Random musings...with PowerPoint trauma

[liz_marcs]

I'm in the serious mood for some Dark!Xander fics because they're thin on the ground these days. I blame this craving on the fact that I'm in PowerPoint hell at work right now.

I'm seriously thinking of holding an open-ended Dark!Xander fic-a-thon. No sign ups or assignments or anything. Just people volunteering to write something, a deadline, and two months to do it in.

I'm tempted to set December 8 (nwhepcat's fanon birthday for Xander...which just also happens to be my RL birthday) as the big day, but I don't know how that may track for people or whether it'd be convenient for them.

Yeah, sure, it would mean delayed gratification for me, but good Dark!Xander fics are one of my hardcore kinks. I can only read The Ballad of Charles Whitman and stories on my Dark Xander Recs List so many times. So, yeah, I'm willing to wait.

Let me know what you think of the timing or the idea.

If you've got suggestions, let me know.

Do not send me a PowerPoint presentation with your suggestions. Do that, and I will find you wherever you live. Then, first you will feel pain, then you will feel fear, and then you will die. Just sayin'.

***

Because it can't be said enough, PowerPoint is evil. Dealing with PowerPoint for a week is hell. I wonder what I did wrong this time because this is me in RL.

Fuck PowerPoint.

***

I love ponderslife. She sent me zipped goodies (read: MP3s of Breed 77) that aren't just rockin', but make working in PowerPoint bearable for at least 5 minutes.

***

I really, really, really was just throwing shit up on the screen when I was racing the deadline (HAH!) for Facing the Heart in Darkness.

Can anyone translate what this means: "QKdaid a daid."

Yeah, me neither.

Also, leaving myself a bunch of notes to double-check town names in Uganda and districts in Kenya and the population of Quakers in Kenya is not helpful. Links, stupid. Please leave yourself links when you do something like that so you can go back and retrace your flippin' research.

I can be such a dumbass.

I blame PowerPoint.

***

When trying to get RL shit done, do not, do not, do not visit bad_penny and read the jaw-dropping accounts of msscribe in Harry Potter fandom. Do not click on the multitude of links. Do not read the 10-part (not counting addendum) investigative piece with astonishment. I'm not even involved with Harry Potter fandom, and I found it gripping.

It's a sign that my attention is wandering too much.

In case you're wondering, yes, I blame PowerPoint for this, too.

***

LJ seems hell-bent on proving the maxum that human beings cease to exist when they're older than 20. If I wanted to be on MySpace or Xanga, I'd be on MySpace or Xanga. And Vox — which they're marketing as some sort of MySpace to the Over-20 crowd — is fucking ugly.

Fuck SixApart.

That's why I'm posting this:



At least the graphic isn't PowerPoint.

***

insomnia has some veeeeery interesting theories about the LJ/SixApart fiasco we're seeing played out, complete with some historical links, in this post.

He also has links to the petition. You can read about its purpose here, but don't try to reply on this post (it's full).

And insomnia manages to get the down-and-dirty info across to the rest of us without PowerPoint. Amazing.

***

I'm joining the crusade to remind SixApart that they'd be pretty shocked by their customers' stats.

Like quite a few people on my FList, I've added LJ not Vox to my interests. 76 people and growing share this interest. Add your name to the list if you want to stress your dislike for moving over to Vox.

I've also edited my profile to add the year of my birth so my age can be counted in their official stats. If you don't want to reveal your exact age on line, do the following:

• Go to "edit profile"
  
• Add your birth year to your birthdate
  
• If you wish to hide your age, click the clicky box above to hide your birthday from public view
  

Your real age will now be included in the LJ stats.

See? I can so write instructions without using PowerPoint.

Fuck PowerPoint. Seriously. Fuck it.

***

At least they listened to some complaints about that fugly UserInfo proposal. I have to admit that I like the new UserInfo interface designed by grrliz.

Here's what mine would look like.

I actually like this interface. It's relatively clean.

Unlike using PowerPoint. Feel my PowerPoint hate. Can you feel it burning now? How about now?

***

Who knew Kenya had so many Quakers? More Quakers live in Kenya than anywhere else in the world.

Who knew?

I hope no on wants me to put together a PowerPoint on the stats of the Quaker population worldwide, although the way my life is going, it wouldn't shock me.

Comments

[djinanna.livejournal.com]

That is not the same design for a new User Info page that I saw over the weekend. It's the same ?ver=ng added on to the URL, but the design *was* in 2 columns and now it's one column.

