Renée

Iowa State Fair Anderson Erickson Stage - Mark Ballas

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:16:16 -0700

After the Opening Ceremonies, I went home for a few hours (I should have slept, since I only had 30 minutes of sleep the night before). I put some finishing touches on my sign for the Mark Ballas show and changed clothes. My outfit from the morning was summer-wear, but still too hot for me. So, I changed into a skirt and white shirt. I met a gal on Facebook after she posted some cool pictures from the Shawn and Friends show (July 26, 2009, Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines Iowa) on a group page. None of my pictures of video from that concert turned out...we were in just the wrong place in front of the stage and the lights washed everything out. We agreed to meet out at the fair to enjoy a day of Mark Ballas and Shawn Johnson (well, ok, I'm a Shawn fan, she's mostly a Mark Ballas fan). :D Her and her friends got great seats at the Anderson Erickson Stage pretty early in the afternoon. They got there around 2pm I think, I got there around 4pm. :)

We watched the KCCI Channel 8 news, where Shawn and Mark made an appearance, then we watched a bunch of young girls dance, a magician, some duck calls, and the introduction of the Iowa County Fair Queens, who are competing to be the 2009 Iowa State Fair Queen. At 7pm, The Nadas took the stage for an hour and sang some great songs. They are always a good show.

Then, after The Nadas, Mark Ballas sang a set, about 30-40 minutes. :) After the show, he signed autographs and took pictures. I gave him the sign I made for him, he said he really liked it during the show and afterward. :) It's not my best work, since I don't normally draw in marker. lol But, it came out better than I thought it would. It was a great day - although very hot. The heat, my lack of sleep, and sitting on a bench without a back (front row though!) for 5 hours straight made for a long day, but it was well worth it. :)

I've got a bunch of pictures and video from the KCCI Channel 8 news appearance and the concert. :)

First here are some pictures of the sign I made for Mark (and gave him). I draw with pencil and paint, I've never drawn with marker before, so this isn't really an example of what I can do, but I was really happy with how it came out. :) I started by drawing 4 pictures (one on each corner). I paused video of Shawn and Mark's Argentine Tango from Dancing with the Stars Season 8. I sketched with pencil first and then drew over with a fine tipped marker and filled in with color. I decided not to fill in Mark's black suit because it would be too much black on the sign. Then, I added the wording. :)

Drawings in the 4 corners

Finished product

Me and the sign, before leaving for concert

Next are some pics of Mark getting set up on stage and doing a sound check. Some friends and family of Shawn's came to the show so she bounded out to greet them. She got mobbed by people though, so she didn't hang around too long. She hid out beside the stage for the rest of the evening. :) We were in the front row, but some kids came and sat on the gravel in front of us (between the benches and the stage).

Getting those vocal cords ready

setting up the set list

Shawn and her father, Doug - talking to friends and family

Shawn beside the stage with friends

The rest of the show was all in video: (I recommend you open them in YouTube so you can read the descriptions) The only song I didn't record was the first one: "Get Out Alive" because my phone locked up.

Introduction

"Somebody"

"Every Step of the Way"

"Light On"

"Pretty"

Medley of "Sexual Healing (Marvin Gaye) and "Waiting for the World to Change" (John Mayer)

"Tied Up"

After the show, I went up to the stage to show Mark the poster in more detail. He had said he liked it during the concert "I love that sign! EPIC! That's my word!" (of course I wasn't recording lol). I showed him the drawings and he really liked them. I gave him the sign and got a picture with him. First picture I chopped off his head, (whoops), but he said to take another and that one came out better. :)

First attempt

Success!

It was a fun day, very tiring! I'm glad I was able to show Mark the poster. Shawn and Mark and their dancing has really inspired me to get active again. I used to be in top shape, I loved weight lifting, sports...I was built! And then graduate school got my butt stuck in a chair, typing and reading and typing. lol But, they have inspired me and I've been working out since Dancing with the Stars Season 8! :D Thanks Shawn and Mark and thanks Iowa State Fair for allowing Mark to come play! Also, thanks to my new friends, Ashley, Heather, and Jennifer (? eek, I hope I got your name right!!). I had a great time!

