't afford the sleek G4, so I went with the Compaq, which has a 17'' monitor, and is 2 inches thick. Yes, 2 inches. All the "extra-large" laptop sleeves I could find weren't large enough to fit my 2 inch brick. So, I decided to make my own laptop sleeve. This sleeve has layers. The innermost is a really soft old t-shirt. This t-shirt is then surrounded with "egg-cart foam patches". The next layer is fake sheep-skin. And the final layer is my CHI bag from the conference in Portland. I re-sewed the bag, to make it fit over the sheep skin more snuggly. The sheep-skin flap has a strip of velcro on it to seal it shut. The sleeve fits my laptop perfectly, and I think all the padding is going to work well.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Plead for Accessibility


Growing up with my step-dad in a wheelchair really opened my eyes to how non-accessible our world is. This weekend my family and I went on a short trip to Missoula, MT. First, it was nearly impossible to find a hotel room that had a room with a roll in shower. The only room we found was at the Wingate Hotel, and this room only had one queen sized bed. I guess this means that Wingate believes that people in wheel chairs either 1) don't have families or 2) travel alone or at most with one other person. As I sat at the desk in the hotel room my step-dad could not get around me to access the adjoining bathroom. The room is small, but if the people in charge of organizing the room would have sat in a wheel chair and rolled around the room, they might have considered putting the desk in the corner, instead of right next to the door. My complaining, could go on, like how the restaurant parking lot didn't have available handicap parking, but, my complaining would take up a lot of space. I'll keep my message simple, there is a major need in our world to make services and environments more accessible, and I hope designers can all keep that in mind.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Free Workout Log


After searching the net for a free workout log, so that my friend Carol and I could be long-distance work out buddies, I came across Stanford Merv's site: http://merv.stanford.edu/Workouts. It's a very simple interface, and there's a few features I wish it had, like the ability to link to my friend's workout log, or a 'cheering section' where my friend and I could add notes to motivate each other, but the site does the job. I like that it totals my miles ran, and I like the calendar outlook. I also like that it has a 'report' feature, so I can graphically see my progress. Good work Merv. If you are interested in my workouts, visit: http://merv.stanford.edu/Workouts?name=shannyk43.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Grizzly Tracks


Yesterday, while running down the dirt road near my house, I came across some large tracks in the mud. Looking closer,I realized they were a Grizzley bear's tracks. These tracks were no more than a day old, and could have been made the same day. There are reportedly dozens of bears roaming around my parent's home in Montana, but it's been a couple years since I seen one. I always bring my dog Frisbee with me, but since he is such a friendly dog, I'm not sure if he'd protect me or just try to play with the bear.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Mobile Phones help African Farmers


I love reading about how technology is helping people out. Cell phones and the web in Africa are doing just that. Manobi has given out hundreds of free cell phones to African farmers and fishermen, allowing them to check updated market prices and demand, and allowing them to interact directly with the sellers. Previously, farmers would have to travel to far away markets to sell their goods, with the risk of losing their harvest to the hot sun. The new virtual trading ability on their mobile phones lets them sell directly from their small farms. Not only is the technology boosting farmer's profits by more than 30%, but it is letting them compete with the larger farms. To learn more, visit: http://www.digital-lifestyles.info/display_page.asp?section=distribution&id=2361.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Word Color!


I just came upon this fun download. The app lets you type in a word, it then uses Google image search to pull up the top nine pictures, calculates the average hue, and then outputs the color. It's pretty cool! Only bad thing is that 'shannon kay o'brien' isn't a very pretty color... The site can be found at: http://douweosinga.com/projects/wordcolor.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Sweet Shop


A couple days ago, I went to Phillipsburgh, MT, to watch my brother play football. The town is practically a ghost town. One of the few shops in the town was the "Sweet Palace," which has been there since the early 1900s. When I walked into the store, I felt like I walked into the past. The shop was alive with music from the 40s, pink lights and antique white ceilings were a wonderful touch. The environment was very welcoming. The employees knew the locals and greeted them by name. They were super nice and gave out tons of free samples. It was the best candy store I had ever been in, and their chocolate truffles were to die for. Their site is at www.sweetpalace.com. Not the most elegant site, but that candy and chocolate is worth the buy.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Soap N' Suds


Wow, talk about a store where everything and everyone gets clean...

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

When the User is a Bear....


Researchers recently did a study on bear-proof garbage cans. In order to test 30 different types of garbage cans, they gathered up a group of bears with rap-sheets of breaking into people's garbage, and tested how well the garbage cans resisted the claws and teeth of the bears. To pass the test, the container had to keep the bears from reaching the food inside for at least 90 minutes. As I read this article, I was envisioning running a Think Aloud user study on these bears.. "as you try to rip open the lid Mr. Bear, please keep growling aloud"