And it's not that bad. Now. The 2 column thing was hideous, but this version I could definitely get to like.

All my journals have DOB added now. Yay.

And I'll have to be pimping the petition, too.

Thanks for the links!

[jebbypal]

dark xander ficathon sounds like a great idea for me. I'd be lurking as my muse hasn't ever been bitten by sunnydale.

anything in specific on powerpoint giving you problems? I've used it for years and generally don't have any problems with it....unless trying to make it work equally on pc and mac.

[faith-chaos.livejournal.com]

I take it you don't like PowerPoint then. don't worry hon, i know it can be evil sometimes. just try and prepare a slide presentation on th meselson-stahl experiment and how it relates to th modern view of dna structure, without it being like th thousand of presentations there are out there! ok, u kno what, i'm actually totally with ya: Power Point is th devil.

good luck, and nice attention span u have going on thr!

Faith [who has emailed u a couple of times already... just saying]

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Signed the petition, and will be adding my year of birth.
I'm definitely not in the teenybopper demographic, nor is the vast majority of my flist.

omg ur from Waltham!!!!!!!

[faith-chaos.livejournal.com]

sorry, i was just checking out th new layout and i noticed that ur from Waltham! that's like from where one of my best friends ever is from!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, squealing-girl thing over.

F.

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Not only is PowerPoint evil in and of itself (difficult to use, rigid, yuckky, blech), it encourages people to make dull presentations worse by making them visually ugly. Really, it's like Satan, sucking in the innocent graphically challenged masses and tempting them to commit heinous crimes of graphic misdesign.

DarkXander

[(Anonymous)]

There are a lot who have declared this series over-rated, but if you haven't read "Between Shadows" you should give it a try. The first few stories seem to be the strongest, and the last is unfunished and fairly unfocused, but I think that the mix of Dark and Xander makes a believable DarkXander.
JimboS

[lastscorpion.livejournal.com]

Why do all the new versions of userinfo only have room for 150 friends? There isn't even a ... to click on to see the rest.

[mara-sho.livejournal.com]

The new proposed info page is a vast improvement on thetwo column one they were proposing last time I checked it out. Maybe people power does work sometimes...

And Dark Xander? I would be so on board with that!

[jgracio.livejournal.com]

Just to be sure, you're telling us you don't like Powerpoint? Weally? Weally weally? :)

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I've never had to use Power Point. I am now counting myself extremely fortunate.

My DOB is on my userinfo and only one member of my flist is under 20. Most are 30s or older.

[set-aka-ian.livejournal.com]

Every time you post this Darkfic rec list, it consumes an hour or so of my life as I have to go re-read many of them. :)

The worst part? I end up re-reading my own darn fic in the process. I'm sure loving to read one's own writing is the literary version of masturbation...

[moooleeesssaaa.livejournal.com]

I'm sure loving to read one's own writing is the literary version of masturbation...

omg that is going up on my fridge & becoming a bumper sticker

[omegar.livejournal.com]

I', not sure why, but i am getting the impression that you may have a mild dislike for Powerpoint.

as for "LJ not Vox" i am so Lazy on this one, it started appearing on F-list and still haven't put the energy into lookign into it.

[lit-gal.livejournal.com]

Man, djinanna put a link to your journal on her page, and I'm just kind of boggled at the whole Vox thing. So, basically, the teens and twenty somethings want to be able to control and customize, and those of us who have hit thirty have rotting brains that can't handle CSS. Okay, so I screamed and drank several glasses of wine before figuring out how to get my journal right, but a low tolerance for random computer symbols does not mean that I'm tottering to the grave and incapable of learning how to deal with LJ code. Man.... this is frustrating!

[aceliwen.livejournal.com]

i'm not gonna say vox is ugly. the front page is disorganized, yes, which twinges my ugly sense. the blogs themselves have some nice designs, if simplistic. i like simplicity.

i'm just not sure what the actual purpose of vox is. is it meant to be a cooler, more adult myspace? is it more of a public journaling service? is it a blog? why should i be drawn to vox over livejournal, or proper blogs, or myspace? (besides the fact myspace makes my eyeballs bleed.)

frankly, if it's not filling a unique niche--and i mean a unique niche, none of this, "you'll have more control over who sees your posts!" i have plenty of control, it's called "defining groups of friends"--vox is useless and any pretty, shiny features should just be transferred to livejournal instead.