Whoops, almost forgot! Here is the video from the Channel 8 News appearance. It's hard to hear them, but that's the fault of the News people...their sound was weird. We couldn't hear them very well in person either:

KCCI Channel 8 News - Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas

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Iowa State Fair Opening Ceremonies - Shawn Johnson & Mark Ballas

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:24:28 -0700

Yesterday was the first day of the 2009 Iowa State Fair (most amazing Fair anywhere!). Mom and I went to the Iowa State Fair parade on Wednesday (Shawn and Mark led the parade) and then we went to the Opening Ceremonies Thursday morning. :) We got there about 6am on Thursday and got raffle tickets to try and play the Cash Cube - where you catch the flying money. Mom's number got called and she went up to get her money!

So, after the Cash Cube fun, we listened to the radio show that was live from the stage: Van and Bonnie from WHO radio. Shawn Johnson and Mark Ballas arrived and were far upstage for a while, while the radio people did some more segments and Bill Riley, Jr. brought up some more Cash Cube contestants. It's hard to see, but I got a few pictures of Mark and Shawn and her parents on the stage:

Mark Ballas (white shirt in far back)

Mark and Shawn (she's in a dark plaid shirt, hard to see)

Mark talking to the sound guy

Shawn was interviewed by Van and Bonnie and then they talked to Mark for a second and asked him to play a few songs. He said he was only supposed to play one, but he could play a few. He also said that this might be his earliest gig yet...7:30am. (which was 5:30am for him, L.A. time...that darn jet lag) He sang Every Step of the Way, Get Out Alive, Leave a Light On, and an interesting blend of Sexual Healing/Marvin Gaye and Waiting on the World to Change/John Mayer. I didn't really understand it..one verse of Sexual Healing and then pretty much all of Waiting on the World to Change. They don't really go together, you know? lol Maybe I'm missing something... He sang them both well though. Enjoyable performance. I really loved the Leave a Light On song. :)

It was also quite funny, because between each song, they took a break to do the weather/news/sports for the radio show and Mark just wandered around the stage, waiting. heehee. I took lots of video of the performances...can't see him, but you can hear him. :) I also got a few pictures of him getting ready to sing and waiting between songs for the radio show to do their segments.

He had very shiny Cr8tive Rec shoes on.

I'm gonna pretend he was lookin' at me here. ;)

waiting to sing another one

After he sang, Van and Bonnie did a longer interview with both Shawn and Mark. Got some details about Dancing with the Stars. They announce the new stars on Monday the 17th on Good Morning America and then in a couple weeks, he will find out who his partner is and start rehearsals. Yay! He talked about how he was sure he was gonna get Lil' Kim last season, but Shawn walked in the door and he was very happy (he did the "Angel's singing in heaven, Thank the Lord" sign, with his arms wide open to the sky). Shawn said he thought she'd be taller. LOL I recorded the interview. :)

We left after the interview. The other portions of the Opening Ceremonies were starting and mom and I needed to get home for a few hours. (I came back out to the fair in the afternoon). Later, the Fair presented Shawn with an engraved brick that will be displayed in the wall of the Grandstand. It's a tradition, we have many engraved bricks here. :) It is for her Olympic achievements. :)

Here are some pictures of Shawn and Mark relaxing on stage between radio segments, talking to Shawn's friends and family and signing autographs. This was after the performances. They were waiting for the next half of the Opening Ceremonies to start. We didn't stay for that, but Shawn and Mark didn't have a big part in it, they just stayed because Shawn was getting a surprise (the engraved brick dedication). :)

Mark talking to Van

Shawn signing autographs

Mark talking to Shawn's friends and cousin

Here are the videos for the opening ceremonies. Sorry about the low quality. The Blackberry just didn't pick up the sound very well and I was just a little too far away for you to see Mark. It's funny, I could see everything just fine, I was only about 20 feet from the stage, but in the videos, it all looks a million miles away. haha :) I recommend you actually click on the videos and watch them in YouTube...that way you can read the descriptions for each video :)

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Downtown!

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:38:09 -0700

Went downtown with mom today and took some pictures. Also, I've got some random pictures of Annie and campus.

Iowa State Capitol Building

Capitol from corner

River

River Outdoor Amphitheater

heading downtown

Our tallest skyscraper

Courthouse

Mom and I

The AE Dairy Cow Heads

The giant AE Dairy Cows

Annie enjoying the shade Anni

Looks like Annie is giggling

Annie enjoying the day

Annie checking out the camera

walking across campus

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Trip to the Zoo

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 07:20:56 -0700

Last weekend, Mom and I babysat Julia, a 4yo family friend. We went to the zoo (and the heat index got up to 103, so we didn't stay too long - ended up at Dairy Queen, Julia's "favorite ice cream place EVER!" lol).

Here are the pictures from the zoo trip:

Willow Tree (my favorite)

Julia and the Giant Tortoise

Feeding Billy the Goat

Julia under the bone structure

Happy Feet (and friends)!

Julia

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QotD: Slumber Party

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:54:04 -0700

If you had to invite five friends or celebrities (or a combination of both) to a slumber party at your house tonight, who would you include and what movies would you rent?

I guess I'll just go for the girls. :) It's hard to narrow to just 5! So, I'm going with 5 of my girl friends who love Smallville....and we will watch Smallville and Superman!

Crystal, Kim, Heidi, CylonBetty, and Faith :D

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Twitter API - What the heck is it?

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:36:37 -0700

I've noticed that there are many tweeters out there that find the "API requests" aspect of Twitter very confusing. Twitter doesn't do a very good job of explaining it, either.

I used to be one of these people...and no matter how many times I asked, I never got a good answer.

That is, until I found TweetDeck. TweetDeck actually gives you a report of how many API requests you have sent and how many you have left in each hour - and it allows you to set how many requests you want to make an hour.

This information helped me to understand what and API really is...and I thought I'd share that with everyone else. :) It's extremely helpful if you use clients and are an avid tweeter like me. I haven't gone over my API limit since I figured all this out. :)

So, here's the deal.

Think of API requests as a question you are asking a teacher in class. Everytime you ask a question, you get an "API" mark on the board. You are allowed a certain number of questions per class. (It's not a perfect analogy, I know. lol)

So, basically, everytime you refresh the Twitter webpage, those are API requests. One request for each refresh.

Now, if you are using a client like TweetDeck or Twhirl, then everytime the client asks Twitter for a list of all your friend's tweets, it is an API request. And, everytime the client asks for your newest @replies, that is an API request. So, everytime a client refreshes...it is using up at least two API requests. If you are also getting your Direct Messages in your client, then that is a 3rd API request each refresh.

Twitter allows a certain number of these API requests per user, per hour. It varies, depending on how friendly Twitter is being at the time. ;) (that pesky Fail Whale) Usually, it is between 70 requests to 100 requests per hour. It's best to stick to 70 or 80 per hour, to avoid going over your limit, since Twitter doesn't really tell you what the current API is. (Once, it was down to 40 API per hour!)

Now, if you are just using the website to read your tweets, just make sure you are refreshing less than 70 or 80 times an hour and you should stay under the API limit. (Remember, looking at your @replies and DM's are additional API requests).

If you use a client, many of them offer a feature to set how many requests you want to make. Then, the client will automatically refresh for you every minute or two minutes or ten minutes...depending on how you set it.

In TweetDeck, you can go into the settings and move the slider to 1 minute or 30 minutes for each of the following: tweets (the feed of tweets from everyone you follow), replies (the feed of tweets directed at you), and direct messages (the feed of tweets privately directed at you). TweetDeck also shows you the percentage of API you use in an hour with the refresh times you've chosen. TweetDeck automatically sets the API limit (meaning it automatically says you are allowed 70 or 80 or what ever it is per hour), so the percentage is based on that number. TweetDeck knows how many API requests are being allowed per person at any given time.

This is a screenshot of my TweetDeck settings:

TweetDeck-API

You can see that I have set my refresh times to 1min 40sec for both Tweets and Replies (meaning that every 1 minute and 40 seconds, TweetDeck will update both my tweets and replies) and my direct messages refresh every 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Even though my tweets and replies both update at the same time...it's still a request for each one, so that's 2 API every 1.40. And then there is an additional API request every 7.30 when TweetDeck checks for new direct messages. All together, I'm using only 80% of the total API that Twitter is currently allowing me (which is actually 100 per hour, at the time of writing). I like having this set lower like this, so I have extra API to play with. If I want to get a quick refresh without waiting another 1.40, I can just hit refresh and use up a couple of my extra API. TweetDeck now features the ability to look at tweeps twitter profiles on the web, rather than within TweetDeck, so you are not charged an API to look at the profile. :) Another nifty feature of TweetDeck is that it tells you how many API you have left in your hour - and when your next refresh will happen.

Here you can see that I have 56 out of 100 API requests left this hour, and that my next hour begins at 2:34: (when I actually arrived at 2:34, I still had 21 requests left to use..tons of extra!)

TweetDeck-Used

Here you can see that my last refresh happened at 2:05 and I recieved 5 tweets. My next refresh is at 2:07 (remember, I set my refresh time to 1 minute 40 seconds):

TweetDeck-NextRefresh

So, I always know when my next refresh is coming and I also know how many API I have left before my hour is done. :)

Other clients, like Twhirl, allow you to set your limit. You can choose to allow 80 API per hour, and then set your refresh times for your tweets, replies, and DM's. The only problem here is that if Twitter is only allowing you to have 60 API and hour and you set Twhirl to 80 per hour...then you are asking for 20 extra calls per hour. You will exceed your limit and be unable to get your tweets, replies, and DM's until the next hour begins. But, like I said, if you stick with 70 API per hour and then set your refresh times to, say, 85% of the total API (meaning you're not going to make a full 70 API requests in an hour, you'll make 59.5 requests that hour, which is 85% of 70.) If you do this, and Twitter is only allowing 60 API per hour....you'll still be under the limit (just!). :)

My Twhirl settings:

Twhirl-API

You can see that Twitter is allowing 100 requests per hour right now, but I have my settings to 'follow reduced API limits', meaning, I am only allowing myself 80 API requests per hour. I do this so I have extra API to work with, and also so that when Twitter gets wonky and reduces the API limits for a little while, I won't get caught over my limit (hopefully). Like in TweetDeck, you can slide the little arrow over to set the refresh times. I have my tweets and replies set at every 2 minutes and my direct messages set at every 4 minutes. Twhirl doesn't show you the percentage because it automatically keeps it at 100%. If I were to move the arrow for replies refreshes...Twhirl would automatically adjust the other two arrows (for tweets and DM's) to keep me at 100%. This is another reason I use the 'reduced limits' in Twhirl. I like to stay under 100% per hour. :)

In Twhirl, you have to actually hover your mouse over a little image at the lower right corner to get your API info:

Twhirl-Used

Twhirl shows you how many you've already used (below, you can see I have used 35 out of 100. Since I'm set at 80 already, I know I'll never get to 100 and I won't go over my limit). This is opposite of TweetDeck, which shows you how many API you have left in an hour. The 'health' is a Twitter thing. If Twitter is slow or not updating correctly, the health will be lower. If the health is bad, you can pretty much bet that the API is temporarily reduced (so Twitter's servers aren't being worked so hard with all the requests coming in).

I hope this helped you understand Twitter API limits! If you would like to follow me on Twitter, I'm @annabethblue. My dogs also have a Twitter account (LOL) and they are @SheltieWorld.

Have fun tweeting!

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QotD: This ALWAYS Makes Me Grumpy.

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:23:48 -0700

What one thing, without fail, puts you in a bad mood?

Being interrupted when I'm speaking. And especially being interrupted with a completely different topic. SO RUDE. I have to seriously control my anger when that happens. I feel the immediate urge to destroy things and scream. But, I can usually keep the temper down.

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More Botanical Pictures

nobody@vox.com(Elentari) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:13:12 -0700

My best friend is a photographer and she got some cool shots today at the Botanical Center. Here are a few of my favorites that didn't come out on my camera. If you would like to see the rest of her pictures from our outing today, you can check out her pictures at Facebook: Botanical Center Album 1 & Botanical Center Album 2.
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